5 weeks, 3 rear wheels. Philly knows how to eat them, that's for sure.
It all started when my beloved red/black CXP33 wheelset busted a spoke in the rear. Normally this wouldn't be bad, as it's a 36 spoke wheel. I bought it for $150 from Nashbar back in 2003 and since then the nipples have corroded to the point where if when I try to true the wheel, the nipples strip, one of the downfalls of lighter alloy nipples. Also this is the 3rd spoke I've busted on the wheel since I moved to Philly, so I shelved the wheel and went to wheel #2.
Wheel #2 is one of those dope Mavic Ksyrium SL, black with the shaved rims. It's my race wheel. I was like, I'm not racing, so I might as well ride a dope wheel. Well, that was all fine and dandy for 3 weeks, really it kicked ass for 3 weeks, but after one ride I noticed when I spun the wheel (while in a stand) the crank moved. Not a good sign! So I took the wheel off and noticed one side of the hub had become loose. I decided to loosen it further and before I knew it the freehub was coming off and a sooooper doooper small spring sprang free in my basement. Looked for 30 minutes and haven't found it since. This led to wheel # 3, the ex's wheelset.
The ex's wheelset I acquired when I gave her my Ksyrium Elites when I broke my hand. They are the bottom of the barrell, shimano 500 wheelset. Since over a year ago they've been collecting dust in my basement, so I figured, might as well check 'em out. Well the rear lasted 2 rides (really only 4 hours) before it got uber wobbly on me, when I got home, 3 non-drive spokes were looser than could be believed without the wheel collapsing. I was really lucky I didn't take any sharp turns on these as they went loose on the Saturday World Championships ride.
So Saturday I threw on a rear Mavic Ksyrium Equipe, which had come with my Scott CR1 back in the day (2004). These wheels I've ridden off and on, but thought they'd be my spare "race" wheel if I ever did race again. Well, within a few minutes of a 6 hour ride on Sunday they started talking to me and never shut up the whole ride. It drove me nuts as I'm paranoid as all can be now when it concerns a noise coming from the rear wheel, so today I sucked it up and ordered a new custom built wheelset from Excel Sports built up with DT 340 hubs and 1.2 rims.
Should be a dope set and I'll definitely take a pic of 'em. It blows my mind how hard it is now to find a handbuilt wheelset with normal components these days, it wasn't that long ago you could go to any bike shop (local or online) and find a few different levels of handbuilt road wheels. Now it's freaking hard to find with all those pre-built, hard to service wheels out there. None of those wheels can last more than a few months around Philly.
Hope everyone is out there living the dream!
and riding it too,
-BC
Monday, August 13, 2007
Thursday, August 02, 2007
It's been a long, long time
I wish I had something magnificent to report, sort of like my friend Pamela: http://pamlandtravels.blogspot.com/ , but just living each day by itself can have it's own joys. I really can't believe it's been so long since I've written anything. Probably b/c I haven't done much other than:
M-F work, workout and try to ride 1-3x for about 2hrs.
F-S rock out in the city, ride bike, then repeat.
But each day has been special. I've met some cool people the last few months. Some through cycling, some through rocking out, others through work and working out at the gym. Finally during the past 2 days I took some time off from work to get my driver's license, clean my house and ride my bike (of course!).
I'm really pumped about getting my driver's license again, as I let it lapse 5 months ago. To be honest I was definitely more excited today when I renewed it, then I was 14 years ago when I first go my driver's license. Back then I was more apprehensive to receiving it, while today I understand the freedom it can bring into your life.
See I missed a really good buddy's wedding a few weeks back b/c I had to negotiate a ride up to Vermont, and if I had my license, it would have been a no-brainer to either rent a car, or borrow a family member's car. My kick-ass friends offered me various car-pooling options to get up there, but regardless, if I had my own car, I would have been up there, and I wasn't, so I was on a mission the last week to get my shit in order so I could renew the license.
Philly doesn't mess around and for a new resident like me, I had to bring:
My old DE license
My SSN card
An original birth cert
A utility bill
A mortgage doc on it
Plus I had to remember my checkbook, which I had totally missplaced, as who uses a check book anymore?
Luckily for me, the DMV (unlike most of the muni-gvt. operations) was quite organized and even though there were a ton of people, I was in and out in about 45 mins with a new kick ass license.
I'm so stoked now and am at the moment waiting for a friend to refer me to Philly Car share (http://www.phillycarshare.org/) so I can load up one of their hybrids with about 9 months worth of recycling.
So the past 2 months I've been road riding a ton. Probably 8-10hrs just on Sat and Sunday. I so want to race, but everytime my buddies and I start talking about which race to do from the races coming up, we hear of another buddy going down hard in a race and ending up in the ER. So right now we are all talking ourselves up for a big cross campaign, time will tell if I actually toe a start line this year. At least I do have a valid USCF license wasting away in my wallet.
Oh, I did one wicked fun thing last month when I checked out the West Chester Twilight crit. It was like old days seeing all my DE posse chilling watching the race. Mr. Smith, aka http://www.dennisbike.com/, has some badass shots of that race. Dude, I have never seen a pro-crit before and after that day I will never be the same. Those pros are HARD CORE, I've never seen dudes rub shoulders doing 30+ through a 90 degree banked turn. It was nuts!!! Also wicked cool to see a few peeps I know in the race, including a few of the dudes I train with in Philly. Man I wish I had raced the 3/4 race earlier in the day there, as while I've landed on my arse many a times, I absolutely love crit racing.
Looking forward to another First Friday/Art Loop tomorrow. I try my best to take some pictures and give y'all non-Phillians an idea of how wild it actually is down there in Olde City.
Oh yes, if someone needs some fine, fine muzic to listen to, I have a ton of Ronski Speed live shows. They are purely sweet! Also ETN.fm should open back up their BitTorrent stream sooner than later. That internet station is one of the best for live DJ (trance/dance) shows.
Ride on,
-BC
M-F work, workout and try to ride 1-3x for about 2hrs.
F-S rock out in the city, ride bike, then repeat.
But each day has been special. I've met some cool people the last few months. Some through cycling, some through rocking out, others through work and working out at the gym. Finally during the past 2 days I took some time off from work to get my driver's license, clean my house and ride my bike (of course!).
I'm really pumped about getting my driver's license again, as I let it lapse 5 months ago. To be honest I was definitely more excited today when I renewed it, then I was 14 years ago when I first go my driver's license. Back then I was more apprehensive to receiving it, while today I understand the freedom it can bring into your life.
See I missed a really good buddy's wedding a few weeks back b/c I had to negotiate a ride up to Vermont, and if I had my license, it would have been a no-brainer to either rent a car, or borrow a family member's car. My kick-ass friends offered me various car-pooling options to get up there, but regardless, if I had my own car, I would have been up there, and I wasn't, so I was on a mission the last week to get my shit in order so I could renew the license.
Philly doesn't mess around and for a new resident like me, I had to bring:
My old DE license
My SSN card
An original birth cert
A utility bill
A mortgage doc on it
Plus I had to remember my checkbook, which I had totally missplaced, as who uses a check book anymore?
Luckily for me, the DMV (unlike most of the muni-gvt. operations) was quite organized and even though there were a ton of people, I was in and out in about 45 mins with a new kick ass license.
I'm so stoked now and am at the moment waiting for a friend to refer me to Philly Car share (http://www.phillycarshare.org/) so I can load up one of their hybrids with about 9 months worth of recycling.
So the past 2 months I've been road riding a ton. Probably 8-10hrs just on Sat and Sunday. I so want to race, but everytime my buddies and I start talking about which race to do from the races coming up, we hear of another buddy going down hard in a race and ending up in the ER. So right now we are all talking ourselves up for a big cross campaign, time will tell if I actually toe a start line this year. At least I do have a valid USCF license wasting away in my wallet.
Oh, I did one wicked fun thing last month when I checked out the West Chester Twilight crit. It was like old days seeing all my DE posse chilling watching the race. Mr. Smith, aka http://www.dennisbike.com/, has some badass shots of that race. Dude, I have never seen a pro-crit before and after that day I will never be the same. Those pros are HARD CORE, I've never seen dudes rub shoulders doing 30+ through a 90 degree banked turn. It was nuts!!! Also wicked cool to see a few peeps I know in the race, including a few of the dudes I train with in Philly. Man I wish I had raced the 3/4 race earlier in the day there, as while I've landed on my arse many a times, I absolutely love crit racing.
Looking forward to another First Friday/Art Loop tomorrow. I try my best to take some pictures and give y'all non-Phillians an idea of how wild it actually is down there in Olde City.
Oh yes, if someone needs some fine, fine muzic to listen to, I have a ton of Ronski Speed live shows. They are purely sweet! Also ETN.fm should open back up their BitTorrent stream sooner than later. That internet station is one of the best for live DJ (trance/dance) shows.
Ride on,
-BC
Monday, June 11, 2007
You gotta love Philly
Thinking about how I was going to fund a new bike and sure enough, all I had to do was look up during my contemplation in the Subway and see how to get the ca$h.
Outside my office this past week was some filming of that "Always Sunny in Philly" TV show. It wasn't too exciting, except for the fact that every hot girl thought it would be cool to hang out and watch the set, so my office was pretty much ignoring the set and watching the hotties. I was on the look out for DDB, also known as "David Anthony", but I guess he's not a grip for that TV show.
Rocked out at the Manayunk wall for the bike race yesterday. It was sick, it TOTALLY lived up to the hype and then some. There are only a few parties I've ever been to that even came close to the sillyness I saw or did there.
I was going crazy when the 2 Navigators attacked, phukkin' balzy, I LOVE it. Sorry for the blurry pics, but for a cell phone camera, I think these pics hold there own.
A little chase group action with the Mexican dude, and another guy. The Mexican dudes could climb. I wonder how they would have done if the typically heat had shown itself???
I walked up the Wall and down the descent once. The descent really is the real deal, as these are not the most pristine roads. Though they did repave a really bad part of Ridge Ave (the descent off the Wall) just 2 weeks ago.
So I was on my way back down the Wall, back to the Party at the base of the climb and what do I hear, but a chear as a solo rider's coming up the climb. She's about a minute and a half back from the pack, but people are cheering like she's the leader and damn, I start cheering and then I go uber nuts when I realize it's Lisa Vible, and I start screaming at the top of my lungs for her. The rest of the crowd start cheering her name too as they hear me yelling it and I begin sprinting up the hill yelling crazily at her, it gave me chills seeing her fly up that hill, heck I didn't even notice I jammed the hell out of my big toe until well after she was gone. It was awesome to see a friend racing, it really made the day!!! My voice is still trashed today from all the yelling I did...
Sadly, I didn't get a pic of her, as I was in a frenzy cheering for her :-(.It was an awesome day and I was in bed by 8:30, as when you start rocking out at 9am, it definitely takes a toll.
Hope y'all had a great weekend of riding!
Ride on,
-BC
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Lumbersville
Did a sweet pre-Memorial day ride out with my posse today. Met nice and early at 8 am to beat the traffic and then do a nice tempo ride out through Doylestown and then to Lumbersville-Carversville. Totally sweet roads up out that way, way cooler there too, even though it was later in the day when we got there.
Reminded me of the Tour de Chester the DE posse used to ride. Empty and shaded roads, little houses on huge plots of land, and just the hum of the tires and chains making noise. It was a fine ride (80-90 milesish), and a good one to do to try to get used to the summer heat which has no arrived.
Tomorrow I have no clue what I will do as it's been a long while since I've had 3 days of in-a-row saddle time. I'm about to rock out in Manayunk though, so whatever it is, it'll be weak...
Got lost in Kennsington last weekend trying to ride to Fishtown via the "shortest" route so I can pick up my new team's uniform. WOW, you see a place like that and it really makes you wonder why we have troops in Iraq, when we have a place like Kennsington which is a warzone and everyone looks high and ready to shoot you. It really is the real deal. I was lost and too afraid to stop and use my cell phone as every person I saw-white, black, asian, hispanic- all looked and acted like crack heads. It was really surreal to see such a thing in the land of plenty. Well I ended up bonking hardcore and knew how to get back to Broad St. and so I road West as fast as I can, burning every stop sign and trying not to look too out of place (which I did). I got to Broad and was waaaaaay North of Temple. I knew Temple U was a "safe" place and so I did the gangsta thing and rode on the sidewalk (trying to fit in) and hit up a McDonald's drive thru for a Milk shake to try to ward off my bonk (oh, I did a 4 hour rode ride earlier in the day, and didn't really each much afterwards that's why I was bonking). The dudes at McDonald's were all cracking up at the honkey buying a milkshake on his bike, but I didn't care as that Milkshake was better than an energy gel could have been as it cooled me down and fueled me back up for a long ride home. All in all it was like a 2 hour ride that should have been 30-45 mins round trip.
YOU can guarantee I'm not going to do anymore shortcuts through parts of towns I don't know.
Hope everyone is relaxing and having a great long weekend,
Ride on!
-BC
Reminded me of the Tour de Chester the DE posse used to ride. Empty and shaded roads, little houses on huge plots of land, and just the hum of the tires and chains making noise. It was a fine ride (80-90 milesish), and a good one to do to try to get used to the summer heat which has no arrived.
Tomorrow I have no clue what I will do as it's been a long while since I've had 3 days of in-a-row saddle time. I'm about to rock out in Manayunk though, so whatever it is, it'll be weak...
Got lost in Kennsington last weekend trying to ride to Fishtown via the "shortest" route so I can pick up my new team's uniform. WOW, you see a place like that and it really makes you wonder why we have troops in Iraq, when we have a place like Kennsington which is a warzone and everyone looks high and ready to shoot you. It really is the real deal. I was lost and too afraid to stop and use my cell phone as every person I saw-white, black, asian, hispanic- all looked and acted like crack heads. It was really surreal to see such a thing in the land of plenty. Well I ended up bonking hardcore and knew how to get back to Broad St. and so I road West as fast as I can, burning every stop sign and trying not to look too out of place (which I did). I got to Broad and was waaaaaay North of Temple. I knew Temple U was a "safe" place and so I did the gangsta thing and rode on the sidewalk (trying to fit in) and hit up a McDonald's drive thru for a Milk shake to try to ward off my bonk (oh, I did a 4 hour rode ride earlier in the day, and didn't really each much afterwards that's why I was bonking). The dudes at McDonald's were all cracking up at the honkey buying a milkshake on his bike, but I didn't care as that Milkshake was better than an energy gel could have been as it cooled me down and fueled me back up for a long ride home. All in all it was like a 2 hour ride that should have been 30-45 mins round trip.
YOU can guarantee I'm not going to do anymore shortcuts through parts of towns I don't know.
Hope everyone is relaxing and having a great long weekend,
Ride on!
-BC
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Replace your cables!
Sorry for the lack of posts, not that anyone noticed...
I'm finally getting fit now, after riding during the week the past 4 weeks. It's amazing how just throwing in 2 hours in the middle of the week can really help you get stronger. So last Sunday I thought it was time to do my crazy hill ride and about 1/4 of the way into it, while coming out of Gladdwynn into Conshi, my rear shifter cable snapped. I thought, I'll ride back to Manayunk via the VF trail and be on my way again in an hour. Well, here's some knowledge for you, don't ever re-shift your shifter once that cable snaps! About 2 hours later I was limping home from the cool Human Zoom shop in Manayunk b/c my shifter cable head had become jammed in the head of my shifter. They tried and tried to get it out without taking apart the shifter, but said I could leave it there over the week and they would find a way to fix it. Well considering I lived 50 minutes further away from Manayunk (sou philly yo!), that wasn't an option. So I got home and quickly made a plea for help among my cycling posse to see if anyone had a spare 10sp rear shifter and/or was able to fix my shifter. Colin (the Professor) took charge and by Monday night he had totally fixed the shifter and I'm on the road again.
There's a few things to note which bugged me out about this whole busting a cable thing.
I almost never have a mechanical and pride myself with keeping my rig clean and smooth rolling. Well, I ended up having Human Zoom check my chain, and they were like "Dude were not letting you ride home with that thing on" plus when I got home I checked my front der. cable and sure enough 1/2 of the cables had frayed and so it would have snapped on that side soon enough too. I'm now a little paranoid about my bike as the Scott CR1 frame is going on it's 3rd season, while all the DA components are just ending their first year of service. I'm pretty much at the point where it's time to get a new bike. I hate to be that way, and know that I should have replaced the cables, chain and cassette way sooner than I did...they are only a year old, plus I didn't race last year, so while they were ridden a good bit, they weren't under total abuse. I think most cyclists are always trying to legitimize the purchase of their 6th or 8th bike in their collection, but I think this time it warrants it as a $2-3k new bike is way cheaper in opportunity cost at avoiding another hospital visit than risking it. Carbon bikes are so sweet, but other than an ultrasound test, how the heck do you check to see how much life you have left in it? Steel and aluminum were so easy, you either had rust or a hairline crack before the frame was cooked, with carbon, I have no clue what happens before failure. Anyone have an idea?
I'm finally getting fit now, after riding during the week the past 4 weeks. It's amazing how just throwing in 2 hours in the middle of the week can really help you get stronger. So last Sunday I thought it was time to do my crazy hill ride and about 1/4 of the way into it, while coming out of Gladdwynn into Conshi, my rear shifter cable snapped. I thought, I'll ride back to Manayunk via the VF trail and be on my way again in an hour. Well, here's some knowledge for you, don't ever re-shift your shifter once that cable snaps! About 2 hours later I was limping home from the cool Human Zoom shop in Manayunk b/c my shifter cable head had become jammed in the head of my shifter. They tried and tried to get it out without taking apart the shifter, but said I could leave it there over the week and they would find a way to fix it. Well considering I lived 50 minutes further away from Manayunk (sou philly yo!), that wasn't an option. So I got home and quickly made a plea for help among my cycling posse to see if anyone had a spare 10sp rear shifter and/or was able to fix my shifter. Colin (the Professor) took charge and by Monday night he had totally fixed the shifter and I'm on the road again.
There's a few things to note which bugged me out about this whole busting a cable thing.
I almost never have a mechanical and pride myself with keeping my rig clean and smooth rolling. Well, I ended up having Human Zoom check my chain, and they were like "Dude were not letting you ride home with that thing on" plus when I got home I checked my front der. cable and sure enough 1/2 of the cables had frayed and so it would have snapped on that side soon enough too. I'm now a little paranoid about my bike as the Scott CR1 frame is going on it's 3rd season, while all the DA components are just ending their first year of service. I'm pretty much at the point where it's time to get a new bike. I hate to be that way, and know that I should have replaced the cables, chain and cassette way sooner than I did...they are only a year old, plus I didn't race last year, so while they were ridden a good bit, they weren't under total abuse. I think most cyclists are always trying to legitimize the purchase of their 6th or 8th bike in their collection, but I think this time it warrants it as a $2-3k new bike is way cheaper in opportunity cost at avoiding another hospital visit than risking it. Carbon bikes are so sweet, but other than an ultrasound test, how the heck do you check to see how much life you have left in it? Steel and aluminum were so easy, you either had rust or a hairline crack before the frame was cooked, with carbon, I have no clue what happens before failure. Anyone have an idea?
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Hanging out with Jim and Ginger can lead you to trouble...
Ahh, what a fine past weekend I just had. Yes I know it's Humpdy-Hump day, but still I'm so focused on the next trading day that I'm rarely focusing on the day before, or in this case, more than the day before.
Had an awesome, total smack down of a ride on the Saturday Ambler ride. Looks like the 4th time was the charm as I wasn't a chump this past weekend, though I was the weakest of my 3 man break, but alas, if you get 3rd out of 50, it ain't all that bad. Nothing's sweeter than having a group of 20 get within 50 feet of you, after they've been chasing for 10 miles, and then giving it the gas again and roll out of sight!
Saturday's ride was followed by a totally rocking afternoon and evening in the city of brotherly (and sisterly) loving. Saturday, just in case you aren't on the East Coast, was awesome on the Eastside. 70 degrees, blue sky, hot mamas not wearing much of anything. Yes, it's days like these when the citay living makes bubser (http://bubsers.typepad.com/epistemic/) sad I bet!
Rocked out with my smack-da-other-punks-down cycling posse at Devil's Alley to start the evening and afterwards, when they were going to the punk-ass Mid-Town Continental (don't go there, lotsa attitude), the Pepster and I were hanging out with our buddies Jim and Ginger. Jim and Ginger always start the night right and come darkness, the Pepster headed to Manayunk to rock, while I went to Alfa (18th & Walnut) to join up with my posse again. My boy TJ hit me up and met up, but soon after the ex-gf hit me up and showed up. We then rolled down the street to Cuba de Alba for a taste of the best mojitos in town before TJ found 2 lesbian lovers (whom he didn't realize were lesbians) to hit on, and so my ex and I decided to hit the road and head to her place for some catching up. Um, note to the wise, never catch up with any ex when previously hanging out with Jim and Ginger....
So woke up the next day after about 3 hours of sleep to ride with my hard core road posse and we tackled a nice rolling route. As I've mentioned before here, cyclists in Philly like to suck wheels of whomever they see riding down the street, so my group of 7 ends up having about 20 others decided to suck our wheels and follow us into the hills of Gladwynn. It was annoying as all can be to say it lightly! We ended up about 1/2 way through the ride ditching the group by all riding slower than everyone else. Then, about 20 minutes later, after we had started to ride hard again, we catch the group and they started to slow down for us, so we took the next turn and the whole f'ing group turned around to start sucking our wheel again, so we high tailed it down a hill and half way down the hill we turned into neighborhood to hide as the group rode down the hill past us! It was AWESOME. We all felt like kids playing hide and seek, but still, we finally ditched the group for good and we ended up riding for about 5 hours on a helluva fine day on Sunday.
Life's good these days, hope everyone else in bicycle land is doing great!
Ride on,
-BC
Had an awesome, total smack down of a ride on the Saturday Ambler ride. Looks like the 4th time was the charm as I wasn't a chump this past weekend, though I was the weakest of my 3 man break, but alas, if you get 3rd out of 50, it ain't all that bad. Nothing's sweeter than having a group of 20 get within 50 feet of you, after they've been chasing for 10 miles, and then giving it the gas again and roll out of sight!
Saturday's ride was followed by a totally rocking afternoon and evening in the city of brotherly (and sisterly) loving. Saturday, just in case you aren't on the East Coast, was awesome on the Eastside. 70 degrees, blue sky, hot mamas not wearing much of anything. Yes, it's days like these when the citay living makes bubser (http://bubsers.typepad.com/epistemic/) sad I bet!
Rocked out with my smack-da-other-punks-down cycling posse at Devil's Alley to start the evening and afterwards, when they were going to the punk-ass Mid-Town Continental (don't go there, lotsa attitude), the Pepster and I were hanging out with our buddies Jim and Ginger. Jim and Ginger always start the night right and come darkness, the Pepster headed to Manayunk to rock, while I went to Alfa (18th & Walnut) to join up with my posse again. My boy TJ hit me up and met up, but soon after the ex-gf hit me up and showed up. We then rolled down the street to Cuba de Alba for a taste of the best mojitos in town before TJ found 2 lesbian lovers (whom he didn't realize were lesbians) to hit on, and so my ex and I decided to hit the road and head to her place for some catching up. Um, note to the wise, never catch up with any ex when previously hanging out with Jim and Ginger....
So woke up the next day after about 3 hours of sleep to ride with my hard core road posse and we tackled a nice rolling route. As I've mentioned before here, cyclists in Philly like to suck wheels of whomever they see riding down the street, so my group of 7 ends up having about 20 others decided to suck our wheels and follow us into the hills of Gladwynn. It was annoying as all can be to say it lightly! We ended up about 1/2 way through the ride ditching the group by all riding slower than everyone else. Then, about 20 minutes later, after we had started to ride hard again, we catch the group and they started to slow down for us, so we took the next turn and the whole f'ing group turned around to start sucking our wheel again, so we high tailed it down a hill and half way down the hill we turned into neighborhood to hide as the group rode down the hill past us! It was AWESOME. We all felt like kids playing hide and seek, but still, we finally ditched the group for good and we ended up riding for about 5 hours on a helluva fine day on Sunday.
Life's good these days, hope everyone else in bicycle land is doing great!
Ride on,
-BC
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The First Bonk of the year
Went to the Phillies game on Friday night. It was the first time I had ever tailgated before a game and it was definitely a rocking good time and reminded me of college as so many random people would just come on by our group and say hi. I went to the game with one of my old coworkers and some of his friends, 2 of which had never seen a MLB game. Wow did we have a crazy time at the game, I don't think those ladies had any clue how wild it was b/c in one night we had a grandslam, a balk, a coach get ejected, and a fan run onto the field and play cat and mouse for 2 minutes....plus they cut off the beer by the 5th inning (it was college night) and it was dollar dog night. I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but this game was non stop action, from the field to the stands as not only were there was tons of hits (probably b/c the pitchers were cold), hotdogs were flying through the air all night and there were a lot of rumbles in the stands b/c of the dogs.
I called it a night after the game, as on Saturday it was another round of Ambler (3rd time this year, each one I'm sucking more than the week before, not a good trend!), and with the rain today we did another 2 hours after the Ambler ride to get some climbing in and that's when I totally bonked on the Rosemont climb in Gladwynn. I can normally hit a good pace and have even big ringed this roller of a mile climb, but yesterday was 39-25 and I was still struggling to keep on top of the pedals. It's amazing how just riding on the weekends this Spring has made me slower than most of my cycling posse. I definitely hate that feeling and hopefully once the 2006 tax season is done on Tuesday I can finally ride during the week.
I hung out with the "Professor" and his rocking posse last night as they celebrated a fine lady's b-day. Damn did she have some hot friends, one was even a CMO/CDO (a type of fixed income) trader at a firm a few blocks from me. It was a stupid-silly night, one of those fun times where we are those loud obnoxious people at a bar who piss off everyone else b/c we're just too phunking happy. The rain totally sucked away our energy though as by 2:30 am every cab in the city was booked up and we all got soaked walking back from Olde City to CC (10 blocks). Luckily I woke up at 7am feeling good and pumped for Paris-Roubaix, and what an awesome race! You gotta love it when a dude wins who was in the first breakaway in the day!
Hope everyone got out and rode yesterday!
Ride on,
-BC
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
2 weeks of living
Been an especially interesting past week. Last weekend, my Soph. year of college roomate, Jeremy, got married: 
It was a blast and heck I even got teary-eyed at one point (during his brother's toast, that was phucking awesome GL!), but Deb (his awesome wife) didn't get the memo that there had to be at least one single woman invited to the wedding, damn I had a king sized bed that night too....
I also did something which wasn't too good, though I'll admit I was hanging out with my trouble-making friend, Jim Beam, and his friend Ginger at the time, as I walked off with a book by Sir Francis Bacon (it was located in a bookroom at the place which was rented for the reception). I hate to admit it, but I'm not feeling guilty that the book's now in my posession. I'm already becoming enlightened from the wicked hard to read, but passionate writings of the dude, plus it was only collecting dust on the bookshelf (also with no fine ladies to talk or dance with, what's a solo dude to do, but read Sir Francis Bacon during a wedding reception?)
OK, back to there not being any single women at the wedding, I did some calling around and complaining with my lady friends and they were all like, "if we are invited to a wedding, we always invite some dude to go with us, even if we aren't dating." SERIOUSLY WTF, yes one more, WTF are chics smoking these days? Are they trying to stay single forever? Who's ever heard of going to a wedding with just some random dude or even ex-boyfriend for that matter just so you have someone to go with? Weddings aren't the phucking prom, it's ok to show up unattached, actually it should be mandatory unless their's a ring of defense involved (aka wedding band)! Haven't they noticed weddings are the best place to meet single dudes?
OK, rant finished...
My work week was brutal this week. My co-worker rockstar was partying it up with company execs down in Palm Springs, while I was trying my best not to get my licenses revoked, ah, but all is well and forgotten when my backs to the door walking away at 6:30pm tonight. Looking forward to some type of bike riding tomorrow. Don't know if I want to do my first helterskelter Ambler ride tomorrow or give it another week. If you ever want to see what a People's Plaza World Championship ride would look like with 50 people (40 of whom are sketchballs) come do this ride behind the Art Museum at 9am on Saturdays. Just ride at the front or else...
Oh well, time to either head out or hit the bed. Hope everyone will enjoy the fine weather tomorrow.
Ride on!
-BC
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
And I just thought they grew bananas
US Charges Chiquita With Doing Business With Terror Grp; Co Confirms $25M Fine Payment Under Plea Pact With Gov - DJ (12.75 -0.25) -Update-
Co was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization - a right-wing militia in Colombia. Court documents filed Wednesday are an indication the co has settled a lengthy Justice Department investigation into its financial dealings with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based co and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the group, which is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group. Details of the settlement were not included in court documents. But Chiquita said last month it had set aside $25 mln to resolve the dispute. The co said the investigation involved a former subsidiary that made payments under pressure to ensure the safety of its employees. The payments were approved by senior executives at Chiquita, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997. "No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing. The co also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
Damn! The next thing we'll hear is that Disney did business with the Cali' cartel.
Co was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization - a right-wing militia in Colombia. Court documents filed Wednesday are an indication the co has settled a lengthy Justice Department investigation into its financial dealings with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based co and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the group, which is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group. Details of the settlement were not included in court documents. But Chiquita said last month it had set aside $25 mln to resolve the dispute. The co said the investigation involved a former subsidiary that made payments under pressure to ensure the safety of its employees. The payments were approved by senior executives at Chiquita, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997. "No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing. The co also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
Damn! The next thing we'll hear is that Disney did business with the Cali' cartel.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
I thought I recognized dat ass
After working out this morning (yes I should have been riding, I know...) and stretching on a mat at the Philly Sports Club, I look into the mirror and see a butt I think I recognize, jogging on a treadmill about 30 feet away. This was totally weird as I'm not a butt guy, I'm not always checking out ladies butts like most guys. I'd rather see if they know how to smile, as that's pretty important in life compared with some kind of butt.
Anyways, the next 5 minutes I'm trying not to get caught staring at this unique butt, but I swear it looks like my ex-gf (no not lady friend, but ex-gf, as a lady friend is as Biz Markie would say "Just a Friend"). So after I finished stretching I made it a point to walk at an angle so I could see if it was her, and sure enough it was. I even told her I recognized her by her butt, and for some reason she thought that was normal and didn't blink an eye. Heck she actually felt good knowing that I was checking out some possibly random girl's butt!
She's doing well, which makes me happy, as nothing's shittier in life than breaking up with someone and seeing them down in the dirt for long.
It ended up just being the start to a really weird day today. Philly's such a small feeling town now, it's starting to feel like Delaware, which is crazy since Philly alone is 2x the size of the whole state of DE.
Anyone else feeling all jacked up from this time change thing? From my sleep patterns to my eating patterns, I'm totally jacked up right now.
OH and I'm playing the CNBC stock game right now. It's so funny how a big drop can take the players out before some (like me) even put money to work. I'm ranked in the top 81%, otherwords I suck as you want to be top 1%, but considering I haven't bought a damn thing, it's crazy how many people are worse than me.
Anyways, the next 5 minutes I'm trying not to get caught staring at this unique butt, but I swear it looks like my ex-gf (no not lady friend, but ex-gf, as a lady friend is as Biz Markie would say "Just a Friend"). So after I finished stretching I made it a point to walk at an angle so I could see if it was her, and sure enough it was. I even told her I recognized her by her butt, and for some reason she thought that was normal and didn't blink an eye. Heck she actually felt good knowing that I was checking out some possibly random girl's butt!
She's doing well, which makes me happy, as nothing's shittier in life than breaking up with someone and seeing them down in the dirt for long.
It ended up just being the start to a really weird day today. Philly's such a small feeling town now, it's starting to feel like Delaware, which is crazy since Philly alone is 2x the size of the whole state of DE.
Anyone else feeling all jacked up from this time change thing? From my sleep patterns to my eating patterns, I'm totally jacked up right now.
OH and I'm playing the CNBC stock game right now. It's so funny how a big drop can take the players out before some (like me) even put money to work. I'm ranked in the top 81%, otherwords I suck as you want to be top 1%, but considering I haven't bought a damn thing, it's crazy how many people are worse than me.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Jeremy's Bachelor Party
Hit Baltimore yesterday for some rockin' out with one of my good friends and college roomate Jeremy and all of his other friends yesterday. We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather as we hit Camden yards first
and had a 2 hour tour through every possible place you could think of there. It was wicked cool as since the season hasn't started, our group of 10 were the only people there.
That's my buddy Jeremy on the right and one of his best friends Mike, on the left. Mike owns the Evergreen Cafe next to Loyola College in B-more. He's an avid cyclist, so definitely give him a hello if you are ever in town as he runs a kick ass coffee shop and loves cycle talk.
We then hit Brewer's Art for some drinks before heading down to Fells Point for dinner at DuClaws and then more drinks at The Admirals Cup. I'll be honest and admit I enjoyed my 3rd tasty beer ever (Tiny Tim) at Brewer's Art. Also another wicked cool place to check out if you are ever in B-more. Brewer's Art has a restuarant above, but the bar below is in an old wine cellar and wicked cool.
I think I heard of them before from a write up on Resurection Ale by Buddy.
Isn't that fixie sweet? It was one of the most beautiful bikes I've seen in a really long time. I'm glad I saw it, as it's the closest I got to any fine bike (or anything pink for that matter) on this beautiful weekend.
Ride on,
-BC
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Anyone Else read PezCyclingNews.com?
or do you just check the daily distractions?: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=dds/dds07/distractions-mar07
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Get the lube ready
For some bike porn:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2007/shows/nahmbs07/?id=/photos/2007/tech/shows/nahmbs07/nahmbs073/gallery-nahmbs073
I've been checking out a few picks every day. It's amazing how beautiful each bike is!
Ride on,
-BC
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2007/shows/nahmbs07/?id=/photos/2007/tech/shows/nahmbs07/nahmbs073/gallery-nahmbs073
I've been checking out a few picks every day. It's amazing how beautiful each bike is!
Ride on,
-BC
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Collegiate Road Races in Philly this weekend
Dude, did anyone see this? I haven't seen a blip on any of the listserves....http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/mar07/mar07news
It's the last article on the days list. It's talking about the Collegiate Road Races in Philly this weekend.
Wow, had a busy few days the past week or so. Rocked out this past Friday forr my B-day by going on a dual night out with a buddy and also going on a blind date. It was really quite an experience and a fun time at that.
Met up with my buddy and neighbor Nick and then we headed up to Northern Libs (my first time EVER there) to meet up with this mysterious lady. We got to the bar, "North 3rd" and grabbed a drink and settled down for a bit. The ladies were out in effect and were just like Nick said. Cool, friendly, artsy and professional was the scene, plus it was just table after table of them just chilling waiting for skinny bike studs to talk to. North 3rd had many a fine beer on tap (Nick would say that as I don't drink beer, sorry! Read http://bikesandbeer.blogspot.com/ for your beer satisfaction). I had my typically Jim (beam) and Ginger, which this place seemed to know how to make and also to make cheaply. Just an FYI. A Jim and Ginger will cost you 16 mothaphunk'n dollars at the Continental, but 4 fitty in North Libs. That's a mighty good deal if you ask me. Plus the bartender (Oh yes she was so nice and tender!) doesn't have that Center City attitude of being almost too cool to serve you a drink. The food looked crazy good too. If I was secret food spy "FM" I would have been there to capture a pic for you all, but alas, I'm still learning how to use the camera.
So after getting that first drink, I texted the surprise-lady to let her know I was at the bar she recommended. And of course, some uber hottie a few people away pics up her cell and starts reading a text, so I was like "dude, Nick, there's the chick." and went up to her and was like, hey, I'm BC" She was like, ahhh, ok... I was like, didn't I just text you? She was like, "NO, WTF are you talking about?" I was like OK and started walking away and she was like, hey I'm so and so, and started talking to me. It was the funniest thing as my buddy Nick was at the bar and totally thought this was the chic I was meeting up as she had tons of hot friends with her, but alas, it was not to be.
We eventually caught up with the surprise-lady, had a few drinks with her and her friends and then rolled to McGillans in CC, where the crowd was rowdy from some kick ass karaoking. The ladies in McG's were insanely hot. Everytime I'm there I never expect it, as the pub's one of the oldest in the city and I just always expect an older crowd, as it's far away from all the hip places on Walnut St. I immediately signed up to do one of my fav. 80's songs, wishing my boy CV from DE was able to rock out with me, I don't know of anyone more fun than Mr. Vann when it comes to Karaoke. He knows pretty much every commonly known song word for word. McGillans was a damn good time, though I was kicking myself for inviting the mystery lady out with Nick and I, as we would have had an insane time with all the fine single ladies there and this lady was sticking to me like butter on toast (as Biggie smalls would've said). We rocked out until about 1, when the m-l decided to roll and then Nick and I rolled out to find something to grub. Unfortunately, indecision was the killer and by the time we decided where to go, it was closing down and we called it a night.
Luckily, for the first time since I've been in Philly, I realized the importance of drinking water with a good drink or two. So I was up and at it early on Sat. to get an early train down to DE so I could go for a sweet road ride before my grandfather's 91st b-day party. That was a blast to see him as just a month ago he was on oxygen and now he's doing better and off of it, and back to his same ol' cool self. I ended up having a wicked fun day of riding and catching up with family in DE.
Sunday was a BC (getting) smack(ed) down ride on the road with my Sunday MTB. posse. I totally got my ass handed to me every time the riding got tough. Colin and Christian (my muslim brotha) would always let me feel like a rockstar, pushing it at the start of a climb, only to do the smackdown 1/2 way up and leave me waaaay behind them. I kept the head up, but that's all. Good strong weekend of riding, it felt great to push myself with a group on the road again. I'm bummed I won't be able to be smacked this coming weekend, but happily one of my bestest of friends from college is having his Bachelor party in Baltimore. Let's hope for no snow tonight!
Ride on playas.
-BC
It's the last article on the days list. It's talking about the Collegiate Road Races in Philly this weekend.
Wow, had a busy few days the past week or so. Rocked out this past Friday forr my B-day by going on a dual night out with a buddy and also going on a blind date. It was really quite an experience and a fun time at that.
Met up with my buddy and neighbor Nick and then we headed up to Northern Libs (my first time EVER there) to meet up with this mysterious lady. We got to the bar, "North 3rd" and grabbed a drink and settled down for a bit. The ladies were out in effect and were just like Nick said. Cool, friendly, artsy and professional was the scene, plus it was just table after table of them just chilling waiting for skinny bike studs to talk to. North 3rd had many a fine beer on tap (Nick would say that as I don't drink beer, sorry! Read http://bikesandbeer.blogspot.com/ for your beer satisfaction). I had my typically Jim (beam) and Ginger, which this place seemed to know how to make and also to make cheaply. Just an FYI. A Jim and Ginger will cost you 16 mothaphunk'n dollars at the Continental, but 4 fitty in North Libs. That's a mighty good deal if you ask me. Plus the bartender (Oh yes she was so nice and tender!) doesn't have that Center City attitude of being almost too cool to serve you a drink. The food looked crazy good too. If I was secret food spy "FM" I would have been there to capture a pic for you all, but alas, I'm still learning how to use the camera.
So after getting that first drink, I texted the surprise-lady to let her know I was at the bar she recommended. And of course, some uber hottie a few people away pics up her cell and starts reading a text, so I was like "dude, Nick, there's the chick." and went up to her and was like, hey, I'm BC" She was like, ahhh, ok... I was like, didn't I just text you? She was like, "NO, WTF are you talking about?" I was like OK and started walking away and she was like, hey I'm so and so, and started talking to me. It was the funniest thing as my buddy Nick was at the bar and totally thought this was the chic I was meeting up as she had tons of hot friends with her, but alas, it was not to be.
We eventually caught up with the surprise-lady, had a few drinks with her and her friends and then rolled to McGillans in CC, where the crowd was rowdy from some kick ass karaoking. The ladies in McG's were insanely hot. Everytime I'm there I never expect it, as the pub's one of the oldest in the city and I just always expect an older crowd, as it's far away from all the hip places on Walnut St. I immediately signed up to do one of my fav. 80's songs, wishing my boy CV from DE was able to rock out with me, I don't know of anyone more fun than Mr. Vann when it comes to Karaoke. He knows pretty much every commonly known song word for word. McGillans was a damn good time, though I was kicking myself for inviting the mystery lady out with Nick and I, as we would have had an insane time with all the fine single ladies there and this lady was sticking to me like butter on toast (as Biggie smalls would've said). We rocked out until about 1, when the m-l decided to roll and then Nick and I rolled out to find something to grub. Unfortunately, indecision was the killer and by the time we decided where to go, it was closing down and we called it a night.
Luckily, for the first time since I've been in Philly, I realized the importance of drinking water with a good drink or two. So I was up and at it early on Sat. to get an early train down to DE so I could go for a sweet road ride before my grandfather's 91st b-day party. That was a blast to see him as just a month ago he was on oxygen and now he's doing better and off of it, and back to his same ol' cool self. I ended up having a wicked fun day of riding and catching up with family in DE.
Sunday was a BC (getting) smack(ed) down ride on the road with my Sunday MTB. posse. I totally got my ass handed to me every time the riding got tough. Colin and Christian (my muslim brotha) would always let me feel like a rockstar, pushing it at the start of a climb, only to do the smackdown 1/2 way up and leave me waaaay behind them. I kept the head up, but that's all. Good strong weekend of riding, it felt great to push myself with a group on the road again. I'm bummed I won't be able to be smacked this coming weekend, but happily one of my bestest of friends from college is having his Bachelor party in Baltimore. Let's hope for no snow tonight!
Ride on playas.
-BC
Saturday, February 24, 2007
The Rolla Coasta of Life
I'm busting out a cool 30 years of life come Thursday. It's been a fun ride so far, really looking forward to the rest of it, however long or short it may be! I'm totally psyched for the day, as at 9:30 am, Dorsey Wright and Associates (DorseyWright.com) are ringing the NYSE bell. Dorsey Wright was the first Options research firm on (actually they're off, but still...) Wall Street (they started in Richmond, VA). They give phenomenal commentary, way above all that analytical bullshit that 99% of research firms give. Picture a commentary team similar to Phil (Ligget) and Paul (Sherwin) talking about the stock market and that's what you have. Also, incase anyone doesn't know, no one has a crystal ball to let you know what's going to happen day in or day out with the Market (that's why I love it, it's something new every day), yet for some reason the dudes and dudettes at Dorsey Wright get so close once and a while, and I get chills (and money in my brokerage accounts). So I'm totally psyched for the team ringing the bell, as in that odd internet sort of way, I feel like I know the crew ringing the bell and I couldn't get a better gift seeing some cool people finally making it Bigtime on March 1st.
Sorry for no updates lately. Work's going great (it's really, really dope!) and I'm totally busting it there, while still having a great time. Also I downloaded the studio version of MixMeister (FUSION) and have pretty much spent all free minutes laying down some crazy sets. I'm now, in a sense, "all mixed up and no where to play." No riding last weekend, I'm surprised the DE posse was out in force both days. Mad props to all the playas down there!
Today I was totally inspired for a long road ride, and my heart was strong, but my legs were goooooone from the start. I love the Hammer Gel Espresso though as that thing jacked me up enough times to keep me going out to VF and back, can't wait for my mtb. posse ride tomorrow! My legs are trashed, but WhoTF cares, I just want to ride my bike!
Ride on,
-BC
Sunday, February 11, 2007
ETN.fm show of Paul Vinitsky "Trance Dance Show"
This DJ, Paul Vinitsky, is the funniest dude. First he calls his radio show the "Trance Dance Show", and then during the set (always when the track is hitting it's peak) he'll start talking about the track in his Russian-English accent with so-so English telling you about the DJ who made the song. It's the funniest thing, as you would never hear a state side DJ do it, and if you did, you'd be pissed, but since you know he's being sincere, you can't get pissed at him and can only laugh.
If anyone gets up nice and early in the morn' and wants something to pump them up (next to the java), this ETN.fm is a jewel, as now and then they have live shows still going on in the West Coast. And since it's like 2am or 3am West Coast time, the set is typically close to being finished and it's totally slamming.
Did my normal Sunday ride with my roadie mtb. posse. Seems like we were in the minority today for running gears. Tons of singles out there today. Trails were insanely fast though a few ice patches were insanely slick and unrideable. Realized half way through that the reason I kept on almost endo-ing on every drop-off was my fork had no air, plus I have no skill. So that was a little hairy, but still had a great ride considering how sore I was from fighting the wind for 4 hours yesterday on the road.
Looking forward to the snow this week, as the city really quiets down when the white stuff falls.
Ride on!
-BC
If anyone gets up nice and early in the morn' and wants something to pump them up (next to the java), this ETN.fm is a jewel, as now and then they have live shows still going on in the West Coast. And since it's like 2am or 3am West Coast time, the set is typically close to being finished and it's totally slamming.
Did my normal Sunday ride with my roadie mtb. posse. Seems like we were in the minority today for running gears. Tons of singles out there today. Trails were insanely fast though a few ice patches were insanely slick and unrideable. Realized half way through that the reason I kept on almost endo-ing on every drop-off was my fork had no air, plus I have no skill. So that was a little hairy, but still had a great ride considering how sore I was from fighting the wind for 4 hours yesterday on the road.
Looking forward to the snow this week, as the city really quiets down when the white stuff falls.
Ride on!
-BC
Friday, February 09, 2007
I wish..
I was riding here tomorrow. This was probably somewhere between 8-10 thousand feet up in the Andes back in Jan. 2005. Wish I was back down there right now to ride the bike as I'm itching to feel the sun on my skin again!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Pantani Movie
Has anyone seen the Pantani tribute yet? If you find a link to it, please shoot me it, as I have yet to find it.
It's amazing that La Gazzetta dello Sport calculated that almost 21% of Italy watched the movie on Pantani's life last night. I sort of miss Pantani as you rarely had someone talk so much smack and back it up like he would. You have Armstrong, Ullrich and Basso who seem like machines, and act as such too. Pantani's animation made a race into a show, more like Theatre than a sporting event.
I wonder who among the new kids on the block will take his aggressive stance to racing?
It's amazing that La Gazzetta dello Sport calculated that almost 21% of Italy watched the movie on Pantani's life last night. I sort of miss Pantani as you rarely had someone talk so much smack and back it up like he would. You have Armstrong, Ullrich and Basso who seem like machines, and act as such too. Pantani's animation made a race into a show, more like Theatre than a sporting event.
I wonder who among the new kids on the block will take his aggressive stance to racing?
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Where have all the cyclist's gone?
Rode the last 2 days here, and weirdly I'm like the only one out there riding a bike. Sure the messengers are still kicking it hard core. Super hard core. Like still pimp'n pretty much a t-shirt with jeans hard core. And the runners are out in force. Like "biker get the phunk off the trail in force." It was that scary as I was the only one out there and the runners knew it... Plus those runners are insanely hardcore too: "who needs pants when it's 25 degrees out? Not me b/c I'm a hardcore runner! Hat? Who needs a hat? Hats or for sissies and cyclists!"
I was down in DE yesterday for my grandmother's 85th B-day. It was a totally rocking day though it started really shitty as all my riding buddies bailed b/c of the temps. I was still not convinced it was cold enough to pack it up, so I decided to ride to my drycleaners (Bambi's on Broad and yes they are environmentally sensitive cleaners) and test the temp out. It was ph'ing cold, but not too cold where you would freeze your arse off on a one hour spin. So I rocked out roadie style on the mtb. and did a few laps on Lemon Hill and then headed back to da Sou' Phil.
I was down in DE yesterday for my grandmother's 85th B-day. It was a totally rocking day though it started really shitty as all my riding buddies bailed b/c of the temps. I was still not convinced it was cold enough to pack it up, so I decided to ride to my drycleaners (Bambi's on Broad and yes they are environmentally sensitive cleaners) and test the temp out. It was ph'ing cold, but not too cold where you would freeze your arse off on a one hour spin. So I rocked out roadie style on the mtb. and did a few laps on Lemon Hill and then headed back to da Sou' Phil.
I cleaned up quick and barely made the R2 down to Wilmington. It was the coolest ride as I ran into a fine lady whom I used to date down in DE, whom I lost touch with when both of us became involved with other people back at the end of 2005. She had moved up to live the Philly life too, so it was uber cool to catch up with her again. It still amazes me at how I constanly cross paths with people who knew me down in DE while being in Philly.
She was also super cool when she offered to have her mother drop me off at my bro's place in Trolley Sq. as the walk up to there would have been crazy cold. While driving past Logan House I spotted Dan the Man riding by. Dude, I so wanted to lower the window and yell out, but my friend and her mom would been like WTF's going on!?! So after reading FM's blog tonight I see that he wasn't on his road bike, but a cross bike while out in B-wine. That's rockstar status fo' sho'! Though I always knew he was a rockstar anyways.
So I began my DE visit catching up with an old friend (and uber hottie at that, you're still 10 on a 10 if you're reading this Allie!) and then my bro and I headed out to get a few things for my granmother's b-day party later on. I wanted to stop by Trader Joes to pick up a few things for grandmom and while there I noticed that no one really bags their own groceries at the DE TJ's. In Philly everyone does, and it's abnormal to see otherwise. I wonder if it's the quicker city pace, but it did surprise me how also at the DE TJ's no one brought their own bag or bagged the bags while being rung up.
Later at my grandmom's party it was cool seeing all my cousins and all their little ones running around. One of my cousins kid's, who is about 2, was running around the house with swimming goggles on. I ask his dad, my cousin Chris, "dude, Alex is learning how to swim?", "nope, he just likes the goggles". I wish I had a picture as it was funny as shit and it reminded me of way back in the day when I was in college and one night one of my buddies, who was loaded as all can be, thought they would be cool to pimp out my goggles that night. Later that afternoon my bro, his fine wife and I headed over to my grandmother's house where they had decided to cook up a sweet b-day fondu dinner for my grandparents and of course it was totally rocking! As my bro's the Iron Fist in the kitchen, but when it's all done, it's always damn good.
Took the last train back up to Philly and chatted with 2 little girls across from me. I felt like a prisoner in an FBI questioning as between those 2 they asked me about 1303 questions by the time we got to Philly. It was the funniest trip as the mother just kept her mouth shut and let her girls just roll with the questions. The funniest question was when they asked me what were some of the last few movies I've seen. They were like, yeah, we liked Blade 3 too. I was like WHAT, you two are like 8 and 10? They said it didn't scare them. I told them how I couldn't sleep that night I watched it and they just thought I was a baby. It was so funny being put down by them!
Rode out to VF park today, my normal hilly route, though it was abnormally cold. I had planned to do just another hour or so today, but I got to Manyunk and felt surprisingly warm so I continued on and sure enough I was in over my head as by the time I was in the park, I could feel a funky bonk coming on. It totally sucked as I had what Ferg would describe as Gurgly-Gut. I didn't want to down anything more (bottles luckily hadn't frozen) though I did pack some hammer gel and hit that up, but it wasn't enough. I ended up taking the VF trail back and that puppy was treacherous, I had totally forgotten that it may have been iced up. So I ended up riding on the grass alongside the trail off and on for a few miles. It actually was good as it warmed me up and kept me going slow, so I didn't push into uber bonk status. I was surprised at how the mtb'ing the last few months has actually improved my overall fitness as while I haven't been doing any climbing on the road for a long while, I was able to muscle over most of the climbs. Sure it wasn't pretty, but I got through it. Made it back home before 4:30 which was the goal as there was no way I wanted to be out there when the sun started to go down. It was cold enough out there! I don't know how racers in the northern parts of this country can do it for more than just a few weeks.
Well, another month already into 2007. Hard to believe January's nothing but a memory and that I'll be 30 before I know it. I still feel so young, but when I hang with people just out of college, I'm like, these guys are kids!
and Dude FM, if I'm the SCWPJO that pushed you over the edge, I'm sorry dude, just delete my blog from your reading list. I'll still check yours every morning when I wake up though. I just try to let my peeps throughout this country know what's going on with me without having to email them.
Hope everyone is dusting their trainers off. Looks like this week's going to be the real deal winter now.
Ride on,
-BC
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Props to KC and the rest of the US squad at Worlds!
Wow, it was a great feeling coming back from the Wiss ride today and seeing that KC had such a rocking ride in Belgium! Hard to believe she almost did to the world what she did to the US National championships a few years back today! I assume she didn't get the starting position she deserved since her UCI points are quite few compared with all of the World Cup racers, so even more props to KC knowing she had to get through the fodder on the way to Silver!
What an awesome ride by Page too! To come back from such an injury and not only be competitive, but also be in a strong position to get the gold show's how hard this dude works and also how hard he's worked to gain the respect of the other cross racers in the World.
Velonews has some of the most rocking pictures of the days races:
http://www.velonews.com/race/cyc/articles/11548.0.html
Ride on,
-BC
What an awesome ride by Page too! To come back from such an injury and not only be competitive, but also be in a strong position to get the gold show's how hard this dude works and also how hard he's worked to gain the respect of the other cross racers in the World.
Velonews has some of the most rocking pictures of the days races:
http://www.velonews.com/race/cyc/articles/11548.0.html
Ride on,
-BC
New Year, New team
Just last week I decided to move to a team which has all my training buddies on it. It was a hard decision as all the people on the Guys Racing team have been awesome, but when it came down to it, I didn't ride much with them as they all seemed to live far away from Center City Philly and I would only catch up with them at most every few weeks or so.
The dudes who I do 90% of my group riding all live within 2 miles of Center City and hence a few months ago they started talking about leaving their respective teams and creating a new team based in Center City and with that they created a team rightfully named, in French, the "The City's Team": http://www.lequipedeville.org/.
It should be another fun year getting to know all the new people my fellow riding buddies have asked to join the team. What's going to make the team unique is that it's more of a club than a "racing team" as we are going to participate in a good majority of the Philly benefit rides during the summer months. Pretty much every person on the team was at one point a hardcore racer, some still are, but mainly it's people who love to ride hard, train hard, and compete, but who don't necessarily want to race every weekend.
The dudes who I do 90% of my group riding all live within 2 miles of Center City and hence a few months ago they started talking about leaving their respective teams and creating a new team based in Center City and with that they created a team rightfully named, in French, the "The City's Team": http://www.lequipedeville.org/.
It should be another fun year getting to know all the new people my fellow riding buddies have asked to join the team. What's going to make the team unique is that it's more of a club than a "racing team" as we are going to participate in a good majority of the Philly benefit rides during the summer months. Pretty much every person on the team was at one point a hardcore racer, some still are, but mainly it's people who love to ride hard, train hard, and compete, but who don't necessarily want to race every weekend.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Go ride your bike!
Rode the Wiss with the Sunday Posse today. Trails were hard and fast (just like how your mom like's it Windows!) today and we rode incredibly quick and smooth. Too quick actually, b/c the dudes I ride with had frozen hands b/c they hadn't planned on how much faster things would be. There was just a few icy sections which added a wee bit of suspense. Total ride time was 4 hours, which was crazy, as it sure didn't feel that long. It really amazes how time flies while mtb'ing. It must be that since your focus is typically not more than a few hundred feet ahead, that you just do hundreds of little bits of distance, and you never actually feel like you are covering much ground (as compared to a road bike ride).
Dude, another week flew by way too quick. I can't believe it's almost February! Racing season is getting close. I just swapped teams yesterday. No one on my old team knows yet (outside of the prez), though half of my old team is on my new team anyways...
This past week I received an email which really got me thinking, as I've seen such a thing printed dozens of times the past few years. I receive a WebMD email 2-3x a week at work and this week I got one which mentioned how married people live a "happier" life than those not married. It got me thinking about people I know that fall into each category, especially those that are "still" single. I realized that some people who work hard, party hard and live life really hard, approach everything like a game that they have to win, and yet they win and they are never happy.
I wonder if they ever take that into consideration for these Marriage happiness studies. I'm thinking that some people who are still single, are single for a reason and most likely it has nothing to do with the marriage thing.
Whoa, now that it's gotten cold here, it's really sad to see all the homeless coming down into Suburban station. I easily can count a few dozen in my 3 block underground walk in the morning. Also it's obvious many more people are staying down there as the urine smell's gotten a lot worse. It's really sad that there's such an issue here, I've heard Philly's actually one of the worst cities on the East Coast for the amount of homeless people. Something like 3000 people at any one time. Most are pretty harmless and you don't ever feel threatened, though there's definitely a schizo or two who can be pretty darn scary.
OH one big word of advice, which sounds harsh at first, but if you think about it, it makes sense. NEVER give a homeless person money. Buy them food, give them clothes, but NEVER give them money. If you feel for them, donate to a homeless shelter, but never just give that needy hand money directly. I know this may sound inhumane, but I back in my non-profit days, a homeless shelter Exec. Director told me that exact statement above.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day (or two), teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lot longer. Something like that.
Oh and here's a conspiracy theory for dat azz. One of the high-rolling client's who come into my office and hang out every day (he's retired) posed this interesting theory a few days ago. What if the US finally realized that the war in the Middle East and the impending economic one with Venezula cannot be won Militarily and instead decided to do it economically? What if our gvt. opened up the strategic oil reserve, without anyone finding out? What if they started shorting millions of oil contracts to lower the price? What if they say were paying Qatar billions to ignore OPEC and keep pumping? No one would ever know and yet Iran would fold. Since Iran is supposedly founding the Iraq insurgency, then that would obviously die back b/c Iran would have it's own problems.
It's just this dude's crazy idea, but to me it was worth a few "what if" brain cells.
Alright, it's winter time and it's time for bed.
-bc
Warm thoughts, from Key West:
Dude, another week flew by way too quick. I can't believe it's almost February! Racing season is getting close. I just swapped teams yesterday. No one on my old team knows yet (outside of the prez), though half of my old team is on my new team anyways...
This past week I received an email which really got me thinking, as I've seen such a thing printed dozens of times the past few years. I receive a WebMD email 2-3x a week at work and this week I got one which mentioned how married people live a "happier" life than those not married. It got me thinking about people I know that fall into each category, especially those that are "still" single. I realized that some people who work hard, party hard and live life really hard, approach everything like a game that they have to win, and yet they win and they are never happy.
I wonder if they ever take that into consideration for these Marriage happiness studies. I'm thinking that some people who are still single, are single for a reason and most likely it has nothing to do with the marriage thing.
Whoa, now that it's gotten cold here, it's really sad to see all the homeless coming down into Suburban station. I easily can count a few dozen in my 3 block underground walk in the morning. Also it's obvious many more people are staying down there as the urine smell's gotten a lot worse. It's really sad that there's such an issue here, I've heard Philly's actually one of the worst cities on the East Coast for the amount of homeless people. Something like 3000 people at any one time. Most are pretty harmless and you don't ever feel threatened, though there's definitely a schizo or two who can be pretty darn scary.
OH one big word of advice, which sounds harsh at first, but if you think about it, it makes sense. NEVER give a homeless person money. Buy them food, give them clothes, but NEVER give them money. If you feel for them, donate to a homeless shelter, but never just give that needy hand money directly. I know this may sound inhumane, but I back in my non-profit days, a homeless shelter Exec. Director told me that exact statement above.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day (or two), teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lot longer. Something like that.
Oh and here's a conspiracy theory for dat azz. One of the high-rolling client's who come into my office and hang out every day (he's retired) posed this interesting theory a few days ago. What if the US finally realized that the war in the Middle East and the impending economic one with Venezula cannot be won Militarily and instead decided to do it economically? What if our gvt. opened up the strategic oil reserve, without anyone finding out? What if they started shorting millions of oil contracts to lower the price? What if they say were paying Qatar billions to ignore OPEC and keep pumping? No one would ever know and yet Iran would fold. Since Iran is supposedly founding the Iraq insurgency, then that would obviously die back b/c Iran would have it's own problems.
It's just this dude's crazy idea, but to me it was worth a few "what if" brain cells.
Alright, it's winter time and it's time for bed.
-bc
Warm thoughts, from Key West:
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Stiffness tests
Think your bike is stiff compared to others? See if it's on the list:
http://www.efbe.de/testergebnisse/enindex.php
MTB ride tomorrow. I hope it's worth it as everyone's rocking out tonight, but I'm staying home even though the mojo's been good this week.
Ride on,
-BC
http://www.efbe.de/testergebnisse/enindex.php
MTB ride tomorrow. I hope it's worth it as everyone's rocking out tonight, but I'm staying home even though the mojo's been good this week.
Ride on,
-BC
Monday, January 15, 2007
I'm a gym rat now
Only rode for 3 hours total the last few days, but easily put more than that in the gym. Hopefully I don't regret it if winter actually does show up.
Rocked out again with the Pepster, this time at McGillians for the Eagles game. We had a rock'n good time, you can't beat Woodchuck on tap, plus they had good beer for cheap by the pitcher. I stuck with the cider.
It was really a fun crowd and I think I met like 10 new friends by the end of the night. I also met some hottie from New Orleans, so I called Colin "the professor" (he's from Nawlons too) and told him to get his butt over to McGillians and meet probably the only other person from Nawlons next to him and Of course he ends up already knowing her. Strange how this city feels like Delaware once and while?!? Had one woodchuck too many and didn't make the Sunday mtb. ride, I bet Colin made it and made me look like a chump.
Had a fun day of painting and working on mixing some more music. I remembered where I had seen some DJ programs from a while back (TUCOWS.com) and downloaded the "MixMeister Express 6". The program is straight dope! You can just click and drag your music and goes through it and tells you what the bpm (beat per minute) is and so you can make your own mix by having the ends and the beginnings of tracks overlap so it's seamless (aka FLOWS). For instance, I took a Timo Maas track and laced it up with Billy Idol's dancing with myself (my 80's @ 120 remix) and it was rocking. What makes the software super dooooper sick is that you can take a track which is say, 140bpm and lace it with something which is 110 bpm and it will speed up or slow down the track so it's seamless. You don't even notice it, it's that good!
I'm all hyped up for tomorrow, crap it's been 3 days off work and I don't know what to do.
Ride on!
-BC
Rocked out again with the Pepster, this time at McGillians for the Eagles game. We had a rock'n good time, you can't beat Woodchuck on tap, plus they had good beer for cheap by the pitcher. I stuck with the cider.
It was really a fun crowd and I think I met like 10 new friends by the end of the night. I also met some hottie from New Orleans, so I called Colin "the professor" (he's from Nawlons too) and told him to get his butt over to McGillians and meet probably the only other person from Nawlons next to him and Of course he ends up already knowing her. Strange how this city feels like Delaware once and while?!? Had one woodchuck too many and didn't make the Sunday mtb. ride, I bet Colin made it and made me look like a chump.
Had a fun day of painting and working on mixing some more music. I remembered where I had seen some DJ programs from a while back (TUCOWS.com) and downloaded the "MixMeister Express 6". The program is straight dope! You can just click and drag your music and goes through it and tells you what the bpm (beat per minute) is and so you can make your own mix by having the ends and the beginnings of tracks overlap so it's seamless (aka FLOWS). For instance, I took a Timo Maas track and laced it up with Billy Idol's dancing with myself (my 80's @ 120 remix) and it was rocking. What makes the software super dooooper sick is that you can take a track which is say, 140bpm and lace it with something which is 110 bpm and it will speed up or slow down the track so it's seamless. You don't even notice it, it's that good!
I'm all hyped up for tomorrow, crap it's been 3 days off work and I don't know what to do.
Ride on!
-BC
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Word of the Day boys and girls.
IS FLOW.
Life is simple as that, just go along with it or start it and make sure it doesn't stop.
Everything flows, but doesn't have to.
Cycling feels like flying when you flow and when you stop flowing you typically are flying off your bike...
Work isn't work, it's just having a good time when you flow.
The trees dance in the wind, instead of break, when they flow.
Birds gain altitude in the air when they flow.
DJ's are DJ's because they make it flow.
A paceline is only a paceline when it flows, if not it's a clusterphuk.
Sex is better for both when you flow.
Money's to be made in the market when you flow, go the opposite way and you learn the lesson soon enough.
A river's only a river if it flows meandering along. If it's not then it's an Army Corps of Engineer project.
A highway is only fast when everyone flows. One bad driver, fast or slow, and there's no flow.
A rap's no rhyme if the words don't flow.
Life's a lot easier if you just make your surroundings flow with you, if life ever seems hard, then something must not be flowing and you should correct it asap.
Hit up another warm January day for a ride today. Kept it short, just 2 hrs :-( ,and tackled some hills in Conshi and Gladwynn. Damn I love hills, they really tell you where you are at as far as fitness, and they can be a ton of fun when you flow up them.
Yay, I have the Fatboy Slim Essential Mix again. Nothing like hearing Funky Fresh 100 time in 4 minutes again.
Ride on!
-BC
Life is simple as that, just go along with it or start it and make sure it doesn't stop.
Everything flows, but doesn't have to.
Cycling feels like flying when you flow and when you stop flowing you typically are flying off your bike...
Work isn't work, it's just having a good time when you flow.
The trees dance in the wind, instead of break, when they flow.
Birds gain altitude in the air when they flow.
DJ's are DJ's because they make it flow.
A paceline is only a paceline when it flows, if not it's a clusterphuk.
Sex is better for both when you flow.
Money's to be made in the market when you flow, go the opposite way and you learn the lesson soon enough.
A river's only a river if it flows meandering along. If it's not then it's an Army Corps of Engineer project.
A highway is only fast when everyone flows. One bad driver, fast or slow, and there's no flow.
A rap's no rhyme if the words don't flow.
Life's a lot easier if you just make your surroundings flow with you, if life ever seems hard, then something must not be flowing and you should correct it asap.
Hit up another warm January day for a ride today. Kept it short, just 2 hrs :-( ,and tackled some hills in Conshi and Gladwynn. Damn I love hills, they really tell you where you are at as far as fitness, and they can be a ton of fun when you flow up them.
Yay, I have the Fatboy Slim Essential Mix again. Nothing like hearing Funky Fresh 100 time in 4 minutes again.
Ride on!
-BC
Sunday, January 07, 2007
LMAO, I forgot how funny TheOnion is
Check it out too if you haven't seen it in a while:
http://www.theonion.com/content/
They're having their 6 years of Bush, "A Celebration of Courage" tribute right now.
Funny stuff!
Let's see if I can get 2 posts in today so I can get bumped back into the "regular posters" list...
http://www.theonion.com/content/
They're having their 6 years of Bush, "A Celebration of Courage" tribute right now.
Funny stuff!
Let's see if I can get 2 posts in today so I can get bumped back into the "regular posters" list...
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Happy 2 double 0 Seven!
WOW, we are years from that Y2K thing now aren't we? Remember when that's all people were talking about? It's amazing how simple our worries were back then as compared to now...
Word, the weather has been wicked good and I hope all you bike people out there are riding like it's your job these days! My legs were cooked from the gym this past weekend, but I sucked it up anyways and had awesome rides on both Saturday and Sunday. The mtb. ride on Sunday is now becoming more and more fun as we all get used to riding trails again. All the dudes I ride with at one point raced mtb's, but none of us had for at least 3 years when we decided about a month ago to start riding on Sundays. What a blast it's been! Wissashickon is just a sweet trail system, really mind blowing at how good it is considering it's smack dab in a city of 1 point something million people.
I have a new boss at work. He's a baddas, just like FatMarc. A cool dude, smoother than snoop dogg, but still commands a ton of respect. It should be another kick-ass year in Philly, I'm really looking forward to it.
Did nothing special for New Years Eve. The rain kept me from venturing out, plus my mom and stepdad are helping me re-do my kitchen and so I worked on that with them until 9pm, then cleaned up and hung out with the ladies from 3 doors up. They rocked out differently than most, but it was fun and the smack talked during the 1am Scrabble game would make the most veteran NBA player cringe at such harsh words of trash talk coming from the ladies mouths. It was fun and I hit the sack by 3, to get up too soon and start on the kitchen again. Pictures will be coming soon.
Hope y'all have a great 2007!
Don't forget to ride your bike.
-BC
Word, the weather has been wicked good and I hope all you bike people out there are riding like it's your job these days! My legs were cooked from the gym this past weekend, but I sucked it up anyways and had awesome rides on both Saturday and Sunday. The mtb. ride on Sunday is now becoming more and more fun as we all get used to riding trails again. All the dudes I ride with at one point raced mtb's, but none of us had for at least 3 years when we decided about a month ago to start riding on Sundays. What a blast it's been! Wissashickon is just a sweet trail system, really mind blowing at how good it is considering it's smack dab in a city of 1 point something million people.
I have a new boss at work. He's a baddas, just like FatMarc. A cool dude, smoother than snoop dogg, but still commands a ton of respect. It should be another kick-ass year in Philly, I'm really looking forward to it.
Did nothing special for New Years Eve. The rain kept me from venturing out, plus my mom and stepdad are helping me re-do my kitchen and so I worked on that with them until 9pm, then cleaned up and hung out with the ladies from 3 doors up. They rocked out differently than most, but it was fun and the smack talked during the 1am Scrabble game would make the most veteran NBA player cringe at such harsh words of trash talk coming from the ladies mouths. It was fun and I hit the sack by 3, to get up too soon and start on the kitchen again. Pictures will be coming soon.
Hope y'all have a great 2007!
Don't forget to ride your bike.
-BC
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