Hiatus

I know what you're thinking. "Where in the hell has that handsome bastard been with all of his brilliant insights, hilarious commentary, and stunning action shots?!" Well here's the deal.  I've been a busy dude as of late and my ability to generate content has kind of been in the dumps.  Partnering that with the fact that my work involves me sitting in front of a computer all day so the idea of electing to continue that at home during these short cold days has been as appealing as scarfing down a thumbtack sandwich.  So yea, I've been away for a while.  Upon returning I find myself reaching an impasse with Blogger as after X amount of years of taking up their valuable server space with garbage like this they have finally gotten sick of my freeloading and decided it's about time I throw some money at them if I ever want to post another photo again.  Trust me I'm as shocked as you are that blogger expects me to have my game together enough to pay them when by all accounts they should be paying me for my tremendous contribution to high end bicycle journalism.   Last and not least there are still a mighty handful of other projects I want to undertake that I have been putting off for years and a proper hiatus may be just what I need to get them done.

Don't fret though.  I am slowly piecing together the parts I need to move onward and upward in the interblogosphere and hopefully will be back in action come the new year.  Until then I will see you nerds out on the road, in the bar, and at the rock and roll show. Have a happy and safe December Holiday season!

after it

I've been out of town visiting family and friends up round Eau Claire. Now I'm back for a bit before I jump around some more. Going to EC reminded me to check back on the NO10 blog where I was greeted with this little edit from a new Ramp Local and Andreas.  Dude's shred.  Get out and ride before the snow flies.

lights

Lately there's been a big stink about putting in street lights along a stretch of the southwest commuter path to help make the path a little safer.  I commute on this path every day and completely understand both sides of the argument.  Some nights a nice dark quiet ride home is perfect, other nights I almost get hit by half a dozen bikes. But while I find the anti-light faction in this argument profoundly annoying and self righteous (Seriously you guys, tone it down. You're really starting to make me want to go out and cut those damn owls out of their homes myself.)  The whole idea of spending $250,000 to install some lights that don't really need to be there just seems like a total waste. You could give the first 2000 people on the trail at dusk $125 voucher for lights at a local bike shop and not only would it improve safety on the path, it would improve safety everywhere, invest in the local economy, and the idiots who whine and put up signs about light pollution while living IN THE MIDDLE OF A CITY stay happy.  My beef isn't about encroachment on the environment (again you live in a city, kind of hard to turn the clock back on that one) or about any of the other stupid arguments made that just upset and alienate people like myself that are pro-cycling and pro-environment, it's just about the fact that it is a very poorly thought out solution to a relatively simple problem.  When it come's down to do nothing and have people be pissy and get into a few accidents and not spend anything vs. spend a ton of cash, piss off a ton of people, and still not nessearily cut down on accidents the choice seems pretty clear.

 

aside

 After being incapacitated by a stupid head cold all week I finally felt good enough to emerge from total seclusion this week and actually get out of the house. I've done nothing all week except bike to and from work, so by the time Friday night rolled around and I felt good enough to actually enjoy riding I milked every trip and after catching a show I took my time on the long route home.  Then after sleeping in absurdly late on Saturday I headed out to the New Glarus Tunnel.

 While I don't generally like trail riding because I think it's usually super flat and boring the trail out to NG is actually a lot of fun, especially yesterday with the majority of the ride being wet gravel.

Got to the tunnel, ate a granola bar, chilled for a minute and then a gaggle of loud teenagers smoking cigarettes and drinking cheap beer that they probably stole from their parents fridges showed up and kind of harshed my mellow so I headed back home with the sun at my back and a tailwind the whole way.  

I love riding my bike.

illmatic

I had a lot of fun this weekend. Then what started out as a little lingering sickness turned itself into a full blown 1100lb turd sandwich of a cold so I don't have the energy or capacity to talk about bike stuff.

So look at how talented these cats are instead.

 



 And with that I'm out for the count.

 Edit: Blogger switched up a bunch of doo hickeys and rewired a bunch of switchy wammers so posting videos and stuff has been really hit or miss. That cat video is up now though. You can breathe a sigh of relief and finally see what I'm talking about. Now excuse me, I've got some phlegm to cough up.

homes

Last weekend when I headed to Ghettocross I went up to my dads house and spent the first night I've spent there in years.  I walked around with the camera and took a few photos of stuff.  Wisco country living at its finest.  

Rev

 There is no shortage of bike shops in Madison.  At this point I've been to a fair share of them, but Revolution stands alone.  This is the kind of shop that I've long had a dream of running some day.  Check out this cool little short to find out why.  Keep up the awesome work dudes.

fly right

Last weekend last minute I decided to pack my bags and head Eau Claire way for Ghettocross. This is the second event that I used to have a hand in that I've been back to check out as a participant since I moved and it was awesome.  I guess that makes me a bit of a helicopter event parent but it's refreshing to go back to stuff you used to have your fingers in and be able to jut sit back and enjoy for a while.  Ghettocross started 4 years ago as an idea for a fun sloppy cross race that was cheap and welcoming. Last year it grew to a 3 race series, and this year is 3 races again.  $1-3 buy in, cash purse, winner take all, beer for everybody. 25 people showed up to race with another 25 spectators in the crowd to watch the action.

The race itself wrapped up in around 20 minutes then the socializing, snacking, beers, and fire jumps started.

Ramps were totally incinerated and winners earned their keep.  After a pizza break the sun went down and we headed out to rest for an hour or so before the rest of the night's festivities. From that point on the night flew by, and unfotunatley I was much to lazy to do much documenting of it.  But suffice it to say I hung out with awesome people including some I haven't seen in some time, watched a show in a very risque very improvised costume, sat around another camp fire, and didn't hit the hay until early in the morning

Sunday after a big greasy breakfast I watched the Packers and headed back home with a big ol' grin on my face.  If you are in the area and you ever get the chance I highly recommend checking out the Ghettocross races. There are 2 left the next couple weekends and I guarantee they will be a treat and a welcome change from your standard race.

Oh yea, and I randomly met Danny Devito.

Small world.

rebound

I'm still recovering from Ghettocross this weekend, so for now watch this and wish you were out on your bike in a t-shirt and shorts.

the kids the kids the kids

There was a recent article on Slate about cyclists riding with headphones in and why it's completely idiotic, and I couldn't agree more.  I can come off as sort of a burned up old crank when it comes to a lot of things, key among them is "the kids" and what kind of antics they are up too. Living in a college town and working in very close proximity to a college campus I see these whippersnappers with oversized headphones bobbing their heads to Pumped up kicks" or whatever dribble they listen to these days on their fixed wheelie bikes and their roller boots as they careen through groups of pedestrians across a busy street on their way to the quad to play hacky sack or whatever on a daily basis.  Now don't get me wrong, I love music.  And I love bikes.  But I also think when you put in your ear buds and crank up your skrillex and you are begging for trouble.  The article touches upon most of my major gripes so I'm not going to sit here and reiterate a bunch of stuff that someone got paid to say much more eloquently than I ever could so read it and weep.  Then take those stupid ear buds out and pay attention.

(sort of) NEW BIKE DAY!

 After putting this on the back burner for months I finally swapped out a bunch of stuff on the Miyata commuter and turned it into a single speed. I know there are people who will swear by brakeless fixed gears and whatever until the day they die, and for a long time I was one of those people.  Fixed brakeless is fun, zippy, and simple.  While these things are true, brakeless fixed isn't always the most practical.  Last summer my knees started to give me trouble and I finally put a brake on this bike. I realized very quickly how much better it was than before.  After coming to Madison and commuting fixed it started to get old quick.  Then I trashed my fork and finally decided to make the swap to single speed. This bike has taken on many different configurations and I have loved them all, but after a bit of dialing in I've got to say this may be my favorite so far.

 Mostly stuff that was just laying around or already on the bike.  Campy front, campy pedals, iro cranks, messenger ring, whatever rear, cheapo brakes, tektro levers topped off with an old San Marco Rolls and some super wide mustache bars. And this fancy bell.

 Still a work in progress, like all my bikes, eventually get the addition of a Brooks and the fattest tires the frame can fit. Overall pretty happy with the way it rides now however.

 Today was absolutly beautiful out so after work I took the newly refurbished steed out to Elver "we don't want your kind here" Park, which as I suspected was largely abandoned and afforded me the luxury of ripping around the disc golf course and relaxing in the sun.

Crappy photo but yonder about 7 miles is the Capital, neat view.  

 This week is going to be gorgeous, go out and live it.

of the deep

There's all of these movies that try to poignantly weave big cities into the narrative of their story as some kind of force or character that take on a life of their own and end up developing a sort of rhythm that's supposed to be the reminiscent of  people in them.  Something like that, I'm no movie genius, but that's my take.  And I sort of buy into it. Some places quickly feel comfortable and are easy to fall in love with, other places make you feel off kilter and want to high tail it before you end up dead or in the hoosegow.  My point in all of this is that my total disdain for Halloween and the garbage it involves I feel like this was one of those glowing moments where my hippy-life-pulse alined closely with that of the place I live.  

 Friday night I headed over to a fellow EC transplants house for a big potluck and house show featuring EC's Kalispell.  I gorged myself on tons of good food and met a bunch of great people.  It's funny in all the time I lived in EC I never caught these guys play (even after running a local music radio show, whoops) but I was really pleasantly surprised. Maybe it was the brie, apples, and wine speaking, but it was a really awesome show.  After things wrapped up I headed down to Rev and completely changed gears from quiet toe tapping to blurry shirtless dance party.

 Tiny Daggers, Fire Retarded, and Poney played and before I could take more then a handful of photos the night tipped into total disorder and I was more concerned with shaking what the good Lord gave me to mess around with my photo making box.

 The night ended shortly there after and I slowly made my way home to catch some well earned zzzs.

 Saturday started off with a huge breakfast as fuel for the 5th annual Madison Halloween Alleycat.  I didn't know anyone racing, but for $5 I figured I knew the city well enough at this point and it was worth it. There was only two real routes to the race so I picked the group that looked like it had some strong folks in it and when the race started I got on their wheels and stuck there to the first checkpoint.  I felt just fine until rolling up to a basketball court. I fancy myself to be a relatively athletic person. Decent eye-hand coordination, reasonable endurance, decent power.  None of that shit comes into play when I have a basketball in my hands. I am by far one of the worse basketball players on the planet bar none. I got to the stop with the first 5 or so people in the group.  I was the second to last player to make a basketball shot to allow me to move on to the next checkpoint. Literally half of the field got there and made a shot and took off while I was stuck sitting around ball in hand like some sort of jerk.  I reasoned the race was over and finally got out of there to the next stop.

 Everything from there went pretty well. I made up time by drinking a minimum and hustling from stop to stop.  Then I pulled a rookie move got cocky and pulled away from a group.  Got lost and lost easily 10 minutes of time.  Took off again, in the direction of the final stop and took my time to ask twice for directions to make sure I was heading the right direction.  Bother people said I in fact wasn't and needed to circle back to the other side of the capital. They were wrong, I realized they were sending me to the St. rather than the Ave, and turned around limping my way to the finish having easily lost 30 minutes on the mistake. Needless to say I wasn't to stoked. 

But all's well that end's well. I hung out at the after party with good people and proceeded to get loose. A little too loose maybe, but there was free beer and free pizza so it's no wonder I didn't make it to the Rev party later that night and didn't get much done Sunday either.  I didn't take many photos from the race, but you can view others online here if your interested. It was an awesome weekend and I applaud anyone who was part of it. 

jams

Good dudes and rock and roll stars Laarks just put out a new video. Lot's of familiar sights and friendly faces in it. Someones been reading too much Phillip K. Dick.

Johnny Law

I think it's pretty common for kids to make fun of lawyers a long time before they even have any concept of what they even do.  At least I know as a kid I knew throughout my early adolescence I repeated lawyer jokes I had no idea what they meant I just knew that lawyers were some sort of fanged heartless creatures that migrated from pond scum into suits and ties and a life spent without needing to deal with one of them is a sign of a life well led.  Obviously my viewpoint has changed a bit since then, and while I remain cynical about the legal code and those who enforce it at all levels I was pretty happy to see this post from the WI Bike Fed blog today.

The upshut of which is something cyclists have known for a long time. The laws on the books need to change to give cyclists a fair safe space on the road and punish those who refuse to accommodate   In my opinion you should not be able to hit and kill a cyclist and ever be able to drive a car ever again. You had your chance, you blew it, too bad.  And this new Vulnerable User law seems like the ticket that might get us there.  It's Friday, the sun is shining, and pro-bicycle legislation is being talked about. Today is a good day.
 

 

halloweekend

I'm sure I've mentioned this before.  Actually I know I've mentioned it before many times, but one more won't kill you.  I hate Halloween. I'm not trying to be a sour old crotch here, but I just don't like it.  Easter is great, Thanksgiving is awesome, I absolutely love Christmas, I just can't stand Halloween.  Every year I try to care, but I just can't  I still partake in the festivities insofar as I pull together a half-assed costume and go to a party and have fun, but don't think for a second that in the back of my mind I'm not wishing Halloween could be done away with and replaced by any other holiday.  Pre-Thanksgiving has a nice ring to it, Leaf Day is nice, Candynacht could be fun. The fact that I will in all likely hood not be curling this year puts an additional damper on the holiday that would traditionally be the kickoff week of the curling season.  Now that I've got that out of my system there are some sweet events coming up this weekend and ya'll should try to attend. You may even see your's truly all accouter in seasonal garb.

LeMond

Cycling, specifically road cycling, is full of polarizing figures.  Sure you get your Mercxs' and your Coppis' that everyone can just shut up and agree on being legitimately bad ass dudes who were remarkably talented and seemed like stand up people.  But for the most part you don't see that.  Maybe because professional cycling is full of ego maniacal whiny douche-hats that have the personality of a bar rag, maybe because times have changed and people just like to bicker.  But whatever the case it seems like since I've gotten interested in following cycling it's been one nut punch after another in regards to professional cycling and it's "reputation" on the world stage.  I feel like at this point the whole Lance debate is not worth even commenting on.  But no matter what your opinion on the guy it's interesting to see someone who was one of the most iconic cyclists of all time stripped of his titles by a bunch of old turds in an office that Armstrong's legacy has been paying for over a decade.  The point I'm trying to make is that as ridiculous as the macho chest thumping is, it's part of what makes sports like cycling interesting.  What sort of pain people are willing to endure and what kind of trash they talk to stroke their ego and get a paycheck is what makes me want to watch a sea of gangly sweaty guys in spandex with funny names chase each other around on bikes all day.  When officials like UCI and USAC and even USADA start spouting insane regulation from what kind of vitamin water you can drink to what you can openly say about regulating agencies without loosing your paycheck things go down the drain in a hurry.  That said, despite my mixed opinions on Greg LeMond it was cool to hear him speak out against a couple of the main sanctioning bodies in the cycling world today in an online statement telling UCI president  Pat McQuaid to "fuck off and resign," and calling on cyclists to quit racing sanctioned events for a year and reinvent the UCI in a new image.  Cycling should not be the domain of regulators or athletes who just race for the money.  It should belong to cyclists and fans of cycling, and it's important to have pro cyclists speak up advocating on their own behalf and on behalf of their fans rather than cowering and sucking down protein shakes while their managers and sponsors tell them what to do.  Hats off to you LeMond.

Read the whole letter from LeMond that I'm talking about here.  

where you been?

 I've got a whole handful of photos form the past few weeks that I haven't done anything with.  Not as many as I'd like, but here ya go. Cable trip above

 My cat's new favorite place to sleep.

 Hellcat on Saturday.  Finding new ways to drink beer.

 Bike jumps

 Fire antics

 How I'm feeling.  Still trying to catch up on sleep and remember all of the events from the past few days. Good times.