Thursday.... ah thursday

First in breaking news: Coach Curly has escalated the North West vs North East conflict with his latest salvo. And well... it made me laugh.

In the deliberate retribution return fire department i'll offer an observation...

Starbucks is to good coffee like McDonalds is to good food.

Ya go to McDs because you know EXACTLY what ya are gonna get...
Ya go to Starbucks for the saaaaame reason...

Ya want some good coffee? Head to your local roaster. The ones who roast each batch carefully by hand every day...

Afterall... we are only gonna survive if we go local :D

(was that below the belt?)
maybe...

it is all in good fun...

I'll have to see about borrowing a bike when i'm in Seattle to go ride with this Curly fella...

ANYWAY...

Turn the page...

Why doesn't GeWilli have his own vlog to post? Well rather than spend the night generating pop up middle fingers to the beat of some muzac and shuffle it off to YouTube...

GeWilli got dirty. Resurrected the 21 year old bike that was re-painted in the back of Elliot Bay Bicycles many odd years ago. Many might remember the broken spoke saga of CX nats. The Rolf Vector pro front spoke popped coming out of the U-turn after the long pavement section over by the boat house... it also tweaked the bars... GeWilli was fortunate for the kindness of friends and had an extra bar laying around but the only stem close enough to work was on the afore-mentioned 21 year old paramount SL/SP lovingly silver brazed in Waterford Wisconsin using those subtle but distinctive lugs... (ishiwata?)...

So anyway (sorry did a bit of wandering around the google searching looking to see if i could definitively rattle my brain to correctly id the lugs on this beauty...

Anyway, of course the stem isn't a double clamp, hell it's a mt stem, not even designed to go on a road bar. But it is steel. And 25.8... Cross bike in bidnez... P-mount? Outa bidnez. Till last night. The $5 used bin stem was a perfect match for the i'll functioning and wrong sized clamp stem originally on the cross bike. Bar retape and tape... bingo. Perfect. Cross bike geometry now is nearly identical to the Q-pro. Nice! (about time). And the P-mount is back and running and ran in today.

Yes, the 50x25 is back in action. Okay that is only the low gear.... the 8 speed P-mount is kicking it knee busting style. With trailer that 50x25 is fun on the rises... But, it feels good. nice to have the alternatives back in session...

And so far so good the Sefas Seca i paid cash for seems to be decent. Although no way to tell on the first ride with a trailer. Cadence dropped a touch but speed increased... No little ring to bail into may mean cadence discipline = higher wattage output and fewer 'medium' days. Good? I dunno. I hope so.

I sort of entertained snaggin some video and shooting it over to the vid master CTodd but i didn't.

The only video editing software i ever got comfortable playing with was After Effect... (hey whadda ya know, another big Corporation from Seattle - wow)... i got pretty decent at it - but then... well... it has been a while and i ain't sitting here with much of any vid editing... and yeah... i'm making excuses... but the sequence to follow the PTap hub and 3 sets of freehubs exploded on the table ain't ready yet.

I did actually plan on shooting some commuting footage. The weather is freaking gorgeous and it would have been nice to get some of the new bike. But i caught up with a once or twice a week in the summer commuter in the dept so we rode and chatted a bit... Bike path is nice for that. I relish running into unencumbered with trailer riders because it has a way of forcing my speed up a couple extra MPH. And its a chance to interact with another human who is doing the right thing.

On to Food:

Alfredo Sauce... it is funny to read through "quick" meal recipes that call for store bought/canned/bottled alfredo sauce.

it is perhaps the EASIEST of all sauces to create. And when tossed with some baby bellas sauteed in EVOO, peas and some red pepper flakes it is a right tastey pile of caloric goodness.

Ingredient list:
Pasta should go in at some point during the process so it is ready to incorporate when the sauce is finished
1 cup heavy cream (warm in big sauce pan, large enough to hold 1 pound of pasta)
Press one large clove of garlic into cream
1 stick of butter (once cream is warm, melt butter while stirring constantly over med-low heat until incorporated)
Freshly grade some Parmesan, and Romano cheeses. The better quality the better the sauce will taste. Generally i use about 2 cups of cheese (graded... i'll get a gram amount next time).

Slowly incorporate the cheese with the cream, add more once the first bit has melted and is smooth. If the heat is too high the mix will separate, too low and the cheese won't melt.

Once smooth (oh and use a wooden spoon it just works better)... dump your freshly cooked hot drained pasta into the sauce and mixed until well coated. I usually turn the heat off at this point, slightly cooler temps allow the sauce to stick to the pasta a bit better.

Noodle selection (brand) is important. Barila or De Cecce are the only two (with a few Asian exceptions) brands i use. They have very accurate cooking times on the box and have great Teeth and really hold up well.

Again, like Kozy Shack. This is a dish aimed at folks with major caloric needs (me), it tastes good, is made with organic, wholesome ingredients. nothing artificial. no preservatives... all good...

Eat well, Smile, be an agent for peace, and respect in the broadest sense!
G