Withdrawal of the revolutions

Man I just want to ride the trails...without it being hot...without the humidity so that I can breathe...and without ten million things on my mind! The gym is a stress reliever, but not like being out in nature on two wheels pedaling with your group of friends.

Or I'll settle for some fishing. Although last two times I didn't catch a single fish

Bought a SUV

Oh wait...that's my Honda Accord 2 door that is somehow able to carry a ladder inside. Funny because I couldn't get the ladder out!

This week has been crazy. Yesterday, my car wouldn't start before a morning meeting. This happened last week but after ten minutes it fired up. Well this time, it wouldn't start after 30 min. Had to call for a tow. $90 and two blocks later, my car was at Tires Plus getting checked. Yeah, funny thing about that is starting Friday, I have new insurance AND road side assistance. But as of yesterday, I didn't. Seriously, worst timing.

Biked into work. Probably almost 90 degrees, air thick with moisture, strong headwind, and I biked up 132nd street and up 120th to get to Miracle Hills. Yeah, those big hills. Finally make it into work two hours late. Sweating like crazy, change my clothes, try to cool myself down. Of course, two other techs called in  so we were uber behind. I see a patient and I literally have sweat dripping off the top of my head and onto my arm. I'm pretty sure the patient saw it.

Other modes of transportation are always good!

Get a call, trusty ol' Honda needs a new fuel pump. Great. Fix it. I need the car this week no matter what. $650 later, the car is ready to be picked up. Car repair two days before my house closing? Sure, why not? I biked back to the shop in 101 degree weather with 38% humidity. Wonderful! I took three showers that day and still couldn't cool down!

Today, had my final walk through of the house. Sellers still have every single item in their house. Most of it is boxed up, but some isn't. I guess they close on their other house at the same time that I close tomorrow afternoon. I have no clue how they're going to have everything moved out by 5pm. They had asked a few weeks ago if they could use Saturday to move out, yes, one day after closing. Heck no! The house will be in my name with me paying the utilities. And what if they blow up the house on Saturday? Oh well too bad. It's under my name now. What a silly question to ask! Figure it out people, either get storage or load your crap into a truck and deal with it. I'm paying an extra month of rent so that I have time to move my junk out. I'm stressing, but at least I have time.

Two days...

But who's counting?

The joys of dealing with customer service

I was trying to get my Cox cable tv removed from my account and keep just the internet. Wow, it's like getting your teeth pulled. You speak to someone first to transfer your service which went fine. Then they send you to a downgrade specialist, and she then nags and nags you to keep your service. Why do you want to get rid of it? I'm never home and your channels suck. Well we can upgrade your package. Nope, I watch more netflix now. But netflix is old programming. And if you stream more, you're going to hit your cap and you won't have any internet service at all. We should upgrade your internet. Nope, I've never hit the 200gb cap before. How about just keep local programming on your tv for $30. Nope. I'm out biking three days a week, moving into a new house, need to get everything settled in, and I plan to switch to a new provider. Oh, but we are better. BLAH BLAH BLAH. I think I need to go and check my blood pressure!
 

They're Coming...

It started off as a rumor on the internet...then people get ideas and tell their buddies...then they want it. Then it becomes an addiction if it isn't already.

Anyway, Milltown Cycles posted this picture shared by Mark Stevenson on Facebook. I do not own this picture (hijacked from FB), but I already know that I want to own this bike. It's all rumor and speculation for now. But seems like alot of brands are hopping on the bandwagon. According to the Milltown post, its described as a Santa Cruz headtube, BFL, and a wide suspension fork of some sort and that's all they can guess for now. It's anybody's guess what the rest of the bike looks like, we'll just have to wait and see.

Picture from the Milltown Cycles FB page

Anybody have $155 laying around?

155 Million dollars that is. If so, you can take a trip to the moon on an old recycled rocket. Read the article. Sounds dicey to me, even if I was old and had that kind of dough laying around. Which I don't. Hell I'm buying a mower this week and using a gift card to save $20. Lol. Have a great week folks!

http://m.gizmodo.com/5920876/now-you-too-can-go-to-the-moon-for-only-155-million-roundtrip?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

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Better yet, NiteRider is previewing their new lights for this year. Man lights are getting cheaper and cheaper. Might be worthwhile to pick up an extra light for fall riding! 650 lumens USB rechargeable for about $140? That's a heck of a lot cheaper than my Stella 150L I bought a few years ago. Glad to see that something in the biking industry is actually getting better and more affordable!

http://www.bikemag.com/gear/preview-niterider-2013-light-lineup/

Knotfest anyone?

Anybody else planning to go to the Slipknot/Deftones/Urge concert? The Deftones has been my favorite band for several years. Chino Moreno! Crazy considering that I also listen to house, trance, and hip hop. Anyway, if you're planning to go, they are selling tickets at Oakview Barnes and Noble tomorrow starting at 7pm. Cash only, $35. NO TICKETMASTER FEES! I missed their first round of doing this and I consider this my second chance. One of the clowns from Slipknot will also be there promoting his new book. Here is the line up for August 17 at the Mid America Motorplex. Looks like I'll be missing the MNR!

Knot Fest:
Slipknot
The Deftones
Dethklok
Lamb of God
Serj Tankian
Prong
The Urge
Dirtfedd

Rollin' to Colon 2012

Ahh...another Rollin' to Colon ride down in the books. Temps were nice and the sun was out. There was a little bit of wind to make you push just a little bit harder, but I've ridden in worse. Actually the wind was nothing compared to the Wear Yellow Ride and Tour de Cure. And yes, there was a giant inflatable colon this year! Seeing that thing made the trip out to Valley worth it for the Rollin' to Colon 2012 ride last Sunday, June 17. Oh yeah, that and the slap koozie! Sometimes its the small things in life (or in the case of the gigantic colon, its the big things in life)!

Thanks to the volunteers who helped to give riders a quick break.

Brandi and her team riding up to the 10 mile Sag stop. Halfway there!

What? No other fatbikes out there?

We were the two oddballs on wheels out there.

The ride starts at Valley High School and makes its way to Colon.

Bike rides are a great way to bump into old friends! Good catching up with you Jeremy!

This was my third year for the ride and I look forward to participating every year. Now I'm not on a road bike so I've never done the full 50 miles for this particular ride. I've never actually seen Colon, NE. Boo on my part. But I'm alright with that. I've managed to do the 20 miles each year and that is plenty for me. What's cool about this charity fundraising ride is being able to tell people about what it is about. You see the name register in their head and they're like, oh, I get it now! Directly off of their website, "Mission: The Great Plains Colon Cancer Task Force is dedicated to increasing the number of lives saved from colon cancer by promoting education, early detection and prevention." Now having worked with a nurse who found out she had colon cancer two years ago makes this ride even more important to me.

http://www.rollintocolon.org/

Always good eats after the ride!

Stephen Monroe, colon cancer survivor provided the tunes. Thank you!

Even more awesome about this ride was meeting an old friend that I haven't seen since high school. To date myself, that was a long time ago! He had followed my blog in the past and had asked me about various bike related questions. Just so happened that Jeremy and his wife were signed up for the 20 mile ride also! His wife Brandi had an entire team of riders consisting of coworkers from Three Rivers District Health Department. How cool is that? Their team, other teams, and individual riders made up a total of 435 registered riders for last Sunday's ride! Good job to all riders and participants. Also thanks to the volunteers that helped to make this ride happen. And a final thanks to Steph and her husband for letting me invade their barbecue afterwards. The food really hit the spot! See you at the 2013 ride!

I saw this show up in the box. Couldn't figure out what it was at first.

 Tada! Its a giant colon! 

Some of the Three Rivers team

Too many jokes are possible with an inflatable colon!

Must...keep...packing

I'm sick of packing already. Cables galore, electronics that I'm going to hate having to plug back in after the move in. The pool awaits on this hot and sunny Sunday afternoon. But must keep pushing through!

Was I thinking correctly?

You know its a pretty fun night when you have two girls offer to make you breakfast in the morning but instead you go and get 24 hr Mexican food with your buddies. And that's all I'm going to say about that! Mmm...super nachos.

Those wacky times...

Did about 3 hrs of weed wacking just now at Tranquility. I did a little by the enter/exit loop of the trail by the kiosk. Not much needed to be done there. And then I wacked the creek section north of Fort Street. If I feel like it tomorrow, I might do the neighborhood section after the wetlands. Trail seemed dry for the most part from what I could tell. Only saw two riders out there.

Go Pro crash

Check out this crash on a motorcycle, lots of different angles from various GoPros. Its crazy watching this guy make that pass.

187 pound fatbike prototype

When fatbikes could fly...How many times have you heard that phrase? Check it out, a Czech bike company by the name of Fbike is hoping to get the wheels off the ground for 3-5 minutes using propellers.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/06/20/fbike-flying-bicycle-concept-will-cycling-be-jetson-ified/

Two steps closer

Boy, throwing stuff away and packing sucks. Its one of those...where do I begin types of ordeals? Anyway, appraisal done. Homeowner's insurance done. Utilities ready to transfer. Just need to hand over a big fat check at the end of the month and I'll be hearing the jingle jingle of a new set of keys.
So there's a reason why I do photography and not drawing or painting. Now do you understand why?

Funny when...

Your sink looks like this. Thats when you know its hot out and you've been riding all week!

Tonight's MNR

Was probably one of the longest bike rides home EVER. Not sure if it was the heat and humidity? Maybe the Bud heavy, Negra Modelo and two bags of Sun Chips that I ate? Or maybe the combined 35 miles of riding over the past two days. Whatever the cause, I seemed winded and my legs just weren't working as they should.

I got off of work and texted around, asking who was riding and who wasn't. I was hoping for more nays than yays. That would give me an excuse to hit the cool water of the pool instead of riding dirt on a 96 degree day with 40 some percent humidity. Sounds miserable, doesn't it? But I'm glad that I rode. After 6pm, the temps slowly start to drop and the welcomed wind helps to cool you down more. It was a slow ride tonight for many of us. No need to prove ourselves tonight!

By the end of the ride, I found it harder to keep in the center of the singletrack, as did Chris. Some nights are just like that. You're not quite focused for whatever reason and the bike is all over the place. We both commented on how lucky we are to be riding the fatties. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure that i would have landed on my face a few times after going up those lips on the side of the trail.

Thanks to Chris for working the new reroute on the green line before the Ridgeline. Nice and wide, less chance of sliding down the hill! Welcome to Steve who happened to be in town from AZ visiting family and got out to ride with us. And thanks to Paul, Dale, and Brent for providing the after ride goodies. Had a great time!

They were naturally delicious!

DH World Cup

Came across this video of some DH action. They cut the knobs down on the tires. First time I've seen that. These guys make it look easy to get to the bottom!

Cable vs Dish vs DirectTV?

Considering dropping my cable tv once I move. Will probably keep Cox internet though. Either just stick to network and netflix, or switch to Dish or DirectTV. Any input on this? I rarely watch tv, and find myself forcing the watching of anything over channel 10 to justify my high cable bill. Anybody out there with Dish or DirectTV? What do you think of their service and equipment? I heard some search better than others, etc. Also depends on if you watch more sports vs movies???

Mmm...

Mmm...Fried chicken udon noodles. Becoming one of my favorites at Wasabi Sushi. Try it if you never have!

Surly surprise...

For those of you who don't know...Surly says that there is a surprise in store for us. They have something up their sleeves. Something is out in the woods being tested. What can it be? They discuss a mythical beast...trails are being eaten alive...said it couldn't be done, but they have.

Will it make my Muk2 obsolete and me wanting more? 29er fattie? Full suspension fatty? Fat cruiser? 36er?  Carbon fatty? All possibilities...we'll just have to see what Surly has going on in their R & D.

MNR - Gold star goes to Cody!

You can never tell how the ride on Monday evening is going to go. You ride all weekend with your buddies, work a long day on Monday, then hop on your bike and head to Tranquility to shoot the breeze and get some pedaling in with your Monday Night Ride gang. Either your legs will be smoked or you'll ride like you mean it and everyone else seems to be in slow motion to you.

These past couple of Mondays have been less stopping and ride faster type of rides. I think that the after suds are on the minds of many of the riders. The faster you ride, the sooner the reward. We're becoming trained like Pavlov's dogs.

Now we've all fallen, whether it be on snow or dirt. Except Cody. I've never seen the boy fall. Until this past Monday. We had finished riding the lap and were conversing on the dirt road junction. Cody pops a mini wheelie and I was about to show off the skills on the fatty. But I didn't want to show how crappy I sometimes am at those. Then Cody does a trackstand next to me. Not bad and next thing I know...crash. Fall down for Cody. Foot still clipped in. He gets up and looks around with one of those did EVERYONE in the group just see that happen. Yes, we all did. Haha, it was pretty hilarious. I've never seen Cody blush and get embarrassed like that.

It was a big group of MNRs!

But I will give him credit. He later made up for it. While heading back to the parking lot, there was a little wreck right before Chris' new work of a section. Cody stopped behind the mini wreck, did a track stand, then once clear, took off and went over Chris' mound of dirt! No hesitation, no real speed, and no whoop and hollar. He treated it like it was his b*tch! I didn't even have the guts to tempt it without any speed. Congrats Cody on being the first that I've seen to clear it. You've redeemed yourself!

The Summer of Awesome!

All I can say is wow! What a fun summer this has been, and its only the second week of June! You meet new people, but you also lose people that you were once close with. But with those new people come new stories and good times. This will be a very interesting summer! Already, this summer has been filled with private pool parties, BBQs and hanging with friends. All you can drink bottle serviced VIP lounges, and of course, tons of biking and fishing. Probably two of the most relaxing things that I can think of which allow you to enjoy the outdoors.  Can life get any better? Maybe...a date with a hot 1st grade teacher is in the works thanks to a coworker.

At Capitol

Because that's how we do it!

 Jonesfest out in Des Moines is in early July. Then I have trips planned to MI, the Ozarks, and Chicago to meet up with a friend who is moving there (she is scared sh*tless to live there by herself!). CWS is upon us this weekend and I fully plan to take part in the festivities. We are planning a patio pedal ride for a friend's birthday in the middle of CWS this weekend. What better way to enjoy downtown than to have 16 people pedaling one of those crazy looking pedal cars. Its sure to be a blast!

Happy Birthday to Darrin!

Molly and Lindsay are quite the dancers. Or so they think!

Bottle service with Three Olives vodkas and Crown. Ballers!

What? You've never been to a club with girls on swings?

Molly pretending to be Mr. Stark

Charity bike rides galore. Bike for Sight and the Wear Yellow Ride have come and gone. But I have Rollin to Colon this Sunday and will be meeting up with a friend there that I haven't seen since high school.

I have big plans for my photography this year, and add to that endless possibilities for my new house. Single bachelor with a four bedroom, 2.5 bath house? What am I to do? I already have a few ideas in mind, including a music room for my turntables and keyboard, and maybe I'll finally sit down and learn to play that guitar. Possibly a mini photography studio will be in the works. And now I have the crazy idea that I want to buy a cot for the downstairs patio, just like what we had while living in Waverly. Most comfortable thing to lay in during those summer evenings. Man, I can't believe that closing is only a couple weeks away! Furniture shopping and tv shopping is almost upon me (waiting to get the keys first).

 This is what we do at preparties. Karate Kid part 5. Actually Jeremy is convinced that his silly bracelet has life changing abilities when it comes to strength and balance. Or maybe it was the PBR tallboys talking.  

Don't worry, the pinky up and pink koozie and cupcake were all a joke. 

Pocahontas was quite the hit

Concerts galore are coming to town. My favorite band is coming to town in August (Deftones), I wish I had an endless pass to all of the awesome music acts coming to the area. Chevelle, Evanescence, Weezer, Garbage, Black Keys, 311, Papa Roach, Cake, Jack White, Band of Horses, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Slipknot, Urge, RHCP, and yes, Jane's Addiction. This is probably going to be one of the busiest summers of my life!

It's a good thing when...

When you're at the gym and blasting those tri's after a full chest workout. You realize that during tricep pulldowns on the cable machine, you're at the bottom of the weight stack and even that seems too easy. Welcome back horseshoe (for those of you who work triceps, you know what I'm talking about)!

Your weekly dose of fat

I'm going to promote a different type of high fat diet. One that you can't live without. Each week, I'm going to post up a pic that I've taken. Now this pic can be of me riding the fatbike, other people's fatbike, or anything fatbike related. Heck, it might even be of something that I want to add to my fatty. But the picture will be taken by one of my all too many cameras. I'll usually try to add new pictures, but there might be some from past rides that I never posted.

This is the first one that I'll post. Taken at Calvin Crest while riding with the gang this past Sunday. Had a great time. Just got the pictures and video uploaded, will get the blog up this week.

Fun video!

If this video doesn't put a smile on your face, then you've never had fun on a bike before. Seriously, snow biking, jumping, and dogs. What more could you want in a video? Watch and you'll understand! And now that I think about it, why didn't we make snow jumps last winter during those weekends that we were out at Tranquility slippin and sliding? We could always tear them down after we finished riding for the day.

Outside Magazine's buyer's guide

You make money to spend money. It makes the world go round. Anyway, here is Outside Mag's annual buyer's guide. Filled with gadgets and gear to make everyone happy. Possibly ideas for Papa's day?
 
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/summer-buyers-guide?utm_source=dispatch&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=06122012

My new toy

Alright, so it's not as fun as a new tv or laptop, but with a new house comes new toys. Power toys. And man there is so much that I need to buy! Why would I start with a weed wacker you ask? So that I can hang with the big boys now at Tranquility!

Wacked for about four hours today, did along the creek north of Fort Street all the way to the wetlands da dip. Then chatted with Chris for a little bit as he was working on his new section. He was ready to mow with his string mower, so I wacked the Fort Street loop. Mostly from the road/entrance into Tranquility and up through the pine trees. Was weird seeing all of those weeds growing in there instead of the pine needles on the ground. Weed wacker works like a charm!

Now there's a good time!!!

PBR tallboys what up! Thomasville Pool Party here we come!

A trailwork type of ride

  Dave N, Chris, Greg, Brian, and myself ventured out with Dave's tree trimming equipment and our bikes to take care of branches that were getting in the way. We only had time to work on the north side loop (south of Fort Street). It's interesting to see all of the branches and sticks that are in your way when you are riding slow and looking for them. Stuff you usually miss. Then you find the weird stuff on the trail and have to ask, "Has that always been there?"

Trail work plus riding is just another way to multi-task and get the job done!