midnight decisions

"what was I thinking?" I rolled along on my skinny road tires en rout to work, the streets growing increasingly slick and snow accumulating by the minute. My treadless road tires, all of 23mm wide, caked with snow and I am afraid to brake because there is no good reason that I have not fallen yet. Tangling with plow trucks buzzing one foot to my left with sanders spreading coarse salt that bounces from the truck and clinks loudly off my bike frame. I ride with my mouth closed, afraid I might loose a tooth.
I should have known this would be a bad idea but decided to leave my car at work after the show last night. "It's not going to snow till mid-day." Damn New England forecasters. I shouldn't blame them. It was my drunken Bravado.
Last night a cross section of Boston's most devoted bike population gathered at the Somerville theater to watch 'Klunkers' and listen to guest speaker Gary Fisher talk about "this thing" he and his friends started doing in Marin County in the 1970's.
The movie was well done and funny. It covered the west coast history of off road riding and how Gary and hid friends accidentally invented something that grew to what mountain biking is today.
I enjoyed a brief conversation with Gary in the beer line before the show. The man is a functional fashion plate with a light hearted humor, he clearly enjoys himself where ever he goes. His tight black Japanese courier pants with the handle on the back "so she can hold-on for hills" was a crack-up as he demonstrated the functionality of a sewn-on handle on the ass of his jeans just in case riding companions need a little rest on the upside.
Thanks for a good time all...and redbones was fun too. man my head hurts.

ninja training

On a sickness scale of 1 - 10, (1 being "wow, I might be getting sick" and 10, "I cannot imagine ever getting well again") I was a solid 7.5 in the range of, "holy shit, this sucks".

Mostly repertory distress with gravity aiding in the evacuation of slime through orifices in my head at night. It is annoying to be sick, at least it rained most of the time so I had that going for me. Loads of TV time on the couch, the couch that must now be disinfected. I was somewhat aware of a marathon run of mythbusters on presidents day while coming in and out of consciousness. I also found my new favorite show, although it was exhausting to watch at the time.

I heart bike porn

I felt like I was in Portland!
All pictures from Alex Wetmore's blog
Indy next year...hey that's not east coast??

oh well, closer than San Jose' or Portland..
Here are some that caught my imagination.
I'd love one of these Ant Commuters

custom bikes = beautiful handmade racks
and carefully positioned bells.

I'm on the fence with the position of this dinger...
I'd like the actuator to be pointed at the sky
cause if I needed to warn people of my presence
I could ding it with a downward slap
like I was calling the front desk clerk at a hotel.
check out Ant Bike Mike

Bilenky made the mother of all tandems
with csc couplings, cause if your rich enough to own this
your gonna want to disconnect the frame and
fit it in your leer jet when you go to France.
looking at Calfee's booth,
Grab the bull by the horns!
Bamboo and bone are
the new Ti and carbon
didn't ya know?

Engin 29er/offroad Randoneeur

Two of my favorites are from sycip

including this fixey with a disc brake.

Sheldon was everywhere this week,
even in Portland.
I never met Sheldon Brown,
but like a huge portion of
the bike community,
every time again-
I bumped into his writings online
and gained some knowledge.
r.i.p. Sheldon Brown

check out the winner (best in show)

Naked a-hole
more Naked pics here
no!! not that kind of naked...
it's a company's name.

Alex Wetmore's gallery is a must see for
more pictures from nahbs '08

Nahbs comming east for 2009

The North American Hand Made Bicycle Show is again underway out west but looks like the show is coming east for 2009! Some chatter online about the '09 show presented in one of the countries friendliest cities...you know Boston and NY are out. Is Philly a friendly city, I know some friendly guys from the Philly area. ..can I stay on your couch next year?? Guess we'll have to wait till the closing bell tomorrow and big Don Walker will announce.The venue for the '09 show will be a closely-kept secret until the awards ceremony in the show hall at 3 p.m. Sunday 10th February.

Apart from having the requisite convention center, here are a few features of the new venue:
The governor of the state concerned wrote to express his desire to host the show
The host city is within one day's drive of approximately 100 million people
The state concerned is adding $20 million a year to build, expand and link the state's trail systems, and sees bicycling as a major part of that
Three micro-breweries are situated within two blocks of the expo hall, and the host hotel is right across the road
The city is regarded as one of the most hospitable in the USAHighlights from what little I have seen....Chris King making frames? and intergrating a brazed 1 inch steel set.
Pereira developed his version of an old rod-actuated front derailleur for those of us that like to step backwards with technology.
Igleheart has got a limited supply of TomiCogs for sale at the show
Jeremy Dunn and others will be debuting their artsy high zoot 'cross mag Embrocation
and 650b wheels are the new '29ers. But, do we really need another size?

primary today

"yes we can, heal this nation, yes we can repair this world".
an enormous task. I just liked the video.

All in

Winter, also known as off-season.

Pronunciation:\ˈȯf-ˌsē-z^ən\Function:noun Date:1848

: a time of suspended or reduced activity; especially : the time during which an athlete is not training or competing.

:(Andy's meaning) a time to drink beer, eat lots of food, get fat, and plan for next year.

The past couple of summers have been a blast. Taking time to travel the east coast of the United States to attend endurance races has been 100% worth the time, money and trouble. Racing has expanded my lifestyle and simplified it at the same time by providing a focus and a way to use the fitness and strength that cycling lends to the people that love the benefits of this lifestyle. It's also given me an opportunity to meet some gifted athletes and outstanding personalities, some of which I link to this blog. In short, I love this shit and will continue.
Now is the time to come up with a race calendar for the coming season...but which "races" to pick? Like many endurance junkies I scrolled down the calendar on ride424.com listing the ones I want to return to (W101 and S100), the ones I haven't gotten to yet, (Breckenridge and Lumberjack, Fools Gold)...and I started to research events I had not previously heard of and then tripped across the Colorado Trail "race".
I am currently in the research stage of this event and I am reading about the trail. Conversing with Matt McFee who has experienced self supported bicycle races (to say the least) and watching from a far Alex's adventures while crossing Chile via bicycle.
Multi-day back country/hiking experience via bicycle. The strategy involved, what to carry, separating what luxury items to pack and what are required to survive? Mapping the trail, it's natural food and water sources and the towns along the way to re-stock food and supplies. Loads of planning needed to accomplish such a trip, unlike my biggest undertaking to date, my decision to do La Ruta last year was decided rather quickly knowing that it was a stage race with world class support. CTR is basically a double self supported La Ruta.
At this time I don't consider this a race and don't want to compete with anyone. Rather to appreciate the trail, respect the danger and play by the self-support rules. The prospect that a clearer view of the bigger picture may come more in to focus and an additional folder added to my personal collection of memories, but I'll be sure to pack a water proof camera for when my memories fade.
My friend Glenn and one other ride Junkie are also equally interested in this journey.

sail round the cape

The main ingredients were present for an epic ride; lots of time and lots of energy, clear weather didn't hurt either. We made the long haul from our meeting spot in Beverly on a four hour- figure eight loop 'round Cape Ann. Fixed, 70 gear inches for me. Single and free, 71 gear inch for Glenn. Thom P had ambitions of joining us but it didn't work out for that guy this weekend. Rest up tom"e"p and join us next time.
Enjoying the hell out of fixed training...haven't tried off road. Hell, it's been so long since riding trails I've forgotten what it's like.

these guys followed us around all afternoon

nature break

We set a foot trap for Barry and left a note on his car to say hi.