Rain, Ride

What sweet bliss the weekends are, but it always seems they are gone too fast. I love nothing more than to be able to put in my ear-plugs, ignore setting the alarm on my old cellphone, and just sleep as long as I can. I'm no morning person, so waking up at 6:55am each weekday for work is a drag.

I did manage to cheat the system this week though. On Wednesday the sky was blue for the first time in a month or so and I was getting restless at work. By the time 4pm hit I was so ready to go that I almost ran out of the building - with the sun warmth powering my body I sprinted home on the bike, threw a piece of pizza down my throat, hopped on the other bike and starting pedaling towards the mountain. Two hours later I returned feeling tired, yet refreshed. This was the first time I've squeezed in a ride after work, but now because of day-light savings I can do it occasionally. My legs sure did feel it the next day though!

The rest of the week it rained, Saturday especially hard, so today when I rode it was muddy, muddy, muddy. The new bike is breaking in nicely though and I can really push it on the downhills. The DW-Link keeps the rear tire firmly planted to the ground so my descents have gotten noticeably faster. I did manage to bottom out the bike for the first time, all 180mm of travel when I hit the big drop on Lower Bob's Trail at full speed flying about 10-12 feet, and landing about 6-8 feet down from my take-off height. I hardly felt the landing other than softly reaching the end of the travel, but I almost killed myself after hitting a small double at full speed after the drop though. One foot flew off the pedals and I did the crazy chicken dance on the bike at 20mph over roots and rocks. There was a dude in full armor and a full-face helmet who had been eyeing up the drop when I hit it, so I was determined to pull it together and not wreck in front of him.

I keep meaning to put up some more writings, but the last couple weeks I've been reading more than writing. At work I've got about 5 different podcasts I listen to continually; one from SETI, another from Point of Inquiry, and a few more science and skepticism related ones. After finishing the 13 part series of "Cosmos" with Sabrina I'm now reading Carl Sagan's accompanying book by the same name. I can't get enough of his writings and I can truly say I discovered his work late, but fortunately not too late.

Here are a few pics from the past week: 3-18-2007

Riding, Ranting, Organic Food BS

It was a wet week; I think I got rained on 4 out of the 5 weekdays. I don't really mind it, but it makes trying to dry out clothes a difficult task. Sometimes I miss the sun too, although it did come out at times today. Saturday it rained most of the day, but as soon as it let up in the evening I walked down to the grocery store. On my way back the sun began shining through a small whole in the clouds and I was treated to the most vibrant rainbow I've ever seen. As I walked, watching it, the wind began to blow and the rainbow slowly moved across the sky till it was almost over my head. I find it easy to understand why many cultures and myths attributed the rainbow to supernatural powers, but I find equal beauty in knowing that rainbows are an optical phenomena created by the refraction of sunlight dispersing itself between drops of rain water. As I neared home, the rainbow began to quickly fade and then, a moment later, it was gone. Life to death in 10 minutes; a natural lecture on the brevity of life, if I may borrow a biological metaphor.

I purchased the latest issue of "Skeptical Inquiry" Saturday and boy is it a good one. I think I might scan some of the articles to post here later, I found some quite moving.

I had a nice ride today at the mountain. It was real muddy but the sun was out so I felt pretty good. I rode a couple different trails than my normal route, most notably "SST" - Super Sonic Transport, Galbraith's only DH race trail. It is SUPER FAST! A good time for sure.

Here is a short piece I wrote about the growing problem of Organic Food.

And here are a few pictures (literally just a few) from the weekend: 3-25-2007 weekend in pictures.

Sprint Time Rant

Damn Hippies!

Ah spring... The signs are here; fragrant cherry blossoms, stinky dog crap, green leaf buds, warmer temps, (even) more cars, and odiferous hippies. Yes folks, hippies. Believe it or not, I think they actually push up out of the ground in the spring like hibernating animals, and judging by the smell, not too far from the growing piles of dog crap either.

Lately I've noticed more hippies on bikes during my commutes. Sure, this is a good thing in principal, I love to see anyone on a bike, but the way these hippies act on their bikes is what peeves me to the core. For example, today I was riding home and I came up to a stop sign at a relatively busy highway. As I start slowing down I notice another rider coming from the other direction; a hippy. As the hippy gets closer to it's respective stop sign I notice that it isn't slowing down; in fact its speeding up! The dumbass hippy proceeds to blow right through the stop sign without even a hesitation or a look right or left! Geez! Thankfully no car was coming at that moment or I'd be picking stinking pieces of hippy flesh out of my teeth for the next couple weeks. As the hippy passes by me I look at it with utter astonishment and notice a handwritten sign taped to its back which reads "NO WAR". I almost didn't know what to think at first, but then I came to my senses. Like all rational people I'm opposed to Emperor Bush's adolescent idiocy in the Middle East yet I choose to elevate my dissent to the level of rational discourse. This hippy, with it's sign on it's back took my argument and metaphorically rubbed it in dog crap. "NO WAR" ?!!??! What the hell is a cardboard sign on the back of a cotton wearing, granola eating, non-helmet wearing stink factory supposed to prove? Man I'll bet all those Right-wing Fundamentalist Republican fatties driving their Ford F-850 double dually 5X extended cab trucks must get aroused just at the thought of swerving their steering wheels just ever so little when they see those mobile billboards of stupidity. There is almost nothing I dislike more than someone who takes an argument that I hold dear and mutilates it. But it gets worse:

It was about a week ago and I had just got home from the office when I noticed movement outside my window. Native Bellingham Hippies; on tandem bikes, a rather rare breed. As I looked them up online I found that this specific breed is marked by extreme self-righteousness, excessive body hair, and a pungent vinegar aroma. As I closed the window, I watched the hippies fail to stop at TWO stop signs, and noticed... you guessed it, cardboard signs on their backs. "NO BLOOD FOR OIL", "PEACE", and other nonsensical phrases. I don't own a gun, so I just bottled up my anger on the inside.

The bottom line is this: all winter, during the crappy weather, snow, ice and gloom I never once saw a hippy outside. This leaves me with a lingering suspicion; that the hippies were driving cars. My suspicion is offered even more evidence by the fact that only now, with the warmer temps am I actually starting to see them. Do their ideologies only reach so far as their comfort level? Apparently yes; which is the real reason I despise the hippy life; it wreaks of hypocrisy. Where were the hippies on the 10 degree days? The days it snowed a foot? They sure as hell weren't out riding with me. There is nothing I want to see more than societies built around human powered transportation instead of the automobile filth, and I suspect the hippies would agree with me, but only in principal. I'm positive that when it came time to really put their convictions to the test most of them would fall flat on their faces, eating their own words. So what do they do? They exercise their beliefs when the weather is nice, but even then they can't get it right: stupid signs, no helmets, complete disregard for traffic laws and a lack of common sense. They are creating a bad image for the rest of us cyclists who ride every day, obey the laws and deal with enough garbage from stupid drivers as it is.

Can I get an AMEN BROTHER?

The Place to Be

The Place to Be

There is no parking lot and the driveway is only as wide as a sidewalk. You approach the door, a big heavy metal door covered with hundreds of peeling bike company stickers, which if you were to peel back layer by layer would reveal the history of the sport via antiquated product lines and long gone brands. The bottom half of the door is marred with dark rubber stains and dents. This door has more attitude and spirit than most people will ever hope to possess.

You push your bike through the door, the front tire rubbing on the way through. To the right are a few bike stands in front of a large peg-board covered with hundreds of tools. The counter below the pegboard is a smorgasbord of lubricants, degreasers, and small parts. Hanging from the ceiling throughout the shop are many bikes covering the entire economic spectrum, fixie messenger bikes, rigid single speeds, cross country light-weights, menacing downhill machines, stout freeride rigs, 15 pound carbon road bikes, 30 pound steel road bikes, everything is here.

Finally you approach the back of the room, the heart and soul of the bike shop. Spread throughout are a few old couchs the type that most people would rather dump at the landfill than give to the Salvation Army, but you know better than that; these couches have been the silent helpers to many a tired rider, friends, and even a place to sleep every now and then. A pot of Coffee is already brewing in the corner next to a giant stack of bike magazines and a box of donuts. You take a seat on one of the couches sinking deep into the old springs and soft cushions. Your friends will be here soon; it’s a Monday morning and you have a long day of relaxing, working on bikes, and forgetting about life outside these walls ahead of you. At this shop life is checked at the door; bills, cars, appointments, problems, none of these matter here. This shop is a safe haven for riders, old friends, new friends and everyone else who lives for the sport and lets the sport live through them. You look out the window and see a rider go by that you don’t recognize, a commuter by the looks of it; panniers, practical clothing and reflectors. You smile to yourself, maybe there is hope yet.

Weekend Update

This was a 4 day work week since I took Monday off, but it didn't feel like it probably because it never really got very light outside with the rain and the heavy clouds and complete lack of sun. This weekend we have been experiencing a "pineapple express" which happens when a front of warm air from Hawaii pushes in bringing 50mph winds and flood inducing rains. Nevertheless I managed a ride on Saturday on the new bike, the first ride where I really pushed it hard. Last week on my first ride I slipped off a ladder bridge falling sideways against my right knee with all my weight. It didn't swell up too badly but I couldn't really ride that hard either. However yesterday I gave it all I could and the bike wanted more. There were a couple drops and step-downs I wanted to really stomp but had either hit them softly or not at all on my prophet, but on the ironhorse the landings were pure butter. The bike is just fun all around, it pedals great, rails the single track really well and goes downhill fast. I am defiantly cautious when it comes to the sketchy stuff like skinny bridges and dirt-jump style stunts, but when the course opens up a bit and you can really pick up speed thats when I feel the most confident. Not much feels better than hitting a drop or step-down at high speed and not even feeling the landing.

Now that spring and summer are approaching, and the weather will inevitably get better, I'd love to find a way to work less and be able to spend more time outdoors. Sitting in an office with co-workers who are paranoid about fresh-air and sunlight is no fun, especially when everytime I go look out a window I see the mountains with their thick green trees calling. Biking, camping, just being out in the woods in general, I want more of it. The whole American dream of a perfect house and 9-5 desk job doesn't resonate with who I am. I gotta find a way to break the mold.

Here are some pictures from the weekend: 3-11-2007

Weekend Update

Whada week it was. Most importantly, Sabrina and I got officially hitched today, Monday. We are planning on having a ceremony later towards the summer, but for now we decided to take care of the legal side of things so we can start the paperwork for getting her a greencard.

Also, I strong-armed my long awaited bike into my possession from UPS - pictures in the link below.

I had today off and I'm not looking forward to getting up early after sleeping in for 3 days straight, but there are bills to be paid and rules to be bound by. I haven't yet figured out how to get around those rules.

I've been hearing lately how celebrities who are supposedly concerned about the environment have been buying "clean air credits" to offset their energy use. Basically, to clean their consciousness from driving their SUVs and flying around the world, these celebrities pay other people to drive or consume less energy. Now, just how hypocritical is this BS? Imagine paying someone to perform community service for you, diet for you, or study for you. Have you performed, eaten less, or learned more as a result? No, of course not. However these celebrities, instead of living up to their ideals, pay others to do it for them and continue on in their smug self-righteous ways. Freaking morons.

I've got to stop reading google news. I can't remember the last time I actually read a positive headline on there. Is it just me or is the political situation in this country, let alone the world, actually getting measurably worse daily? Religious extremists, political pundits, superstitious nonsense, and egotistical zealots, all arguing over mere parts of a tiny world awash in the infinite mass of space. The Milky Way, our home galaxy is 100,000 light years across, the Universe according to conservative estimates is trillions of light years across. In the time it takes light from nearby galaxies to reach earth we will have been either swallowed by the sun, or destroyed by an asteroid. Who knows, in the time it has taken life from nearby star systems to reach our planet, life there could have already evolved intelligence, societies and kingdoms lasting thousands of years, and then extinguished themselves through war or ignorance. What lessons for our planet reside within the mysteries of the stars? How absolutely futile are our petty ideologies, wars, and disputes over this tiny spec? Pretty small.

Ok, here are the pics: 3-5-2007