revolving door

Since getting back to Madison on Sunday this week has been a total blur.  It's a strange feeling moving somewhere new and starting to realize that when you are anxious to just get some time to relax at home the home you live in is different than the one you've been familiar with for so long.  My return trip to EC was bitter-sweet.  Bitter for all of the things I miss, sweet for all of the people and things I got to do and see while I was there.  Like my dad and his new dog

                             

The Joynt

 And friends and their bikes and pools

 After 2 nights of staying up much much to late and two solid days of good company I got back home unpacked my bags and tonight I repacked them all again for the trip up to Copper Harbor tomorrow for a solid half week of some of the best mountain biking in the upper midwest, camping, and probably some shenanigans thrown in.  Hope to see lots of friendly faces up there, otherwise I'll talk to ya'll upon my return.  

Lance

In case you've been living under a rock the past week you are probably well aware of the fact that Lance recently though in the towel in regards to the USADA doping scandal.  I have nothing to say about this that hasn't already been said on the Ritte Blog and by a little piece on Vice.  So I won't add anything new to the debate other than the whole thing is a complete joke. End of story.

out of the office

 Heading to EC for the weekend.  Sorry liver.

Thumbs up for Rock and Roll!

roots

Classic British bike riding, beer drinking, public transit loving, hipster looking, bike ride through the countryside.

bling

I try not to re-post stuff from other blogs all that often because, well honestly I find most of it is irrelevant to what goes on in the non-blogosphere. This is a pretty cool re-purposing of a campy hub into a beautiful espresso tamp.  More here.  Now you can finally have something to match your $200 Campy Corskscrew, a tool I never leave home without.

mean streets

After a long wait the most anticipated cycling movie of summer finally comes out tomorrow! In celebration TV has taken it upon itself to teach you the three most important skills in cycling, 1.POWER SKIDZ! 2.180 SPINZ!! 3. BUNNY HOPZZZ!!!11!  Now you too can be fixie-pro just like my boy J.G.L.  Watch the movie,learn all your favorite tricks, stop the bad guys, impress your friends. I'm just all a quiver with anticipation!

Reality

Friday night a handful of us loaded up and headed out to Levis to celebrate a marriage, ride bikes, and get loose. I feel like it's to the point in the year where you finally start noticing the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler and begin cramming in as much in every day as you can before winter gets here and you kiss long wasted summer days good bye.  That said every weekend for the next month is booked up and I plan on being drug into winter kicking and screaming. 

We showed up Friday night, set up camp, got on our bike and headed out for a night ride to the bluffs.  I keep kicking myself in the crotch for not bringing my camera on excursions like this because the views of the night sky were absolutely gorgeous.  After struggling to keep up we finally got back to camp and set to the fire and getting loose until the wee hours of the morning.

After running to town for second breakfast and no less then a gallon of coffee we got back to the site and hit the trail again.  It's a hard feeling to describe huffing up a hill with your lungs burning and legs aching and just wanting to quit one second and then turning the corner and seeing awesome vistas and long winding downhills to open up down smiling ear to ear.  Especially on trails as nice as the ones at Levis.  So I won't try to describe it any further, just go out and ride it for yourself. 

Back at camp we sat around ate a ton of grillables hit the trail again came back ate some more and went for a little night hike.

Got back rode bikes over the fire(accidental deleted my one decent photo of this) chopped down a tree and again turned in at an ungodly hour.

Sunday morning I got into a huge argument with my body regarding it's functionality and how it should be allow me to ride more despite what occurred the night before.  After about 45 minutes of riding my body won and I limped back to the camp site to take handfulls of ibuprofen and completely shut down as a human being while those around me rode off into the hills with smiling.  Everyone got back, we loaded up, went home, and I stood in the shower for half an hour before passing out early.  All in all a success. next weekend, Eau Claire.    

Out of the office

Heading to Levis for a weekend of mountain biking, camping, and debauchery with a whole bunch of good people.  Summer is winding down, get out and ride!

K.I.S.S.

I have a hard time nay-saying someone trying to make a living off of something they love.  But I also know that the bike industry is full of people hashing out ways to market insanely complicated over the top "technology" in an effort to get people to buy the same shit twice and spend more money.  Then they try to market this stuff with idiotic kitsch taglines like "So much is going into urban biking, cars are so yesterday."  Again, nice work trying to do something you love and make a living off of it but fact is bike helmets work.  They have for a long time and they will only get better in the future.  There is no way on earth am I going to ride around with a 5lb space helmet scarf on in the middle of summer sweating my ass off just so I don't mess up my hair.

Get over it people, your hair or your crappy flat brimmed cap, or your dreadlocks aren't going to save you when your head meets the pavement.  Buy a helmet, wear it, and quit wasting time trying to invent idiotic, over the top, shit like this.

Rant complete

Tuesday

 Whenever I sense my mood shifting towards the worse I can usually self diagnose pretty quickly by thinking about how much riding I've been getting in at the time.  Lately that hasn't been very much.  I've been pre-occupied with the stresses of living in a new city, meeting new people, working all the time, and a stupid lack of ambition.  Tuesday I finally put that stuff aside and went on an aimless trail hunt.  I've been borrowing a Tsunami cross bike lately and at last I took the time to put clicky pedals on it and hit every trail section in sight.

 Looking for trails and paths less traveled send you on a lot of short paths with a lot of turning around and doubling back at dead ends, but it's also totally worth it.  In a couple hours of riding I hit everything from grass path to gravel roads and crushed limestone bike trails before drafting  a pathalete back into town and stopping off at Quarry ridge for a celebratory drink.  I can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday evening. 

  The weather is gorgeous, go outside, ride your bike. 

Saturday

 Saturday was a complete blast.  After sleeping in to the late hour of 10am I finally crawled out of bed made a huge breakfast got a few things caught up on and headed out to Quarry Ridge for some mountain biking.  I was pleasantly surprised and ran into a couple friendly faces and we rode a handful of laps together before breaking apart and I hung out for another 45 minutes or so before heading home to clean up for the Rev Cycles Pig Roast.  

 I arrived fashionably late, found the keg and a plate and got to business.  The whole afternoon was a blast and I got to meet a bunch of awesome new people, drink a bunch of great beer, eat a bunch of awesome food, and before I knew it it was dark out and we were out of beer.

 A handful of us hopped on our bikes and grabbed some pizza where I was met with this conversation. 

Person: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Eau Claire"
Person: "EAU CLAIRE!? YOU ARE THE GUS WHO ALWAYS GET CRAZY AND TAKE YOUR SHIRTS OFF! I'M SUPRISED YOUR STILL DRESSED!"

I felt pretty good about that conversation.  Afterwards we bolted to some establishment on State where I wondered around trying to talk to strangers before the curtain was drawn on the night and I began the long trek home.

  Sunday I left the house for a haircut and spent the rest of the day resting in bed. Totally deserved. 

Jams

Oldies but goodies.

Bikes and Food

I read an article about this a while ago and loved the idea. It would be so much fun to organize something like this some day.  Good companies doing good things.

Belgium's got it

 

If there is one thing that there isn't enough of in professional cycling today it's athletes competing in one of the hardest events in one of the most prestigious games in the world, losing, and then getting black out drunk and pissing there pants. 

Congratulations Gijs Van Hoecke, you have been added to the short list of professional cyclists I would like to ride bikes with, along with the likes of Hoogerland,Clinger, and Giove. Well played sir, well played...

Away too long

I've been exceptionally bad at posting the past couple of weeks. My new job has been keeping me occupied and I've neglected to bring my camera along and do my thing.  I promise to change all that starting with this conspicuously posed Ted Nugent album photo and a little promotion for the Rev Cycles Pig roast going on Saturday.  Hang on to your hats folks, things are about to heat up.