29 years...

that's how long this frame has sat in a basement according to the guy i got bought it from. it arrived this afternoon and brujita supervised it's unpacking from the box. it should make a fun fall project.

R.I.P. laurent

this is the poster of laurent fignon that i've had up in my place for many years. i was a fan of 'the professor', as he was known, and i was saddened to hear of his passing yesterday. the cyclists of fignon's generation were the last of the hard men who raced during the big transition in the sport in the late 80's and early 90's, when clips and leather straps gave way to clipless, brake cables went aero, friction shifting gave way to indexing, and the doping became more prevalent. His autobiography came out last year and I'm curious to read his take on it all.

hwy 33 at dusk

getting in some mid-week miles with rachel and lauren on a perfect evening.

cold bud please

gravel worlds is over. i only did 70 miles, others managed to complete all 150 of it, so props to everyone... especially the single speeders! i went with a 39x18 gear and it was ok for the most part but the climbs between valpo and malcolm (the worst being west ashland road... what a brutal track that is) took their toll. i thought my legs were gonna fall off after each one. my crash in the first 20 miles didn't help but i had fun. what an epic course! thanks cornbread, you're a masochist.

tnmrw

i haven't been on a tuesday night monkey wrench ride in ages. i finally was able to make it yesterday and it turned out to be a hard but fun ride. i met up with the guys at the shop and we rolled out east for some hilly gravel roads. we ended up doing 35-40 miles by the time we got back from eagle (where of course we had to stop for burgers and beers). for those doing gravel worlds this weekend on a single speed, my advice is to gear low... my 42x18 gear (on a cross bike with 42c tires) was too high. a 20t or bigger cog in back would have made things a lot easier.

bad kitty!

i had my track bike sitting behind my couch for a while and the bars were near the floor. one morning i heard the kitty (who i've named brujita) scratching at something and i thought 'oh she's probably playing with a plastic bag', as she likes to do. nope, apparently she likes fresh cork barwrap. bad bad kitty!

train tracks and a sunset

just wandering around on a sunday evening.

morning litter run

trying to keep up with the kitty's output.

it's not the heat but the humidity

the gorgeous dusk sky during the 20 miles back to lincoln.


it was a hot and humid 40 miles with rachel on monday evening. when we got to the convenience store in cortland we were drenched. cold gatorade never tasted so good.

rise and shine

krunch cone!


we stopped at bossy's on n. 66th, just off the bike trail


do i look tired?


lindsey post breakfast


our crew: rob, lindsey, and cara

word of advice, if you plan on going on an 80 mile ride early on a sunday morning it's probably a good idea to get to bed early saturday night. instead i stayed out a bit too late and didn't get to bed till 3am. then i was supposed to meet up with a posse for the bacon ride at 630am (riding 40mi to platte river state park, enjoy the delicious breakfast buffet, and then ride 40mi back to lincoln). lindsey called me at 615 ...uuuugh. as you can guess i fell right back to sleep, but my kitty woke me up fifteen minutes later. oh what the heck, i was craving some bacon anyways. so i dragged myself out of bed, got kitted up, pumped up the tires on the luna, and headed out the door. i actually didn't feel too bad after an hour or so, and it turned out to be a really nice day to be on the bike. later that afternoon when we got back to lincoln we stopped for some ice cream to finish the ride.

faux denim

last saturday night i met up with taura. i haven't kicked it with her in a LONG time so it was great to catch up. we rode downtown for some thai food and then hit a few bars. taura was stylin' and profilin' in her faux denim pants she picked up on a recent trip to NYC. she had me fooled that's for sure. let's hangout again soon taura! :)

got me some tees

i picked up some cool shirts at the biklops closing show held last friday at screen ink.

panthers in our midst

last night i let the kitty out for a bit and she met a new friend. i wasn't sure if it was beechum (because the downstairs neighbor doesn't let him stay out overnight) so i think it was yet another big black cat from the 'hood. even though he was huge my kitty held her ground, and she even went after him on the roof (which made getting her back inside kinda difficult).

FAC'ing

lis and jeff


tom and brent


the three amigos

work has kept me pretty occupied lately so i haven't been riding much... but not to worry, i have been getting out. last friday i met up with some peeps for a FAC ride out to havelock (beers at bob's tavern, and food at pepe's bistro).

gravel, it's good for you

last sunday i met up with cat and rachel for some road miles. we were south of hickman when i took them on a little detour on stagecoach road. riding a road bike on gravel and dirt roads really helps your handling skills. though a bit sketched out at first they got a hang of it after a few miles. back on pavement, we enjoyed a tailwind for the 15 miles back to lincoln where we then stopped at culvers for some desert. after all, it was national ice cream day.

she's getting bigger...

...and bolder. the other day she made it half way down the stairs before being spotted by beechum (the downstairs neighbor's big black cat, he's like three times her size) and they had a kitty stare down for a few minutes. i'm sure they'll be buds before long.

even though i've bought a few toys for the kitty she instead prefers to play with household items... such as balls of string, rubber bands, tissue paper, and one of my campy record 10speed rear derailleurs.

4am bike stroll

no scratching post needed

i have a new shop kitty. i adopted her on the last day of BRAN last month, on a rainy morning as i was leaving david city. i haven't settled on a name yet. at first i was thinking 'luna' but after having seen her demeanor over the last few weeks... i'm thinking 'bestia' might be better (after the character behemoth). hmmmm

south with the ladies

i've been feeling really tired lately (watching world cup matches in the morning and afternoon certainly has been disruptive to my sleep schedule) and so i wasn't really feeling like going on a long ride tonight. i still wanted to get out for some leisure miles though, and luckily for me lindsey and cara had the same idea. we met up at my place and decided to head south on the jamaica trail for a ways. on our way back to town we stopped at the silver spoke on satillo road. it's a old biker bar with some murals outside. they have cheap tacos on tuesday nights but they were all gone by the time we got there so i opted for a double cheeseburger. it was freaking huge and delicious. there was also a little guy running around (the bartender's new puppy) looking for scraps and of course linz and cara found him irresistible.

my 4th included...

lis and i being dorks


watching bernard and eddy get all chummy in the tour de france coverage.


and finally setting off some explosions with some friends.

i hope everyone had a happy 4th!

it's july already?

i'm looking forward to a night full of art.

i'm back

BRAN was a blast. it was hard (if it wasn't the t-storms it was the wind) but i had a great time riding with some really nice people. i'm just now catching up on some things such as washing the bike (the bike was caked in grit from riding in the rain) and organizing all the photos i took. i'm done with the former but not the later. stay tuned for my BRAN reports.

retro influence

i think rachel likes the vintage cap i gave her.