Thursday, August 13, 2009

The day the Music REALLY died...

Les Paul died today.
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/les-paul-passes-away-at-94-813/
The world will never be a little bit sadder without him, and his wonderful talent.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Austin BFF

Just got back today from Austin, after enjoying the 1st "real" vacation in 18 YEARS...
Damn, the riders in ATX do it up RIGHT!
When i rolled into town, made a stop at http://www.fastfolks.com/FlashGallery/manifest2.htm
to loan them my ancient Polaroid, for an alleycat race they were putting on, but alas, my shit's too old.
But I did get to meet the entire crew, including 2 shop dogs, and I think they'll all do well. Good vibe, lots of shiny candy, knowledgeable/passionate folks.

That night, the opening party for the Austin stop of the Bicycle Film Festival was really fun, good music, cool folks. After the party, i made it to the monthly Full Moon Cruise ride, which had probably 100+folks on it at the start. Tall bikes, cruisers, bmx bikes, fixies, you name it, they rode it on that 25+ mile ride. Wound up in a local swimming hole at 3:30 a.m. under a full moon, then a short ride back to the Austin IYH hostel. Not a bad 1st day.

The rest of the week was more of the same, good folks, great coffee, FOOD, and bike movies!

They had 3 alleycat races in 4 days, not to mention a bike polo tourney, and spontaneously erupting rides.

When the BFF comes to anywhere even NEAR your hometown, GO, you'll be glad you did.

Shaggy, out.

Monday, July 13, 2009

FML alleycat...

another year, another alley cat.

Sunday, August 23rd. 6:30PM meet up, race begins at 7PM. Location of meet up is TBA.
$5 to race. 4 of every 5 dollars will be donated to the womens shelter.
SO PAY UP!
If you want an estimate of miles you should probs just hang out by the beer.

YOU NEED A BAG FOR THIS RACE (no pannier bags, sorry. wahh)!
YOU WILL ALSO NEED A SENSE OF HUMOR AND BE READY TO COMPETE!
It's called FUCK MY LIFE for a reason.
This race is open to everyone (den10/dallas/where ever welcome!), not just single speed / fixed gear riders. Although, this will probably be way more fun on a fixed gear. Just sayin'. Prizes might be divided a little differently, if need be, but we'll see.

$300 GRAND PRIZE!! Seriously!

PRIZES FROM:
Gallus Cycles
Panther City Bikes
Colonels Bikes
Spiral Diner
MASH SF
Fast Friday

PRIZES PENDING FROM:
RELOAD
Cadence
King Kog
Bikes INC.
Swrve Cycling
MACAFRAMA

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY WHERE ELSE THAT WOULD LIKE TO DONATE A PRIZE, HOLLERRRR AT ME. 817 9661760

If you don't want to race, but help out in any other way, HOLLEERRRR AT ME!
I've already talked to a few people that are in it to win it, but I could always use a hand <3.>

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Full Moon ride

Well, went and did a 2-ish hour ride tonight, watching the full moon come up. Rode with a long time buddy, whom I happen to work with. Light breeze, not so oppressively HOT like it's been lately, so it was a good ride.

We had an easy pace, just rolling along talking about whatever came to mind.

My mind is clearer than it's been in weeks.

It just reminds me that when life gets weird, the weird need to RIDE!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

On the bike...

Well, I've managed two 2 hour rides so far this week, and I must say it's wonderful to be back on.
It's funny, a few years ago, a 2 hour ride would've been not even the halfway point of the ride. I used to ride 100 miles every Sunday, and at one point, did that for 3 months in a row, not missing a beat. Right now, I'm doing good to get 100 miles a week. But this too is changing, for the better.
Muscle memory is an amazing thing to me, no matter how out of condition I am, the legs remember what to do when I'm on a bike, and the position is assumed with no drama.
The main thing for me to do at this point is to be consistant with it, and I'll bump it up to 3 hour rides, then 4, then... who knows.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Wow, it's been way too long since I've updated this thing!

A lot has happened in the interim, for sure. I've changed jobs, and have been at http://www.bicyclesinc.com for over a year now. It's been good, with very few bumps in the road, which is nice. Back in March of this year, (2009) I finally got my USAcyling Race Mechanics License, which makes me part of a pretty dang elite few. I'm the ONLY one in Tarrant county, TX, and one of only 11 in the entire STATE!

What that does for me is enable me to work support for bigger bike races, which has been a goal of mine for quite a while now. Eventually, I'd like to earn a position with either a Neutral Support program,such as Mavic, or Shimano, or become a full time team mechanic.

Nothing is quite like being the guy on the back of the Moto, or the guy working the pit, especially during an important race, it's really stimulating!