Friday, September 26, 2008

Like a Nike Commercial

I went out riding last night as soon as i got to my parents house from work. The night before i strapped up with a long sleeve jersey for the first time in ages and last night i added to that a jacket, i'm glad i'm basically the same size as i was years ago.

Anyhow, the conditions were fun. lots of rain and cold. I think i got in somewhere around 20 miles. Which for my conditioning and being on a POS mtb, is pretty good. My road bike is still in the shop and will be for a while.

Last night i think is my last time going out to train for a while. My wife and i should be back in our own house oct 5th, the day we get back. So i'll revert back to commuting. I'm also planning on making the evenings a bit longer by riding for a couple hours on the rollers when i get home. I think thats the best i can do with my schedule, make saturdays and sundays super long days. The Haymarket bike shop has a few local rides posted on their website that are 60 miles and up. So we'll see. I haven't trained in years.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Two a Days. and an UPDATE

I just got back from Borders and i bought 3 books for my journey to Paris-
  • From Lance to Landis
    • I'm really hoping this gets me in the "in" crowd in France, i think it might
  • On the Road
  • Stuff White People Like
    • just in case i forget.
Also, is it wrong to use Borders like a library? I mean, technically i could return this books after i get back from my trip. I spent somewhere around $60. I am seriously considering it.

On top of all of that. there is this...Ivan Basso
"He split hairs, however, when he faced the Italian disciplinary commission in May 2007.

Basso admitted only to giving blood to alleged Puerto ringleader Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes with only “the intention of doping” and that his 2006 Giro crown and other previous victories were achieved in an “honest manner.”

Italian authorities handed down a two-year ban, but reduced it to 16 months after considering the amount of time he didn’t race following his expulsion ahead of the 2006 Tour and his return with Discovery Channel in January 2007."

So, if his "honest manner" is true, why was he researching doping? If you winning without doping, why dope? I'm sorry to say that Basso obviously doesn't think through what he says very well, because that theory doesn't hold water.

**i believe i found a bike race to participate in. Its a mountain bike race, which is cool. I think i'm going to enter as a beginner due to the fact that the only races i've ever participated in were my bike club ITT's back in 2001-2002. I skipped the ITT state championships for some stupid reason. Anyway, this will be great. Darryl do it! Now i have a reason to get the SPD pedals and shoes and i can get ride of my rat traps and running shoes.

Knight Rider vs. the Boogeyman

Last night i thought i would extend my ride a short bit, but its getting darker every night. I mentioned before that there aren't many cars out there, as a matter of fact, there isn't really anyone out there, specially the closer to dark that it gets. So there isn't much danger of hitting anyone or getting hit by anything, save dodgy squirrels. But i wear the little red flashy thing on the back of my jersey just the same, and after the last couple times of flying down that fire road coming back in the complete darkness, i figured a head light wouldn't be a bad idea.

I bought a headlamp a while back for hiking because i learned the hard way that carrying flashlights at 4 am while its snowing up a mountain sucks. Headlamps are very convenient. I mean, the light looks everywhere you look, plus when your wife wants to sleep and you want to continue reading a book, it comes in handy to prevent questions like "how much longer are you going to read?" Anyway, so there came a choice when buying the headlamp...the petzl tikka priced around 24.99? or the petzl tikka plus prices at 34.99? i figured the tikka would be just as good and for ten dollars cheaper. wrong. Its i terrible piece of equipment. I wrote a review at rei.com to express my dissatisfaction.

Ok the point of all of this, is i decided last night to try wearing the headlamp while riding, because i currently dont own one of the fancy cycling lights. i will soon. Because like i had assumed the headlamp did very little to light the way. I don't like riding at night. Its not the fact that i cant see anything and the speed at which i'm traveling but more so that its dark. I admit i get a little frightened. I don't like to be all alone in the woods. Call me what you will but at least I'm honest.
Its because of creatures like that cute little critter that i hate riding in the dark. If you don't know what that is, well its obviously an owl, but not just any owl, its specifically called an eastern screech owl, emphasis on screech. So when you think you're alone riding down a trail and you hear something like a combination of nails on a chalkboard and a small child being beat, you can rest assured you aren't being pursued by banshees but its merely a cute sadistic little bird of the night.

I think I'm going back to my rollers really soon. I'd rather face the wrath of potential energy being released into kinetic energy while surrounded by random furniture in a small room. If you don't know what i'm talking about, look here and imagine going off the side of those at over 20mph..."oops!" followed by many expletives. I dont know who wrote that wiki article, but i've never met anyone who wears a helmet while riding those, safe is cool, but that's just dumb, kind of like how the guy looks in the picture.

  • Road bike still isnt done... more coke? Apparently he needs a bigger "easy-out" to get that casing out.
  • McCain latest statement-"i want to look like i care for my country...uh...i mean, I'm not ready for the debate...i mean, the crisis is much more important than this upcoming election." Palin just gets more annoying every time i hear her. Does she know anything about what's she's talking about? She's a picture of the extreme right wing that McCain is desperately trying to hide his liberalness (for a lack of a better word) behind. He should have hired someone smarter, or as everyone seems to be saying about everyone, "has more experience."
  • The movie August features 3 cool things (none of which are "good plot")...the song(s) Kid A by Radiohead, and Rich by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Also the movie has David Bowie in it for about 15 seconds.
  • Speed Racer wasnt that bad...as long as you dont take it serious, i mean come on people it isnt supposed to be V for Vendetta 2, it was a cheesy cartoon turned "live action" movie. It was decent.
  • Blindness is getting terrible reviews. how can this be when you have, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal, Julianne Moore, and Sandra Oh. Directed by the famous Fernando Meirelles of City of God fame.
  • My Guinness Stout sucked last night. i took a couple sips and then poured it out.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

That long post felt like homework...

Lance wants to buy the Tour De France
or here
Why? I just don't get it. That kind of ruins things in my opinion. More depressing news. Its like when Micheal Jordan owned the Wizards and played on them too...just go away. Of all the things we wish would come back, Lance isn't one of them, and now he's BUYING the tour? Does anyone care what Paul McCartney is doing? no, which is not entirely the same because if Lennon was around I'm sure we'd care, but still the point is there.

I had a great ride last night, besides the fact that the last 30 mins were in the dark (without a light). I'm kind of sad because we go to Paris on Friday, and that's 9 days without riding. The good thing is that i should have my road bikes back this week and be back in my house when we get back and i'll be able to continue my commute to work via bike. OH. that's right. Also, after talking to the lawyer again yesterday, all we'd be able to do is sue for damages, not bail on the house. Its cool though. I love living in Bristow, better places to ride.

I was just reading an article. And it seems like Contador is a little mad at Levi for almost beating him in the Vuelta. That's too bad. Sounds like whining to me. I hope Levi and Contador leave Astana, and it would be even better if they went to two different teams. Also, Lance is going to Astana for sure now.

Story Time: The Great Smokey Hope

I've been wanting to post this picture and story for a while. but the photo always remained on the camera. Its mostly for Dan and Darryl, so you two can laugh at how excited we look and how hopeful we are. its hilarious.
So here we go...(Dan and Darryl feel free to post comments on your side of the story.
We left around 4 am (i'm pretty sure, that or 5, but i think it was 4). Anyway, we were on our way super early being that we wanted to be on the trail sometime around noon and we had to make it almost all the way to GA.just shy. The trip down is not very interesting, so we'll skip ahead (one note of interest, i do remember trying to defend Lance Armstrong pretty much the whole way down. Darryl you are next!). So we pulled up to our trail head sometime around 1, after not finding it for about an hour. My wife snapped a few pictures and i didnt see them for almost 6 months after, having forgotten the whole ordeal. i laughed quite a bit

We were expecting snow...lots'o'snow and it was about 50 degrees. We stripped a couple layers off and we left. So i was pretty excited, because i thought i was in decent shape from running and playing tons of indoor soccer (i was wrong) Dan and Darryl both easily out did me and all they had been doing is walking up and down apartment stairs and to class. The first "day" was about 7 miles? and it was about 3500 feet altitude change. i believe the first 3 miles was about 2500 or something stupid like that, which is way more ridiculous than the Shenandoah's (all of what I've hiked up that point). We didn't see Dan for the first 2 hours because he's always in a rush, and Darryl is always NOT and at the time i was just slow.We Enjoyed a beautiful sunset somewhere around 5000ft, and could see Clingmans Dome peering over the rest of mountains just in front of the slowly disappearing sun. We got to camp later, in the dark and thanks to 3 other guys there was a fire already. Darryl and i found out the hard way that the cheap Uncle Ben's rice is disgusting in every flavor and we were extremely jealous of Dan's dehydrated meals....lasagna.

Day 2 started with the prospect of rain. Great. I hadn't thought of that. I had only thought of snow as i said before. But luckily all my hiking clothes are "waterproof". As Dan and Darryl unpacked their rain covers for their packs i figured out that i was doomed to have wet gear for the rest of the trip, but i was lucky because there was a super big black trash bag behind the hut we stayed in. I jimmy rigged it cover my pack and we were off. I said i was leaving first because i was slow, and Dan (always being in a rush) said he was leaving too, which left the intentionally slow Darryl at the camp still, who caught me about 30 mins later sometime around when i couldn't hang with Dan's pace. The rain gradually picked up through the day. The day was supposed to be fairly easy because we were supposed to be on the "ridge" which implies being relatively flat...it wasn't, granted i was obviously out of shape. There is no way to describe the rest of the day, if it were to be in a book, the next couple of hours would be a chapter all in itself, but i'll summarize- it was about 37 degrees (just cold enough not to rain), wind gusts literally around 50mph, and constantly around 30mph. (I later found my guesstimate on the mph were correct after hearing the news on the weather) and it was pouring rain. So this rain was 37 degrees and felt like bullets as the drops came at us sideways. Everything "waterproof" had given way to wetness, save Mine and Darryl's jackets, which though rain hadnt made it through, sweat was collecting on the inside. Darryl was starting to mention hypothermia, so i got worried and we continued to truck along. We cut the day short by about 3 miles stopping at a hut along the way at mile 8.

As we got up to the hut we say smoke coming out of the chimney, i was desperately hoping it was Dan, because we hadn't seen him since mile 1.

The huts in the smokies are awesome, they have little fireplaces INSIDE them and tarps that hang down over the front of the hut to keep the heat in. Usually there are rocks on the bottom of the tarp to make sure the wind doesn't blow it open all the time too.

So i walk up to the edge where the tarp meets the wall and poke my head in and Dan is crouched next to the fire in only his base layer (i.e. spandex in layman's). I think i shouted something and i scared him. Anyway, we got in and proceeded to strip down. We ended up calling it a day sometime around 2 when we realized the rain wasn't going to stop. Dan said he almost got hypothermia, and Darryl was saying he did too. The events following differ depending who you are talking to, or who is in present company, so if you want to know, or have to, you may ask and one of us might tell you, or we might not. One thing is for sure though, don't be the only one to fall asleep while the other two remain wide awake, bored, and figure out a way to act like their is a bear in the hut to wake you in a dire panic. Also, dull ax blades don't cut trees very good.

Day 3 we were going to make up the millage we lost in the rain the previous day by waking up around 4 and heading out at 5. The only problem is, i woke up at about 3 wicked thirsty and seconds after i almost pounded back an entirely liter, i had to vomit. I tried the same process 2 or 3 more times without success of holding anything down. After discussing options for a bit, Dan decided he would hike the next two days and get the car and pick up Darryl and sicko at a campground partway back. Darryl would stay with me. So he unloaded every unnecessary item from his pack and headed out around 5. Darryl and i went back to sleep hoping to curb the sickness.

Darryl and I:
I woke up about 4 hours later feeling like a champ. The sun was out, it was slightly warm, the day was the polar opposite of the previous day. Darryl got up around 11 finally and we slowly proceeded to take our short journey to this unknown campground. The day consisted of trekking back most of the way we went yesterday. Then descending out of the mountains to a campground and meeting up with Dan the following day. With two days to kill, we took our sweet time, spending many moments screwing around atop some mountains, discussing a quick bushwhack to a peak (which we voted not to), taking tons of pictures, and talking to everyone who passed us.

Dan:
I'll do my best here...He hiked from the hut to Clingman's Dome? and that was about 15miles by lunch? (i think the millage gets longer every time we tell the story). Anyhow, after chatting with a couple, they demanded that they drive him to my car on the other side of the park. He agreed. Now, from what Dan tells me, the "ridge" wasn't that terrible, but as the couple tells him, the "ridge" beyond Clingmans Dome is miserable, UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN, not really much of a ridge. So thank God for this couple

Darryl and I:
We were screwing around on top of this mountain part way back, taking pictures, calling my wife, etc. When we decided to try and give Dan a call, and to our disbelief he answered...not only that but he was saying he was going to pick us up that same day because he was hitchhiking the rest of the way to the car. crazy...haha.
So we hurried along after that. descending the 3500ft into this campground on the north side of the smokies. It was pitch black when we got down there and there was no sign of Dan, and we had no reception. After waiting a while, we started to walk through the darkness, out of the park, it seemed to be the only road into the campground, so we felt assured we'd see Dan if he came. Finally after a couple hours we got service and got ahold of Dan for a short second, just long enough for him to tell us that he was somewhere about 30-45 mins away. and we told him we were walking out of the campground. We finally got to the entrance/exit (depending which way you're going) and there was a "Park Entrance Grocery", we stood outside and called Dan to tell him to look out for it, that's where we're at. Just then a BIG truck rolls up and this dude pops out with an open Budweiser in hand and walks in the "grocery store". We go in for a snack...and it was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. There were about 5 or 6 people in there, watching TV and playing guitars in a bar type area. About 3 of the 5 people i could only understand one word a sentence and the others never spoke so who knows. The ones that were talking were missing all but 3 teeth and this one lady was definitely a meth addict. We sat in their and tried chatting with them while watching the Giants attempt to beat the Pats in their last game of the regular season.

Dan:
I'll let Dan comment and fill this in.

We got a hotel that night, got crappy pizza some beer, and watched the rest of the game. The next day we drove to Chattanooga to pick up my wife and then proceed to drive back to DC.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Paris Je T'aime

quick-
  • Friday i leave with my wife and my parents for Paris, pretty excited. Bon Iver and TV on the Radio will both be there while i'm there. tempting to skip the Louvre for a bit of Skinny Love.
  • After chatting with the lawyer last night and reviewing signed documents, we might be bailing on our *new* house. We might just dump it on the previous owner. We would have to go find an apartment. Its ridiculous. i want to punch someone in the nose.
  • I have yet to shave my legs...i remember being so happy i wouldn't be doing that anymore but i feel like a Sasquatch every time i hop on my bike. maybe i'll try waxing at least it wouldnt be everyday.
  • Also someone tried to scam me out of my beloved Alesis Synth after i posted it for sale on craiglist
I almost ate pavement hard last night. I was on the backside of about a 7 to 8 mile loop, and the backside is, for the most part, a slight downhill. I was on my mtb because to get to the beautiful loop you have to ride about 3 miles of fire roads. Anyway, i was laying on my handlebars, rolling TT style, and i was flying, i mean really cooking. I was looking straight down, basically between my legs for a second and as i'm looking back up (so not to crash) and i notice a grey blur dart on the right side of my bike did a 180 and right as i was passing (in that split second) decided to go back, which meant going under my front wheel. It was a tree rat trying to sike me out. Well being that my forearms were sweaty and my position on the bike, there was no way that wasnt going to end in disaster. But luckily i nearly missed him. I'm not sure how because from my view i was already on top of him. anyway, it freaked me out a bit.

In other news. At this point i'm predicting a Cowboys vs Broncos superbowl. St. Louis may repeat the Dolphins previous season record. i also won $5 after the Chargers finally got a win.

Free photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Monday, September 22, 2008

Washington DC Bike Race



Yesterday i went to the Crit in DC.

It was a ton of fun. I felt like a giddy little girl seeing some people i recognized like Vaughters and Vandevelde, Pate, Frischkorn. Last time i felt like that, i was in DC at a show and i saw Ian McKaye and Henry Rollins walking around. I also ran into an old coworker of mine at the race who's a Pro-Photog. and i stole these photo's from his flickr site...


as you can see, there are no pictures. he has apparently blocked everyone from getting his pictures. so i'll have to use mine, which are on my camera. hmmm....tricky.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Columbus, Ohio

So i noticed somebody from Columbus, Ohio was viewing my blog. thats odd. Who lives in Columbus, Ohio?

That tracker thing
is the reason i couldnt continue with my old blog and why i had to start this one.


On top of that. i just went to the bike shop on my lunch break to see how the soaking of my Ti bike was going...being that my bottom bracket casing bonded with the frame, and i found that they were soaking it in none other than Coca-Cola!Thats right. coke. my favorite drink. Not only do they promote Love and Peace in their commercials BUT they also can fix bikes. go figure.

Also, who lives in Bloomingburg, NY? I'm so confused.




Free photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

-a little shout out so i dont get fined or arrested.

Back to it.

Ok i guess i'm back. I got frustrated after writing 4 or 5 blogs that never got published because i decided it would be very wise to mess with the HTML when i have barely a clue to on how to work a computer...

Updates.
  • My wife and i are living with my parents because my house has "toxic" mold in it. that blows.
  • i solidly under 200lbs. i've lost 20lbs. since i started riding again.
  • I also have cells that are "precancerous". the doc said "you dont have cancer, so dont freak out, but you could end up with cancer if we dont take care of it." AWESOME! i hate going to the doctors.
  • My bike is in the bike shop and is getting a relative overhaul. i'm excited.
  • the Adirondacks with Dan was flipping fantastic over labor day weekend.
  • I have officially decided to quit running for good. It destroys my body. Not to say i wont go jog or something, to switch up the cycling everyday thing, but going running hard for 6 or 7 miles and trying to work up to the teens for consistency, thats gone. never again. i'm done. goodbye triathlons possibilities.
  • One of my best friends just left for Iraq for a year...vote Obama.
On that note i'll say i hate politics and elections. They make everyone want to punch everyone else in the throat. They also illuminate everyone's ignorance or narrow mindedness (myself included) because either A.)We follow what our peers(or your parents) are doing JUST for the fact that we believe everything they say. B.)We get stuck on things that dont really matter (by that i mean issues and religion, etc.) C.) We actually believe the candidates.
But there is a positive note to these seasons...one that Bush will finally be out of office (thats a relief we won't hopefully experience again). and two that SNL and The Daily Show are a billion times better. Seriously, during the normal year those shows are good but during election season, they are brilliant, i dont have cable tv so staying with my parents has a small bonus...tv and just in time.

New band around called One Day As a Lion. I suggest anyone that was a fan of RATM check them out. www.hypem.com thats a good website to take a listen. anyway, its a band that features these two guys...












If you dont know who these guys are...they are Zach De La Roche from RATM and Jon Theadore the insane drummer from The Mars Volta. By insane i mean that he looked liked a coal miner armed with drum sticks trying to destroy his drum kit.
Also check out Sleepercar. The former front man from Sparta (Jim Ward) got honest with himself and decided Sparta would never be as good as ATDI or The Mars Volta and made and "alt country" band with some friends.

In other un-related news. Lance is making a comeback. Just when i was so excited to see the 09 tour, i get wind that Lance and Basso are both going to be back for it. I still have hope in Christian Vandevelde and the chipotle team. I also keep hoping Levi might beat Contador in the Tour of Spain which is currently in it's last "mountain stage", the end to the overall standings will be tomorrow at the ITT and maybe Boonen can pull out another win rolling into Madrid. Sastre is now blaming his poor performance in the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) on Riis (the team director, or for us Americans, the coach).

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