Part 2

The back bone

Yellow on black friend of jack... Or was it black on red you are dead

I love this tree!

a summer's morning

before riding in this morning, i was exceptionally late getting ready. one of those days where i had plenty of time when i started, but then i kept adding thing and forgetting things and the next thing i knew i was going to be late again. no one at work really cares if i'm late or not, but if you are late too many times in a row you tend to get labeled as a slacker. so i finally got everything in order and i rolled down the drive way.

boy it was hot for 7:45 in the morning. i got about a block away and decided that i needed some sun block. i turned back home and got some from my car. as i was home i realized that i probably should use the bathroom one more time before i leave for good.

ok, i got on my bike and rolled off once again. for real this time. i got about a half mile from home and decided that i needed to listen to some tunes. my ipod was with me but it was buried in my panniers somewhere. so i stopped and got it out and flipped through some artist. seems that i have been listening to quite a few artist lately. there was still a bunch i haven't gone through yet, but i don't like experimenting with music while i am in a hurry. i opted for some prince.

i have been a prince fan for years, and there are a ton of dance tunes that can get the blood pumping. that's just what i needed. so i started off with house quake and then as if my ipod knew that i was heading for a small climb, it automatically chose the next song to be let's go crazy. perfect i hammered up that hill like it was nothing. next is was flat land and i don't remember the song. next hill up ahead. i remember it was a fast song before the hill and i was really sweating at this point. i got to the hill and the song was over, next song was a ballad.... in fact it was one of the slowest song you'll ever hear. i had no motivation to climb. i tried to block it out of my head and think about the previous song. i tried to not think of any song as well. it was no use, the ipod was cranked up so loudly, i could not avoid the song. i also had the ipod locked so i couldn't reach back in my jersey and flip the song. when i got to the top of the hill i was so burnt. i felt like i could not turn the cranks any faster. i was probably only going about 11-12 mph. finally that ballad ended it was a 7 minute song [wtf]. i guess when you're romancing your woman 7 minutes is nothing, i'll bet the time just flies buy. that just goes to show you.... there is a time and place for every song! and climbing a hill is not romantic. i actually thing there could not be two things more opposite in life.

so with all the life sapped out of me, i rolled on for a bit until the next song came on..... crap another ballad. alright enough is enough, i stopped pulled out my ipod and put on some primus. they have no ballads and all you ever hear is a heavy bass guitar that can get you through any thing..... however, you don't want to play any primus when you are romancing your lady :) ... in fact you don't want to play primus if there are any females within listening distance. i don't know any female that likes primus.

so the moral of the story..... don't underestimate the importance of play lists. i'll probably make a few this weekend :)

later.

the evening

last night we went to some friend's house to watch the fireworks around the lake. these were some store bought works, just until the professional one start.

early bird...

gets the flat. at least that is what happened to me this morning.... my dislike of birds has extended to expressions with the word "bird". this was kind of a weird flat. in fact, i am not really sure it was a flat to start with, my front tire just looked a little low. so i stopped and pulled out my pump and started filling it with air.... one 6" stroke at a time. when i disconnected the pump, i must have broken the valve and psssssttt all the air came streaming out.

[postmortem]
in retrospect what probably happened is that i unscrewed my presta valve too much before i started pumping it. the lame 6" pump is so small it moves a lot while being pumped. that may have caused the valve to weaken and eventually break when i pulled it off.
[/postmortem]

i was lucky that i had an extra tube with me. i got to finish off my day which was about a 2 hour ride.

right after i got going again i found this awesome looking weed/flower all by itself amongst the dried grass.

when i got back to the car i put my bike up on the roof rack [no, i didn't ride out to the trail today. i had to take my son to swim practice this morning, so on the way back i stopped at the trail]. anyway, after i strapped it to the rack, i walked to the back of my car and all of a sudden.... pssssssttt! what the hell? my other tire just went spontaneously flat!?!?! i haven't had time to look at it yet, but my guess is that the other valve went out.


happy 4th :)

Here is the sky... As i wait

well... i try to ride when i can these days. there are so many days that i have to drive to work, today seemed like a good day to ride in. however, no one said anything about no lightning! so this picture is of me hiding out at the longmont walmart....waiting for my wife.

unicycling is not cycling!

i've been unicycling every weekend [two so far] with a new buddy of mine. it's pretty fun to have someone to ride with and challenge. each time so far i feel myself getting better and better.

here is a picture of me doing a log crossing:

and here is a link to all the pictures from that day.


if you like videos, here are some videos from our trip to hall ranch this weekend.

swim forest swim!

i have been so busy with everything i haven't had time to post. actually i think i just got lazy again. it's easy to get lazy when you are me :) i'm not sure what that means but it's true.... really!!

i actually have been really active lately. i added another sport to my ex-cyclism: swimming. i know what everyone is thinking, "i thought he was allergic to water?" or "isn't that dangerous?... for you?" swimming has been a life long dream of mine, i can remember being a young kid wading in the lake watching my tube float away to the water that was just deeper than i was tall.
i have to get up early every morning to take my oldest kid to swim practice by 5:20am!!! it's very difficult to do this 4 days a week, so i thought that i would make the most out of it, by stopping at the rec center and experiment with swimming. the most amazing part is that i was able to talk my 12 year old into going with me and being my coach. the first day out i just got a kick board and kicked across the pool. i could not believe how slow i was. it took almost 2 minutes to go 25 yards. i'm not used to doing anything that slowly....it's just not worth it. alex suggested that i use fins to help out a bit.... at least it helped my moral. so for the next couple weeks i would alternate between fins and feet... and only using the board. now my kicking has improved quite a bit and i can get across the pool in a respectable time.

my next step was the arms. i have to figure out how to get the arms going. breathing is too much to ask for someone with my skill level. let me explain something for a second... i can not swim. i have taken lessons as a kid and spent some time in a lake, or on rivers, but i still can not swim. i think it is because i am not comfortable in the water and i am too uncoordinated. i am coordinated enough to unicycle and juggle, but i can't swim....or dance [that's another post :)]. so my strategy for learning this time is to do one part at a time. first learn to kick very well. not just able to move my feet, but be able to propel myself at a very good pace without thinking. it has to be automatic. next: learn the most efficient stroke i can. again, i want to be able to propel myself at a very good rate, without thinking. finally i need to breath. i am not sure how i am going to figure this part out but currently i am using a snorkel. the snorkel is great, i wish that i could use it all the time. however, i don't want to get too dependent on it. so what i have been doing is timing my breaths to match my strokes. maybe this week i'll try to go with out the snorkel.

so where was i?

i don't remember... so i'll just finish up here. it's been very challenging to learn to swim. my arms are not used to doing anything, so they have been stressed as well. i think by the end of this month i will be able to swim. my goal is to swim 500 yards by the end of august.

wish me luck.

I'm at the robot and vision show in chicago. This was the most realistic robot i could find. Granted he could only move his head and blink his eyes...i guess that is what makes up human after all. Can u tell which one is the robot?

This was a common sight along the bike path

It was so windy today, and to top it all off i had to ride into the stars.

Lost pictures from my trip to ward.

The start of the trail.

more flowers

More flowers

return of the ex-cyclist

The ex-cyclist is back! I haven't been on my bike for while, and today i rode out to the trail and then ran it. It felt pretty good to not drive. This was a flower on the trail

words from the ex-cyclist.

well, it's been nearly two weeks and i have not ridden my bike. i have been driving to work every day since then and i am feeling horrible. i really hate using my car so much. i see lots of people riding to work now, more so than usually, most likely because of the high gas prices. people really need this however. spending money on gas seems to be a bigger motivator than a used up planet. perhaps people would be more motivated if some economist could put a price tag on how much it's going to cost to have fresh air pumps in your house and car [most likely what ever happens with global warming...we will still drive cars]. perhaps getting a sample of the future cost of all this would motivate people to conserve.

i know that i talk from a pretty high place, but i practice from a fairly low stand, but at least i am trying...and i have been trying all my life. a lot of the problem for me is that everything takes an initial investment. solar energy wind power, hybrid cars...etc. as for me, well i really think that things are completely screwed up. i really think that these are band-aid solutions to the problem in general.

here is the problem. every city and town in this country is controlled by short sighted money hungry baboons. how can something like a strip mall become such a standard? have the buildings surround the parking lot! what a fucked up idea that is. it is everywhere however. they have become so huge, that it is very difficult to even walk from one store to the next. unless you are very ambitious and the "mall" is reasonable, most people drive from one store to the other. this concept of the strip mall has been incorporated into the huge super malls. these are the malls where we find best buy and dick's sports, circuit city....

why is it that we never see a super market next door to a best buy? or a doctor's office next to a dentist? and either of those next to a restaurant? because everything is fucked up that's why. most people never get more than two destinations from one drive. that needs to change.

i would love to be able to ride my bike to one place, get some hardware, groceries and bike parts with one trip.

anyway, this zoning needs to change, and development on these new projects needs to be flagged. it's the best way to lessen our dependencies on cars.

also, what the hell is going on with all the drive-throughs lately? don't people know the impact of idling cars? this should be the first thing to go in our societies. in my experience drive-throughs only have about a 50% chance of getting your order right to begin with... so get off your fat asses and walk inside.... no excuses.

ok, i am sufficiently fired up now.... but i have to drive into work again :( hopefully next week i can do a better job.


please comment!