In my life I have had plenty of weekends where I have traveled, raced, rode and stacked up miles on the bike… this was not one of those weekends.
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Vintage Velo Hipsters & Beer?
I was almost positive that this photo was the result of bike riding hipsters circa 1922. I assumed after some singlespeed, fixed gear, alley cat, bike polo type event they stacked their bikes outside a [insert hipster bike city of your choice here] dive bar while they were inside forcing down PBR oil cans. Turns out it was merely the result of every day folks who rode their bikes to the Palace Theatre in Cairns, Queensland, Australia (according the Internet). So disappointed.
The Trail
I ride my “home trail” over and over again. Backwards and forwards in every season of the year. I ride it, race it, run it and hike it. Hell, I’ve even snowshoed and skied on it.
The trail might not be the best trail in the world; there’s not all that much climbing, not that much descending, it can beat you up with sections of embedded rock and lumpy “newness” and there are days when it’s the last trail I feel like riding. Yet I still think it’s a pretty awesome stretch of dirt.
Don’t Say “It’s Fun To Ride”
Not that I couldn’t have used a fatty on yesterday’s sand-fest of a ride, but why does every review of a fat bike or a 29+ bike such as the Surly Krampus have to use the phrase “it’s just fun to ride” in the review? To me, it just seems like they’re saying the bike is a slow and heavy tank without offending the bike’s manufacturer and threatening ad revenue. Then again, at least they’re not saying it’s “flickable.” Continue Reading →
A Shearer’s Life
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.
Random: Thoughts On Cassette Store Day
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)…
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)…
Wednesday (Ape Shit Mental)
Wednesday is the perfect day to go ape shit mental on a blanket at 8 in the morning (if you are Jake The Dog).
What The Sidewalk Said
Hard to argue with this bit of chalk “art” I saw on the sidewalk last night.