Hit this anonymous survey for NEBRA.
'mkay?
Good now go do it.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
It stopped raining
And the sick little one has fallen asleep. Today is not going to be a double day. I'll actually be lucky to get on the bike at all. Maybe i can get on for a bit when she wakes up.
I'm sure by now everyone has heard that the Polish Brothers tested positive for EPO. What a bummer. It would have been great if their performance was clean and they were able to march on to the top of the Elite field on raw clean talent alone. I guess, when a country who doesn't have a long legacy of the top and the best suddenly does something like that, well, damn there is a reason. Sort of really kind of sucks.
It is official the Tuesday Night Mark Nicolson Smack Down ride is happening again starting next week:
Think you can hang? Want to drop everyone? If you don't know the route and are the fastest, just turn it into an interval session waiting up at each turn. It probably will get arrowed again sometime when the roads get cleaned and are dry.
If you are around it is a good ride, hilly and tough in the first half, downhill and fast on the second part. And it isn't always the smoothest pavement, between the pavement, the sprints and the climbs lots of wheels have cause people to get rides home or limp home and loads of flats. So. Don't bring your light racing wheels and tires on this ride, unless your "light" "racing" wheels are like mine, heavy and strong and slow.
Oh and by now everyone has heard about Google bicycle directions. Well, good and all that but great? Not so perfect yet. Needs lots of feedback. So if you've got a better route between two places or are afraid to ride on the one it sends you, well, let them know. If you are quiet about it the system won't work. If you make a difference people will benefit, find that it works for them and start riding more.
And Richard Fries is right:
I love his other point about the car industry:
This past year the numbers went down a good bit. But still, that's 40,000 people a year. All accepted as Accidental.
And with dozens of Toyotas going out of control every day, hello, why not give up that car, change your commute. One fellow EBBP commuter was remarking how much more productive he is now that he's switched recently to being a bike commuter. He gets way more done, can work shorter hours and has more time to focus on life. A total win win win win situation. All it took to get him started was a friendly neighbor who loaned him a tube, showed him how to fix a flat, recommended a bike shop to him and this guy has "become" a cyclist. A commuter cyclist, but a cyclist none-the-less.
And it is a good thing. Be a quiet advocate. Convince someone new to try cycling this year. The weather is slowly getting nicer. Work that bug in there head, when the nice weather rolls around the idea will have been percolating enough that you might just convert them more easily than you thought possible.
make a difference, and hey, if it is raining? Fenders on the bike and dry clothes in the bag or at work make it happen.
heddwch
G
I'm sure by now everyone has heard that the Polish Brothers tested positive for EPO. What a bummer. It would have been great if their performance was clean and they were able to march on to the top of the Elite field on raw clean talent alone. I guess, when a country who doesn't have a long legacy of the top and the best suddenly does something like that, well, damn there is a reason. Sort of really kind of sucks.
It is official the Tuesday Night Mark Nicolson Smack Down ride is happening again starting next week:
We'll be starting up the smackdown again March 23rd. This is by far the best group ride in Providence and the more the merrier. Mark is responsible for the route and format, and it's awesome.
Meet Faunce at 5PM, roll out and meet the rest at DePasqual square at 530. Sunset will be around 715 and the ride takes around 2 hours, so the last part will be in the dark for awhile.
A rear blinkie light is required. No light, no ride, same story with a helmet.
This is a very fast and aggressive ride with 6 different sprint lines. If you get dropped they won't wait for you. If you get a flat, they won't wait for you. So make sure you can figure the way home. Have the right equipment to fix your own bike. It's a very friendly ride and there is no intention of dropping riders for fun, but with limited daylight and families waiting for dinner, we simply can't wait.
Think you can hang? Want to drop everyone? If you don't know the route and are the fastest, just turn it into an interval session waiting up at each turn. It probably will get arrowed again sometime when the roads get cleaned and are dry.
If you are around it is a good ride, hilly and tough in the first half, downhill and fast on the second part. And it isn't always the smoothest pavement, between the pavement, the sprints and the climbs lots of wheels have cause people to get rides home or limp home and loads of flats. So. Don't bring your light racing wheels and tires on this ride, unless your "light" "racing" wheels are like mine, heavy and strong and slow.
Oh and by now everyone has heard about Google bicycle directions. Well, good and all that but great? Not so perfect yet. Needs lots of feedback. So if you've got a better route between two places or are afraid to ride on the one it sends you, well, let them know. If you are quiet about it the system won't work. If you make a difference people will benefit, find that it works for them and start riding more.
And Richard Fries is right:
What’s the most important thing a cyclist can get to make a bike ride safer?Encourage others to ride. The more people you get out there the sooner people figure out that cars make em fat. Cars are an enabling culture, enabling people to over come sloth behaviors.
Lights?
Helmets?
Reflective straps?
Horns?
Whistles?
Mace?
Paint?
Signs?
Lanes?
Body armor?
No. It’s another cyclist.
I love his other point about the car industry:
Any bike commuter who has ridden an office elevator can recite all the times people have questioned them about the safety of their enterprise. Then those same skeptics of cycling confidently march to the parking lot and partake in an exercise that kills more than 40,000 people each year in America.
They have been brainwashed to believe that cars are safe and bikes are dangerous.
But carmakers do not aim for the minds of the market, they aim for the heart. They use sex, status, speed, power, and convenience to sell their product. Only after Ralph Nader did they start to occasionally advertise the safety of their product, but were cautious to only show their product in clean labs with dummies inside sterile cockpits to convince customers these products were safe.
Those guys are brilliant. Here they have a product that is deadly, ruins the environment, destroys the quality of communities, economically cripples families, fosters an addiction to foreign oil, and spawns global warfare. And they have people lining up to buy more. If 40,000 people died in plane crashes every year, the entire fleet would be grounded.
This past year the numbers went down a good bit. But still, that's 40,000 people a year. All accepted as Accidental.
And with dozens of Toyotas going out of control every day, hello, why not give up that car, change your commute. One fellow EBBP commuter was remarking how much more productive he is now that he's switched recently to being a bike commuter. He gets way more done, can work shorter hours and has more time to focus on life. A total win win win win situation. All it took to get him started was a friendly neighbor who loaned him a tube, showed him how to fix a flat, recommended a bike shop to him and this guy has "become" a cyclist. A commuter cyclist, but a cyclist none-the-less.
And it is a good thing. Be a quiet advocate. Convince someone new to try cycling this year. The weather is slowly getting nicer. Work that bug in there head, when the nice weather rolls around the idea will have been percolating enough that you might just convert them more easily than you thought possible.
make a difference, and hey, if it is raining? Fenders on the bike and dry clothes in the bag or at work make it happen.
heddwch
G
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
This seems pretty dirty to me
Not really sure what to say. But man. Based on the one side, it sounds pretty unilateral and not in the best interest of fostering a positive cycling community.
How many tracks are around here anyway? Need to aggravate the (who I'm assuming there are many) friends of Tony Eberhardt, maybe to the point where they won't race there again?
Seems like a shady not so cool move.
But, as Natalia said, this is only one side of the story
How many tracks are around here anyway? Need to aggravate the (who I'm assuming there are many) friends of Tony Eberhardt, maybe to the point where they won't race there again?
Seems like a shady not so cool move.
But, as Natalia said, this is only one side of the story
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
a panel with Talking Heads
Or headlined by one of the Talking Heads.
David Bryne brought his tour through PVD tonight. Interesting talk, wicked uncomfortably seats. A bit scattered and not the most well meshed group of 4 presentations from 4 people. The Mayor's key note may have been almost as long as David's slide show. Which really was mostly a book tour that brought in a handful of local folks, a Brown U prof, an advocacy leader and one of the state planners office officials.
I gained a better appreciation for certain plans in the works, and learned a bit more about the man who wrote the book most of my cycling friends got for Christmas (the Bicycle Diaries).
After riding home in the dark with half the LED power normally (still plenty of illumination, but funny how one 1 watter died the same time one 2 watter did) I'm pretty pooped, but needing a second to sit on the couch with my 75 pound lap dog I figured i should at least gather a few thoughts from the presentation.
And,
well...
I'm very glad i went, it was interesting to see, but of all that i don't have a huge amount to say about it.
David's talk was a bit like his book, scattered, prepared but hap-hazard a bit, disjointed but not hard to follow. He has his gray hair spiked up wearing a light silver gray shirt, white pants and white keds(? - white canvas sneaker at anyrate), and next to the suits and the blacks that everyone else was wearing (well not everyone but those two sitting on his side of the panel at least) put some dramatic contrast up there.
A dismanyingly few people raised their hands saying they rode there by bike. It was pretty sad. Close to the 10% of the population that ride i guess.
Best line was David's almost ending comment. Incremental changes are the best. Make one section of a path/bike lane/access that is usable and people will begin to use it *if it is safe* ...if it is safe.
We'll see. I don't expect to see rush hour bike traffic like Portland, or The Netherlands any time soon, but it would be nice to see more and more people using it as a primary transport method.
Time to take my wicked heavy legs and hit the reset button (you know if you drop the e from reset you get rest - awesome and so true).
heddwch
G
David Bryne brought his tour through PVD tonight. Interesting talk, wicked uncomfortably seats. A bit scattered and not the most well meshed group of 4 presentations from 4 people. The Mayor's key note may have been almost as long as David's slide show. Which really was mostly a book tour that brought in a handful of local folks, a Brown U prof, an advocacy leader and one of the state planners office officials.
I gained a better appreciation for certain plans in the works, and learned a bit more about the man who wrote the book most of my cycling friends got for Christmas (the Bicycle Diaries).
After riding home in the dark with half the LED power normally (still plenty of illumination, but funny how one 1 watter died the same time one 2 watter did) I'm pretty pooped, but needing a second to sit on the couch with my 75 pound lap dog I figured i should at least gather a few thoughts from the presentation.
And,
well...
I'm very glad i went, it was interesting to see, but of all that i don't have a huge amount to say about it.
David's talk was a bit like his book, scattered, prepared but hap-hazard a bit, disjointed but not hard to follow. He has his gray hair spiked up wearing a light silver gray shirt, white pants and white keds(? - white canvas sneaker at anyrate), and next to the suits and the blacks that everyone else was wearing (well not everyone but those two sitting on his side of the panel at least) put some dramatic contrast up there.
A dismanyingly few people raised their hands saying they rode there by bike. It was pretty sad. Close to the 10% of the population that ride i guess.
Best line was David's almost ending comment. Incremental changes are the best. Make one section of a path/bike lane/access that is usable and people will begin to use it *if it is safe* ...if it is safe.
We'll see. I don't expect to see rush hour bike traffic like Portland, or The Netherlands any time soon, but it would be nice to see more and more people using it as a primary transport method.
Time to take my wicked heavy legs and hit the reset button (you know if you drop the e from reset you get rest - awesome and so true).
heddwch
G
Quote of the Day
But, it seems that a lot of people are so into documenting their doings that they aren’t doing them anymore. And that people are so into checking out what their friends are doing that they’re doing nothing more than checking out what their friends are doing.
-Steve Tilford
I read up until there and stopped. Knowing that was just awesome to begin with.
But the second to last paragraph. Hooo Boy. That's a winner:
It’s kind of like racing cyclo-x. Either you get cyclocross or you don’t. And when you do get cyclocross, you realize how special it is. You realize that it takes a trillion skills simultaneously to do it correctly. So many skills, that no one person can possess them all. It’s you against the course. Then you against the competition. A photo can capture a glimpse of cross, but you have to do it to understand it fully.
I didn't take many photos at CX nats. Too much time in the moment and i will carry those memories around until i forget them, which probably will be sooner than i like.
Monday, March 08, 2010
one of the best
pulls the plug. Seriously. That guy could write. Perfect interviews, great content. Seriously one of the best New England Bike Racer blogs out there. FB is one thing, twitter is another but they aren't the same.
This is a different medium. Different.
More it is just the emptiness. Yet another vacated internet address that may have not even been around long enough for my lazy ass to update the sidebar, maybe it is there i should check. Stick another one on the come and gone. The rise and fall. Can the best never last? Do they burn up in flames leaving the mediocre grumpy dirty old men like me writing what we've always written.
Writing about riding home tonight without knee warmers on, hair legs feeling strange in the headwind. No gloves, just arm warmers and a ss jersey. Spending 4 hours installing CS4, but not the whole thing, i just wanted Photoshop for a demo in class. I got it on there but totally spaced (until the end) on one of the biggest reasons i wanted to demo it to everyone at one. LEVELS. Don't ever touch brightness and contrast. LEVELS.
My legs felt like crap at the beginning of the ride both this morning and tonight. But oddly, once i got the crap out they stopped feeling shitty. Haven't had a day w/o saddle time since the last day of January. I'm not sure about doing doubles this weekend. Might be enough to just get a morning ride in, or sit on the trainer and just have 20 minutes of peace.
So now i'm monitoring the battery meter and waiting for the plug me in or your content is gone light. Although because of this medium, specifically the way blogger is set up, it autosaves as i write. FB? Nope, whole long post written and poof it is gone. Some emails, same, other forms? yeah you can lose it all. I'm getting older and i like the habit, the familiarity. I like the way it works here. But unlike some, or many or unlike everyone, i've kind of given up checking on stats. They've been pretty stable for a while. Or consistent. so i don't bother checking. like Fat Cyclists wrote when describing how to make it work. Pick a handful of friends and write it for them, or not *for* them but as if you were telling them. At least that is how i sort of remember what i think he said, i should check but i think i should just finish writing while i have a few minutes of quiet before the laundry spins it self out and needs to be hung up.
G-ride got me thinking, maybe there is a way to retrofit a modern fork on that Klein. I've got at least one (and i think maybe two) Judy SL forks for it, probably 1-1/8 steerer tube stuffed in that way before its time Klein steerer tube. Maybe it is possible to stuff something with more travel up front, relax the ultra steep angles on the Klein a touch and salvage a nice frame. Or i just give up mt biking and stick with cross as my dirt mistress. I don't have the time to spend driving to places to practice enough to get passably skilled at riding with what i have, i have time to ride out the door and hit the road with friends. Time is valuable, not home time needs to be economized, mt biking is not about economy of time. and hell how green is it when 95% or more of the people doing it drive to a location to do it? That and they wear weird baggy clothes and think lycra dudes are funny. And yeah, i'be being divisive. Some people don't like cyclists who divide and separate the two wheel crowds into factions. I got thinking, hell I'm riding a 1996 frame, with a handful of '96 vintage components (some newer) a fork from '99. If i think back to when my bike was "new" and imagine what it would be like if someone showed up for a mt bike ride with the gang back then in michigan on a '86 vintage mt bike...
It has me reflecting on lots of mt bike stuff right now. I like riding in the dirt. But i was not a fan ever of the real bumpy rocky stuff. Never felt it. That bombing down mt ashland after climbing for what seemed like hours on my 32 pound Raleigh Chill after class at UBI was a blast. Smooth and flowy, swoopy and fun. Sure some roots but not like the mine fields of pain here. Michigan was a mix, and i never really quite felt at place with either the hard core roadies or the super fly mt bikers, not until i started racing cross. That just felt right. I love riding on the road with friends. Mt biking? too much depends on the terrain to have fun. More or less if you can ride a cross bike on the trail, well then i'm there. Go figure. I'm not surprised.
Damn all that because of a friend pulling the damn plug. I started just a short quick post. And here i am a few minutes later with a couple extra words and me actually saying, you know? I'm skipping two rides this spring. Battenkill AND Burlingame. No silly insane over crowded ride by myself in the pretty country side of upstate new york, and no fun but totally not ridable sectioned time trial for me. I haven't really gotten any better, even the years i've spend time actually riding the mt bike. It doesn't really help me ride the sections i can never ride at Burlingame. Pre-riding confirmed that. I new the lines more or less and I still couldn't ride them, and to top it off the trail is growning rocks and roots at an alarming rate. Putting in waterbars just doesn't seem like the answer. Almost like to preserve the trail you've got to bring in soil or remove the rocks. The roots should have soil replaced around them, and the rocks. It is new england, we grow rocks here. Make rock walls along the trails to keep soil in there, gotta be an answer besides letting the rocks grow. And yes, i know. There are people who love the rocks. Dudes who float from the top of one to another (ThomP) effortlessly who probably like seeing them there.
Maybe like solobreak, i miss the days of riding mt bikes 20 years ago before all the 26x1.9 tires carved it up, now the 29er and the 26x2.25 and bigger tires are floating around making holes. here's another indication of getting old, thinking about what it was like mt biking in the early 90s. we didn't need suspension, the trails were fucking smooth and nice. As the years have progressed if you want to ride the same trails you need longer and longer suspension. We didn't NEED 120mm of travel up front in 1990.
Okay, now i'm starting to get really cantankerous.
GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
wait, i don't have a lawn. Well anyway.
Gotta hang up the laundry.
heddwch
G
This is a different medium. Different.
More it is just the emptiness. Yet another vacated internet address that may have not even been around long enough for my lazy ass to update the sidebar, maybe it is there i should check. Stick another one on the come and gone. The rise and fall. Can the best never last? Do they burn up in flames leaving the mediocre grumpy dirty old men like me writing what we've always written.
Writing about riding home tonight without knee warmers on, hair legs feeling strange in the headwind. No gloves, just arm warmers and a ss jersey. Spending 4 hours installing CS4, but not the whole thing, i just wanted Photoshop for a demo in class. I got it on there but totally spaced (until the end) on one of the biggest reasons i wanted to demo it to everyone at one. LEVELS. Don't ever touch brightness and contrast. LEVELS.
My legs felt like crap at the beginning of the ride both this morning and tonight. But oddly, once i got the crap out they stopped feeling shitty. Haven't had a day w/o saddle time since the last day of January. I'm not sure about doing doubles this weekend. Might be enough to just get a morning ride in, or sit on the trainer and just have 20 minutes of peace.
So now i'm monitoring the battery meter and waiting for the plug me in or your content is gone light. Although because of this medium, specifically the way blogger is set up, it autosaves as i write. FB? Nope, whole long post written and poof it is gone. Some emails, same, other forms? yeah you can lose it all. I'm getting older and i like the habit, the familiarity. I like the way it works here. But unlike some, or many or unlike everyone, i've kind of given up checking on stats. They've been pretty stable for a while. Or consistent. so i don't bother checking. like Fat Cyclists wrote when describing how to make it work. Pick a handful of friends and write it for them, or not *for* them but as if you were telling them. At least that is how i sort of remember what i think he said, i should check but i think i should just finish writing while i have a few minutes of quiet before the laundry spins it self out and needs to be hung up.
G-ride got me thinking, maybe there is a way to retrofit a modern fork on that Klein. I've got at least one (and i think maybe two) Judy SL forks for it, probably 1-1/8 steerer tube stuffed in that way before its time Klein steerer tube. Maybe it is possible to stuff something with more travel up front, relax the ultra steep angles on the Klein a touch and salvage a nice frame. Or i just give up mt biking and stick with cross as my dirt mistress. I don't have the time to spend driving to places to practice enough to get passably skilled at riding with what i have, i have time to ride out the door and hit the road with friends. Time is valuable, not home time needs to be economized, mt biking is not about economy of time. and hell how green is it when 95% or more of the people doing it drive to a location to do it? That and they wear weird baggy clothes and think lycra dudes are funny. And yeah, i'be being divisive. Some people don't like cyclists who divide and separate the two wheel crowds into factions. I got thinking, hell I'm riding a 1996 frame, with a handful of '96 vintage components (some newer) a fork from '99. If i think back to when my bike was "new" and imagine what it would be like if someone showed up for a mt bike ride with the gang back then in michigan on a '86 vintage mt bike...
It has me reflecting on lots of mt bike stuff right now. I like riding in the dirt. But i was not a fan ever of the real bumpy rocky stuff. Never felt it. That bombing down mt ashland after climbing for what seemed like hours on my 32 pound Raleigh Chill after class at UBI was a blast. Smooth and flowy, swoopy and fun. Sure some roots but not like the mine fields of pain here. Michigan was a mix, and i never really quite felt at place with either the hard core roadies or the super fly mt bikers, not until i started racing cross. That just felt right. I love riding on the road with friends. Mt biking? too much depends on the terrain to have fun. More or less if you can ride a cross bike on the trail, well then i'm there. Go figure. I'm not surprised.
Damn all that because of a friend pulling the damn plug. I started just a short quick post. And here i am a few minutes later with a couple extra words and me actually saying, you know? I'm skipping two rides this spring. Battenkill AND Burlingame. No silly insane over crowded ride by myself in the pretty country side of upstate new york, and no fun but totally not ridable sectioned time trial for me. I haven't really gotten any better, even the years i've spend time actually riding the mt bike. It doesn't really help me ride the sections i can never ride at Burlingame. Pre-riding confirmed that. I new the lines more or less and I still couldn't ride them, and to top it off the trail is growning rocks and roots at an alarming rate. Putting in waterbars just doesn't seem like the answer. Almost like to preserve the trail you've got to bring in soil or remove the rocks. The roots should have soil replaced around them, and the rocks. It is new england, we grow rocks here. Make rock walls along the trails to keep soil in there, gotta be an answer besides letting the rocks grow. And yes, i know. There are people who love the rocks. Dudes who float from the top of one to another (ThomP) effortlessly who probably like seeing them there.
Maybe like solobreak, i miss the days of riding mt bikes 20 years ago before all the 26x1.9 tires carved it up, now the 29er and the 26x2.25 and bigger tires are floating around making holes. here's another indication of getting old, thinking about what it was like mt biking in the early 90s. we didn't need suspension, the trails were fucking smooth and nice. As the years have progressed if you want to ride the same trails you need longer and longer suspension. We didn't NEED 120mm of travel up front in 1990.
Okay, now i'm starting to get really cantankerous.
GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
wait, i don't have a lawn. Well anyway.
Gotta hang up the laundry.
heddwch
G
i'm slower than he is
at figuring it out. Sort of surprised I didn't hear about that in the Olympics.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Striking out
I can't find a good animated image of a door being blown off or i would put it in here.
Saturday i headed out for a ride with some teammates. We did the smack down route. Moderately hilly, and pretty intense. I rode the giant with the marathon plus tires, yes the ones i keep mentioning how many grams they are. Yeah. I was the only one with fenders. Now those heavy tires and fenders are not such a huge liability on flatter routes like when we all head east from PVD, but shit, we head to the hills? FML I got schooled, big time. Worked my fucking ass off. And it kind of actually sucked. I mean it was great riding with the guys when i was actually riding with them and being on the bike from 9am until well after 1pm with only a stop for a bit at 9:30 after I got to the city. It was a good day. I destroyed myself and ate a ton after the ride in light of the fact that i was getting picked up at 7am to go for MTB ride. And in hopes of loosening up and keeping the double alive, i got on the bike and spun that shit out for 20 minutes at about 9:30pm.
Didn't do a hill of good. Legs felt like garbage at the start of the mtb ride. And then we hit that first real technical section and i crashed, landed on my ass and my shin (wicked pointy rocks) and the Klein's paint job got seriously marred on the rock on the other side. Granted i didn't land on my head like some of my full sus riding team mates did, but man the rear wheel is tweaked and I'm not pretty much ready NOT to do the mtb TT. That bike kicked ass for along time and in some places still does. But man i suck trying to ride that stuff on a hardtail. Nothing i didn't know.
I got my ass handed to me
And right now there is no way in hell i'm getting on my god damn trainer to ride this shit out. Fuck it. I've gotta commute back and forth tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day... i'm not getting on that thing. Not even if it will do some good right now.
The mt bike ride was fun on the flat boring smooth single track stuff. The rocks, the roots, the giant waterbar log down hills, man. Reality check. I suck. I did get lots of practice remounting and running through technical sections, after i ate shit a couple times and racked my nuts once on the stem. Thankfully it was that MC2 stem, not something with pinch bolts and other stuff.
I bailed and just headed back to the car while the other guys rode backwards, no shame, i was slowing them down every time it got technical, i was hurting and demoralized and just needing to put and end to the misery.
Things are as they are, i'm not terribly well suited for racing on hilly road courses, i'm not terribly well suited for mt biking either. That or i need a couple extra dollars to prove that it isn't th equipment.
oh well- what to do about it. Wait for cross season to roll around again.
that's it.
SQUIRREL
heddwch
G
Saturday i headed out for a ride with some teammates. We did the smack down route. Moderately hilly, and pretty intense. I rode the giant with the marathon plus tires, yes the ones i keep mentioning how many grams they are. Yeah. I was the only one with fenders. Now those heavy tires and fenders are not such a huge liability on flatter routes like when we all head east from PVD, but shit, we head to the hills? FML I got schooled, big time. Worked my fucking ass off. And it kind of actually sucked. I mean it was great riding with the guys when i was actually riding with them and being on the bike from 9am until well after 1pm with only a stop for a bit at 9:30 after I got to the city. It was a good day. I destroyed myself and ate a ton after the ride in light of the fact that i was getting picked up at 7am to go for MTB ride. And in hopes of loosening up and keeping the double alive, i got on the bike and spun that shit out for 20 minutes at about 9:30pm.
Didn't do a hill of good. Legs felt like garbage at the start of the mtb ride. And then we hit that first real technical section and i crashed, landed on my ass and my shin (wicked pointy rocks) and the Klein's paint job got seriously marred on the rock on the other side. Granted i didn't land on my head like some of my full sus riding team mates did, but man the rear wheel is tweaked and I'm not pretty much ready NOT to do the mtb TT. That bike kicked ass for along time and in some places still does. But man i suck trying to ride that stuff on a hardtail. Nothing i didn't know.
I got my ass handed to me
And right now there is no way in hell i'm getting on my god damn trainer to ride this shit out. Fuck it. I've gotta commute back and forth tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day... i'm not getting on that thing. Not even if it will do some good right now.
The mt bike ride was fun on the flat boring smooth single track stuff. The rocks, the roots, the giant waterbar log down hills, man. Reality check. I suck. I did get lots of practice remounting and running through technical sections, after i ate shit a couple times and racked my nuts once on the stem. Thankfully it was that MC2 stem, not something with pinch bolts and other stuff.
I bailed and just headed back to the car while the other guys rode backwards, no shame, i was slowing them down every time it got technical, i was hurting and demoralized and just needing to put and end to the misery.
Things are as they are, i'm not terribly well suited for racing on hilly road courses, i'm not terribly well suited for mt biking either. That or i need a couple extra dollars to prove that it isn't th equipment.
oh well- what to do about it. Wait for cross season to roll around again.
that's it.
SQUIRREL
heddwch
G
Friday, March 05, 2010
wow
i thought that week might never end.
but well it is almost over and all ready to start again.
i finished the Bicycle Diaries this week finally. Reading snippets of it before falling asleep takes a while. A friend thought the book was interesting but very poorly written. I dunno, he writes just slightly more polished than I do and maybe that is the editors coming through. Jumping all over the place, weird tangents, stuff not bicycle related at all. Good book though. I think he's getting most of the mileage on the last chapter, one of the better ones. Really not saying much different than Richard Fries did over on his blog in a way.
Working hard not to get the virus that has my better half not feeling great.
we'll see what kind or riding happens this weekend. Doubles? We'll see. Today was 34 days in a row on the bike, while some days could be considered rest/active recovery, the number of active recovery days was far lower than in recent memory. Maybe not since riding with the trailer every day has it been at this level. And maybe that's not a bad thing.
I certainly have given some thought to Charge Pond. But i'm a cat 4 on the road and the couple guys from the team heading over are 3s, and while i might be able to finagle an upgrade based on riding for as long as I have and all that, it just doesn't seem right to do it w/o results. Cat 4 mostly because i just don't really race on the road and when I do i pick races that are as not well suited to my strengths (basically anything that goes up - my big ass ain't good at climbing comparatively). One of these years i'm going to give it a go and focus on getting that silly upgrade so I can join the ranks of lifer cat 3s.
And honestly powermeters and hrm and all that are pretty cool. But having been a slave to the data, honestly at my level, my goals, it isn't anything that can make a difference. I don't have the patience to do those FTs. No desire to. My weakest area is the mental side of things. Just actually being able to push myself as hard as I am capable of isn't easy in race situations unless there's something to compete for. I can race the next guy up the course in CX reasonably well, and if i make grounds and reel them in it helps, if they ride away from me i get mentally unhinged. But every race something clicks and one of these days I'll put something together.
Okay - gotta stop introspecting about races for a while. just ride the damn bike. let shit fall into place, have fun. enjoy it. find pleasure in the process, don't worry about winning and shit like that, leave that to the dudes who are wicked pro at it like JONNY fucking BOLD.
so to all yall at charge pond tomorrow - have fun, don't crash, don't be the idiot to cause a crash...
heddwch
G
but well it is almost over and all ready to start again.
i finished the Bicycle Diaries this week finally. Reading snippets of it before falling asleep takes a while. A friend thought the book was interesting but very poorly written. I dunno, he writes just slightly more polished than I do and maybe that is the editors coming through. Jumping all over the place, weird tangents, stuff not bicycle related at all. Good book though. I think he's getting most of the mileage on the last chapter, one of the better ones. Really not saying much different than Richard Fries did over on his blog in a way.
Working hard not to get the virus that has my better half not feeling great.
we'll see what kind or riding happens this weekend. Doubles? We'll see. Today was 34 days in a row on the bike, while some days could be considered rest/active recovery, the number of active recovery days was far lower than in recent memory. Maybe not since riding with the trailer every day has it been at this level. And maybe that's not a bad thing.
I certainly have given some thought to Charge Pond. But i'm a cat 4 on the road and the couple guys from the team heading over are 3s, and while i might be able to finagle an upgrade based on riding for as long as I have and all that, it just doesn't seem right to do it w/o results. Cat 4 mostly because i just don't really race on the road and when I do i pick races that are as not well suited to my strengths (basically anything that goes up - my big ass ain't good at climbing comparatively). One of these years i'm going to give it a go and focus on getting that silly upgrade so I can join the ranks of lifer cat 3s.
And honestly powermeters and hrm and all that are pretty cool. But having been a slave to the data, honestly at my level, my goals, it isn't anything that can make a difference. I don't have the patience to do those FTs. No desire to. My weakest area is the mental side of things. Just actually being able to push myself as hard as I am capable of isn't easy in race situations unless there's something to compete for. I can race the next guy up the course in CX reasonably well, and if i make grounds and reel them in it helps, if they ride away from me i get mentally unhinged. But every race something clicks and one of these days I'll put something together.
Okay - gotta stop introspecting about races for a while. just ride the damn bike. let shit fall into place, have fun. enjoy it. find pleasure in the process, don't worry about winning and shit like that, leave that to the dudes who are wicked pro at it like JONNY fucking BOLD.
so to all yall at charge pond tomorrow - have fun, don't crash, don't be the idiot to cause a crash...
heddwch
G
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Holy Sh!T
how'd i miss this toddcast.
Oh wait. I know
IT IS IN FREAKING SPANISH
(yeah the vid has subtitles - still - it is like Ctodd but with scruff, must be a euro thing)
Oh wait. I know
IT IS IN FREAKING SPANISH
(yeah the vid has subtitles - still - it is like Ctodd but with scruff, must be a euro thing)
couple random links
the-barista-your-other-bartender
The Cove
United responding to ridiculous bike charges? That sounds sort of somewhat promising.
If this doesn't make YOU want to get a Kindle, well... who cares, it make ME want one.
The Cove
United responding to ridiculous bike charges? That sounds sort of somewhat promising.
If this doesn't make YOU want to get a Kindle, well... who cares, it make ME want one.
Riding Free
Hill Junkie's comments about how liberating it is to not have metrics resonated in me just now. I've been catching up on my reading of the whole internet while eating, and "Ride Free" made some sense.
Ride Free from metrics, from computers and displays telling you and tracking every move. There is an undeniable issue that humans have. If you are always shown the feedback you never develop a sense of the process or what is happening.
Cooking, if you always follow a recipe to the letter, only cooking to the second specified, what happens if you have to make something with no recipe? Would it turn out as well? Many people can't make the transition from recipe card to free form.
Same with many other feedback related experiences. If we are always told how fast or how hard we are going by a display, our limits are imprinted as numbers not sensations. You are never able to push it beyond those constraints. The numbers shackle you to a computer to see what you did. Now if you are a pro and you have a coach and a trainer, well they need to see what is happening because well yeah, you're getting paid to do this shit. And they ride so much that they develop the tools to avoid being trapped by the numbers. And heck if they are Pro well they were likely winning amateur races without really even trying and definitely without power/feed back information.
Ride free.
Liberate yourself from the shackles for a while.
Learn to listen to your body.
or not.
maybe a big mac's calories can only be justified by getting on a trainer and riding out that many kJs.
Ride Free
And just freaking enjoy it
Ride Free from metrics, from computers and displays telling you and tracking every move. There is an undeniable issue that humans have. If you are always shown the feedback you never develop a sense of the process or what is happening.
Cooking, if you always follow a recipe to the letter, only cooking to the second specified, what happens if you have to make something with no recipe? Would it turn out as well? Many people can't make the transition from recipe card to free form.
Same with many other feedback related experiences. If we are always told how fast or how hard we are going by a display, our limits are imprinted as numbers not sensations. You are never able to push it beyond those constraints. The numbers shackle you to a computer to see what you did. Now if you are a pro and you have a coach and a trainer, well they need to see what is happening because well yeah, you're getting paid to do this shit. And they ride so much that they develop the tools to avoid being trapped by the numbers. And heck if they are Pro well they were likely winning amateur races without really even trying and definitely without power/feed back information.
Ride free.
Liberate yourself from the shackles for a while.
Learn to listen to your body.
or not.
maybe a big mac's calories can only be justified by getting on a trainer and riding out that many kJs.
Ride Free
And just freaking enjoy it
The day of the year...
...that is also a command: March 4th
I woke up today hoping it was Saturday. Yesterday felt like Friday. But no. It is Thursday. Higher pressure and added intensity weeks get pretty old after about 7 in a row. How about just a little bit of normal.
This morning was just borderline not fun riding in. Sure beats the alternative but that gusty headwind was still there and not a drop of snow or ice anywhere on paved surfaces so no chance to break out the heavy metal. Invisible Aero-Bars almost all the way in.
A couple cogs higher than the ride home and far less intensity. So much going on. Just want to sit on the couch at home and watch 4-5 movies back to back.
I really should wash this Giant. These last couple weeks of wet commuting, heck the whole year of cold weather and wet&snow equals a dirty bike. The road bike is still in pieces from me taking the left hood off to replace the one chewed up in the crash. If anyone has an extra left dura-ace 9 speed hood laying around in a bin not being used i'll happily pay you in beer or cash for it.
Burlingame is coming up. Definitely planning on doing that. Yeah I need to sign up, eventually I will. So I should really get the Mt bike in order. Heck maybe I'll even ride it before the time trial for a change.
Does this look good or what? It would be great paired with Tilford's mac and cheese (scroll to the bottom of the post). Tilford is right, extra sharp cheddar cheese is the only way to make it. Super, I had just managed to conquer my morning hunger pangs but now they are back. I just want to eat and eat and eat and eat right now. All I have to do is make it until 11:30 and then I'll be occupied until 12:30. Hopefully I can survive.
Well this hasn't been sitting here for that long... surviving? no, not really, but I will. scheduling and protocol emails take my mind off the food even if it means my weeks aren't going to settle down until people start leaving me alone, which doesn't look to be happening until maybe august. Man what happened to the schedule where i could get to work drop off the bag and then head out for an extra two hours on the bike in the morning once a week. Those were the good old days.
Heddwch
G
I woke up today hoping it was Saturday. Yesterday felt like Friday. But no. It is Thursday. Higher pressure and added intensity weeks get pretty old after about 7 in a row. How about just a little bit of normal.
This morning was just borderline not fun riding in. Sure beats the alternative but that gusty headwind was still there and not a drop of snow or ice anywhere on paved surfaces so no chance to break out the heavy metal. Invisible Aero-Bars almost all the way in.
A couple cogs higher than the ride home and far less intensity. So much going on. Just want to sit on the couch at home and watch 4-5 movies back to back.
I really should wash this Giant. These last couple weeks of wet commuting, heck the whole year of cold weather and wet&snow equals a dirty bike. The road bike is still in pieces from me taking the left hood off to replace the one chewed up in the crash. If anyone has an extra left dura-ace 9 speed hood laying around in a bin not being used i'll happily pay you in beer or cash for it.
Burlingame is coming up. Definitely planning on doing that. Yeah I need to sign up, eventually I will. So I should really get the Mt bike in order. Heck maybe I'll even ride it before the time trial for a change.
Does this look good or what? It would be great paired with Tilford's mac and cheese (scroll to the bottom of the post). Tilford is right, extra sharp cheddar cheese is the only way to make it. Super, I had just managed to conquer my morning hunger pangs but now they are back. I just want to eat and eat and eat and eat right now. All I have to do is make it until 11:30 and then I'll be occupied until 12:30. Hopefully I can survive.
Well this hasn't been sitting here for that long... surviving? no, not really, but I will. scheduling and protocol emails take my mind off the food even if it means my weeks aren't going to settle down until people start leaving me alone, which doesn't look to be happening until maybe august. Man what happened to the schedule where i could get to work drop off the bag and then head out for an extra two hours on the bike in the morning once a week. Those were the good old days.
Heddwch
G
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Crap
i totally missed St David's day.
shoot - what kind of Welshman am i to forget the patron saint day. Damn it.
shoot - what kind of Welshman am i to forget the patron saint day. Damn it.
rain to snow
but still too warm to use the studs. i think the recent acquisition (don't worry i didn't pay anywhere near full list price for them, yet) was the lynch pin sealing the deal of no more snow. GeWilli got winter tires and Winter said "fuck it, i'm done."
This feeble snow shit we're getting is pretty tame. Lots of flakes, little stick. But then maybe it will freeze tonight and I'll HAVE to ride in on the studs because it will all be frozen.
I can't believe i'm wishing for a bike path covered in ice and snow right now. I've lost it.
And always when you think things are going south faster than an industrial flush toilet, you run into someone who's been hanging on the toilet rim a hell of a lot longer.
It was raining when I left the house a bit later than planned this morning. Turned on to the bike path with a full on blast of wind. Fuck North again? Shit. Stupid 15 mph or so headwind. Great.
Invisible aero-bar time again.
But the time i got to the parking lot up there at the Fort at the top of the Vet parkway it was almost starting to snow. Then it started snowing in PVD proper as i was crossing the bridge. No sticktuitiveness. Just raining snow. Lame.
Oh well. 32 minutes (i work at a bit higher elevation than i live at - faster to go home) but i didn't really blitz it. But i did push it and it felt good to do that.
it is odd. Today is day 31 of riding every day. No break. And the only time i actually only logged the minimum 15 minutes was Sunday at the end of the day. It turns out I fucked up the challenge though. It was to have ridden the trainer for at least 15 minutes everyday IN ADDITION TO the regular riding. Damn. I screwed that up. sort of. But I didn't miss a fucking day on the bike in February. FTW.
new challenge issued by NC (complete with a picture of him bawling his head off) is doubles. Double days on the bike. No Problem. I've been on the bike 75 times since the new year started.
SEVENTY FIVE times. 75 times sitting on the saddle. Hell none of them are the daily 6 hour rides of the Myerson, and they for sure haven't been recorded in any way. No mileage numbers (no i don't even have a working bike computer on a working bike right now). No TSS, SST, HR, AVG, MAX, whatever numbers for anything. No record other than cellular. And fuck it, isn't that what matters? Anyway.
Tonights ride home will be #76. And my 3rd double of the month. Although i wonder if my sub 20 minute counts on monday night (20 min rule). I'm fucking counting it because it hurt, even with a 30 mph tail wind.
And I'll say something. My legs actually feel pretty awesome. No achy soreness after the really hard rides. Granted I didn't do to many but that 4+ hour thing with little to no food wasn't easy. No stiffening up, no issues.
Well i have issues after driving this damn rental car. Fuck my knee hurt this morning. Really dull achy MCL. And I only drove it for 20 minutes each way last night. It hurt like a sumbitch when i got home and falling asleep. Now it feels fine after the ride. Stupid little people cars, why are the germans the only one who can get it right? Why? It isn't that hard to figure it out.
That riding everyday thing works. I don't know how it would work "in season" but I'm thinking, if kept to a real min of energy expenditure and was just pedal time, probably pretty damn well. Might try that. I'm only 8 double days away from having as many rides in 2010 as G-ride did in all of 2009. that's pretty insane.
The whole single car thing has affected my whole mentality going into the spring. I was gung ho about getting training crits in, doing things like Charge Pond and what not. But now, well, saturday AM is creative movement for the youngest and well that means if I'm riding, I'm leaving the house under my own power, and that means long rides with who ever is leaving somewhere local to PVD. And few race opportunities. It is okay, maybe that's for the best. it is what it is and it is what i have to deal with. And there are worse things to have to deal with.
we'll what the ride home tonight is like. it won't be very enjoyable because i'll probably be busy right up until about 5 minutes after I have to leave to take it easy riding home. Hopefully there will be a bitching tail wind and i can hit the sub 20 mark again. I doubt it will be, more likely the wind will kick around and I'll have a nice headwind on the way home too. such is life. How often can you ride and only see a headwind all day long?
heddwch
G
This feeble snow shit we're getting is pretty tame. Lots of flakes, little stick. But then maybe it will freeze tonight and I'll HAVE to ride in on the studs because it will all be frozen.
I can't believe i'm wishing for a bike path covered in ice and snow right now. I've lost it.
And always when you think things are going south faster than an industrial flush toilet, you run into someone who's been hanging on the toilet rim a hell of a lot longer.
It was raining when I left the house a bit later than planned this morning. Turned on to the bike path with a full on blast of wind. Fuck North again? Shit. Stupid 15 mph or so headwind. Great.
Invisible aero-bar time again.
But the time i got to the parking lot up there at the Fort at the top of the Vet parkway it was almost starting to snow. Then it started snowing in PVD proper as i was crossing the bridge. No sticktuitiveness. Just raining snow. Lame.
Oh well. 32 minutes (i work at a bit higher elevation than i live at - faster to go home) but i didn't really blitz it. But i did push it and it felt good to do that.
it is odd. Today is day 31 of riding every day. No break. And the only time i actually only logged the minimum 15 minutes was Sunday at the end of the day. It turns out I fucked up the challenge though. It was to have ridden the trainer for at least 15 minutes everyday IN ADDITION TO the regular riding. Damn. I screwed that up. sort of. But I didn't miss a fucking day on the bike in February. FTW.
new challenge issued by NC (complete with a picture of him bawling his head off) is doubles. Double days on the bike. No Problem. I've been on the bike 75 times since the new year started.
SEVENTY FIVE times. 75 times sitting on the saddle. Hell none of them are the daily 6 hour rides of the Myerson, and they for sure haven't been recorded in any way. No mileage numbers (no i don't even have a working bike computer on a working bike right now). No TSS, SST, HR, AVG, MAX, whatever numbers for anything. No record other than cellular. And fuck it, isn't that what matters? Anyway.
Tonights ride home will be #76. And my 3rd double of the month. Although i wonder if my sub 20 minute counts on monday night (20 min rule). I'm fucking counting it because it hurt, even with a 30 mph tail wind.
And I'll say something. My legs actually feel pretty awesome. No achy soreness after the really hard rides. Granted I didn't do to many but that 4+ hour thing with little to no food wasn't easy. No stiffening up, no issues.
Well i have issues after driving this damn rental car. Fuck my knee hurt this morning. Really dull achy MCL. And I only drove it for 20 minutes each way last night. It hurt like a sumbitch when i got home and falling asleep. Now it feels fine after the ride. Stupid little people cars, why are the germans the only one who can get it right? Why? It isn't that hard to figure it out.
That riding everyday thing works. I don't know how it would work "in season" but I'm thinking, if kept to a real min of energy expenditure and was just pedal time, probably pretty damn well. Might try that. I'm only 8 double days away from having as many rides in 2010 as G-ride did in all of 2009. that's pretty insane.
The whole single car thing has affected my whole mentality going into the spring. I was gung ho about getting training crits in, doing things like Charge Pond and what not. But now, well, saturday AM is creative movement for the youngest and well that means if I'm riding, I'm leaving the house under my own power, and that means long rides with who ever is leaving somewhere local to PVD. And few race opportunities. It is okay, maybe that's for the best. it is what it is and it is what i have to deal with. And there are worse things to have to deal with.
we'll what the ride home tonight is like. it won't be very enjoyable because i'll probably be busy right up until about 5 minutes after I have to leave to take it easy riding home. Hopefully there will be a bitching tail wind and i can hit the sub 20 mark again. I doubt it will be, more likely the wind will kick around and I'll have a nice headwind on the way home too. such is life. How often can you ride and only see a headwind all day long?
heddwch
G
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
palate cleanser
Sort of. Still about food but now about being a regular at a restaurant.
I've worked in the food service biz (restaurants) and I've been a 'regular' at a few places, most memorable was Shaw's Truckstop in East Lansing, MI. Man Shaws breakfast was outstanding. A bike shop tradition. We'd meet at Shaws pretty much every Saturday before the shop opened. Yeah. We ate food instead of going for a saturday morning ride. God damn good fucking breakfast too. The best hashbrowns, really good sausage patties. And a bottomless cup of pretty decent coffee.
And they knew who we were. not really our names, we all paid cash. Everyone paid cash. it was packed. Always packed, and nearly always with the same people.
You got to the point of saying hey to those around, that was the best part of being a regular. Familiarity. The gals who owned the place knew what we were going to order but always asked, sometimes we changed it up but they always asked, never told us what we were getting. They way it should be.
My grandfather was a regular at a restaurant i worked at one summer. It was where he ate on Wednesday night IIRC and sometimes Sunday night. Everyone knew him. But i have no idea if he had to order, if he ordered the same thing every time. He had a handful of other restaurants he dined at. He didn't like cooking dinner for himself much. So he ate out. And in a small town, with no big chain corporate restaurants, well, you became a regular. Part of how it works. But i'm sure he would be not so happy to have a computer tracking his habits. If the staff knew his birthday and remembered it or wrote it down, that's something nice, if he was being tracked by a computer? well i really don't know how he would feel about it.
I love the ending of the piece linked above:
That's what Shaws was like. It was a tradition. And man i could go for my 'usual' right now, two eggs over medium, hashbrowns, sausage patty, wheat toast and coffee.
When's lunch.
I've worked in the food service biz (restaurants) and I've been a 'regular' at a few places, most memorable was Shaw's Truckstop in East Lansing, MI. Man Shaws breakfast was outstanding. A bike shop tradition. We'd meet at Shaws pretty much every Saturday before the shop opened. Yeah. We ate food instead of going for a saturday morning ride. God damn good fucking breakfast too. The best hashbrowns, really good sausage patties. And a bottomless cup of pretty decent coffee.
And they knew who we were. not really our names, we all paid cash. Everyone paid cash. it was packed. Always packed, and nearly always with the same people.
You got to the point of saying hey to those around, that was the best part of being a regular. Familiarity. The gals who owned the place knew what we were going to order but always asked, sometimes we changed it up but they always asked, never told us what we were getting. They way it should be.
My grandfather was a regular at a restaurant i worked at one summer. It was where he ate on Wednesday night IIRC and sometimes Sunday night. Everyone knew him. But i have no idea if he had to order, if he ordered the same thing every time. He had a handful of other restaurants he dined at. He didn't like cooking dinner for himself much. So he ate out. And in a small town, with no big chain corporate restaurants, well, you became a regular. Part of how it works. But i'm sure he would be not so happy to have a computer tracking his habits. If the staff knew his birthday and remembered it or wrote it down, that's something nice, if he was being tracked by a computer? well i really don't know how he would feel about it.
I love the ending of the piece linked above:
Sure, but quantifying loyalty?
"I hear you," said Ron Blum, a professor at the Hospitality College of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. "Every restaurant wants regulars, but staff can get too comfortable. You're just saying, ‘Hey, I deserve as much attention as anyone. … I'm not to be taken for granted.'"
Exactly.
"We have a mailman named Pete who comes by three days a week for lunch," said Travis McMaster, manager of Poogan's Porch restaurant in Charleston, S.C. "He always orders the same thing, but we tell him the special anyway. He doesn't need a menu, but we give him one. I don't like when restaurants suggest a sense of obligation from customers. I don't want ours to feel pressured. No, I do hear what you're saying."
Thank you.
But this understanding of boundaries, of where familiarity ends and marketing begins, is not just a Southern hospitality thing. I think. Alan Dell is co-owner of Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He said, "New Yorkers will be quick to tell you if you assume too much." He said regulars are cataloged "in my brain only." That said, "Katz's has been here 120 years. So we have regulars. I think all this about feeling smothered is your mind. Who cares what they expect? In the mood for the same thing? Order it already!"
That's what Shaws was like. It was a tradition. And man i could go for my 'usual' right now, two eggs over medium, hashbrowns, sausage patty, wheat toast and coffee.
When's lunch.
Take Florida off the list
of places to buy produce from.
Seriously.
Gourmet magazine had a great long indepth article about this, (just the point when it started getting good and CN pulled the plug) but here's a short brief bit.
How can anyone seriously force someone to work under those conditions? Treating a fellow human being as cruelly as possible. If these salves were animals PETA would be protesting and picketing and all the celebrities would be championing the cause. But no. These are people, people being abused, beaten, starved and forced to work long hours for no pay. And few people know about it and no one seems to be able to stop it. Why? Because the agriculture of Florida would come crashing down without free labor.
Hmmm. Well maybe if fucking SHOULD come crashing down. Then build it the fuck back up PROPERLY and sustainably. If you can't make money growing tomatoes or oranges without free slave labor to harvest the crop, well, fuck raise your price or grow something you can harvest with a machine. OR better yet - make a fucking machine to do the work. Sure, it costs money and all that, and slaves? They are cheap, free. Who cares, right? I mean food is just a commodity, if the chain restaurants can't buy stuff cheap then they can't make as much of a profit and then the CEOs might have to sell one their private jets or third or fourth houses. But as long as people keep buying their product made with slave labor, who cares.
That isn't to say the whole state is farmed by slaves. But still many of those those that aren't 'slave' farmed are often migrant workers who aren't paid much at all and really aren't treated much better.
But well, you know, people need to be able to buy a tomato this time of year. And god forbid Chipotle doesn't have diced tomatoes for their burritos or salads. Granted Chipotle does many things right, raising the bar, but why leave the bar where you can step on the backs of these slaves picking your tomatoes to stay ahead?
When the clothing industry is shown to use Child labor there is a backlash. Buy shoes made by 8 year old kids? No way. right? Buy an Apple iPhone made with 12 year old child labor? No way. Oh wait, iPhones are like food, can't pick and choose to buy stuff not using slave or child labor. Food is easy to turn and look the other way, we want what we want. If someone wants to make a caprese salad this time of year? Well they need fresh tomatoes. Can't deprive them of their right to make a seasonal salad out of season. I should shut up i suppose.
Yes, there are farmers who make a difference, who do pay their workers more and who support the work of CIW.
Not all farmers are bad. But hey, how do you know that the tomato or orange you are buying was picked by a willing and free hand?
that's the question... where are you spending your money... and who are you supporting?
Maybe everyone is aware of what is going on down there. I have been but it takes finding an article like the first one I linked to wake me up.
Seriously.
Gourmet magazine had a great long indepth article about this, (just the point when it started getting good and CN pulled the plug) but here's a short brief bit.
How can anyone seriously force someone to work under those conditions? Treating a fellow human being as cruelly as possible. If these salves were animals PETA would be protesting and picketing and all the celebrities would be championing the cause. But no. These are people, people being abused, beaten, starved and forced to work long hours for no pay. And few people know about it and no one seems to be able to stop it. Why? Because the agriculture of Florida would come crashing down without free labor.
Hmmm. Well maybe if fucking SHOULD come crashing down. Then build it the fuck back up PROPERLY and sustainably. If you can't make money growing tomatoes or oranges without free slave labor to harvest the crop, well, fuck raise your price or grow something you can harvest with a machine. OR better yet - make a fucking machine to do the work. Sure, it costs money and all that, and slaves? They are cheap, free. Who cares, right? I mean food is just a commodity, if the chain restaurants can't buy stuff cheap then they can't make as much of a profit and then the CEOs might have to sell one their private jets or third or fourth houses. But as long as people keep buying their product made with slave labor, who cares.
That isn't to say the whole state is farmed by slaves. But still many of those those that aren't 'slave' farmed are often migrant workers who aren't paid much at all and really aren't treated much better.
But well, you know, people need to be able to buy a tomato this time of year. And god forbid Chipotle doesn't have diced tomatoes for their burritos or salads. Granted Chipotle does many things right, raising the bar, but why leave the bar where you can step on the backs of these slaves picking your tomatoes to stay ahead?
When the clothing industry is shown to use Child labor there is a backlash. Buy shoes made by 8 year old kids? No way. right? Buy an Apple iPhone made with 12 year old child labor? No way. Oh wait, iPhones are like food, can't pick and choose to buy stuff not using slave or child labor. Food is easy to turn and look the other way, we want what we want. If someone wants to make a caprese salad this time of year? Well they need fresh tomatoes. Can't deprive them of their right to make a seasonal salad out of season. I should shut up i suppose.
Yes, there are farmers who make a difference, who do pay their workers more and who support the work of CIW.
Not all farmers are bad. But hey, how do you know that the tomato or orange you are buying was picked by a willing and free hand?
that's the question... where are you spending your money... and who are you supporting?
Maybe everyone is aware of what is going on down there. I have been but it takes finding an article like the first one I linked to wake me up.
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