I know, I know...

I'm totally bitching, but what the crap, why do we insist on cramming as much junk into one day as possible?? What happened to doing good work in a reasonable amount of time and making living, and enjoying, life a priority? I literally have had 10 minutes to eat my lunch today. Dumb.

That's all, I'd bitch more but I have to go to a meeting.

Skaliticians show @ 7th St. Entry

Originally uploaded by gordonelliot

You can check 'em out on cyberspace at: www.myspace.com/skaliticians.

Office life

When I was nine or ten, I had an old computer that I inhereted from my uncle. It was pure electronic bliss. Big ol' boot discs, that only I knew how to properly use. Cobra command or something similar where I got to bomb enemy hide outs from the comfort of my side scrolling helicopter. Life was good.

As I got older I decided that, what was more fun than just playing video games I could beat, was using the sophisticated word processing software that was on this old computer. I would sit in my room during the summer, binoculars in hand, and alternately look out the window and record the important "business information" that I could gather. Pressing work was at hand, and I didn't have any time to lolligag. This of course was with the obvious caveat that I could stop and play with my pet snakes that were on the desk when need be. (They would later fall victim to a series of gruesome attacks by Sox, our cat) But life was good. The windows were open, I was word processing the crap out of everything, and one couldn't ask for much more.

Today I sit at a desk. It's bigger than the one I had then. It has no cubbies underneath for highlighters and makers. It has walls on 3 sides, and my butt doesn't get sore from sitting on a crappy wooden chair because I've got the biggest, baddest, mother f*(#ing ergonomic chair this side of the Mississippi. I have a computer that boots all on its own—no discs needed—and it has two monitors and a crazy wheely mouse, and all sorts of things I couldn't have even dreamed of then. Hell, it even has an internet connection, which in 1991 I only partially understood, but the $100 to buy a modem was cost-prohibitive.

Sadly, with all the gadgets, doo-dads and allure of "the office life", I think I would take an afternoon observing the woods behind my parent's house, playing with those dumb snakes, and feeling the summer heat ebb and flow in and out of the room through the open windows in an instant. Sometimes our dreams of the world are a lot more interesting than what it really turns out to be.

create

Does anyone else have this: The intense desire to create, and, burried somewhere deep down the unarticulated vision of the perfect idea. Every project attempts to somehow capture this ideal, but always falls short, never able to manifest itself and give meaning to what one does. The cycle continues and the perfect project always hangs agonizingly close but never attainable.

Office Bonk

I didn't think it was possible to bonk when I wasn't even exercising, but I think it might be happening. I have to think about, and then work hard at, the simple act of typing this. Last day I skip lunch for no good reason.

Cycles

On Fridays in particular (for no reason that I know of), I like to look through the Minnesota Historical Society's Online Photo Collection and see what I can find. It's interesting to see the ways that Minneapolis and St. Paul have aged – sometimes staying remarkably the same, and sometimes losing all trace of the past.

I searched for street cars and was looking through the images. The cars themselves are interesting - the interiors, with their ornate cushions reminding us of how utilitarian our world has become while at the same time reminding us that some things, like overhead advertising, don't change all that much in a century. But what is most interesting are the environments the cars are in. There are a few shots of Minneapolis from 1910 and 1923 that remind me how much really has changed. I've walked, driven and ridden my bike by both of these intersections and any trace of what was once there is all but gone now.

Some days I wonder what it will be like when the landmarks of our youth are razed in the name of progress, and the collective memory of our generation slowly drifts into the backwaters of time.

Now what?

This will be short, mostly to ease my mind (if it does that). We saw a house last night. Looked pretty good. Had all the things we technically wanted in a house, but I'm not sure if it had that ... "spark". Neither Kerry, nor I, can figure out if we're being overly rational and cautious, if we're just nervous about a big purchase. Maybe our guts are telling us something. Maybe it's just that the price is higher than we had initially budgeted for.

Anyone with house buying experience have any advice? Do you just know, like our realtor has assured us? Is this like dating, where the final decision is short and swift and overwhelmingly felt, not thought?

Slowly

Things seem to move at a snail's pace these days. Work is work, as always. There's not much to mention there, except the seemingly endless barrage of projects, but that's nothing new. Kerry and I are slowly easing back into normal life, after months on end of planning, working and then "doing" the whole wedding thing.

I went out for a ride on Saturday morning. It was the third ride in as many weeks, but I figured it would be good to get out. I ate a big bowl of cereal, hoping that an all carbohydrate meal would digest quickly and I'd be on my way. A few hours later I got going. Within miles I realized it was going to be a long ride. I'm not especially good at exercising in the morning, but this was more than just a caffeine lag. My gut churned—the kind of sickly feeling you get when you're working out on a full stomach. I eased back, and cut the ride in half, but even going slow enough to let my near-nauseous state clear up still left me with that "about to bonk" feeling in my legs. I just couldn't push, no matter how hard I tried.

It turned out that half of the problem was too much food, and half was too little water. I drank about 38 glasses of water as soon as I got home, which made me feel better, but it ended up being a bit of a bust in the riding department. Hopefully I'll be able to get in some more miles this week and return to some semblance of "normal" on the bike. When that happens, hopefully I'll also have some more interesting posts :)

Remnants

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Originally uploaded by gordonelliot


What's left from farm life gone by.

PBS had a good show about life on the farm. Of course we all romanticize it, but there does seem to be something sad about the end of that era.

Returning from the honeymoon

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Originally uploaded by gordonelliot

This is what happens when you have mischevious coworkers. They were going to close off the entry to my cube and fill it entirely, but thankfully they weren't able to do that. This was all fun and games until they started tossing thumb tacks into the mix...

Post Balloon Popping

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Originally uploaded by gordonelliot

T-Mobile

Lots of other things

Three days and counting until the knot is tied. It's been good, but busy lately, which has meant very little of interest happening regarding riding. I think we're also getting into the dog days here, so although I'm still making it out to ride, the noteworthy things that happen on each ride seems to be at an all-time low.

There will be more coming, I assure you, trusted 3 readers of this site. Hopefully it'll be more interesting too, and with photos!

The Bridge

Not to jump on the bandwagon that is local 35W bridge coverage, but some thoughts.

Our hearts go out to all the families and friends that were and are affected by the collapse. That of course trumps all the politics and B.S. that is inevitable as a result of something like this happening.

I was looking at pictures of the collapse, and kept thinking it was amazing that cars were (and are) sitting on the deck of the bridge, even a day later as it sits in the river. I started wondering at what speed everything actually hit the water. A video clip froma traffic cam of the incident makes it seem like it's in slow motion.

After digging up some numbers I'd long since blocked out from physics class, I did some quick calculations. Not sure if these are accurate (although I believe they are), but if one drops at 32 feet/second squared, and the bridge deck was 64 feet above the river, then it would take 2 seconds to drop all the way down. Converted to feet, that's 3,840 feet per second, which is roughly equal to 39.5 miles per hour. Not slow, but certainly not as fast as I would have initially guessed.

Thank goodness the bridge wasn't any higher, and that the death toll has dropped by 3 since last night. Here's to more good news than bad news in the upcoming days.

Mapping

An interesting article about mapping on the New York Times.

When a technology or discipline is democratized like this, and much the same way desktop publishing and design was in the mid 80s, I always wonder if the art in the discipline is somewhat tainted. A wealth of information or technology doesn't mean a wealth of insight or craft. Who knows though, once these technologies are opened up to the world there really isn't any going back.

Moonlight

Blatant self reference here, but I posted up a new couple pictures on the other site.

Looking at moonlight got me thinking. There's something almost magical about the way it renders the landscape. I don't think I'm the only one that thinks this. It's like daylight, but softer. More dim. And it changes colors with the air. Blue in the winter, and warm and yellow in the fading summer haze.

If gentle light like this is generally perceived as pleasant, why do we try and drown out the night with lights that turn night into day? A little less light wouldn't hurt, and if it were consistently dimmer, would actually make it easier to see at night because of less contrast and glare.

Ant Brawl

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Originally uploaded by gordonelliot

The giant blob in the middle is a huge, teeming mass of ants. I came back out an hour later and it was almost double the size in this picture. Too bad I didn't have my real camera with me to capture what appearted to be an epic clash of colonies.

4 Alarm Fire...

Or something to the effect must have been going on this morning. I woke up to a fire truck pulling onto our street, followed by either a cop car or an ambulance. Then on my way to work I counted 3 different fire trucks going, here's the weird part, both directions down the cross town with their lights on. There was also one more state trooper escorting an ambulance down the middle of 62, parting the cars like the freakin' Red Sea. Crazy. Turns out all the hubbub was for a stalled car. Weird.

ebooks rule

History of St. Paul

Wha?!?

Support for Initial Invasion Has Risen:

“At the time that we went into Iraq, we had just come out of 9/11. The nation was in shock, frightened,” Sally Fisher of Garden City, Mich., said in a follow-up interview after the poll was conducted. “Looking back, I still think we should have gone in. Should we have stayed as long as we did? No.”

I don't get how, or why, people think that going into a country, overthrowing and dismantling their government, and then attempting to institute a democratic government in a region that has never had one, would ever be a quick task. Likewise, what would "going in" do exactly, that would avenge, fix or prevent the events of 9/11?

When people make comments like these, I really, genuinely don't understand what they mean by them, or where they're coming from.

Embrace the Heat

Last night I had, I think, my fastest ride of the season. It's hard to say for sure, because my average at 19 miles was about .7 mph faster than my average 3 miles later after I had crossed through downtown St. Paul and climbed up out of the river bottoms. Either way, it seems that if it's relatively flat I'm able to consistently cruise (acording to my average, which takes into account stoplights) somewhere around 19.5. If you took out the stoplights it would be about a mile an hour faster. Not too bad since it's a solo ride.

It was muggy again for the ride, which I continue to think helps me. It's definitely not a very comfortable ride, but I can definitely breath more easily when it's humid out. Must be the tell-tale signs of my southern blood. I've yet to meet anyone else here that likes it when it gets so humid that you can smell the dirt and plants in it. It's such a stark contrast to the bitterly-hollow air that settles in during the winter.

The last few days I've been giving Nicklee a hard time about embracing the heat, since he doesn't have A/C at the new house. Fittingly, the A/C here in the office went kaput over the weekend, so I've had lots of time to enjoy that steamy, jungle air. When I left yesterday the indoor air temp was 83. I got in my car, and the temperature readout read, you guessed it, 83. Good times. Embrace the heat.

Stupid and Wonderful

I'm totally obsessed with this crap now...

1000

The first 1000 on the Orbea
Originally uploaded by gordonelliot

As you can see in the photo above, I hit my first 1000 miles on the new Orbea. She's ridden superbly over the last several months, and it's hard to imagine that a bike could really be any better than she is. Maybe a smidgen lighter, but that has more to do with my choice of wheels (older stock Shimano that are bullet-proof, but not the lightest things around) than anything else.

Last's night ride was gorgeous. The sunset alone made it worth going out, but the temperature had dropped down to around 75, and there wasn't much traffic since I left a little later than normal. The only downside to the evening was how insanely humid it was. I think the actual temperature was 73° and the dewpoint was at 72° when I left the house. Anything that got wet from sweat, water or ... I don't know what else it would get wet from ... remained wet for the duration of the ride. My griptape was literally saturation with sweat, and would make fun squishy noises anytime I tried to hold onto it.

The final observation I made on this ride was that there seem to be a fair number of motorists that really enjoy yelling at cyclists. I don't understand what motivates people to do this. I was crossing the street to turn onto the bike path to cross the Mendota bridge when a lone Chevy Impala drove by. I wasn't doing anything, just waiting on my side of the road to cross, when he screamed something. I couldn't make out what it was, but from the look on the fat bastard's face, I'm guessing it wasn't a summer-evening pleasantry. People are a strange bunch, for sure.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I saw David Hasselhof's twin walking up from a marina along the river. He had carefully feathered hair, an open nylon/rayon jacket, that, if memory serves, was white, and left open, presumably to show off the nearly-charred tan he had going. White pants rounded out the look. Solid.

Thoughts from a strip-mall lunch

I, for better or worse, work in suburbia. Right in the heart of it too, flanked on all sides by highways, a number of strip malls, two "real" malls, and a handful of office towers, condo complexes and post WWII-era neighborhoods with no sidewalks. On my lunch break I like to walk across the street and get a sandwich, which is about as close to experiencing the landscape first hand as one can get here.

As I walked across the street (although first cutting through the lawn since there's no good way to walk away from the office unless you favor walking down the street), across a baren, slowly-dying median, and finally across a few hundred yards of parking lot, it ocurred to me just how sad this whole place is. It's an environment completely designed for the car. There is no sense at all of human scale. Nothing is anywhere near feeling "life sized". We've traded in any sense of place in exchange for easy access and free parking. It's pretty sad.

Moments like this always make me wonder who agreed to this in the first place. When did we all decide that the model for a good city should be one in which it's only practical to experience it from the car?

Mind Over Matter & UPS Observations

I had some errands to take care of last night, so the ride was short and sweet. In an attempt to make it home in time to get to UPS to pick up a package I essentially did a mini time trial. The weather was perfect for it — almost no wind, 85° and sticky. I don't breath as well when it's dry for some reason, so when it's humid like this I can get a lot more out of myself.

The first half of the ride was good and pretty fast. Definitely faster than normal. The second half I had to work a little more, especially coming back in on Summit. That stretch is always the hardest, especially coming up to Snelling. It seems like it should be easy, the incline is probably 1/2 a percent grade at best, but it's a bit of a sleeper. If you come into it with speed it's easier, so I poured everything into the pedals, and kept telling myself that my motivation would crack before my legs did. Turns out it's true. The constant battle between mind and body is the thing I'm coming to like most about riding. Every time you're able to overcome the hills, the wind and the incessant screaming coming from your legs and lungs, you're able to do it more easily the next time.

On the ride I rode by Steve and Pharmie, and Teri drove by as well. Seems like everyone was out and about. Gotta love St. Paul.

After the ride, I ran back over to the UPS depot. Thankfully this time it didn't take an hour and a half to get our package (like our last visit), but I noticed some things on my second trip there:

1. There are a disproportionately large number of people wearing bluetooth headsets relative to the general population.

2. It seems it's common for packages to be lost or "on the truck" or "in sort" and experience waits ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

3. The manager there has possibly the worst job around. He heard an earful last week from Kerry and I, and from his resigned expression, had heard at least as much last night as well. Ahhh yes, the joys of middle management.

One final link: Tabas.fr. Interesting, if not somewhat derivative illustration and art. I forgot what it was like to be really into this sort of thing like I used to until I check his site out. That is all for today.

Coffee / Kickball

Nicklee and I like to joke about coffee, and wax poetic about it. I think it's largely that we're both just addicted to it, but you know, why not elevate something that you can't stop drinking? I just took a sip and it hit me how earthy good coffee is. You can taste the soil and flavor of the plants that it's from. For a staple of the industrial revolution, and now a staple of the office world, it's amazing how much it contrasts with our stark, cube-land environment.

This weekend Teri and Steve threw Kerry and I a couple's shower, which proved to be a lot of fun. We played kickball in the park down the street from their house, and then drank ourselves silly and ate lots of good food back at their place. A huge thanks to them for being so gracious and hosting everything, as well as doing all the organizing and cooking. It was a great time. Photos are up on my photo site.

Malibu

Quote of the Day

"Once you get over the guilt of letting people down, life becomes remarkably easy."

– Nick Lee

Mississippi Ride

I've only thought of doing this in passing, and never seriously considered it, but turns out someone really is riding the full length of the Mississippi. Ben Richter's blog is here, and has day-by-day accounts of his trek across the continent. Very cool. Good luck Ben, that's a hell of a long way!

You know

Tubes

Everyone needs one of these!

Fabric

Randomly came across this. I don't even sew, but kind of wish that I did after finding some of these textile patterns. Cool stuff.

Reprodepot.com

Heather Ross fabric at the above link. This pattern in particular is awesome, and hilarious.

Nick, if you're still going to put fabric on the walls I think you should use one of these.

Dogs & Bikes

The never ending conflict, finally highlighted on the New York Times.

Thankfully I've only had a handful of dog incidents in my 15 years of regular riding. None of them resulted in crashes, but I think a few dog noses were (unfortunately) bruised. Can't do much about a bulldog running sideways at you into your pedal though :\

Geeking out

What took me 4 months the first time around, took me only 2 days this time. It's weird how over time ideas sink in and get tossed around in one's head, slowly distilling to their base concept.

Two days, not very many hours, and a much more functional, and quicker loading multi-media player. Since the 4th of July is coming up, I thought a little tribute to the 4th of 2004 was in order. Long live the road trip!

Drumroll please...

And the winner for Biggest Douchebag of the Year goes to: the random jogger that, for reasons still unknown, shoved me while doing a track stand at a stoplight.

It's now been a solid 12 hours since noted incident took place, and I still can't seem to figure out what exactly happened. Let's recount...

I was nearing the end of the ride along Summit. I pulled up to the intersection at Lexington and patiently waited for the light to cycle. I could see the opposing traffic light turn yellow, then red, and started to put some pressure into the pedals to push forward as my light turned green. Sometime in this moment I felt a solid "thwack" across the back of my rib cage. I thought at first another biker had run into me, because I was squarely in the bike lane. I fell forward a little and popped out of my pedals. I looked up and saw the culprit — a jogger. A jogger? I've had assorted objects thrown at me from cars, I've had cars run me off the road, I once had a car open a door and try and slam on the brakes to cause me to ride into it, and I've almost been doored the "traditional way" a few times too, but I've never actually been hit by a pedestrian. Thus was the story of Second 1.

Second 2 is a little bit of a blur. I watched the jogger run off. I debated if I should chase him down the sidewalk, or continue down the bike lane. Every violent act I could think of ran through my head in this second. "Could I sprint at him down the sidewalk and tackle him, but not get hurt?". Stupid options, and lots of them. Adrenaline does weird things.

Seconds 3 - 7 found me opting for the bike lane. I was still angry though. I rolled up along him and let him know how I felt. I also asked why he just ran into me, without any acknowledgement that he had just done that. He invited me to fight on the sidewalk. Continuing from Second 2 many more violent acts ran through my head. "Do I have anything hard I could throw at this guy?!?". Thankfully I didn't. I thanked him, but declined his offer to fight on the sidewalk, offering up instead instructions on a few things he could do to himself.

Second 8 passed and I rolled away. I "waved goodbye" and continued on my ride. It's in these later moments that the adrenaline really starts to flow. All I could think about was that there must be something I could do. It wasn't like he did anything that bad, but he had been a pretty big a-hole. Many more stupid options ran through my head. The reality slowly sank in that there isn't, wasn't, and won't be anything that I could do. Assembling a posse, as inticing an option, would still accomplish nothing.

Seconds 9 - 300 crept by as I rounded out the ride. I took the "switchbacks of St. Paul" down to the bottom of the Ramsey Hill. I ended up going up Grand, and realized when I hit the top that I hadn't felt any real pain the entire climb. Slowly the adrenaline would subside, but it hadn't yet.

Thankfully it has now, but I still find myself wondering: "what exactly happened?". I checked out google maps to see if I could see the intersection. Maybe I had rolled out in front of him? I looked as closely as I could, and all it seemed to show was that this guy must have intentionally come out into the bike lane. I hadn't cut him off that I can see, and no matter what happened, a simple wave after the fact would have let me know he didn't mean anything by it. I don't understand why there's this weird aggression towards cyclists. Every time it happens I swear I'm going to get something that will somehow deter people from pulling stunts like this, but in the end, there's nothing really one can do. Cars will always be bigger and faster than a bike, and there's not a whole lot you can do to avoid weirdo pedestrians.

What do you think? What are the options?

Super super cool

Sweet motion/interaction design.

Even better is the fact that my favorite part, the little pencils that are drawing all sorts of swirling lines, were designed (I believe, or at least animated/coded/something?) by my old coworker Greg. Nice work man.

Ehhhh, back to work. It's all miserably hot up in this beeeotch.

It's Hot Out!

You need a pool!!! Or at least some air conditioning.

The hot weather has been okay for riding, except I've discovered that my stomach starts to cramp when I'm out for too long. Maybe it's too much water all at once. I'm not sure really.

The only exciting thing to happen on any rides in the last week was that I almost hit a pedestrian walking across the street. Half way across she noticed me and began running. I checked back to make sure I wouldn't turn into a passing car, found there were no cars behind me, and then started to drift out into the lane. I looked up and the woman had stopped running, and was standing 5 feet directly in front of me. I cut back into the bike lane and disaster was averted. Moments like this make me glad that I started biking off-road first. I don't know how true it is, but it seems like riding singletrack for a few years builds in those auto-tree-aversion responses that you don't have otherwise.

Other news? I updated my other site with some photos and (crappy) audio from our weekend up north.

That's all for now, more to come soon enough...

Doppelganger

Mess hates it when other people look like him. Especially when they look exactly like him. Exactly. Thanks to Nicklee for the low-down, and to Lisa, whose image I ripped off (but for a good purpose, right?).

Coming soon, my very own doppelganger!

Nothing

This post is about nothing, but my page visits have steadily declined since I last posted, so hopefully this will garner better numbers. Are you dissapointed? Don't be, here's a totally crazy picture for you to enjoy.



Cool.

Nature Valley Grand Prix

Everyone should go out and watch the Crit in downtown St. Paul tomorrow night.

I thought I saw a Team Liquigas (best team name ever) rider cruising down summit this morning on my way to work, but upon further inspection they aren't riding in the NVGP, so maybe it was just someone in a full Liquigas kit? Either way, he was out riding, and I was on my way to work, so whether pro or not, I'm a little jealous.

It's way too nice to be inside on a computer. Blah.

Missing the weeekend

It's only Monday, but I'm already really wishing the weekend was here, or rather, the weekend had yet to end. It was a fun one, if not busy. Hung out with the old college crew (some photos in the previous posts), sent out all our wedding invitations, and had two family dinners. It was fun.

Sunday was the best, even while fighting off a nagging hang-over. Kerry, her mom and I went on a nice ride around St. Paul. We somehow managed to dodge the 30 mph winds, and found some shade along the river bottoms. It was nice to take in the scenery, and enjoy the views of the river. As we cruised back into St. Paul along the "bike promenade", aka Summit Ave, I realized that it was completely quiet. There was almost literally no one outside. It was a little eery, but felt nice with the warm wind. It reminded me of being in a small town, late in the summer on one of the bike trips I did as a teenager. I guess those are the days that we all frame in our memory to get us through the winter. Even if it's hot, it's worth enjoying while it lasts.

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Photo-0034.jpg, originally uploaded by gordonelliot.

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Photo-0031.jpg, originally uploaded by gordonelliot.

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Photo-0022.jpg, originally uploaded by gordonelliot.

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Photo-0028.jpg, originally uploaded by gordonelliot.

One Hour

In the course of the last hour I:

1. Drove to Minneapolis
2. Picked up wedding invites
3. Picked up stamps
4. Returned to Edina
5. Was informed that extranet post/login info was not working
6. Repacked files
7. Shipped off files
8. Answered some questions about our intranet
9. Sat down
10. Wrote this.

I can't wait until things chill out, and there isn't the constant feeling of panic that something might be going unattended. The heat in particular makes me feel this way. It's such perfect weather to step back and take it slow. Someday soon I want to build up a nice cruiser so I can make use of all the free time that will miraculously befall me. There's something elegant in the simplicity of a 3 or 7 speed bike, built up on a steel frame. Put on some nice mustache bars, a Brooks saddle and endless hours of enjoying the scenery would await. Someday soon—as with everything, the craziness can't last forever.

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Photo-0023.jpg, originally uploaded by gordonelliot.

Pacing, continued

I was thinking about the pace of life, how we're usually rushed, obsessed with mutli-tasking, and never able to really stop and take in what's going on around us. Rather than try to get better at doing all the things that fill our schedule, why don't we simply remove activities?

Camping is a great example of this. There are only so many things to do when you're in the woods (assuming you don't have to hunt for food and shelter is already available). All the time not spent cooking or traveling to new camp sites is spent enjoying the company of others, and the local environment.

If we were to remove half of the tasks that inevitably fill our days, I wonder how much more relaxed we'd all be. As I was once reminded, K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid).

Food, Pacing

It seems like it should be obvious that good food is generally also good fuel, but I forget this often. I made a quick lunch this morning. Kerry had bought some grape tomatoes and I threw a handful into a bag and ran out of the apartment, believing that each second shaved off my routine would somehow save me the agony of sitting in traffic. Turns out there was no traffic, and the time spent putting together a fresh lunch was worth it. Fresh produce is great, and you can't help but feel a little better afterwards. No greasy feeling after you eat it. Europeans, especially in the mediteranean regions know what's up. Every day in Italy we were able to have great meals with just a few Euro spent at one of a handful of local delis. It's too bad we feel the need to go fast all the time and eat on the run — ironically giving up most forms of exercise, even simple ones like walking, and then feel compelled to go on weird, unhealthy diets.

It seems it's all about balance, which we as a country appear to be unable to attain. This reminds me of a thought I had yesterday. It's strange that we find doping in cycling, or any other sport, to be a surprise. In all aspects of our society we're being pushed to perform more effectively more of the time. Doping is the obvious continuation of these social trends into sport. Not that it's right, fair or good for anyone, but it seems to be more a symptom of our society at large than a isolated issue in cycling.

Thoughts?

On 35W

Photo-0014.jpg, originally uploaded by gordonelliot.

Biggest chainring ever. Coincidentally Kerry and I saw this guy on Nicollet mall on Saturday afternoon. The cranks don't have a direct drive with the chainring, it's more of a walking motion, and the cranks release tension halfway through their stroke. Or something. I'm not totally sure, I just know that this guy was essentially standing on the bike. Cool stuff.

A Test

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Originally uploaded by gordonelliot

Trying my hand at mobile blogging or something. Gordiggity 2.0 bitches!

Saved by the Bell vs. 2012 Olympics Logo

U.S. Arming Sunnis in Iraq

“They say, ‘We hate you because you are occupiers’ ” he said, “ ‘but we hate Al Qaeda worse, and we hate the Persians even more.’ ” Sunni militants refer to Iraq’s Shiites as Persians, a reference to the strong links between Iraqi Shiites and the Shiites who predominate in Iran.

Didn't the U.S. give arms to the Taliban, or what became the Taliban, to drive the Soviets out of Afgahnistan? Didn't this come to bite us in the a$$ decades later. It's nice to know that we're clearly not laying the groundwork for a well armed civil war.

Holy Hot Heat!

I'll keep this short since it's getting reasonably late, and our office closet is miserably hot.

Went for the second ride in two days today. Normally this isn't noteworthy but it's been a busy last week and I hadn't been out as much as I wanted. Saturday morning's ride sucked, but I hoped I had flushed out all the crap in my legs. They felt stiff and slow on Saturday. Turns out my morning ride didn't do a damn thing, because today's ride hurt like hell. Not even the good kind of searing pain that comes from a hard ride, just crappy, "I just want to whine like a little b*#(@" kind of pain. Nothing felt right. I was either miserably hot in the sun, or getting weird chills as I headed through 19 miles of a solid headwind. Lame.

In the end it was 39.39 miles, at an embarressingly slow pace. Some highlights though:

• An old man on a Lark, sitting on the side of the road told me not to go too fast. Thank you good citizen, not a problem there!

• I watched as a lone Cheerio rolled across the street in front of me. I have no idea where it came from.

• Heading out of Rosemount into Inver Grove Heights is really gorgeous, and feels like you're nowhere near the city.

• I finally achieved a respectable "biker tan".

Thus concluded my Sunday ride. The end.

Notes

Just walked outside, and it's gorgeous out. I know Minneapolis is scheduled to be destroyed by a series of horrendous tornados this afternoon, but at least for the moment, who cares? I'll be standing in the glass atrium of our building when that fateful moment arrives so I can see the full power of afore-mentioned tornadoes as they rip apart the office complex and strip mall.

Also of note today, holy hot crackers, Wendy's in Edina has the most perfectly salted french fries ever today! Get 'em while they last!

Gordon out.

Perfect weather = suck

It must be the dirty south all up in me, but when it gets really nice and comfortable out I can't ride for sh*t. Not sure what the deal is, but I consistently get all phlemy and hacky when I'm out on what should be a perfect day to ride. Bring on the dog days bitches!

I also just took Smither's Quiz and discovered that I'm not a bike doosh. Phew. My weakest point seems to be my combo Giro helmet and Oakleys. I think my 12 year old jersey and hairy ass legs should count against that though.

On the end of my ride, while I was sucking wind, I discovered that although I occasionally feel fast, I am not. I was passed by the biggest dude I've seen yet this year. Even a solid half mile pushing 30 didn't fend him off for long. He looked like a doosh though, so I don't even care. At all. Whatever.

Hunting

Some days I'm really glad I'm not a hunter-gatherer...

Deep Sea

The images in this article on the New York Times are really beautiful. It's obvious, but at the same time weird, that a whole world of creatures lives almost literally a stone's throw away from us, but we've never seen most of them. I wonder what they'd think of us if they came up to the surface and could explore the land. I can see how Shigeru Miyamoto could be moved to create video game worlds based on all the intricacies of nature. I wonder what he'd make using the deep sea as a starting point.

How time flies

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since Wednesday. WTF? I don't know what happened. Literally. I can't remember what happened in the days since then. Well, except for yesterday when Kerry's family was in town, and I got schooled at tennis, and then did a ride.

The long and short of it all is that I realized that 1) hill repeats are the bomb diggity, but I think I mentioned this already. 2) I suck at tennis. 3) Getting drunk/almost drunk and really, really, reeeeeaally full on meatloaf turns out to be a bad feeling for most of the rest of the night and the next morning. 4) When you see someone on the bus who you know, but don't have their number, it makes for an interesting wave-and-watch-them-drive-away moment.

In the off chance that you read this, hi Lizzy.

Ed. Note: I totally forgot to mention that on my drive downtown for a meeting on Friday, I saw a gal on a Masi fixie. It made me sad that I was stuck in a car, going to a meeting all dressed up in work clothes. Lame. We should all just bike, camp and drink all day, every day.

Work and stuff. Awesome!!

Like a lot of people, I don't really like to post about work. Today though a coworker sent me a link I thought was pretty interesting, and got me thinking about life and work in more broad terms than normal.

First the link.

There's lots of talk on the site about enjoying what you're doing, and having a purpose for doing it. I guess this is common sense when you think about it. No one likes busy work, or at least few people that I know. Thinking about this then reminded me of a line one of my instructors would tell me. At the beginning of any new project he'd ask if we were excited about it. If the answer wasn't an emphatic "yes", then he'd push us to get excited about it. He understood that the key to doing good work was to truly believe that the work you'd be doing on that project would be the best work you had ever done. I still tell myself that from time to time, especially on what are otherwise boring jobs. It's strange how such a simple change in perspective can dramatically change how one works, and at what degree of quality the final piece posesses.

Oh right, this is a bike blog. Tonight, I'm going to think about how great my ride is going to be, and it will likely be totally, and completely, awesome.

Awesome.

The hills are alive

Although yesterday, they weren't alive with the sound of music, just the sweet sounds of belabored breathing and regular grunting.

Because of the wicked wind that was blowing in yesterday at somewhere around 20 mph, and because of the seemingly inevitable downpour (which never came), I decided to stick close to home and do hill repeats. I figured out that from the bottom of the Grand Ave hill to the very top was about 200 130 feet. Five laps and about 12 miles later that meant I had climbed 650 feet. I was sure at the time that I had conquered a thousand feet, or right around that amount, but double checking this morning it turns out that it wasn't quite as impressive as I had hoped for.

Either way, I did learn something that surprised me. Normally I ride at a pace that leaves me pretty worn out when I get home. I don't really have much left in my legs when I roll into the driveway. This time though, even though it was hard, and I was definitely winded, my legs felt pretty fresh. I think the alternating hard workout followed by a few minutes of cool down cleared out my legs and kept lactic acid from building up. It's like a pre-built interval workout, and you don't even have to do anything but ride it. Sweet.

Now that I know I can withstand the tedium of riding a 2 mile loop over and over again, I'd be interested to see how I'd do on some bigger hills. I just checked and Ohio Street out to HWY 13 is just shy of 300 feet vertical gain. I'll be sure and post how that goes when the time comes.

Paco Rockwell!!!

Paco Rockwell is a total stud.

Thinking back

Last night's ride was tough. Ten minutes into the ride I hit the Ohio Street hill, and slogged my way up it. I was slow, and feeling sluggish. The next hour and a half followed suit. I was convinced something was off on my bike. Maybe a flat? Nope. Maybe a rubbing brake pad? Nope. Just tired, empty, worn-out legs.

The highlight of the ride though, and arguably of this year so far, was on the last mile. I cool down coming back in through the neighborhood, and as usual, was cruising along. I noticed after a few blocks that a kid was flying down the sidewalk on his mountain bike. We were neck and neck. I'd outrun him in spots, and then I'd hear him catching his breath and then the whirrrr of his chain as he pushed on by me. A few blocks later another kid on a BMX bike rode up on my other side and asked if I wanted to race. I agreed, and we cruised along for several blocks. He informed me that he was on a "trick" bike, so that's why he couldn't go any faster (although we were doing about 15, which seemed pretty impressive for a 12 year old on a BMX). A few blocks later he said he had to stop, because he wasn't allowed to go any further past this block. In the end he edged me out for the win.

I couldn't help but smile. It reminded me of all the summer nights as a kid that we'd race around the neighborhood. Everywhere was new back then. We would go cruise around the new development that was being put in at the end of our street. We'd make jumps in the dirt and see who could get the most air. I remember one summer day where I rode off on my own, venturing what I know now to be only about 4 miles, but it felt like a world away at the time. There's something comforting about knowing that our own experiences, however many worlds away from us now, are not gone entirely, just picked up and experienced again by someone else.

Context

Sometimes you come across something that makes you question if someone, somewhere, was playing a great practical joke on their employer, or if they're just not all that bright.

Note how imagery and context converge to influence the overall meaning. I can't stop laughing about this.

Compelled

Although I don't have much to mention, I feel like I should update this. I'm not totally sure why.

The weekend afforded a few days off the bike since it was raining and/or crazy-windy for most of it. Saturday was Jessica and James' wedding. It was a good time. I think I was drunk for about 10 of the 16 hours I was awake that day. Sunday, Kerry and I went to the omni theater and watched a movie about Australia. Turns out most of it's dessert. Who knew?

As far as riding goes, I did a really quick, really short 10 miler on Sunday and then a nice 28 mile ride last night. I got rained on the last couple miles, but thankfully it was warm enough to not matter. Nothing too interesting to note beyond that. I was almost blown over at the top of the Fort Snelling hill by an idling tractor. Turns out the exhaust on those things is pretty powerful. Again, who knew?

Total Weekly Mileage: 38

Bring on the pain

It seemed like a pretty genius idea. After carefully observing every flag on the drive home, diligently studying the weather channel, and finally consulting a city map to get my bearings straight, I was absolutely positive that this ride, through a combination of planning and good fortune, would keep me out of the wind for all but the shortest stretches. Oh, how I was wrong.

The master plan was to head down to the river bottoms in St. Paul and follow the Mississippi all the way up to Minneapolis. The wind was coming out of the east, so this would keep the wind more or less at my back, or I would be shielded by the river bluffs. It almost worked. But wind has a way of finding its way into every cranny of a landscape, and yesterday was no different.

Everything seemed alright for the first half of the ride. Heading up the river to Minneapolis I was able to hold steady right around 22mph. My legs felt pretty good. I was right at that break point where any extra push would cause me to blow up. It was good. I like the feeling when you know you're running just under your capacity.

Then I turned east to cross back over the river and head back home. It's always slower going up and over the bridges - your momentum is lost, and you're climbing essentially a small hill. Yesterday was worse though. I got hit square in the face with a 20 mph wind. I could barely go straight; it was whipping and hissing all around me. I slogged along, looking rather pathetic as I crushed my pedals just to keep moving forward.

The pain didn't end. By the time I had reached Summit my legs felt like they were going to fall off. I was only 3 miles from home, but it felt like a marathon lay in front of me. The wind was having its way with me, and there wasn't much to do about it. I tried to fall in behind a mountain biker, but at the first light he moved over to let me pass. Bastard. I needed a break. I saw his shadow attach to my shadow, and watched as our combined two-headed shadow pushed on up Summit. I don't know why, but I was pissed. He had ruined my chance to get a break. I remembered a post I had read by sprinter della cassa about how to beat a sprinter, which amounted to making them work to hang on. I dropped a few gears and layed into my pedals. I watched my speed slowly tick up, mile an hour by mile an hour. Slowly, I extracted his shadow from mine.

Just a few more miles. I kept thinking that it would end soon, but I had promised myself that I'd go up the Grand Ave hill. At least the wind would be at my back. I started up the hill, slowly at first, and then gradually building speed. By the time I rounded the curve at the top and made the final push up to Dale I was nothing short of a vision of agony. My eyes were bloodshot and burning from all the sweat. My lungs seared, and my legs felt as though they had been filled with battery acid.

Counter to every physical impulse, I started to feel really good. I had worked my ass off to hold my speed, I had pushed harder than any other ride this year; it had totally, unequivocally sucked balls, but I had done it. I hadn't gone in early, and I hadn't given in. It felt great.

Punchy

One way to find out if you're tired is to watch this and then evaluate how hard you laugh. The ability to watch repeatedly indicates a high degree of mental fatigue.

Epic

Last night I found myself clipping along under a canopy of cottonwoods. Hidden deep between the bluffs of the Mississippi, quiet, under the rush of highways and din of suburban developments, lay a small strip of sand and mud, half submerged in the dark waters of the river. I pressed down on each pedal. Concentric mechanical circles, driving forward against a steady, cool wind. The sun flickered through the trees. Each trunk swaying in unison with the wind. Their leaves rushing - an invisible wave breaking over each branch.

I pushed on, and I found the comfortable solitude, and quiet excitement of discovering some place new. I saw the golden evening light. I felt the searing pain in the depths of my legs. Last night I found the heart of cycling.

Those days

You know it's one of those days when you have to do a google search for what order the lights on a traffic light go. Is green on top, or bottom? Memory ... failing ...

Sigh.

Coasting

We had dinner with some friends on Friday night. It was nice to get out and do something different. Their daughters had just learned to bike, and were showing off all around the neighborhood. It was fun to watch them, and see how exciting riding was for someone who had only been doing it for a day or two. To keep up with the kids, our friend had bought a new Trek Lime, which uses Shimano's Coasting Concept. I was skeptical the first time I read about these, but after seeing her new Trek I'm sold. For the recreational rider these things are genius. There's almost nothing to learn, and they make riding less about the bike and more about the ride.

Other random facts, stats and crap:

Saturday Mileage: 35
Sunday Mileage 21

Not sure how fast I rode either of these off hand, but I know that Saturday was a slower than normal ride. Oh well, it was good to get out and about and I learned Sunday that my body won't freak out if I get out of bed and immediately go for a ride. For some reason I had it in my head that I had trouble warming up when I rode early in the morning. Live and learn, right?

Again and again and again...

This is a great read, and can apply to so much more than just cycling.

Pour one out

Last night I went out for my normal 20 mile loop. As I was heading down the river, I came up on a car that was parked in the bike lane, and appeared to just be waiting for someone. I got a little closer and realized that no one was in the car, but the door was open towards the curb. Then I realized that the owner and passenger of the car were outside of the car standing next to a rock, "dancing" to the rap that was blarring out of the car. There were flowers spread out over the rock, and it appeared they were "pouring one out for their homey". I don't know what happened here, or if there was even any accident. Maybe their friend just liked this place? Despite what should have been a somber moment, I couldn't help but laugh at the car that sounded like it would shake loose from the over-blown bass, and the two kids giving their last respects.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, but I kept thinking about some lines from one of Lance Armstrong's book... something about pushing through, and denying the pain that inevitably comes with riding. My next thought was how not like Lance I am. I have compiled a list:

1. Lance can win the tour, multiple times. I can't win anything, although I did win the "slowest rider" contest once at a church fair thing.

2. Lance has an extremely fine-tuned vascular system, and lower-than-normal lactic acid levels. My legs get "the burn" about 2 minutes out of the driveway and don't stop burning for several days.

3. Lance assumes an aerodynamic, wind-cheating position. My position would work most effectively if I were riding backwards, as my upright position is more akin to a space sail than a sliver-thin dagger.

4. Lance can climb mountains. I can sometimes climb the small hill on the river road by St. Thomas at a speed over 12 mph. Sometimes.

5. And finally, Lance fakes poor form to fool the peleton into making stupid mistakes. My poor form is 100% natural, and there aint no peleton to fool, I'd be that far off the back.

Donuts

Oh man, I swear they're trying to fatten us up here in the office. It's like every day warrants some new, super-sweet temptation. I cracked this morning. CRACKED!!

All up in my grill

For better or worse, I got to head out of work early today. The timing couldn't have been better, since I felt a weird combination of tired, and just kind of crappy (from being tired). I had to get a crown put on one of my molars, so, given that I worked 3 hours last night, I figured it was ok to roll out 30 minutes earlier than I absolutely had to.

An hour later I was choosing the appropriate style of bling that would be embedded in my mouth. I decided against the diamond-tipped carbide tooth for a more, how does one say, classy look. I'm getsin' me a gold tooth! My net worth just went up a few bucks. Awesome.

I figured the best way to ward off any jaw pain would be to get a ride in. I saw/passed/chatted with a crap-ton of Birchwood riders. Hello random Birchwood girl that I didn't say hi to. Sorry about that, I'm not real good talking and riding at the same time.

All in all, not too shabby for a quick loop up the river. 19 miles. 1 hour and 5 minutes. Damn all the lights on Summit tryin' to keep me down. I feel like I'm slowly getting better, but I still can't climb to save my life. Next week I call hill repeats :\

Cold, Evil Drivers, and Icons Galore

Went out for a 25 mile ride tonight. I'm realizing, since I've been riding earlier this year than most, that my lungs really don't do well in cool, dry air. It sounds weird, especially since those conditions are great to be in otherwise, but my legs and lungs really like hot, muggy days. I felt weak through most of the ride, and my legs are paying for it now. Gotta put in more miles? Maybe?

On my way up the river a woman decided not to move over AT ALL and passed within a few inches of my handle bar. I got her plates, but I'm not sure how much good that will do. Anyone know of any reasonable (and legal) thing to do?

Since my ride, aside from a few minutes chilling with Kerry, I've been working on these God-forsaken icons that have been the bane of my existence for the last week. We decided to present a "3d" direction, which is interesting since none of us really have any heavy 3d capabilities. I resorted to the tried and true Illustrator to Photoshop trace/shade direction. To my surprise they came out really well, and I'm kind of hoping the client buys into these.

For some reason whenever I stay up late and work on projects I inevitably end up listening to Africa by Toto. I don't even know how I ever got it. Definitely a hold-over from mass downloading in college when Napster was still free, and we had phat ethernet lines. I definitely don't get this song, but it's pretty funny. Is Toto from South Africa? That would make this song make sense.

There's one good line though, that seems fitting right about now ... "hurry boy, she's waiting there for you". Good call. I'm out.

Soooo.... Tiirrrreeeedddd....

I think I woke up straight out of some sort of weird, super-deep sleep today. I almost fell over when I got out of bed, and have been in some sort of weird, half-asleep, half-dizzy haze all morning. Kind of weirding me out. I'm really hoping the coffee kicks in soon.

Thoughts on Riding

Lately I've been struggling with how involved I really feel like being with cycling. I don't mean this in the "how much do I really want to ride" way, I mean it in the "how much do I want to devote to training, possibly racing and 'taking it seriously'" sort of way. I'm not sure if there's a good answer.

What I've been realizing is that I love riding simply because it's riding. I love being on a bike, moving forward through the landscape with nothing between me and the elements. I went out today, hoping to beat the rain that was painting the radar all sorts of greens and oranges. I made it about 5 miles and then the bottom started to drop out. It poured, then drizzled, then poured some more. I eventually decided not to even try and cut the ride short—I was already completely drenched, and it was plenty warm. In those moments though, when by all accounts I should have been miserable, I was as happy as could be. My legs felt good. My lungs felt good. I could bolt up hills that normally leave me winded.

The thing is, it doesn't matter if it's raining, or if it's the sweltering, sticky, endless heat that summer brings. It doesn't matter if it's cold, and I can't feel my toes. Riding is still riding, and despite it all, it's still fun. As the spring grows into summer, I'm going to focus on that, and not worry quite so much about reporting all the (not so interesting) nuances of each ride. The point is to get out there and love being out, whether you're riding a $7,000 NASA-pet-project or a $100 fixie, it's still the same feeling.

Humans

We are strange creatures. We devote our lives, in one form or another, to a pursuit of happiness. We strive for simplicity and ease as we move through our days, yet over and over and over again, we launch ourselves headlong into episodes of great violence.

The New York Times has a good slideshow of images from Iraq. The final image is the most striking. It is also the most tragic. There is a man laying face down, body bloated, near a pile of garbage on the side of the road. A lone dog looks over the scene.

Is this it? Is this why we fight? Where is the democratic glory? I can only imagine that the real cost, and the real benefit, of any struggle at this scale, is felt purely at a personal level. Forget complex policy equations, the real world is known by a much more simple one: dust to dust. It's a shame we can't spare one another in the mean time.

Recovery ... sorta

Short post.

20.8 miles just to get the legs moving and enjoy the nice weather. Lots of peeps out in the warmth,and the highlight was a woman wearing her helmet backwards, with the little back-of-the-head-stabilizer-thingies stuck on her forehead.

Not sure how fast though... my computer is still on the fritz. Got a new one, but realized it has the same bracket that the last one had and doesn't fit my handlebars very well. This, I think, is what broke the last one, so I guess it's time to get a model other than the cheapest one.

In the process of taking off the old magnetic pickup I dinged the fork a weeee little bit, and I'm really hoping I didn't do too much damage. It seems cosmetic, but I'm always a little nervous when it's carbon fiber and not a form of metal. Metal just seems like it can take a little more abuse... it's the same feeling I had canoing in a kevlar canoe versus an aluminum one.

Finally, my route. Time for bed.

And so...

...it seems spring is finally upon us. With the great weather came several rides over the weekend. Most were squeezed in between family time, since Kerry's mom and stepdad came up to visit. But, all things considered I managed to get in two decent rides. Certainly not the longest ever, but not too shabby.

I would post specific figures about speed, etc, but my computer crapped out on me Friday night, so I can only report mileage. Saturday was a 19 miler, and included a trip up the Grand Ave hill (admittedly not the biggest thing ever, but it took a lot of will power to add that in at the end of the ride). Sunday was 23 miles, and included the High Bridge and a trip back up the river to the U of M and back down to Summit. Saw lots of other riders, got stuck beind a driver smoking berry-scented tobacco, which almost made me puke a couple times, and had a nice little sprint at the end. Not too shabby.

I'm debating if today should be a rest day or not. My legs are still sore from yesterday’s climbs, but I really want to get out and enjoy the day. We'll see I guess.

Total mileage for the weekend (Including Friday night): 56 :\

Short and Sweet

Went on a really brief ride yesterday. Just 40 minutes on basically the same loop as Thursday. I felt better ... not as good as I could, but faster than I've been for the past few weeks. It's nice to finally feel some progress and feel like the weather is finally making a turn for the better.

The likely inacurate breakdown (because my computer stopped working for about a quarter mile):

Distance: 14 miles
Time: About 40 minutes
Average Speed: 17.7mph
Top Speed: 30.7mph

And now it's off to break the spirits of some up and coming designers ;) Ahhh, gotta love 1-on-1.

Spring Returns

I was lucky enough last night to get home in time for a ride. I love that daylight savings was moved, although I suppose at this point in the year it wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

It was relatively cool last night, but not as bad as the other day, even though the relative temperature difference was a measly 4 degrees. Go figure. What did kind of suck was the wind, which was steady at about 15 mph out of the west. I remember reading a quote somewhere, from someone, who if I remember correctly was a pro. They noted that the key to doing well in the wind was pretty simple—build leg strength. Knowing this is a bit of a double-edged sword. It's great when you have leg strength and can feel awesome about how you're crushing the will of nature and moving ahead without impedence. It sucks though when it's your will that's the one being crushed, and all you can do is try and spin along in a 39x21 or something equally weak, all the while, your flimsy-ass legs feeling like they're going to fall off.

Thankfully, as with good things, bad things usually end, and the tide turned mid-way through the ride. I headed away from the U of M campus and up out of the river bottoms. I thought the hill going up the west river road would kill me, but oddly I was able to hold some decent speed (about 20mph). I love tailwinds so very, very much.

I made it home in one piece, with no digits lost to numbness, and feeling pretty good about the ride. Not the fastest day ever, but slowly getting better.

As an addition to this, since it's supposed to be in part a “training” log, I figured I'd add in my ride stats just for fun (and no laughing, I know some of you train all winter and can kick the crap out of me). You can check out the route here.

Distance: 17.2 miles
Time: 1:02
Average Speed: 17mph

And one more thing

Some days it's nice to know that there are other places in the world, some of them in your back yard...

Hopping trains...

This shot in particular is great. I love the light, the shot angle and the tangents created with the tracks and road.

Asides

I keep having the urge to create a new site, that would combine all my other sites, my portfolio site, my photo site, and of course this site, into one brain dump. The problem arises when trying to figure out how to group content into meaningful ways, and what content takes precedent—photos, text, new projects? Add into the mix the strong notion that any new site should surpass the functionality of any of the current sites, should contain some “branded” quality, and be beautifully emotive, and you've got a doozy of an assignment. I have moments of inspiration, but never anything that seems to functionally make sense. Any ideas?

Completely random, but this is funny. At church the other day, there was a kid's mini-service. The woman talking asked the kids, "what's brown and sticky?". The answer? A yet-to-bloom branch (or stick, rather). Then she asked the kids, "what's brown, sticky and a miracle?".

The answer?

A shark in peanut butter!

I love kids.

Cold

Simple math would tell one that the difference between 42° and 32° is only 10°. Likewise, a simple understanding of elementary science would inform one that at 32° things such as water turn from beautiful, fluid, dynamic substances to beautiful, frozen, solid substances. If one were intelligent, one would realize that the difference of only 10° really isn't that much, and as a result, should wear appropriate clothing.

Unfortunately, yours truly isn't all that intelligent, and in what can only be described as an overzealousness to try out some new gear, went out in 40° temps with only leg warmers, arm warmers, and light-weight gloves. I realized after I couldn't feel my fingers, and my toes were starting to feel pretty tingly that this really wasn't a bright idea. To add insult to injury, I sported a solid stream of snot running down my upper lip for most of the ride. Whoever said there was any glory in cold weather riding was either 1) wrong, or 2) just not me.

They always say to pair up bad commentary with something good, so in the name of appeasing “them”, I can safely glow about my new bike. I bought an Orbea Orca frame from one of the Birchwood Bike Team members. I had my old Specialized Allez stripped down and all the parts rebuilt on the Orca. I loved my old Allez, but for the same reasons I loved it, I had to get something new. The whole saying “steel is real” is for a reason, and when you'd get up on the pedals you could feel the bottom bracket start to sway. It felt lively, so that was good, but it also felt a little like riding a noodle at times. The Orca couldn't be more different. The ride quality is amazing, and I don't think I lost any of the suppleness that came with my old steel frame. What it does have though is an amazing ability to straight up go! It takes little more than the width of an intersection to go from a dead stop to 25. When cruising along on the flats you can almost literally feel each pedal stroke push you forward, not unlike the feeling you get when you're canoeing and dip the paddle in for a good push.

In a nutshell, I love the new Orca, and can't wait to get some legs that do her justice. Hopefully that will come soon with some more riding. It's supposed to be in the 40s for several days this week. With a few more intelligent clothing decisions I'll hopefully be out several days this week. Finally.

Oh, and if you're Mickelson, and you're reading this, I think I passed you on the Ford Pkwy bridge. Holla. We should go riding sometime (or anyone else that reads this that rides, because riding alone is getting old).

Spring?

I know everyone and their brother is writing about how crappy this spring is turning out to be, but that's no reason I can't as well. The cold itself, although mentally painful (and on occasion physically painful too), isn't too bad, it's the wind! There's been a steady 15-20 mph wind blowing for the last 4 days. Combine that with my lack of any sort of serious winter riding gear, and I'm stuck here at home watching Law and Order and wondering if the immigrant Kenyan did it or not.

Yesterday the office closed early since so many people were out for “spring” break (yes, I'm not afraid to bust out the quotes on this one). Rather than heading home right away, I decided to drive the route that I had been plotting out on gmap-pedometer, that was based in part on Steven's route. Most of the route looked like it'd be a nice ride, with the exception of a few areas along Highway 13 that weren't impassible, simply ugly. The best part is that I realized I could have a nice 40 mile loop with a stop at my parent's and a good stretch of riding that would take me back into my old Rosemount haunts. Yusssss! Not that I don't like MSP, but there's a part of me that's been itching to get out of the city for a while now.

Now, if it would only get a little warmer with a little less rain/ice/snow, I'd be golden. I guess there's a reason they say patience is a virtue :\

Rain, Glass and Flying Pens

So, the big question is, when do my legs start to feel like something other than two by fours connected to my torso? I've been slowly trying to get back into riding after a winter of running, and turns out those two activities use vastly different muscle groups. So much for cross training.

In my attempt to prove my devotion to the sport, and get at least one ride in this week, I headed out Monday evening for a quick loop. Rain was moving in on the radar, but I figured I could get an hour ride in. I made it down to the East River Road without incident, and was cruising along trying to warm up in the freezing headwind. Sometimes you just get a gut feeling about a particular car, and a teal Ford Tempo set off the internal "look out" alarm. They hadn't done anything, but I had this sinking feeling if anyone was going to mess with me it was them. We leap-frogged through several stop signs. No biggie, it's all good I thought. Then they passed for the last time and leaned out of the window and threw a pen at me.

A pen? Really? I almost chased them down, but decided against it. My frustration quickly turned to laughter, and my mantra for the ride became KBD-766, KBD-766. That's right sucker, I know your plates :P

I continued down to Ford Parkway, and crossed the river, waving at the woman I see running almost every day while I'm out on a ride. I heard a weird pop noise, but I hear a lot of weird pop noises, especially on the bridges where gravel and debris collect. I didn't think much of it, but then there was another weird, less pop, more pop-squish noise. I kept an eye on my back tire, but nothing seemed to happen, so I figured I was in the clear.

Looped up to the Franklin bridge, and then headed back to Summit. Got to Summit, and started to feel really slow. At best I could only hold 16 or 17 mph. Then it started to rain. And be cold. And rain. And damnit, why can't I go any faster?!? Oh, right, because I actually DO have a flat. And now I'm wet, and cold, and pissed at everyone that's ever thrown a bottle in the road.

The weather took a turn for the worst after this, and we got an inch of snow that night, so I guess I shouldn't complain about a little rain. Moral of the story? I need to ride more, get a new back tire, and in lieu of getting warmer gear, it needs to get warmer than 24° out.

Ahhh, the first one...

Well, after becoming somewhat obsessed with other people's sites, I figured I'd succumb to the self-imposed pressure and make one of these myself. What the hell, right?

So the point in doing this, since there should be a point after all, is to try and document my riding this summer. Because of some nifty new tools like gmap-pedometer and my cell-phone cam, I can record more of what I'm up to. You know, for posterity, 'cause God knows that most people could give two shits. We'll see I suppose, but worth a shot.