...a placeholder

Your floating jukebox stuck on "I'll get you" So lost at sea, yeah, so lost at sea

2010-04-12T22:12:00.006-04:00

I'm sorry everyone, due to forces outside my control (though mostly due to forces entirely in my control) I've totally flaked on updating for a month.

It's not for lack of content, though. Since the last update I've done plenty of stuff with a high blogability quotient.

The King of Burlingame mountain bike time trial began auspiciously enough, with a quick drive (with Danna Montana at the wheel) and the most brutal race number everbut it pretty much went downhill from there. On the first warm-up run of the course, I got a front flat. There were some guys from a nearby shop that were both on 29ers as well, so one of them was nice enough to give me a tube and a pump (I was unprepared from calamity, and too busy being aero in my skinsuit to think of it). About 10 minutes into the race run, my chain decided it really didn't want to stay where I put it, so sharp accelerations were out, but it's all good. Those great big wheels aren't about accelerations, they're about bombing over/through all that is ahead. Got a nice rhythm going, passed some guys, and then I heard the unique hiss of a slow leak. I made it to the first disembarking point, checked my tire and it seemed like it had enough air still in it to finish the race. I spun down the road, turned left back onto the trail and started.....KABLAMMO....pedaling. Proper flat now. Time to run. Good thing I did all that cyclo-cross, running in bike shoes kinda sucks. I get a good ways downon foot (let's say a mile or so, I have no sense of distance running), and get passed by a number of other racers (most of whom appreciate my number at least). Then, as a testament to how awesome the atmosphere is at MTB races, the other guy from the shop on a 29er chucks me his Camelbak with a pump and tube inside. (not my Camelbak). Massive karma points for that guy. So I fix the flat, lope to the end on my muddy, injured big wheel bike, and cross the line. I give the guy his Camelbak and head back to Dan's car for the ride back. He said it may just be what happens the first time one does this race, as the year before, a winning time was taken away from Dan by a shattering carbon seatpost. On the plus side, I did feel fast before everything were pear-shaped. I'll be back, Burlingame. Please be gentle.

I went back to Dan M's pump track, which I'm getting closer and closer to doing right (gotta get used to the little wheel bikes, and the not pedaling). It's very spiritual, this pump track business, it really has to flow through you. Dan and Karl are both quite magical on the thing, Bryan was there too. I could certainly see myself becoming a much better bike-handler in general if I can get the hang of it. Hucker Joe would probably be really good on it too, which is why he should come out here...

Even Jesse came to visit from California.

The IBC Newton Summer 2008 gang was in partial effect, as it was Jesse, Arjun, and I in the Hyundai going to the Chris Hinds Criterium at Ninigret in Charlestown, RI. The weather was pretty excellent at the course, which is one I always enjoy when I'm out there (it's a purpose built crit course, how cool is that?).

It went pretty well for everyone, I only ended up with 14th, but I felt like it was more a result of getting boxed in than anything else. My couple of laps of the front were captured by Jesse (on Arjun's DSLR) and I swear, there were a whole bunch of them. They just unfortuantely happened too early. Or too late.

At Wells the next day I got 4th by being out of the mess of the corner sooner, so there could be something there.

In non-bikeness, I saw How to Train your Dragon with Jason in 3D, and I have to say, the use of 3D space has really improved, even since 3 years ago. It doesn't seem like an afterthought as it sometimes has. It's really spectacular, especially in the mesmerizing POV flight sequences and gorgeous vistas. The movie was pretty good on the whole too, certainly better than Monsters v. Aliens, though I still may have liked Kung Fu Panda more. Overall a very good effort from Dreamworks. Recommended.

I won the B-race at Wells Ave most recently, which is probably just a way for the gods to force a new blogpost. I went for a break at like 8 laps to go (right after a prime), and nobody came with me except one of the guys from the prime, who soon dropped off. I figured I'm out there to train so I TTed the remaining 6 laps on my own and won. I didn't realize I was so stealthy, quite a few people didn't know I was off the front. Oh well, there goes the element of surprise....or does it...

Thanks to Scott Cole Coaching for the speed involved in this blogpost's shenanigans.

Also, the Bontric Carbolus is the fastest wheel ever. That is all.

For this week's video, I was between a few, but I ended up choosing this, sorry about the ad, and the not being able to seek.

Lord, See that cat, Yeah I do mean you

2010-02-21T22:55:00.004-05:00

Delays are all sparkles and sunshine, but I couldn't let a whole month go by without a single post, So here's February. Certainly once racing starts again, I'll have more motivation to write.

Which is to say, it sort of just did. I did an indoor TT on Sunday, and I do like me some TTs, indoor or otherwise.

I got there quite early so I warmed up for about an hour, rather than the intended 40ish minutes, but then it was time to get up on the Computrainer. there were two groups of 8 trainers and I was in the back right. Coach Scott said to keep it in control around 300 watts for the first half of the 10k, but in all the frenzy of bringing my wheel up to speed I was floating around 400w and in second place in my group. Dan Barry and Jeff Bramhall were there cheering me on and there was no looking back so I spent some quality time in the pain cave and won my group, coming in 3rd in the heat. It was a good time and my thanks go out to all those involved in putting it on.

Richard Fries said I was probably making considerably more power than appeared on the screen but more went to twisting my bike every which way then cranking the pedals (a big engine with no mounts). Certainly I've never been a model of grace on a bike (more of a blunt instrument), but he gave me a couple of solid tips I'll try to put into action.

Whole bunch of new bike/bike stuff news too.

I am giving Bontrager's new saddles my full honest placeholder endorsement. I've got them on both road bikes and the Africabike now, and they're super comfy. Bonus points for apparant durability, it takes a crash for them not to look brand new.
I now have a 29er, an ex-demo baby blue Gary Fisher Paragon, which should be nice and fast, and because the HKEK's drivetrain was in dysfunctionland, I've turned that into a single-speed, which means I've joined two MTB cults in one week.

On the road front, the magic wheel I mentioned in the last post is done, so I can divulge more about it. It's a DT/Bontrager hub (as used in the Aeolus) laced to a mk1 Mavic Cosmic Carbone rim with 14 DT Aerolite spokes and two double butted spokes (Fulcrum style). It shall be known henceforth as the Philbrook-Meyer-Leas Bontric Carbolus, or Pheystricolus for short. Expect to see it on the road soon. Jesse has some Cosmic Carbones which he really likes, and these should ride like Cosmics, just with the awesome raised to 12 (it's one more than 11, which is one more than 10). I'm sorry that Jesse isn't a link, I honestly couldn't think of one in time. Next time.

I also got an amazing new hat and an equally amazing new bobblehead (Thanks Jason).

For this week's video, it's the Alaska Nanooks intro video, and no words could suffice. Brace yourselves:

It's always showtime here at the edge of the stage

2010-01-11T00:29:00.003-05:00

I know, it's been a long time, but I'm listening, I'm here for you, and ...a placeholder continues to hold places in 2010, bigger, badder, and chewier than ever.

For the most delayed Ice Weasels related blog update on the whole of the internet I'll keep it brief, as lots has been said and it's not fresh on anyone's mind. It was super excellent, snowy, and fun. But cold. I got to park next to the porta-johns. My race was won by a guy on a Surly Pugsley. HUPcakes are delicious.

In a sad follow up to the last post, it would appear I'll never end up driving that killer looking new Saab 9-5. I'm supposed to get some literature about it in the mail but I imagine they ultimately didn't sent it. Rumor has it the car will live on as a Buick (it's sensible not to discard a fully cooked product before it's released) and despite evidence of a corking new lineup in the wings, it's GM and I have full faith they'll screw it up. Prove me wrong, GM, prove me wrong.

Winter is the time for side projects, and it certainly is the winter. Cross season is over, the city (and Africabike) are covered in salt.
A whole bunch of the side projects are bikey in nature. The Bianchi is now properly winterized with full fenders and lights. Dan M and I repacked the BB and now it's good to go. This week is set to get back over 30° so maybe I'll ride outside.

For the other prong of my two-pronged training solution, I am set to the gills with all sorts of awesome Cycle-Ops equipment. The key bit is my awesome new rear wheel, which is laced up to a Powertap SL+. It's super cool to get wattage, (rear-wheel) speed, cadence, and time without any kloogy sensors or wires. It's the bee's knees.

To know what I'm supposed to do, Coach Scott Cole (who really needs a website) puts all the goodness on Trainingpeaks. Even if you're not getting coached, it's an easy way to keep track of your training and the version with ads is free.

The last bike project I'll mention, this one still in the works, is my dreamy new front road wheel. Without divulging too much, I'll just say it's a theoretically excellent Franco-Swiss synergy, and you know I love good synergy. It's 16.3% more excellent than you think. More about that later.

I did finally get a new subwoofer for my receiver and so far, the tidy cubbyhole it's living in doesn't have any annoying resonances going on. Sadly, I no longer have the cable station that shows Die Hard on loop so I'll have to find something else to properly assess the boom-boom.

Also, I bought an iPod Touch from Seth. I'm not generally an Apple guy but the price was right and this is a slick little device. I might have to abandon my curmudgeonly ways and start using Apple products like everyone else now.

Bryan, I'm sorry this took so long. It's Jesse's fault.

Some music videos are timeless and always feel like they could have been made this year. Some are not.

Special Edition Autoshow Post

2009-12-12T21:55:00.006-05:00

A couple of posts worth of post here, as it seems this blog has gone from weekly to bi-weekly to monthly. I'll do my best to turn that trend around. This blog-post is all coverage from the New England Internation Auto Show, as promised. The standard format will be back next week.

I take back what I said about more marques being here than at the majors. Among the no-shows were:

Porsche-who always gives out a cool poster.
Mercedes-Benz -who I don't remember much about, though I would like to sit in the new E-class.
Mitsubishi -I still don't know what the Lancer-mouthed Outlander is like in person. I mean, who drives a Mitsubishi?
Suzuki -They're going in the right direction with the Kizashi, just bring over more JDM and less KDM.
Jaguar -I've seen the XF, and the new XJ appears to have lots of the same visual cues. To my eyes, so does the Civic.
Land Rover-Cool interiors, which I suppose could be said for Jag too.
Volvo-presumably they got distracted on the way and drove over a curb somewhere.

Who does that leave then? Still enough that we'll hit the highlights here.

First, some awards:

The best seats at the show were those of the Lexus IS-F, with great support, prominent but not overdone bolsters, and flawless finish work. As unimaginative as Lexus can be, they're consistently beyond reproach on the details. The Saab 9-3 also had excellent seats, as Saabs always do, but not quite as excellent as those in the Lexus.The best interiors overall were definitely from Audi as a brand, with the same excellent finish as the Lexus but tidy ergonomics and pleasing visual presentation to boot. Jewel like details that never seem contrived abound and they are just all around slick environments. A nice place to spend time.

Best Display was Saab, hands down, who built an entire room including an LED wall and assorted Saab (and generally Swedish) trinkets in the floor. They also had the delightful new 9-5 on display, let's hope Saab survives long enough to actually make it. Nissan did have a room too, but Saab's was way cooler.
The most disappointing brand was Acura, which is pains me somewhat to say. It's not the ungainly new family face or ungainly "unrelated shapes everywhere" design language. It's the fact that despite the premium price, they simply don't feel special. I suppose it could be construed as a testament to just how good today's Hondas are, but sitting the $50k Acura RL, it really doesn't feel particularly different that a $30k Accord. They're lovely cars, no doubt, just a bit irrelevant.
The most disappointing car was the Ford Taurus, a car I really wanted to like. They're getting so much right these days (bringing the Fiesta and Transit Connect over come to mind) but the Taurus was a parade of cheap feeling materials, inconsistent panel gaps and flawed ergonomics. The seats in one of the Tauruses (Tauri?) on display already showed considerable wear, and some interior trim panels were already broken. It's a shame.

There was almost a tie for worst car, both from Detroit and both analogous of their respective parentage.

One consideration was the Chevrolet Cobalt XFE, which in addition to positively milquetoast styling inside and out (augmented by Pep-Boys spec chrome hubcaps and questionable ergonomics) felt like an overall half baked effort designed only to be better than the Cavalier, a task also achievable with a tennis ball. Or a flan. High hopes for the Cruze. So why not the worst?

As Jason pointed out, the Cobalt makes some sense given its intended purpose, a hard wearing fleet appliance, or basic transport for those who haven't yet heard about Japan or Korea. Plus it is cheap.

No, the award must go to something cataclysmically horrible, something that shouldn't ever have gotten past stage one, or at least should have been fixed (or mercifully offed) since then. The award then goes to the Jeep Patriot.

Tangibly awful in a way I didn't think still possible, everything about this soft-roader feels approximate. Its design, construction, materials, all half-assed. Assuming it cost $15k, I thought it was overpriced. Then I found out it was $28k and it was a lock. I'll let Jason express his feelings on it here.

Best in show was more difficult to determine, with an Audi R8 (which I luv), the Nissan GT-R (which Jason luvs) and the a Corvette ZR1 (which we both luv) present, but given the rule that we need to sit in the car to call it best in show (and locked doors on those two), we had to pick more sensible choices.

My pick then is the Hyundai Genesis sedan. Even if its not particularly sporting, It has a winning mix of attributes that would make it a treat to own. It's comfortable, quiet, and seems well built.

My alternate pick is the Corvette Z06. Because its interior is so awful. Because it's so brash. Huzzah.

Other highlights:

Jason and I both gave big thumbs up to the clever and spunky Transit Connect. It's about time this segment of van came here.The new venue is decidedly less decrepit than the old one.
The brakes of the Kia Soul won't come out through the wheels.

Next update will be back to the normal mix of content, including Ice Weasels. Night all.

And the trees have turned black And they're full of insane birds who can't remember any of their songs

2009-11-16T21:23:00.003-05:00

Lots of time since last post (sorry, again) and some more racing, most notably Northampton, which had to have the fastest cross course I've done yet. There were some big names there too, including Jeremy Powers and Adam Craig, who had a pair of super trick Giant cross bikes, including a Di2 equipped carbon prototype (sorry no pic).
The whole race was pretty photogenic too, especially at a sickhucktastic chute down from the top of the course to a covered railroad crossing. I definitely didn't get the best pictures of this, I think this guy did.
This cross season has been pretty Western Mass heavy, which is cool, as I know people out there and have places to stay (for free, thanks guys). I'll be out there on Sunday for the Spooky race in Easthampton.

Some people are bringing bikes in for tune-ups, which given the springtime rush would seem to make more sense, though Bryan was acting all blurry again.

I realized after the fact that I forgot to put a video in last week's post, so this week I'll put in two. As for the Jesses, they're unfortunately surprisingly labor intensive and if this post is going to get published before Easthampton, I'll have to make up for that at a later date too.. Stay tuned

First is a VW ad starring Danny Macaskill, gee whiz!

#2 is a song that was stuck in my head. Hit play and it will be stuck in your head too. It's cheesetastic.

Programming note: ...a placeholder will be at the New England International Auto Show with special guest Jason G on December 2, a coverage extravaganza (possibly the best coverage this dealer supported regional show will get anywhere) is planned. Grand irony, with its lower profile, there may be more brands here than at the majors.

Can someone tell me What is it that we're doing under the lights Can someone tell me Why once again we're food for vampires tonight

2009-10-31T20:16:00.008-04:00

Longpost to make up for longtime no update.

Did a couple of races, one decidedly more eventful than the others.

Last week, I intended to go to New Gloucester, ME to race out there, but the other people that were going to go ended up bailing because of a little rain, and then so did I, but for totally way tougher reasons (more rain).

I already had a reservation at the Super 8 Motel out there, and when I tried to cancel it, they said I couldn't because I had made on online reservation, and referred me to the head office. Then the head office said it was the branch's call and I should call them. I did and I was told the manager had "gone into town to get breakfast for tomorrow." Thanks, Maine.

I went out to Western Mass and hung out with the UMBRC people, drank too much, tried a balance board, good time had by all.....

Saturday was indeed rainy, so Jelie and I went to Sylvester's for brunch, and then stopped by the bikereg home office, which is around the corner. I assumed it would look like Lorenzo Lamas's workstation in Megashark vs. Giant Octopus, but it really looked more like an office. I'm guessing I wasn't shown the secret underground layer where the magic happens, presumably accessed by pulling on a candlestick somewhere.

I ended up racing on Sunday in the Saratoga Spa race in New York. Overheard at the gas station: "drink too much Roy?" "Ohhh Yeah." I registered for the 4 and 3/4 races, on principle..more on that later, and I missed the start of the 4 race, so I had to jump on and chase through the women's and kids races, making me think I had just jumped into the wrong race. I made decent headway and then I crashed into a divot (this very one, though that's not me) and cracked my fork (though I don't know if I did it there or it had happened earlier). The race promoter said that usually there's no refunds on entry fees, but a broken fork counts as extenuating circumstances, and he gave me my $10 back, which I appreciate. I ended up at 18th place of 31 finishers, which is pretty frustrating, as it means I probably would have been in the top 10 were it not for the aforementioned snafus. Some good news too though, as Jeff Elie won the 3/4 race in dominant fashion and Jeff Cronin got 2nd in the 4 race.

On Halloween there was the Canton cross race, which is especially nice because it's about 35 minutes from my apartment, and about 20 minutes from the shop, which came in handy
.

Photo credit: Geoff

Because it was so close, I was there on time, and as a rule, if I'm there on time, I'll forget something. This time it was shoes, so rather than warm-up on my trainer (which I've only done at one race this season), I ran around asking everyone if they had any extra shoes. There were some Geekhouse and Wheelworks guys who were nice enough to offer some platform pedals, which is almost what I ended up using, and I suppose platform pedals and Asics count as a Halloween costume, but luckily, team IBC's own John Fennel had some shoes and pedals he wouldn't need until the 3/4 race, so I threw them on the bike with 2 minutes to go before the start of the race, and spun over the line, squeezing into the 2nd row. There were 110 finishers, which means there were more than 110 starters, which is insane. It was a super fast course, with a few slick, slimy tarmac sections, though they weren't as slippery as all the warnings made them out to be. I ended up at 37th of 110.

Photo credit Thom P.

Shortly after the 4 race, I sped back to the shop to grab my B shoes, a pair of Diadora Ethos Ice Techs (or as Jeff Cronin calls them, "Bike Jordans"). They're totally as awesome as the name would make them seem.

It became clear in the first race why CX is generally done in the 50s (temps, not decade) or lower, but I did the second race anyways, out of principle, as it was only $10 more to do the 2nd race, even though I knew I would not do well and my crossresults points would take a hit.

It was faster the second time through, though with about two laps to go, I could taste ammonia and see spots, but I finished the race, and not even in last place (by 7!).

I wonder if Jesse is doing any CX out west.

The fatigue of the day meant that I fell asleep around 8 pm, and woke up at a daylight savings adjusted 6:50am, Sunday morning, which works out as I didn't have a costume (though as per normal, I thought of a great one around 6pm on Halloween), and is also why I'm writing this (or at least starting this) on Sunday morning before work.

No Jesse this week due to technical frustrations. I hope Bryan's not too upset.

Oh well. 'Till next update.

Unit three thousand twenty one is warning Makes a humming sound - when its circuits Duplicate emotions

2009-10-17T20:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of blogupdate, I suck. I'll try to stay more on top of it, but more riding+more work=more tired.

I haven't updated since Gloucester, but I did take a whole bunch of pictures there. That full album can be found here. (Kevin Sweeney pictured here)
A couple more cross races have reminded me why I like that the inside of my car is all plastic, and Dan the mechanic has fixed the Spooky (undoing my screw-ups), so it's running like a champ. Today's race, which was pretty rutted and dry proved to me that I still don't totally know what tire pressure I should be running.
A bunch of people went out to get sushi with Todd. He's going to TX. I ate a boat. Have fun Todd.

I unfortunately don't have the video to back it up (still don't have one of these) but it seems as though the cars of Newton are unable to completely stop. They roll into intersections, streets, rotaries, and mailboxes to a comical extent, theory being that the opponent (traffic with the right of way) has no choice but to stop. The instigator then stops in the way of both perpendicular traffic and those behind, letting everyone absorb the absurdity of it all, Hand gestures are undertaken and the dance is complete.

On the topic of Newton driving, Volvo has brought to market the logical conclusion of the trend toward eliminating driver involvement. While in a general sense I would consider this a bad thing, given the type of driver that tends to gravitate toward Volvo (specifically Volvo SUV) ownership, I prefer robotic involvement.

Jesse's out in Cali, but I haven't heard from him, so I assume...

I had some fun with long exposure shots.

I saw another cool application of VW/Audi/Porsche's compatible BCDs

I learned about one more of Bryan's talents.

This week's video is a collection of outtakes from a Saturn commercial Jim Gaffigan did way back in the 90s.

I left my street I'm a guillotine Pulling away In my machine, Where have I been, now?

2009-09-21T23:01:00.005-04:00

Two weekends ago, I did my first cross race, Sucker Brook Cross in New Hampshire. It probably wasn't ideal to make the first ride on my new cross bike and my first cross race the same thing, but I'd say it worked out. Jeff Elie was there too, and we both lined about as far back as possible (in a sport where the hole shot is crucial), so we had to move up the crowd. In a group of 82, Jeff got 32nd (with no rear shifting for the second half) and I got 58th.

My only food prior to the race was a melted/frozen Balance bar (back-seat find), so after the race I needed food and coffee. Also, my car needed gas. On the way back, I took a random exit and found a gas station that charged me $2.79/gallon and sold me a sandwich comprised of ham blocks and the sort of cheese that tasted like it should be spelled with a z. About a mile later, I found a strip of restaurants and gas stations selling $2.56/gallon gas as far as the eye can see. Welcome to New Hampshire

Bryan trued my wheels, and the Spooky was ready to go again..

This past weekend, I did the cat 4 and cat 3/4 races at Blunt Park. It was cold and wet for the first race, though being the first race of the day, the course wasn't too sloppy yet. I managed to start in the third row, though from the gun, my tire did more spinning in place than going forward, and I again found myself near the back of the group. It was a tough course, and while it was mostly rideable, there were some technical sections, most notable a log across a straight in the woods. I rode it once, and it made a sickening crunch (and I still don't know on what), so I ran it every other time. I got 24th out of 42 finishers, which while proportionately close to the week before, certainly felt faster. Congrats to Jeremy Durrin on the win (on Sean K.'s bike, in his first cross race ever...asshole), and Jeff Cronin on his 16th place (also first cross race).In the 3/4 race was an absolute mudfest, and against faster guys, but I was in it for the experience. This time I managed to line up in the first row, and right after the start, someone overcooked the first corner (a hairpin on tarmac) and went down, stalling most of the field. It was a very different course than the first time around, in fact feeling sloppier with each lap. On the second to last lap, I successfully recreated my landmine crash (still no pictures, I'm afraid) over the aforementioned log, but I limped back to not last place (just), with blood, dirt and lumps to show for it. Inadvertent mega-sandbagger Jeremy Durrin got 2nd place (on Sean K.'s bike, in his second cross race ever...asshole), and Sean K. got 5th. Jeff did it too, and got 17th.

Thanks to Crossresults for the fast results listings.

I stayed with Umass people this weekend, which was fun, and I went into heavy food/race coma on Sunday, so I stayed an extra day, which was extra fun.

I lost a few letters from my front wheel (presumably because of all the mud), though the result is kind of neat.The other side only lost the a from Bontrager.

Jesse had more Good News for us.

Continuing the "...a placeholder" tradition, of capturing Newton's finest parking, here's a couple more, in the interest of science of course.

First, this Lexus which would be taking two spaces, were it in actual parking places to begin with. I suppose this sort of thing happens when as soon as the driver in in the car, they make the presumption that the length of the car in in fact the width, and the width is actually the length. I suppose it could be because the owner wants to protect the car from dings (though someone could park between the Lexus and the Subaru), and realistically, in this case, the body of the car serves to protect the engine, which IMHO is the part worth protecting in this case.

Case #2 is another Lexus (which based on empirical data, is no coincidence), and in this case the owner of the vehicle has decided that the obvious solution to a full parking lot is not to go to the other (empty) parking lot and walk around the building, but to simply park directly behind another car in the lot. I would have trouble saying this isn't the result of garden-variety laziness, given that I saw the owner stand a few feet behind the car, hit a button on his key chain, and wait for the vehicle to open its own trunk. After loading his bicycle, he hit another button to make the hatch close itself. No doubt in this span of time I could have walked to my car, opened and closed its trunk several times, and walked back inside, but I was too distracted by the slowly enlarging crevice of trunk access.

For this week's video, there's some Talking Heads from the Old Grey Whistle Test. All the video I've seen from this show has been excellent (especially this Ry Cooder session). Shame it went away in 1987.

There was something about a love that didn't treat him right, and he'd wake from troubled sleep and cry her name at night

2009-09-14T19:37:00.004-04:00

I still miss the "Good Ole Tom" adverts which are endemic of western mass TV. but I sadly couldn't make it out to Umass's race at Mt. Snow (though I heard it went very well, despite the rain). Bryan had just tuned my bike, so it was shifting again, which is neat, and I figured I really should race it.

IBC's own "Good Ole Thom" convinced me to do the Landmine classic at Wompatuck State Park on Sunday. It was muddy (apparently the park is colloquially known as "swampatuck") and wet, but it just made it feel more intense in that Under-Armor ad kind of way. At 25 miles, it was the longest MTB race I have ever done, so I found it easier to think in a road riding context bubble, which was popped when Thom told me how long he expected his (50 mile) race to take, and I realized it would be a long race.

I made my goal finishing ahead of last place in my age group, though after a full speed dive off the bike into a puddle (with the bike going into a tree), finishing became objective one. Ultimately I achieved my goal managing 16th out of 22, though I got nicely banged up in the process..In the end I was in a world of pain, and covered in mud, but I'd still do it again, it was a certain kind of fun on the whole.

Jesse is continuing his grand trek across the country and seems to be having a fun time.

For this week, we've got some advice from Dr. Steve Brule.

Let's all meet up in the year 2000, won't it be strange when we're all fully grown

2009-09-09T00:36:00.006-04:00

It's been pretty excellent riding weather for over a week now, though not without the sort of autumnal chilled waves of air which seem to confirm that the properly hot days of 2009 are behind us, which is always a bit depressing. Air-conditioners are no longer whirring outside my window, and the insect orchestra is down to a loan cricket. I am psyching myself up for cross season though.

Jesse is headed out west for some adventures (he's a bicycle man, I think you'll agree.) and I hope all those guys have a fun trip.

My TV stand, which had been bowing into itself is now doing less of that thanks to a section of birch, some foam pads, and a saw from Home Depot. I feel like a handyman now.

The cross bike's still hanging over Bryan's stand.

The parkers of Newton have reaffirmed my previous assertions.

For the rest of W. Mass's pictures:

One of the most euro things I've seen at Wal-Mart, as well as a pretty euro thing at Norm's.

Pictured left is the Crapshack's apparent birth name, which only now, when nobody is living there, do I know. Perhaps the name only appears when it's vacant. There's a plot in there somewhere.

A trailer made of half a Chevy.

This upcoming weekend, I'll be helping out UMBRC at their ECCC race at Mt. Snow, and soundly getting my ass handed to me if I do any racing. Head on down for fun party time bike racing excellence!

This week's video has a very fun visual flavor, getting quite a bit done without too much ever actually on screen. I suppose there are some technological limitations there.

They paint the moon today, some brand new future color

2009-09-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe it's already September, but last weekend, a visit to the crapshack was in order, as the (sort of) lease was about to (sort of) run out. It was fun to see the place again, and being there on a weekend when it wasn't particularly hot or cold didn't make its (countless) faults easily apparent. It made it seem more quirky and fun than it actually was.

I went on a fun (and quite high-intensity) road ride with none other than HUCKR JOE, and then we split a party pizza from Bruno's.

Finally, me and Dan went to a Chinese food place in Amherst where the service was not very good, but I did get a fortune cookie with 5 fortunes.I accidentally ate the fifth one. More western mass stuff next week.

The cross bike is still almost done, though now that it's got cable and housing on, it's not only looking more like a bike, it's almost kinda-sorta rideable. I just need Bryan to get it shifting when I ask it to (and not when I don't). SRAM confuses me.

Jesse and Mitch had their last day at the shop. Mitch is going back to Umass for another semester, but Jesse's going all the way out to California. Presumably to do more freeriding.

On another note, I read about some slick looking cargo bikes from Madsen, and while not fully in the spirit of Africabike (and likely somewhat safer for it), I'll give them a plug: MADSEN Cargo Bikes

This super-sweet Trans-Am was spotted outside the store last week, and it needed to make it here. I shouldn't need to explain why. The best part of all has to be the inside.

I feel like we've not visited the 80's in too long, so in the spirit of that T/A above (more or less), this week's video is totally synthed-out

An offer that cannot be ignored indeed.

With a head like a vulture and heart full of hornets

2009-08-18T22:58:00.006-04:00

Some decent bike progress this week, with BBSTPS MkIII Evo becoming BBSTPS MkIII Evo Gran Sport with its new wheel (thank you Bryan), though it is a bit more involved than it should be. The Spooky is also getting ever closer to being a bicycle.

Jesse also did some Ultimate Stunting

I got my new receiver, and while it technically fits in my TV stand, it's a squeeze in, and given the heat generated by its operation, it would likely self-imolate, which despite the flames and music involved, would not count as a rock and roll way to go.

Making matters worse, my TV (which weighs 160 lbs) is causing the stand (rated to 143 lbs) to bow slightly, which doesn't seem a safety issue, though it does disrupt the minimalist flow with its adopted ornamental curvature. Sigh.

As though to prove last week's assertion that Newton has the worst drivers in the world, a few more examples presented themselves to be documented since then, though sadly the Bangle-butt 7 parked on the sidewalk across the street was gone by the time I was back with my camera. First, There was an Infiniti G35 in the perpendicular non-spot in front of the store.
In something of a deranged dueling banjos response, this Mazda was parked perpendicular to the building about half a store away from the front door. Presuming the inconvenience of two doors and three spots rendered useless had to have a reason, the owner of this car must have meant for this to be a dadaist effort, disrupting the established order of commercial parking lots. Lines will not hold them back.

This week's video is one of two women on a bicycle. I wonder if this is UCI sanctioned.

Now I know what people do when they have their bars set up like that.

It was infinitely late at night

2009-08-12T22:53:00.001-04:00

I don't need to tell you, dear reader, that I have been delinquent in my blogging. As much of a cop out as it is, I'll again use the excuse that I've been very busy.

Lots has happened since the last post. Bryan and I went down to the Pan Mass Challenge to help out, and we were greeted by great sheets of rain and tasty free food, which is a peachy mix when you're in a building. There was a wood paneled Jeep Liberty on the way, which was heartwarming in its own way.

The next two days were very nice weather wise, and my brother and his wife and kids came out to town, which meant the whole family got to hang out together for the first time in a while.

As you can imagine given the amount of time that has passed since my last update, I have a considerable backlog of "fun stuff I seen™," some of which I'll cover here.

There was a flawless E28 BMW M5 in for inspection at the gas station nextdoor. Very cool (though Ronin did make the E34 M5 cooler).

We installed a $700 computer on a $700 bike (a hybrid to boot).

A Volvo with a Devo sticker, which I hope is referring to this, and not the school.

I saw what appears to be a warning about Gene Kelly in pictograms.

A bike by a the company that makes James Bond's gun (I assume).

Finally, an English bloke brought a fascinating English bike in to the shop for service at the shop. I presume this bike came out of the following equation. It is sadly neither as pleasant to ride as a Ridley, or presumably as pleasant to drink as a Fribble, but the Ribble is something special, a uniquely European take on generic bikesdirect style low-end road bikes. Check out the low end Campy and the steel steerer tube ITM fork.

Now that I'm back in Newton most days, I have the opportunity to witness some of the worst driving in the world. Here are some examples, which I assure you, are not doctored or set-up, people really park like this

This Saab is actually accomplishing a couple of tasks at once. While it's remarkably common for people to effectively barricade the stairs leading to the front door with their cars (note the red Prius), this Saab is blocking both the stairs and the handicapped ramp.

The stairblock maneuver is remarkably common on days when there are plentiful empty actual parking spots, I'm guessing DSM-IV has something to say on the matter.

Not pictured here is the 90° shuffle, in which the car is parked perpendicular to the actual spaces. When combined with the above maneuver (a degree of douchebagery usually reserved for BMW and Lexus SUVs), the stairs, the ramp, and additional spaces are rendered useless.

A less common practice is the "Lost at sea" where the vehicle is parked out of the way of everything, but to so great an extent that it's basically parked in the middle of traffic. I imagine it's something like a personal bubble, but relative in scale to a car.

For this week's video, it's some Tim and Eric (Awesome Show, Great Job), because not enough people watch this excellent show.

murder ballads and orangina

2009-07-27T23:14:00.003-04:00

Good amount of riding in this week, which I'm happy about. The humidity is brutal though. It's looking like I'll try being competitive for cross season. Most of my Spooky is together now (as in, it's in the same place), I just need to dig up bar/stem/post/saddle/tires. I've got time. I will update this very post with pictures soon.

In other bikey news, Africabike broke another axle, but Bryan told me about a great option from Woodman Components in the Bill Extrem RSN hub. It's got a super burly 12 mm axle with the ends machined to fit through normal dropouts. To match this monster, I found an old Mavic D521 at the shop, (with ceramic coating no less). This 36 spoke beast will finally be a wheel worthy of my steed, and likely the heaviest wheel around by a good measure. Fab.

Last week, Chris, Dan B. and I went to Boston Beer Works, where I had never been before. I was quite tired, but I ordered a sandwich I didn't really want anyways. The sandwich was lunch the next day. This is only notable because I got a very special, very rare onion ring sombrero, which was even given a special celebratory box! I was quite honored.

For this week's video, an example of why everyone should watch every Extras (there's only 13 episodes), starring Sir Ian McKellan

See also Patrick Stewart's appearance.

Twist away the gates of steel

2009-07-13T19:52:00.008-04:00

Last weekend, Thom P. got married! The wedding was fun, and lots of people were there. Even Bryan! Congratulations to Thom and Miriam! Exclaimation points!

Some sad news on the Africabike Evo, it seems the 1" disc tab equipped rigid fork was a typo, and nobody makes a cheap fork to that spec. If anyone has/knows of such a thing, please let me know, but until then, that project is being shelved. I know IF or Igleheart could do it, but going custom would be against the spirit of the AB, not to mention I have to pay for other stuff now...

New cross bike! I'm getting a Spooky Supertouch, which I decided to get as soon as I rode Marcus's and it was miraculous. This will also be my first SRAM bike, as I rather liked how the Rival stuff on Marcus's bike worked. I'll keep posting progress on the build.

This Sunday I'm going to the MIT Flea market, and who knows what I'll come back with. Last time I got this monkey wrench from the 1940s, and there's all manner of awesome obsolete tech there from Newtons to Wizards. It happens every 3rd Sunday from 9 to 2, and it's totally worth checking out.

This week's video is a return to music, with Blur's Clockwork Orange inspired "The Universal", one of several excellent videos from the group.

Now my door has swollen from the rain

2009-07-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

This year's 4th of July was in many ways a repeat of last year's, with a bunch of people from Glenville getting together, though this year there were more people and more food, hanging at the esplanade, and watching the fireworks. It was best 4th I ever remember having. I wonder how Bryan's 4th was.

So it was my birthday on the 7th, and now I'm 23. Doesn't really feel any different.

Versus (née OLN) is on all day at the shop now, for their tourxtravaganzafest coverage of the TDF, and while granted, there is lots of bike racing between the bullriding, fishing, and cagefighting, I'm struck by the strange choices (and resultant implicit viewer demographics) by advertisers during the tour. Cadillac I get, as the CTS is meant to be the europhile's Caddy (and it seems they're actually making the wagon which is cool..though I'd still sooner a 3 wagon), and the bike company ads are logical, but some of the others paint an unfortunate picture. Between solicitations for "natural male enhancement", hair loss serums, debt consolidation and credit checks, impotence cures, and the occasional visits from Billy Mays from beyond the grave thanks to the magic of Mighty Putty, it seems the expected viewership is largely comprised of broke, bald, impotent men that have sprung leaks. These men also have the money for a $40,000 car and a fancy carbon bike. I suppose that's where the debt came from. All that's missing are the VH1 Classic/Comedy Central staple ads for the unfortunately named vocational school UTI.

TopGear has started their new season, and so far, it's been up to form, with one particularly tremendous segment involving Ken Block, Ricky Carmichael, James May, one Subaru and one Suzuki in some beautifully composed all terrain gymnastics. You can see it here.

This week's video goes out to Chicagoland people, all of whom are apparently familiar with this ad.

Delay

2009-07-06T00:06:00.003-04:00

Sorry, this week's post will be a bit delayed. Shame, I had such a streak going

It's eighties life, But it all looks good on you

2009-06-28T14:26:00.003-04:00

On Thursday I went on my first longish road ride in a while, and while it was threatening rain the whole time, it never materialized, and it just stayed muggy and humid. It was a nice ride though, about 60 miles, most of which was just the same route I always used when I was living in Brookline.

On Friday I was given a ticket to see a show at Club Passim in Cambridge. I had never been there, but I had nothing else to do between 8 and 10, so I went. There, I saw Robbie Fulks, who I had previously not been familiar with, and he put on a great show of excellent twangy music. He even did a special rendition of Billie Jean.

Thom's getting married, so Greg "The Leg" Montello organized a pub crawl on bicycle all over Cambridge and Boston. We started at Redbones, where I had a great big messy pulled chicken sandwich. It was quite good, especially after I was urged to close the open faced sandwich by someone who had noticed my confusion with the arragement. After that, we rode to all manners of watering hole and, had all manner of refreshment on the way, including a cocktail whos name escapes me and something that tasted just like Fresca. We finished the night at the Blue Diner, where we had breakfast food at 3am. It was a lot of fun, lots of people rode on the back of the Africabike (pictures were taken, but I'm not sure by who exactly), and even Bryan was there!

I know it's been covered, but I'm still taken aback by the number of celebrities that have been dying all over the place. Especially in the cases of Michael Jackson and Billy Mays, who strangely enough were both 50 when they went, their presences seemed like they should have just continued forever in one way or another. Arguably, given that MJ's significant work came about over 15 years ago, the full extent of his influence and significance was already out there, and his demise marks just one of the possible endings to his "whatever happened to..." story, but what of Billy Mays, who seemed like he was just hitting the prime of his career?

In honor of those simpler times, here's an ad for L.A. Gear, starring Mr. Jackson.

Given the company's affinity for almost surreally 80's ads, is it any wonder they collapsed in the 90s?

When it comes, you'll feel the weight of it

2009-06-21T23:32:00.007-04:00

Sorry about the lateness of this update, but I've not had enough time of late to give y'alls a proper update, and after last time's somewhat half-assed effort, I wanted to give more smiles per mile this week.

Earlier this week I ordered the parts that will go into the next evolution of Africabike (see this post for the last evolution), and to start, it will include one of these, a new fork, and hopefully, room for a big honkin 2.5" slick. With luck, the thing will float around the 50lb mark, and will therefore be capable of splitting or crushing any road hazard it may come across. Bryan suggested a snare for errant marmots off the barend-mirrors. Progress updates coming soon.

Also, a big reason I have been short on time, I've finally finished moving into my new apartment, and everything's all wired up. I'm very proud of how well i've been able to hide speaker wire, and the rear channels themselves are neatly integrated into some BENNOs, with two comfy POÄNGs and a LACK. Skål!

Since last time, I also got a chance to represent the shop at a bicycle advocacy event at WGBH's studios. It was nice enough, though I was up against stacks of Solo cups, and suffice to say, I lost that battle.

Recently, I've been engaged in another battle, with AT&T and Sony Ericsson. Which is to say, apart from making unreliable devices (which, I'll say it again, makes it sexier for the same reason as an Italian car), S-E has been quite good, apart from their expectation for me to be ok without phone for 10 days (no go). AT&T just sends me through many loops and from call center to call center. Tomorrow, I'm going to one of their "authorized handset exchange and repair centers" near the Pru, and supposedly, they'll be able to tell me whether or not I should send in my phone for warranty replacement. This is important, as in the AT&T universe, the way one finds out about a denial of warranty replacement is an automated charge for a new device. Not at subsidized value, or even market value, but new replacement value, which means I would pay $160+ for my Z750a, which can be found new on eBay for south of $50. Sigh.

I saw a midnight showing of the new Transformers movie with some people from work, and I was severely disappointed with how quickly my beloved R8 was split in half (not a spoiler, it's in the ads). Otherwise, an appropriately absurd Michael Bay explosionfest. Not very much plot, some excellent robot battles, bittersweet product placement, and as much "so bad it's good" acting as one would expect from Shia the Beef, Meghan Fox, and most glaringly, Tyrese. John Turturro was good though. He's up there with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi and Harry Dean Stanton in an ability to make most roles work.

Also, apologies for the non-sequitur, but I just saw a Blockbuster ad on TV. Granted it's at 00:45, but really? Blockbuster? I thought they were dead.

The weather's been miserable of late, but tomorrow, which is my day off, is finally expected to be dry, so hopefully I can get a nice long ride in between other whatnots I have to get done.

For this week's video, some remarkably familiar scenes, courtesy of Nintendo of America

Good morning lethargy (drink Pepsi, good for energy)

2009-06-09T20:38:00.005-04:00

Not a whole lot to talk about this week, but I am past due for an update.

I'm pretty much moved into the new place, though I still haven't solved my speaker wire routing issue.

There's also some sort of surge and hiss being created when I connect my laptop's port replicator to my receiver, and the DVI-HDMI connection is scaling all wrong, so there's still fettling to be done. On the plus side, I didn't realize how well the silver R8 from my desk fits in with all the Panasonic silver. Sadly in all this setup time, I didn't get to take any new pictures of Bryan (so I'm using one of Jason's).

I had some pain from my lower right abdomen a few mornings ago, so I decided to go on an XC ride on my full-rigid singlespeed. It did not go well. I went to the hospital the next day and they did a whole bunch of tests, though the findings were somewhat inconclusive. I'll keep people posted...

As something of a follow-up to last week's late-night TV talk, I've been very impressed with The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (which still feels weird to say). As a taste of that (and my first Hulu embed-yay!), today's video is a bit from the show, where Conan goes to a Foley stage at Universal Studios. Thanks to Jason for pointing me toward this one.

Sorry about the short post, my head hurts.

A Thousand Years Away

2009-05-30T01:57:00.005-04:00

I saw UP on its opening night with Jason, and it was brilliant, I've got no other way to put it. The visuals, characters, story, timing, and pretty much everything else was phenomenal. I saw it in Digital 3D, and as in most recent cases, this tech really works well, and it really is a vast improvement over the old approaches. I heard and read a number of interviews with Pete Docter where it sounded like the 3D here was an afterthought, and while the use of it here was much more subtle than, say Monsters v. Aliens, it was used where appropriate, and in some scenes, really added to the aesthetic considerably. The important thing is that, this being Pixar, the 3D is not a crutch, it really is just icing on the cake. I'm not sure the same could be said of the most recent Dreamworks offering. Check out some development art on Lou Romano's blog (on the blogroll) and if you want to see more, I highly recommend the Art of Up book, as well as the rest of the development art books if you're so inclined.

It's a box-office success, but I still think it will be a merchandising nightmare. That said, I'll just say that there is definitely at least one character that could prove me wrong.

I was let down that Pete Sohn's short "Partly Cloudy" was not shown at my screening but I hear that's been a common issue, and I'm definitely seeing at again, hopefully with the short attached next time.
In other fun news, I found a 1st generation (slot-loading) iMac on the side of the road, in grape, I think. It's got OS X on it, but otherwise seems totally stock, with no new files on it of any kind. I'll find a use for it somewhere.

As will tend to happen in the respite between finishing school and starting work again, I've grown reacquainted with late night lineups. The TV I'm using at this point is not connected to cable, and doesn't have a DTV converter, so I'm limited to terrestrial analog OTA channels (which doesn't include Fox). Given that WLVI (CW, formerly WB) and WSBK (38, formerly UPN) are formulaic sitcom graveyards late at night (and arguably during most of the day as well), I'm left with the classic ABC, CBS, and NBC. It's like 1949 all over again.

I've always relied on NBC for my late night TV (after 12:30), but the NBCUni higher ups have thrown their strength out the window. While I am all for Brookliner Conan O'Brien taking Jay Leno's former 11:35-12:30 slot and making NBC entertaining again in that timeslot, everything thereafter is pretty dismal. Backing up Carson Daly's monumental mediocrity (at best), Conan's slot has been taken by Jimmy Fallon, posterboy for SNL degrading into what it is now. His interview style is extremely awkward, his bits generally aren't funny, and he doesn't have the charisma to get away with the show's failings. Maybe it's the early teething troubles, but I don't remember any other host being this bad at the gig (yet still get garner such high ratings).

I wandered around a bit which leads to this week's pleasant surprise, the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Craig's show works on many levels, with funny bits, good interviews (with interesting guests), new perspectives, and a very nice atmosphere. Honestly, it's as good as the best of Conan, which is really saying something. I'm sorry I said you're just for old people, CBS.

I spent 6 hours at IKEA yesterday, and tomorrow I'm moving into the new place, so that will probably be on the next post.

Also, Bryan was sick this week, probably with the swine flu. Don't die, Bryan!

For this week's video, we have the video for Tel Aviv native Oren Lavie's song "Her Morning Elegance." I totally missed the boat on this one, but it's still very impressive stop-motion magic.

Thanks to Winson for showing me it for the first time.

what's UP this week?

2009-05-26T23:17:00.003-04:00

I've managed to hold off till now, but at this point, there's only 3 days until UP comes up and I have proof that the Pixar Touch has not faded post merger (though the impending sequel-fest doesn't thrill me). I've done a pretty good job of avoiding spoilers, so it will be pretty fresh to me. The Art of UP book came in the mail today, but I've left it in the shipping box, just to have fresh eyes on Friday. Super-excited.

In a seismic shift from work all the time to party all the time (not really, just wanted to put that in there), I caught up on my sleep, and got some good riding in. I went on a last ride up Mt. Holyoke, which was fun, and proved to me my earlier hypothesis that I'm faster on heavier, more-aero wheels, even uphill. I should get some Cosmic Carbones. This week I finally cleaned up drivetrains, and thanks again to Bryan for answering all my stupid questions.

Due to the big time gap since the last post (sorry), a bunch of stuff has happened that hasn't been covered. Mike B had his birthday party at the crapshack, and it was lots of fun. It was a sort of sendoff too, as a bunch of people were graduating and Mike is studying abroad next semester. I think it's best summed up by this picture.

I also graduated on Saturday, and the ceremony was shorter than I expected, given the sea of people there. All of the speeches mentioned the poor state of the economy in some diplomatic way, and wished us the best of luck, kind of a strange parting shot.

Over the course of last week, I did the Boston-Amherst/Amherst-Boston drive no less than 6 times, moving stuff back and forth from the shack to my parents house for temporary storage. That means a lot of road time, and in that time, I devised a cool handsfree phone setup, which involved connecting the phone to one of these, and connecting it to the head unit's aux-in port. I expected a killer feedback loop, but it actually hasn't been a problem. Another little victory.

Finally, I'm moving into my new place in Brighton next week. I'll say more about that then.

For this week's video, it's one Seth showed me on his buddy's blog and I think it speaks for itself.

Happy birthday Thom P.!

update coming

2009-05-24T01:27:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the late post again, I will get to updating in the next few days...much to discuss...

Didn't they teach you anything, except how to be cruel, in that charm school?

2009-05-13T13:27:00.006-04:00

First, anyone who knows what song this week's title comes from wins something, don't know what yet.

I was just looking for a song with "school" in it, and that's the first one that comes to mind, because on Tuesday, I finished school (mostly. Still have an exam on Thursday). I'll try to avoid getting too schmaltzy or predictable, but it still feels weird to be a real world person.

This past weekend UMBRC organized the Orchard Assault XC race. The weatherman was way off for much of the day, as the climate was downright schizophrenic. Kim brought her dogs, which were christened Hank and Robert.

It was misting all morning, followed by rain, followed by big humidity, then big heat, then nice, then thunderstorms. It made for a slippery course, and my rear tire, which is designed for the dry, didn't hook up very well. This meant a pretty low placing for me (this being my second MTB ride of the season didn't help either) but it was fun.

Tim Durrin (Cap'n Jeremy's brother) won the 3 race, his first MTB race ever, and Jeff Cronin took 2nd.

Our own Sean Kennedy won the 2 race in very convincing fashion, arms aloft across the line.

Thom Parsons, Mike Bartlett, Jeff Elie, Tom Sampson, and a whole slew of other superstars brought the fire to the 1 and Pro races.
Good times were had by all, and the turnout was pretty impressive, especially given the weather. Thanks to everyone who came out. While we were all out XCin, Bryan did a sweet backflip.

Seth finally came out to see the house (a week before I move out, natch), but it was good timing, because he had came just in time for the UMBRC after party. It was a fun night of music, can/bottle towers, chips, and a-a-aaa-aaa-alcohol. The next day I worked in the library from 11 am to midnight, which makes it the weekend I figure I should have been having every week at Umass. Oh well.

Jesse and the UVM/Mt. Holyoke kids couldn't make it, so it was a largely Umass affair, but we had laughs nonetheless. Bikeregger Jeff Elie and Jenna came over, as well as alums AW and Duggan, and even bike-coopers Brian, Marisa and Miguel popped in for a bit.

Some other stuff happened this week. There was a showing of the animation classes' work, which was fun, and I got to meet one of the people working on Jet Set Zero which is a great concept with super stylish production. Check it out.

Finally, I saw the most unimaginable thing in a parking lot near the ROTC building....It's Duster! An honest to god Plymouth Duster, in period correct cocaine white, no less. I have to assume it appeared there because of last week's blogpost, I didn't know I held such power...

Mindful of that, this week's video is Top Gear's Audi R8 review.

There. Maybe now it will appear.

late update

2009-05-05T19:20:00.004-04:00

Sorry this update is stupid late, but I'm stupid busy.

Only about a week of classes left through, so regular posting will resume in the near term.

The ECCC road season ended this weekend at Penn State, but like I said in the last post, UMBRC was not representing, as we couldn't get vans, so to cover what happened a week before at MIT's race.

It was in Westminster, which is near Jeremy's house in Fitchburg, so that's where we stayed. It was fun to see his hometown, which is very hilly, and has a mall.

Because we keep getting the same van with the same broken tape deck, I brought along my magic speaker, which we rocked out to all weekend. Especially to Tone-Loc.

We went to the pizza place that is a pre-race tradition for the Jeremy, Brad, and Jeff L. and it was pretty tasty.

The next morning, Jeremy went to race at Turtle Pond, and took the van keys with him. He was long gone by the time we got up to do our race, so we were at his house with a van we couldn't use.

Jeff Cronin's parents very graciously offered to drive us to the race, thanks again to them for that. The Ford Freestyle (like a tall Taurus wagon), feels a lot bigger when it doesn't have 5 people and three bikes in it, but we made it there just in time.

It was insanely hot, but I felt better than I expected to. It was a hilly race, but I stayed around the pack for most of it. Unfortunately, there was the kind of slow-motion crash that's all too common in C-races on the steepest part of the climb, I got caught up in it, dropped my chain, and had to hoof it up to the top, costing any chance of regaining pack contact. For the second week in a row, I basically TTed to the end.

Looking at the results, it's clear that the heat made this race something of a war of attrition, with 19 dnfs of 75 riders. I got 29th place, which again, is better than I expected. Tom unfortunately broke his chain, but we've not heard the last from him...

In the D race, Josh got 2nd and Jeff got 5th. Nice job you sandbaggers.

The next day's crit was just as hot, if not hotter, but unlike the day before, I did not feel very good at all. I stayed with the pack for 3 or 4 laps, but I just wasn't feeling it at all, and I dropped out. Certainly that's not how I wanted to finish my last collegiate race ever, but what are you gonna do. Tom avenged me by winning in spectacular fashion, breaking away with 3 laps to go, and holding off everyone else enough to sit up, zip up his jersey, and raise his arms across the line. Good show.

In the D crit Jeff and Josh got 11th and 9th respectively, so a mixed but overall good weekend for UMBRC.

Like I told Joe Kopena, I think collegiate cycling the best part of being at school, and I'm sad to see it end.

In a final bit of racing news, this weekend is the ORCHARD ASSAULT MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE! It will be super fun, and everyone should come do it. Even world famous big wheel bicycle racer man Thom Parsons will be there! Sadly Bryan has to work, so he won't be there.

Even if you've never raced a bike, try it here! After-party at the crapshack too, so fun will be had by all.

A few unrelated notes:

I am trying to avoid UP news and clips as much as I can, so the element of surprise is there when I see it, but based everything I have seen, it will be another Pixar masterpiece. I have similarly high hopes for the attached short "Partly Cloudy" directed by Peter Sohn (voice of Emile too).

I'm also psyched about a bunch of stuff happening in business news.

Fiat is taking over Chrysler (in a very favorable deal for Fiat), and if their acquisition of GM Europe (or at least Opel/Vauxhall) is completed, it could bode very well for the US automotive landscape.

Imagine being able to get Fiat Bravos and Grande Puntos, not to mention Alfas and Opel Insignias, in the US. It would make traffic so much prettier. They'll also get rid of the awful current Chryslers, which is good.

Another cool event of the last two weeks is the agreement met between Disney and Hulu, which is a significant step forward in the seismic paradigm shift that is Hulu. One of the only biggies still holding out from a unified big media internet video channel is CBS, but it's ok, because CBS is for old people anyways. HULU TEH FUTURE!

For this week's video, we keep the '80s love going and watch an ad from 1985 that either explains why Chrysler's bankrupt, or would be a step in the right direction. You decide.

Hope to see everyone at the Orchard Assault.

From the mouth of darts!

2009-04-20T22:19:00.005-04:00

Apologies for the lateness of this week's blog update, but it's getting busy as I finish up at school (see this post).

Last weekend, we raced out in NH/VT near Dartmouth (which is cool because it's much closer than the races earlier this season, apart from Yale's). While the team did pretty well on the whole, I'll say that I was not feeling it, and that the road race was definitely the hardest I have ever done. I suspect I was sick too, which couldn't have helped matters.

Tom Sampson got 10th (on pimp-ass borrowed Zipps) and I got 53rd (out of 67) in the C crit, which Josh and Jeff Cronin got 7th and 10th respectively (of 30) in the D crit. For the road race, Tom got 8th and I got 55th (of 64) in the Cs, and Josh and Jeff got 30th and 3rd (of 67) respectively. Nice job Cronin, you skinny bastard. UMBRCers for life Spencer and Chris made a special guest appearance the watch the crit, which was fun.

The hotel was like a slightly more backwoods facsimile of last week's, as much of the furniture and layout seemed the same, albeit with little differences here and there. At night, the room got quite warm, so I opened the panel where the control for the A/C should have been and just found what looks like a bunch of cobbled together molex connectors. Also, for the third weekend in a row, Happy Gilmore was on the TV. Well, ok, it was Billy Madison the first week, but still.

We went to probably the worst Subway in the world the night we got there. It was in a convinence store and not only did they not make the sub my way, the peppers seemed to be mostly stems and the toasting wasn't really done properly (think frozen bread into lowest setting toaster. Then just hanging out there for a bit).

The next day all went to the roadhouse cafe across the street from the hotel. It was charming. The server was also the owner, and made us all very generous portions of tasty food. It was Tom's birthday, so I bought him a slice of pie as big as his head. It was very good pie, but I had to take away half of it, as I was not up to the challenge.

This weekend, I'm doing MIT's race in Westminster, MA. It's the closest race in the series, which seems poetic as next week's is the farthest away (PA). This will probably be the last collegiate race I do, as Umass van regulations improse a mileage restriction, and we all know Ferris Buellering doesn't really work.

I did get to see Monsters v. Aliens in 3D as the Cinemark down the street sprung for the new projector, and as with Bolt, the tech's pretty impressive. While the movie was pleasant enough, it seems Dreamworks has fallen back into old habits of rapid-fire pop-culture riffs from an all-star cast and shameless plugs (going as far as HP product placement in the movie). There were certainly parts of the movie that got laughs, and it's visually quite a spectacle, but on the whole, it's not very substantial.

For this week's video, we delve into the deepest depths of 80s absurdity, if not obscurity, with arguably the most confusing music video of all time.

Cold and wet in New Haven

2009-04-14T20:09:00.005-04:00

This week, Sean K, Tom S, and myself were representing UMBRC at Yale's race in New Haven, CT. It was cool to have a van with just the three of us, because it meant the bikes could stay warm and comfortable inside on the wet and cold drive there.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn, which was by far the nicest hotel the team's ever stayed at. There was a continental breakfast every morning (including "D+D Egg and Cheese" style egg circles and frosted flakes, yum) and magic comforters on the beds, not to mention lots of entertainment solutions. Tom and Sean wrestled a lot too.

There was a mostly uphill TT on Saturday (again with this?), but once again, I did better than I expected, finishing 40th out of 58. Tom and Sean did admirably at 22nd and 26th of 49 respectively in the B race.

It had started raining toward the end of the TT and while we were all sitting in the van, the temps dropped, the rain picked up, and it got windy to boot. Even New Hampshire raised Bryan (photo courtesy Jason G.) would have found the weather unpleasant. We went to Friendly's.

There, we discovered sprinkle-vision, which is a space age technology I'm not sure I'm at liberty to talk about. We also got a Umass maroon suit jacket at Salvation Army with one arm inexplicably shorter than the other.

The next day's crit was dry, which is good, though it was still chilly. We all had decent results with Tom and Sean getting 24th and 30th respectively in the B race, and yours truly getting 36th of 55 in the C race.

Yale reduced the entry fee for ECCC riders to do the USCF cat3/4 race later in the day so Sean and I signed on to do it. As it got later and later and the temperature got lower and lower, our enthusiasm was waning, and the Umass boys formed a plan. Kamikaze attacks to make things interesting. Sean wasn't feeling it early on and dropped out, leaving me in the race to attack relentlessly. I used up all my energy after like 9 attacks, and finished 25th, but hey, lots of pictures of me off the front, so that's something. The race finished with a remarkable 13 DNFs of 39 starters and UVM/Newton's own Jesse Chebot took the W. Congrats old boy. And sorry about the peanut butter.

New on the blogroll (right) this week is 24 Hour Toons, where they give people a topic and 24 hours to make a film about the topic. Very cool.

For this week's video, I'm putting up a short by CalArts alums Alex Hirch and Nick Butera. You can also check out Nick's "CalArts song", but I warn you, it will get stuck in your head.

Well I thought about the Army

2009-04-06T11:50:00.006-04:00

This weekend, I raced out at West Point.

We didn't get the same van this week as last week, and to put it kindly, this week's was not especially confidence inspiring. A shaky rear wheel, some crazy vibrations, and a clearly failing weld holding on the door were bad enough, but the tape deck was broken to boot! Because of this, we had to listen to the radio the whole trip (something I don't really do). Jeremy is a staunch supporter of FM radio, and said he would convince me of its merits. He did not, though the sing-alongs were really enjoyable.

We stayed at Ray from Stevens' house, which was very cool, because his mom made all of us food and we got woken up on time in the morning. That's why UMBRC got to the races on time this week, but don't hold it against us.

It was incredibly windy the first day, and it only subsided a bit on the second. I had an upset stomach, unfortunately, so I didn't do as well as I would have liked. They had cool pace cars though.

There was a hillclimb on the second morning, which was fun, and I beat my goal of not finishing last (4th from last place, yay). I miscalculated the wind's full effect on the second day and went on a solo flier which was soon brought back, but I'd do it again.

On a sidenote, there's a cool dollar store near here, and they had some fun things there, like the unfortunately named (but brutally honest) dish set above.

I'll be working tech at this on Thursday, so come check it out if you like animation.

Hopefully Bryan took the nice weather on Sunday to ride his bike real good.

For this week's video, we've got none other than Dick Vitale in a moment of announcing greatness.

DICKY!

2009-03-29T23:22:00.006-04:00

This weekend, I decided not to race in Philly (ECCC)

On Friday, I went on a fun road ride with Jake M and Andrew from UMBRC. We went for about an hour and a half loop to Mt. Holyoke and back. There's still snow up top (despite it being 60 and gorgeous out), so Andrew and I precariously navigated that bit half on tire, and half on cleat. MTB maestro Jake just rode over it, though he did have a front cross tire. At this point I can't give nearly as thorough a list of the music I ride to as Thom P (I just let ye old Dell DJ do it's thing in shuffle), but I will say the songs I found to work especially well on the climb were:

The Stooges-T.V. Eye
M.O.P.-World Famous
Pulp-Common People
Elvis Costello-Lipstick Vogue

And for the descent:

The Rosebuds-Unwind
Calexico-Glimpse
Ben Kweller-Red Eye
A.C. Newman-Come Crash
The Minus 5-The Old Plantation

Later, I saw Jeff Tweedy live at the Calvin theater, and he sounded really good. The seats were very far away from him, which took away from the intimacy of the venue (and also, that's why the shots are so blurry, a combination of 12x zoom, no tripod, and a crazy long exposure to make up for the fact that flashes were verboten.)

It was still warm out, so Jeff, Dan, and I rode there by bike. When I went in, the guy at the door took my headlight (but not my camera) and said he'd be there all night. At the end of the show the new door people said the guy had left, and the light wasn't in the office. Prick.

There was a really cool Saab Sonett V4 outside though, which I enjoyed.

On Saturday, I went out MTB riding at Batchelor St. with Jake again and Hucker Joe. I learned a few things:

1. Riding the trainer all winter has cost me the bit of technical XC skill I did have, Gotta work on that. Bryan would be ashamed.
2. Having acclimated to 30-40 degrees, 60° feels absolutely sweltering on the MTB. Should have brought more water.
3. My XC tires lost less than 10 psi just sitting there for over a month. Wowee Zowie, UST (with some help).

After that, Joe and I rode the almost done course of the upcoming Umass Orchard Assault Course. It's quite excellent, with a good mix of punishing up, and technical down. It should be an excellent race.

For this week's video, we have the newish fourth (or fifth, depending on which you count) installation of Derek Waters' excellent "Drunk History" series. If you haven't seen these, be sure to check out the others too, especially the first and second ones (with Michael Cera and Jack Black respectively).

Happy Birthday Chris J!

Virginia is for Cyclists

2009-03-23T22:13:00.004-04:00

In the past 10 days, I was in VA, PA, MA, DE, NY, NJ, MD and briefly PA. First, there was a race right in New York, which was very cool and very fast. The next day, there was a race in Hoboken, NJ (an apparently historic town) that had lots-o-climbing, which is bad news for me, so I did not so good, but it was fun nonetheless. You can see Joey C's excessively humble (he did win his race) race report here.

After that, Josh, Jeff Cronin, Jeremy and myself jammed a whole bunch of stuff (including my big-ass folding mattress, which was totally worth bringing), into Jeremy's Silver-Bullet Honda Accord for a long trip south. It was a fun trip down, especially because we had already passed the dreadfulness that is the George Washington Bridge. On the way, we ate at a Virginia IHOP, where we got our first taste of proper southern hospitality, which always takes some getting used to. In VA, we met up with Jeremy's brother Tim and a couple of other guys from Jeremy's team in Fitchburg, We stayed at an old firehouse in Lynchburg that's being rented by two guys down there. Special thanks again to David and Ashby, it was awesome. Every day would start with a trip to Barb's Dream Hut, where the breakfast is tasty, and real cheap. Barb was awesome too, and she gave all of us hugs before we left. Pictured at Barb's, this is (L-R) Brad, Jeff L., Jeremy, Barb, Tim, myself, and Jeff C.

After Barb's, we would go out for a short ride in the morning, eat at the firehouse, go for a long ride in the afternoon, eat again, watch a movie, and go to sleep. It was awesome.

One of the coolest things about riding down there (apart from the excellent weather) was the fact that the Blue Ridge Parkway was right near us, and it's a breathtaking ride. Quite literally so with a 12 mile climb on Wednesday.

There was ample mountain-biking down there too, so I think Bryan would have had a good time too.

The next weekend, we raced in Delaware, and it's a pretty small state, so the road race actually went into Maryland a few miles in. Also, we went the wrong way for a few miles on the way there and we went to PA, which was cool. My legs were quite beat from the week's riding, so it wasn't great. I wasn't last or first, and I suppose that's what counts. The next day, there was a 5.1 mile TT, which I actually felt really good for, and I passed everyone ahead of me, which gave me a false sense of security in a top 10 spot, as I had only started 3rd or 4th in line. I got 14th of 39, just out of the points. Drat. The crit was a DNF as between spent legs and a fear-of-god inducing-rise-before-a-fast-left-that-sends-the-bike-airborne on the course I packed it in after a few laps.

I rode back to the house I was staying at, we packed up the Honda, and headed back up north. Jeff was crammed into the back (with a bunch of things). We stopped at a BK in dirty Jersey, and I got a BK Veggie. Thom is right, they are good.

We got back to Umass on Sunday night, and I woke up the next day to 31° weather. I can now say I've had the distinct displeasure of frostbite on a sunburn.

This week's video is from Dailymotion, because YouTube's being silly, but it's a good one, Remi Gaillard in real-life Mario Kart!

MARIO KART (REMI GAILLARD)
Uploaded by nqtv

another delay

2009-03-19T10:28:00.001-04:00

Uri's in Virginia, but he forgot his camera's cable, so a proper update will come soon. They've got proper hills down here!

I wore my New Jersey

2009-03-10T21:02:00.004-04:00

On Saturday, the racewheels finally went on the Cervelo, and the UMBRC headed down to Rutgers. It was eerily warm, in the 60s, which is tremendous.

I didn't finish last (or first) in any races, but I reckon it's about time for ulcer-diet™ to come back into force, as the hills were definitely hurtin' hardcore. I suppose weight gain is in the nature of taking 7 classes at once, but it's too late to turn back now.

Teammate "Hucker" Joe Clemenzi got 4th place in the D crit by acting a fool and just pulling everyone the whole length of the race. If he drafted at all, he'd be unstoppable.

On the second day, Jeremy Durrin ate a whole bunch of pasta at the Princeton cafeteria, did the A race, and promptly returned the pasta to the lawn outside our Motel 6. It was inspirational.

The TT was my strongest performance, but the 180° turns at either end of the course probably cost me more time than they should have. Ce la vie. All told, it was nice to go out and race again, but I've been spoiled by the shortsleeve weather, I'm riding the trainer tomorrow (49 and raining), but I won't like it.

My tires must have disliked the span of time they had spent unused as one of them decided to end its own life on race day, and all my tires are hanging out with Bryan in Newton, so a special shout out to UVM's Jessie "Cream-O-Land" Chebot for hooking me up with one of his.

Back in Amherst, there were some neat sights to see, like a creative replacement for the wiper on this Hyundai XG, and Luke's fresh new kicks.

For this week's video, I found an almost full version of Faron Young's rendition of Willie Nelson's Hello Walls. Here is all that was right with country music in the 1960s.

Snowday

2009-03-02T15:04:00.006-05:00

Despite temperatures edging 60 less than a week ago, western Mass is currently under a whole bunch of powder. I was in the library from 4pm to 4am on Sunday (into Monday). A bunch of bike co-op people were there too, including Constantinos who deconstructed G-funk for us. Step to this, I dare ya. It started snowing in earnest around 1am and Annyeong the Hyundai was thoroughly frosted on a 4am drive home through the snow listening to Explosions in the Sky. Trippy.

Bryan made me a new saddle using only twine, a twinkie, and a ball-point pen. I'd say it came out pretty good. I might keep running my old black SLR a bit longer (early season races will likely be muddy/messy), but when the time is right to pimpify, y'all will know. Hopefully next week will have a raceupdate, because the ECCC season is starting next Saturday in Jersey.

I did manage to take advantage of the warmerish day, riding out to Mt. Holyoke on Saturday, and riding up to the halfway lodge (unplowed beyond that, unfortunately) 10 times. It felt good to be off the trainer again, and elderly walkers going up the road kept saying motivational things at me just drove me to keep on truckin'. I left the head of my Cateye (my Cathead, per Erich) in Boston on the other Cervelo, so I temporarily replaced it with this super-sweet $5 Transformers watch from Wal-Mart. It has a stopwatch (it's in seconds, and I don't know that there's a way to reset it), and there are two buttons on it that aren't actually buttons. I might just use this instead of a computer going forward, we'll see.

For this post's video, I wanted to put up Serge Gainsbourg's timeless "Bonnie and Clyde" video, which reeks of effortless cool, but alas, embedding is disabled on all the copies on Youtube. Check it out if you haven't seen it. Instead, I'm putting up the Pulp song "This is Hardcore," because it's been stuck in my head all week, enjoy.

I told you I'd do it

2009-02-25T22:04:00.006-05:00

Over the weekend, I drove back to Eastern Mass, and visited all the fellas over at IBC . Thom was still on his island getaway vacation dealie, and Bryan was illustrating how he too could do a double flip in his Toyota (under the right conditions).

Independent Fabrications was putting on a neat museum display type thing with some of their showbikes from the last few years in Boston. The attention to detail really is amazing on these bikes. Plenty of macroshooting opportunities. See all my pics from the event here.

The next day I went on a ride with a bunch of people out of the shop, and who shows up but Mr. Wes "The Western Wind" Furste himself! It was a nice ride, not too cold and not wet, which is all I can ask for in February. Well, all I can expect in February. I ultimately continued with some ill pro IF riders and founds the limits of my training on the crawl home, salty and weary.

It was proper rainy, then proper sleety, and finally, just awful on the way home, but there wasn't much traffic. I use Bosch MicroEdge blades partially because they work really well, but mostly because it sounds like the name of a safety razor.

When I got back to Umass (It's educational), there was much work to be done (I can't really expect to get any work done when I go back to Boston), so I was in the library until 3 in the AM. It's still surreal to walk back to the car when campus is that quiet, cold, and vacant. The fatigue may have made it more surreal than it was though.

Keeping up the surreal theme, this week's video is "The Apple Incident" by animator Kunio Kato. Really gorgeous work. I also highly recommend his series of shorts "The Diary of Tortov Roddle."

temporary delay

2009-02-22T20:52:00.001-05:00

Uri left his USB cable somewhere else and has a stupid heavy workload right now. Juicy blogupdate later this week, I promise.

Can't think of a title..

2009-02-14T13:50:00.006-05:00

My saddle's on its last legs, which makes me unhappy, because Selle Italia likes gouging people like nobody's business (though it may just be an Italian thing). Bryan's fightin mad about this exploitation, If anyone has an SLR Gelflow they want to get rid of, holler at your boy.

The ducks are out in good numbers near the campus pond, which is mostly water again, thanks to the warm weather. The squirrels and rabbits are still largely in hiding, but nice weather's coming, I know it. More pictures of duckies here.

This sign's outside the library, and I found it amusing. I've deduced that while most signs warn of a slipping risk with this sort of position, where it looks recoverable, here they've damned the reckless walker to fall directly on their back. I just wish it was this celebratory about it.

While I was meandering about Target, I noticed something curious. One of my favorite Honda side projects was the Honda Kick N' Gos of the 1970s. I had a couple of these, and I've always found them to be quite ingenious. This thing, which not only works like a Kick N' Go, but shares its name, was in one of the back aisles. While it's neat to see the idea reintroduced (perhaps a decade too late, though), I don't like the cheese factor, or the total disregard of Honda's invention of the thing.

Also, a thumbs up to Sennheiser. When I cracked this little piece on the inside of the headband on my HD280s, they sent me the replacement bits free, no questions asked, and even covered postage. Kudos.

For this week's video, some New Order from a 1984 BBC session. Love those shorts.

Relative Heatwave

2009-02-08T17:31:00.007-05:00

Today it got up to around 50, so I went out for the first outside ride in some time. It really was nice to get out, I think the trainer miles are making me soft.

Got out for 2 hours and change, and while it was pleasantly brisk, the wind was bludgeoning. With the Soloist's great big aero downtube acting as an effective sail, it took considerable effort to keep from drifting over.

Cleanup of all the roadsaltgrime nastiness is a pain, but it was still worth it.

Picked up some veggieburgers at Target, as well as more MotoGP bikes for my desk. That's Valentino Rossi's Yamaha and Casey Stoner's Ducati. Neat. Bonus points because Desmosedici is so much fun to say.

In animation related tidbits, I saw Coraline (in 2D) with Jerry and it is an incredible treat for the eyes. Several points in the movie seemed impossible in stop-motion. It was also considerably darker than I expected, especially given the PG rating. It's not perfect, as I felt the story had occasional pacing issues, and Dakota Fanning doesn't seem like the best voice for the titular role (similar issue in Bolt), but very good on the whole.

In one more animation related bit, congratulations to the people at Dreamworks Animation/PDI on their sweep of the Annies. While I was surprised to see Wall-E leave empty handed,

1. I expect Pixar to win the Oscar,
2. It wasn't nearly as "cartoony" as Kung Fu Panda, a real consideration given the nature of these particular awards, and
3. KFP is far and away DWA's best movie.

That said, as much as I love Dustin Hoffman, I still say Ian McShane should have won best voice.

Off hand, I don't know how Bryan feels about the matter, but I do know he enjoyed Rick Huseman's Double Tundra flip, so that's this week's video.

You can wake up sounder if you get analyzed

2009-02-01T13:44:00.006-05:00

Getting into the groove of the semester, it hasn't been too bad so far, though with one snow day, and two first-class-of-the-semesters (nothing doing, really), I don't know that I've felt the brunt of it yet.

When one of my professors said most of the case studies and examples in his class were from the automotive and consumer electronic fields, as that was his professional focus, I was just so pleased for the rest of the day.

It's like 40 degrees today, so I was thinking about doing a road ride, but the melting is covering the roads in sludge and grime I really don't feel like cleaning off my drivetrain at this point, so it's trainer again. Maybe I'll ride the trainer outside.

I got the new albums from Ben Folds and Jenny Lewis (new to me at least), and while they're not my favorites from these artists (Songs for Silverman and Rabbit-Fur Coat, respectively), they're all around solid efforts. Ben's album is more of a mixed bag than Jenny's (which at times reminds me of Maria Muldaur), but they're on rotation in my car (along with MSTRKRFT, Uncle Tupelo, and Grandaddy, currently).

On the topic of car audio, I'm still geeking out over the Sony CDX-GT410 I got a while ago on eBay. I know Sony's not the first brand that comes to mind for car audio for most people, but I've really been nothing but pleased with this head unit. The coolest feature is the USB port on the face. Car audio USB ports are the final deathblow to physical formats in my mind, I just toss some mp3s (or WMAs, or AACs) on a flash drive on the way out of the house, and I am set for any trip. No batteries, no burning, no fuss.

Still enamored with the macro mode on my Canon, here's a matchbox Alfa Romeo GTV (on a matchbox flatbed, natch), 1/18 Audi R8 (the panel gaps are the giveaway), and some depth-of-field fun with a crowd on my desk.

Probably more macro to come, it's just so much fun.

To keep up the video trend, today's video is from the 70s, where physics, safety and good reason had no place in a good time. The voice over is especially good.

On the western front

2009-01-24T18:02:00.013-05:00

Drove back out to western mass, as classes start on Monday. I'll do my best to keep up on new posts, but it will be a busy semester..

I'm all moved back into my house, "Crapshack DeLuxe," and so far (that's to say, in the few days I've been back), it has been fully operational.

When I tell people it shares a wall with an auto body shop, this is what I mean. That's us on the right, and Norm's Auto Body on the left. The noise really isn't as bad as one might expect, but the paint fumes are pretty bad in the middle of the day.

Our super (5th story down) finally replaced a crucial broken part in our furnace, and we now not only have consistent heat, but we lose the "ambiance smog" in the house to boot. Double score!

He did steal my wire stripper though. Hmm.

It would be hard to fully convey the feel of the place, but I'll do my best with some highlights.

First, this is out range. It's a GE unit from the 70s, in a most 70s of greens. I honestly think it quite fetching.

The house is full of electrical outlets, RJ45 jacks, and coaxial connection points, most of which are non-functional detritus of the building's many repurposings.

Lore says it was a dentist's office, an administrative office, an Indian burial ground, and a set used in D3: The Mighty Ducks. Goldberg!

Speaking of electrical outlets, this is the functional set in my room. Note that wire (pointed to in green). I've deduced that what I have here is basically a half-assed three prong grounding adapter, as that's the ground wire, just hanging out on the carpet. Safety first.

It's not all bad though, as the place did come with a free bald tire in the laundry room. As a 205/75R14, it can make for challenging games of "put the tire on a chair and throw a football through it."

This is our display case (nothing on display...yet), this is our recessed TV area (that almost fits my TV), these are our lockers, and check it out, the bikes get their own room. Neat.

My roommate Dan got a new car, and we all went out to have it inspected, but as it's a VW, some bitz were on the fritz and it needs some parts ordered.

We stopped by the Hadley Wal-Mart for notebooks and Goldfish, general existence essentials, and got some sandwiches.

I know it was in a Wal-Mart, but thanks to this poster at the Subway, I really felt like I was in Manhaπan.

For this post's clip, this is a crash test conducted by Dekra in the early 90s (possibly late 80s), that I feel is entirely unnecessary.

Just saying, the outcome seems kind of predictable.

Get Up and Get Out

2009-01-18T17:14:00.009-05:00

Hey all,

Stalwart buckeye Wes F. and I went by to see The Rosebuds live last night at the Middle East downstairs. The trip (aboard BBSTPS MkIII Evo) was very successful, with no major weaknesses discovered. As far as the concert goes and it was one of the best shows I've been to in a while. The songs sounded great, and were different enough from album versions to keep things interesting. The rest of my pictures from the show are here.

Also cool was the audience interaction, including sing-alongs, and Kelly Crisp (pictured, on keyboards) going into the audience with a tambourine. Altogether very cool. (Thanks to Adam Z. for introducing their music to me)

Seth went out there too, and after the concert, we got some Pizza at Hi-Fi, which despite what Wes says, was not good, it was just "drunk good."

In other news, I got my new trainer from Cycle-Ops, the SuperMagneto PRO, which is awesome. I had their Fluid²model, which I was happy with, but their new Pro Series really is a big enough improvement to justify the purchase.

I'm not the only one with new stuff, as Bryan got his new fork too. Yay! In celebration, I ran down to the Kay-Bee going out of business down the street and picked up a bunch of poorly-made army men for about a dollar. To save money, it seems the factory used the same fitment on everything, which we quickly took advatage of.

Finally, testing showed that while the Africabike (another one of its many names) is a surprisingly adept snowmobile, it can not carry more than 2 people. I guess it snows down in Africa.

That's for you Erich. Happy Birthday.

I am with photo taking ability!

2009-01-12T00:29:00.010-05:00

So the day after I wrote my last post, I got my new camera in the mail and I'm really enjoying it. First I played with the macro mode for a while, because macro makes everything cool

Here's some salad and a bicycle

Then, as I promised I would, I took a picture of the newest evolution of my mongrel dinosaur commuter bike.

It was born on a sunny day in 1983 somewhere in Taiwan, not knowing then what would become of it in its international travels. Currently known as Boda-Boda spéciale presented by the Thom Parsons project, I rescued it from dumpsterdoom and equipped it to take all hell than could be thrown its way.

The first thing I put on was a pair of Bontrager Hank 2.25 slicks, which necessitated cutting off the spare spoke holder on the chainstay. No worries, where we're going, we don't need spokes. Or something.

The next step was a rack capable of general immensness, and I found this Axiom Journey which is officially rated to hold 154lbs, by which I assume they mean 200lbs. A couple of eBayed white Odyssey frame standers later, I had a dead serious bike on my hands. It just needed one more thing... Booya!

That's right, eagle-eyed reader, it's the seat from a 1984 Tomos 50cc motorbike.

While it already fit surprisingly well, a means of attachment had to be devised to prevent seat theft, or passenger ejection.

Working with Thom, I hobbled together a bracket using training wheel parts, an old tire, and a whole lot of love.

On the whole, I am very pleased with how BBSTPS MkIII Evo came out, and to celebrate its revision, Thom picked it up. Sadly, at this point the bike at this weighed over 400 pounds and Thom was crushed.

In other news, a serendipidous combination of Finnmeister's charming rendition of Danzig's Mother and a video from Highland Mountain Bike Park that Bryan was watching inspired me to make this, Enjoy:

This is for you, Bryan!

Another entry

2009-01-07T11:14:00.007-05:00

To show my commitment to this blogging thing, I finally replaced my lovely, but dysfunctional Canon Powershot A80 with a much slimmer, lighter, and altogether more neat Powershot SD770 IS. Though it does have more MPs (10 v. 4), a bigger screen, and a longer name to boot, it does lose one of the endearing features of the A80, the folding screen which enables exotic gymnastic maneuvers like the around the corner shot, the extended-arm height shot, and the "check it out, I have a flippy screen" shot. Oh well.

Barring the occasional off-brand peripheral or cable (more on that later), I buy my stuff on Amazon.com, because they're helpful, cheap, fast and have everything, so I went there for my new Elph, and got a good deal to boot. Yesterday I got the standard "your Amazon order has shipped" email, but when I looked at my order...
Boo! Why Amazon? I'm sure there's a good reason the camera didn't ship at the same time as another thing I added on there (taking advantage of the super-saver shipping), but it's such a tease..

FYI, the other thing I got was a Ratatouille Little Golden Book. I'm sure you've seen these books, they're sold at supermarkets and drugstores generally, but spurned by some posts by Jerry at Cartoon Brew, I took a closer look at a couple of titles while food-shopping, and ended up buying LGBs of Bolt and the Pixar short Presto. These really are charming books, aptly described by some as "mini art-of" books, and they only cost 3.99!

Here's the comment on cables: Maybe it's because I'm used to eBay prices from Hong Kong on A/V cables, but the brick and mortar store prices I've seen are simply ridiculous. I went to Radio Shack yesterday for a 6 foot S-Video cable (around $4 on eBay) and it was over $25 (!-not to mention a lot of attitude, I don't know how they stay in business). Best Buy wasn't much better at $19. I ultimately got it for $12 at Staples. The situation's even worse with DVI/HDMI cables. Come on, guys.

Hopefully the next post will have a while bunch of cool and interesting pictures taken with my new camera, including my current bike projects...

Hey y'all

2009-01-03T19:43:00.000-05:00

I'm portrayed as something of a moderate early adopter, and I have the audacity to start one of these now?.

I suppose it could be credited to new year's resolutions and all that, but really, it's just that stuff comes to mind sometimes that I feel should go on a page for people to read, enjoy, and maybe obsess over Misery style, but let's hope not, I'm no James Caan.

Oh, and starting a blog this late is totally retro, and as such, it's intentional in an ironic way.

Don't expect uniformity in topics, but I will try to update with some regularity.