Archive | September, 2013

A Shearer’s Life

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In the early 20th century, Australian sheep shearers used to “commute” to ranches and farms all over unpaved Australian via bicycles. Sort of makes today’s urban commuter riding modern roads to sit for 8 hours in their air conditioned McCubical look a tad lame. Then again, who am I to judge?  I have a semi-non-paying job, in an office that’s a fart smell away from my bedroom and doesn’t warrant a commute (less Wifey shit a brick for me riding my bike down the living room steps).

Check out the super cool article about these “dirty” sheep shaving commuters on veloaficionado.com, it’s good reading.

 

A Nothing Weekend

The good AND bad thing about having your own business and being an under/unemployed house husband is that if you don’t get a good ride in on the weekend, it’s really no big deal… Monday will be just as good. Such was the case this weekend.

A storm moved through on Saturday morning. and squashed my interest in riding the dirt roads or trails, but boosted my interest in driving 25 minutes south to Ithaca to shoot some pics at a cross race. There was NO way I was going to watch people ride laps in a park if it was good weather (yawn), but the prospect of rain at least made it more interesting. Too bad there wasn’t more, shit was still dry. Booo.

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Beer Me: Founders Black IPA

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Founders Brewing Inspired Artist Black IPA
7.5% ABV
88 IBUs (eighty-fucking-eight)

Sure, it was a only a four day work week here in the U.S., but it’s STILL Friday, so BEER ME BITCHES!

You HAVE to be on the lookout for this beer. Excellent in every way. I really can’t find a fault with this beverage (other than I only bought a six pack and it’s only available for a limited time). On top of being a great beer from a great brewery that supports many a mountain bike race (see Lumberjack 100, The Barry-Roubaix, etc.,), proceeds from the sale of Inspired Artist Black IPA goes to ArtPrize and I am totally down with that.

Founders says it’s only available to we Michigander-burgher-ite type, so sorry rest of world, you are really missing out on a damn fine beverage. I would NOT be surprised if this got into the standard rotation for Founders in the future. Maybe it won’t, be they would be mad not to. Go black and don’t go back.

More information can be found at foundersbrewing.com.

 

Random: Thoughts On Cassette Store Day

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I have no cassettes, nor cassette decks in my possession any longer, but seeing the rise of Cassette Store Day has made me wax nostalgic for some of my old tapes. The advent of the .mp3 was and is great, and has made getting music from all over the world easier than ever. BUT as a teen whose formidable music years were spent growing up with cassette tapes there will always be a special place for them in my heart (at least the ones that didn’t get all fucked up from sliding around on the floor of my Dad’s car)…

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Yes, I love my iPod for playing music and making myself mixes, but when was the last time you sat down and spent hours making a mix for someone’s iPod? Remember when making a mix tape took thought, sharing it with someone wasn’t a crime (literally), and it actually meant something? I’ve given a million mix tapes, and they all meant something. We act like they don’t, but they do, and that’s what’s so fucking cool about them. There’s a sensuous thing going on where you don’t talk about it, but you know it, they know it.* Nights spent sitting on the floor of the bedroom surrounded by albums trying to find JUST the right song to followup the last and thinking way too much about whether the tape’s recipient will read too much (or not enough) into the selections you’ve made.

So with that I present a small list of my favorite cassette tapes owned or mixed (in no particular order)…

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Different Old Dirt

Today, I took advantage of some extra time on my hands [unemployed, possibly unemployable, slacker!] and the amazing early fall weather we have been having to hit up MMCC for some weekday action. I have to say, even though I dig riding the dirt and gravel roads, it’s always nice to get back on singletrack.

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A Quick Dirty One

Today I shot out for a quick hour and a half dirt road ride before a lunch meeting with Wifey. A bit of hard packed dirt, some deep sandy gravel, a nice headwind and some long steady elevation gain (still talking hundred of feet here, leave the high fives for later) made for a fun way to burn some calories off of my hulking figure and gelatinous thighs which have started more and more to resemble raw pork shanks.

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First Day of School Ride

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I hated to see B-Man go back to school today (Holy 4th grade!!), BUT I would be lying if I said I wasn’t pretty stoked to get some spare time back in my day for more riding. To celebrate, I harnessed all that geek-uped-ness and headed out for a nice 36 mile dirt road ride on my hardtail.  Continue Reading →

Advice

My unsolicited advice for road riding in these parts: If you have to ask yourself if you are riding through shit or mud it’s best just to avoid it.

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