I Is Still Alive

So I have been a ghost on this here blog for quite a while. I have been pretty busy with work, a baby and other extraneous ventures but alas I have popped back up on the radar. I have been biding my time being the shops Ebay boy which is enough to make me want to eat a bullet (turns out the moron to normal person ratio is way the hell out of whack there) not to mention guiding the puny human to greatness. Although things are fast and furious arond the MoFo's house, he still has found time to rejoice with more forward progress on my latest (and greatest) venture: Project Turner RFX. The Turner is my first suarez with the "boutique" market and so far I have been happy with the idea of building one up to punish. So far my parts box contains so: (1) Fox Talas 36 in turd brown, (1) pair of Hayes Stroker Trail 8'' hydraulics in pearl white, (1) RaceFace Diabolus crankset (holy freaking pretty), (1) XTR cassette.

Parts to follow soon:
(1) Crank Brothers DirectSet headset
(1) Easton Monkeylite AM bar and stem
(1) Azonic Outlaw wheelset in grey anodized
(1) Pair of Tomac signature Nevegal tires
(1) Shimano SLX front derailleur (for double)
(1) Shimano SLX rear derailleur
(1) Salsa Tooth Fairy <-----look this thing up once, its pretty legit
(1) Pair of Oury grips
(1) Brooks swift saddle in antique brown
(1) Thomson seatpost in silver

I think thats the plan anyway, that was a mouthful...

Black Hills Action

So a group of gents that included Adam, Dana, Brandon, Cam, Jason and myself went to this awesome place that some of you might know as the Black Hills. Our trip departed on Friday the 7th and by the days end we had traveled 350 miles and ridden quite a few miles of single track on the marvelous project known as M-Hill. M-Hill (if you haven't heard of it) is a large undeveloped area in downtown Rapid City that has tons of elevation and on most every inch of its trails you can take a totally legit picture....I HIGHLY recommend you get yourself there. Aside from the first day of our mini vaca, we managed to get ourselves onto the Tinton Trail which is a bastard of a climb but a super fun and technical downhill. Also on the docket was a trip up to the famed Bone Collector. The ride along BC was nearing dusk and just for added measure we managed to get a wicked downpour for a good 5 minutes. There will be pictures of this monument of a journey in the near future, once we get pictures from two different cameras compiled and put to disc.

Its Been A While

So it has been quite a while since my last rant on this thing called Chubby MoFo. Since where I last left off (stitches in the leg piece) I have been a busy little guy. First order of business has been helping along the puny human that cries, pukes and poops in order to help her grow up to be one of the huddled masses like the rest of us. Aside from Ainsley (and work) I decided to put the DH bike on Ebay, which sold, and instead pay off the stitches in my leg (see previous) as well as stockpile a bit of cash for the upcoming debauchery on the 7th, 8th and 9th of August (a MTB trip to the Black Hills).

I also figured I would drop a line or two about the Bianchi SOK 29er that I have been upgrading and riding. As it turns out, WTB's SpeedDisc line of wheels are complete shit...in an honest to Buddha JRA moment my front wheel tacoed to beat hell and sent me over the bars, mind you, I have ridden the thing twice...no jumping or pissing around on it, bow-shit if I say so myself. With that in mind I did pick up a set of Mavic TN719D hoops laced to XT hubs...nicey nice!! I did however find out that Bianchi is going to warranty the wheel so I will have a back up wheelset...neat. Aside from that, the SOK is getting a SRAM X.O makeover in the shifter area (and soon the rear der) thanks to John at Origin-8 and a Shitmano XTR front derailleur...life is good.

Why DH bikes are stupid

Sike

Ha, I lied...I bought a White Brothers Fluid 29, should be here Monday as should the Avid Elixir CR brakes that are replacing the bunk ass Juicy 7's that the SOK had on it.

A note on hydraulic disc brakes: If you decide to go with Juicy 7's you will either A.) Fucking hate them because they lose pressure for no good reason at the worst possible time or B.) Love them because yours were not bunk like the last two sets I had and love how powerful and how great the modulation is...hope yours is situation B. At any rate...I hope to be on my 29er by next week.

Rock Shox Reba SL

So I have decided to sell the Rock Shox Reba SL 29 fork off of the Bianchi SOK 29er that I recently bought. I was battling with the decision of whether I wanted to go the White Brothers Magic 29 route or the Fox F29 route. Well, it seems as though the Fox F29 has won me over....much mulling over and research led me to the decision. I have heard great things about the Magic fork (thanks Snakebite) but Fox seems to have won this round. With that said, anybody know anybody that could use a perfect condition Reba SL?? $300 takes it, as well as a 160mm avid rotor and the adaptor.

Audi Five Thousand

We made it out of the hospital on Sunday, finally.... At any rate, we had a group of people at the house and lunch ready when we got there. Felt to good to be away from the hospital, I heard "you should enjoy the help as much as you can" about 7.4 million times and yes I agree but...at some point WE (angie and I) have to quit crawling and learn how to walk as well. First night was a baby scream fest, but alas we have made it alive and well. Back to getting greasy at Harlans today, something I am looking forward to very much....as it turns out I REALLY enjoy my job and missed it these past 6 days. Well, thats about it for now...I'm sure there will be more harrowing tales of poop, pee and puke in a short while but until then I bid ye farwell.

The Times They Are A Changin'

Not only an epic song from the past, but also a metaphor for the present circumstances surrounding my life. As it turns out my fiance Angie and I created a puny human and she decided to come into the world this morning at 12:20 a.m. The puny human is named Ainsley Aaron Muller and is (and already have actually) changing my life in a major way. I will still enjoy all of the things that make life great ie: full sus mountain bikes, hardtail mountain bikes...well bikes in general and beer of course. A great variable has been added and will make the above things even sweeter considering they will come a bit more "few and far between" nowadays. This little creature came into this world via Cessarian Section which was an awkward thing to witness but left me a 240 pound bawling baby....high five! I p0nder the future of this lifeform, like: is she going to dig Roxer the Boxer? is she going to be a funny pain in the ass like me? is she going to dig bikes? <---- duh...shes my offspring. I see this girl as a bad ass Rachael Atherton clone who rolls up on a Commencal with a huge Fox 40 on the front, will it happen...doubt it, but it would be awesome!

What the public wants..the public gets!

As it turns out the public would like to see the carnage of my recent ride down the Corp of Discovery trail. Here is what I have compiled:

Your Handlebars

A recent (and a first for us both) trip to Ponca State Park for Adam and I led me to one very evident fact...handlebars are really strong. What led me to this fact you may ask...the golf ball sized bump on my right cheek and the ugly purplish-reddish black eye that I have now. The story goes like this:

There happens to be a really sweet trail at Ponca called "Corps of Discovery", this particular trail has a few really nice "optional" routes that involve you dropping in pretty gnarly-like and make it fun. About 40 yards from the exit of this trail there is an optional route that leads you up to a large mound where you roll over two exposed tree roots and then down a steep decline...which I decided to take. Not only did I decide to take this optional route, but I figured I would take the part that is a sheer 8 foot drop instead of a steep ramp down....well, the Norco loved it but apparently the bars didnt like the idea and swatted me in the face.

This experience was that of a learning one actually. This is what I learned: Although it is imperitive to spot your landing, once you have it spotted do yourself a favor and get your weight over the saddle....not the bars. Also I learned that the digger didnt hurt near as much as I assumed it would, therefore....I will probably get hurt worse sometime in the future. At any rate, Ponca rules and I highly recommend this wonderland.

The Gravity Beast

So here is that wacky gravity rig I spoke of last post. It looks a bit different now (only 4 hours later) as its missing a rear shock and a chain...two problems which will be solved in the not so distant future.

Never Good Enough

So as it turns out I go through bikes like some sort of "bike pimp" (at least thats what Adam calls me) and I have wrangled myself another beast. This time I have moved around some resources and picked up an unlikely candidate...a Downhill rig. I know, I know..."where are you going to ride that" and "did you have a dumbass attack" has already been tossed my way, well...here is the deal: As fate would have it, my old man happens to live in Rapid City and Angies mom is going to soon enough be a resident of Piedmont...which will lead to us going out there at least once a month with the baby coming.

In preparation for the monster I purchased (it should be here by wednesday of next week) I bought myself a pretty group of Race Face armor and a stellar 661 full faced helmet, so this ought to be really really good....or really really bad. Oh, I almost forgot...the rig I am picking up is a 2007 Norco A-Line with a 200mm Marzocchi 888 in front and a freshly ordered 2010 Fox DHX RC4 soaking up by big ass in the back...hopefully this overkill beast of mine will be on some Leaders Park runs in the not so distant future!

Bike 2 Work Day 'n Stuff

So the Sioux Falls Bike 2 Work Day pancake feed was a successful venture this last Friday morning, Sean G. even suckered me into getting up at 4am and help him set up and man the Harlan's table....all in all, another good thing for cycling in the Sioux. Aside from that, the Bunyan's 2 Bobs ride is quickly approaching...I'm sure it will be a good one as well. Speaking of B2B, I hope I am able to make it to be quite honest....the human being that is in Angie's ever expanding belly is scheduled to make an appearance somewhere near the June 4th date, expect to see this guy tugging a KHS kid trailer behing the 'check. On a side note, SAGBilly (aka Jon Ron) and I ran a glorious pub crawl last night and even managed to make it out to Toppers (ex Brass Rail) try that place on for size, I HIGHLY recommend it!

1 Step Closer

So I stripped down the Vigorelli and have all of the parts stacked neatly in a cardboard box awaiting an out of town guest to hand me cash and make them his. In the meantime, I have my wheelset ideas all ready to take shape...should I build them? ...probably not, thats what Kevin is for. Next on the docket...components!

Chase and some Ultegra to boot...

So I have decided to sell the Cannondale Chase I recently acquired, as well as the Ultegra group off of my Vigorelli. The whole idea behind the sale of said items is to fund a Campagnolo Centaur group to outfit the Vig. As it turns out I seem to have a problem when it comes to really cool stuff (i.e. Campy, Chris King, etc.) If by chance you know someone who is and/or may be interested in a quality groupset with less than 50 miles on it give me a holler. I posted the group on Craigslist.com
*******************SOLD!!!!!!!!!********************************* Hooty Hoo!

FrankenSingle Lives!!

Here is the newly acquired Single Speed that I was blabbing about at LBL and probably some other occasion....the Centurion LeMans 12. This rig was donated by a customer who did not want to spend the coin to repair it, lucky me! The whole beast was stripped of its Sun Tour Power shifters and a new Shimano 17t freewheel tossed on...ok, I put MKS Lambda pedals on it too. The gearing is set up as a 40, 17 which is super quick and perfect for a Bar Monster. Next on the docket is to switch out the white cable jacket for yellow....because I can.

Post LBL

So I have just returned from the dirty south and arguably the funnest weekend I have had in many a year. It went down a little something like this:

Day One:

Friday was merciless, as I looked up at the clock every 15 mins only to realize exactly that...it had only been 15 mins. Once the clock hit 5 bells I was on a tear to get to John Rahns house so we could get on the road to freedom. The drive down was quite scenic through all of the Reservations...one can never really understand how much Native Americans love the sport of basketball until you drive through the Winnebago Reservation. At our stop for the night (Fremont) John and myself thought it a great idea to order up lots of the beautiful concoction you all might know as beer....I pulled up a piece of carpet around Midnight...game over.

Day Two:

John and myself wake up at 6:15am ready to rock and roll and end up cracking our morning beers as soon as we step out of the car in Lincoln. The next hour and a half was full of much beer drinking and listening to the magic tunes of none other than Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. The day started out with rain so I was prepared to be soaked all day when all of a sudden the clouds parted and we were left with a 65 degree sunny day that could not have been any better! 57 miles of road meandering from Lincoln, NE to Crete, NE where I had some sweet potato fries and a Philly. The ride home didnt happen for John though....his Castro Valley decided to give up the ghost and popped 4 spokes...suck!

Day Two (later):

John and I headed up to Fremont before the rest of the crew and decided to drink a bit at the local eating establishment, which ended up with John trying to buy a farmer a shot of Jose Cuervo...and the farmer deciding that his better judgement would prevail and he happily declined.

All in all there were 11 of us on this glorious ride! I am anxiously awaiting Schnoctobeerfest in October.

LBL

So I have been waiting for a certain ride to take place, one that is said to be full of fun and shenanigans....yes, I said shenanigans. In the blur that comprises my day I seem to have spaced off the fact that this ride (known as LBL...Lincoln, Beatrice, Lincoln) is THIS weekend. Thanks in whole to the Kernel for jogging my memory, otherwise it would have passed me by and I would have been pissed to say the least. I am short a Single Speed rig anymore so I will be doing this with the 'Check, but hopefully someday soon I will find a worthy frame to once again build up and have myself a single.

Takin' Shots

So as I made my daily commute to the shop this morning I was struck by a passing vehicle on Cliff Avenue just hardly south of Avera McKennan. I was minding my own business roughly a block or so from work when a passer bys side view mirror hit me in the left shoulder. I did NOT go down somehow, but to add insult to injury the clown in his cage decided that he had better flip me off and honk at me while simultaneously riding the curb all the way to 26th street. By this time I am beside myself pissed and started cranking away trying to catch this car at the red light....as it turns out the gods must have been smiling at this guy and turned the light green. I'm not exactly sure what I would have done had I caught this magnificent specimen of jackassery but I'm sure it would not have been pretty. I claim to be no tough guy but c'mon....almost running someone down on the street and then flipping off and honking at them?!? Keep an eye peeled for a white chevy something or other with a Wisconsin plate...

Cable-less Shifting

Today at work a rep who normally comes through pretty regularly decided to show up again today. Not only did the rep decide to show up, but there were visitors in tow. The visitors (from Yakima and Shimano) came in with a new assortment of nice wheelsets as well as a(n) Orbea Orca full carbon road bike equipped with...wait for it, wait for it....electronic shifting. When I first heard of this new electronic shifting I immediately thought to myself "is this really necessary" and after having had a chance to ride a bike equipped with such a thing I am left feeling the same way.

The biggest "attraction" to electronic shifting is being able to shift while under load. The rep who wanted me to try out the Orbea told me to "start sprinting and shift while doing so"...well thats what I did and although the drivetrain did make shifts, it did so with a super-annoying over-the-top clunk!! I will give you the fact that I am a novice biker and mechanic and probably don't know shit but I do know this....if I dropped the coin to pick this stuff up (roughly 2 grand on top of the cost of a Dura Ace kit) and it let out a clunk and a bang everytime I shifted I would be pretty pissed to say the least.

In conclusion, an amusing talk with my pal Clay C about this newfangled shifting setup left me completely stoked with my cable actuated and single geared rigs instead. Hooray for (lack of) technology!

In Full Commute Mode

So this is the current state of the 'check, basically just transplanted the commuter friendly bits of kit from the Volpe and voila. The first picture is of the new TRP cantilevers that I decided to roll with. At any rate, its time to put a grip of miles on it!

Suck

So this weekend was supposed to include me going up to Minneapolis / Saint Paul for the Art Crank show...turns out Kevin was heading to Tacoma so I ended up having to stay back. BOO! I feel pretty bad actually because I have made plans to go to those glorious cities more than a few times and hang out with C and his wife, but my plans always manage to fall through! To add insult to injury it snowed like a mad bastard last night...but its cool, its melting like a mad bastard as well. Hopefully we are in store for good weather and good luck on my end!

Stellar Day!

So Mr. Jon Rahn sent a text of interest to me earlier today...its contents were as such: "riding to Brandon, meet at Sanford" So I decided to try it on for size. All in all Jon Rahn, the Hochstatter and myself rode ourselves to Brandon. On the way the Hochstatter ate shit on a railroad crossing at roughly 16 mph....I felt TERRIBLE for the guy, luckily he only suffered a skinned knee....luck! All in all, the ride took roughly an hour from Sanford to Brandon on the way out...the ride home was only....wait for it, wait for it....22 minutes. Tailwind (and guiness(s) in Brandon) rule!

WOOOOOOT!

The deal went through! Say hello to my new Cross Check!

New Addition(s) to the Family

So I ended up striking a deal with a local boy where I traded my Cannondale Scalpel for a Cannondale Chase 1 and an undetermined amount of cash money...all in all it was certainly fair for the both of us....his lightweight body gets a lightweight XC rocket and my fat body gets a super beefy rig to match (which I have upgraded and plan to upgrade more!!!) Aside from said trading of goods...I may be on the receiving end of a Surly Cross Check in the best color they make it in and it has plenty of Campy parts to boot! Pics when (and if) the deal goes through!

Starlight Ride

So last night 1900 hours at Fawick Park in front of Davids bronze penis we started the Starlight Ride. Earlier the weather had been fairly crappy but I figured "what the hell" and I would ride anyway. As they end of my day at work came closer, magically the sun came out and I knew it was going to be a good ride. There ended up being 11 of us riding the loop last night, with one new-comer which is certainly a good thing.

On a side note: Phil Tau (the shop manager at Harlans) decided that it would be a good idea if Sean, Kevin and myself all teamed up our powers (like some redneck Captain Planet) and did a Leap Frog attack on the Gut Check 212 (www.gutcheck212.com)...looks like I had better get myself on the A train to Hillsville for some training.

Its Spring Today...

Now, I do know that it is matter-of-fact that tomorrow is really Spring...but, the way I look at it is like this: When the city sends out their Pelicans (street sweepers) is when it really turns to Spring and as luck would have it, my ride from downtown all the way to home was smooth as a babys ass. I would have taken a picture of this glorious occasion but my camera was at home and I am too dim witted to remember my Blackberry has one on it...que serah serah.

Another Great Day

Yesterday was another super nice day outside. That coupled with the fact that I was off of work at 5:30 left me with plenty of time to RIDE! I jumped on the bike trails at the Pee Wee football fields down off of 14th and Southeastern, then I proceeded to ride around to 12th....then decided that I would ride up near Dunham Park and see what my mom was up to. All in all yesterday was about 22 miles worth of time NOT in a car...stellar!

Its Warm....Finally

So with Monday's temperature in my brain on Sunday night, I was looking forward to the ride. The 3 miles into work was nice as was the 30 minutes of lunch I used as a reason to ride to the bank(s) and back. Work was not as busy as I figured it would be considering. I anxiously awaited the big hand to reach the 7 and I was off for a ride before heading home. All in all it was a good day, not to mention running into Craig Lein in the downtown area, who always has something amusing coming out of his mouth.

St P Day

So tomorrow is the day of green beer and getting pinched and all of that shit. At the shop we had our "pre-game) by letting Sean plug his iPod into the stereo and listened to bagpipes for most of a day. Tomorrow is the St P Day Parade, so I suppose I had better get my beauty rest so I can meet at Spoke N Sport with the rest of the lackeys. If you feel up to it (not TOO hung over I mean) you can meet us at either SNS at 12:30 or right near the Coliseum at 1, be there or...we wont be able to find you...

Enough of the Snow

Alright, alright...I will call in a favor to a friend of mine and get the snow "shut off", as you all know I hate riding bicycles so I said "fuck it" and called for some snow...figured I could get a couple more good sledding runs in, I'm kidding I..I dont sled although my stature is perfect for the downhill.

Aside from the duties I have already listed, it has just been steady workin' at the shop...build new bikes, eat lunch...laugh at Sean or Kevin or Phil or Cal or Rick....repeat. It's actually quite amusing anymore since they let me out of my cage and I can talk to customers now.

All Thule'd Out

So this is a picture of a 2005 Honda Pilot. The interesting piece is the Thule rack located on its roof. This is a new acquisition that will be hauling bicycles as well as all sorts of ill shit with the 13 cubic foot bag I bought as well. Yes, I understand the point of the bicycle is to ride it...but trips to Minneapolis (like for the ArtCrank poster show April 4th) will be a bit easier. I am easily recognizable by the cycles to which I own, or a bright ass blue Electra Townie 7.

A Word About Addictions

So this makes Brooks number two. This little beauty is a B-17 Narrow in Antique Brown. Brooks saddles are dangersouly addictive, stay away from them!

Wow...

So I check out Argusleader.com this morning to see what the staff came up with after their poking around at the swap and I found the above picture, they must be seriously hard up if they are taking (relatively) close up pictures of me and that out of control buck thorn on my face! It's actually a bit amusing as it looks like I am giving Jeff the stink-eye, when in all reality we were having a pleasant conversation about the swap...now I see how the Enquirer works!

Bike Swappity Swap

So the Bike Swap is finally upon us. I am getting myself up and out to the garage so I can start hauling the bounty that I have to sell (hopefully). I have pulled together a few wheelsets, bottle cages, chains, frames, forks, so and and so forth...certainly enough to build a bike, albeit a Frankenbike but oh well. I'm sure I will see some other nefarious characters in the building as well. Well enough of my banter. Till next time.

Look What I Found Today!

Big up to FedEx for stopping by the shop today to drop a sorry looking box (think tattered and held together with clear tape) with something very dear to my hefty ass inside...the VIG! The King headset was transferred out of my "bike swap" inventory because I KNEW it would look so, so nice! This little guy is like riding a rocket and in the 3 mile ride to my home I could do nothing but think about how many miles of road it will see. Next objective on the checklist is to replace the Gossamer crank with a compact Ultegra unit and more than likely an Open Pro wheelset...not to mention lots and lots of fun rides. Who's with me?!

Riding Some Rides

So now that I have a suitable road bike on its way to me from Bianchi in Californ I. A. I need to get a hold of some people with information on some upcoming rides to ride said road bike on. I do know that the B2B ride is on its way (I want to get myself a super sweet CityBilly something or other) and that the Tour De Korn is in August as well...anybody else riding anything cool that I could tag along on as well??? Thanks in advance, yo.

Bunyons to Bobs Beast

So I had spoken with some of the CityBilly peeps at Monk's a while or so ago and decided that this coming B2B was for me (the rhyme wasnt on purpose). At the time I bitched about how I would probably need to get a hold of a road-ish bike as the Karate Monkey (before I sold it) would probably kill me on such a ride. I saw that Snakebite was selling a road bike...but it turned out he has this thing called height that dodged my carcass some time ago so no dice there. I eventually got a hold of a Bianchi Volpe which would fit the bill nicely with its triple and perfect geometry for the ride....stoked I was. Well, as it just so happens I have managed to secure myself another piece of equipment that will be even BETTER. Dont you just hate it that you read all of this drivel and I just leave you hangin??

New Light Setup

So I sold off the Blackburn X setup that I had to John Rahn (good ol irishman like sean) who was in need of one and got lucky and picked up a SWEET Sigma Evo X Pro Mirage setup from the man of the hour Cal at the shop. This thing is INSANELY bright, two lamps (one spot beam, one wide beam) and also came a wicked nice blinky too! Apparently at one point Phil (Tau) borrowed the Evo for a night ride and it was so powerful it knocked out his computer leaving him without, nice. So if you happen to see a bike with a headlight as bright as a motorcycle...it was probably me.

More Reports of Carnage

A continuation of the previous entry about my bad luck with ice we have some more news about the same night...turns out Adam (weischedel) decided to butt heads with a chain link fence over the via-duct and beat up the compression knob on his nearly new RockShox Revelation U-turn fork. I will leave you with this: Please Hammer...don't hurt 'em!

A Note On Ice

Just a little helpful information for the masses, stay away from ice. On my ride home saturday night I managed to find myself a rather large patch of ice about one and one half blocks from my residence. The sad note about said patch of ice is the fact that I saw it ahead of time and dismounted my bike but still managed to slip and fall on it....twice. Now, I do understand that the beers I had consumed at Monk's, Top Hat and A Touch of Europe with Adam and Sean did contribute to my eating shit but...anyway. I was lucky as I only walked away with 5 bruises (that I can tell) and a broken adjuster on my helmet (that can be fixed).

Hooty Hoo!

Well its about damned time, the Scalpel has been built and life is good...rode her to Monk's and Top Hat as well as A Touch of Europe for too many beers with Adam and Sean. All went well except for the patch of ice that kicked my ass...and the police cruisers that watched me fall and questioned me for 20 minutes with their cherries on like I was a wild'n out crackhead...thanks. Anyway, its done, Im happy. Que Serah Serah.

R.I.P. Karate Monkey

So I made a tough decision yesterday and ended up selling the Karate Monkey frame and fork...it'll all work out though because I sold it to my co-worker Mr. Sean Gallup. As it turns out the KMX will be built up and see the light of day, just with different components and under new ownership...but honestly it could not have been sold to a more solid dude. In the meantime, the funds have been transformed into desperately needed components to finish the Scalpel, finally! I will get some pictures of the Franken-Scalpel up when the monster comes to life...hopefully by this weekend so it can get in the FAST picture I think we are taking. Until then the trusty Volpe will prevail!

On a side note: This years Bianchi San Jose (same frame as the Volpe, but a flip flop hub) now has disc brake mounts which is pretty cool...the only reason I mention anything about the San Jose is because it is so F'ing nice (and its fresh in my mind because I built a 52cm today)

Hot off the Newsdesk

This just in...drinking 3 St. Bernardus Prior 8's and having your buddy buy you 3 shots on top of them makes you feel like shit the next day...ALL DAY. Save yourself, don't do it.

Very Understanding Wife Type Lady

The above set of images is a look into the area of the house that most people would refer to as the "office", I guess you could call this my office of sorts...big speakers and bikes, I kinda like it. The look of horror as I moved things around and organized was picture worthy, but I was too slow on the trigger...maybe next time. Anyway, these few snapshots are proof enough that I have a "very understanding wife type lady", chalk one up for this guy. Oh yeah, as it turns out Scheels is finally good at something...selling hundred dollar fox helmets to me for $39.99, not that I have much to protect up there. Godspeed.

Eye opening day

So I woke up early this morning for no good reason and came to the conclusion that I was going to ride the Volpe in. I received a call an hour before I was to be at Harlan's that my tax money had shown up so I figured "what the hell" and made it a stop on the way to work. I am honestly REALLY REALLY glad that I chose to ride today, something clicked in my head on the 2 mile (maybe) ride in to work that let me in on the secret that THIS was freedom and it left me with the most satisfying feeling that I can remember. I have finally grasped a hold of the passion in me for bikes and biking and am thankful everyday that I get to wake up, ride my bike (the Volpe is hands down my new obsession) and learn about them with the group of guys that are available to me. I hope everyday is like today was... PS. Angie and the Roxy ambushed me on the way in.

Here a rig, there a rig....EVERYWHERE a rig!

So I added another two wheeled thing-a-majig to my home, for those of you who might ask...its a Bianchi Volpe 'cross machine in (wait for it...) GANG GREEN, the best color to grace steel in the history of humanity. Thanks to Sean at Harlans for the chance at this steed, I am eternally grateful.

E-mail...whats that??

About a week ago, give or take, I ordered myself a few of the "trail building" DVD's from the Federal Transportation website. I received one copy in a nice bubble mailer with the invoice inside shortly after which was nice, but the real puzzling sidenote is the second DVD I had ordered that somehow showed up at my mothers address. Not sure exactly how or why this went to my moms pad, as this is something I would have had to type in manually...and since I don't live with my mom....well, you get the picture. The best part of the mailing that went to my moms house is this: The same bubble mailer showed up carrying invoice, but the invoice (that was two pages long for some reason) had the quantity as 0 and the explanation of "out of stock". Now please let me know if I am stupid here or not but....was an e-mail saying this same thing (thereby not wasting 2 sheets of perfectly good paper, a bubble mailer and 42 cents to mail it) out of the question? I did not have to think too long OR hard about that statement as the first word of the organization that sent it to me is FEDERAL. Mystery solved. Carry on. Ant

There Goes the Neighborhood Squared

As it turns out I managed to get out of bed long enough (I have had some bullshit stomach flu since late wednesday night) to make it to the appointment where my fiance and I found out the sex of our puny human. Verdict is that we are going to have a little girl joining the family somewhere around the date of June 4th 2009. Probably not much of a shock to the masses I was a tiny bit disappointed as it would have been stellar to have a little boy to teach the finer things in life (how to throw a sinker and how to be a within-reason smart ass) but I am certainly warming up to the idea of a little lady with cunning wit and whip-smart come backs. I mean, girls can ride bikes too, right?!?

From the Archives

This poster is a bit old but it still makes me laugh when I run across it, must be the obvious truth of it all...then again, on the other hand it makes me really quite pissed off because it makes you and I the scapegoats. I LOVE AMERICA!! (nah, I really love Sacco and Vanzetti)

There Goes the Neighborhood

So in my earlier post today I spoke of an ankle biter. I found out quite a few months ago (about 5) that I will be a father. It was pretty crazy news at the time, but I am really really excited for the fact and I will probably be all dictator-like and goad my kid into digging bikes. Having a kid is actually going to be such a good positive and motivating factor in my life, considering my past existence on this planet could have certainly been much better. I have big plans of hauling my kid around on the KMX conversion and cleaning my self up (health-wise) so I don't end up with Type 2 diabetes because I chose to be a fat lazy slob instead of a self-aware human. So if you see me ingesting things that I should not be (beer does NOT count, ha) slap it out of my ham hocks and send me packin'. For now, Godspeed. Ant

Almost Forgot

So I recently bought a Specialized Langster off of the Bay. I was interested in either going with a Bianchi Pista or San Jose but found the Langster for a helluva price outfitted with some nice parts so I went all in. It is set up fixed 42:16, had the wheelset upgraded to a set of Velocity Deep V's with Conti Gatorskin rubber, Specialized Phenom 143 (for my fat ass) and a pretty narrow riser bar to boot. My "upgrades" were the Blackburn X series LED light and the Thomson seatpost. I rode it to work a couple of times last week but it's really cold and I'm a pussy so I have been driving the Civic all week. My plans for the spring / summer are to hopefully sell my Honda and to invest some into smarter clothing choices for next winter. My other plan is to get the KMX ready in the same timeframe and get it all decked out so I can haul around my ankle biter when it (I say it because I'm not sure of its sex yet) comes!

C' Dale Report

So I am roughly halfway done with my XC winter project the Cannondale Scalpel. So far it looks like the following:The parts list so far is as follows:

RaceFace Evolve XC Crankset, Evolve 100mm Stem and Diabolous Riser Bars
Oury Lock On Grips
Chris King ISO Disc front hub 100mm spacing in Pink.
DT Swiss XR4.1 Hoops
RockShox Reba Race suspension fork
FoxShox Float R rear suspension
WTB Shadow V saddle
Hayes Stroker Carbon Hydraulic Disc Brakes 185mm

The remaining items I plan on purchasing will hopefully be taken care of and this beast built in time to ride some of our newly planned out singletrack in Leaders Park! The remaining list is as follows:

(1) Chris King ISO Disc Rear hub 135mm spacing in Pink.
(1) SRAM X.9 Long Cage Rear Derailleur and matching X.9 Shifter Pod
(1) Thomson Elite Seatpost in 250mm
(1) Wippermann Nickel coated chain
(1) SRAM P980 or 990 Cassette
(1) e.thirteen 32 special Chain Guide System

New Jobby Job

So January 5th was my first day working at Harlan's Bike and Tour. I figured sitting around all winter collecting an unemployment check was going to be entirely too boring so I took a job at Harlan's. So far its been a really good experience learning the ins and outs of the business and learning certain functions such as setting hubs correctly and truing wheelsets.