holiday

It's been over a week since I posted anything here. What can I say, it's the holiday season and I've been keeping pretty busy celebrating my first Christmas and getting ready for new years and my birthday as a college graduate. So yea, not really much to report. But on the bright side the new Urban Velo is out, not the most exciting issue, but worth a look.See you all Thursday!

etc

TNR

Thursday night ride tonight!

321

Well, I finished dotting some i's and crossing some t's for the next week and as the temperature drops I've been sitting in front of my computer box with some Rush River watching music. Here's what I have to share.

Some years ago Thomas and I were riding around town on a cool fall night and we stopped by the Nates show. For whatever reason we decided to ditch out and keep riding. What must have been a half an hour later we were riding down Water and saw got called out outside Taco Johns, it was a friend of ours who explained that the Nates show got busted and they moved the show to Taco Johns. I think 3 bands played in half an hour, it is one of my favorite memories of Eau Claire. I'm the guy with the skeleton gloves and blue hat on.



No explanation needed



This entire documentary is online, if you haven't seen it or don't know who Refused are you are a total square and must watch immediately.



Little known facts:I am a curler, The Weakerthans are one of my favorite bands of all time. To my fault I only pieced this together as a song about curling very recently after pulling Reunion Tour, one of my top winter albums, out again.



And last but not least, you just don't mess with Tom Waits

a brief, yet triumphant, moment of existence

Yesterday we got a new state record 22 inches of snow in 24 hours. That's almost an inch an hour folks! As you can probably figure I spent the majority of the day inside with bottles of Baileys and Sailor Jerry's between shoveling and tromping around buying food. This morning I had to go in to work at 8:30 and despite dreading it I layered up and headed out a few minutes early. I made it to work just fine and in enough time to see my boss getting dropped off.

Then the phone calls came in. Person after person called in reporting that there car had gotten stuck and coudln't make it in because they needed to spend the day digging out. It's times like this I can't help but feel a little smug about riding my bike to work. While everyone is stuck trying to dig out cars all I did was hop on my bike and head out.

This is probably one of my top 10 moments of commuting when you get to really put cars in there place. Ride safe and bundle up everyone it's cold out there.

skaternity

Some old friends of mine are the last skateboarders on planet earth and put out this web edit.

Nate Morley and Friends from Tortoised.com on Vimeo.

There is some nostalgic stuff in it. The skate park from our home town, the old barn ramp, and dudes when dudes had pony tails.

Take your skateboards and your tricks taking your pictures over to http://www.tortoised.com/

for ez

More here.

Edit: I had to add this one because it sums up a lot of things. So much for getting any work done...

goldeneye

I'm finally getting some pictures up from Goldsprints. It was an awesome event and an awesome time and as a result everyone was sent home sore and smiling. Magyar took the title of first goldsprints champ. It was funny seeing layers of clothes dropping as the night progressed until a fair share of people were just in spandex in the middle of the bar. It was an awesome time and keep your eyes open for the next event coming soon...

Thursday we did a quick run through Altoona and ended up at Shots where we ended up dominating Karaoke and getting beer stolen from us by some old guy, which ended up fine because we got a pitcher for free anyway. Awesome night all around, my body definitely didn't agree though.

Anyway here's some pictures, for all of the photos I took none of them ended up any good really so these will have to do for now.

bloodsport

I've been sick and busy and spending a lot of time in front of a computer lately. The other day I watched A Sunday in Hell and it prompted me to post these.

Check out that puddle of sweat under his rollers 1:30 in.

The rest of those Giro videos are online as well.

media

A while ago Andy turned the rest of bikehouse on to the show American Pickers. If you've never seen it, your missing out. Essentially it's a couple of guys driving around the midwest digging through garages for antiques. And one of the guys is way into bikes. How into bikes? Well apparently he was a Cat.3 racer and owned a bike shop for 10 years. Check out an interview here. Super interesting stuff, definite motivator for the future too.

upcoming

Don't Forget!

Gold Sprints are tomorrow night!

The Mousetrap, 5-8pm

311 S. Barstow

And of course, Thursday night ride!

6:30pm

meet behind Bike and sport by Racy's

products

I'll admit it. I have pretty mixed feelings about Chrome. On one hand I appreciate the fact that they have historically made a very solid product and did a lot to popularize messenger bags and in turn get more people making them. They are eager to support events and have consistently been on the forefront of cycling events. On the other hand I haven't had a really good experience with their products, feel like I have heard mixed reviews on the quality of some recent products, and am a bit dismayed with the fact that a ton of their production is done in China. But this is one thing that I can't help but think is pretty damn cool.

In case you can't tell it's a custom embroidered Motorhead bag. If only it was a metropolis.

Also...

worsebetter

There are some things that I would have figured would be obvious truths to everyone despite political alignment or social ideals. Unfortunately time and time again I am forced to reexamine just how little people can agree on. For instance,lets say you don't like bikes. They get in your way when you are driving and that bugs you, you want them off the road. Answer? Bike lanes. They keep bikes out of your way, you can do your thing with minimal impeding by bicycles. Now lets say you love biking and want more solutions to making cycling safe in the city. Answer? Among other things, bike lanes. Soooo, bike lanes are a good option no matter how you look at it right? I guess not in New York where they are tearing them out because of people complaining.

“'He’s taking away my rights as a driver,' Leslie Sicklick, 45, said of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Ms. Sicklick, a dog walker and substitute teacher, grew up driving with her father around the Lower East Side, where she still lives."

"The Republican nominee for governor of Colorado, Dan Maes, wondered during the primary whether bicycles were part of a nefarious plot to ruin the nation’s cities."

This stuff just gets my goat. How much worse can things get before they get better? Apparently a whole lot.

Again, you can read the whole New York Times article HERE.

!GOLDSPRINTS!

day2day

whats going on

I haven't posted in a long time. Whats the deal? I'm busy trying to graduate from college. Sorry! Heres a couple ways to kill some time.

uv

New Urban Velo Out now!

There is an article on flat track racing on single speeds without brakes that looks like a rediculous amount of fun.

gc

Ghettocross went off without a hitch on Saturday. I'm really happy with the race, and can't wait until the next one. Maybe there is enough time yet to organize something similar before the year is over? Anyway, I've got a busy week ahead of me, so here's some pictures.

Jake took the hole shot apparently.

The first bridge obstacle just kept getting crazier and crazier, definitely gave stream crossing some advantage.

And afterwards we all drank a bunch of Blatz. Ate marshmallows, and I accidentally melted my shoes. After Thursday night and then this I think I need to stay away from fire for a little bit.

floyd

Still upset about the whole Floyd Landis debacle? Here's your chance to get back! He has an international arrest warrant out for him after apparently accessing a computer database in France to change testing results on the Tour.

Go get him!

big 3

Holy moly! Yesterday was the third anniversary of this blog! I know every time this happens I tend to get really sentimental and indulgent, but I can't help it. It's strange to me that I have been doing this for three years. I'm a pretty big cynic and when it comes to technology and blogs and that stuff I like to think I tend to shy away from taking it seriously and talking about it. But the reality of the situation is that this little website has been a big part of my life as a journal and a way to connect with people for a long time now.

A couple recent rides people have gotten pretty sentimental about old rides from years ago and it's always fun to listen to. I think I've had the same conversation with a lot of different people, but it is worth saying again. It's awesome that we have been riding together for years now and there are no people I would rather ride with and no people I trust more on bikes then the people I ride with day in and out.

And best yet, it is all still so fresh to me. Yesterday when I got my Bianchi together I took it for a little ride around Carson park. I was hitting every tree root and every trail and every little jump I could. I felt like I was a kid and it was my first bike, I probably looked like it too. It wasn't until some roadies zipped by me that I was transported back to the reality that I had to get home. I love that. I love that feeling you get on your bike no matter how many miles you've gone on it or how crappy it is out or what the situation about it. For people who ride all the time they know, for everyone else it's impossible to describe.
I'm not trying to get spiritual or anything, it's something I feel is worth saying while I'm on this emo kick. Suffice it to say that again I am honored to be here right now. Going through and trying to pick some of my favorite pictures of the last year was nearly impossible. I've taken so many that I haven't even put up on this site partnered with all of the great experiences in the ones I did it really brings home how much EC velo rules.
I think in the next year or so their might be some big changes coming for this blog, so keep checking back. A Bikeec 3yearbook zine is also in the works and depending on how much time I have should be done this month. Well, heres to three more years, see you all on Thursday(for real this time.) I'll leave you with these hits...

"first off, Andy has a beard and he showers sometimes. He also wears pants and shirts, and chews with his teeth. On a related note "Arrrrr Matey, I have an eye patch...". Twas a good night. A good ride. The warmth was welcome.

My butt is super wet because when you fall it doesn't like hurt, it's more like submerging yourself in water. Good thing it's not cold out. Zacher fell like 6 times. He gets mad that I'm counting though. Cory got a new hat that matches Zachers which is weird.

We biked up old wells road hill. Corey James suggested flying down it and biking up again. People thought he was joking. He wasn't. They did not go back down the hill. Andy popped a boner. He said, "Sometimes it just happens when you are having fun."

Zacher's nose bled. It was red.

The crew is rolling deep tonight. Vodka. Laffy Taffy. Jokes. Where do sick boats go? To the docks. Smith A. New Ingles, MO. Mixes well on the pallette. Not. Columbus discovered America. Not. Lots of crashes tonight. Ice everywhere. Andy: keep it up. My name is Andy. I have a beard; I am tall; I eat food and drink water. EC pass the computer.

So tonight was super duper fun. As we were bombing 3rd street south back into town we felt like we could be in any big city (due to the crane and sky line and all) it was such a fantastic scene. Tonight was extremely damp and foggy but as usual ec velo was able to handle anything that she throws at us. ecvc hearts partying!

Andy? Yeah, I think I've heard of him before... He's the guy who chews with his teeth right? I heard he drinks water and stuff too? He seems kind of wierd"

See you soon!