Friday, June 30, 2006

in support...

of american racers. i picked up a specialized levi poster nothing big. seven bones. sounds good.

well, i received it today in this...


you see the poster tube standing up. it came in this big box. packing for an army. damn. although they did send me two catalogs. thanks on that. but it looked like they were sending me a bike in that box.

in view of recent events...go americans in the tour, levi, george, floyd. make it four americans to wear the yellow...

why in the hell...

would anyone watch the tour now? he's out. jan is out he drops acid, and nothing. how bad did he want to win?

now what will happen? crap...

and what is this about i might not watch this year. who cares now?

Thursday, June 29, 2006

existential crisis continued...


thunder storms all class
great
it stops
a rainbow in the distance
my rear light does not work
great
through the parking lot
no one cares that i'm heading towards them
maybe i should just hit them
roads are wet
good skidding
through the back parking lot
red light
no track stand
rocking back and forth
it seems cooler
sure looks good
bust ass down the road
light rain
as long as it doesn't thunderstorm
i'm good
am i going too fast
oh well
slow down
slow down
red light
a car speeds up to cut me off to turn right
what if i speed up to hit him
who's fault would it be
could use the money
i am going too fast
jackass stopped in the cross walk
yell at him
what good is religion if no one uses it
save my soul
to hell with yours
but to save your soul
should you not also care for me
there really is no valid argument for the existence of god
not necessarily for the existence in god
the two are different
what good is religion if no one listens
around the corner
that family is on their porch again
they are always out
it must be a family thing
home and done for the evening
thoughts of a godfather splash through my head

existential crisis


where is peace
i know where it is not
in my commuting
a car that does not know that a pedestrian has the right of way
me yelling at them
someone cutting my off
me cutting someone off because they don't know where they are going
riding along
thinking about peace
a kid yells out 'nice bike'
it take s a second to click.
thanks'
a girl pulls pass me at the stop sign
her place must be more important
fine
where was peace found
the buddy found it under the bode tree
away from people
not in society
with people
could not concentrate today
on anything
not TV
not homework
not picking
so what would make me concentrate
fixie
fixie to school
complete concentration
pull up to a stop light
something needs tightened
a hog pulls up
we give each other a nod
we know
we know what it is like
two wheels
cars want to kill you
next light
brake needs tightened
maybe i should take it off
up and over
where am i
whats going on up there
move over
take the left
maybe i should just weave all over the road just to fuck with them
whats this guy doing
am i better than them
i have to think i am
if not i'm just like them
i am out riding
they are driving
too many bumps in the road
i'm here...until i go home

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

it is a...

sad day, when you know you have to part with something that you have had for such a long time. but my old road gloves just do not cut it anymore...



for those of you that remember, these are a pair of pearl izumi's old griptile gloves. i had these a long time ago, when i first really got into road riding. this was a great idea by pearl. the gloves have this grippy type stuff on them, and then you could get grippy tape, and the two kind of lock together. and it was comfortable. the padding was just wearing away. so it was time for an upgrade to their new gel...



these things are comfortable. haven't taken them out yet though. a lot of padding in all the right places. and it seems to have a good soft snot wipe. you know the spot on the side of the glove just under your thumb. these are the things i look for. the utility of it all.

i also decided to pick up a new pair of comfortable cycling shoes. the kind you want to walk around in, or relax in. so i picked up their sprint shoe...



i normally pick up the shoe with the velcro, because the velcro is able to keep the laces out of the way, but i liked this shoe better. color and style. i'm gay like that. then i noticed the coolest freaking thing...at the top of the tongue, it flips up to put your laces in. you are able to kind of see this in the pic. freaking nice. so i picked up the shoe that i really wanted as far as style. cheaper than the one with velcro. and it functions the way i want. nice.

not much riding here. weather has not co-operated. i'm going to try to at least commute to school again, no matter the weather.

i'm also thinking of changing some things up in my stable. more to come on that...

Monday, June 26, 2006

who needs...

the big new toyko drift movie...

i take back...

everything i have said about floyd landis. i have read more interviews with the guy. really looked into his 'personality' if you will. and i take it all back.

i started to not care for him, for some shots, it seems that he would take at lance. but who cares? lance is just than anal. and who else is? if lance wasn't a pro, he'd be the guy i'd make fun of at rides. the exactness of it. i once heard, and i kid you not, a guy say at a ride that if you rear tire had more air in it than your front, you'll get a better, or faster ride out of your bike. now he's talking, just as an example, one twenty six in the front, and one thirty in the back. i'm pare-phrasing here, but you get the idea. randy and i still talk about this, when we head out on rides, and this was over a year ago. i also heard a guy say that 'you really need to stretch after this ride.' it was a metric century. my question is, 'you don't after other rides?' this is the kind of shit you hear. (i'm sure people make fun of me, but in some sense that is my purpose. steel bike. unshaved legs. a euro-cycling cap. short and stalky. i'm sure i get it.) and lance is this anal rider. hey, it worked for him, but would it work for others?

landis says, not me. great. so he goes on a team, where he wasn't even looking to be a leader, but has ended up in that role, and has accepted that. and just think of all the reporters asking him, in round about way, about lance. well you'd get sick of it too. so i say 'go landis.' kick ass at the tour. hey, he's got three wins under his belt already. he's been climbing up the g.c. go for it. i hope all the americans have a great freaking tour this year. go leipheimer. go hincapie. although i've heard talk of hincapie taking the reigns this year as team discovery's best chance at a tour win. i'm really not sure about that, but we'll see.

i believe that the two americans that have the best chance of winning is landis and leipheimer. looking at the g.c. from last year...you take out lance, that moves leipheimer up. take away what fuck nuts did on the last day last year, and that moves him up again. so that would put him in the top five. these two are my favorite americans to podium. and i have to go with basso to win.

viva la tour...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

so since i...

haven't been doing much riding, i'll comment on riding.

in the recent issue of procycling they have an article entitled flawed genius? this article goes over some excerpts of jan's autobiography that is only in german. the basic jist of jan's 'flawed genius' is that he cannot control his food indulgences, i.e., getting fat in the off season. so much so that the spanish media calls him el gordo, or in english the fat man. they have a pic of him ten years ago when he won the tour, and now. you can't tell much from the pic on the site, but in the mag...holy crap. what a freaking difference. good read.

the big difference, i believe, between lance and jan, well, lance and any other ride for that fact...lance did not believe in an off season. once on the podium he was thinking about the next tour, whereas jan was thinking about the party, and getting fat.

in the article they talk about stage fifteen of the thousand three tour, where lance got caught by the bag, and fell. jan slowed down to wait for him, well that was his doom. you may think what a good sportsman, but then lance made chopped meat out him after that. what if jan didn't wait for him? what would have happened? in any case...he's only at ninety percent

for those...

interested...here is a link to a mtb racer that has video of the two thousand six s.s.w.c. a lot of it is not in english, but who the hell cares? it is still my goal to compete (oh, who the hell am i kidding) par-take in a s.s.w.c.

enjoy the vids...

Monday, June 12, 2006

got in...

a couple of rides over this weekend.

friday...i had a good thirty-seven miler around town. up through parma via west fifty-fourth street, and up behind padua high school. good hill. took some back roads to get to sprague rd. east on sprague. as i came down sprague to broadview a damn girl needed to pass me so bad to get to the red light before me. so she passes me like a monkey, and then can't get around the left hand turn lane that she comes to a complete stop. screws me up since in still in the big ring that my chain pops off. bitch. re-group. back on the road and take the long descent to brecksville rd north to brookside. another down hill into the valley. sit back and relax. so i did. for part of it anyway. i'm coming down the hill, doing the speed limit, not hugging the curb. some freaking jack ass pulls out in front of me. then moves over into the other lane, and comes to a complete stop. i brake. and yell "what the f*&! are you doing?" he takes off. so do i. i want to catch em. why? i have no idea. i felt like a dog chasing a car...what am i going to do if i catch em? he blew through some stop signs, and i couldn't catch em.

canal to tinker creek, up to gorge parkway. another good climb. to overlook lane down to dunham to another good climb and finally back to canal. made my way home, and then road down to the zoo, and back and around back home. great time.

i'm trying new psychological mind tricks to get up hills, and they seem to be working, but the jury is still out.

this ride was in preparation for sunday...

the annual cleveland touring club's sunday in june.

we got there early, because i'm a cloths whore. i wanted a shirt, and i didn't pre-register, so i wanted to get there early so i could get one soon.


early was the start, and cold was the descent at the start. we had a really good ride. this is the map of the route that we took. we made good time. three rest stops. it was after the third one that i got pissed. two jerks at the last rest stop just stood in front of the food. not getting out of the way for others. i saw their water bottles and all questions were answered. we get back out on the road, and some jerk comes flying by like his ass was on fire, and to hell with everybody else. we get out on the road and make the split to finish the sixty two. both of these parties were near us. we had about fifteen miles to go. i did not want to be near any of these people. so as we make the split, there was some confusion among the food jerks. i go. randy follows. pass a horse and buggy, that some other rider didn't know what to do. pass him. i notice the other jerk (who will get another name soon) up ahead. lets go. pass him. and i started passing others. just because. i just didn't want to deal with all these people. i look back. i see randy. good. and then behind randy that jerk is wheel sucking on randy. i keep a steady pace to see if he'll take a turn. nope. freaking wheel sucker. i turn it up a little. loose him. randy comes up front and drives. wheel sucker is back. i pushed like a muther. he would not let go. we put some space between him, and left him in no man's land. we came to the end, where there was a split. either up a sharp hill, with no traffic, or up another hill with traffic. i knew where randy was going. up the sharp hill. i was doing good. randy pulled away like he always does going up hill. almost at the top, and i'm just enjoying my groove. next thing i know wheel sucker is next to me. not happening. i take off again. i'm not letting him finish before me. and he doesn't. great meal at the end.

props to randy for riding, and even more for keeping my pace at the end. he's hurting. thanks.

shalom...

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

once again...

another fun fixie ride home from school. getting there was o.k., nothing note worthy. but coming home was fun.

heading home behind parmatown mall, and a jerk pulls out right next to me in his big f-one fifty. great. so i pull up behind him, and pull off my track stand that is just getting better. i inch forward. i inch back. inch forward to the left. inch back. inch forward to the right. inch back. but then i lost it. good stand though. so i grabbed some water, like i meant to do that.

zipped by the police station, and a woman passed me with two boys in the back. they were around seven/eight. the kids were checking me out. we pull up to a light, and i get out on the horns to slow down, but then the light turns green and i take off with the stange (she was driving a p.o.s. mustang). next light. red. she's turning right. the boys are still checking me out. i look behind me to see what is going on. light turns green, and i sweep out to the left. in a violent manner. bust ass pass the light, and she goes right, and those kids are still checking me out. was i an arse because of the kids? sure. give them something exciting to check out, because you know it's not that stange.

up over the hill in front of parma senior high. ah, the old alma mater. graduation day. crap. a lot of traffic. pull off a long skid. nice. stop and go in front of the school. everybody is trying to get out. i pull up behind a yellow truck. one of those small pick-ups. i notice a couple of high school girls in it. well we pull up to a cross street, and we aren't going anywhere. so she lets a car out. i'm pulling off my track stand. i notice the traffic begins. well, she looks at me through her rear view. smiles. and lets a couple more cars out. i'm not playing this. i pull around her. she begins to go. i start laughing, and call her a 'dip shit'. it was all in good fun.

great track stands. great skids.

take care, and enjoy the day...

Friday, June 02, 2006

i got a lot of...

ride time in yesterday morning. as my wife left for work, i headed out with her on my road bike. i followed her down the road, and around some back streets to beat her to the freeway. made my way to rockside and twenty-one; where i sat behind a cop at a light. i thought that he might say something as i followed him down rockside hill to the valley. traffic was bad in the valley going the other way. everyone going to work. trucked up to alexander rd, and onto the bike and hike, and took that to the valley rd. cross. took that down back over to hillside rd. up hillside. i love that climb. i'm not sure why. it's not the safest climb. it's narrow and twists. as i got to the top i did some circles in a driveway to let a car pass me. up to twenty-one, and headed back home. not too bad. about an hour and forty-five minutes.

then i rode to school on the fixie. the ride there wasn't bad. i made great time. about a half-hour total ride. lights and all. coming home was fun though. i seem to become rather surly on my fixie. get it? (my fixie is surly) a kid passes me like a monkey on a side street. i notice a 'jesus' sticker. and i yell out 'hey, did jesus teach you to drive like an asshole?' i came upon a slight decline. lights are green. nothing around that i have to worry about. so i just let me legs go with the bike. then my brain tells my mind, 'um, we're on the fixie, and we are going pretty fast, do you want to slow down?' my mind replies 'no.' so i kept going. i was hauling arse. again on a side street where a fork happens. some jerk pulls along side of me as we approach the stop sign. driving some big freaking blazer thing with wheels that would crush me like an ant. pulls out into the other lane, in essence cuts me off to go right, when i need to go left. i cry out 'what the fuck?' as i slow down and go behind him. then it hits me, he could turn around and kill me. so i check to see...nope. so then my mind races 'what would i do if he did come after me? maybe i could go on the sidewalk, but if he wanted me, so could he. then i could swerve around some trees, and get rid of him.' this is all going through my mind as i ride.

although i had some great track stands again.

my conclusion...riding a fixed gear bike is like being in a zen state. the concentration. the moment. but dealing with everybody else...it is just the opposite. yelling at cars. thinking about pissing off the person even more that is behind you, who is pissing you off. polar opposites that met at the equator to become a great riding experience.

go out and experience...

shalom...