I found the perfect Father's Day present. Actually, I bought myself a tripod for my camera.

Car videos. Scroll down a little bit...........Who doesn't like neat cars?

This is an interesting article about hybrid vehicles. Since I buy new vehicles about once every 12 to 15 years.......they should have mini-vans powered by stale donuts by the time I am ready to buy.

It's Lance overexposure time. I respect what he has done on and off the bike but I'll always respect him a tiny bit less since his divorce. Kids need two full time parents.

Picked up a loaner bike from Ed's Ski and Cycle Friday morning.........haven't had any time to ride it but it looks like one bad daddy. It's a Jamis XLT 1.0 with 5 inches of travel front and rear with some really nice parts hung on it. I'll have something up about it Sunday or Monday.........

First time I've been in Will's shop and my first impression is that it's very nice. I have a link to the shop above and from what I understand, it will be updated on a regular basis with ride reviews etc.....

They have all kinds of bikes on display.....rail trail, mountain, cyclocross, commuter, road bikes, city bikes.......plus according to Will they have plenty more bikes to build up. I didn't count, but I would estimate they have at least 40 or 50 bikes on display. I saw one of these. Gotta dig the front hub generator.

Good stuff.

They also have a brand called Masi. The bikes have some pretty damn nice parts for the money. They have Rocky Mountain bikes which are some seriously neat looking bikes. Too bad I promised my wife no more bikes until next year.........................I am so seriously addicted ............

This is super duper cool. I'd love to own or work at a place like that. It would be kinda hard to have a bad day at work if bikes were your work. I do a lot of training where I work and it's gratifying when someone "gets it" and is able to work on their own. I bet the feeling is even better when it involves teaching someone skills on a mountain bike ride.

Till later............

Let's get NAKED.............

It would be an ugly bike ride if I did this...........

I haven't got in nearly as much riding as I thought I would this week. One reason is that it's so damn hot out and we have been getting pop up thunderstorms. Not fond of riding under those conditions.

Man, I sure hope this doesn't catch on here........

Fat cat. Very fat cat.

I'm not surprised they had car trouble.

Since I work 3rd shift, I don't get to spend many evening doing stuff with our kids.........I spent some quality time at Wal-Mart last night. There are some weird people that shop late at night.

No one gives a shit. The media is finally catching on.

Mom of the Year for sure. They oughta make her ride in the trunk.

Sadly, this has become the norm.

Sunroof...........Rock Star style.

It's been way hot this week, in fact the last few days have been "Ozone Action Days" .........which means the air is so thick with pollution you can't see more then a mile or so. Nice.

Gonna be borrowing a new full suspension bike from my friends at Ed's Ski and Cycle over the weekend......gonna be fun. I'll post up some pics and a ride report next week.

This is fun.

I'm not much of an artist...................Jackson Pollock I'm not.

Not much rhyme or reason to this post. Sorry, but I'm on vacation, so I turned my brain off..........

Maybe I'll post some better stuff next week, but don't hold your breath.

Till later.

Busy, busy BUSY............

Wow, I been trying to pack in lots of stuff this week. You name it- I've been doing it.

Our daughter won her second scholarship this week. Her senior year tuition will be fully paid for!

Woo hoo!

Her grandparents bought her a totally kick-ass laptop. Well, I bought her a totally kick-ass laptop......they are paying for it. It more like a desktop replacement laptop. Pentium 4, 3.3 ghz, 1 gig of RAM, 128 megs of video ram, a 19 inch screen, 100 gig hard drive, yadda, yadda ............. very nice unit. I'm jealous:-) We finally set up a wireless router so she has internet anywhere in the house.

My little girl is almost 18 years old and our son is gonna be 12 this summer. Almost make me wanna have more kids.

Almost.

Seriously though....... It's wonderful to see our daughter grow up and just know she is going to be one of those people that go out into the world and make a difference.

That's what being a parent is all about.

Sorry for the short post folks but I gotta hook up with a buddy for a ride this morning.

Till later.

Wal-Mart bikes.............

I took one of my nieces down to Wal-Mart today to get her a new bike. Since she is only 11, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to go out and spend 200 or 300 bucks on a nice bike when she's gonna out grow it and beat it senseless over the next couple years.

We spent a few minutes sizing her up and of course she was more concerned about what color it was then anything. We ended up with a small 26" wheel bike. Wow, are those thing heavy! It probably weighs the same or more then my full size hardtail.

I only had to adjust.............

-Both brakes, the pads were either hitting the tires or going into the spokes.

-The front wheel was bolted in the drop outs crooked

-The front and rear derailleurs needed adjusted along with the rear needing the cable tension adjusted

-Both tires needed air

-The handlebars were pointed 10 degrees to the right

-The rear wheel was out of true

-Neither tire was seated on the rim properly

-The seat was crooked and angled up at about 20 degrees

Gawd help me if I worked in a bike shop, I'd probably get an attitude if someone brought one of these things in to get work done. I'm not a bike mechanic, but I know my way around all the basic adjustments and it took me an hour to get the bike running properly.

They really are crappy bikes with crappy parts but lets face it-this bike is gonna get left out in the rain, dropped on it's side and generally beaten up. I just wanted to make sure my niece has a safe bike to ride................even if it is a Wal-Mart bike.

This is a British site. The author of the site isn't a fan of wearing bike helmets as far as I can tell. Whatever, I wear one. I suppose you can argue your point one way or the other for the use of helmets but I bet he has never seen a bicyclist's head bounce off the hood and windshield of a moving car like I have.

Since I'm on vacation this week, I can do stuff with the family at night I usually don't get to do. I took our daughter to Borders so she could shop for some books. I'm no expert but I think Border's is kinda like a singles bar used to be when I was single ...........oh so many years ago.

Lots of girls wearing shirts where their stomach sticks out and lots of guys with greased-back hair. What's up with the hair grease guys?

I also sat down next to some really weird guy that was dressed in all black, weighed at least 300 pounds and had bright orange hair. I was okay with all that except the guy had a really loud whiney voice and talked to his date about his poetry, his dire finances and how nobody liked him..............I wonder fucking why. I know by the time I left, I didn't like him.

Borders has those automatic water faucets in their bathroom sinks. You know, the kind that turn on when you put your hands under the faucet? I wish they had a sign up or something, I was looking for the knob.

Anyone else a fan of Dane Cook? Check out the audio/video section.........

Dogs never do dumb shit like this.

Till later.........It's 7 am in the morning. Time for a nap.

Summer is here.......

Sometimes our weather here in central PA is totally screwy. Less then a month ago, it was nearly freezing in the mornings and yesterday it was in the 80's.

Went for a ride yesterday morning before it got to warm and while it wasn't that hot, it was humid because all the dew in the trees and the ground was being heated by the sun. Whatever, still have a great time.


Sometimes you get in a rut by riding the same trails the same way, yesterday we started where we usually finish and rode every trail backward from what we normally do. Good stuff......... except for the extremely bent derailleur hanger and the unleashed dog I damn near ran over.

I took our son and some cousins to the pool yesterday afternoon. Not sure why but everyone seemed like they were eating. They have really good food there, maybe that's why. I've been going to this particular pool since I was a teenager, that's where I met my lovely wife.

Our search for a laptop continues this week. Our daughter is going to Governor's School in a couple weeks and she needs to take a computer.

Poor Michael Jackson...............no, seriously.

I love both our children very much but I'm glad one of them is a boy.

This is cool.

I'm a sick,sick puppy. I played this game and laughed my ass off. I got him the whole way to 43/12.

I am a bicycle horn enthusiast. I need one of these.

Woo boy, a scientific explanation on why it's so hard for me to fall asleep after working all night. Since I work 3rd shift, whenever I am on vacation-I end up taking lots of naps in the middle of the day because my sleep patterns are messed up.

This would relieve traffic congestion here in the good ole US of A. I don't think it would ever happen, but it's a thought.

20 bucks a pack sounds about right to me. Ain't no way to change the fact that smoking will kill you eventually.

Till later.........

I'm on "vaction"

Yeah, I know that's not how you spell the word "vacation" but that's how one of my college educated co-workers spell it. Too bad he smoked the equivalent of his body weight in marijuana when he was in school.

It's amazing how poorly most folks spell. Yes, I do spell check my blog entries before I publish them but I get all the words right...........most of the time.

Now that I am on vacation, it's pretty shitty outside. No matter, I have 3 books to read and a whole stack of magazines to go through so I am set no matter what Mother Nature has planned.

Not sure I wanna tear apart my hardtail this week to paint it or not. I plan to ride a lot this week (if the weather permits) and if my legs end up smoked at the end of the week from riding my SS...........gears might be nice.

It's so easy to judge my fitness level on the singlespeed, because you either make it up steep hills or you push............. I've been doing my fair share of pushing although it's slowly getting to be less.

I did manage to ride my chopper the whole way up a steep hill in our neighborhood that I've never managed to "clean" before. Yeah for me.

If you're reading this and it's still Saturday...........not sure what's up for Sunday's ride. I'll figure something out based on the weather forecast and post something on the club's website before I hit the sack Saturday night.

Till later........

Things I've learned.................

More miscellaneous ramblings............

Never ride a 45 pound chopper further then you are willing to ride back. 12 miles one way is too far when the wind is in your face on the way back.

Too much hot sauce upsets my stomach. I'm not 19 anymore.

I feel old when I am sitting next to my daughter in the car...........I forgot to mention, she's driving.

You can never have to many friends or bikes.

An average bike ride is better then an excellent day at work.

If some's good, more is better and too much ain't enough. ...........most of the time.

The less TV I watch............the smarter I feel. Total hours viewed this week? 2 hours of a NHRA drag race.

If somebody makes me food, I always thank the person that made it.

You can have a genius level IQ and still be a dumbass about stuff.

If I drink more then 2 beers, I get a headache. Last time I drank a beer? Not sure, it's been awhile.

Always make time for a little art.

Guns don't kill people............drivers with cell phones do.

Learning stuff through harsh experience is the best teacher sometimes ............and sometimes it's not.

The guys at the bike shop have heard every JRA story ever told-just tell the truth.

I ride my bikes slow uphill and as fast as possible downhill.

You can't learn anything when you are talking.

Nothing fixes wore out bike parts faster then a new bike.

Duct tape can fix a lot of shit.

There are some things you never want to run out of. Toilet paper is at the top of that list.

Excuses are like assholes. ...........most of them stink.

"Can't" usually means "Won't"

And finally........................

Today is National Donut Day. Be nice to your local donut guy.

Till later.

Updates and random mumblings............

Gotta take a few minutes when I'm on vacation next week to update my "links" section. There are some way cool biker blogs out there, I'll be adding s'more stuff next week.

I was listening to a PBS podcast last night at work and they interviewed 10 San Diego college students and asked them if they knew what the First Amendment was. Wanna guess how many got it right?

One.

That's right......one.

Is that unbelievable or what? Good Lord, I know some college students might have missed the clue train when they were in high school but only 1 out of 10? Holy shit.

Here's a video of some group sex "doggie style". You might find this hard to fathom-but this is a SFW video. Unfortunately it's on a NSFW website.

Same goes for this drifting video. SFW video on a NSFW website.

Where is Carmen Sandiego? Egypt.

I say...........HELL YEAH.

I don't work for these folks but go ahead and have one, I think they are overrated unless you go buy them fresh out of the fryer. The ones that come pre-boxed suck hind teat.

Yeah, like this will ever happen.

Had a really nice ride up at the Ridge Wednesday night, those new tires were the dog's balls. And I only fell over once. Good stuff. The Body Geometry saddle I bought to replace the worn out WTB is really nice, it has a hole in the center and a groove down the middle.

I know it's there to prevent numb nuts but it looks like a fart channel to me. I guess if they marketed it as a "Fart Geometry" saddle, it probably wouldn't sell quite as well. Whatever, it's damn comfortable and all the farts get vented to the underside of the seat. Who says science isn't useful?

Pffft.

Till later.

Savin' some weight..................

Who me?

I took the 2.4 gumball downhill tires off of my hardtail yesterday and replaced them with something more reasonable in a 2.0 size. The tires I took off weighed close 3 pounds a piece and the ones that went one were considerably lighter. That took off about 3 pounds of weight at the best possible place to take weight off of a bicycle.

Click to make hugerer.

Well, maybe the second best place to take weight off. Been riding pain free most of the spring, now I suppose it's time to push the fitness a little bit and lose a few pounds. Those huge tires make for great handling downhill but uphill.................ugh.

I'll just have to get used to riding on "normal" mountain bike tires again. I bought Specialized Enduro tires in a 2.0 size, they kinda look like road bike tires compared to what I was running.

Since I was scrounging around for inexpensive stuff at the LBS, I picked up a set of new set of handlebars and a brand new seat. Sure, the handlebars don't match the rest of the bike since they are bare aluminum and everything else is either red or anodized black..........whatever, I really don't care about that kinda stuff much anyway.

While I was at the shop, some really strange guy bought new tires and tubes for his bike. Not sure if the guy had a speech impediment or he just got done smoking some crystal meth but he was really slurring his words. I'm thinkin' he just lost his license and was in the process of getting his "liquor store" bike in running order. Whatever. Just don't get run over on the way home from the bar.

I was planning on riding my Surly over to Lancaster to watch some of the race preparations on Tuesday but our son's asthma flared up and he stayed home from school. Maybe next year, looks like I missed a good race.

I was riding some of the new singletrack our club put in over the weekend. Awesome stuff, I really dig the tight switchbacks. Some of them are so tight you have to hop the rear wheel around to make the turn. Fun stuff.

There are some pointy rocks that basically point directly at your front tire and a couple of dips shaped exactly the same circumference as a 26' wheel. .............I have a feeling somebody might end up missing a few teef :-)

3 more nights of work and it's goof-off time for a week.

Yay.

Till later.

Get the spray paint out............

I gotta say, my friend Greg is pretty good with a welder.




All it needs now is some paint.

His chopper does the same thing mine does. You grin like an idiot when you ride it.

We had our club's kid ride last night, not a really big turn out but 7 year old Alex had some serious fun. And he liked my donuts.

He's going to be giving his dad some competition in a couple years.

The Giro d'Italia is over, I'm finding it hard to get excited about professional cycling, maybe if they can make it through a whole year without any doping scandals I'll change my mind.

Check out the pics on this site. These folks do the kinds of races I might do well in.........it's dark, guys are wearing womans clothes and drinking beer. What could go wrong????

I look at my blog stat's once and awhile, on average 50 to 60 people follow my blog-most folks are from around here. Maybe someday I'll be famous.

Or not.

I see Jesus. WTF? Come on people......it's a freakin' window screen.

This is a cool lawn mower. All they need to do now is add a remote control to it.

Cop motor, cop tires, cop shocks.......only 200 miles to Chicago.............hit it. I think the new Charger is uglier then a freight train but it looks pretty nasty dressed up as a cop car.

Stupid. I love the Onion.

Till later..........

One more week..............

One more week until vacation.

I have some big plans for the week, I am gonna hang out at the pool with our 11 year old, wash and wax my minivan and ride all 6 of my bikes. Other then that-I plan to sit on the front porch and drink 7&7's every night. I'm not a very big drinker, so I might just drink the 7 Up part..............


I'll also be riding a loaner bike from Ed's Ski and Cycle for a day or two courtesy of my friend Will.


Cool lookin' bike,huh?

I'm not going to be in the market for a new bike until March or April of next year but doesn't hurt to sample the wares. Maybe I'll post a bike review if I don't manage to kill myself riding a full suspension bike again. I used to own a GT XCR 3000 and I had all kinds of fun on that bike. Will, if you're reading this-I promise I won't wheelie drop off of any loading docks :-)

We have our club's kid's ride tonight-looking forward to it, I made a few dozen fancy donuts for everyone to pig out on afterwards. Hopefully, I'll have some good pics for my next post.

Stopped by Greg's house Saturday to drop off a rear tire for his chopper and it's actually rideable. It's a sick bike. He still has all the metal finish and paint prep and a few minor details but it's gonna be cool.

It's Memorial Day so take a moment to thank all the service men and woman who serve our country and those that have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Till later................

Helmets, Hunting and Choppers......

One of the blogs I read had some interesting comments about helmet use. Some folks think they are a good idea and some don't. When I was a kid growing up in the late 60's and early 70's-there wasn't such a thing as bicycle helmets. I made through childhood just fine without one and I attribute that to one thing.

Luck.

I don't pull out of my driveway without a bicycle helmet on and since our state has changed the helmet law for motorcycles-I can not believe all the helmet-less motorcycle riding organ donors out there. Yeah, I miss the wind in my hair but I'd rather put up with that then having someone feed me and wipe my ass for the next 30 years.

Since I got back into cycling 8 years ago, I've had a few times where having a helmet has saved me from serious dain bramage..................................

And here's why I am very careful when I ride on the road.


Our state is probably gonna go to 7 day a week hunting soon.

Lovely.

Since the county parks I ride in allow hunting-I am really looking forward to sharing the woods with them on Sunday rides this fall. Sure hope the hunters don't mind if I tie a cowbell to my handlebars. Since our state has over 2 million acres of land set aside for the exclusive use of hunters-let'em drive to a SGL to hunt on Sunday.


I paid a visit to my friend Greg Friday evening, he is smokin' on the chopper!

Here are some of the latest pics........


Looks like a bike now.


Like I said before-That's a long ass fork. Greg says it handles like a pig. .........they all do that brotha.


Looks like a push bike right at the moment, Greg is still deciding on where to place the bottom bracket. I am digging the proposed paint scheme........The frame will be a bright metallic green at the front fading into flames and the either metallic purple or blue on the rear half.


Something like this maybe??
Everything else will be black. It's gonna be bitch'n..........

That's about it for the weekend..............

Till later and stay safe.

I'm absent-minded.........

In my post about the crit I was at last weekend, I wanted to include a pic of my friend Will and his neutral support tent but ...... I kinda forgot to take a pic. Doh.

Will sent me a link to a really cool blog from the brand manager of Masi bikes. Fortunately Tim has included a pic on one of his blog's entries.

I received an e-mail from someone named Corri asking me to put up a link for her mom and a friend that are bicycling across Canada to raise money for lung cancer research. I have no idea who Corrie is but since I used to smoke and I am married to a cancer survivor- It would be hard to say no.........


It's a done deal. I'd like to do something like that before I'm too old.

I hope they raise a boatload of money and more importantly-I hope they have a safe trip. That's a nice blog, by the way :-)

Our club is having a "Kids Ride" this Sunday, I always look forward to these as I love to see kids get outside and have fun that doesn't involve a TV or a computer. I'm not in charge of the ride or anything-but the way I see it- the more you get kids and their parents outside spending time together, the better. I plan on bring one of my neices with me so it oughta be a fun time.

One of my smartass friends sent me a link to this. It's bad enough that a 45 year old guy (me) rides a chopper bike around his neighborhood-I don't need to draw anymore attention to myself.

Saw this and while I don't doubt the process works in certain applications, there ain't no way he gets 120 mpg unless he is driving all downhill.

I respect the office of the Presidency, but 2008 can't get here fast enough.

Okay, so I checked out the video........my question is-who the hell washes their car wearing high heels? 20 years from now-they will be doing one of those "Where are they now?" shows on Paris Hilton. She's had so much plastic surgery, she looks totally different then she was a teenager. Gotta respect that, huh?

We need more phone lines into our house. Our 17 year old daughter talks on her cell AND our regular phone at the same time.

Maybe she would make a good stockbroker.

This site is different. Naked guys riding SS's and fixies don't really do a whole lot for me but whatever floats your boat.

Foot long penis closes Interstate highway. Sorry, no pictures.........

Another penis in the news.

Continuing on the wayward penis theme.........A dog? That ain't right.

Books I've never read.

Last link for today and you might spend some time here. I know I did.

Till later.............

Just some random crankiness

How come iPod accessories cost so damn much?


I had to pay almost 20 bucks for a little clip that will let me put my Shuffle on my belt loop instead of hanging it around my neck like a goober.

I guess the stuff cost so much because dumbasses like me step up to the plate and buy it. I was at Circuit City and they have all kinds of stuff for iPods. Docks, connectors, chargers, cables-you name it and none of it is cheap.

I shop at our local Border's because they have a great assortment of mountain biking and cycling magazines. There is this clerk there that is so *s l o w * ringing up everyone's order and I always seem to get her when I'm waiting in line.

Today she was all by herself at the front and the older woman in front of me was questioning the price on everything she was buying. First off, If you are gonna be that much of a pain in the ass when you check out-go shop at Wal-Mart where they have do it yourself checkouts. Second.......yeah, I know-be patient but while I and other customers were waiting (for at least 5 minutes or so it seemed) at least 3 employees walked by the register area and none of them either paged for more cashiers or ran one themselves.

Outstanding customer service..............Not.

Being patient is just not in my nature when it involves having to wait to pay for something. Took the test and I am relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic but not patient. Go figure.

This is nice. Now all they have to do is figure out how to make their hambugers not taste like greasebombs.

Hunting with .50 caliber handguns? Holy shit, there won't be any deer left to eat.

We could sell them water...............for 5 bucks a gallon.


Yes, He does........when he's not riding His chopper.

Hey, this is cool. It took Darth 30 questions to get the object I was thinking about. The object?

A turd.

Yeah, I know............I need to grow up already.

I used to smoke, maybe this guy oughta consider quitting as well while he still has some face left.

Dumbass of the day. Gasoline and dishwashing detergent=napalm. I knew that already, too bad they didn't.


I have a tough job.

If anybody can figure this out-lemme know. Since I am so impatient-I gave up after 5 minutes.

As if the above link wasn't enough of a time waster, check out the pictureofeverything.

I'm guilty of not checking my e-mail all the time, I missed the fact that someone had comment on an earlier post I did. I had posted a link to this story and said that Newsweek f**ked up. Here was the comment posted by "Anonymous"...........

____________________________________________

"Newsweek f**ked up"? Not hardly! Newsweek reported on something that's actually been reported on many times before and seems to have happened repeatedly. The only reason they were taken to task for it is because their report happened to coincide with riots that were breaking out over it. The problem isn't reporting, the problem is Administration knuckleheads telling military commanders to "turn up the heat" on suspects taken captive, who in turn give a wink and a nod to poorly educated 19 year old kids who think it's funny as hell to beat the living crap out of people whose culture is different from theirs and who, 99 out of 100 times are completely innocent, guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And we wonder why people around the world are starting to hate us?
____________________________________________

................My thoughts on the above comment? I completely agree with you that the Administration is full of knuckleheads.

Newsweek also has some knuckleheads working for them as well.

As far your comment about "poorly educated 19 year olds kids beating the crap out of people" is a bit unfair. Whatever.......you have your opinion-I have mine.


I saw this and was surprised they didn't mace and taser her. Those 86 year old women can get out of hand in a hurry.


Damn, that's a big fish.
According to the story it took over a half hour to reel in. Shoulda used a stick of dynamite and saved some time.

Gosh, I wish my parents woulda used this when I was a kid. Then I woulda been normal.

I wonder if I can just buy the motor for my chopper. Shucks, I'll just get some spokey-dokeys.

Till later...............

Podcasting stuff+chopper update

I suppose it's no small secret that I am a really big fan of podcasting. Most people I've talked to have never heard of it before. Here is a very brief explanation.



Here is how I listen to pods. First I downloaded iTunes 4.8 to use as my music managing software because it works well with iPodder. After you have iPodder downloaded and installed, just click the "Podcast Directory" tab and go to the iPodder.org-Podcasting Central tab and double click it. Go to the "Categories" section and open it and you will find all the pods organized by category. Double click any pods that look interesting and they will be added to your subscribed feeds.

You can configure the iPodder software to check for new feeds automatically or any number of ways by clicking "Tools" and then click " Scheduler".

You don't need an iPod to listen to podcasts, if you have some other type of MP3 player, just drag the files out of the iTunes library and into your MP3 players disc drive and they will play. You can also just listen to them on your computer by double clicking the file.


Click the above image to get a full size diagram of how podcasting works.

Here are the RSS feeds for some of the pods I am currently listening to..............If you have podcasting software installed, just click on the links and copy and paste the feeds into your software.

IMC Radio- this is a collection of feeds from Indymedia.com, all kinds of stuff shows up here. Kind of like a potpourri.

These Days- San Diego public radio news and interviews.

Adam Curry's Daily Source Code- The father of podcasting-he has a daily podcast that has music features,promos and the latest podcasting news.

The Bike Show- stuff about bikes.

Radio Free Biker- more stuff concerning bikes.

Slacker Astronomy and Slacker Astronomy Extra- You don't have to like astronomy to enjoy this podcast. Learn some stuff about science.

The View from Here- A couple talks about life in Israel.

Keith and the Girl- A couple of clowns from NYC. Very funny and VERY off-color.

Benjaman Walker's Theory of Everything. Very eclectic. Something different with every new update.

Fly With Me- What airline pilots really talk about.

Catholic Insider- A Dutch priest. He talks about stuff other than religion-it's pretty darn interesting.

Here's a very good directory. Here's another.

I have a 512mb iPod shuffle and it's big enough to hold at least 12 hours of shows which works out well because that's how long it will play before it needs recharged. I listen to them at work through one earbud at a fairly low volume so I am able to have a conversation with someone and don't appear totally non-social.

I could go on listing podcasts to listen to........ go ahead and experiment-not every pod you subscribe to will be to your liking -it's all good- just unsubscribe and check out some different ones........... they are free after all!



My buddy Greg sent me some more pics of his chopper build up. Folks.........this thing is "forking" scary looking.


Nice shot of the triple trees. You have to remember, none of this stuff you are seeing is off the shelf parts- It's all coming directly out of Greg's brain and into metal.

Click the pics for the largerer versions.

Izzat some wild stuff or what?


Riders eye view.


Sweet Jesus, that's one long ass fork.



That's about it for today, next time I'm gonna rant and rave about how much iPod accessories cost and shitty service at Borders.

Till later.

Crit pics..............

Here are some pics from the crit I was at yesterday.....................



















My favorite one is the last one, man those guys are FAST. I have to apologize for the blurry pictures, this is the first time I've used my new camera for action pictures and I am still a little bit unsure of the settings. All I know is that they race inches apart from each other and I'd have to estimate they are going at least 25 mph.

My friend Will from Ed's Ski and Cycle was providing neutral support for the race and he had some pretty neat road bikes on display as well. I haven't been up to his shop yet, but maybe he will let me take some pics of the place when I manage to free up some time and pay him a visit.

I have a friend that is thinking about trying out his bike fit service and perhaps I could document the whole process and post up some pics. We'll see how that works out..................

After the race I rode over to my brother and sister-in-laws house to catch the tail end of my niece's birthday brunch. When my brother in law built his house several years ago-it was on a hill totally by itself on several acres of land. Now-it is surrounded by a new development of mini-McMansions............all the houses look the same to me. Same color, same size..........totally boring looking.

I also gave away one of my bikes yesterday. We have a nephew the same age as our daughter and he needed a road bike to do some commuting on. My 1977 Raleigh worked out really well for him so I gave it to him. I think it's pretty cool that a 17 year old is more interested in riding then driving. The bike is older the he is-truly old school.

Now I am down to 5 bikes.

I think my next bike is gonna be some type of full suspension bike. I like the Specialized Enduro and the Jamis Dakar. Both are really nice looking bikes but until I save the bucks for one or the other-I am thinking I will end up with a Dakar since they are a good bit less expensive then Specialized. Who knows, maybe I will hit the lottery and buy one of each:-)

I know I keep blathering on about podcasting but if you spend any time on a bike solo riding or commuting in a car- listening to podcasts are a great way to entertain and learn some stuff. My next post I am going to list some of my favorite ones again and how to listen to them.

Till later..................

Quick ride.............

Did a quick little ride over to Lancaster Saturday. 35 miles at about a 16mph average. Almost got wiped off the face of the earth on the way back to my house.

Not sure why, but I always seem to get the 88 year old lady with silver-blue hair driving her dead husband's 88 Coupe de Ville out there tryin' to kill me.

Had some old lady blow through a stop sign at 4 way intersection-she didn't see me until the last second-and she hit the brakes so damn hard she and her passenger slid right off the front of the seat (no seatbelts, I guess) and hit the dashboard. I saw her way before she saw me and I had nearly come to a stop, thank God.

Old people shouldn't drive.

Get with the program..........

Which program is that you may ask? ..........................

The EXTREME program. You know, where everything is turned up a couple notches.
Several examples............

-Speakers

-Energy drinks

-Marketing

-Elvis

-Sex toys No wait-I guess that one has always been somewhat extreme.

-Sports

-Ironing

-Hubcaps

-Pizza

-Pumpkin carving

And yes, even mountain biking. I'm so sick of everything be labled extreme, I am ready to projectile vomit on the next person I see that mentions anything that is "extreme".

Whoa.

I suppose that would be a little "extreme" of me, huh?


I haven't seen the newest Star Wars movie, I'm pretty sure
the above dialog wasn't included.

I'm glad this little guy isn't living in my neck of the woods. Scary shit. I've read that sex offenders are not happy that they have to register where they live. I have a solution-don't be a sex offender.

That's about it for today. My next post will hopefully include some pics from the crit I will be attending on Sunday.

Till later.....

Rocket Science...........

I suppose building a chopperbike from a pile of tubes and an old frame or two isn't rocket science, but to me it is. Not sure how my friend Greg's mind works but it's damn fun watching the progress on his chopper build up.

Click the thumbnails to supersize.

At this point Greg has decided to go with a Aheadset style of headtube.


Not having one handy, he makes his own out of steel tubing.


Old one from the donor frame on the left, new one on the right. According to Greg, this has been the most difficult part of the project so far. I can believe it figuring that you have to precision machine both ends of it. I'm really looking forward to checking out his handiwork when he constructs the fork.

Bike riding is not a crime. Awesome blog, check the rest of it out.

This is a seroiusly cool way to make a living. I wonder if something like that would fly around York?

I wish this shop was right here instead of Cali. I am digging the flamed seats.

This is why I don't watch much TV. Network TV makes you stupid.

While I'm not too hot on the idea of teenage pregnancy (yeah, my daughter is 17-you got a problem with that?) I totally think it was wrong for the school in this story to do what they did. They let the father (also in the class) participate in graduation? That's messed up.

Saw this and I had to laugh. I bought a Plymouth minivan the year before this was offered. Less then a year after the warranty expired-the transaxle ate itself. What a piece of shit. I'm sticking to Subies after the van wears out.

I know I have a couple readers in Minneapolis, this looks like a really nice bar.

Hmmmmmmmmm...............get it?

Till later...........

Wal-Mart..........

Lots of folks really hate Wal-Mart. I'm not a super huge fan of the company myself because the company I work for goes head to head with them in all our local marketing areas. I do know a couple things about them..........

-They are ballbusters when it comes to price. Price is everything for them. Which is good for customers in the short term but perhaps not in the long term.

-They pay jackshit. Our company is guilty of that to a certain extent as well, but once you make full time at my company-the benefits are pretty good. Part-timers also have fairly decent benefits after a year of employment, including healthcare after 90 days.

-They exert too much influence on their suppliers. That's okay sometimes, sometimes it's not. Am I complaining? No, I buy stuff there fairly often. We purchased a 32" TV there this past winter for 200 bucks. Money talks-bullshit walks.

On to other stuff............

I checked my site statistics and found a person that was looking for how many calories are in a donut somehow ended up at my site............

Alot.

I'm guessing that someone is on a diet and wanted to know how many calories were in the donut they snuck before bedtime.


I also have a huge bruise on my ass cheek from the "off" I had up at Rocky Ridge this past weekend. Oh, my aching ass.............

For lack of a better term, Newsweek f**ked up. News at all cost isn't worth people dying.

Going to watch this bike race this Sunday. My friend Will owns the LBS that is providing neutral support and I am gonna hang out some.

Till later and more pics from my friend's chopper build up. It's rocket science I tell ya.

Till later.