Large Fella on a Bike

Fried Chain & Lubed Chicken...

After reading Kent's review of this special sauce...

I composed an email to The "E" himself asking about this Super Juice.  Basically I said, "I like the olden days... the days where you give/I give, and just maybe everyone benefits".  He, that is to say-The "E" himself, said... "Cool, let the Rock begin" [I paraphrased that part].

This stuff is good, actually great.

I have a clickable image down on my leftside column... or you can click above too [on The "E" part].  Either way... Click, damnit, and try some out for yourself.  [and no, I'm not making any scratch off your purchase]

Apparently it's organic enough you can fry some yardbird with it too... or, like me, just lube your metallic links and ride away happy enough without the poultry parts.

Rock

Keep Ridin'... Always

Using Things Up...

I find, or should say, have found [and just recently... maybe the last couple years-tops], a real beauty to using something until it drops.  Dead.

The culture we live in and among, a culture of disposable this and that... it gets hard to find a place inside yourself, or to impart to children, a real sense of purchasing something -after much thought & reflection- and then finding yourself really pleased, really satisfied with it:

and Using It.

And then,

being really happy/satisfied with It.

For instance:

I get this one all the time, "Wow, look how much you ride, and you only own one bike??"  Or, "Geez, with all the riding you do... all the progress you've made... you deserve like 5 bikes, at least!!".

Yet, I only own one.  I am satisfied you see.   And happy too.

Now let me be perfectly clear and honest here too.  I yearn [read: lust] for nearly as much, and probably more, new stuff as, or than, anyone.  But a few things kick in at that point:

A.  I look at our bank account [3 person family, single income, living in America ain't cheap, etc].
B.  Even if a purchase is cleared through the First National Bank Of Wife... I usually rationalize that what I have isn't worth giving up on in the face of "Potential New Purchase/Replacement".
C.  If A and B don't apply... I then go through a kind of self-imposed Hell of laundry-listing all the reasons I would really need this new item.  Amy loves this about me [I suppose because she knows I'll put the kibosh on 99.2% of all purchases I seriously consider]. 

I/We am/are a big business, corporate business, small business, mom & pop business nightmare.

Here's what wouldn't survive if they depended on us as a family or as individuals:
1.  All fast food joints.
2.  All restaurants  [we haven't eaten out in 2.5 years].
3.  All new & used car dealers.
4.  All brick-n-mortar video stores.
5.  Walmart [never been in one].
6.  Nearly all mega Big-Box stores [Chloe and Amy do frequent Target for laundry things and toy perusing].

Here's what is surviving because of us:
1.  Grocery stores and Co-Ops.
2.  Caffe Shops.
3.  Netflix [which I've heard is owned by Walmart].
4.  The occasional and very long-suffering LBS [but if any of them waited around for us... I suspect they'd go belly up, fast].
5.  Various utilities [Comcast, our energy company [whose name I don't recall], our Landlords [who are great folks], ATT [who probably aren't great folks-at least at the very top, but maybe are], the city of Minneapolis for trash, water and such].
6.  Local, State and Federal Govt.
7.  The local Volvo guy... who, again, if he bet his paycheck on us, wouldn't be eating very well... or much [we don't drive the car enough to get lots of repairs].

I don't know, maybe I'm just jealous... I see all these new things, being purchased by good people and I think, "Man... they must use their stuff more than me, cause they are buying way more of this & that than me".  Or maybe it's just,

"Man, I wish I could buy that kinda stuff too.  I'd sure love using that thing up!".  Which, of course, would be a problem...

...because I'd be too busy using it to be buying more stuff.

Keep Ridin'... Always

Poetry Moment...

This is an ode to Spring [something that seems to not ever be coming my direction]...

"Spring"
    By Me

Spring, the time of newborn life.

A time that precedes the Summer's fresh morning dews...
a time that reminds thee,
that once, a long time ago, I could play wickedly fast ratamacues.

Spring... a time of simple pleasures,
a place in the hearts of folks,
when, upon thought, each day holds profound treasures.

Spring, a scant few months when birds sing and buds grow green,
when the winter is politely forgotten and forgiven,
when thoughts of Nokian studded tires and lobster claw gloves are discounted as obscene.

Spring, like a small, delicate tendril of grass...

ah Spring, please come soon,

for Winter is kicking my ass.

That is all.

Keep Ridin'... Always

Wridting...

It's a new word.  I just made it up.  It when cyclers Write about Riding...

=Wridting.

I like it.  I also think I might be bored. Too.

I've been doing a lot of wridting lately.  Amy and me have spent-on & off-, but mostly on, the last 5 days wridting a lot of things for a certain publication.  Apparently, we will be featured in an upcoming issue of a sporadically published publication soon.

I've also been doing a lot of riding, and I have to say... with a few, very few, days sometime last week in the 20's and 30's [temp-wise], and then right back into very cold, sub-zero days, it... well, urm, I...

I'm still embracing winter out here.  That's what I'll say... instead of what I'd really like to say.

Minus 35 last night, and minus 43 the night before that: that's not super friendly riding conditions.  But I still rode in it.

That said though, what's this about?  Help me understand something...

The minus 43 night ride had 20-30 mph winds... and I can attest to some of those personally.  The headwind felt like the big hand o' God pushin' me, saying- "You shall not enter".  But I did my best, and rode through it.

Okay, here's the personal quandary though... last night, at minus 35 and with 10mph winds, my legs felt like over-cooked, soft pasta.  No power, no speed, nada.  Drivetrain was super duper sluggish too.  Now I can dig the leg thing: easy enough to understand that maybe they/I were/was tired... but why would the chain/etc be so sluggish on a warmer [said within "Reason"] night??  Just doesn't make sense to this person [i.e. Me].

That just don't make a stitch o' sense to me.

Anyway...

hey, it's 3 degrees out with 8mph winds today!!  Think I'll go for a ride and picnic.  Ok, maybe not a picnic, but definitely a ride.

Some Spring would be nice...

Soon.

Keep Ridin'... Always

Weigh-In Day, Today...

Well 6 weeks have come and gone, and today was Weigh-In Day around here.

Weight:  232.2 pounds

Weight on Last Weigh-In [December 22nd, 2007]:  242.4 pounds

Loss Of:  10.2 pounds

Total Loss Since November, 2005:  268.8 pounds

Me?  I'm celebrating it with a nice long ride in the 26 degree [19 w/wind chill], snow flurried weather of Minneapolis!

Keep Ridin'... Always

Better Angels...

Nothing grand or amazing, just thinking out loud through words.

Whenever you find yourself without much, losing faith and sensing that thought/feeling of, "What is all this for... about?" isn't it remarkable how people come out of the shadows and make [i.e. "Help"] you make sense of the non-sensible?  I do... and quite often when it happens, it doesn't appear to be what it ends up being.

It's like a slow puzzle with vague opaque pieces finding their way together, eventually, with some kind of magnetic force.

So many things are like this, each and every day.

Why did I bump into this person?  And then, bam, you see it-the reason-days/months/even years later... after the fact.  And it all makes sense.

We all have them, you know.

You don't have to be religious, or even spiritual, you can claim your place in the belief of Nothingness... it makes no matter.  Why?  Because they're out there: watching, waiting, willing.

And they'll come... even if it's only vague and eventually.  Eventually eventual.

I call them "Better Angels".

Chloe asked me earlier today, "What's your favorite of these daddy: a crocodile, an alligator or a frog?"  I answered, "Frog".  She held her chin with three small fingers... pondered things, and then said, "Yeah, that makes sense to me too."

"Why?", I asked.

"Well, because frogs change you know.  They start as tadpoles, and then they change a lot... eventually they grow legs and are really green and pretty".

I said, "Yep".

"You know though", she continued, "if some person, a not so nice person too, decides to eat a frog... their legs jump in the pan, even when they aren't attached to the froggy parts anymore."

"I've heard that too", I added.

"But you know what's really neat?", she finished with, "It's like the frog is saying to the bad killing person, 'You won't have the last word on all this, Mister".

Frogs, hmm?

R.I.P. Sheldon Brown...

Amazingly sad news.

Sheldon Brown has passed away.  I just spoke with him last week via email, and as always, he was informative, positive and upbeat.

This is tragic.

Too many good folks are leaving us.

Reading his journal entry from just yesterday [scroll down to bottom] really brings home the vast uncertainty and unexpected nature of this life we all share, and how it can change so suddenly but in a mere moment of time.

I came to know about Sheldon years ago, but not through cycling-as one might imagine... instead through a search on the Internet about hats.  After talking to him, I -then- discovered his other life... the cycling one.  And whoa, was I blown away.  His contributions were/are/always will be vast and infinite.  A true Gentleman.

I also recall how excited he was when I sent him a [not very good in my estimate, but the best I could do at the time] photo-chop of his head onto Lance's body.  He was thrilled and tickled by it, and kindly asked my permission to use it on his site.  Which, of course, I agreed to...

Roll on Sheldon, Roll On...

you, Sir, own that Maillot Jaune.