News!

I am not going to say what the news is but according to a phone call I got today I may have a titillating(R2 claims that illating is his favorite part of that word.) post later this week. I also hear a.lo drove in today, I guess sunny skies and warmer weather make the commute tougher. Seacrest out.

Copy Cat.

Well, it's been a week. Things of note from the week... I've been riding, I've been walking, I jacked up my back, my back is now feeling better, I still love winter riding especially at night. The big game starts in a few minutes so I'll leave you with a video from a blog that I regularly frequent...



The Trek boys should be proud... everyone needs a Mod.

Attack the Pack!

I stumbled across a few videos the other day that are to good not to be shared. The Gray Wolf is my new hero! No front derailleur, do-rags instead of helmets, and an accessory belt that would make batman jealous. I am definitely getting an attack the pack jersey and matching shorts, gloves, do-rag, and aero booties. I also wonder how much T.I. nutrition a.lo could carry on one of those belts? Two gallons of milk, 1 chocolate and one white, is a lot of energy drink. Just some food for thought.




The Gray Wolf inspired my Snowcross outfit this weekend. The only problem was they didn't have Suntram to get me up the hills and I was forced to wear a helmet, which served no purpose.

Recap: Saturday Night Ride.

Saturday night was... cold. Tom ended up riding my winter bike, which he soon found out the hard way that it is tank. Ryan, Michelle, Tom and I met up at the Sparrows enjoy a quick warm up and then headed out. The route wasn't all that long, but given how cold it was and that we rode from the my place it made for a good 15 mile ride.

Just a few pictures from the outing...

Ryan [pictured on the left] is going to be having a pretty sweet Masi going up for sale soon... check out Craigslist for sure, but it will be a steal of a deal for the frame, fork, stem, headset, seat/seatpost/seatpost clamp...

Michelle, or F squared, gets the 'Champ' of the night award. Not only for being the only person with two X chromosomes but also came with her stock hybrid tires on [which we lowered to 30psi to get some sort of traction] and forgot both a front and rear headlight... yeah, watch out she'll kick your... butt.

And then the man of the hour... Geoff, pedicabing around with Tom in the back, not only did Tom score a free ride but didn't even tip [nice helmet by the way!].

It was a good ride, winter riding is always an adventure and always better in groups. Drivers don't get better as the temperature drops [even the law enforcement, but that's a story/rant for another day] but everyone made it home safe and that's all that matters.

Mistakes... in pictures.

Not much to say today... but I did have a few mistakes today... 2 points of concern... can you see them?

[the winter bike, she's a piece of... work, but get this job done]

[forgot the leg band]

[with a closer look can you see it now?]

Grand Rapiders... Tomorrow night, SATURDAY NIGHT RIDE @ 8PM, meet at The Sparrows Coffee shop on Wealthy. Leave at around 8:45PM towards downtown... then operation GBK pedicab begins. Be there.

Back on the horse.

Well, I'll admit here and now 2009 has not started off all that strong with getting miles in on the bike for Trans Iowa and for commuting as a whole. Sure, we got a good amount of snow this month along with a nice arctic chill and I did visit Iowa for the first part of the month but really? It's all excuses. Miles need to be had, one way or another.

Fortunately, with such reflection it has motivated me. No more excuses, time to make it happen. And so anyone in the GR area who sees me out in my car, ask me why... please. Not so that I can then attempt to craft my latest excuse but to hold me accountable. Sure, there will be certain days that I need to drive for longer trips, or if I need to pick someone up but my goal from now until the end of February is to put less than 150 miles on the Xbox. I'll update later with the amount of miles I have on it right now.

Anyways. Yesterday at the shop was a big day for most shops. Once the winter lull hits some times the days can drag, slowly running out of things to clean or reorganize but just in the nick of time one company saves the day... In much of the same excitement and enthusiasm of Billy Madison on nudie magazine day, the bicycle distributor QBP sends out there 2009 dealer book/catalog. A giddiness that occurs in grown men that is not the most appropriate to say the least... but if you work at shop, you understand and really... that's all that matters.

One last observation from yesterday. I was thumbing through a VeloNews and there was a picture of Levi Leipheimer that made me realize that he had a striking resemblelance to Tom Louiso, of High Fidelity fame. Dare I say body double? I might be late to notice such a similarity but I'm not a roadie so deal with it!

Tom or Levi? Levi or Tom? Tom or Levi? Levi or Tom?

This might just develop into a new game for me... who might play Ivan Basso? Or good ol' George Hincapie or Floyd Landis? There could even be a MTB verison starring Zach de la Rocha as Tinker Juarez. With cameo appearances by Eddie Merckx and Lance Armstrong.

My Personal Law and Order.

Now, it seems that most of my post recently haven't had to do with cycling. Part of me is apologetic for that, part of me isn't. It's just the things that have motivated me to write, but rest easy... cycling stuff to resume soon enough.

Today though, was a day of firsts. If you have somehow found yourself under a rock the last year, today we brought in a new president. Whether you like it or not, if you are an American citizen, Barrack Obama is yours, mine and our president. Our system worked, our country has not split following the election like what sometimes happens after other countries elections.

Although, I hesitantly approach politics on this blog in general, it is hard not to given what at the core of this blog... what a few of us believe can be done by simply riding simple human powered machines. Read the manifesto if you have any doubt on that. It is a movement that desires revolution and with any movement that seeks that, can and does challenge mindsets, worldviews and the politics of many.

President Obama throughout his campaign, in his inauguration speech, in his books has been articulating things that by no means are new but are fresh to American politics, which has drawn in the masses, regardless of race or gender, transcending party affiliation. One of the messages being of hope, and I'll admit here and now, this is what drew me to him in that often I have been overwhelmed by the world that I see... Seeing world events, seeing more hate than love, more selfishness than selfLESSness, leaving me more and more hopeless in what's to come. Obama's words sparked some thing in me BUT still felt disconnected, that these were moreso lofty dreams than potential or coming reality.

Which leads me into another first for today. Jury duty [and trust me where I'll connect these two]. No one likes jury duty, like everyone else I dreaded the hassle of getting off of work and the potential of missing more with less pay and going into it trying to think of ways to get excused. Even sitting with the other potential jurors today before we were called into the courtrooms, many of the conversations were on how they could get out of serving. Which I was equally as guilty of having these same thoughts but after those first conversations, two ladies behind me had a very striking talk [yes, I do enjoy listening in on conversations that I am not a part of].

The two women began talking with the normal small talk and through that it was discovered that one of them worked at a center for adults with special needs and the other had a daughter who I believe had down syndrome. Her daughter has spent lots of time at the center and the mother was very appreciative of all the services, which then lead into story after story of how much the daughter had grown. How much she had been able to learn, how much she is able to learn, how proud of her she was and how she was continually surprising them on what she could do. The other woman then echoed much of what the mother had said... The conversation then turned to how each could see so much potential in people if only they were given the opportunity, if only they were believed in, if someone actually had faith in another person.

All I could do when I was listening to this was smile. This was real hope, hope in some thing greater, hope people regardless of their situation. This was the hope I was trying to grasp. The real deal. And although I don't remember fully all that was said between the two women, I believe their words have both inspired me and challenged me to take steps to really grasp onto that everyday hope as seen in other people and myself.

Amazing what came during a morning spent doing jury duty.