Don't Get Lost in Space

I don't know, I mean, I just won't feel safe until I have these...
http://www.earthbounddog.com/

Hipster Doofus

Sweet Jeebus... in case you need further proof of my prediction from the other day;

My hat goes of to Rubin, who snapped this absolutely stunning stealth-photo in the airport the other day. This photo stands as a further scary sign of the direction those evil hipsters are taking. Soon it will be "all Emo" to ride a fixie around town with pants so tight, that they will actually help you control the speed of your fixie bike because of the friction with your legs.

I mean look at this guy. He has STUDIED his Maxim Magazine to see exactly how he should prepare himself for public outings. Especially for travel at the airport - I love people that treat air travel like a single's bar. He's carrying his perfectly brand-new and un-used long board (notice the green wheels match his mock-turtleneck), puffy vest, velcro shoes, scrotal-facial hair, man-purse (is that a FLOWER on his man-purse!?), designer jeans and probably watching the latest episode of "Hereos" downloaded onto his Nano. I can't tell, but if I had to guess, I would say he's waiting in line to buy a pack of Dunhills as well.

Wow.

Four Day Weekend

Ah yes... the four day weekend was a VERY welcome treat! With the Turkey Day holiday this past week, I was lucky enough to have off two days, plus the weekend! The only bad part was that it was off course time off during the coldest week so far. Ugh. Still, it turned out to be a nice, productive weekend.

Wednesday evening Jessica and I hit up the Boulder Dinner Theater for a show. We saw "The 1940's Radio Hour". It was alright... not one of my favorites. I love old radio variety shows, but that's pretty much all there was to this play. Pretty much just a radio show, without much actual story. Food was pretty good, and it was great to be out on a date with the little lady, so no complaints from me.

Thursday I got to sleep in. Eventually, I summoned up the effort to make some delicious mashed potatoes. My contribution to the holiday meal. Dinner was great. Good food, good people, and I would say everyone had a great time. Somehow, even though it was after our meal, I managed to get some time in on the trainer. Not sure how I pulled that one out, but that's commitment damn-it!

Friday meant sleeping in again. Awesome. It was a horribly cold, cloudy, and foggy day. Just plainly dreadful weather. Oh yeah, and I won the Formula 1 World Championships! Well, on PS2 anyway. Winter time means PlayStation time! I still got my trainer ride in though, so I wasn't too hyper.

Saturday I decided to hit up the cross race down in Louisville. It was sunny finally, but entirely too cold again. I figured racing would get me outside and away from the trainer. Plus, I decided to race the single speed cross bike so was excited about that. It was almost easy to forget both how hard, and how absolutely fun racing the single speed cross bike can be! I felt great in the race too! The legs were THERE! Of course, lady luck wasn't... threw my chain twice, and two flat tires! Argh! I ran back to the car to pump a tire once, but of course it didn't hold. And the second time I had to beg a teamate to run back to his car to grab me a wheel. Damn! Bad luck always seems to come when you feel the best. Sadly, that meant no results at all, but at least I could feel better that the legs were rockin' and I got in a good outdoor effort. Still... so frustrating.

A few weeks back I was up in Fort Collins, at the New Belgium Brewery. While I was there, I knew I had to pick up a bottle of La Folie, available only at their on-site bar. And Saturday was finally the evening I figured I would pop it open. Plus, it was a perfect compliment to Battlestar Gallactica Razor, which was FINALLY showing that night. Just another month or so till the start of Season 4... Anyway... La Folie... it was absolutely amazing! Quite a sour finish, but in an amazingly good way. It was so smooth, fruity, and just downright delicious. I don't think I could have it everyday, but I definitely had no trouble enjoying the full litre. I should get back up there to buy another bottle before they disappear!



It was supposed to be warm today, and I was looking forward to a nice outdoor ride, but really... it was damned chilly. I made it out though, but thought it was going to turn into a one hour ride because I was freezing. Stupid cloud was hiding the sun. But I stuck it out, and ended up getting in a nice 3.25 hours in, touring the rolling hills surrounding Boulder. I would have loved to go climb a bit, for real, but the roads are still pretty messy. Plus, descending would have been all sorts of cold.

Now the only problem, is that the weekend is over. The nice thing, is that I have another 4-day weekend coming up next week too!

Prediction

I think it's almost time... probably by this summer...

All the wannabe hipsters that are currently carrying around their stupid-ass "long boards" (of course they are carrying them rather than riding them) will start to find "Fixies". It's hit other parts of the country, and now, on the typical two year time delay that occurs between either coast and the front range, people should be ready.

This guy;


Will soon turn into this guy;


I'm not sure if it's worse than carrying around your perfectly shiny long board that you bought at the University bookstore because it matches your favorite outfit, but mostly like it will be once the fixie guys start slamming into cars and people on the bike path because they are "too cool" to run brakes on their fixies. I mean, the messengers in NYC don't do it dude!

Now I have to run out and track down all the copies I can of Quick Silver, because once the hipsters find out about this movie, that was made before they were born, they will be ALL OVER IT, and ready to pay a premium price. Soon to be showing at the Boulder Theater I'm sure.

Summer!? No wait... Winter!

80 degrees yesterday... 35 degrees today with snow on the way and even colder temps for tomorrow. Gotta love Colorado weather. Well, at least I shouldn't complain about 80 degree days in late November!

Last week was rough for a couple reasons, but also because it was time to start up the training for 2008. It's the earliest I ever started, so doing a 12 hour week in November was a new experience for me. We'll have to see how it works out this spring, since typically, I race a full cross schedule and don't start up riding until after the first of the year. But it was a good week of training. I didn't bonk on a four hour ride with Seth last week, (probably due to the 1500 calorie donut I ate in Evergreen) and by the end of the week the body had (begrudgingly) started to adjust to riding that stupid torture device called an "indoor trainer". Man do I hate that thing.

After being borderline sick, then enjoying PBRs during the roller derby Friday night, I think things finally caught up with me on Saturday. I wanted to get out and ride, I really wanted to. But all the body wanted to do was sleep. And the weather sure wasn't helping motivation - it never got above 45 with wind at the house. Blah. So I listened, and just slept or rested most of the day.

It seemed to have worked though, since I was more motivated on Sunday. And the weather was gorgeous! So The Ratchet and I went out for a solid ride of rolling roads and short jaunt up the NCAR hill. I was feeling good still, and had no reason to rush home, so I took advantage of everything going right, and finished up with an extra climb up Poorman Hill. Four hours, and 40 minutes on the bike, with 3700 calories burned meant that I could justify eating lots and lots of pumpkin pie afterwards! Pumpkin pie is really my favorite part of November...

Monday it was even nicer out, Nearly 80 degrees, but of course I was stuck inside all day working for the man. I'm just focused on the fact that it's a 3-day work week this week! And bonus; next week is too, as Jessica and I have a little trip planned...

In other news; Seth got his new TT bike this week, and I'm damned jealous! It's a sweet ride, and I would even consider one myself, except Felt thinks that the smaller sized frame needs 650c wheels, and I'm not going back that way. Anyway, Seth wanted to see what his bike would look like once he gets his new Zipp disc and Nimble front wheel set up on the bike, so I took care of it for him. And "Yes", those are the actual colors of the wheels he picked out.

Bad Apples vs. The Green Barrettes

Friday a gang of us were off to the final Denver Roller Dolls roller derby match of the year. Bad Apples vs. The Green Barretts, and it was bound to be a good time. Craig however, misbehaved and had to be whipped into shape;


Jesse and his lady met DumpTruck;

Sarah met Evel Con Evel;

I met my hero Rockett;

After getting kicked out the Colesium, we went downtown for the after party. Even though the Bad Apples were soundly defeated, it didn't dampen their party mood!

And I think I have pics of Bret with every roller girl that was there;

The next season starts in March!

Batter Blaster

Mix... Water... (maybe) eggs... whisking...

That's so old skool! And WAY too much work!

Batter Blaster to the rescue!

The Best Part of Waking Up...

...is knowing that it's NOT Folgers in my cup.

It's going to be a long day, I need my coffee! And I only drink the finest blends that Duncan Hills has to offer;



And in case you're wondering;

Do you folks like coffee?
Real coffee?
From the hills of Colombia?

The Duncan Hills will wake you
From a thousand deaths
A cup of Blackened Blood
(Die, die)
You're dying for a cup

Guatemalan blend
Ethiopian
French vanilla roast
(Die die)
You're dying for a cup

Prepare for ultimate flavor
You're gonna get some--NOW!
And scream for your cream

Look! Up in the sky...

It's been all the rage on my favorite "Dale Gribble" site for a couple weeks where I've been following the speculation, conspiracy theories, and downright paranoia of the Holmes comet. But last night I finally remembered to go out and have a look. It was pretty cool actually, though it made me wish for a stronger pair of binoculars. Of course it's mostly just a big fuzzy ball, but you have to remember that it's a comet, way out there, that's visible to the naked eye. Cool. And it's easy to find, so go take a look.

While looking at info on the comet, I noticed that it was time for the International Space Station to be visible from Colorado. Sweet! I dragged Jessica and Alex out into the cold several weeks ago so we could catch a passing, and that was cool, but this time was going to be REALLY cool! Since the Space Shuttle had just seperated from the station Monday morning, and was on it's way back to Earth, both the Shuttle and Station were going to be visible! Even better, from Boulder, the elevation of the pass was about 85 degrees so it was going nearly directly overhead. Sure, it meant that I had to climb out of my nice warm bed at 5.30 this morning, but the view didn't dissapoint. First came the ISS, and sure enough, there was the shuttle just a few seconds behind. Very cool. Of course, both objects are just shiny lights in the sky, quickly and quitely move past at a good clip, but you know it's man-made stuff (that WE technically paid for)and that's cool.

Fall Back

Sadly, it's finally time to turn the clocks back. Well, at least it will be light again in the morning... for a bit, but that means no more daylight after work. Let the pangs of depression begin.

Well, at least this weekend had some great weather. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get out for much (or any) riding, but that's alright. A break is good, and I'll soon be fired up for the 2008 training to start up in earnest.

Since Derek's bachelor party was last Saturday, it seemed like this Saturday would be a good day for his wedding. Luckily, Derek and Lisa agreed, since it would have been embarassing to show up without the stars of the event.

All and all a beautiful evening, with lots of fun, and plenty of cycling peeps all cleaned up and not wearing protective head and eyewear. For good or bad, I think everyone behaved well, and had a great time. Congrats Derek and Lisa!

Sunday it was time for the UCI Boulder Cup Cyclocross race. While the Boulder County Park and Wreck Department did their best to make sure it wasn't a good time, a good group of us still managed. After carrying our illegal flaming charcoal grill out of the park to the parking lot - where it is somehow legal to burn your charcoal. The open-container law was pretty crappy as well, since drinking meant being corralled into a "beer garden" monitored by police, where you couldn't even see the race or hang out with non-drinking friends. All in a town where 3000 people hang out and smoke pot on April 20th with less police involvement... on a college campus.

Anyway, regardless of the nonsense, the racing was great! Not terribly dramatic, as Trebon just plain stomped all others from lap 1, when he rode away and never looked back. The dude wasn't even pushing all that hard, yet extended his gap to nearly a minute thirty over his chasers, and lapped all but like 15 of the field. He must have been inspired by Compton, who did basically the same thing in the women's field!

Trebon is fast... REALLY fast.

Trebon beats everyone while riding 24 inch kids wheels... or he's just really, REALLY tall.

Chris Horner had a great ride, and it's always awesome to see him racing cross.

Tim Johnson had a pretty good day, even if he does have the ugliest kit. Though... he gains back all the style points with those incredible yellow brake hood covers on his SRAM Red shifters! Awesome!

The fans seem to agree, Horner is one popular dude. I often don't think he gets the credit he deserves with the results that he gets over in Europe throughout the road season.

"Treefarm", all alone, and still breathing through his nose in the final laps.