Lumberjack

"Lumberjack 100 saw 11 inches of rain and 80 mph winds the night before the race in the worst storm the area had seen in 30 years" -Harlan Price writes for Cycling news after beating up on people all day.
Where's Floyd? How'd Eddie 'O do in Single Speed? Way to go Karen Potter! Many Questions... Harlan, we need answers!

Thanks Matt, good advice..

Fight the good Fight

Meet Scott. My Cousin's oldest.
Thirteen years young and fighting to see fourteen.
Way to go.

Essex County Century

On par with Kahuna, yesterday was my first Essex County Century. North Shore riders came out in droves to form a 70+ person peloton to loop 100 miles of back roads, stopping at each of the four sponsoring bike shops for water and refreshments. Organized by the guys and gals from ECV, thanks for the ride. It was the best group road ride I've ever experienced.The A group was comprised of mainly mountain bikers, Jon "tri guy" Greeley, Skippy "long legs"Johnson, "La Ruta" Roger, ED "the linebacker", Aaron "I'm old school, but schoolin you", and who could forget the big engine of Pete "sooo pro" Smith. Some great training miles, I haven't opened it up like that in a long time.Here, a short break while Armando assesses damage done after he took a header on the corkscrew corner of Cherry Street, Gloucester. We ride 90 miles and Armando crashes five blocks from his house. Hope you are feeling well today Armando.Jon has got the ride details via his gps watch. The triathlon guys have all the toys ya know. Hoping he emails the route and way points this way. But in all ride total was 100+ miles at an average moving pace of 20+ mph, that's why my legs feel like jello today...but I cant wipe the smile from my face.My favorite part of the ride...we are on the home stretch back to the hosting shop of Seaside Cycles -Manchester, and a rouge roadie jumps into our group and whips up the pace creating a dash for the final 5 miles. precious.

Going on Tour

It was Glenn that first put this idea into motion, now it has evolved into a plan. The plan still has details to be worked out and plane tickets to be purchased, and equipment to be selected, and credit cards to be charged..BTW where the hell is my Bush economic stimulus check? I need to be stimulated here GW..
The plan to race the Colorado trail has been modified, (quite correctly I might add) to a tour of the CTR. It'd be different if the four of us, Glenn, Tim, and now Jeff W, were familiar with all 28 segments of the 535 mile Colorado trail, (but we will be by July 30th) that would almost justify racing the whole trail. So, a tour it will be!

Anybody have panniers I can borrow? will trade for beer.

my Commute

The fastest way from point A to point B in my commute just happens to Cross this Rotary in Revere named Bell Circle. I thought the name referred to it's shape or historic land mark near by. But now I think it's named Bell because that's what you'll get rung. Fooling around on Wednesday's commute I shot this vid from my phone..Yesterday I came close to being run over, so I think I'll avoid getting my bell rung in the circle by extending my commute through Saugus instead.

need frame?

Tal is cleaning out his basement.
This early Merlin 56cm could be yours.
http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/bik/687271170.html
lemmeno

school is in session

A proper trail tour of the College town of Amherst Ma

yesterday. Professor Tim Cook led Glenn and I on a gnarly

7 hour adventure that redefined the meaning of rocky switch-back.

The view from atop a radio tower

precisely the time we called it quits

and ran for warm dry clothes, and burgers and fries.

We were riding the newest fad in mountain bikes,

mini bikes...

not 29'ers but 2.9"ers

or at least that what it looks like from forty feet up.

10th aniversary

'98 Mt Washington Auto Road.
I wasn't there - but we are now.
reflect with spontaneous laughter,
respect some hard efforts,
the camera captures the reward.
Feel the rivalry and friendship,
yup, those were Glory Days.

dents be gone

Two things I hate in life; Running out of coffee beans and bad haircuts. I am in both positions currently. The lack of coffee being more problematic presently.
Anyway, Igleheart showed me a secret way to pull dents out of top tubes yesterday...and whaddaya know...it worked!

See dent

Grease dent

Squeeze dent, (with two blocks with the correct radius...)
Bye Bye dent.

I should have taken another picture of the end result but the dent was 90% gone. So I tried it on my 29'er's top tube (yeah, seems I dent everything). That worked too, leaving just a ripple where there was once a big'ol dent.

Number 8

From my peer group of 13;
I am known as juror number 8.
It's day 2 of what is expected to be a lengthy trial.
"Will empanelment cause you considerable hardship sir?"
Four lawyers surround me in sidebar,
with perky ears and encouraging smiles.
The judge, hovers from his high bench,
He emphasizes the word considerable
and waits for my answer with eyebrows raised.
"no?"
"Please take seat number eight" and announces my new identity.

It's day 2 and this morning
I am known as bike commuting juror number 8.
Jurors 1 and 7 noticed my geek suit
as they passed me on the steps of the local shop.
I was enjoying breakfast and waiting for the doors to open
while drying out in the warm early morning sun.

Waiting to ask perfect strangers
to watch my bike
and it occurs to me,
Local Bike Shops
are like a brotherhood.

Not unlike the Freemasons.
What we lack is secret handshakes
and phrases with double meanings,
but make up for
with information revealing locations of
new connector trails
and, for the most part
are a bunch of honest folk.

I thanked them this afternoon upon my return and bought a U lock.
Lets see how honest the rest of Salem is.

rates are up. $50 a new baseline.

Massachusetts has a proprietary holiday in April called Patriots day. Most business is halted and the city is paralyzed due to 25,000 runners and 100 thousand spectators lining the streets from Hopkinton to Copley square. My friend A.P. and I added to the crowds yesterday to cheer for his dad and try to catch up to him while running the Boston Marathon. We didn't see Lance but we did catch Billy.
So we're standing on top of heartbreak hill, near Brookline. Scanning the masses of runners flowing by, looking for familiar faces, I hear someone ask if we've got a bike pump. So I respond, yeah. This guy is frantic and asks if he can buy it off me for $50. So (like a fool) I say No. (I'm thinking) I paid $9.00 for it, but it's the best damn mini pump I've ever owned.Now the guy reaches into his pocket and takes out cash and is waiving it in front of me, I'm thinking this is some kind of joke. At the same time thinking this could be really BAD karma if I take the guys loot. He takes the $50 and stuffs it in my pocket. "I don't want to miss my brother, he is running it!" So, I say that I'll fix his flat and hand him back the money, minus $20 for my time. (5 minutes of time and a $2.90 tube, = 60/5=12*20-2.90= $237.10 per hour is my new rate to fix flats, two hour minimum) So, the frantic guys comes back after 5 minutes, his flat is fixed and he insists that I take the $50 for my "trouble". Who am I to argue?So, thanks for dinner, pizza and beer AND the train fare home. Anybody else have a flat? I gotta a really nice pump.

watching from a distance

Some brief results up from the Cohutta 100
Still waiting to see how the SS race unfolded
Elite men + women top ten are up on cycling news
my prediction for ss podium;
TimmyD, MattF,TopherV,
but, The Elk or TomG could slip in there.
New catagory this year;
Fixed SS!
RichD, Tomi,
found some more info on Mark D's photo stream
Harlan and Floyd are still buds
looks like DJ + Timmy are on the box
but who is on top?
Da Ladies

nice rack

A new addition to the bike stable, a dedicated commuter fixie, complete with bags and rear rack. I know, kind'a geeky. I insist this bike found me.. years ago this bike appeared in my local bike shop, and I made fun of it's name at first sight and apparent soullessness. A mix of no name parts and ultegra shifters, made to look flashy but the wheels and drivetrain were knock-offs.
Of course my neighbor bought it. Then after a some not-so great luck with the sport of road cycling she asked me to sell it. It sat in my basement for a couple months...then I noticed the frame had rack eyelets and room for a 32mm rear tire. Blam! A 5 mm wrench and 5 minutes later the Veloz was stripped of it's cables and gears and ready to accept a single speed, fixed rear wheel.

oh god, what's next

1.21 jiggawatts

evidence that mother nature owns
one bad ass circular saw,

with a really long extension cord

master craftsman

In a quiet town,

along a wooded street,

in a quaint garage,

Mr. Igleheart has been a busy man.

I'm lucky guy to ride his bikes and luckier still to have witnessed many an art form born from steel tubing in Christopher's shop. I've known him just a few years, his work has never looked so good. Chris' excitement and energy level is at an all time high, as is the detail he pours into his craft.

Dropping by to see what the mad scientist has created this week. Bike shops, or Shops in general, are some of my favorite places.

A Stainless rear triangle from a Pista break-away is out of the jig and now amusingly posed on display near a small window on the garage door. There are more squirrels than pedestrians here on the back road to admire the handmade subtle perfection of imperfection. The squirrels may appreciate it.

how long could it take?

This question was answered on Sunday. The question, "How long does it take to ride from Andover to Hamilton with a group of eleven riders?" Many ways to get from Andover to Hamilton.. Many ways to the center of a tootsie pop. Like the tootsie pop commercial from twenty years ago, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?" The owl, perched on the limb of a tree counts the licks. "One, Two, Three. Crunch".
Well, our answer was a surprising 9 hours and 9 minutes. Quite a bit longer than three licks. But just as tasty. The road ride to fetch the cars on Monday took considerably less time and was more direct.
Hoot Hoot.

Adventure Sunday

Last weekend at Harold Parker a hasty plan was born trailside and details quickly thrown together and almost executed in the moment...Tom paused early in our ride and said, "Hey, lets ride to Hamilton!"...and we almost did, then the five of us thought deeper into a plan to ride the north segment of the Bay Circuit Trail, (would have been totally feasible in about 4-5 hours), approximately 40 miles with a couple stops along the way to refuel....we thought it'd be wise to wait until this weekend and plan more extensively than the 15 seconds we had invested.
We've got a good crew, a plan for base miles, all we need is good weather...and cold beer after.

thanks Lesli

it's a small world after all

I am a firm believer that people only change when forced to change. The "super-size me" mentality compelled to "miniaturize me". We traded our gas hogging four runner for a roller skate and golf cart last week...but I don't golf.
Skating into the muddy lot where Glenn and I were to meet the crew for yesterday's beat-down, (I mean ride) - my golf cart was dwarfed by Jeff and Matt's construction vehicles, yeah I felt a little dumb looking back at my car-t, but hey it is fun to drive.

the prius doesn't look like much from the outside, but the instruction lesson to learn to operate the hybrid went over an hour.

Gus did not agree with our choice of hatchback.

...and of course I had to rip right into the wiring harness of my finely engineered Honda to install some needed gadgetry.

There is however a limit to Miniaturize me...Ride a bike.