Updates

This blog is kind of pointless. a couple people i know just trashed theirs or are on their way to, which is completely understandable. I dont have anything relevant to say and i don't write very well, but yet i continue. so here goes more of irrelevant rambling.

Hiking-
Recently did a sunrise hike up Old Rag. Which included not going to bed due to the early nature of our departure. The hike was fun, sun rise was nice. It was a tad cold or i was a bit under dressed for sitting on a peak as short as it may be (3291 ft). Its the best we have around here for summit type of hiking. I'm going to go trail run it a few times here in the coming weeks. a solid 9 mile loop is good for a bit of running. yes, all you cyclist(ie Bert)...running.

Music-
Missed Saul William's visit to DC (again). If anyone is into good pop check out Head Automatica's album Propaganda or their earlier album Decadence know for its single Beating Heart Baby. Its good fun, catchy music. Their earlier album is good for a bit of dancing.

House-
My basement is finally done. and i'm enjoying it. still a lot 'o' bills to pay off.

Cycling-
I keep starting to put in miles only to be derailed by outside forces...Like a semi or the flu (h1n1). I have a solid commute worked out for the journey home in the dark. including a few miles of nice lightly traveled gravel roads (one of the dogs that always barks finally was loose last night and chased me...a little bit of extra fun). I'm working on a morning coffee ride, just need to find people who may be interested. Also, a once a week lunch ride; i have one taker. I'd do anything to ride in the daylight more than 30% of the week.

Movies-
Best couple movies i've seen lately- The Informant and Where the Wild Things Are. The Men Who Stare at Goats was a bit overdone. It played the quirky card a little too much without any sort of positive execution. The Informant is very very good. Best movie i've seen in a while.

What happens when you are the office prankster and ride a bike to work?
Old pictures. but i just found them. they are kind of funny.

Best Night Ever

Best Night Ever is what i was thinking sitting in the Trocadora in Philly with an old friend of mine watching the original line-up of Sunny Day Real Estate. Besides that i was receiving multiple texts about Brooks Laich and Ovie scoring 2 goals a piece in the Cap's opener against the Boston Bruins.
Also, right after the show i was going to south Philly to stay with another buddy of mine.

All in all, it was a great night. But i left my friend's place to go home at 1 am. it was a rough drive home.

Saul Williams will be at the Black Cat Nov 1. i also will be there.

!!! w/pics

Went to see !!! (or Chik Chik Chik) to dance for a while. awesome show, but not quite as fun as LCD Soundsystem.

i hate "posing" for pics, but the wife doesn't mind.close to matching shirts and green tea bottles (w/out green tea in it)
Dave in typical form.
Warming up before the show.
Funny-Darryl=drunk Me=not. looks are deceiving

The sistersZach and Darryl's plan to hook up with chicks...hand them a note. 1-0. good results so far.

"you seem cool. hit me up on facebook. ******@yahoo.com"And the show hasn't even started yet.
And...how sweaty everyone is after dancing for a couple of hours

Silly me

Arrogance got the best of me on Saturday. We had out last 540 series race @ Vint Hill. And since my wife left on Wednesday(till Sunday) to go visit a friend, my life has been a little less organized, typically consisting of not going to bed till 2 am at the earliest, being late for work, eating crap, etc. So with that said i hadn't planned on racing, mostly because I'm fried and partly because i applied for my CAT 3 (but its taking a year to get back?).

So after being up till 230 am on Friday and then getting up Saturday at 545, i decided what the hell, i might as well race. I've realized the silly mistakes I've been making that cause 2nd and 3rd places vs. 1st, so there is a grand chance i could get a win.

Silly me.

I also have yet to mention i stopped riding my bike earlier this week because i can't seem to go very far or very long and enjoy it at all. The plan was to not ride for 2 weeks and then hop back on very lightly till october.

Not riding + no sleep + slow legs = DNF

in a race that i shouldn't have a problem in. granted a breakaway went, and i got up to the front and burnt all my matches destroying myself only to flick the elbow...look back and see 2 NCVC guys waiting for me to burst so they can continue to soft pedal the pack for their 2 teammates in the break. F! that's depressing. i was later explained how to help counter this tactic which would have been good to know during the race.

Example:

All that to say, this is what i'm looking forward to next-

Aug 14-18 - Beach with Alissa
Sept 5th- !!! @ the blackcat in DC (Dance party!)
Sept ? - Hiking Pen-Mar to Harper's Ferry (42+ miles) in less than 24 hours.
Oct 1- Sunny Day Real Estate in Philly
Nov weekend- Hike AT through PA
Some cold weekend in Dec - hiking the AT in NOVA
1 week in Jan - Winter hiking trip in the Daks (via snowshoes...scratch the XC-ski idea)

Dance Party Anyone?

!!!, also known as Chik Chik Chik, will be playing at the Black Cat in DC on Sept 5th. Tickets go on sale this evening at 5. Count me in.

After repeated attempts to mount the bike and ride fast only to feel an unbearable burn and tiredness in my legs, i've decided to take an extended period of rest, which includes beer, pizza, dairy products, etc. Also to help curb the unavoidable weight gain, i've jumped back into the pool. Which so far has just been painful.

In other news, my wife left the state on wednesday to go visit a friend till sunday. So far my life has been a little unorganized and messy. But like my rest from the bike, the time has been filled with pizza and beer.

Sunny Day is back!

That's right. Sunny Day Real Estate has reunited for another tour with all original members. The only that could have been better would be Fugazi getting back together.

Two dates i'm considering is:
9/27 in NYC (Dan, if you go, i will meet you there)
9/30 @ 930 Club (the date seems intentional)

**just got a text from Dan, its official i'm going to NYC 9/27 to see Sunny Day Real Estate

46x15 and a "whiny" performance

My wife and i hung around at my inlaws last night so i could catch the performance by Radiohead on TV. i couldn't care any less for the Grammy's than i already do, but with the prospect of a performance by Radiohead and MIA left me glued to the screen enduring painful acts by The Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesny, and other country acts. The credibility of the Grammy's is bankrupt and somehow manages each year to lose even more integrity with Best New Artist Noms like: Adele, Duffy (who for a while i thought was Hillary Duff trying a new gig), Jonas Brothers, amongst others, while completely ignoring acts like Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, and the Smashing Pumpkins v2.0 (j/k, just to clarify). And while i doubt 90% of that audience and American population know who Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver are, it still stands to say that either of those bands deserves at the very least a nomination, and against that competition, a win.
Yet this year there was some justification...Radiohead winning Best Album of the Year. Daft Punk winning dance album, The Mars Volta in all their insanity got nominated for one and won, Coldplay beat out Metallica for best "rock" album...that's got to hurt, and of course the Radiohead performance, which to me would be worth sitting through that entire God-awful show again. My mother in law leans over during their performance and asks "Now, whats so good about them?" to which i was in such shock all i could manage to say was "Because they are the best band in the world", my wife uttered something more reasonable but i believe it fell on deaf ears.
I also heard from a friend that someone had mentioned the entire show being "good" save the Radiohead portion which they found "whiny"...and if i had that said to me, i might have blacked out, only to have awaken with bloodied fists and a corpse laying dead in front of me.

Saturday i worked at the bike shop and due to all the nasty winter weather i needed to replace parts of my drive chain, particularly the 3/32 chain that was stretched out like a bankrupt whore. I wanted to switch to a realistically more durable chain, so i got a 1/2x1/8 w/o hollow pins...which i think weighs a solid 2 lbs. Also, i had to change the rear cog to a 1/8 type and so i switched from 16t to 15t making my hills just that much harder. i think for my a while my performance on my bike might come off as "whiny".

Frozen Beards and Light Grenades

While this whole week I've been complaining about the wicked cold, this morning i experienced the worst of it. I checked online when i left to get a brief idea of just how cold it was outside, 10 F. I was later told my fellow commuter that there was a windchill of below 0...ouch. Luckily 90% of my hiking is done in the dead of winter so i have winter performance gear which i was able to layer up with this morning in combination with my cycling clothes. Despite the extra clothes my face remained bare (save a little beard) there for rendering my face defenseless against the cold...the result looked like this:
I did put Vaseline on my face before i left hence the nice glistening reflection my face has. But i honestly could feel much and every hair follicle was frozen to its surrounding neighbors. Also unfortunately any precipitation that left my mouth (or nose) became immediately frozen to my facial hair leaving me looking like i have rabies. The Vaseline also froze moments after i left my house, which was a weird feeling.

The ride itself was kind of difficult but nothing over bearing.

I visited the library for another round of free CDs and DVDs. I picked up Incubus's Light Grenades which is slightly disappointing. I'm happy i didn't go to purchase it. I grew up a huge incubus fan and from time to time i still enjoy some of their music, but Light Grenades seems to be the culmination of bad ideas and wasted talent, or it could be just poor song writing. Its not even enjoyable pop.

The movie selection wasn't that great either, but they did have classics such as Jurassic Park and Forest Gump. Jurassic Park is the first movie i ever remember watching in theaters and i saw it in an IMAX theater. I loved it so much that when it came to television a year or two later i recorded on a VHS and promptly watched it everyday for an extended period of my life (i was home schooled so i had tons of time for it). I also picked up Chicago and Miracle...and like Darryl said Chicago is a joke, i couldn't believe it won 6 Academy Awards...are people insane?

Bike Project II

Last night i stopped by my parent's house just to visit. I needed to go by there regardless of being able to stay and visit or not because i had some stuff to pick up, but i had a bunch of time to kill so my wife and i stayed for a while.

The stuff i had to pick up were two bike frames and a stockpile of wheels and a few other parts like cranks and bottom brackets and such.
(That is my first road bike, which was too small for me and i still rode the crap out of it.)
(This is my dad's racing bike from his HS/College bike. He actually rode it up until about 10 years ago and he bought a new one.)
The first one will be for who ever. But my dad's old frame I'm making for him. It need a bunch of work but i think i can get it put together well and looking great.

With these projects hopefully i can get more people riding. I've also been working on encouraging my wife to start riding a bike to work. Its just barely over 5 miles for her. and it has almost all bike paths the whole way there. and the parts that it doesn't, its a giant *clean* shoulder. So I'll teach her to change a flat and get her hooked up. She probably won't start till there is more sunlight and a bit warmer, but regardless i think this will be great. She's got a little MTB that should work perfectly and if she keeps it up, we can get her something a bit more efficient.

• Myself (check)
• Darryl (check)
• Wife (pending)
• Zach (pending)
• Sabrina (?)
• James (?) (do you own a vehicle? i know you got that VW bus...but a working vehicle?)
  
• Alan (do you ride your bike around, like to class?)
• Anyone else?

Good music sounds so much better on headphones. I am listening to Arcade Fire's Neon Bible and i don't believe I've ever listened to this album through headphone. Its quite good, and in fact I'm enjoying it on a completely different level.
(this is not me in the photo, nor anyone i know)

The weather the past two days has been very frigid. Yesterday i got to work and it was 21 degrees and today it was 29 degrees. When i leave the sun hasn't even risen yet so it definitely a bit warmer by the time i reach work. I've been wearing every article of clothing i could find to try and keep myself warm riding in. But despite the extreme cold, I've been performing at a much better level than the past few months.

Winter Weath III: Black Ice

I hit 40mph behind a bus going uphill. Up till that moment i had only gotten my track bike up to 35mph. It was pretty sick. All in all i had a decent ride today. I kind of fried myself about halfway through but luckily the rest of the way was fairly in my favor, save one short climb a little less than two miles from the end.

The only problem this morning was it was just below freezing and the past two days it has been raining non stop, so the roads were slick. I was pretty careful but i did slip around a couple of times. Lots of black ice everywhere.

My legs are working again, working very well in fact. So i think i'm just going to maintain everything I'm doing at this point. I have a feeling it was vitamins, though. I need to carefully read those ingredients.

There is a joke amongst some of my friends about Michael Bay films, which include:

• Armageddon
  
• Transformers
• Bad Boys 1 and 2
• The Island
• The Rock
• Pearl Harbor

If you paid attention in your High School English class then you know a plot line or story line goes something like this:
And well the joke is, a Michael Bay movie goes like this:
Enough said.

Sabrina, you should definitely buy the new TV on the Radio album. Specially if you enjoy ANY of their other music at all.

Welcome Back...and just in time.

Cycling
I finally had a nice ride this morning. It was the first time in a long time that i haven't felt like I'm getting on the bike for the first time ever. I added a couple extra turns in my usual route to try and jump up the millage without making a journey down roads i typically avoid. Only they are small gains that really equate to an extra mile or two unfortunately. I'll figure it out soon enough...
Music Review
I picked up TV on the Radio's newest album this afternoon. I attempted to purchase it on Half.com or Amazon.com but both seemed to only save me a small hand full of change and subsequently i would have to wait 3-5 business days or something along those lines. That trade off didn't seem worth it. So i hitched a ride to Bestbuy on my lunch break and purchased it the old fashion way...electronic gift cards. Anyway, onwards to the music portion...The album is very solid. Darryl attempted to allow me to hear it once on our way to Fountainhead MTB Park, but if you know Darryl, you also know he has music ADD with his i-pod. So i heard about 1/3 of a one song and then on to something else.
Again, the album is solid. I won't pronounce them the best new thing or the future of music, or whatever else i deemed them after Return to Cookie Mountain, but i will say they make great music consistently, and its consistently interesting.
Movies
I finished watching Burn After Reading, and despite all that i heard, i enjoyed it immensely. So much so, i would watch it again, probably a few times. It was quite hysterical in a Coen Brother's way. I think the problem most people have with the movie is their perception of what it was supposed to be...Trailers seem to, at times, give people the wrong impression of how a film is supposed to be (i.e. Funny, Sad, Action Packed, etc.).
Take for example: Alien vs. Predator
Most people who have seen the trailer, thought maybe this was an action packed sci-fi thriller, but if you saw the movie you would know that it is quite the opposite...its a comedy. I was under the impression my friends were under the influence when they asked me to go see it with them, not understanding the comedic genius i was about to witness. Upon laughing loudly and hearing the entire theater erupting in the same laughter i realized the trailer had misconstrued what this film really was about.
While this may not have been the best comparison for Burn After Reading's trailer misinterpretation, it will have to suffice. I think people just forget that its a Coen Brother's film. Characters no matter the actor playing them, or how invested you are into certain character, they are all expendable and we'll leave it at that. The ending of the film just makes it that much better. I'd say probably one of their best endings.

Interpol, TV on the Radio, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Gorillaz and Q and Not U.
Burn After Reading, No Country For Old Men, Bottle Rocket, Snatch

BONK

I took a new route this morning and i was super excited because for the past few weeks I've completely sucked at cycling and i found that my cleats were maladjusted so i basically pedaling from the middle of my foot. My cycling skills not only suck in the dept of speed and endurance but also maintenance and style (including riding position).

Regardless though, i was hopeful that this could cure my inability to hold a decent pace. So i proceeded forward this morning excited only to continue my slothfulness. I kept pushing forward harder and i took a new road (Catharpin) because it adds a few extra miles onto my route and its less travel by cars. I was feeling strong on all the little hills i climbed but overall i just couldn't hack it. Finally i made another attempt to bolt up a small short climb and right at the top i died. I went gasping for air and i slowed to a running pace. I gained a slight increase in speed but i bonked. I am very familiar with the feeling. At first i thought maybe it was that little climb? But no, every time i thought i could gather momentum, my body reminded me of its lack of energy.

My diet lately has been one of frugality (wow that's actually a word...weird). My diet includes things like chicken salads, black beans and rice with chicken, a light burrito (not eating the whole thing), turkey subs, turkey sandwiches, whole grain cereal, occasionally a few fig newtons or triscuts, and lots of water. I'm still losing weight and I'm thinking my riding performance is a result of my change in diet a little while back. Maybe i should cool it on shedding pounds. I've lost 35lbs since i started this blog. that's a lot. I'm below 180 in the nude, about 180 or 183 fully clothed.
(I'm becoming masterful with mspaint)

Today is my office's Secret Santa day. I got my immediate boss which he's easy. I think he literally has 30 black bears on his desk (I'll take a picture to prove it)...its kind of unbelievable unless you see it. It might even be 34 but i can't remember if that's counting the pictures around too.
Anyway, everyone in the office is playing Christmas music, its awesome. I'm not though. Still switching between Fiona Apple and Bon Iver (which coincidentally means Good Winter so its kind of Christmas music?). Bon Iver will always remind me of a wild Monday...pretty awesome day and Dan and Darryl have proof on their phone and they weren't even there. go figure.

My title pictures will change but the style will stay the same. I took some silly pictures of Zack in Micheal's last week. they make me smile. i hope they do the same for you.

Da Da da DAAAAAAAA

Before:
After:
The changes are pretty obvious...Handlebars and brakes. I also replaced the tires with Specialized Armadillo's, i added Light and Motion Headlight and a crazy blinky tail-light.
I need to work on it a little bit. I work at the bike shop Saturday, so I'll have a bit of time then.

I found a new love...
As some of you know, I'm an unofficial Netflix promoter, a Redbox whore, and from time to time in moments of desperation i visit blockbuster and keep the movie until they threaten my credit card with an overpriced amount in exchange. Well thanks to Darryl I've discovered borrowing movies from the local library which has a decent selection. Last night they didn't have any good movies in, BUT they had some decent CD's in...one of which was Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine:
With the Library being void of a good selection at that time i proceeded over to the nearest redbox and picked up Traitor, staring Don Cheadle and Guy Pierce among others. Rottentomatoes appears to be always correct in their "Consensus" which stated:

Despite another reliable performance from Don Cheadle, Traitor suffers from too many cliches and an unfocused narrative.

I would say that's nearly 100% true of Traitor.

Sick day...

today I'm taking a break from making bombs at Lockheed. I'm playing hooky. Except i still got up pretty early, so that i could meet Ben on his ride into work.

It was pretty brutal out. I got out on the bypass and there was a nice big head wind, which means until i see Ben and get to turn around its all into the wind for me. We passed each other around 14.5 miles out, so i did a U-E (how do you type that out?). The difference in effort-to-result was astounding...went from like 15-17 mph to 27-29. ugh. Unfortunately i can't pedal that fast because of my lacking more than one gear ratio and its a small one at that. Anyhow, Ben and i screwed around taking turns leaving each other in the dust, though with his bigger gear and the nice tail wind we had, he had a much bigger advantage. It was definitely fun though.

We got to the bike shop and since i had WAY overdressed, i pulled everything off and grabbed a water bottle and left. I was freezing for a bit but it was much better than before when i was sweating like a pig. Its currently super nice outside despite the wind. So i was out in shorts and a jersey...no arm warmers, no knee warmers, no shoe covers, etc. So nice, except for the wind. I went back into the wind after a couple miles and that remained until the last 2 miles which had its share of nasty gusts for crosswinds.

It ended with 50 miles at around 2:45 maybe 2:40. My time on the comp didn't reset, only miles did. But i know about how long i rode yesterday.

I need to do that once or so a week. That was only my second time riding that far (first time on single speed). I feel happy.

Leaving here shortly (one to pick up my winter gear that i left at the shop) and two, to go to my buddies place so we can start our journey to Philly to see Bon Iver!
To hear his music, you can visit here- http://hypem.com/artist/bon+iver

You should have come Darryl...I'll buy you a t-shirt.