Livin' it up in Ben Franklin's town. Riding a bike in the city; damn! watch out for those trolley tracks (slippery when wet!) Whoa, that's what a hoochie mama looks like! I don't think I'm in Delaware anymore.....

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Old Skool hippity hop back on the speakers

Thanks to mi frater for hooking me up with the Grand Theft Auto soundtrack... haven't heard all that old-school hip hop for a long, long time.

Who would guess that a video game has one of the best collections of music in a long, long time?

Makes me want to go out and fire a few shots from my "9" and then drive my pimped low rider around town pumping up the jams with the hoochie mamas swooning over me.

Gangsta rap question of the day (sorry bro you can't compete as you know the answer) What was Snoop Dog's first song he ever rapped in? It was a movie soundrack....

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Oh, I finally turned on the heat...

The house finally got too cold on Friday morning and so I turned on the heat...the thermometer on the thermostat was down to 54! I was wicked cold, even when wearing wool socks and a wool hat, I was still cold and so I sucked it up and turned the heat on a bit. My house is definitely not balmy, but at least the pipes aren't going to freeze.

I've always enjoyed being cold as it makes me feel alive. It makes a hot shower feel hotter, a hot cup of tea more warming and bed covers more comfy.

Riding when it's cold rocks too b/c when you enter a warm house it feels as if you are entering the tropics, even if the heat is only in the 60's.



Focus on the Light


Waking up at 10K feet my first morning in the Andes (Ecuador) at the Black Sheep Inn (www.blacksheepinn.com)
Wish that sun was here today. I look at my pictures often as the raw beauty still entrances me and helps me dream of a greener planet.
Posted by Picasa

Jiggity James Blowing out Frames

James of Fort Frame Fame is blowing out some bikes. He's in DE, but within easy driving distance to us Philly peeps. Also I'm down in his neck of the woods about once a month and could pick it up if you make a deal with him.

Check Jame's site to get some deal-e-o's on some bikes:

http://manicmtbr.blogspot.com/


His Klein is beautiful.

Tree Farm and Page, top 10 in Belgium

Checking cyclingnews.com this morning and what do I see:

Vlaamse Duinenveldrit - C1
Koksijde, Belgium, November 26, 2005

ResultsElite Men

1 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank
2 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans-Sapim-Collstrop 0.18
3 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Rabobank 0.22
4 John Gadret (Fra) Chocolade Jacques 0.30
5 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 0.45
6 Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank
7 Jonathan Page (USA) Cervélo
8 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Morgan Blue 0.57
9 Ryan Trebon (USA) Kona 1.19
10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Fidea Cycling Team 1.59

Wow, so the Nat Championships aren't Page's to lose. Looks like the Farm is going to take a Page out of an Old book by honing his legs for Nats by racing in Belgium. Wish I was going to watch. You cross(dress)ers riding in it better take some good pictures and post them when you go.

Ride on,

-bc

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Flying in November...with ice on my Wings

Awh Snap, nothing like getting the body fat into the single digits and smacking around fellow roadies at the end of November. If only this was April-Sept then that would be something to brag about...I'm already down into the high 170's again...another 4-5lbs and bye-bye fellow cat 4's when I hit the climbs...

Had around 30 people do the Vino-velo ride out back behind the Art Museum at 9am this morning. It was cooooold. Though we kept the pace up quite high and everyone seemed to warm up quick. It was nice to be back home before noon for once.

Doing a tempo ride tomorrow with Christian from Evo, Kevin from QCW, and Collin the North Carolina transplant. It's a fun ride as we make sure no one is ever coasting, but also make sure that we maintain a pace where conversation can take place. Also we like to sprint to all the signs which say "Stop Ahead" or "Light Ahead" It makes it fun, but we also make sure the group stays together the whole time. When all you Cross(dress)'ers finish your season next month, please start joining me and my new bud's for the ride. We will start having our own rides on both Sat and Sun. Saturday being a hilly tempo ride, Sunday being a flat tempo ride.

OH Sniggity Snap, there's a set of Zipp 303's for sale (tubies of course) for $450 on Craigslist.org in Philadelphia. At those prices the wheels are almost disposable!

AfterhoursDjs.Org is rocking again right now...Stephen Wiley is the current DJ. Heard him before, he's wicked good. If only I had a dance floor, some lights, fine ladies and a bumping system, I'd be set right now.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

AC/DC and Trance?

I'm listening to afterhoursdjs.org to start the morning, and what do I hear right now, but a mix of AC/DC and some trance music. Amazing...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Paul Oakenfold comes to town, sort of...

Oakey at the Borgata. I've heard it's actually a great venue for dj's:

http://www.philly2night.com/eventdetails.aspx?evid=7143&atid=-1&lcid=-1

Wicked expensive tickets though compared to the dj's who have visited lately at Emerald City.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Why turn on your heater....

Was talking to my dad this weekend as he knows I like it cold and he asked if I turned on my heater yet.

Me "Nope Dad, woke up Saturday and felt a little nippy, looked at the thermastat and it was 58"

Dad "wow, that's cold, you know no girl will like being at your place if it's that cold, heck your mom probably complains when she's over there"

Me "Yeah, mom complains and even turned on the heat one time. Though for the ladies, I can warm them up pretty good Dad, but if it's still not good enough I'll just have to suck it up and turn on the heater"

Dad shaking his head, wondering what has happend to his son....

Me "Dad, you know all that heat is just ephemeral, it's there for a second and then gone. I don't want to put all this effort into heating a house which will get cold in 10 minutes to only need to be heated again."

Dad just shook his head and laughed at me...though it was funny.

Winter is here....

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Yiggity Yoga

My back's been totally thrashed since last weekend when I did two back 2 back long, hard rides. I've been stretching like gumby, but it's just not getting better. So after my VF ride on Thursday, my back was totally killing me and Thea by chance emailed me about her Yoga studio, www.dhyana-yoga.com, and that I could join her Friday evening if I really was interested in checking it out.
She thought I was just saying I liked Yoga b/c she liked yoga, so she was a little surprised when I took her up on the offer. I remembered how last year when I took Yoga at the YMCA in DE how I became uber flexible, but also lost all my back pain. Plus my balance became Jedi-like.

The studio is sweet. It's right on 17th and Chestnut, literally across the street from The Continental restuarant/Martini bar. We actually looked down on the place during our class. They had a buddhist alter in the corner of the studio and a mild incense burning in the studio. I typically don't care for incense as it tickles my nose, but this wasn't bad at all. As usual in Yoga, it was almost all women, can't ever beat the women/men ratio at a Yoga class, that's fo' sure....well maybe at a Pilates class, though I bet the men in that class aren't checking out the other women...

I was serious though in working out my back and getting my core strengthened up a bit and the class was perfect for it. It was a good hour and a half, though the first 10 minutes were mellow as was the final 10 minutes...the final bit included a slight head and neck massage too which rocked. I could have fallen asleep there if they would have allowed it.

The class was intense. Meant for yogis, I know the moves, but not the names of each one, so I was struggling at first to keep up, but alas, I used the force and did ok. Ha, though the force wasn't strong enough for when the class did headstands and handstands, that was the only move I didn't even attempt to try. Damn, it was a cool sight though... I bet once and a while, a person looks up from the Continental and is quite surprised at what they see.\

Anyways, the Yoga was great and even though I had a good lack of sleep on Saturday, I had NO back pain at all and I also had a ton o' power. I couldn't believe how often I would take a pull up front and no one would ever really want to come around. I think the 4+ hour ride into constant headwind on Thursday sure helped too. But yoga, here I come. Not planning on joining a gym this winter, instead will try my hand at that advanced yoga stuff. My whole body was sore yesterday from it, good sore though.

Time to get ready to ride....going to be busy in Philly today with the Marathon going on..

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Do you h8 Satan too?


This picture's classic. I took it the last time I visited my buddy Whit down in Richmond, VA.
Of course this guy also loves drinking Busch while driving. Posted by Picasa

Took off work again....

Making sure I use those precious vacation days before the year ends. Work's going to be too busy the next 2 weeks as one of my compratriots is off to the Country of Aleman's (that's some spanish for Germany...something like that) and then of course, since I'm the new guy there's no way in Hell I'll get off to celebrate the whole week of Kwanza. So I have very little time left to actually use these days (5 and counting...sorry Rindos, not trying to rub it in *if your pissed just remind me a few x a day how I need to buy and hold aka ESLR*)

So like a good bike rider I again took off on a nice, sunny, but WICKED cold day today with my new friend Thea (read post about a month back). She was crazy enough to join me on my 4+ hour (normally not more than 4) journey to Valley Forge park and back. The whole ride there was 10-20mph head winds, nothing close to the Y2K Seaford RR, but still wicked windy and enough to make my brain and body turn to fuzz by the time I got home.

It was brutal today, I totally thought I was fit and that it would be a steady pace out to VF park and then attack a few climbs, sort of like last week when I showed Thea some of the real hills out in VF. But when we hit VF we were cooked (freeze dried if you like) and so we just hit the rest stop to refuel and then turned around to ride back. I will tell you though, the tailwind back was awesome, but I had no juice at all and Thea was too kind to not push the pace. Ugh, I always hate the first few cold rides as I totally forget how to dress for them and I also forget that even though you are riding slower, you body consumes a lot more calories. I'm surprised I'm still awake right now considering how knackered I was when I got home around 3:15 today. It took me until about 5pm before I could even think again. Also my back is trashed...nothing like staying low for a few hours so the wind doesn't beat you up....looks like I'm going to start yoga again to make that back good again.

More financial rambings...with a little something added

My comments in bold:


General Motors CEO states that there is no plan for the co to file for bankruptcy - 8-K -Update-
CEO stated in 8-K: "there is absolutely no plan, strategy or intention for GM to file for bankruptcy today or the next. Despite the recent, current and future large losses in our U.S. business, GM has a robust balance sheet and strong liquidity - $19 bln in cash at the end of the third quarter, plus $16 bln in long-term VEBA assets, which provides us further significant liquidity support. The large losses at GMNA are unsustainable, for sure, and require a comprehensive strategy to address them... a strategy that must be implemented promptly and effectively, to get our U.S. business profitable again"


Seriously, who the heck will listen to this crap??? If you have a leader and a board of directors who bring one of America's largest: company, contributer to GDP, and employer, into the poor state they are in now, boot them the heck out. They should have forseen many different futures for their company and had a plan for every single one. I get pissed when the heads of corporate America complain they come into "unforseen negative business environment." WTF? You have hundreds of people who are paid millions a year to make sure every single situation is played through. Sorry, but I would fire your ass in a second if I owned a part of GM.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Financial Ramblings

I had about 1/2 a second of free time today, and while I had it, I remembered to check out a mutual fund which I was going to buy a few months ago, but never did. It's Quaker Strategic Growth Fund (ticker is QUAGX) A mutual fund, which is pretty much run as a hedge fund. It has a phenomenal record and will overtake Legg Mason's famous Asset Manager, Bill Miller, if he doesn't beat that ever important S&P 500 benchmark this year. So far this year, it's up over 12%, so for you mathematically challenged people, that means if you invested $1000 back on January 1st, you would now have $1120. Which is wicked good as we are just now entering the best time of the year for the Equity (aka Stock) markets. So for it to already be doing so well, means it is very well managed. It hasn't done as well as some of the Natural Resources funds, or International funds this year, but for a domestic equity, it's done great so far.

Got to do something next time....

Took that good ol' SEPTA subway back home tonight (good thing they are not on strike anymore!!!) and on the train ride I witnessed a fine, young lady being intimidated by a male about her age. He was totally hitting on her and she didn't want any part of it, but he kept on at it and even boxed her in by using his arm to hold the railing. At first I thought they probably knew each other, as he was totally invading that invisible space people keep between each other, but then I realized she was trying her best to ignore him.

I'm really pissed at myself for not being a good guy and a good citizen for not telling the dude to back off. Luckily he got off the train on a stop before her's, so she didn't have too much to worry about, but still, now that it's dark outside, I bet she still had a worried walk back to her home, all b/c of some dude who couldn't take a hint. On my walk home in the pouring rain, in my head I heard the voice of the priest in the movie, "The Boondock Saints" talking about how someone's inaction to prevent or stop a crime is almost as bad as the crime itself.

So lesson learned tonight. If you see someone being taken advantage of, do something about it, especially if you know you have the power to help them. Too many people wait until it's too late.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Vonck, thanks for kicking Knowledge

Props to Newark Councilman K.Vonck on laying down the knowledge this week.
Answering questions on the city of Newark's (DE) zero-tolerance crack down on off campus partying he stated: "Host's should be given the opportunity to disperse the party and get it under control so that Newark cops can focus on more serious issues" Seriously, Newark has been straying far away from logic in some of their police activities. They will ticket you for riding your bicycle on the sidewalk. If they actually put a bike lane down Main St. then you wouldn't have that problem. Prevention, it does a lot more than enforcement, everytime.

OH, question, is there still Critical Mass rides down Main St.? I need to do the one in Philly I've heard about them, but not seen them. Anyone know anything drop me a line.

Since living in Philly my perspective of Law Enforcement has changed drastically. I'm glad cops don't stop bicyclists from running stop signs and red lights and silly things like that. If the person wants to take the risk, let them. They aren't endangering others...now when there are shootings every day and at least a person dying a day from guns in this city, you have a BIG problem.
Law enforcement to me are professionals who are NOT supposed to be baby sitters. The town of Newark must feel they must act as baby sitters. Talking about a high paid sitting job.


Time to go for a run boys and girls before the cold comes.

ride on,

-bc

Saturday, November 12, 2005

The 80's @ 120 playlist


Click on the picture to make it bigger if you can't read it. Posted by Picasa

How to save a few pennies this winter...

Weather.com says Sou' Phil be chillin' this morning at a dope 32 degrees.
It's cold baby, really cold.

The coming weather will be driving up costs this winter for everyone, especially me since it's the first time in my life I'm footing all my utility costs. So I'm going to share some random ways to save you juice (my enviro background kicking in here).

Next to just keeping the thermastat low (or the heater off) here are some ways to save:

- If you have forced air heating, close the vent near your refrigerator. Your fridge is a FREAKING HUGE heatsink and it doesn't need to be heated. With your fridge cooler it will run less (making it last longer too), though it will still produce a good amount of heat for your kitchen. Make sure you keep clean the radiator if it's underneath, especially if you have pets.

-Remove your hot air outtake on your dryer. Make sure you close up the exhaust pipe heading outside as this will bring cold air if you don't.
If you use fabric softner, you will have to put a sort of screen on the hose, you don't want that sticky stuff getting on anything. Last year I used an old t-shirt which I tied to the end. I attached the bottom of the shirt to the pipe, so when the dryer was on the shirt would puff up like someone was wearing it. This actually acts great as a humidifier too.

-Invite Hot Sexy people to sleep in your bed with you. If they are hesitant, mention how they can turn off their own heater, save money, and have some fun at your place for free. The more the merrier, as they say.

-Close vents/heaters in rooms you don't use (makes sense).

-Ride your trainer every other day for at least 30 minutes. A damn good way to heat your house and stay in shape this winter. Even better, invite your cycling posse to ride the trainers at your place a day or two a week together.

-Wear nice warm fuzzy socks to bed. It will keep you a ton warmer and it may keep you from waking up at night to pee. Nothing's worse than waking up and getting out of the bed to pee in the middle of night during winter.

-Change your air filter every few months if you have forced air, especially if you have pets.

-Stay active! People who are inactive have bad thermal control and are hotter when it's hot out and colder when it's cool out.

-Drink lots of hot stuff: tea, hot chocolate, coffee, and my favorite mulled cider.


That's it for now folks.

Sarah Scott Auction recap

Last Saturday was a fine success for raising money for Sarah. About 300 of Philly's rocking cycling community came together to raise over $10k for Sarah. Much thanks to Cadence Cycling and Guy's Bike shop who donated many of the items, and to Manyunk Brewery who were kind enough to let us use their upstairs to host the event.
Also props to Cross dude, Mike Hebe, for creating the banner and also donating a bunch of cash to Sarah.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Answer to that Movie Question a few days ago

Holy Shit Mickey, it was "The Black Hole"!

This IS a Disney classic. Freaking dark movie, but very futuristic. You have to rent it if you've never seen it.

After you've seen it, think hard about how the heck Disney could ever create such a dark tale.
It's very odd.

Running BC into the Ground

I just realized my post from 3 days ago didn't make it...
Anyways,l I must have had way too much Halloween Chocolate flowing through my veins last Friday as I commited to run the trails with my homies Hindu Waerkis (www.libertysportsmag.com) , Jorge Kotokis (trainer for the superstars) and Joe Lanzario (retired but fast) out in Wissahickon. It was fun, beautiful, and BRUTAL. Nothing like thinking your achilles just snapped 1hr 15min into a run!

Ends up I had just overdone things, and just needed to rest for a bit. Still funky stiff even today from that run, but I definitely feel my legs have become stronger doing the trails.
Damn I was gimpy on Sunday though...

Did a ride with the Richie Cordero group on Sunday, I was a punk bitch again and couldn't ride slow. This time I was a lot better, but still, on one of the final descents I decided to stop riding my brakes and start actually descending. Sorry Richie, not even fine ladies on the ride will keep me from going fast. I need Speed!

The 80's at 120bpm

Just spent about 10 hours the last 2 days remixing a bunch of 80's songs.
Some of these songs sound way dope sped up a bit.
The remix is about 3 hrs, so I'm going to burn some MP3 discs for anyone who wants one. If I know your address don't be surprised if you get the discs in the mail.

If only had some real turn tables I could really break them down. The digital world is fun, but is so time consuming.

Ride on,

-bc

Second time in a week.

What's up with School Bus drivers?
I've always hated them when riding my bike, now I have more reasons to think they are unqualified:

By TERRI SANGINITIThe News Journal
11/09/2005
A school bus driver attracted a lot of attention when he didn't stop after hitting the sign for North Georgetown Elementary School, where he had come to pick up students, police said Tuesday.
Witnesses called police about 2:50 p.m. Monday to report the crash at the school at 664 N. Bedford St., Georgetown police Detective John Tyndall said.
It was a good thing they did, he said.

Bus driver Michael Esterson, 47, of Georgetown, was arrested on a drunken-driving charge after the investigating officer detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. The bus driver subsequently failed a portable sobriety test, Tyndall said.
Esterson, who was on his way to drive students home from school, had a blood-alcohol reading of triple the state's limit of 0.08 percent, Tyndall said.
"No children were on the bus," Tyndall said. "He was going to pick them up."
Tyndall said Esterson was taken to Milford Memorial Hospital so blood could be drawn to determine the degree of intoxication more accurately.
Indian River schools Assistant Superintendent Earl Savage said Tuesday that Esterson was a contractor for Walton Bus Service. He did not work for the district.
Calls to the bus company were not returned.
Savage said Esterson will not be driving the bus "until further notice."

Friday, November 04, 2005

Movie Question for all you Movie People

I'm not much of a movie watching person, unlike most of my peers...though I have seen a lot of the classic 70's and 80's movies while growing up.
Got a trivia question for y'all.

What's the first Disney movie ever to have a curse word in it? (other than Damn)
Hint, it's a sci-fi movie that's probably also the only Disney movie that ends with an ending that doesn't make you feel good inside.

drinking and driving

School Bus Driver Accused Of Driving Drunk
Student Used Cell Phone To Call Police
POSTED: 1:13 am EST November 4, 2005
UPDATED: 10:41 am EST November 4, 2005
PHILADELPHIA -- A New Jersey bus driver has been charged with driving while drunk and endangering the welfare of children.
A scared student in Medford Township called police on a cell phone after realizing something was wrong with the driver.
Police then found frightened students, along with the allegedly drunk driver. Police said the student spotted a bottle of alcohol in the driver's back pocket.
Parents said they were outraged about the incident.
"Anytime that somebody does something that jeopardizes the safety of a child is something to be concerned about," said parent Margaret Jackson.
NBC 10 News reported that the driver, who works for First Student Transportation, was driving a school bus when he picked up students from the Burlington County Institute of Technology.
Students were terrified as the driver drove erratically to Burlington with the rear exit doors swinging open.
Police said when they arrested the driver, they smelled alcohol on his breath and recovered an open bottle of whiskey from underneath his seat.
The driver was being held on $5,000 bail.

Yeah Baby, the Market's finally rolling!


Sorry for the non-bike related theme, but have to say this was a damn good week for the stock market. Bull market, notice the bull, it's rearing it's head which will head up when it hits you. A bear market is called such as a bear pulls up and then attacks you while it falls down. A bull goes up, a bear goes down. Get it? Hope so.

Damn, again wish I still had my 1000shrs of ESLR at 1.50..hit 11.25 today. Buy and hold people...buy and hold!!

Have to say that Dieter hit on a good theme today, regarding reusing rather than getting rid of what you have, in order to buy something which is marketed as more environmentally efficient. I have a fine friend, talking about you Amy Lynne!, who once stated, while I was talking about Patagonia clothing, how it's better for me to buy from Goodwill/Salvation Army, then it is for me to buy something new and organic from Patagonia. Less resources being used regardless if the new something actually is from organic cotton.
Got a sweet website for you environmental peeps out there:
www.SustainableBusiness.com
Kicks ass, been reading them since college (back in the 90's yo!)Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Sarah Scott Silent Auction this Saturday

This Saturday evening at the Manyunk Brewery there's a silent Auction for Sarah Scott, a teamate of mine on the Guy's Racing team. Find out more about Sarah at www.sarah-scott.com.

The Auction begins at 7:30pm

Here's the list of item's being auctioned:

Cannondale six-13 road frame/fork/headset, 55cm, Retail: $2,400, Opening:$800
Time VX Elite Frame/Fork/headset, 55cm, Retail: $2,300
Sunfire SubWoofer, Retail value: $2,000
Zipp 303 Wheelset, Retail value: $1,660
Lance Armstrong signed jersey, est. Retail $1,000
PhillyTri Package, Retail $1,000
Scott USA Speedster Frame/Fork/headset, Retail value $900
Rock Shox Sid World Cup fork, Retail value: $800
Sixers vs. Timberwolves four club box seats plus parking, Retail $610
Four club box seats to Sixers, Flyers, or other Wachovia Center event,Retail $600
Sixers jersey autographed by Allen Iverson, Retail value $600
Ironman Package, Retail value $500
Four club box seats, Flyers vs. Avalanche, Retail: $450, Opening: $175
Flyers jersey autographed Simon Gagne, Retail value $350
Thule Bike Travel case, Retail value $350
Custom Mirror, Retail value, $300
Pearl Izumi Men’s Barrier jacket and Amfib tights, Retail value, $240
Performance Testing. VO2 Max and Lactate Threshold Testing, Retail value$225
Five indoor cycling training sessions, Retail $200, Opening $70
Rolling Rock Foldable Mountain Bike by Fuji, Retail value $200
Giro Atmos Helmet, Retail value $190
Felt Fuse BMX bikes, Retail $170, Opening $75
Sugoi Bib Shorts, Retail Value $140
Pearl Izumi Women’s Barrier Jacket, Retail Value $140
Guy’s Racing Membership Package, Retail Value $140
Dinner for 4 at Friday, Saturday, Sunday Restaurant, Phila, PA, Retail $125,
Custom Mosaic Mirror, Retail value $125
Sugoi Stealth Jacket, Retail value $125
IPod Shuffle, Retail value $100
Yakima Trunk Rack, Retail value $100
Brian Propp/Flyers Grab bag, Retail value $100
Speedplay grab bag, Retail value $100
Guy’s Multisport Club Package, Retail value $90
Park City Package, Retail $90, Opening $30
One hour massage, Retail value $75
Pedros Pit kit, Retail value $75
Penn State vs. Ohio State Men’s Basketball tix, Retail value $60
Penn State Field Hockey Grab Bag, Retail value $60
Pennsylvania Mountain Bike guide books, Retail $60, Opening $20
Andre Iguodala Sixers youth jersey, Retail value $60
Tifosi Sunglasses, Retail value $60 each pair
Ivan Basso autographed poster and Team CSC signed 8x10, Retail value $60
Camelback Catalyst lumbar pack, Retail value $37
Pedros Bike Brush kit, Retail $17 , Opening $7

I live Vicariously through Pamela

Pamela's my friend (through Jesse Epstein to all those DE peeps who might care) who I visited down in Ecuador this past Winter. She loves to travel and has the coolest job that puts her in a new part of the US every 6 weeks.

She just sent a link of her last 3 months of traveling. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EZOGTJy5bM1O

Some pictures are National Geographic worthy.

Pamela Posted by Picasa

Good day for skipping work

Checked the weather at work yesterday and realized that any sane person with 10 days of vacation left (and no cash to take a trip) better use them up quick while the weather's still good...so decided to take off today and tomorrow to ride the bike and work on the house.
(damn, listening to afterhoursdjs.org right now, they are playing a sick remix of Tracy Chapman's song Fastcar)
Last night I was going to hand out candy, but chickened out as I was afraid of having some punks scope my place....I'm a little scarred from Halloween as when I was a kid growing up in H-town, our house was broken into on Nov 1st while everyone was at work/school. We had a bunch of stuff stolen and while my step-dad and mom were talking to the police that night, they said that it's common for theives to scope places on Halloween night....Would have been fun though and I have way too much candy to have around, already binged on all the reese's butter cups. I chopped them up, poured milk on them then put in some Hershey's chocolate syrup and stirred it together. Talking about a party in your mouth! Probably something like a quick 1500 calories, but hell, probably burned 2K on my ride today.

Decided to piss off the neighbor bigtime today. From about 1:30pm-4 I was rocking out Trance (afterhoursdjs.org of course!) with my sub on, which was against the wall between our houses. Never heard his dogs...but that's b/c my stereo was louder.

Rode to Valley Forge today and finally took the camera. Nice solo ride to work out the demons and chill out from life. Running has definitely made me stronger on the bike, it's also made my whole body more fit. Feels good to be strong on a bike again, but what's the use when we are heading into winter....
Was nice and warm by the end of the ride, total shorts and shortsleeve jersey by the end.


Back in Philly, behind the Art Museum, with the drained fountain in the forefront. Posted by Picasa

This is what Philly does to Hondas....stolen car dumped right next to the start of the VF trail. This car was there Sunday morning and it looks like it's gotten a lot more trashed since then. Posted by Picasa

Guess what river that is??? I'm still in Philly, this is scene from the VF trail, not too far out of the park. Posted by Picasa

back on the trail, heading home after about 30 minutes of good climbing at VF. Posted by Picasa

baby, that's how you lean the bike at 40 and sitll get a picture off. Posted by Picasa

heading down, speeding up, this pics deceiving a bit as it sure as hell ain't level..drops a few hundred vertical feet pretty quickly. Posted by Picasa

This is my fav. part of the ride. The road just droooops and there's a nice wide sweeping turn...This past weekend while riding up the hill, a minivan caught up with me and slowed down. Their windows were down and I asked if he could let me go before him, but he answered me by flooring the minivan...I yelled "gonna catch you man," took about 10 seconds to catch up the chump and another 10 seconds to put about 500 feet on him. Dude, you're in a minivan, not in a phukin porsche. Posted by Picasa

one lane road...climbing, on the right up ahead is a memorial to Gen/Pres Washington Posted by Picasa

Map of the park Posted by Picasa

I call this line painting job the drunken driver test....the yellow lines head straight into that hill. The lane actually becomes one lane and the fun begins. Posted by Picasa

Beautiful day for a ride!!! Posted by Picasa

At the park, the township line/sprint line is right after the sign. Philly riders go all out to win the coveted "first to the township line" jersey. Posted by Picasa

Entering the park Posted by Picasa

One of my favorite climbs. It comes after you hop off the VF trail and cut through Conshohoken. It's at least 10% grade for about 1/2 a mile. There's a turn at the top of the picture, it gets STEEPER and you see the stretch you just climbed was short compared to what's beyond that turn. Posted by Picasa

Takes me exactly 50 minutes to ride from South Philly to the VF trail entrance West of Manyunk...again, not too many people out even though the weather was sweeeeet. Posted by Picasa

riding past boat house row...empty for once, surprising considering how nice it was. Posted by Picasa