alkaline

The new job is at a different bike shop. I had a good day. We went to Atlanta and NC instead of Colorado. I got the chance to play with a Ferrari (sp?) Colnago mountain bike today. Full suspension. Carbon seat post and handlebar. The thing was tricked out. There are only like 500 in the world. It was very cool.

Altitude isn't that bad. Give it a couple of days to get used to it though, or you'll get sick. So I'm back from my vacation. Nothing really exciting happened. I didn't paint. I didn't bench. And I rode my bike for all of 20 minutes. I did however get wrecked at skatepark in NC. I start my new job tomorrow morning.

Trust me, Hesh, it will never be cheap enough. Once you can get it at cost, your taste will become more expensive, or you'll just want more. It makes deciding what to get first a lot more fun though. I've decided to start upgrading my single-speed mountain bike. It's time to finally put a shock on the beast. I think I'm going to repaint it too. The best part is that once I finally finish, it will be like a whole new bike. I'm very excited. After I finish that, I'll build a trials bike. I got word that I for sure got that job at the other bike shop. Hopefully they'll pay me better.

Is that what you do all day instead of working? I keep forgeting to mail those pictures, so I'm going to send them in an email. That way you'll at least know what we did for you. Way to go, Hesh.

So I was just flipping through Dirt Rag and there was a cool article in there. It was partly about biking and partly about GRIME (the writer). Anyways, here's a link if you guys want to read it. article It was written by the granddaughter of Phil Wood, which is interesting, because I never think of people like Phil Wood as an actual person ... Just a name on a bike part. Anyways, have fun at the race, and take lots of pictures. Also, nic sucks, I talked to Hayley the other day. Matt now works for Softride, as a prodution manager. They gave him a free bike when they hired him, because they want their employees to promote the product they sell. Ain't that a kick in the head?

Hehehehe. I wish I could go. Oh well. I found out today that I got the job at the other shop I had applied at. Woohoo! Alkaline's component of the moment: Internal Headsets ... Oh man, I was looking at a bike that we carry in my shop today and was amazed at how much nicer a road bike with an internal headset looks compared to a regular threadless/threaded headset. It also dawned on me that I know nothing about them (as if I had only imagined seeing one today, and they really never even existed), so I'm doing some research on them. Does anybody ride a bike with an internal headset? Do you like it or not, and why?

No Warriors race for me. I wish I was going. Nope, I'll be at home.

I call her Dangerous. Someday she'll break me. It's flooding on a biblical level here.

Whoa, page 7?! Bump. I might be getting a job at a new shop.

Pictures? It seems like nobody is ever around with a camera when I crash. Too bad. I'm NOT going to New York. Our frequent flier thing fell through, and I can't afford to pay for a ticket. Maybe next time.

Sounds like fun, Joker. I finally got my bike fixed up again. I had to change the freewheel to a 16 tooth (from an 18), because that's all we had in stock, and I didn't want to order one. I can go a little faster now, but I'm gonna need to get stronger for the climbs. I probably shouldn't go mountain biking anyways right now. I had better stick to the road until I recover from my crash. I've got three overhauls scheduled for tomorrow, and it's my day off. I love it how when you can fix a bike, all your friends suddenly want to get that old piece of junk in the garage fixed up. I should make them pay me.

We weren't busy though. Instead of working on the bike, they made me spend the whole day dusting bikes and shit.

http://www.phatcycles.com/red1a.jpg'> OH YEAH! (from Phat Cycles) I've recently had this facination with choppers. I want to get/build one so bad. Still recovering ... I woke up this morning and discovered all the places that just hurt the day before now have nasty bruises. Also, I think I fucked up the freewheel on my bike when I crashed, because it's still making noise (grinding and clicking). I got in trouble for working on my bike while on the clock today. It's okay to fix another employee's bike for free but not my own ... go figure.

So I decided to try out my new clipless pedals yesterday. I was feeling a bit brave, so I went mountain biking instead of trying them on the road first. Well I gotta say, I did pretty well considering it was the first time I've ever been on clipless pedals. I did fall over a few times, and one was a little embarassing, but nothing major. That is, until I decided to ride this other part of the trail (which I found out today is nick-named Cambodia). I was on this wicked descent, and I washed out. I managed to clip out, but that didn't save me. I flipped over the bars and turned sideways. I landed on my right side, with my feet pointing to the top of the hill, my head pointing down, the bike on top of my right leg, and my body conveniently wedged into a rut (which I later realized was created out of a half buried car tire). I was stuck for a couple of minutes. I got banged up pretty bad, but no lasting damage. My bike is a different story. I spent 3 hours taking it apart, cleaning it, repairing it, and putting it back together, but it's still making a clicking noise that will just have to wait until tomorrow (when I'm on the clock). Good times. Not sure how far I rode, but I was out there for almost 4 hours. That $75 didn't go too far. We just bought groceries and went out to dinner once.

Yeah, it's cool though. I really do enjoy working on bikes. I bought my lady's fix-r-upper cruiser today. I'll post a picture of it in the next couple of days. It's the ugliest color brown you've ever seen with yellow trim. It's straight ballah. She was so stoked. Side note: we got it at this thrift store, and while I was checking out the bike, I saw a little bit of cash on the floor. I told her to pick it up. A few minutes later we realized that we were $75 richer. Tonight we went out to dinner.

I got my pedals today ... just waiting for the shoes. Hooray! I'm gonna be so hollywood when I get up there, nic sucks. I built my first wheel yesterday. It took a really long time.

Ahahahaha ... I hope ol Dimitri gets kicked in the brain for that crap he calls an article. It reminded me of this article. Maybe that's why Dimitri is so mad. I went on a ride today. After seeing 2 fighting vultures, 5 UP lines (my route goes right next to the tracks for most of the way), 2 bitchy high school girls that didn't want to share the road, 1 flat tire, 1 road-side rest stop, 80 oz of water and some 30 miles, I finally made it home. I was still sweating an hour later. It must have been at least 110 degrees with the humidity today.

Real sorry to hear about your friend, cinnamon. Good luck to your brother. T-minus 2 days until I have hollywood pedals ... unfortunately I have to wait another week or so for the shoes, as I had to order them.

I'll get a pretty good deal on the shoes and pedals through work, I just have to pay a couple of bills first. Then I too can experience the joy of falling over in front of groups of people. Hehehehe. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, nic sucks! We painted a birthday production for you. I'll send flicks as soon as they're developed.

I'm serious about a cutters team for the Warriors race. Maybe I'll have my hollywood pedals by then.

You could get pinned with drunk and disorderly, public intoxication, and/or reckless endangerment. Just be careful. So I was just hanging out with Ryan Leech and Jeff Lenowsky. If you don't know, they are both pro trials riders. We had this demo at work, and they did all kinds of cool tricks on our picnic table. Good times. I think I'll be building up a trials rig soon. Hehehe. So I've finally gotten the okay from my boss to train as a tech in our bike shop. Woohoo. I'll be the #2 tech and I won't have to deal directly with the customers. I've also been looking for a messenger job, but that's not going so well. All the companies that are hiring, say I don't have enough experience, and all the companies that would hire me don't need anybody right now. Shit. I may have to sell some plasma to get to NYC.

Just roll with it, Joker. Keep riding and you'll soon find yourself getting even stronger. That's one of the nice things about taking a break. Your muscles have plenty of time to heal, so when you come back, it's easier to build them. Back on to the pedal subject ... I have a few questions about clipless pedals. I ride palin old flat pedals on my bikes, but I'm going to be upgrading real soon. Okay so these are the shoes I was thinking about getting (Diadora Geko). http://a1072.g.akamai.net/f/1072/2062/1h/gallery.rei.com/regularimages/685442.jpg'> I can get them through my job at a good price, and they are not too flashy (which I like). The big question that I have is this ... What pedals should I get. I had been looking at the Time ATACs, but I recently saw that Speedplay makes a pedal (the Zero), that can withstand the forces put on it by a track bike. Here is a picture of the Zero: http://www.speedplay.com/zero/images/pedalincleatsmall.jpg'> What I need to know is will the Zero cleat fit on the Diadora shoe that I wa sgoing to get? If not, can you walk around with a road shoe without ruining the cleat/shoe/floor? Would I be better off just going with the Time ATACs? I'm really in the dark about clipless pedals, so any input would help. Hopefully, I'll be "hollywood" like THE LAW real soon.

I would go for it. Although I'm not a big fan of Cannondale, they sure do make nice looking bikes. So provided that the misses and I can work out all the details, we'll be at the Warriors race. We've got the plane tickets with our frequent flyer miles. We just have to make sure we have enough dough for the hotels and food and all that. I'm down for getting a Stonecutters/writer team together. Where is ono ... maybe he'd be down to be on the team. Welcome back, Joker. How was the rest of the trip?

Great news, kissmyass and Devilush. Let me know when you guys are gonna be here and we'll hang out. Nic sucks, if you need another team member for the Warriors race, I'll be there. We were just talking about going to see you at the end of August so we could watch you race. I guess you'll just have to watch my spandex clad ass in front of you. Hahaha. That's cool about the new bike ... is it paid off yet? The misses says it's time to go home and do it ... see ya.

First off, a big welcome back to our boy Willy. I hope all is well. We missed you a lot. Second, a big fuck you to "nic sucks." Your punk ass was riding around NYC while I had to walk around DC. We'll be up in Hartford soon, I hope. When is the Warriors race? Third, sorry I couldn't get at you while I was in the area, cinnamon. The family thing kept me busy. I saw a grand total of zero freights in DC, so I had to go on a benching binge this afternoon when we got back. Next time for sure. Fourth, is anybody planning on making it down to Houston for the North American Cycle Courier Championchips? Check out the website. It's happening the weekend of December 13th (yes that's a Friday). If you're gonna be in town, let me know so we can get stupid. I just might be racing. More tomorrow. Time to sleep now.