Damn cool shop... i could almost drop this gig if they needed another partner... assuming i could put the scratch in to buy in...
that and they've got a Velocipede on the logo...
sign of my shop... no doubt... i started off at the Velo Stores at the Pine street pro shop location... they had use the old school big wheel as a logo in their history... then wound up at Velocipede Peddler in Lansing
if you are curious look cloesly at the logos for both... (hub and v.ped)
ifn i need shit i'm gettin it from those boys... unless i can get it easier from the boys at Vped or from D at Old Town we'll see how it shakes down... i don't really wanna dip to ordering shit from mail order... but... i may just do that... the list of 'needs' now that i'm riding daily is growing... there's only so much i can do until i ride through my current stockpile of crap.. we'll see...
am i the only one who notices tires on cars? i dunno i check tread patterns for signs of intelligent design and the like... then check makers and the like and am amazed that vast number of absolutely shitty tires on the road....
anyway... time'll tell how this all shakes 0ut... if this riding actually works for me and i can compete someday...
time ta pay da bills -
the pulpit is vacant... GeWilli has left the church
Friday, January 20, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
about this cold and suiting up for a ride
What about the Haida? They are the (iirc) the people of the northwest that would start the day every day of the year with a swim... in the deathly cold waters off the Queen Charlotte Islands in BC Canada.
well today i attempted my Haida immitation... wearing exactly the same stuff i did for the 55 degree ride... today though - instead of 55 degrees and calm... it was 40 degrees with a 15-20 mph wind. Cool to cold... but... i'm fine... some skin (leading edge in some places) is still cool, but the core is still warm and my feet are fine and my hands are warm... stupid? sure seemed like that when i was waiting for the ride...
and of course - i sounded like a major league know-it-all to one of the 'team' organizers that showed up on the ride... i feel a bit bad - esp since she doesn't know me other than a few emails and a couple rides... but then i've been riding for what... about 20 years on the road... pretty crazy... and if you count the summer road riding at my Dad's in MD even longer...
and seein as i'm actually on the bike every day (now) i feel some what okay that my confidence and 'information' is based on real (even if it sounds cocky) situations/experience...
ah well - it couldn't really get worse - the ride started off going east... with the wind... 1/2 the ride (two big guys) did the longer loop and i turned into the wind and 'towed' (sort of) J home... it was quiet except with the comment about how the draft is better with two people in front... I was ya know cool with that and asked well arn't you getting a good draft from me... answer was 'no'
NO? i was silently flabbergasted... how do you NOT get a good draft from some 6'6" dude? well then i started to pay attention... she's usually a bike length off or so... well... then i stopped worrin about it and just stayed out front pulling home into the wind...
sure not a positive ride all the way around but a good ride... of course it ended with a comment that went to my core of "huh?"
She said that there are people who think rollers are bad. WTF? Hard to ride? yeah... dangerous? sure if you don't take propper precautions. Bad?
i dunno...
Sprinting... what is sprinting? Power? Nope... Leg speed... if you can turn your cranks faster than anyone else... you can overcome massive (horse)power deficiencies with leg speed... combine the two and you are Mario Cipolini or Petachi...
ah whats the use... sooo i did a couple quick google searches... came up with very little but very consitent pro/con to rollers
well today i attempted my Haida immitation... wearing exactly the same stuff i did for the 55 degree ride... today though - instead of 55 degrees and calm... it was 40 degrees with a 15-20 mph wind. Cool to cold... but... i'm fine... some skin (leading edge in some places) is still cool, but the core is still warm and my feet are fine and my hands are warm... stupid? sure seemed like that when i was waiting for the ride...
and of course - i sounded like a major league know-it-all to one of the 'team' organizers that showed up on the ride... i feel a bit bad - esp since she doesn't know me other than a few emails and a couple rides... but then i've been riding for what... about 20 years on the road... pretty crazy... and if you count the summer road riding at my Dad's in MD even longer...
and seein as i'm actually on the bike every day (now) i feel some what okay that my confidence and 'information' is based on real (even if it sounds cocky) situations/experience...
ah well - it couldn't really get worse - the ride started off going east... with the wind... 1/2 the ride (two big guys) did the longer loop and i turned into the wind and 'towed' (sort of) J home... it was quiet except with the comment about how the draft is better with two people in front... I was ya know cool with that and asked well arn't you getting a good draft from me... answer was 'no'
NO? i was silently flabbergasted... how do you NOT get a good draft from some 6'6" dude? well then i started to pay attention... she's usually a bike length off or so... well... then i stopped worrin about it and just stayed out front pulling home into the wind...
sure not a positive ride all the way around but a good ride... of course it ended with a comment that went to my core of "huh?"
She said that there are people who think rollers are bad. WTF? Hard to ride? yeah... dangerous? sure if you don't take propper precautions. Bad?
i dunno...
Sprinting... what is sprinting? Power? Nope... Leg speed... if you can turn your cranks faster than anyone else... you can overcome massive (horse)power deficiencies with leg speed... combine the two and you are Mario Cipolini or Petachi...
ah whats the use... sooo i did a couple quick google searches... came up with very little but very consitent pro/con to rollers
Rollers are great for handling and balance, but not very good for hard workout sessions. This is a pretty general statement, but one that hold up to discussion. If you your plan has you on the bike, riding steady for periods at a steady pace, then rollers will fit the bill.
If you plan on doing various workouts consisting of hard intervals, sprints and the like, I suggest a trainer. On the trainer you can think more about the effort and less about staying upright. Hope this helps.
that sums it up... of course i have a set of rollers with a fan resistance unit attached and can do both... but even before i had the resitance unit (for my McClain rollers) getting time in on the bike is good...
kinda goes down to the old philosophy about bike specificity... doing standing intervals on the spinning bike or the trainer is wicked different than doing them on the bike... and yes - you CAN do standing intervals on the rollers - you just have to have wicked good bike handling skills....
I can see how the 'spinning' generation of cyclists could benefit from anti-roller propaganda... cause rollers are the anti-thesis of spinning classes... so maybe that's where its coming from... sigh...
oh my HR chest strap fell down when i exhaled today... had to tighten the strap up a bunch... getting skinny is a pain in the ass....
oh and driving the car everynight has gotten old... already tired of the thing... gimme my bike...
damn i didn't realize how pissed/grumpy i am about this roller thing... grrrrrreat
the deacon gewilli is off the pulpit
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
More Euro Cross jealousy
*sniff* *sniff*
Barbarella's diary over at Cyclingnews....
freaking jealous - maybe its a good thing i'm slow
---
so those who saw just that - thought - 'what' is GeWilli off his rocker - AGAIN?
nah just random updates and shit i didn't wanna make wait till tomorrow
---
still dreaming about getting this gem ...maybe they need an old slow dude to ride cyclocross in New England for them next year...
---
add this... i'm STILL laughin my ass off....
and yeah - 'bout time i added his humorous self to the link list afterall it was O'grady that dropped me over on DrunkCyclist... and damn i owe both those sonsofbitches a beer - or a case - or a bottle or two of scotch... but, my rule... never give booze that you can't help drink
Barbarella's diary over at Cyclingnews....
freaking jealous - maybe its a good thing i'm slow
---
so those who saw just that - thought - 'what' is GeWilli off his rocker - AGAIN?
nah just random updates and shit i didn't wanna make wait till tomorrow
---
still dreaming about getting this gem ...maybe they need an old slow dude to ride cyclocross in New England for them next year...
---
add this... i'm STILL laughin my ass off....
0 1 | 0 9 | 2 0 0 6
A Forester on Expedition among the YukonsDriving a car (the Forester is to SUVs as George W. Bush is to Abraham Lincoln) sure is an eye-opener. Now I know how the wife feels at 5 feet tall. It's a land of giants out there. Driving my midget rice-grinder I have a swell view of everyone else's lug nuts. And have you ever tried to find a silver Forester in a Whole Foods parking lot in Colorado? "Is this one mine? Nope, W sticker. Shit! Is this one mine? Nope, Kerry-Edwards sticker. Shit!" And so on. Once the dealer plates are off the sonofabitch I'm hosed.
Patrick O'Grady STILL is one of the funniest guys out there: LINKand yeah - 'bout time i added his humorous self to the link list afterall it was O'grady that dropped me over on DrunkCyclist... and damn i owe both those sonsofbitches a beer - or a case - or a bottle or two of scotch... but, my rule... never give booze that you can't help drink
Ahhh Wind... I miss you so
sort of... riding in - into the blustery 22 mph headwind reminded me of Michigan. Where EVERY ride is a wind swept event... where drafting is the only thing to save your bacon, and where you can ride pretty much into the wind for the first 2/3 of the ride and have a tailwind push you home - no matter where the wind is blowing...
but... there aren't hills... and having been a hill climbin fiend and then turned into a big wind shattering motor... i kinda like the hills... easier to fake it and easier to measure/reserve power...
there is a technique for riding in the wind... maybe its just mental, but when i got to Michigan from Connecticut... damn what a change- road rides were never the same... took many years before i started to figure out the wind... and being a giant freak of a rider never helped... esp riding with the girls and smaller guys... it was a rare day when Big tall J Frost with his (as he called them) "Child bearing hips" would show up on a ride and i'd actually be able to get a real draft... little C and B were not quite 5' and on the bike... all the draft i got was on my knees... but it was better than no draft... 'course they could rest completely and pretty much freewheel behind me... lucky girls (maybe)...
but ya know - i started this with pullin a qoute, i dunno where 'imp got it but in all seriousness... its rather damn true:
what to do...
Gotta say - i like seeing all the hybrids out here - it does mean people are 'trying' to do the right thing. that they 'might' be getting better economy than they would otherwise... the tax credit gets me a bit grumpy... but i have to remember my cars are both paid off AND nothing is as wasteful as buying a brand new car... esp if the old one is reasonably efficient. Even if its a Yukon XL that was traded in on a Prius, in the global energy scheme... keeping the Yukon probably makes more sense than getting the prius... esp with few miles a year driven. And by few i mean 15k... of course though, if you are already deluded enough to think that your 3 year old car is junk and you NEED a new one... buying a hybrid is DEFINITELY a better choice than getting another Yukon. But then it kinda screws up the who conservation thing.
Its more environmentally sound to buy a car and spend the money or time on the proper maintenance, keeping it in running order and caring for it. Maybe spending more time evaluating if you can live with the vehicle for 10+ years is a good thing. But then, duh, what AM i thinking... this is the USA... people don't think like that here. Never have... hopefully they will but i would guess its gonna be a LOOOOOOOONG time.
Now, i remember, the idea from last night... it came out of a comment i read... about monday being james earl ray day... (which got me mad and deeply offended) its just shocking - a wake up call that people in the south still even in jest (which it sounds like it wasnt) would feel like praising the guy who killed MLK... WTF... sick twisted bastards... i guess it comes down to the education thing... the guy is so self centered and so poorly educated, and yes - you can have a poorly educated PhD (go to most universities - plenty of examples)... sad state of this union...
i was gonna write a bit/alot about it but i won't, too depressing, and i'm too tired to get pissed off... I guess the college street hill climb with a 20-25 mph headwind kicked my ass... that and i'm hungry - get to eat the soup today!
listening to some Horselips... not so bad... very listenable... time to eat some lunch and listen to some tunes and to read up on sometin i've been meaning to for a long time: Slow Food it always made sense to me... okay, but that's all for later... maybe tomorrow... okay - in process of spell checking (gotta make sure certain words are right) horselips started playing an out of tune fiddle with bad intonation... eeeeeeeeek - nothing worse than an out of tune fiddle played by someone who can't even get close to the other notes.... Some people just need frets...
-the Rev GeWilli
but... there aren't hills... and having been a hill climbin fiend and then turned into a big wind shattering motor... i kinda like the hills... easier to fake it and easier to measure/reserve power...
there is a technique for riding in the wind... maybe its just mental, but when i got to Michigan from Connecticut... damn what a change- road rides were never the same... took many years before i started to figure out the wind... and being a giant freak of a rider never helped... esp riding with the girls and smaller guys... it was a rare day when Big tall J Frost with his (as he called them) "Child bearing hips" would show up on a ride and i'd actually be able to get a real draft... little C and B were not quite 5' and on the bike... all the draft i got was on my knees... but it was better than no draft... 'course they could rest completely and pretty much freewheel behind me... lucky girls (maybe)...
but ya know - i started this with pullin a qoute, i dunno where 'imp got it but in all seriousness... its rather damn true:
"Abortion=the right to have unprotected sex with a man you don't want kids by."IIRC (if i recall correctly for the 'net noobies) i've mentioned something along the sticky issue of abortion... my stances was way more prochoice without thought until the kids came along and i started to think about it... as a biologist, life starts at fertilization. When that genetic material from the egg and the sperm get all mixed up in the same nucleus... THAT is a new individual. failure to implant is a natural form of rejection that the body does and can do... once its implanted... don't mess with it. BUT i STRONGLY feel that the Gov should not be legislating choice issues. at least now... but i almost hate to say it... i wouldn't mind if it was a choice taken away... yeah yeah i'm a guy... no i can't bear kids... but seeing so many people go overseas to adopt means maybe that there is a strong market for adoption... but what is more horrible than carrying a kid for 9 months to give it to someone else. That almost is worse than killing the baby in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd trimester. It is a bit political of an issue. One that you don't bring up with friends unless you already know how they feel. But the issue is one of those things that comes down to education, and personal responsibility. If you are going to have sex, have protected sex. If you have an accident, get the appropriate measures to prevent implantation (rape, incest... what not). Yes it does put a large amount of responsibility on the woman's shoulders. Yes it could change someone's life. I'm sorry to say but i know too many woman/friends who have had an abortion, yes their lives would have been drastically and dramatically turned upside down, and maybe they still feel that despite the pain it was worth it. I don't know. self control and education... self control and education but with everything, that's what it comes down to... fat gas guzzling wastes of a behemoth SUVs...
Gotta say - i like seeing all the hybrids out here - it does mean people are 'trying' to do the right thing. that they 'might' be getting better economy than they would otherwise... the tax credit gets me a bit grumpy... but i have to remember my cars are both paid off AND nothing is as wasteful as buying a brand new car... esp if the old one is reasonably efficient. Even if its a Yukon XL that was traded in on a Prius, in the global energy scheme... keeping the Yukon probably makes more sense than getting the prius... esp with few miles a year driven. And by few i mean 15k... of course though, if you are already deluded enough to think that your 3 year old car is junk and you NEED a new one... buying a hybrid is DEFINITELY a better choice than getting another Yukon. But then it kinda screws up the who conservation thing.
Its more environmentally sound to buy a car and spend the money or time on the proper maintenance, keeping it in running order and caring for it. Maybe spending more time evaluating if you can live with the vehicle for 10+ years is a good thing. But then, duh, what AM i thinking... this is the USA... people don't think like that here. Never have... hopefully they will but i would guess its gonna be a LOOOOOOOONG time.
Now, i remember, the idea from last night... it came out of a comment i read... about monday being james earl ray day... (which got me mad and deeply offended) its just shocking - a wake up call that people in the south still even in jest (which it sounds like it wasnt) would feel like praising the guy who killed MLK... WTF... sick twisted bastards... i guess it comes down to the education thing... the guy is so self centered and so poorly educated, and yes - you can have a poorly educated PhD (go to most universities - plenty of examples)... sad state of this union...
i was gonna write a bit/alot about it but i won't, too depressing, and i'm too tired to get pissed off... I guess the college street hill climb with a 20-25 mph headwind kicked my ass... that and i'm hungry - get to eat the soup today!
listening to some Horselips... not so bad... very listenable... time to eat some lunch and listen to some tunes and to read up on sometin i've been meaning to for a long time: Slow Food it always made sense to me... okay, but that's all for later... maybe tomorrow... okay - in process of spell checking (gotta make sure certain words are right) horselips started playing an out of tune fiddle with bad intonation... eeeeeeeeek - nothing worse than an out of tune fiddle played by someone who can't even get close to the other notes.... Some people just need frets...
-the Rev GeWilli
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
looooong weekend
Outline form:
1) Car
2) Soup
3) Changes
4) Football
5) cycling (obligatory by need)
Sooo whadda they have in common????
car - ashamed to admit it but GD is my car a freaking blast to drive. Its been parked for 6 weeks, driving the old/new swedish brick (850 sedan) and since the changes (allusions there of to #3) require that i begin burning BioDiesel once more the fam... getting the #2 car in action meant a 5 minute glow plug swap out in the downpour that was saturday in rode i land... followed by a mellow shake down drive to the barn where the 'winter' tires are. The winter tires are great Nokian NRWs but are a bit worn and the rears are cupped (but tolerable on the rear) AND they are one hell of a lot better in snow than the 65k miles of wear in the Turanza LS-H tires... (warrantied to 60k). The drive back, no holding back... bigger injectors and the chip - even with biod have me grinning like a freaking joyriding teenager. instant acceleration at any RPM, rock solid handling, tire squealing power, e-brake power slides... fun as hell... sue me for loving that car but its a blast - no where near stock but at 246,000+ miles and still kickin ass and taking numbers burning the bean as clean as can be is something to be happy about... so i only get 40-43 mpg driving with a lead foot in the city... its burning biodiesel and that is renewable... unlike the gasoline some put in hybrid cars (sorry kerry ;) couldn't resist - HAD to be said :-D )
(blood pressure and pulse resuming mellow state again)
soup - really really good stuff, made a batch, one of the best batches of soup in a long time. Yeah i'm the cook in the house, i like it - cooking is like science and biology and art wrapped up in one, if you want it to be. Or it can be a drudging way to get calories in oneself to get fat (see supermarket frozen food section with prepared meals). Anyway this soup rocked. A simple variation on my mother's classic.
-sweet onion (1/4 of a large one) and celery(3 large stalks) clarified in extra virgin olive oil in stock pot
-carrots (2 big ones) added (all ingredients chopped evenly)
-1 small parsnip
-2 small red top turnips
-1 small yukon gold potato
-1 large garnet yam
-1 medium butternut squash
-2 large leafs Kale (rough chopped)
-1 medium zucchini
-1 cup red lentils (rinsed and rinsed and rinsed till no bubbles formed)
-4 teaspoons of better than whatever condensed stock base (i used chicken but veggie would have worked to make it vegan)
-5 cloves of garlic (its a hella big soup this aint' really that much)
water to make it the right consistency...
sea salt (to taste)
dash of balsalmic (to taste)
shake or two of hot sauce (ditto for the rest of these)
sprinklin of ground coriander
dried basil
tumeric
woostersauce (replace with soysace for veganish)
cook and cook and cook (30 min or until all veggies are soft)
drop in the stick blender - blend till smooth, add two bay leaves once all blended and let sit simmering for a few minutes - and then serve over white rice with hot sauce on the side... damn freaking goooooooooood stuff. nummy nummy nummy
Yeah i made this for dinner last night... but i had a made-from-scratch green curry for lunch - definitely not one of my home runs - tasty but not like this soup...
changes... what nots exactly that. Changes. schedule, life, for whole family. Hopefully for the good, very hopeful... very hopeful... will i still get to ride? i think so... maybe the girls will adjust sooner than we had hoped.
FOOTBALL
Go Steelers... gotta say it - even if they are my brother's team how do you NOT like bill cower, or Troy Pullamalooooo(sic) or the rest of the gang... the Bus is the best... i dunno about denver though.. should be a good game - hopefully no where near the heart attacks that the Redskins or Steelers gave me in the first two rounds.... This weekend the steelers nearly killed me... what emotion but
for those eagle fans...
back on the bike this morning - two trips up and down college... gonna stick with the gearing rule - since it was just once last week i'm gonna go this week in the 23 up... which should be good cause i'm up and down every damn day the rest of the week, could be twice on a few days.
I hate the tourists around the college... driving while pointing - stopping when they aren't supposed to JUST after accelerating to get around me - then to have me roll around the front of the car as they are gawking... I usually am able to restrain from yelling out "WOW you got here SOOOOOOO much faster by zooming past me.. wow, I think it saved you a whole 2 freaking seconds!!!!!" Fucking retards...
maybe shouldn't end today with those two words... might be a bad precedent to set for the week. So this stuff is Faulkner-esque eh? According to someone who's reading it is...
M wrote:
damn starting a paragraph with a () and ending it with one too... sick ass bad writing i'm guessing... but not out of character for me...
and not out of character to just be like... woot - this post is history (until i get back on just after everything is wrapped up to add a few more thoughts - ya never know if a gewilli post is gonna stay the same till the next two posts are up)...
Peace out yall... ride the devil outa ya bikes or they'll haunt ya forever!
-Preacher G- OUT
1) Car
2) Soup
3) Changes
4) Football
5) cycling (obligatory by need)
Sooo whadda they have in common????
car - ashamed to admit it but GD is my car a freaking blast to drive. Its been parked for 6 weeks, driving the old/new swedish brick (850 sedan) and since the changes (allusions there of to #3) require that i begin burning BioDiesel once more the fam... getting the #2 car in action meant a 5 minute glow plug swap out in the downpour that was saturday in rode i land... followed by a mellow shake down drive to the barn where the 'winter' tires are. The winter tires are great Nokian NRWs but are a bit worn and the rears are cupped (but tolerable on the rear) AND they are one hell of a lot better in snow than the 65k miles of wear in the Turanza LS-H tires... (warrantied to 60k). The drive back, no holding back... bigger injectors and the chip - even with biod have me grinning like a freaking joyriding teenager. instant acceleration at any RPM, rock solid handling, tire squealing power, e-brake power slides... fun as hell... sue me for loving that car but its a blast - no where near stock but at 246,000+ miles and still kickin ass and taking numbers burning the bean as clean as can be is something to be happy about... so i only get 40-43 mpg driving with a lead foot in the city... its burning biodiesel and that is renewable... unlike the gasoline some put in hybrid cars (sorry kerry ;) couldn't resist - HAD to be said :-D )
(blood pressure and pulse resuming mellow state again)
soup - really really good stuff, made a batch, one of the best batches of soup in a long time. Yeah i'm the cook in the house, i like it - cooking is like science and biology and art wrapped up in one, if you want it to be. Or it can be a drudging way to get calories in oneself to get fat (see supermarket frozen food section with prepared meals). Anyway this soup rocked. A simple variation on my mother's classic.
-sweet onion (1/4 of a large one) and celery(3 large stalks) clarified in extra virgin olive oil in stock pot
-carrots (2 big ones) added (all ingredients chopped evenly)
-1 small parsnip
-2 small red top turnips
-1 small yukon gold potato
-1 large garnet yam
-1 medium butternut squash
-2 large leafs Kale (rough chopped)
-1 medium zucchini
-1 cup red lentils (rinsed and rinsed and rinsed till no bubbles formed)
-4 teaspoons of better than whatever condensed stock base (i used chicken but veggie would have worked to make it vegan)
-5 cloves of garlic (its a hella big soup this aint' really that much)
water to make it the right consistency...
sea salt (to taste)
dash of balsalmic (to taste)
shake or two of hot sauce (ditto for the rest of these)
sprinklin of ground coriander
dried basil
tumeric
woostersauce (replace with soysace for veganish)
cook and cook and cook (30 min or until all veggies are soft)
drop in the stick blender - blend till smooth, add two bay leaves once all blended and let sit simmering for a few minutes - and then serve over white rice with hot sauce on the side... damn freaking goooooooooood stuff. nummy nummy nummy
Yeah i made this for dinner last night... but i had a made-from-scratch green curry for lunch - definitely not one of my home runs - tasty but not like this soup...
changes... what nots exactly that. Changes. schedule, life, for whole family. Hopefully for the good, very hopeful... very hopeful... will i still get to ride? i think so... maybe the girls will adjust sooner than we had hoped.
FOOTBALL
Go Steelers... gotta say it - even if they are my brother's team how do you NOT like bill cower, or Troy Pullamalooooo(sic) or the rest of the gang... the Bus is the best... i dunno about denver though.. should be a good game - hopefully no where near the heart attacks that the Redskins or Steelers gave me in the first two rounds.... This weekend the steelers nearly killed me... what emotion but
for those eagle fans...
9. Next week will be the first time in five years that the conference championship round will be Eagles- and Patriots-free. Which is a shame, really. I never felt that we got to hear enough about those two teams. They kind of flew under the radar a bit on us, didn't they? But as disastrous as Philadelphia's season was this year, it must be nice for the Eagles to experience the month of January without being weighed down with an overwhelming sense of impending doom.maybe its a redskins fan thing but i am just fine not hearing about the Eagles..... the Redskins coulda won the game, but well not having an intact O-line will do it... it cost the Raiders a superbowl (as did the stupid rule about forward motion) with that guy who went all bi-polar to Mexico... so i drank beer and watched football... and worked on my car.... what a freaking damn patriotic american I am... oh if they only knew...
back on the bike this morning - two trips up and down college... gonna stick with the gearing rule - since it was just once last week i'm gonna go this week in the 23 up... which should be good cause i'm up and down every damn day the rest of the week, could be twice on a few days.
I hate the tourists around the college... driving while pointing - stopping when they aren't supposed to JUST after accelerating to get around me - then to have me roll around the front of the car as they are gawking... I usually am able to restrain from yelling out "WOW you got here SOOOOOOO much faster by zooming past me.. wow, I think it saved you a whole 2 freaking seconds!!!!!" Fucking retards...
maybe shouldn't end today with those two words... might be a bad precedent to set for the week. So this stuff is Faulkner-esque eh? According to someone who's reading it is...
M wrote:
...I've been reading some of your blog, having a hard time with some of it. Are you doin' some sort of William Faulkner kinda thing? ...(yes those ellipses are used properly in the quote for a change) that comment actually got me to go back and READ my old stuff - old stuff as in much of it from the last month or so. And to be perfectly honest... i was able to read it - and it was kinda cool going back and reading it... much more readable for me than many blogs out there (blogs and webpages on my links sidebar are the few exceptions - they all very readable).
damn starting a paragraph with a () and ending it with one too... sick ass bad writing i'm guessing... but not out of character for me...
and not out of character to just be like... woot - this post is history (until i get back on just after everything is wrapped up to add a few more thoughts - ya never know if a gewilli post is gonna stay the same till the next two posts are up)...
Peace out yall... ride the devil outa ya bikes or they'll haunt ya forever!
-Preacher G- OUT
Friday, January 13, 2006
shoulda gone for the ride
if i knew it was going to be this mellow, quiet combined with my exhaustion i might have tried to get out on a ride with the BCC gang this afternoon...
as it is i might not have made it - all the trips back and forth to the other facility... i think there was just one day i wasn't down there (yesterday) and that day i did the wee ride over lunch...
wanna get fast? GET SOME SLEEP! i ain't gettin any... but am in general getting enough calories to compensate and still kicking around under 190. Which i still think is a bit weird... can't get used to being that light... but as i said before its a good light.
Pretty lame today i know... listening to some streets right now - those guys kick ass!
made it up 'the hill' today in a cog smaller than normal... and that's my new goal/game... gonna spend a week at one cog and go down until either i can't make it up or i get to the 50-12...
and the 70 degree thing... it was brought up by the cute Doc on the ride and also in her column over at velonews (quoted below)
Here's how it was always told to me: 60 degrees = short sleeves
and i've found even with my crappy knees that it works pretty damn well. I will always leave the knee warmers on longer... and have no qualms about going full length if conditions permit... there is no need for this old man to go for fasion... no one i can impress by being cold... well maybe there is but whats the point... gotta take care of the engine and the moving parts...
this weather here now is freaky - a blessing - when one can get out and ride in it, but sureal for January...
but let the weekend start - maybe i can find time to rest a bit - catch up on sleep - not depend on the vast amount of coffee i'm imbibing...
We'll see how the changes next week work... hopefully i can keep up the lofty goal of riding/bloggin/dreaming in the midst of everything else...
Can't leave without a wee touch of humor:
till tuesday - peace out
as it is i might not have made it - all the trips back and forth to the other facility... i think there was just one day i wasn't down there (yesterday) and that day i did the wee ride over lunch...
wanna get fast? GET SOME SLEEP! i ain't gettin any... but am in general getting enough calories to compensate and still kicking around under 190. Which i still think is a bit weird... can't get used to being that light... but as i said before its a good light.
Pretty lame today i know... listening to some streets right now - those guys kick ass!
made it up 'the hill' today in a cog smaller than normal... and that's my new goal/game... gonna spend a week at one cog and go down until either i can't make it up or i get to the 50-12...
and the 70 degree thing... it was brought up by the cute Doc on the ride and also in her column over at velonews (quoted below)
Skin care, heat balm and keeping covered
I'm old and grumpy enough to observe two recent skin-care fads in cold weather cycling that I find puzzling and medically counterintuitive. The first is bare legs in the snow. I was a junior back when disco was king and all we had to go by was the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) cycling manual. The good book strictly forbade riding in bare legs below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. These are words to live by, even with the bad English translation. Your skin can only do so much temperature regulation. Cold, bare legs make it harder for your body to maintain core temperature and prevent hypothermia.
Here's how it was always told to me: 60 degrees = short sleeves
and i've found even with my crappy knees that it works pretty damn well. I will always leave the knee warmers on longer... and have no qualms about going full length if conditions permit... there is no need for this old man to go for fasion... no one i can impress by being cold... well maybe there is but whats the point... gotta take care of the engine and the moving parts...
this weather here now is freaky - a blessing - when one can get out and ride in it, but sureal for January...
but let the weekend start - maybe i can find time to rest a bit - catch up on sleep - not depend on the vast amount of coffee i'm imbibing...
We'll see how the changes next week work... hopefully i can keep up the lofty goal of riding/bloggin/dreaming in the midst of everything else...
Can't leave without a wee touch of humor:
till tuesday - peace out
Thursday, January 12, 2006
throw back or old school
rolling rolling rolling... keep this blogger rolling... and no not in *that* way... sheesh - i'm clean - a law abidin freak (for the most part)...
rollin in the posting way...
title point...
Old School against Throw Back
jersey or bike parts or what not... Old school is like Old School - Throw Back seems maybe to be on the rise - up and coming maybe?
so i pitted the two at Google Fight
now at the time i ran it - Old School was at 351,000,000 and Throw Back was 94,400,000... not too shabby numbers
okay - but then doin it for real with quotes and all that gets some very different numbers:
25,500,000 vs 1,090,000 ... "throw back" got the snot kicked out of it...
dunno if it can be done historically... remians to be seen if throw back can make a successful run at the established 'old school'
--- topic #2
this dude took my name!!!
http://www.geoffreywilliamsmusic.com/
that lousy SOB... doesn't even look like me...
--- Good Morning everyone... top to bottom old to new... goes for the updates and the threads...
dead tired - but gotta head down the hill in a few minutes... gonna pop the update up just cause... cause i can and i have it here and this'll start me fresh for an afternoon update if there is one... Definately won't be anything new over the weekend, as usual... nuttin new on the weekends till net access is live at teh homestead... its kinda nice to be ludditishly off line - no cable/dish no land line, no internet... kinda damn freaking nice i tell ya...
till later - if i wake up and make it back...
rollin in the posting way...
title point...
Old School against Throw Back
jersey or bike parts or what not... Old school is like Old School - Throw Back seems maybe to be on the rise - up and coming maybe?
so i pitted the two at Google Fight
now at the time i ran it - Old School was at 351,000,000 and Throw Back was 94,400,000... not too shabby numbers
okay - but then doin it for real with quotes and all that gets some very different numbers:
25,500,000 vs 1,090,000 ... "throw back" got the snot kicked out of it...
dunno if it can be done historically... remians to be seen if throw back can make a successful run at the established 'old school'
--- topic #2
this dude took my name!!!
http://www.geoffreywilliamsmusic.com/
that lousy SOB... doesn't even look like me...
--- Good Morning everyone... top to bottom old to new... goes for the updates and the threads...
dead tired - but gotta head down the hill in a few minutes... gonna pop the update up just cause... cause i can and i have it here and this'll start me fresh for an afternoon update if there is one... Definately won't be anything new over the weekend, as usual... nuttin new on the weekends till net access is live at teh homestead... its kinda nice to be ludditishly off line - no cable/dish no land line, no internet... kinda damn freaking nice i tell ya...
till later - if i wake up and make it back...
time for something completely different
Some flickr images - my violin... There's a Flickr member that was the inspiration for this set of images - i'm hesitant to call them a series, but i guess they are, quick snapshots... and like the first one - the only shot to choose from...
anyway sitting at the Seattle concert waiting for sound check to require me to play - i was sitting there - camera next to me violin in my lap (upside down as seen) and thought - damn its about time i actaully do what i have been wanting to do (take pics of my instrument)... there it is... or should i say here they are...
if ya been around here for a long time there's a post or two about music... one of the first ones i think maybe... yeah... here
and there i go again - linkin my own shit... shameless... but ya know what i've started doing?
Actually reading what i wrote... no not as much back then. the throwback linkin my own shit stuff is total memory recall... i can't remember people's names on rides, but i can remember a blog entry i wrote on the 30th of sept 2004... freaky man - freaky...
whats it called when you can't remember stuff?
(my own personal joke lately - cause i've been doing really poorly with names as of late)
a wee ride update to close up the afternoon with. Kick Ass... Dawn Richardson is a total cutie - fun to ride with and lead a great mellow 1 hr lunch ride today... what a blast... Its strange riding with a legend, a superstar, someone who's columns in Velonews i've read, with as much interest as reading Zinn's stuff... now there's someone i'd really like to ride with.
I wonder - i should put together a list of the people i'd like to ride with... the dream pack...
Zinn'd definitely be on the list... i'd hate to admit but i don't think i'll put that Lance guy... Eddy Mercx and his son Axle? damn straight... Sean Kelly, and Yatesy? not a shread of doubt... i'll need to think about it a bit more - add Gary Klein to the mix and Keith Bontrager... something to keep cogitating on while working on the scopes...
hey - anyone know the biochemical reason why we can't get good photobleaching for a FRAP experiment using Di-4 ANEPPS?
issa fun stuff yall... music, cycling, photography, microscopy... dats my world, welcome to the glimpse of chaos that is my brain
anyway sitting at the Seattle concert waiting for sound check to require me to play - i was sitting there - camera next to me violin in my lap (upside down as seen) and thought - damn its about time i actaully do what i have been wanting to do (take pics of my instrument)... there it is... or should i say here they are...
if ya been around here for a long time there's a post or two about music... one of the first ones i think maybe... yeah... here
and there i go again - linkin my own shit... shameless... but ya know what i've started doing?
Actually reading what i wrote... no not as much back then. the throwback linkin my own shit stuff is total memory recall... i can't remember people's names on rides, but i can remember a blog entry i wrote on the 30th of sept 2004... freaky man - freaky...
whats it called when you can't remember stuff?
(my own personal joke lately - cause i've been doing really poorly with names as of late)
a wee ride update to close up the afternoon with. Kick Ass... Dawn Richardson is a total cutie - fun to ride with and lead a great mellow 1 hr lunch ride today... what a blast... Its strange riding with a legend, a superstar, someone who's columns in Velonews i've read, with as much interest as reading Zinn's stuff... now there's someone i'd really like to ride with.
I wonder - i should put together a list of the people i'd like to ride with... the dream pack...
Zinn'd definitely be on the list... i'd hate to admit but i don't think i'll put that Lance guy... Eddy Mercx and his son Axle? damn straight... Sean Kelly, and Yatesy? not a shread of doubt... i'll need to think about it a bit more - add Gary Klein to the mix and Keith Bontrager... something to keep cogitating on while working on the scopes...
hey - anyone know the biochemical reason why we can't get good photobleaching for a FRAP experiment using Di-4 ANEPPS?
issa fun stuff yall... music, cycling, photography, microscopy... dats my world, welcome to the glimpse of chaos that is my brain
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
a quote ...
The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity.
- Helen Rowland
and a link ...
home.earthlink.net/~acoggan/misc/id4.html
its warm and its january - crazyness... 20ºF+ warmer than normal...
gonna go out for a lunch time ride...
totally geeked for that - a bit amped up on caffine but feeling somewhat... pedestrian in my prose today. The words the ideas... not flowing so good...
but to post anyway - is what to do - what can be done - what should be done?
music - put some music on... usually works... and 20 miuntes later - its working... but now... damnit gotta get back to the fun stuff (microscopes are cool) and still how many years later... shit 13 years from the release... Thigh High Nylons by Mustard Plug - DAT song STILL gets my blood pumpin! Kick'n yall
hopefully i'll be back with a ride report this PM...
g-dawg OUT
- Helen Rowland
and a link ...
home.earthlink.net/~acoggan/misc/id4.html
its warm and its january - crazyness... 20ºF+ warmer than normal...
gonna go out for a lunch time ride...
totally geeked for that - a bit amped up on caffine but feeling somewhat... pedestrian in my prose today. The words the ideas... not flowing so good...
but to post anyway - is what to do - what can be done - what should be done?
music - put some music on... usually works... and 20 miuntes later - its working... but now... damnit gotta get back to the fun stuff (microscopes are cool) and still how many years later... shit 13 years from the release... Thigh High Nylons by Mustard Plug - DAT song STILL gets my blood pumpin! Kick'n yall
hopefully i'll be back with a ride report this PM...
g-dawg OUT
a milestone
or not... something cool from a cool person - a link... (check Kerry from my links...)
but amid the chaos that is work right now... its a great little light of sunshine... politics and science...
why can't we all just stick with 'Science'
Okay - definition time... (anyone notice i've switched gears to lecture mode?)
./lecture mode aside
I like definitions esp when talking about science with students or researchers/peers. Definitions provide a common point to begin discussion. Most arguments and mis-understandings are based on lack of agreed upon language or starting facts.
./lecture mode on!
My definition for science:
Peer supported/reviewed explanations of empirical data
Now lets look at What Ken Miller says science is:
“the systematic search for explanations for how the observable world works”
and i had my def written down before i looked up Miller's, and am suprised by the similarity, out of the blue kinda not identical no but close enough to boost an ego... or to affirm my understanding.
Anyway whats this gotta do with the chaos? People doing science non-systematically and not focusing on the collection of the emperical data in the most appropriate manner. Long story... not going into it... but causing crazyness...
Oh... i started wanting to say - i'm a total Geek. I LOOOOOOVE TEM... and TEM for those not in the know is Transmission Electron Microscope. Back at the old place... i hated it... back at the place before it was just a pain... here... man something about this place... maybe it is the kick ass knives, maybe its the sweet CCD on the microscope... maybe its the samples.
But i'm having a freaking blast sectioning this Lichen sample i found out at home over vacation. Yeah i found a cool lichen, put it in a salsa container ontop of a bunch of moss and have it here in the lab. And i've prepped and looked at it on the TEM. Trying out new fixation methods and everything... I'm a geek but i don't care this is cool stuff...
See:
of course now that i've published it here the image looks like shit - if anyone is really curious i can email a tiff or a higher q jpeg
I mean isn't that cool? The algal cells with the funky primative chlorophyll and all that?!!
anyway - i dunno how the hell i'm gonna get low intensity base training in and get it effective with this bike commute back and forth up and down the hill... twice today... but seated in the 50toother no problem... no more am i forced to stand up and use every muscle in my body, no longer does climbing that hill mean feeling my back later... its 100% leggs and gettin easier everytime...
if only there was a career for a Cipo wanna be... if 7 or 8 guys towed my ass all over a race course i think i'd do okay (nah of course not - i'm still slow but i can dream can't i?)
I did feel the extra 30 pounds of books i rode in with this morning... mostly heading up the hill... very different to suddenly be as fat as i was 6 months ago... that sudden realization as i was typing is funny... that bag was kinda heavy... made me slow...
ah well - next weeks massive change to everyone's schedules will really be a shock to the system... could take a few weeks to recover from the madness....
linkage today?
its edumacation time:
Light Microscope Primer
Check it out - its fun - lots of cool Java tutorials (okay cool to a microscope geek)
peace out yall
G
but amid the chaos that is work right now... its a great little light of sunshine... politics and science...
why can't we all just stick with 'Science'
Okay - definition time... (anyone notice i've switched gears to lecture mode?)
./lecture mode aside
I like definitions esp when talking about science with students or researchers/peers. Definitions provide a common point to begin discussion. Most arguments and mis-understandings are based on lack of agreed upon language or starting facts.
./lecture mode on!
My definition for science:
Peer supported/reviewed explanations of empirical data
Now lets look at What Ken Miller says science is:
“the systematic search for explanations for how the observable world works”
and i had my def written down before i looked up Miller's, and am suprised by the similarity, out of the blue kinda not identical no but close enough to boost an ego... or to affirm my understanding.
Anyway whats this gotta do with the chaos? People doing science non-systematically and not focusing on the collection of the emperical data in the most appropriate manner. Long story... not going into it... but causing crazyness...
Oh... i started wanting to say - i'm a total Geek. I LOOOOOOVE TEM... and TEM for those not in the know is Transmission Electron Microscope. Back at the old place... i hated it... back at the place before it was just a pain... here... man something about this place... maybe it is the kick ass knives, maybe its the sweet CCD on the microscope... maybe its the samples.
But i'm having a freaking blast sectioning this Lichen sample i found out at home over vacation. Yeah i found a cool lichen, put it in a salsa container ontop of a bunch of moss and have it here in the lab. And i've prepped and looked at it on the TEM. Trying out new fixation methods and everything... I'm a geek but i don't care this is cool stuff...
See:
of course now that i've published it here the image looks like shit - if anyone is really curious i can email a tiff or a higher q jpegI mean isn't that cool? The algal cells with the funky primative chlorophyll and all that?!!
anyway - i dunno how the hell i'm gonna get low intensity base training in and get it effective with this bike commute back and forth up and down the hill... twice today... but seated in the 50toother no problem... no more am i forced to stand up and use every muscle in my body, no longer does climbing that hill mean feeling my back later... its 100% leggs and gettin easier everytime...
if only there was a career for a Cipo wanna be... if 7 or 8 guys towed my ass all over a race course i think i'd do okay (nah of course not - i'm still slow but i can dream can't i?)
I did feel the extra 30 pounds of books i rode in with this morning... mostly heading up the hill... very different to suddenly be as fat as i was 6 months ago... that sudden realization as i was typing is funny... that bag was kinda heavy... made me slow...
ah well - next weeks massive change to everyone's schedules will really be a shock to the system... could take a few weeks to recover from the madness....
linkage today?
its edumacation time:
Light Microscope Primer
Check it out - its fun - lots of cool Java tutorials (okay cool to a microscope geek)
peace out yall
G
Monday, January 09, 2006
throw back...
sure i'm linkin my own shit now... sue me...
but looking at that - feb 19th... damn freaking long time ago...
goals? aspirations? No i didn't want to wait until then to post the thing cause the Mike Walden stuff is coming into my head everytime i hear a spinning class reference.
its best to quote it:
i wonder if i could do that... 1000 miles - 65% of the HR with no sprints?
Hell what would i do on my commute? no sprints? that's nearly impossible. very curious what his sprint limits are - cause even ann arbor ain't as flat as all that... a hill okay? Maybe as long as the Heart rate stays below 65%... well then what about sex? would sex negate the capillary development?
Lets post this question - query to the local email gang to see what they all say:
And boy oh boy - what a great wealth of conversation...
I hesitate to drag them over here willingly or unwillingly... a few of the main points that often, of course, i didn't think about... but read over there
if ya can... i haven't checked to see if ya need to be a member or not to read the messages... anyway some good stuff...
ride as much as you can... if you can't ride much ride harder ;)
but i'll say this - the best results i had were from having a good base - maintaining the base and then training hard for about 150% longer than the race event... that's the only real success i've had...
And since i'm working towards just racing Cyclocross this year (unless someone twists my arm into a decent road race) i've got a bit of time in the calendar... just a job and two kids and all that goes along with that kinda get in the way of riding 5-6 hours a day... even if i could do it on a trainer... so i do what i can... hoping that it'll be enough... hoping that maybe i can get out for a good ride at least once a week... and get a distance base on top of the commuting...
I figure if i can sustaing 90% max all the way into work (2 miles) that'll be not so bad as a benchmark... definately getting the sprinting done... but heck - who wants to hear this babble...
so I pulled onto Hope street (2 blocks from the pad) behind a red Mini (new one - S model) and caught it at the red light down the road a bit as it turned green and had a nice 300 meter sprint, keeping infront of it (albeit yeah the car was driven rather pedestrianly) till i turned off... the legs are recovering from the drinking... its a good thing...
my weight is down to under 190 for the first time in 7-8 years i think... my blood pressure is also down again to the point where i have blackouts and dizzy spells again (for the first time in about 7 years). resting HR is still only about 50... need to work on that a bit more...
-- this hybrid thing -- KL made a few comments there in the 'ouch' thread. I get carried away and passionate about stuff... its just who i am... (any reasonably astute person with time on their hands reading this blog will probably come to that conclusion)... hybrids are great - but as with the big SUVs are rarely used to their designed potential.
Why is it that Europe kicks our ass? In cars (efficiency, like the Polo and Lupo or the smart cars) and in cyclocross? is there a link to kickin ass in Cross and efficiency? maybe it has to do with sacrifice?
Are they willing to do with less to get by? Work harder for more? Or are we just fat and lazy and over-hoarders? Do we just buy to prepare for the worst case:
ferfucksake...
Oh and Swobo kicks ASS. Have i ordered the jersey yet? nah - i will... when i can put the scratch together and also when i finally get sick of that old school bellweather longsleeve jersey... but here - I read through their stuff yesterday and this kinda made me sad:
anyway (click quote to read the preface to the punchline)...
time will tell to see if any of my banter results in cyclocross results... and time will tell if the USA can get its collective head out of its ass... Bush Co. man does that gang make me furious...
'nuff reading... 'nuff blabbing... 'nuff of it all...
But... at least i'm not fat anymore... i might still be old and slow... but fat fortunately i aint
---
gonna close by adding a morning email blast i wrote about bike tune-ups:
Let me preface the following remarks with this: I'm a 'retired' bike mechanic, a grad of United Bicycle Institute, 2 years at the Pine Street Pro shop in seattle, 4 years at the Conn College mechanic and 6 years at Velocipede in Lansing. I've seen pretty much everything, done pretty much everything you can do to a bike, more than once.
Tune ups: In general, yes a tune up is a great thing to do. If you are not mechanically inclined having a good mechanic give the bike a once over annually is a very good thing. The money is well spent, but like a car - if you neglect it for too long the list of "needed" repairs can get rather extensive.
Chains and cogs wear together, and the lube you choose to use will determine its lifespan when coupled with miles and rider power. Never ever EVER change one without changing the other... Okay there is one exception. If you change the chain before it wears at all the cassette will last a long time, but you need to change the chain at about 1/3 its usable life. Oh and never ever use a degreaser on the chain... long story... i've said enough as it is
Cables. The type of shifting system will determine how much worn/corroded cables will impact it. Poor shifting could be sticking bad cables or just mis-adjustment. And as with the chains and cogs - cables should generally be changed WITH the housing.
brake pads - kinda no brainer... if they are worn replace...
All this can add up to a significant amount of money if they've been neglected. I have not yet had a chance to stop in to either Prov Bike or the Hub but i hear good things about those places. I have encountered shops that will reccomend replacing parts that aren't really needed. I have encountered more customers though that refuse to have NEEDED parts replaced.
And unless given the hearty and warm go ahead from the bike shop... don't bring your mail/internet ordered parts in to have them install them.
and to add: my bike wax of choice is Lemon Scented Pledge...
-G
but looking at that - feb 19th... damn freaking long time ago...
goals? aspirations? No i didn't want to wait until then to post the thing cause the Mike Walden stuff is coming into my head everytime i hear a spinning class reference.
its best to quote it:
Michigan coaching legend Mike Walden kept his road racers on a 42/15 fixed gear at a heart rate never to exceed 65% of their maximum until they had logged 1000 miles for the season, and he claimed a single sprint would negate all the "capillary developing" of this phase42/15
i wonder if i could do that... 1000 miles - 65% of the HR with no sprints?
Hell what would i do on my commute? no sprints? that's nearly impossible. very curious what his sprint limits are - cause even ann arbor ain't as flat as all that... a hill okay? Maybe as long as the Heart rate stays below 65%... well then what about sex? would sex negate the capillary development?
Lets post this question - query to the local email gang to see what they all say:
And boy oh boy - what a great wealth of conversation...
I hesitate to drag them over here willingly or unwillingly... a few of the main points that often, of course, i didn't think about... but read over there
if ya can... i haven't checked to see if ya need to be a member or not to read the messages... anyway some good stuff...
ride as much as you can... if you can't ride much ride harder ;)
but i'll say this - the best results i had were from having a good base - maintaining the base and then training hard for about 150% longer than the race event... that's the only real success i've had...
And since i'm working towards just racing Cyclocross this year (unless someone twists my arm into a decent road race) i've got a bit of time in the calendar... just a job and two kids and all that goes along with that kinda get in the way of riding 5-6 hours a day... even if i could do it on a trainer... so i do what i can... hoping that it'll be enough... hoping that maybe i can get out for a good ride at least once a week... and get a distance base on top of the commuting...
I figure if i can sustaing 90% max all the way into work (2 miles) that'll be not so bad as a benchmark... definately getting the sprinting done... but heck - who wants to hear this babble...
so I pulled onto Hope street (2 blocks from the pad) behind a red Mini (new one - S model) and caught it at the red light down the road a bit as it turned green and had a nice 300 meter sprint, keeping infront of it (albeit yeah the car was driven rather pedestrianly) till i turned off... the legs are recovering from the drinking... its a good thing...
my weight is down to under 190 for the first time in 7-8 years i think... my blood pressure is also down again to the point where i have blackouts and dizzy spells again (for the first time in about 7 years). resting HR is still only about 50... need to work on that a bit more...
-- this hybrid thing -- KL made a few comments there in the 'ouch' thread. I get carried away and passionate about stuff... its just who i am... (any reasonably astute person with time on their hands reading this blog will probably come to that conclusion)... hybrids are great - but as with the big SUVs are rarely used to their designed potential.
Why is it that Europe kicks our ass? In cars (efficiency, like the Polo and Lupo or the smart cars) and in cyclocross? is there a link to kickin ass in Cross and efficiency? maybe it has to do with sacrifice?
Are they willing to do with less to get by? Work harder for more? Or are we just fat and lazy and over-hoarders? Do we just buy to prepare for the worst case:
i'm going to buy a F350 V10 with the towing package for my 2 mile commute, just in case i need to move a steam roller on a trailer up to the cabin i plan to buymake sense? i dunno - that guy would be better off getting a small car or a bike and renting the F350 dualie to move his steam roller! Nah that'd make him look less like a real man...
ferfucksake...
Oh and Swobo kicks ASS. Have i ordered the jersey yet? nah - i will... when i can put the scratch together and also when i finally get sick of that old school bellweather longsleeve jersey... but here - I read through their stuff yesterday and this kinda made me sad:
"...the epitaph for the planet, I remember, which he said should be carved in big letters in a wall of the Grand Canyon for the flying-saucer people to find, was this:
WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP"
anyway (click quote to read the preface to the punchline)...
time will tell to see if any of my banter results in cyclocross results... and time will tell if the USA can get its collective head out of its ass... Bush Co. man does that gang make me furious...
'nuff reading... 'nuff blabbing... 'nuff of it all...
But... at least i'm not fat anymore... i might still be old and slow... but fat fortunately i aint
---
gonna close by adding a morning email blast i wrote about bike tune-ups:
Let me preface the following remarks with this: I'm a 'retired' bike mechanic, a grad of United Bicycle Institute, 2 years at the Pine Street Pro shop in seattle, 4 years at the Conn College mechanic and 6 years at Velocipede in Lansing. I've seen pretty much everything, done pretty much everything you can do to a bike, more than once.
Tune ups: In general, yes a tune up is a great thing to do. If you are not mechanically inclined having a good mechanic give the bike a once over annually is a very good thing. The money is well spent, but like a car - if you neglect it for too long the list of "needed" repairs can get rather extensive.
Chains and cogs wear together, and the lube you choose to use will determine its lifespan when coupled with miles and rider power. Never ever EVER change one without changing the other... Okay there is one exception. If you change the chain before it wears at all the cassette will last a long time, but you need to change the chain at about 1/3 its usable life. Oh and never ever use a degreaser on the chain... long story... i've said enough as it is
Cables. The type of shifting system will determine how much worn/corroded cables will impact it. Poor shifting could be sticking bad cables or just mis-adjustment. And as with the chains and cogs - cables should generally be changed WITH the housing.
brake pads - kinda no brainer... if they are worn replace...
All this can add up to a significant amount of money if they've been neglected. I have not yet had a chance to stop in to either Prov Bike or the Hub but i hear good things about those places. I have encountered shops that will reccomend replacing parts that aren't really needed. I have encountered more customers though that refuse to have NEEDED parts replaced.
And unless given the hearty and warm go ahead from the bike shop... don't bring your mail/internet ordered parts in to have them install them.
and to add: my bike wax of choice is Lemon Scented Pledge...
-G
First Group Ride of the Year
Thankfully none of the crap that seems to be of the sort reported over at DC with road rides... hell i've never been on a road ride like described there in my life. Crazy stuff...
maybe cause most places i've been either a mechanic at the LBS or running the show (college) or what not. This is the first place that i've just jumped in with a very loose association. The last time i rode with the group it was a great dynamic - pretty cool - till the dog incident (different story). This time it was a great ride but somewhat cool - maybe the weather - maybe cause i just didn't feel like being the extrovert and not being on the big drinkin over the holidays made me feel a bit exerted. Even still i had a great ride - the people are great - nothing wrong with them J is a hoot - bubbly happy and full of enthusiasm and incessantly talking about spinning class. Which from a spinning instructor - makes sense.
The ride started off a great day with the Skins beating up on Tampa Bay, and the Steelers takin out Cincy. I couldn't get into the Patriots-Jag game... the Skins Bucs was emotional and exciting - i could give two poops about the Pats at this point. And all i want is to see the two #6 seeds meet in Detroit for the XL game...
all jacked up on caffine... and am waiting for the verdict on one of the problems left over from last week...
I should also explain WHY i'm just NOW posting images of the Cyclocross Nationals. Well since the nats i've been busy, on vacation or otherwise prevented from pulling more than i posted over on flickr.... and figured i'd just get em posted and see if anyone sees them.
Oh and daily gripe!
Farkin 49 flavors? I got this can of jelly bellys for christmas, and when i opened it I was 'cool jelly beans' thinking good snack at work... had a cravin for jelly beans one day last week - open them up... and realize/read 49 flavors? WTF one or two are nasty and how the hell do you eat more than one at a time!??? ah well - its one way to make them last -
peace out for now...
G
adding this link:
kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548
good story
maybe cause most places i've been either a mechanic at the LBS or running the show (college) or what not. This is the first place that i've just jumped in with a very loose association. The last time i rode with the group it was a great dynamic - pretty cool - till the dog incident (different story). This time it was a great ride but somewhat cool - maybe the weather - maybe cause i just didn't feel like being the extrovert and not being on the big drinkin over the holidays made me feel a bit exerted. Even still i had a great ride - the people are great - nothing wrong with them J is a hoot - bubbly happy and full of enthusiasm and incessantly talking about spinning class. Which from a spinning instructor - makes sense.
The ride started off a great day with the Skins beating up on Tampa Bay, and the Steelers takin out Cincy. I couldn't get into the Patriots-Jag game... the Skins Bucs was emotional and exciting - i could give two poops about the Pats at this point. And all i want is to see the two #6 seeds meet in Detroit for the XL game...
all jacked up on caffine... and am waiting for the verdict on one of the problems left over from last week...
I should also explain WHY i'm just NOW posting images of the Cyclocross Nationals. Well since the nats i've been busy, on vacation or otherwise prevented from pulling more than i posted over on flickr.... and figured i'd just get em posted and see if anyone sees them.
Oh and daily gripe!
Farkin 49 flavors? I got this can of jelly bellys for christmas, and when i opened it I was 'cool jelly beans' thinking good snack at work... had a cravin for jelly beans one day last week - open them up... and realize/read 49 flavors? WTF one or two are nasty and how the hell do you eat more than one at a time!??? ah well - its one way to make them last -
peace out for now...
G
adding this link:
kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548
good story
Friday, January 06, 2006
More of the Women of the Cyclocross Nats
the ones i got okay images of... these are just the low rez uploaded versions - for full rez drop me an email or comment or something and you can have em.
I tried to get names from the start list and bib#s if i'm wrong lemme know...
Melissa Thomas:
Ann Knapp:
Maureeen Bruno Roy:
Anna Milkowski:
A fieldshot:
In the Jelly Belly Bowl:
there - that's about it of the best...
on the commuting cycling side - i swapped the fenders and the lights over to the Paramount this morning - set the Cross machine aside and different. Such different beasts these two are. And the ride back up from the other facility coming up College Street with the 50 tooth single front ring and the 25 in back... pretty survivable... not sure i could keep that pace up say, mt washington, but a couple blocks was no problem.
its the weekend... most all of our systems have had a massive puke this week, laser intensities all outa wack - power supplies dead - diff pump elements fried - software upgrades gone haywire... stuff like that - no good and to top it all off a major demo of a hugely significant system starting monday next week...
with fingers tightly crossed i'm REALLY hoping i can get out for a road ride... hoping hoping hoping... gotta blow off a few more of these booze pounds accumulated... shoot for someone who hopes to be in cyclocross shape by summer - i ain't convincing myself very well... but then its still the first week in January - many folks are taking it easy now... i've gotta chance... now where's that post i made last year about mike walton - time to dig that up and revisit those training guidelines... It worked for my man FrankieA!
peace out and have a good weekend to yall! And to those hybrid drivers on the highways! SPEED UP ;) just kiddin yall!
I tried to get names from the start list and bib#s if i'm wrong lemme know...
Melissa Thomas:
Ann Knapp:
Maureeen Bruno Roy:
Anna Milkowski:
A fieldshot:
In the Jelly Belly Bowl:
there - that's about it of the best...
on the commuting cycling side - i swapped the fenders and the lights over to the Paramount this morning - set the Cross machine aside and different. Such different beasts these two are. And the ride back up from the other facility coming up College Street with the 50 tooth single front ring and the 25 in back... pretty survivable... not sure i could keep that pace up say, mt washington, but a couple blocks was no problem.
its the weekend... most all of our systems have had a massive puke this week, laser intensities all outa wack - power supplies dead - diff pump elements fried - software upgrades gone haywire... stuff like that - no good and to top it all off a major demo of a hugely significant system starting monday next week...
with fingers tightly crossed i'm REALLY hoping i can get out for a road ride... hoping hoping hoping... gotta blow off a few more of these booze pounds accumulated... shoot for someone who hopes to be in cyclocross shape by summer - i ain't convincing myself very well... but then its still the first week in January - many folks are taking it easy now... i've gotta chance... now where's that post i made last year about mike walton - time to dig that up and revisit those training guidelines... It worked for my man FrankieA!
peace out and have a good weekend to yall! And to those hybrid drivers on the highways! SPEED UP ;) just kiddin yall!
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Stover
It works... amazingly...the image is referencing Ace Girl Races post from the Cross nats... regarding Marianne Stover's hole in her shorts....
...and why has it taken me this long to figure to post images???
well i've been bitching (to myself- off line) i'm feelin too strapped to up for a pro account over at flickr... and wondering what the heck i do to get the rest of the good shots uploaded from the Nats and what not...
well doofus - try the photo tools in Blogger...
sometimes i feel like i fell out of the tree and hit every branch on the way down....
so if this works and seems functional... i might have more pics than juts whats cranking at flickr... g-dawg out
___________________
Here's a few more from the woman's elite race:
Ann Knapp and Katie Compton... eventual #2 and #1
there that's it for now... more later... i found out the issue with the damn blogger photos - upload is s l o w
*sigh* oh well...
...and why has it taken me this long to figure to post images???
well i've been bitching (to myself- off line) i'm feelin too strapped to up for a pro account over at flickr... and wondering what the heck i do to get the rest of the good shots uploaded from the Nats and what not...
well doofus - try the photo tools in Blogger...
sometimes i feel like i fell out of the tree and hit every branch on the way down....
so if this works and seems functional... i might have more pics than juts whats cranking at flickr... g-dawg out
___________________
Here's a few more from the woman's elite race:
Ann Knapp and Katie Compton... eventual #2 and #1
there that's it for now... more later... i found out the issue with the damn blogger photos - upload is s l o w
*sigh* oh well...
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Start Money? I want some!
-timeline initiated at 1pm on the 4th(i think)-
Damn it Geoff Proctor!, now i'll never be satisfied...
getting paid to race? for cripes sake man! us racing sucks! Those guys get PAID to race over there! Farking brilliant!
if that doesn't just bite my balls...
more incentive to race next fall... even if i DO have to pay for it... heck it is fun... and hopefully the coming New England Cyclocross season will be enough motivation to get me on the bike and focusing on getting fast, fast enough maybe not to eat everyone's dirt...
but i'd be delighted to eat marianne stover's dirt all day long - don't tell my wife - but i'm smitten. That photogenic--smile... Kicking ass in cyclocross (enough to win my heart any day - if it hadn't already been spoken for by an elite rower).. i'd better leave it at that - donna wann to make too much of it - oh and i did find a nice image of her that i managed to grab at Nats... #222 blasting along the bottom of the jelly belly bowl... oh and she's from maine - dats almost enough for me right there!
okay - enough of this day dreaming about unobtainuim - i have a better chance at scoring an IF cross-machine than well i'd better not write it down... besides - i wonder if its okay to even mention all that... well since no one is really reading this dribble anyway... i probably don't have much to worry about...
__________
okay well...
alright - in effort to keep this shit from pilin up at once:
heres the later afternoon stuff
just got back from bopping up College street hill - first 3/4 great - last 1/4 sucked...
its short enough that you can maintain some speed but just long enough to make you work for it...
and man o man did i work for it- it is steep enough that you cannot stand normally on the sidewalk or road - crazy goofy angle...
but fun as shit man - and my cadence at the top was so lopsided and i was all bugged out so much that i could feel the fluxuations in the power in my eyeballs... kinda oomph oomph... i gotta work on some circles or something if i'm a gonna make a go at the cyclocross end of it all... and by god i will... granted my commuting miles don't add up to a whole lot (20-30 miles avg/week) but its a power ride - a good hill both ways... and with traffic so a big incentive to keep the speed up around 25 the whole way... no it ain't a big deal but its enough work luggin my tall lanky ass up and down carrying an excessive amount of stuff in my "OLD SCHOOL" timbuk2 messenger bag... i never liked riding with a backpack... gimme the one shoulder thing all day... the camel back is borderline obnoxious and seein as my bladders have been harboring god knows what for years i'm not about to start using them until i get my over extended ass into a shop to pick one up...
speaking of shops... I'm needing to check out the Hub... reccomended by the BCC gang - okay reccomended by one of the gang... still needing to check it out... maybe they've got some of that T-9 gold to fend off the corrosion I'm starting to build up on the nuts and bits...
okay - will wait to post till tomorrow so i don't blast the blog with trifecta action!
----
This is tomorrow - or should i say today/this morning... waiting on service guys for the microscope... doing concentration calculations for a fixation run of lichen collected from the 'vaction' trip to the PacNW (home)... well the service guys are here... and i'm just about dried off from the ride in - funny how fog at 20 mph gets ya soaking wet... and 30-32 degrees - not quite cold enough to freeze it.
man i love commuting by bike!
Damn it Geoff Proctor!, now i'll never be satisfied...
getting paid to race? for cripes sake man! us racing sucks! Those guys get PAID to race over there! Farking brilliant!
Geoff Proctor:
"Even the smaller races are paying something in start money. It's very foreign to the American riders. In America, we pay to race. Riders in Europe could not fathom paying for races."
if that doesn't just bite my balls...
more incentive to race next fall... even if i DO have to pay for it... heck it is fun... and hopefully the coming New England Cyclocross season will be enough motivation to get me on the bike and focusing on getting fast, fast enough maybe not to eat everyone's dirt...
but i'd be delighted to eat marianne stover's dirt all day long - don't tell my wife - but i'm smitten. That photogenic--smile... Kicking ass in cyclocross (enough to win my heart any day - if it hadn't already been spoken for by an elite rower).. i'd better leave it at that - donna wann to make too much of it - oh and i did find a nice image of her that i managed to grab at Nats... #222 blasting along the bottom of the jelly belly bowl... oh and she's from maine - dats almost enough for me right there!
okay - enough of this day dreaming about unobtainuim - i have a better chance at scoring an IF cross-machine than well i'd better not write it down... besides - i wonder if its okay to even mention all that...
__________
okay well...
alright - in effort to keep this shit from pilin up at once:
heres the later afternoon stuff
just got back from bopping up College street hill - first 3/4 great - last 1/4 sucked...
its short enough that you can maintain some speed but just long enough to make you work for it...
and man o man did i work for it- it is steep enough that you cannot stand normally on the sidewalk or road - crazy goofy angle...
but fun as shit man - and my cadence at the top was so lopsided and i was all bugged out so much that i could feel the fluxuations in the power in my eyeballs... kinda oomph oomph... i gotta work on some circles or something if i'm a gonna make a go at the cyclocross end of it all... and by god i will... granted my commuting miles don't add up to a whole lot (20-30 miles avg/week) but its a power ride - a good hill both ways... and with traffic so a big incentive to keep the speed up around 25 the whole way... no it ain't a big deal but its enough work luggin my tall lanky ass up and down carrying an excessive amount of stuff in my "OLD SCHOOL" timbuk2 messenger bag... i never liked riding with a backpack... gimme the one shoulder thing all day... the camel back is borderline obnoxious and seein as my bladders have been harboring god knows what for years i'm not about to start using them until i get my over extended ass into a shop to pick one up...
speaking of shops... I'm needing to check out the Hub... reccomended by the BCC gang - okay reccomended by one of the gang... still needing to check it out... maybe they've got some of that T-9 gold to fend off the corrosion I'm starting to build up on the nuts and bits...
okay - will wait to post till tomorrow so i don't blast the blog with trifecta action!
----
This is tomorrow - or should i say today/this morning... waiting on service guys for the microscope... doing concentration calculations for a fixation run of lichen collected from the 'vaction' trip to the PacNW (home)... well the service guys are here... and i'm just about dried off from the ride in - funny how fog at 20 mph gets ya soaking wet... and 30-32 degrees - not quite cold enough to freeze it.
man i love commuting by bike!
Hill climbs and Grades
Okay - i said there would be more than one today. Well sure enough - for some reason i'm being sucked into this cycling blogging whirlpool... why? dunno... seems to be appropriate and the only blogs besides Paul's (see i 'updated' the links and there he is) that i read on an even semi-regular basis are cycling related. I've dropped almost out of the car world with the exception of the friends from TDIclub and the local GTGs and all that.
more on to the point- i dropped Doug Jansen and email asking maybe if he might have run across the grades on a few hills i ride between the two facilities here in Providence... specifically College and Waterman streets between N. Main and Prospect. Essentially climbing up the hill to the college.
I know they are steep... being a seattle boy and commuting to the Pine Street Pro Shop, which back in the 90s when i worked there was owned by the Velo Stores folks. The shop's been long gone for a while... but its gets me back to cycling in the PacNW and the fact that i ain't no hill newbie. And based on my experience i knew these two were steep.
My guess was 10% or so... I've found that just before i got nailed by the flu/cold over Halloween i could make it up on my Paramount with the single 50toother in front and the 25 in back. Make it up mind you, not ride gracefully spinning. I think the 180 cranks and my 6'6" frame has something to do with it. Anyway, i did find that switching over to the Croll cyclocrosser with the 49/38 was a bit easier (38) but not a hell uvalot.
I'm going to take the liberty and quote Doug directly... cause damn that's steep as all can be... Its not quite as steep as Mt. Battie
I dunno about S. Court Street I haven't ridden up there at all... kinda cool though - some confirmation that its a steep pitch...
i suppose since mentioning the two i should do the run down of the rest of the bikes i don't ride as much:
Klein Quantum Pro...
Klein Ardoit (1996 with a few updates but keeping the MC2 love)
Klein Mantra Carbon (black - XL - rigid Klein UniKlein fork)
Then there are the two mentioned:
Croll Custom Cyclocross
'86 Waterford Schwinn Paramount built with Columbus SL/SP tube sets...
i won't mention the bikes i've owned leading up to this stable (yet)... but lately only the steelies get ridden - the joys of apartment life with 2/3rds of your stuff in storage! That Mantra has plans to become a single speed - i've got the wheel built, the cassette, a billion busted rear-ders waiting to be turned into a tensioner... just... haven't... gotten to it yet...
peace out for now - gotta love commuting - time to burn off the holiday booze!
more on to the point- i dropped Doug Jansen and email asking maybe if he might have run across the grades on a few hills i ride between the two facilities here in Providence... specifically College and Waterman streets between N. Main and Prospect. Essentially climbing up the hill to the college.
I know they are steep... being a seattle boy and commuting to the Pine Street Pro Shop, which back in the 90s when i worked there was owned by the Velo Stores folks. The shop's been long gone for a while... but its gets me back to cycling in the PacNW and the fact that i ain't no hill newbie. And based on my experience i knew these two were steep.
My guess was 10% or so... I've found that just before i got nailed by the flu/cold over Halloween i could make it up on my Paramount with the single 50toother in front and the 25 in back. Make it up mind you, not ride gracefully spinning. I think the 180 cranks and my 6'6" frame has something to do with it. Anyway, i did find that switching over to the Croll cyclocrosser with the 49/38 was a bit easier (38) but not a hell uvalot.
I'm going to take the liberty and quote Doug directly... cause damn that's steep as all can be... Its not quite as steep as Mt. Battie
Geoff,
I get a lot of queries like this. I always answer them when I have the info to share. Usually I have to burst somebody’s bubble, as grades are not nearly as steep as most would believe them to be. Probably not in your case. The peak grades for the two roads you gave me are around 11%. This is about the same as Mt Washington at 11.8%. These roads are actually in town and built up with business? Scary. Anyway, I poked around in Topo 5.0 in the same area and found many of the roads going up from the canal to be even steeper, such as Court St and Meeting St, in the range of 12-15% grade. Jenckes St peaks at 16%. S. Court St gains almost 120ft in a very short distance. Is that paved and ridable?
I dunno about S. Court Street I haven't ridden up there at all... kinda cool though - some confirmation that its a steep pitch...
i suppose since mentioning the two i should do the run down of the rest of the bikes i don't ride as much:
Klein Quantum Pro...
Klein Ardoit (1996 with a few updates but keeping the MC2 love)
Klein Mantra Carbon (black - XL - rigid Klein UniKlein fork)
Then there are the two mentioned:
Croll Custom Cyclocross
'86 Waterford Schwinn Paramount built with Columbus SL/SP tube sets...
i won't mention the bikes i've owned leading up to this stable (yet)... but lately only the steelies get ridden - the joys of apartment life with 2/3rds of your stuff in storage! That Mantra has plans to become a single speed - i've got the wheel built, the cassette, a billion busted rear-ders waiting to be turned into a tensioner... just... haven't... gotten to it yet...
peace out for now - gotta love commuting - time to burn off the holiday booze!
Ace Girl Races
Ace Girl Races
catching up this morning waiting for coffee to brew - KerryLitka didn't have a new update, Big Drunk Johnny didn't either. Soooo, sitting there on Kerry's page i start down the cycling friends links... and find Rebecca Wellons' blog... and saw a logo dear to my heart (Klein) and reading through the jan 2 post... this scared me: "Full old-school XTR" 'eek' THAT is OLD SCHOOL XTR?
I'm old... that's like the tweenie XTR - not even close to old school - yet nothing like the new stuff... the akward teenage years of shimano... Man my 180 Dura-Ace cranks on the cross machine must be mesozoic or the Mavic road cranks from 1991... imagine the carbon dating on those puppies - i'd still be riding them if they weren't 177.5 (2.5mm too short).
I'm feelin update happy today... watchout - a bit on grades and other stuff later....
catching up this morning waiting for coffee to brew - KerryLitka didn't have a new update, Big Drunk Johnny didn't either. Soooo, sitting there on Kerry's page i start down the cycling friends links... and find Rebecca Wellons' blog... and saw a logo dear to my heart (Klein) and reading through the jan 2 post... this scared me: "Full old-school XTR" 'eek' THAT is OLD SCHOOL XTR?
I'm old... that's like the tweenie XTR - not even close to old school - yet nothing like the new stuff... the akward teenage years of shimano... Man my 180 Dura-Ace cranks on the cross machine must be mesozoic or the Mavic road cranks from 1991... imagine the carbon dating on those puppies - i'd still be riding them if they weren't 177.5 (2.5mm too short).
I'm feelin update happy today... watchout - a bit on grades and other stuff later....
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Ouch
Reading this from Kerry Litka dot com got me saying 'ouch' and hoping maybe i'm NOT one of the blogs she's calling shitty. Maybe i am - so what - who cares... until Big Drunk Johnny posted my link i've been cooking along as record few clicks... ol'buddy DropFrog takes a quick read once in a while - beyond that? nuttin...
Okay - that's the initial this morningbeef meat to get ya going...
I've got a vacations worth of stuff i wanna get down - we'll see how my pathetic writing style and time handles getting it translated into bits and bytes...
the LIST:
#1 drinking - it rules and i'm a master after this holiday - if you can down a double bottle of wine yourself AND finish off two glasses and no one is the wiser! YOU are a master... if you can drink 8 beers before dinner and a few after and function properly that's a good thing... oh and not to mention never wake up with a hangover all on marginal sleep... i'm feeling like the only guys i can't drink under the table now are pro's like me that are over 250 pounds... those big guys can drink man...
#2 hybrids - fucking scourge of the highways... when the fucking minimum speed is posted at 55 mph and the limit is 65... DON'T FUCKING DRIVE 50 if the traffic is flowing nicely - you cause massive backups...
not just one - not just two - not just three - i stopped counting at 5 civic and prius hybrids yesterday that were causing two and three mile traffic backups... beyond the "hybrid" clear sailing safe driving, behind the hybrid... nightmare of psyco's weaving in and out honking flashing highbeams, brake happy new yorkers... fucking nightmare... all cause some retard is trying to get the same fuel economy on the highway that my VW TDI gets going 75 freaking GD mph... wake up... burn BioDiesel - use a 100% renewable 100% domestic 100% clean fuel (biodiesel - duh) that supports the farmers - tells the Terrorist supporting Saudis and Opec to go 'eff themselves - and gets kick ass economy. what to do about the 'underedcuated' suckers to a 'hybird' mentality. Morons who THINK they are doing good but are NOT... I know quite a few 'nice' hybrid owners... a couple of em are family... doesn't change my opinion... that enough freaking ... yet? if EECUMMINGS can get away with that shit - i think i should be able to - hell i've been writing long enough i think by now...
okay -
epic travels is #3
and no this isn't the full scoop - okay maybe the hybrid thing is....
anyone say 32 hours of traveling is a good idea? I dunno lets try this one on...
red-eye flight from SEATAC-Detroit Metro with a 5.5 year old, a 11 month old riding in a lap... and the flight leaves at 10:40 but is only 3.5 hours long... 4 hour layover in DTW... get to the final destination with less than a combined 2 hours of sleep - followed by the brilliant idea to spend two hours re-packing only to drive what i thought would be 7.5 hours south (really actually 9.5 hours)... leaving at 3:30 pm i was starting to have my doubts. But with a six pack of tuna sushi and 1/2 of a buffalo chicken pizza and 1/2 bottle of energy-C vitamin water and a big cup of coffee all rummblin in my tum-tum hell it seemed like a grand idea. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had me thinking it was a good idea to forgo sleeping in the cold apartment - trying to figure a way to get the kids settled down 3 hours earlier than they were used to - heck- pack em in the car - great idea...
well...
it might have been... i drove the 440 miles south - all of it - through 2.5 hours of stop and go on I-95 till we finally broke free from the G-W bridge.... through the heart irregularities (prolly the excess caffine and lack of sleep and all the booze from the previous week). we made it... with actually little problem... had some good quality chattin time with the wife - can't remember when that's happened before.
will i be doing that again? nothing like being up for roughly 40 hours... and then finishinig the last 9.5 of it driving your family...
oh and if you are still reading this - strange -
#4
the weather today is about the same as it was (almost) as it was for the cyclocross nationals... not quite as cold but there was snow this morning - enough to cancel school (felt great getting up at 6am for no reason /sarcasm) and it kept snowing - rode in in the slushy crap - moronic cars sprayin me with slush 'thanks' - and it kept snowing for a while - then now - its raining. Supposed to switch over to snow again soonish with nice 40-50+ mph wind gusts... i can't wait.
my bike is dirty dirty dirty - these damn XT canti brake pads i've got on the front of the Cyclocross bike make some seriously dark messy crap in the rain on this old Open 4CD rim. and i'm sure the custodian is not happy with me - at least i carried the bike in through the hallways... i could have rolled it in and left a nice black trail from the door to the Lab.
#5 - Big scope is down... grumblin crap... and isn't coming back up, i don't have a confirmation for the install of a new software system on one of the older confocals, i've got a bunch of trainings to schedule but a new install to work around. all in all - the new year is starting...
more to come if after i read through this and decide it needs to be expanded...
I should also add
#6 - 27 years are done... 27 years of concerts - I haven't missed one... but i generally haven't been there for anything but the last weekend... its fun and the girls really enjoy it.
maybe more on that later... on to the scopes...
Okay - that's the initial this morning
I've got a vacations worth of stuff i wanna get down - we'll see how my pathetic writing style and time handles getting it translated into bits and bytes...
the LIST:
#1 drinking - it rules and i'm a master after this holiday - if you can down a double bottle of wine yourself AND finish off two glasses and no one is the wiser! YOU are a master... if you can drink 8 beers before dinner and a few after and function properly that's a good thing... oh and not to mention never wake up with a hangover all on marginal sleep... i'm feeling like the only guys i can't drink under the table now are pro's like me that are over 250 pounds... those big guys can drink man...
#2 hybrids - fucking scourge of the highways... when the fucking minimum speed is posted at 55 mph and the limit is 65... DON'T FUCKING DRIVE 50 if the traffic is flowing nicely - you cause massive backups...
not just one - not just two - not just three - i stopped counting at 5 civic and prius hybrids yesterday that were causing two and three mile traffic backups... beyond the "hybrid" clear sailing safe driving, behind the hybrid... nightmare of psyco's weaving in and out honking flashing highbeams, brake happy new yorkers... fucking nightmare... all cause some retard is trying to get the same fuel economy on the highway that my VW TDI gets going 75 freaking GD mph... wake up... burn BioDiesel - use a 100% renewable 100% domestic 100% clean fuel (biodiesel - duh) that supports the farmers - tells the Terrorist supporting Saudis and Opec to go 'eff themselves - and gets kick ass economy.
okay -
epic travels is #3
and no this isn't the full scoop - okay maybe the hybrid thing is....
anyone say 32 hours of traveling is a good idea? I dunno lets try this one on...
red-eye flight from SEATAC-Detroit Metro with a 5.5 year old, a 11 month old riding in a lap... and the flight leaves at 10:40 but is only 3.5 hours long... 4 hour layover in DTW... get to the final destination with less than a combined 2 hours of sleep - followed by the brilliant idea to spend two hours re-packing only to drive what i thought would be 7.5 hours south (really actually 9.5 hours)... leaving at 3:30 pm i was starting to have my doubts. But with a six pack of tuna sushi and 1/2 of a buffalo chicken pizza and 1/2 bottle of energy-C vitamin water and a big cup of coffee all rummblin in my tum-tum hell it seemed like a grand idea. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had me thinking it was a good idea to forgo sleeping in the cold apartment - trying to figure a way to get the kids settled down 3 hours earlier than they were used to - heck- pack em in the car - great idea...
well...
it might have been... i drove the 440 miles south - all of it - through 2.5 hours of stop and go on I-95 till we finally broke free from the G-W bridge.... through the heart irregularities (prolly the excess caffine and lack of sleep and all the booze from the previous week). we made it... with actually little problem... had some good quality chattin time with the wife - can't remember when that's happened before.
will i be doing that again? nothing like being up for roughly 40 hours... and then finishinig the last 9.5 of it driving your family...
oh and if you are still reading this - strange -
#4
the weather today is about the same as it was (almost) as it was for the cyclocross nationals... not quite as cold but there was snow this morning - enough to cancel school (felt great getting up at 6am for no reason /sarcasm) and it kept snowing - rode in in the slushy crap - moronic cars sprayin me with slush 'thanks' - and it kept snowing for a while - then now - its raining. Supposed to switch over to snow again soonish with nice 40-50+ mph wind gusts... i can't wait.
my bike is dirty dirty dirty - these damn XT canti brake pads i've got on the front of the Cyclocross bike make some seriously dark messy crap in the rain on this old Open 4CD rim. and i'm sure the custodian is not happy with me - at least i carried the bike in through the hallways... i could have rolled it in and left a nice black trail from the door to the Lab.
#5 - Big scope is down... grumblin crap... and isn't coming back up, i don't have a confirmation for the install of a new software system on one of the older confocals, i've got a bunch of trainings to schedule but a new install to work around. all in all - the new year is starting...
more to come if after i read through this and decide it needs to be expanded...
I should also add
#6 - 27 years are done... 27 years of concerts - I haven't missed one... but i generally haven't been there for anything but the last weekend... its fun and the girls really enjoy it.
maybe more on that later... on to the scopes...
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Winter Riding
What a great week of riding it!
single digits °F makes for hardcore toughness... I'm loving it.
Nothing better than riding in while people are sitting there shivering their freaking ass off in cars... they wear more clothes than i do and push a motor around chewing the crap out if it cause the oil ain't up to temp and the anti-wear additives in there don't do shit until the motor hits 60°C yeah - that's celcius - do the conversion your ownself... i'm too lazy...
DC rocks again - pretty funny seeing big tex getting reamed by some of the local dudes...
I gotta wonder - WTF didn't i get a pic of him? of the 200+ shots i got not one of that slowass punk... sure he could easily kick my ass in the cross circut - but he's sponsored and shit - maybe he was doggin behind slowass funny crosser Horner and with everyone yelling "Go Chris" i missed the Big Tex. Big... must be a misnomer nickname... dude's not even 6' hell he ain't Kerry short (she's got a cool page btw) and that cross nats video kicks ass.... (can't wait to meet that cool chick in person)!!!
anyway - Big Tex... i'm callin him a big pussy - no signage on the vehicle in the space... well I walked up and down - saw Tailwinds (big up props to the michigan gang) and VeloBella, and Van Dessel, and a bunch others - just no Voodoo/DC boys... what up wit dat...
ah hell who da heck cares... the race freakin was cool to be at... like i've said a million times before - it was all i needed to get completely jazzed about racing Cross next year.... my fat slow ass this year would have been beatdowntoshit if i'd tried to race...
soon enough...
oh and cars...
Volvo's are rankin up there as the most courteous drives out there - bottom of the list are wanna be gang-bangers in american sedans... big fat ones - not the "import' branded american ones... but i do my best - and damned the counter culture - carry the peace flag and stop at a fucking read light/stopsign... obeyin traffic - occasionally not passin a big line of cars (but there are big exceptions to that rule in my book)....
ah well - so much for my supposition that riding in kills the written train of thought...
maybe this is what i need to work on to get my flickr crap back and going... maybe i'll just upload some Cross Nats pics or something.....
peace out for now!
-G
--- post post edit-----
images from Cross Nats - just three of the few hunn'erd
single digits °F makes for hardcore toughness... I'm loving it.
Nothing better than riding in while people are sitting there shivering their freaking ass off in cars... they wear more clothes than i do and push a motor around chewing the crap out if it cause the oil ain't up to temp and the anti-wear additives in there don't do shit until the motor hits 60°C yeah - that's celcius - do the conversion your ownself... i'm too lazy...
DC rocks again - pretty funny seeing big tex getting reamed by some of the local dudes...
I gotta wonder - WTF didn't i get a pic of him? of the 200+ shots i got not one of that slowass punk... sure he could easily kick my ass in the cross circut - but he's sponsored and shit - maybe he was doggin behind slowass funny crosser Horner and with everyone yelling "Go Chris" i missed the Big Tex. Big... must be a misnomer nickname... dude's not even 6' hell he ain't Kerry short (she's got a cool page btw) and that cross nats video kicks ass.... (can't wait to meet that cool chick in person)!!!
anyway - Big Tex... i'm callin him a big pussy - no signage on the vehicle in the space... well I walked up and down - saw Tailwinds (big up props to the michigan gang) and VeloBella, and Van Dessel, and a bunch others - just no Voodoo/DC boys...
ah hell who da heck cares... the race freakin was cool to be at... like i've said a million times before - it was all i needed to get completely jazzed about racing Cross next year.... my fat slow ass this year would have been beatdowntoshit if i'd tried to race...
soon enough...
oh and cars...
Volvo's are rankin up there as the most courteous drives out there - bottom of the list are wanna be gang-bangers in american sedans... big fat ones - not the "import' branded american ones... but i do my best - and damned the counter culture - carry the peace flag and stop at a fucking read light/stopsign... obeyin traffic - occasionally not passin a big line of cars (but there are big exceptions to that rule in my book)....
ah well - so much for my supposition that riding in kills the written train of thought...
maybe this is what i need to work on to get my flickr crap back and going... maybe i'll just upload some Cross Nats pics or something.....
peace out for now!
-G
--- post post edit-----
images from Cross Nats - just three of the few hunn'erd
Monday, December 12, 2005
Us Cross Nationals!
Freaking COOOOOOOOOL
first the links:
nbwclub.org/images/2005/051209_CrossNats/index.html
www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2005/dec05/UScrossnats05/?id=stages
www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2005/dec05/UScrossnats05/?id=photos
drunkcyclist.com/
velospews has some stuff - as do a whole host of others... that's the links as i peeped and read...
i've got a boat load of images to upload...
the racing was kick serious freaking ass...
sketchy to the max - muddy beyond belief on sunday but in general - what a damn cool deal -
next year - next freaking year - one of the 1800+ racers will be me. Its my goal...
first to survive the Verge series - then to see if i can race the big race - and hopefully race the big race with a second rig (anyone wanna get me a demo 60 or 62 cm frame?)
I'll post some pics... someday soon...
Sunday kicked my ass though - sure i was just spectating but i was doing it hiking up and down packed icey snow with a 25 pound kid in a backpack thing... alllllll day.... i'm hurting but itsa good hurt...
I was sooo jealous...
My oldest kid was pretty bored with the whole thing by the end of sunday- and when i asked if it looked fun (ya know - get a junior racer started young) she said: "NO" when prodded why she wouldn't want to "I don't want to eat dirt, they ate alot of dirt today." I guess racers with dirt on their teeth - all over their face and crashing left and right - were not a big exciting thrilling spectacle for a little girl who was enjoying playing in the snow more than watchign adults have fun riding crazy bikes in the mud... only to get off them and back on them.... over and over....
well till i get pics up
PEACE!
G
first the links:
nbwclub.org/images/2005/051209_CrossNats/index.html
www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2005/dec05/UScrossnats05/?id=stages
www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2005/dec05/UScrossnats05/?id=photos
drunkcyclist.com/
velospews has some stuff - as do a whole host of others... that's the links as i peeped and read...
i've got a boat load of images to upload...
the racing was kick serious freaking ass...
sketchy to the max - muddy beyond belief on sunday but in general - what a damn cool deal -
next year - next freaking year - one of the 1800+ racers will be me. Its my goal...
first to survive the Verge series - then to see if i can race the big race - and hopefully race the big race with a second rig (anyone wanna get me a demo 60 or 62 cm frame?)
I'll post some pics... someday soon...
Sunday kicked my ass though - sure i was just spectating but i was doing it hiking up and down packed icey snow with a 25 pound kid in a backpack thing... alllllll day.... i'm hurting but itsa good hurt...
I was sooo jealous...
My oldest kid was pretty bored with the whole thing by the end of sunday- and when i asked if it looked fun (ya know - get a junior racer started young) she said: "NO" when prodded why she wouldn't want to "I don't want to eat dirt, they ate alot of dirt today." I guess racers with dirt on their teeth - all over their face and crashing left and right - were not a big exciting thrilling spectacle for a little girl who was enjoying playing in the snow more than watchign adults have fun riding crazy bikes in the mud... only to get off them and back on them.... over and over....
well till i get pics up
PEACE!
G
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