Food I love

Below 14th street, amidst the bustle of 2nd ave and 1st resides a small noodle place. There are no airs to eating here. Just plain simple, hearty, good food.
Miso Ramen: My favorite on a cold day and when I am really hungry. Satisfying to say the least.

I have never been one to leave any behind. 

A better way to spend Thanksgiving.

I left my apartment and was out on the road by 10.20 AM. It was supposed to be an easy-recovery-4-hour-spin ride. I made it home at 4pm, cold, so very tired and reminded of how taxing winter rides can be.

I rode with gaby who was supposed to be taking it easy as she was fine tuning her legs to slay at the cross races. Instead it turned into a day of mega climbing(especially considering how out of riding shape I am these days) due to some stellar navigation by Gaby(we got lost and I don't think she realized how much energy it takes to ride in the cold).                                                                                             This was the end result of staying in the cold: I was dead.

That will be the last time I let her pick the route as we were both hurting units on the way home and the conversation halted as we went into survival mode. WTF was I thinking?

In the year I have know Gaby I have only ridden with her 3 times so it was nice to catch up and shoot the shit and talk about nothing and everything. Gossip, vacations (hers, not mine), why the good ones are taken and new bikes. Just bs'ing on the bikes: not much is better.

I just wish we had stuck to the plan of keeping it easy.

None the less, it was a better way to spend thanksgiving than t be sitting around stuffing your face all day. I just ended up stuffing my face after the ride...

Saturday: So I finally rode it.

So I finally rode it.
So I finally rode it.

The new re-route of Mix Monster at Blue Mountain in Peekskill is a far better trail than its predecessor. There are portions of the trail that make for some of the best technical trail riding I have ever done. Anywhere.



This includes one roll down to rock bridge crossing that was been a monkey on my back for the last 2 months. Intimidating and yet so ride able: the fear factor would always win till last Saturday. In mind I kept hearing "you like your front teeth, you like your front teeth" which kept me from riding over the edge of the precipice into a ragged little rock bridge . I do like my teeth and an over the bars make out session with some jagged rocks were not really on my to do list. So I kept chickening out each and every time I came up on it. Yes, I said chickening out.

Finally after several attempts, a little pushing and encouragement from LD and ONE more try I made it. From there I did it again just for good measure. Satisfying to be getting back to some of my best riding in years.

There is much to be said for confidence .

Sunday:

On Sunday I rode a few laps with SNS in the bitter cold. I had sent my cold weather gear north to the remote outpost of Maine after last spring's thaw out and have not gone and gotten it back. No big deal other than afterwards "it" being frozen for what felt like an eternity. Shorts and knee warmers are not substitutes for thermal AmFib tights by Pearl Izumi

Anyway, I saw this cartoon this AM and it reminded me of Sunday.

Confetti

There has been a mental inventory as of recent as I sit amidst the meltdown that now seems to permeate all aspects of our soceity. Systemic, the disease has spread rapidly erasing 10 years of work/wealth and now erodes the foundation that will make life less than zero in a short while. And while I am sure that the world around will one day recover, the expense and toll on the population will be great and it may be a generatuon before we see trust returned to financial instututions and markets

While I feel luckier than most because I took steps to insure my financial survival by protecting what assets I did have from market and credit risk, it does makes me wonder what I have been doing for the last 10 years or so when it all could have been wiped out within a matter of months. The events as of recents have reaffirmed for me that life is more about existance and the air we breathe rather than the items we may collect.

Now, the real question is how I will live from now on.

I know that my girls feel the same way...

Bike Appreciation:

The devil may care but this bike rolls and rides everything. Made of steel. This brawler is the little brother in a long line of serious big move bikes. Brooklyn Machine Works makes bikes that are not for the weak of heart. Not for pretenders. You might think you look cool decked out with your cute Billionaire Boys Club outfit, but chances are your skills wont come close to its ability. Like a Ferrari, I might look great driving it, but I would not be dangerous to anyone in a race other than myself.

Hand made in Brooklyn, NY: influenced by it's owner and proprietor and its surroundings. Joe, the owner of BMW, is a renaissance man in its purest form. Artist, rider extraordinaire, father, husband and a kind soul. For a man who has rubbed shoulders with a who's who of urban stars including the original, Futura, he has no airs and makes you feel welcome. A good man.

Brooklyn Machine Works are highly valued by urban track riders for their brute toughness: hard as the coffin nail. But it is their bikes that ride on the unridable that I have the most praise for.

Dreams

Note: The artist wrote in her notes about her grandfather, "Sadly he never did."



Will I look back on life and wonder if I checked all the boxes on my to do list?


I am going to try and sign up for the Ragbrai next year. It is one of those bike monuments that are in the same vein of doing a 24 hour race, riding L'Etape or doing a 100 hundred mile mountain bike race: they are great tests of the human spirit embedded into a unique social event.


Thanks LK for the suggestion/invite. I hope I can put it together as the idea of chowing food, a little camping and riding great distances across the flats of Iowa sounds pretty good to me. But am I crazy to be thinking about riding mondo miles when my ass is covered in what feels like scales from chaffing after riding home in semi wet non-technical shorts on Saturday? Probably.

Zero Gravity and their newest brakes...their newest $1,200 brakes

" Yes suh, that is one-thousand-two hundred American for a pair of these fine brakes...."

Monday.

Monday is here and my legs are buzzing with fatigue after two solid days of riding. Saturday was spent riding the wet leaves in the dirt. Sunday I headed to Nyack and back on the skinny tire.
Too tired to post. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
Tubes and tires were exchanged regularly on Saturday. A little of out with the old, and in with the new coupled with unexpected punctures.

Steeper than the picture lets on.

Walking the line: "hmm, if I ride this way I will avoid some of the leaves."

Pedaling home: Ne pas de Panda. Too windy.

Known unknown bikes in action

DartSpets2, originally uploaded by John Prolly.

Thursday: Koji the Uber Fan

I am a fan of fans: people who are truely passionate about some subject. And I am really a fan of true bike affiecandos. Which leads me to Koji, the most super awesome Brooklyn Machine Works fan.

I like Koji's strong enthusiam for all things Brooklyn and the sub culture of messengers and hip-hop culture. And while his English needs some help, you can not help but dig on his site and his sincereity. Koji is cool in my book. Not because of what he likes, but because of his enthusiam.


I have seen this bike.... Sort of strange to see this bike on the inter web on a Japanese fan web 'zine thing and then see it on the street coming up 3rd avenue. Weird how small the world is these days.

Luke's Gangta: I need to check out Koji's site in order to see what he is riding these days.

Bathing Ape toilet paper: if you are not sure what BAPE is then I wont clutter your brain with this underground brand. But let me say this, BAPE toilet paper would really add some cache to your bottom.



At the other end of the spectrum: I am not a Lance fan and he evidently is a fan of the Bike Snob...which I think just about killed my interest in the Bike Snob.

AM Ride

I questioned my sanity as I abandoned the warmth of my bed this morning. Motivation at its simplest level often means questioning your own sanity before you embark on a new endeavour. Obviously I am crazy to leave the warmth of a good bed to pedal solitaire in the park in the early AM hours amidst brisk temperatures.

At least I had the park to myself for the most part. And although there were a bunch tri-athletes out, I saw no one I knew. Other than cursing myself at the first bite of the cold, nary a word was uttered from my mouth till I ordered my cafe con leche after my ride. I enjoyed the silence over the blare of my music. Solitude is necessary to recharge the batteries sometimes.

"Yeah - two guns west I ride an instamatic
Polaroid rat crucifixion nail
Antenna down cruising in the deep red
Mouth of a demon angel"

-Blur the Technicolor by White Zombie. Has to be played loud.

Be thankful:
I am so thankful that this exists amidst the most chaotic city in the world. Yes, NYC is the most chaotic city in the world. The rest of the world just plays pretender to the throne.

Weekend: the way it should be.

Saturday was spent pedaling the leaf covered trails of Blue mountain with LD and the Mosquito in the rain. Slick would be one way to describe the trail from the intermittent rain or the ever present mist when it was not coming down in buckets. A great day under the canopy of the forest.


Sunday:

There are days when nothing extraordinary occurs, but some how a chain of normal, simple, ordinary perfect events happens that make you wish every day was like this: Bike ride in the fall, with the perfect music, sun, crisp air, and my thoughts. Just a little time to myself. At the mid way point I bumped into friends and one became three: latte, bagel with cream cheese and silly conversation. Followed up by a good pedal home.

A fall ride to Nyack for cafe con leche had been on my mind for some time and todays ride was page right out of how I dreamt it.

Wheelie

Have you ever been so busy that you have no clue what the day is and sneaking off to the bathroom feels like a guilty pleasure? Too much going on and too little time.

The Clash MTV Music

Perfectly summarized and LK was right about Larry David:

This is how I often feel when I look at other peoples bikes (why do you need aero bars when you clearly can not pedal faster than 18 miles an hour? or why on earth do you need a downhill stem on your road bike?)...and I am sure it is how they feel about my bikes: No gears = no brains or Campy on a cross bike?
To each his own I guess.

LK being right about Larry David:
LK and I used to watch the Larry David program "Curb your Enthusiam" together. She would protest as she thought Larry is vile to look at and that he is so annoying that one wants to first cringe, then destroy the television. She was/is right.

Having been sick for the last week or so, I have watched just about all the seasons and I am not sure I ever want to watch it again...I just have to watch season 5 and THEN I am done.

Don't stand so close to me...

Because I am sick. Still...sort of. Actually starting to feel human again, but I wanted to post this video.

The Police |MTV Music

The new MTV site is out and it seems to be the only place where music video are played on any of the MTV channels. I kind  of dig it. I never thought I would like anything MTV ever again after they shut down the Head Bangers Ball.

Bike Junk:

-This could be the future if the great bicycle making company known as Trek is getting behind it. Belt drive bikes for the masses!

Sam Hill on Specialized: 2010 Boxxer is the highlight. The real question is will he be as dominant on a Specialized as on an Iron Horse...

Sunday recap and cravings

Sunday I woke at 6.45 AM to the sound of winter. The air was cold and the sun was already strong in the sky. 6.45 sounds like a hard hour to rise at, but considering it fell on daylight savings I was granted a stay of execution and I was able to profit of an extra hour of much needed sleep. Man, sometimes I recount the true limits of ennui with the minutiae of the minute details of my very existence. Next I will be posting about the most excellent breath i just had.

The day of Marathon reminds me of many Marathons past. My earliest Marathon memory must have been fall of 1980: we watched the runners go by in central park. I remember not really having a sense of what the event was about, other than a large chaotic group of people running together on a grayish fall day. I think my earliest impression of the marathon still holds true today.


Recap:
I had planned to head to casa de Fast Boy for a ride and breakfast with a set of strangers. And while the rest of the world in NYC seemed focused on those bi-peds who were running the marathon, we were the last gang in town on bikes.




It was not much of a ride, but having been sick for the last week, it was all I could take. We rode up to Fort Tryon park and gazed out onto the world. Fast Boy's mom was along and with no coaxing admitted her first true adult kissed took place on the very look out we were one. And while the confession spigot was on, she told us that she was a late bloomer and this happened at age 17. A great admission.


The ride continued along the Hudson river and then back to Fast Boy Bicycles headquarters. It is interesting to ride with those who are passionate about bikes but not necessarily about any sort of disciplined riding: the riders on this cold day were just excited about being outdoors on a bike. It is contrast to my regular riding friends who are most concerned with going faster or riding physically challenging terrain.


EC was kind enough to show me the lab in which he creates his bikes: the jig/fixture was perhaps the most state of the art one I had ever seen before. I have been to some of the great builders and I can not remember ever seeing a jig/fixture as professional as this: all overs seemed to be in tune with production, not creation.


Breakfast was consumed in a hurried pace: Huevos Rancheros with fried tortilla and fresh cilantro. It was damn tasty.


Summary: Good conversation. Great food. Good ride (not long enough, but I was sick). Good people. All pretty simple stuff that is easy to mess up, but is great when it comes out right.


Cravings:For the last several days I have been craving this kind of food. Painful cravings of the worst sort. I am suffering as there is no place adequate to fulfill my need in my neighborhood and I have been reluctant to venture out much these days till I mend. This cold is starting to really impede my life: first no or little biking to be had and now this.

Saturday sick days: bike builds

I have a cold that has lingered for the past week. It has been painful. I feel bloated because I have not ridden my bike. Neurotic inner ramblings that build to a cresendo in my head about the beautiful days I am missing. The lack of endorphins from riding causes distress mentally. In every sense being sick sucks. I am not sure why I would be so excited to be sick and get to stay home.

I made myself stay in when I really wanted to ride 9W to Nyack for cafe with extra sugar. When faced with no riding, I turn to my 2nd favorite bike related activity: Bike maintenance. I had not planned on building a bike but once I got started I could not stop. I guess this stuff happens when I am bored. It started with me cleaning a set of brakes....
...Which then caused me to think about all the extra parts I had on hand and what I could build with them. A few changes and it should be rideable next week end: Need to add freewheel and chain. Have not decided whether it will be a true single speed or a 2 speed.

Adventures:

545 manhattan ave. @ 8.30 AM

Ezra of Fast Boy got some great news this week. So to celebrate we are meeting up for a ride...

Should be fun.