Large Fella on a Bike

More Badass than Most:

...and defintely more badass than Surly .

I Own One [but agree too] & Assorted Things->

Nano, Micro, Small, Tiny is all fine and well...

but, it can [and often does] go too far:

Bravo.

The iPhone is a great device in my opinion... and I really dig it as a phone, for texting, for storage, in a bind for surfing & emailing and as a camera phone.  But for movies [and even listening to music]... No.  The screen is too small for anything but the occasional "Look at this funny/odd/sad/curious thing on YouTube"... and the battery is absolutely shit for listening to music [as it drains down way fast-and would need to be seriously beefy for all the apps the iPhone demands of it].  **Also, I've personally found [and I really do hope it's just a seasonal thing] that with a full charge, riding in the Minnesota Cold, after 3 or 4 small texts and perhaps a 5 minute phone call, my iPhone is a quarter to half down on battery power by the time I get home**

In other news... I have been reading, in/on lots of blogs [like Doug, up in Duluth and Kent, out in Issaquah], about the Marmot DriClime Jacket.  I really wanted one... I even asked Santa.  But, No Dice.  Bread was too tight, and while REI had 'em half-off in their clearance, that was only in elvish chick sizes.

A few days ago, I come home from running errands and Amy & Chloe are waiting for me at the door with big grins on their faces.  "Hmmm, I sense a set-up coming", I think to myself.  They hand me a package and announce that Santa was running behind on some late deliveries this year...

They got me the DriClime!!  Yee-Haw!  This jacket, honestly, is ridiculously great.  Very few things live up to their hype, I've found, but when some other serious cyclers say it's good... I've found, It IS Good.  Thanks, Kent-n-Doug [and Amy, Chloe & Santa].

I've also been using SmartWool's Mountaineering Extra-Heavy socks for riding [and everyday use] and they, while pricey, are pretty great as well.  They seem to be wearing slow [always good] and are keeping my pups toasty on the rides.

But next to the Marmot DriClime revelation, the single biggest mind-blower in cold weather riding accessories I've come across out here in the great northlands would have to be...

Pearl Izumi Lobster-Claws.  I never, in a gazillion years, thought I'd be wearing anything by Pearl Izumi but these things are wonderfully effective.  They are rock solid on me down to zero degrees, and when it dips below the big O, I pair them with Seirus Thermax Liners and I'm fine down to the coldest temps I've ridden in to date [minus 25].  Thanks go out to The BBBB for the 411 on those.

**EDIT**... this post was initially composed last week, and since then we've had a serious cold-snap.  The boot [and boot combo] and Lobster-Claws aren't cutting it in the latest evening temps I've been riding in...

-39 one night, and -44 the next.  :(  Sadness.  I'm looking into some North Face boots and locally made gloves for the seriously hardcore cold/night rides.

Keep Ridin'... Always

 

Rolling for Rachel...

If you're nearby, you should be there.  We're nearby, we will be there.  So will others.

Friends [both, old & new], bikes, laughter, reflection, drink-n-food, a bonfire, cold, snow, nighttime... can't think of a better reason to ride:

Keep Ridin'... Always

Sometimes The Point Is Just...

...Getting Home.

Tonight.  I say "Tonight" because I purposely waited until dark to ride, to see if I could.

[click for big]

...and I did.  For 22.32 miles.  And it was one cold bitch of a ride.

At an intersection a very nice lady pulled up beside me and asked if I needed a ride, she had a bike rack on the back of her Toyota.  I politely turned her down.  She seemed puzzled as the light turned green and she pulled away.

Tonight's ride had two distinct purposes for me:

#1.  To see if I could.

and...

#2.  To feel how great it feels to get home.

...and it did.

Keep Ridin'... Always

A Sun-Soaked Day Filled w/Sadness

**Edit ~Jan. 17th '07**

Rachel's passing involved no foul-play.  She passed from Hypothermia, after falling through the ice into the Mississippi River.  Tragic, of course & no doubt... but at least some solace can be found from no felonious involvement.

Amy, Chloe and me went to her memorial today.  It was beautiful, heartbreaking and stunningly tender.  Much love in that room, much.

After... the three of us went to the location of her passing and placed dried flowers, a candle and a drawing & note from Chloe.  We cried.  We said, "Goodbye" to a beautiful girl we didn't know-who is gone far too soon, who...

we would have dearly loved to know.

Goodbye, Rachel.  Be well... and keep ridin', Always

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a light snow Friday night and on into a sunny Saturday morning, I read on a local bikey forum, that one of our own had gone missing.

Rachel Dow.

She was last seen late Thursday evening, and after friends/co-workers had become alarmed to her absence by Friday, folks started trying their best to retrace her route and whereabouts.

After a few phone calls early on Saturday morning I headed down the West River Parkway.  I had been informed that she was still missing but that her bike had been found... right by the Mississippi River.  Not good.

Pulling up to that spot: seeing 3 Minneapolis police cars, a sheriff's SUV and a small group of cyclers... and Rachel's blue Bianchi leaning against a sign with yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape encircling it, my heart sank.

It looked wrong, obscene, unfair, ominous, sad and final.

As the crowd grew with fellow 2-wheelers, more police, more sheriff folks... and then finally a motorboat, a heavy feeling descended that fate had already been decided.  The sunshine seemed less bright, the cold was more invasive.  The contradictions of a beautiful day.

An hour or so later the Medical Examiner's Suburban arrived-after the boat was launched into the river with divers.

Rachel, I did not know you... but we did say "Hi" to one another a few days before this happened.  And for that I am glad.  We smiled at one another too.  And for that I am -also- glad, no... beyond glad.  But also...

because of that exchange, I am also tremendously sad right now sitting here typing this.  I am sad when anyone departs our world, but those I know, even through the smallest of exchanges, well... it's very difficult to articulate it.

I feel the loneliness for those that truly knew you... and it broke my heart to see your bike sitting there, without you on it/or beside it.  It was all wrong. 

And that's the image I cannot get off my brain...

along with your face.

There's a dirt floor underneath here
To receive us when changes fail
May this shovel loose your trouble
Let them fall away
Well the mist shall be your blanket
While the moss shall ease your head
As the future is soon forgotten
As the dirt shall be your bed
There's a dirt floor underneath here
To receive us when changes fail
May this shovel loose your trouble...
Let them fall away.
Dirt Floor
~Chris Whitley

Rest In Peace, Rachel.

PIFI #1 [Zero Per Gallon]

Our first installment of the People I Find Interesting series [PIFI Series] kicks off with Jon Waldman of Zero Per Gallon [ZPG].

 

Waldman hails from San Fran, Cali and fashions some very nice bikey things... all to spread The Word Of Bikey Gospel, and fund his [and friends, Matt and another Jon] recently procured sailboat, which he/they intend to float on the big blue ocean and go around the world.

Lets get it on...

#1.  Where were you born, and in what year?

I was born in Detroit, almost exactly 30 years ago, back in the Pre-MC-Hammer-Pants era. But really, I grew up in DC, and have since lived in Boston, Santa Fe, Bellingham, Crested Butte, Bend, and San Francisco.

#2.  What was life like as a child, and when did you start riding a bike?

Life back then was awful. Everybody had moustaches. Nobody had cell-phones. SUV's hadn't even been invented yet. There was no MTV, no video games, no facebook or myspace or anything else on the internet. It totally sucked. We lived like neanderthalls. I remember, in school, we actually had to LEARN stuff, and write it out, the old-fashioned way, by carving letters into stone. Oh, yeah, and before Reagan showed up, everybody -- EVERYBODY -- was doing drugs.

What the F do you mean, "what was life like as a child?" What kind of a question is that? Life as a kid was innocent and huge and full of opportunity and wonderful. That's what youth means.

Nevertheless: I first rode a bike when I was 4 years old. I remember falling and cutting up my knee pretty good, and going right back to it.

#3.  What dead person do you most identify with in history, and why?

I've always liked Lewis and Clark, mostly on account of their pluck and boldness. Of course, one of them (I always forget which one) was an alcoholic and threw his life away once he returned, but those guys were badasses in almost every regard. Before they set out up the Missouri river, they commissioned a custom-made collapsible boat, which they called the Experiment. It woulda been a friggin' awesome boat, except the builder took forever to make the damn thing, and they had to get going, so they sorta said screw it, and went with the standard, heavy, non-collapsible boat, which ended up severely sucking in places. If they'd had the Experiment, I bet they'd have made it to Japan or something. At any rate, they had vision, and energy, and an intelligent president in office, and they thought for themselves and proceeded as planned. That's admirable.

#4.  If you HAD to pick... what [and where] was your single greatest bikey moment?

Oh man, there are so many.

Riding up Mt. Evans, the highest paved road in the country, in a snowstorm, was pretty sweet. Linking up Vermont's 4 gaps into one big ride (111 miles, 9,000 vertical feet) was epic. Commuting over the Golden Gate Bridge, from SF to Sausalito, for a year, I will never forget. But, if I had to pick one moment, it may be riding my bike through the Watergate, on my last day of work at the National Journal (on the 4th floor) two years ago. I'm pretty sure nobody's ever done that before.

#5.  You're allowed to eat only one specific food for the next 721 weeks [plus water to drink], what is it?

Pasta. Bring it.

#6.  Britney Spears... "Insane" or "Just Merely Misunderstood"?

Dude, if she started fucking cats and shitting in mailboxes, and posting videos to BrittneySpearsFuckingCatsAndShittingInMailboxes.com, I'd be tempted -- but only just tempted -- to call her misunderstood. You know, there's probably a real financial opportunity there. But there's no way someone so mega-popular is crazy. The rest of us are crazy for considering it realistic to even think about calling her crazy for whatever silly thing she's done: a funny haircut, a bunch of drugs, whatever.

#7.  Single trend about bikes that darkens your mellow?

I hear that a lot of urban bikers have started getting tattoos and piercings and wearing tight pants and using foul language and breaking traffic laws and drinking vast quantities of cheap beer. Where's Reagan when we need him?

#8.  Single trend about bikes that makes your mellow shine?

I get emails from kids all over the country who are putting together alleycat races and looking for sponsors. I totally dig it, because it means more and more people are starting to see biking in cities as an adventure. They're committed and enlightened souls, these people, who can't stomach the suburban standard of slumping into an over-cushy car seat in a needlessly-shiny sedan, turning on the monotonous/soothing/soporific voice of NPR, and stop-and-go-ing it mere miles, only to sit there, clogged up, in a procession of 2,000-lb combustion-engine glory, while getting fatter, and lazier, and more fed-up, en route from one prepackaged-passive-entertainment-megaplex to another, while unavoidably growing SO used to that way of life that it becomes normal. They bike because it makes them feel alive. Biking is like a little adventure every day. Sometimes it’s social. Sometimes it’s a style show. Sometimes it’s a soggy sufferfest. But it’s not monotonous, or soul-sucking, or detrimental to public life in cities. So those emails, those little hints of all the vision out there: that thrills me.

#9.  Your favorite bike [that you currently own], and why?

I ride a chrome/blue/white (you know, quick-release Italian paint) Pinarello Treviso named Attila. He's an elegant, fast bike (won the TdF twice, and the Olympics back in '84), and is almost all Italian: Cinelli bars and stem; Campy brakes, cranks, headset, and bottom bracket; Miche chainring and hubs; a Selle Italia saddle; Time Atac pedals; and (non-Italian) Velocity Deep V rims. He's running a 46x16 ratio, which is just about right for my legs in San Francisco.

#10. "I won a fully tricked out Hummer w/gold plated spinner rims & dual, trunk-mounted Xbox 360's... " [please finish this sentence]

..."with bullet-proof glass and window-mounted canons and a couple of roof-mounted video cameras and vanity plates that say SUCK IT BUSH and I drove it through the White House gates and then rode donuts on the White House lawn while blasting Tupac, and when I finally got tired of dodging bullets and running over Secret Service agents, and when the gas tank was good and empty, and when there wasn't a patch of green grass left, I ditched it on the porch, right outside the Oval Office, then walked in and uploaded the video to YouTube on Bush's computer using his name/password, and told him to get his ass outa there, because he'd just been impeached, and I was there to deliver the official notice."

#11.  Best album you've heard in the last 12 months?

Just one? Shit. Can't do it. I finally saw DeVotchKa play, but missed From Monuments To Masses. Otherwise: Beirut, Durutti Column, Brother Ali, and Phontaine all make tasty tunes.

#12.  Most embarrassing moment on a bike [please be detailed]?

Well, it's not so much embarrassing as sad:

Two winters ago, in Washington, DC, I was riding to work down 23rd, and had just entered Washington Circle. An idiotic driver with Virginia plates merged into the circle from K St., and cut right in front of me, then came to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection. I considered swerving left or right into other lanes of traffic, but didn't want to risk it, since I didn't know what other cars were coming up behind me. I only had a split second to do something, so I kept my hands on the bars and slammed square on, right into her bumper, literally kissing her trunk in the process. I suffered a bloody lip, and a damaged ego, and bent the frame of my beautiful 1973 Gios Torino, named Iago. RIP, Iago.

#13.  Are you superstitious?

Jesus in a Sidecar! Are you kidding me?

#14.  Where, and when, did you first conceive the idea for Zero Per Gallon?

Well, I first got into politics in middle school. I served for a few weeks as the JAAMCMRLLLSMAFF (Junior Assistant Associate Manager of the Committee to Make Recess Less Lame and Less Short and More Awesome and Fun-Filled), and then I started thinking, goats or no goats? I sensed danger lurking, you know? So I founded FGCA (Future Goatless Crusaders of America).

From there, it was a logical progression consulting for, advising, or otherwise working for nearly every goatless association in America, including People for the Goatless Way, Americans for an Entirely Goatless Society, the Union of Concerned Goatless Freaks, Americans for Goat Reform, the Center for Goat Restraint, Concerned Goatless Advocates for America, the Goatless Research Council, Goatless Folks for Choice, the Advisory Committee on Goats and the Damage They Cause, Consumers United for a Goatless America, Washingtonians for a Goatless Majority, and the Association of Eastern Goatless Crusaders. I was even nominated to serve on the President's Why-Not-All-Furry-Farm-Animals-Are-Good Executive Council, and as the chairman of the board of USBGOG (United States Board of Goatless Oversight Groups).

So, anyway, I was living in Washington, DC, and I had all of this political experience under my belt, and then one day, in a moment of caffeine-induced glory back in October of 2005, I had this incredible urge to poke fun of greedy idiots careening around with 250 extra horsepower of cushy leather seats and noisy, polluting, internal combustion engines only to sit in traffic with other dumbasses. So I started Zero Per Gallon.

#15.  Does the 5th seacock really smell that bad?

Hold on. Back up. The backstory: I just bought a 40-foot sailboat, and spent two weeks in Mexico fixing it up. The boat has 5 seacocks (valves) that let water in/out of the boat, for the sink, toilet, etc. One seacock, as necessity would have it, lets poop out of the boat. So we decided to clean the seacocks, since they were all, uh, sorta clogged up and calcified and hard to open/close. That 5th seacock, which we cleaned in a bucket full of hot water, and scrubbed with metal brushes, indeed, smelled like shit. Literally.

Syzygy Sailing

#16.  If Tommy Lee were to contact you, would you design and fabricate a used tire thong for him, and what would you charge him?

I hate to break it to ya, but Tommy Lee wouldn't be the first person to buy a used-tire thong. This is friggin' San Francisco, man. Thongs cost $30. Dildos cost $40. Whips cost $45. The best bang for your buck, though, is probably a ZPG cock ring. They're only $10.

#17.  What is it about sailing that you dig most?

So much... The freedom. The sky. The forced simplicity - the way there's a super-thin line between necessity and desire. The patience required -- for going, tops, about 7mph across enormous spaces; for dealing with friends in very close quarters; for fixing obscure parts at great difficulty and absurd expense. The way it makes "regular" life, and any quibbling about it, seem like a joke.

#18.  Have you seen "The Perfect Storm"... and does that scare you?

Yes, I've read/seen it, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say it scares me, but dying at sea in one night isn't nearly as terrifying as ending up alone in an inflatable life raft, and, after 76 days, being so hungry that fish eyeballs seem like a delicacy. Read "Adrift," by Steve Callahan, and then ask me if that scares me, and we'll have a good conversation.

#19.  George Bush Jr. on his Trek mountain bike vs. you... who takes the checkered flag?

Checkered flag: me

DFL: W

#20.  How can folks get in touch with you to transact some business?

As the CE/BB (Chief Executive/Big Banana) at ZPG, I work proactively 24/7/365 to competitively leverage ZPG's core competencies by optimizing end-to-end value propositions that maximize ultradynamic, real-time partnerships with financially-responsive clients. In order to actionably capitalize on such mission-critical synergies, I integrate consumer-driven, multi-function networks in the actionization of innovation-driven, logic-based, value-added solutions, enabling and empowering stakeholders to successfully monetize executable functionality while also upgrading their own account stability. How do I implement and prioritize deliverables? By utilizing customized, out-of-the-box technology; facilitating up-level, cross-platform, scalable communication systems; synchronizing robust, impactful, market-tested functionality with consumer demand; and incentivizing action-oriented, self-actualized, win-win transactions. ZPG's diversified, community-based operational approach is highly competitive, virtually guaranteeing that ZPG will continue to grow its its bottom-line market-capitalization during forseeable and unforseeable short- and long-term future temporal occasions. The bottom line: ZPG is the most robust site in the goatless space.

If that sounds good to you, check out Zero Per Gallon, or email me, and we can transact the shit out of some business:

Zero Per Gallon

[email protected]

The PIFI Series

I've been planning on doing a new series of interviews, similar to the FBQ, but different, for some time now [like, as far back as early 2007].  And, because of our relocation to the Twin Cities, not to mention other things, hadn't had the chance to get it up and running...

but the time is, finally, nearing.

So, in the next few weeks/months I'll be putting up some interviews [w/pics] of folks I find interesting [People I Find Interesting... or, PIFI].

Look for it.

Oh, and on a similar note:

I'll be adding a couple loose ends to the aforementioned FBQ Series too... a couple frame builders who didn't, for one reason or another, participate in it back in 2005.

That is all.

Keep Ridin'... Always

Purchasing Your Lifestyle Ideas? [+Video]

I want to know how nearly every vendor is sold out of Nokians when I see the same 5 people riding?

Where, and who, the hell do all those Nokians get sold to? 

I suspect it's like Eddie Bauer shoppers [aka. Lifestyle Shoppers]:

They mean to be outdoorsy, they buy the gear, they sport the look, it looks great in their houses-while looking outside.  Hell, it even looks great from the inside of their SUV's... but outside, in it...

"Naw, it's not my style".

Probably explains all the "N.O.S. For Sale" ads on the iBOB List.

By the way... I don't need any, I use mine [I just see folks mentioning how hard they are to come by right now].

And now for the video...

Somehow I missed this back when it aired on tv, which isn't surprising since I don't watch much tv.  Great video [even if the beer advertised tastes like Whale piss].

Keep Ridin'... Always [or buying & selling on the iBOB list]

Oh Seven...

Been reading some of my favorite blogs, and thinking.  Everyone seems to be wrapping it up, calling the curtain on 2007.  Closing her down.  Saying Goodbye, cya later, it's been real, sayonara.

And I suppose it is that time.

What an odd, wonderful, fantastic, surreal and sad year it's been [and aren't most of them really?].

1 year.  So long in Human terms of Time/so short and absolutely meaningless in the broad spectrum of Time.  Yet, we-as Humans, use the Year as a yardstick for so much.  Wars, Love, Passings, Births, Beginnings & Endings: all of them & more mark The Year more than the Month, Day or Hour.  We like our paintings broad, or so it seems.

But lots of little things go down in those years.  Lots of them.  Tons of moments.  Ginormous amounts of Good, Great, Bad, Shitty things go down in The Year.

We still got war.
We still got leaders who don't lead so much as bum-rush their corporate puppetmasters' agendas.
We still got unhappiness.
We still got kids in fatigues, carrying guns, missing their moms & dads while fighting because a few folks in Washington DC said to.
We still got folks walking the streets, hopeless and hunkering down for some sleep tonight... cold, lonely and under a piece of cardboard.
We still got feedlots and SUV's lining up for the endless vortex of burgers-n-fries at the local TacoMcWenBysKFCBell.
We still got that Mom-n-Pop shop where your Mom & Pop bought your 1st insert item here and it's closing or long-since closed.
We still got Wal-Mart, K-Mart and the Internet for saving money... and they all know each other better than kissing cousins.
We still got folks who can't pick out Idaho on a map, or can't figure the difference between "Then" and "Than"... but they do have the latest Spice Girls concert tickets, a cell phone and the keys to dad's Escalade.
We still got problems, lots of them.

And...

We still have love.
We still have hope.
We still have lots of goodness out there.
We still have folks smiling [and waving] when you see 'em.
We still have the benefit of doubt... sometimes.
We still have patience.

So, I'll do my part in closing the curtain too...

Referencing my stats for 2006...

My Stats for 2007:

Total Mileage [Jan 1st to Dec 31st, 2007]: 4,083.2 miles

Mileage in 2006 [beginning April 14th to December 31st]: 1,932 miles

Starting Weight [Jan 2007]: 338 pounds

Current Weight [12/22/07]: 242.4 pounds

Weight Lost in 2007: 95.6 pounds

Total Weight Lost To Date [Nov 2005 to Present]: 258.6 pounds

Shirt Size at Beginning of 2007: 3X

Current Shirt Size: 2X

Pant Size at Beginning of 2007: 2X Musa or XL Woolie Warms

Current Pant Size: Large Musa or Large Woolie Warms

Wedding Ring at Beginning of 2007: Doesn't Fit [have to wear on my middle finger]

Wedding Ring Now: Falls Off Middle Finger [needs resized down... still]

Peace-n-Blessings... Keep Ridin'

Always