Devil Went Down to Georgia

I went to Georgia this past weekend. Lots happened.
Tues: Start to leave; Car leaking Differential fluid.
Wed: Go to sister's. Ride from Sisters; car ready at 9pm; Drive to harrisonburg Va. 1:30am Drafting truckers. Use Nick Waites Bed. Fellow Floyd beater, Schalk in other room.
Thur: Drive to Asheville. Stay with Trish Stevenson and Sam. Night ride with Si and Sam. Trish cooks better Indian food than Indian's.
Fri: Visit Industry Nine Factory to get new 08 wheelsets. Flashty with a capital "T".
Drive to Blairsville GA to stay with cousin Adam and his wife Lisa
Sat: Race Snake Creek Gap Time Trial. 34mile trail. point to point, 90% single track. Wish all races were this fun. Got 4th place after flatting 2x. Adam came along and was sweet enough to drive and holla. Cousin Jess comes to town. We eat, drink, shoot guns.
Sun: Eat big, drive to Asheville, ride with Trish, Si, Becky, and Mike. My 2nd taste of Pisgah trails. Stay at Sam and Trish's again. Sam unloads power tools on me. Hello Planer, finish nailer.
Mon: Drive to Harrisonbug. Ride the intown Hillandale trails. Ride Justin Wimpy's pump track. Eat with the Carps.
Tues: Drive to Michaux: Do a 3.5 exploratory Mtb ride in the 55degree rain. Fog obscuring everything within 30ft the whole time. Stay at mom's. eat everything in fridge. Pet dog.
Wed: Back home. House still there. nothing stolen. Week a success.


How about a factory tour? Industry Nine is an Asheville Co. Everything is USA made. In house. Anodization takes place elsewhere. They also make some slice ya thin knives. I got one of those too.

Those are my wheels: top right: Set of Stan Arch's, one Stan 355 front and one Flow Rear.
Jake and I used to jam out to DJ Shadow in Harrisonburg. Now he jams spokes in wheels for me.

Lots of bearings. Brandi at INine told me they had about 400 wheelsets waiting to be built. So I have to say thanks for putting my up on the list, and sorry for those who have to wait for their pieces of bike jewelry.


Each one of the pawls gets buffed by hand on the wheel. And then when it's all over, you get nifty wheels like these.


Oh and the boys in yard are always having fun. Those backyard peaks are behind the factory.




Riding Pisgah with animals.



Stay off Meth.

Warning you not to hit the link above. And whatever you don't click on a video.

Tradition Vs Obligation Vs Ritual

Work is an obligation. Unless you do something you like till someone pays you. Then it's a balancing act between obligation and ritual. A good ritual leaves you cleansed. Traditions can involve rituals. Traditions are not repeated daily, because they're reserved for special occasions. Buttering your bread the same way each morning is a habit. Brushing teeth is a habit/obligation/ ritual. Habligationul. Waiting for the bus is more obligation than anything. I think for some people tho, it's part of their daily ritual that moves them from one day to the next.
It's time for the traditional SpringClassics. Three weekends of mounting playground ponies on stakes before setting out on the urban road ride from filthadelphia. The Spring classic is a 25yr tradition. It's a tradition/ ritual. Rituadition! Rain or shine, the same loop as always. 11 of us left the water tower, and before mile 4 we were down to 10. Consider it a group ride. Consider this tho, one week cross bike might be the weapon of choice and the next is slick tire dominance.
Somewhere between Manayunk and Jenkintown.

Dirt Channel.

Biding my time?

During these times of convalescence I'm finding the time to catch up on a few back episodes of LOST. In some way's it does for the mid 2000's what Twin Peaks did back in the day. Of course it's not nearly as creepy or awkward as a David Lynch production. So though it will never satisfy that dark side of my id, it has definitely managed to keep my brain spinning, with complex character structures, and a narrative that flashes back, repeatedly revealing new details that intertwine the lives of the passengers before boarding the plane.
What's fun is trying to figure out the the "Name Game".
Jake Shepherd: He's the doctor, reluctant Leader: Shepherd=Flock care giver
John Lock: Hunter, sees the potential of other characters: John Lock=JohnLocke seventeenth century philosopher. "Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness".
Charlie: heroin addict: Charlie=slang for heroin.
Sawyer: Troubled southern boy: Sawyer=Tom Sawyer
Kate Austen: Fugitive, Smart, independent, not overtly sexual: Kate Austen= Jane Austen? Might be a stretch

Okay enough of that. This is how you spend time in bed for three days. Oh and I've found a new love for BikeSnobNYC. Hilarious. Worth the read.
Sam, I should call, but it feels like forever away to the other side of the city, when everytime I get in the car I like i'm just as likely to hit the gas as the brake. I feel loopy.
And yes it's much better to do drywall in the cool than the itching powder enhancing effect of sweaty summer.

Sick!

The first racing of the season is down the drain. I've been a real flake lately. I signed up for the Mas or Menos in Texas a few weeks ago. Then realizing the amount of money it would be, and finding out that the 12hrs of Razorback was being replaced by 12hrs of Santos I decided to go to FL. That's home! Stay at my parents, eat some good food. Seemed like the right choice.
Then I had to get ready for this..Drywall. So I spent the week not getting much sleep, working a lot then trying to ride my bike on a normal schedule.
So I could stop living in a place like this. I realized that there was no way I was ready to go race a 12hr race and recover. My fitness is no where near where it was at this time last year. I've been on the bike a lot, but not as much, or as consistant , as last year.
So then I figured okay, I'll skip 12hrs, go ahead and go to Texas and get in a shorter race, stay a few extra days and stay on a good training sched. I made sure Ernesto still had a place for me to sleep, and I talked to the promoters letting them know I wanted to come. That was Tuesday. By Tuesday night the nagging headache I had earlier in the day became a debilitating mind splitter.
So I've been in bed for going on three days now. No racing, no riding, no working on the house. It's rather depressing. Can't say this year is really shaping up as neatly as past years. I haven't been writing a lot because it's been a little depressing, and who wants to read about it? Me I guess.

We Got it Together

This past weekend was spent in the chilly Boston area with a brotherhood of IF cyclist. I got to hang out with the IFRacing under 25 development road team. We did nifty team building stuff together. Like hitting balls suspended above ground and practicing holding ropes in a line.
Check out the new team website IFracing.org.
Climbing the pole!


Touring the IF factory. Watching Jill carve a bike out of a single piece of steel. And making it look like a lugged Indy Fab stainless steel bike. Never!

A good amount of time was spent at the bar trying to figure out why "not" was underlined twice.

Getting back to normal: Schedule

Merry Festivus: Hope you didn't over do it!Happy new year!Seriously, Thanks to every one for your support over that last few weeks, and last couple of years. You know I really couldn't do any of this without the moral and financial support of those in my life. My friends and Family are incredible. Next time you get a chance treat yourself to a little snowboarding behind your friends car.
Went to WV for News Year with friends Tim and Sue. The scene below was what I was meditating on when I hear a ting, and as I looked down I just caught the sight of Sue's camera bouncing off a rock, over the edge and into the thick mountain laurels below. It took about half an hour to find it buried in leaves. Glad we found it cause the next day say 4 inches of snow cover. See sledding above.

Thank you MR. Cop. Part Deux!

Holy wow, you guys out there are ready to knock some teeth out. I can't believe the response I've gotten from so many people. Thanks for all of your offers of bikes, tools, fists and revenge.
I'll make a post on the side bar with the bike information. The craigslist.org post I made was pretty cathartic, and got some good responses from other kindhearted folk.
Part 2: The investigation.....
Philly cops. I don't know how I would feel if I had to clock into the mean streets of Philadelphia. Undermanned, disrespected and targeted. Can I really blame them for spending 50% of their time in my house commenting on how great it's going to be when done?
"Wow this is really big!" "It's gonna look great, holy crap that's a big backyard!"
me "Um yeah, I'm real fortunate."
"Sorry we can't really get any fingerprints, since it's so dusty in here."
me "oh, i should have vacuumed."
Actually I was surprised they even sent out a finger printer. I walked the first officer through the house, then the detective showed up, smoking a cigarette, and chewing gum at the same time. Trying to give a full layout of the house and explain why the back window was unlocked, made me feel like I was the guilty party. We went out to talk to my neighbor, who had seen the thieves pull their truck up on the sidewalk. As Leon was describing what he saw I kept looking a the detective, trying to read how he was processing this information. Every time I looked at him, was smoking his cigarette pinched between thumb and index, head cocked back. I imagine a detective to be sponge, someone who is soaking and computing every minutia of detail. I was looking to him for an eureka moment. An instant when it all came together.
As I tried to figure out what he was thinking I kept feeling like we were sitting at a table working on two different puzzles, with the pieces mixed into one pile.
The detective left after telling me the crime labs guy would show up later to take fingerprints. That left one officer sitting in her car on the front sidewalk, dozing off with the heat on.
As I said above, the finger printer walked in with his plastic bag of crime scene investigative tools. We walked through the house, and at every possible place the thieves might left a print he discarded the possibility due to the dust.
After he left all I had was a huge feeling of being alone and vulnerable. It was cold, my house seemed like a big block of swiss cheese, ready to be invaded by any mouse in the neighborhood, and I still had new heaters and new copper all over the place.
Anyone who has ever been robbed must know this feeling of insecurity and paranoia.
More to come...
In the meantime, I take my stuff everywhere. Nothing stays at home. Saturday Charlie and I put in a good 5.5hr cross ride. I've decided to keep the knobbies on for awhile.
Bat Cave

How'd you get in Here?

Last Monday I stepped out of the house at 9:48am. I'm that sure about it because I was expecting my plumber to show soon after 10, but I needed to run to the hardware store for a floodlight bulb. No problem I said to myself.
Went to Stanly's hardware, then stopped for a coffee to go at the Set Table. Back at 10:30.
My front door has two locks. I always bolt the top bolt-lock if I'm going anywhere, and the bottom knob-lock usually gets the key too. When I got back I noticed that only the handle was locked. That didn't seem right, but I gave myself the benefit of the mistake and walked back to the kitchen to get some maple syrup for the coffee.
I noticed on the kitchen floor two or three pieces of mud and a leaf from the tread of a shoe. If you saw the house right now you might have wondered how I could distinguish one piece of dirt from another, but these seemed out of place. I looked at my soles, recognized I had been digging sewer pipe out in the basement and assumed it was from me.
Walking up to the cluttered kitchen counter I set my coffee down then looked right to see my kitchen window open.
Panic!
I knew that wasn't right. It's 30 degrees outside and I never open that window. First reaction was to run to the front room to see if my new mountain bike was there. I had brought it home from the shop the night before, freshly polished, tuned and ready to ride.
Gone!
A quick look around revealed blank holes where my compressor, nail gun and other power tools had been. I ran upstairs to my bed room to find a big hole in the plastic door, and inside was one less Laptop, camera and printer. Still left down stairs was my cross bike with the new PowerTap wheel in it. Unlocked.
Ran to the back yard, realized they took to much stuff to go out the back. Went to the front, asked the guys working on the street if they saw anything. "nope" with heads shaking. Called 911.
Talked to neighbor, Leon. He says he saw a white work truck pull up onto the curb 5 min after I left, but assumed them to be some of the people working on my house. His sone even said hi to one of the guys. Their descriptions didn't match any of my workers. So I waited for the police.
tbc

If you missed it, you don't know.

This past week following the Auction has seen so little spare time. People visiting, contractors working on the house, me me me, always me. Why don't I have enough time. There is never enough time. Time is money. Time doesn't grow on trees. Time machine in overdrive. Time out, Dave Brubeck, (is 91), Time in. "Making time"= something vaguely sexual.
Take the time to smell. (It's winter, there are no roses.) You really do have to take it. Be aggressive. Demand it, be an unhappy customer at the time shop. Bang your fist, just once and say "by golly! This is mine". Polly wolly wanna time cracker?
Found time on my way home the other day. Put it in my pocket but spent it on trinkets. 5 minutes here 15 there. I'm selfish with time. Don't have enough to share. Shared time is the best way to use time. Cause then it's like double time. I could go on.
A situation.
It's important to know what you want. Ever see a thing (noun) that you wanted? But would never really be able to take full advantage of all it had to offer, if you had it. Still it is there and you convince yourself of all the things you'll do with it, and the glorious days you'll spend appreciating it while using it. (noun) Garage sales have ton's of these things. It's there, it's easy to fit in the hatchback, no challenge is forthcoming to stop you. As the sun fades and home draws into sight the sudden realization that the super subject (noun) of this metaphor, has no business in your car or life or home. Essentially you've robbed said subject of it's utility since it will sit underused and under appreciated in a corner of the house, while someone out there would have built an empire around it. Take caution. Be reckless. With intent.

Auction was great. Everyone who made the time to come out and listen to me do my best auctioneer voice thanks. I was visibly drained at the end. Basically three hours of keeping the 1dolla,1dolla,1dolla, rolling off the tongue. We had a group of about 30 people, eating (par diner food) and drinking.
Of course the Stans Wheelset went for the highest. But another couple of surprise additions to the table were, some t-shirts from
www.rideyourbicycle.com
a case or organic beer from Peak Organics.
A couple of goodies from Valentine Baby. Super ladies, workout clothes. See picture above.

I liked it. The money raised will go to my winter and early race schedules. Oh and a dental visit I've been putting off.
Plus 10% ($150) will be going to Neighborhood Bike Works.

Thanks to everyone.
I'll let the upcoming schedule out soon.

This is a classic, Spiritualized "ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space"
look it up

Auction Action

Auction is here. In three days.
Just a reminder about what is going to be on the table...
Stan's Wheelset
WTB Tires and Saddle
Stephanie Stago Massage
Formula Brakes
Ergon Grips
Smart Wool Gear
XT Rear Derailleur
Reload T-Shirts
Independent Fabrication Goodies
Walt Cycling Caps
Thompson Seatpost
Framed Photos..

Gift Certifcates from....
Lourdes Greek Taverna
Full Plate Cafe
Set Table Cafe and Coffee Roasters
Art Star Gallery
Honey's Sit n' Eat Restaurant
One Shot Coffee
Trophy Bikes
CBOP Photo Lounge
CHEZ Bow Wow Pet Grooming

And more
See you at the diner.