hall

I don't like Halloween.  Don't get me wrong, I love holidays.  They are a reason to get excited, get out of work, eat food, get presents,drink too much, make mistakes etc. etc.  But Halloween is just not my thing.  I attribute a lot of that to working at a thrift store for 2 years, but no matter what the reason it is just nothing I get excited about and it takes a lot for me to 1. Give a shit about it  2. Actively seek out Halloween related events or celebrations and 3. Dress up and partake in those events without being a total grouch.  When they fall in my lap their is a brief moment of elation not because I like Halloween, but just because it allows me to "celebrate" it with my peers and not have to stay home and sulk. I guess it was easier to find a silver lining in people smudging make up on my face or wearing a hot sweaty smelly rubber mask because you know the end result is going to be candy (thanks for the cavities Halloween, really appreciate it!) or maybe you get to throw some eggs at something.  The payoff was just much greater as a kid.  A good Halloween as an adult is really the equivalent of any good weekend night(go out, get goofy, don't get/get anyone pregnant) it just involves a lot more sexy nuns and slutty paperclips.  To the point, I could care less about today as a holiday however, it is the first day of curling practice and the beginning of a new season.  And that excites me tremendously.  So if you expected a "Happy Halloween" post or some garbage like that, you're not getting it.  Instead you are getting a Happy Start of the Curling Season post.    Fin.        

See you on the ice!

daily title

This weekend was a much needed respite from work and running around.  Thursday I took off early and headed to Lowes Creek to check out some of the new trailwork they have been doing out there.  Derek met me out and we rode all of the new elements (which are very cool, nice work CORBA) and worked up a hearty appetite that only two burgers at the Court n' House could satisfy.  We met Magyar there, chowed won and headed out for a TNR full of goofs, riding the new Hastings way, drink tickets, and classical music.

I took a rest day on Friday and hammered out a bunch of work for the upcoming photo show as well as house cleaning and nap taking. Saturday Jen and I went to Chippewa and hit up the downtown flea market, bloody mary and cheese curd breakfast, an antiques store that seemed to specialize in selling 30 year old full cans of beer and finally we hit up the Leinies tour where we were mistakenly given 4 drink tickets each instead of 2.  Came home, nap time, Haloween party time. Yesterday was wet cold and miserable which made it the perfect day for a cross race.

Despite the low racer turnout the race was a muddy blast and the lack of racers allowed me to grab third place racing a single speed in wet denim.

Props to the organizers spectators and racers.  Especially the ones that had to endure seeing Derek hanging his ass out of his pants.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing and going to a scary haunted house.  Now it's Monday and I'm back to work and already thinking about Thursday and the weekend.  It's a vicious cycle, I think maybe the only way out is to have less fun on the weekends than the work week which is something I'm not prepared to undertake yet.

press gang

Blurb in V1 about this really cool event going on next Thursday.  Go to it and people will think you are funny, attractive,smart, and edgy.  It's science.

I also saw this and thought it was kind of cool. Don't steal bikes bro.

ghettoblaster

Ghettocross is back for it's third year and we bigger and badder than ever. 3 races, $3, more inf TBA.  In case you don't get the flyer reference.

time

I've got to find some time to get on my bike.

Osiris Shoes - Arik Elstran Goes West from Osiris BMX on Vimeo.

recap

You'll have to pardon me for the late Hellcat recap, the weekend kind of sent me reeling, and work has kept me up to my ears.  So lets get to the sweet stuff.  Organizing events is a totally different vibe than racing them. It's weeks of getting stuff in order and running around and cleaning up when it's all done.  That's why it's awesome to be able to put in half as much work as you should have to into an event and still have the results you are looking for pan out. More than the planning, it says a lot about the community involved and willing to show their support and enthusiasm for stuff. 

 With that said I want to thank the 40 racers who showed up, hung out, and brought the best vibes anyone could ask for.  This race was organized a little different than previous years with a system of pick ups, dopr offs, and lots of drinking opportunities.  We started by pulling everyone up campus hill and having a mass rolling start from the Putnam Heights ice skating rink  

 We released the hounds and hit a few checkpoints to watch racers come in.  In what felt like no time flat people started coming in to pick up one of our suprises.  Why carry wood to the after party yourself when you can make racers do it. You're looking at first and second place by a long shot here.

 The after party was stocked with food, beer, and massages.  Not to mention fires, wrastl club, dancing, metal, bike massacre, and roller riding.

 I browned out somewhere between pizzas showing up and the third keg being carried outside to the fire and around 2:30 it was time to hit the road. I really want to thank all the great people who showed up and raced or pitched in to this race, you are the ones who make this fun.  If you missed it, then shame on you.  You had better redeem yourself by making it to Another Year on the Streets, Carson Park Cyclocross, and all three of the upcoming Ghettocross races coming up(more info soon).  Too much fun  

hellcat

Hellcat tomorrow

It's in the atmosphere and hijinks have begun.  Be there or I send Danzig after you

moz

It's not every day you get a compliment from a complete stranger. It's even more rare when they are complementing you about your bike/biking, so when a random woman pulled along side me on my ride to work this morning to give me a thumbs up and shout "very cool! great balance!" after pulling away from a light  I couldn't help but smile and thank her.  Which is contrary to my usual reaction of hissing and spitting uncontrollably when yelled at by a motorist. Thanks again lady!  More than anything it is comforting to know that their are still motorists who are still paying attention to the road, something which is second nature when commuting. Speaking of commuting, out of curiosity(boredom) I looked up my 4.5 mile commute today and came up with this impressive graph via veloroutes.org

While I know that their are a couple decent hills on my way to work I love this graph because it makes these hills look exponentially more difficult and bad ass.  Kind of like how this photo of anonymous cyclist last Thursday makes him look like he is going to do something far cooler, presumably a crazy backflip down this rickity ramp, then what really happened, cry and pee his pants out of fear.  The reality of both my commute and the below photo is somewhere between the two extremes, but it's best to leave that to your own imagination.

As well as being reminded of what a talented attractive cyclist I am this morning I was also reminded of the fact that it is indeed Fall and the temperature is on it's way down in a hurry. Which means cold hands, hot drinks, and cyclocross.


Just one week after the fall race of the decade Carson Park Cyclocross will be back in Eau Claire.  The race is only $20 and is $5 in costume, race this, it's a no brainer.  More info here.  I hear a tea kettle whistling and responsibility calling. TNR and HELLCAT on Saturday, be there and bring your fiends, it's going to be out of control.

gm

While spending to much time on the internet I saw this ad put out by GM.  

Advertising doesn't get much more pathetic than this.  What kind of tagline is "Stop Pedaling...Start Driving?" Fortunately I'm not the only one who thinks so and apparently GM caught so much flack for their totally failed attempt to be clever that they were forced to pull the ad.   Their defense being, "The content of the ad was developed with college students and was meant to be a bit cheeky and humorous,"  FAIL.  If you want cheeky and humorous I refer you to the ad below. 

mandatory

It's recently come to my attention that I have not promoted this event which I am putting on very shortly...

This is not just a byproduct of some sort of self-sabotaging tendencies, but more of a byproduct of the fact that I have been really busy again lately.  Partly at work, partly planning the above event, and partly planning the Hellcat which I made some fresh new flyers for as well.

This also accounts for my lack of posts lately.  Regardless of my internet activity I sincerely hope to see a lot of people at both of these events because I think they are going to be awesome and also because a lot of people are working long tireless hours to make sure they happen for your amusement. So there it is, a weekday post.  Soak it up.

Giving your arrow keys a work out.

weekend

Just got home from a nice long ride out to Lake Eau Claire County park.  I ended up getting lost on some beautiful roads and hanging out in the fall woods before heading back towards town via Big Falls.

 It's been a gorgeous weekend and I've been staying out of town as much as possible this weekend which has meant paddling, playing with dogs, and seeing tons of beautiful Wisconsin back roads.

 I love the weekend.

Also, go pack go.

hearts

 The past week has been gorgeous and busy. I've been riding as much as I can before winter, and watching my cats play with a box.

Ramp local arik elstran has been shredding as well.

2011 Vital BMX Game of BIKE: Connor Lodes vs Arik Elstran, Round 1 - More BMX Videos

Thats enough internet for now. Go outside and have fun this weekend

In case you're wondering, yes that is the beer cave at Festival. You boozers

sun

It's been a big week.  Thursday ended up clearing up to be a beautiful night and a nice tame fun ride. 

 Saturday was a night of epic jams and monster midnight snacking.

Sunday I was in recovery mode all morning so I missed the Deerfly. Instead Magyar and I headed out to Levis where the WEMS championship was going down. Which was convenient for us because we got treated to good company and free beer all without having to actually pedal our asses off for 7 hours.  I could go into detail about more of the week, but it is absoultly gorgeous out right now and I can't sit inside another minute.  Time to go ride.