Two Wheels and Other Things

I’m not going to buy the Look this year.  I can hear my wife cheering.

I’ll ride this for another season…

It doesn’t quite look like this right now though.  It’s hanging upside down in my shop.  The Spinergy’s were sold on eBay and I need to replace the fork…

I just wish I had the time (motivation?) to ride right now.

So much to do.

Didn’t really have a plan for today as work has been absolutely killing me.  The easiest would be to toss up a live vid of DMB’s “Halloween” but I’m not going to.

Why?

Because I said so and it’s my website.

Thankfully one of the greatest attorneys in upstate New York came through with a suggestion.  

Kings of Leon - Closer

and then I just came up with this because this band kicks ass-

Summer Breeze cover by Type O Negative

And really, what Halloween wouldn’t be complete with a little Monster Mash?

Stay beautiful everyone. Have a great weekend-

I looked at my bikes tonight.  I even cleaned the cobwebs off the TT bike just for shits and giggles.

Oh… and I drank a few Redhook Winterhooks.  Damn that’s good beer.

Weight - 174.

I really like beer and burger.

Beautiful…

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Ummm.  What is there to say?  Is there a more perfect food?

I’m a huge… HUGE peanut butter fan.  I usually have peanut butter toast for breakfast and 1 or maybe 2 sandwiches at lunch.  See, I’m not a big jelly fan though.  I consider jelly as a lubricant more than anything else. The more jelly I put on the sandwich, the more peanut butter I can slather on the opposite slice of bread and shove down my gullet.

I’m drooling right now. :-)

My favorite peanut butter is the Adams old fashioned.  The type you bring home with the oil on top so you have to stir it before you use it.  Creamy, not crunchy, of course.  If I can’t have Adams I will settle for Jif.  That’s it, nothing else.

Yes ladies and gentlemen.  I am a peanut butter snob.

There was one moment in my peanut butter history that has burned itself into my brain.  When I was about 6 or 7 I made myself a peanut butter and peanut butter sandwich, it was thick. I was able to scarf down half of it before my digestive system turned to cement.  I folded the remaining sandwich in a few paper towels and stashed in in the garbage can.  As dinner time rolled around I was sitting at the table with the rest of my family and as they were dishing up a healthy and delicious meal, I was staring at the remaining half of my peanut butter and peanut butter sandwich.  This did two things.  It taught me to only take what I could eat and that my parents sometimes root around in the trash looking for my sandwiches.

In 5th grade my teacher, Mr. Barga, made us write out an operating procedure on how to make a PB&J sandwich and it would be demonstrated in front of the class by a different student.  It’s a little harder than you think

PB&J is one of the greatest things in a ride… hell even a race as long as the pace drops down enough to get it out of the bag without splattering yourself and your teammates with it’s gooey innards.

I love it.

Great song too :-)

I skipped the team ride Saturday morning so I could shrink the growing list of home improvement items.    Some sheetrock, tape, mud and sanding led to a cut-in box and a switch.  Then it was downstairs to the bike shop to clean up and take some measurements for some future wall and peg board. 

Saturday evening was our IJM.org/ Thumbprint Racing team party at uBRDO in Kirkland.  Pizza from Zeeks, a keg from Redhook and a ton of snacks/ desserts and drinks from the teammates who showed up.  Scotty provided the tunes and the bike eye candy and it turned out great!  The Look bikes came in and we all got to drool on our new team frames as well as the other amazing products that are stocked at uBRDO.  It really is a great shop in both the merchandise and it’s location but what makes it superb is the attitude of the owner and the employees.  They all rock.

Sunday morning I woke up with a hangover.

Wait… let me take that back.  I don’t think it was a hangover yet.  I was still in a beer induced haze.  What’s better than a 70 mile ride to clear the head?

Bike - Flyte SRS2 50-34 x 11-21 Ksyrium SL wheels

Breakfast - 1 Tylenol, 2 Aleve and an Ensure

Ride Food - 1 large bottle of Accelerade and 1 small bottle of water

For the first 20 miles my stomach was REALLY upset and Greg announced that he was gonna try and make me puke.  He was close.  REALLY close.  When we crossed Mercer, RC headed north to go home, I headed south and Greg, Kurt and Dean rode east to do hills (In October?)  I kept the pace an easy spin and ran into the Byrne squad in Renton and turned around with them.  I plowed through the bottle of accelerade and started to feel better but after the I-90 bridge I was starting to feel really cooked so I stopped for a coffee and pastry before heading back.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Stay Beautiful!

Yes… Me.  A closet Depeche Mode fan.  Love them.  I still toss in a mix CD of Depeche Mode sometimes when I’m riding on the trainer or working down in my shop.

Lyrical geniuses… and they had GREAT hair.

Enjoy!

Walking in My Shoes

Enjoy the Silence

Personal Jesus

Condemnation (live)

By far the funniest thing I have seen all day.

Manly bike for sale

What kind of bike? I don’t know, I’m not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you’re way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan’s mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are. Not having a rear reflector is like saying “FUCK YOU CAR, JUST TRY AND FIND ME”.The bike says Giant on the side because it’s referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler. When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

The bike has some rusted screws, but that just shows how much of a bad ass you are. Everyone knows rusted screws on a bike means that you probably drove it underwater and that’s bad ass in itself. Those screws can be replaced with shiny new ones, but if you’re going to go to that trouble why not just punch yourself in the balls since you’re probably a dickless lizard who doesn’t like to look intimidating.

The bike is for men because the seat is flat or some shit and not shaped like a dildo.

I’ve topped out at 75 miles per hour on this uphill but if you’re just a regular man you’ll probably top it out at 10 miles per hour. This thing is listed as a street bike which is man-code for bike tank. The bike has 7 speeds in total:

Gear 1 - Sissy Gear
Gear 2 - Less Sissy Gear
Gear 3 - Least Sissy Gear
Gear 4 - Boy Gear
Gear 5 - Pre-teen Boy Gear
Gear 6 - Manly Gear
Gear 7 - Big Muscles Gear

I only like gear 6 and 7 to be honest.

Additionally, this tool of all immense men comes with a gigantic lock to keep it secure. The lock is the size of a bull’s testicles and tells people you don’t fuck around with locking up your bike tank. It tells would-be-thieves “Hey asshole, touch this bike and I’ll appear from the bushes ready to club you with a two-by-four”.

 

Bike is for 150 OBO (and don’t give me no panzy prices)

Love it!!

 I’m in a “Baker Street” kind of mood and just wanted to share it with all of you.

Gerry Rafferty was bad ass with those glasses.  How can ANYONE not like this song?

Palin just confirmed she is a d-bag.

Jesus.  What are you religious right wing idiots so scared of?

Sitting here watching my two dogs, Annabelle and Maggie, play together.

What a hoot.

Then Annabelle (the fat old dog she is) slides to the ground in instant nap mode while Maggie lays down next to her and gently nibbles on her sisters ear.

Bliss.

and… Discuss

:-)

Rosanna and I headed out Sunday morning to meet the IJM/ TPR team as they left from Fremont and rolled through Logboom Park.  We were super happy when we noticed there were THREE other tandems on the ride.  AWESOME!  Martha and Mick, Martin and Shelly and Clint and Allison. We also had about 10 others on singles so we were rocking.

Martha brought her camera with her and attempted the “hold the camera over the head” trick, which I thought worked VERY well!

Notice the fog?  Ummm.. yeah.  It was a tad chilly down in Snohomish.  Brrrrrrrr!  The fog lifted though as we climbed out and it turned into an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day.

Rosanna had a great time and having M&M and M&S there really helped out.

Rock on.

Ride-

40 miles.

Bike - Cannondale Tandem

Breakfast - Bagel, Eggs, ensure, water and 5 sport leg pills

Ride Food - bag of shot blocks, 1 small bottle of water and 1 small bottle of accelerade.

Oh… and if you were wondering, yes.  My leg was killing me for the first 20 miles.  I have a feeling I’ll be a little sore for the next few days.  I need a massage!

Bike - Tempo Fixed Gear 42 x 16

Thank GOD we took a different route. Props to Martin for suggesting we head out to May Valley.

I don’t have the time right now to map out the ride but I think it was about 55-60, rolling miles. Great company with Martin, Todd, Kurt and Chance. Towards the end of May Valley my right hamstring started feeling really tight then down the hill on Renton/ Issaquah it got so bad I had to ride one legged to the bottom. A few stretches and a left hand turn later and we are on Newport where it balled up so bad I almost fell off my bike. The guys turned around and gave me some time to work it out, stretch and un-humiliate myself and then kept going. Todd flatted so it gave me a little more stretch time.

I had a small problem with a d-bag driver getting onto Factoria. He almost clipped me with his mirror (even though there are TWO LANES) and gave me the “hey how ya doing finger”. So unload on him… I didn’t cuss but I really wanted to give him a piece of my mind but he just stared straight ahead with his pipe and funny hat. Bastard.

By the time Martin and Kurt pulled off my leg was feeling a little better and I was able to cruise over to Fremont and grab a cup of coffee and a Motrin before heading home.

Now it’s off to work on the house and get the tandem ready for tomorrows ride. I hope the leg can take it….

Yes or no?

There are two artists that over the past year I have wanted to do a FMI for but I have hesitated.

One of them is Howie Day… the other, well, only Evan knows that one and it’ll come out later.

I have been a HUGE HD fan for years.  I have over 120 of his live shows bootlegged on CD, 95% of them as a solo act before he went “big”.

A few months ago I did a FMI on Matt Nathanson, one of my favorite artists.  He and Howie are pretty much the same for me, two different styles but right there on my rank of substance and absolute talent.  Howie today is a result of a label grabbing hold of a talented musician, twisting him into nothing and then wiping their hands of him.  It disgusts me.

Anyway… Howies live set consists of him, a guitar and a series of pedals (looping, delay, octave and others) that he uses for both his voice and guitar.  Everything you hear is him and his guitar… that’s it.  His live performances were spell bounding.  His talent is out of this world and I hope someday he returns to his roots.  Playing just to play.

When I used to do open mic performances I covered a lot of Howie’s songs (and Matt’s) and always had the best time.  Here are a few of my favorite selections-

Bunnies-

Ghost (w/ Beams of Light outro)

Disco

Sorry, so Sorry

And this… one of my most favorite selections of all time. Both Matt and Howie onstage together doing a GREAT Radiohead cover.

Matt Nathanson and Howie Day - Fake Plastic Trees

Really though, I could go on for a lot longer. Because of his amazing live shows and looping, each song comes out different each time.

Check him out. buy the album Australia and Stop All The World Now and if you REALLY want to delve deeper into it, maybe I’ll burn you a live show or two (if you are super lucky)

Enjoy it… and Have a wonderful weekend.

She is ALWAYS interupting me when I talk…

Both of you suck ass.  I’m glad you got caught.

Please… stop destroying the sport.  Thanks.

Do you uBRDO?

“There probably isn’t a shop with louder music than us within 200 miles..”

“We know first hand, that running into a moose on the trail is 100 times worse than running into a bear.”

“We believe a healthy, balanced diet is built on the foundation of coffee, beer, burritos, Hammer Gel, and fistfulls of vitamins.”

So… Do you uBRDO????

You should.  

Official shop of IJM.org/ Thumbprintracing.  Rock the “eff” on.

uBRDO.com

81 miles. I’m cooked

Bike - Flyte SRS2 50-34 x 11-21 Ksyrium SL wheels

Breakfast - 2 eggs, Bagel w/ cream cheese and an Ensure

Ride Food - Powerbar, 2 small bottles of Heed

Nice cruise around the lake with a great bunch of guys. I say it a lot but mean it every time… These guys kick ass and am so happy they all came over to IJM.org/ Thumbprint Racing. We pushed the pace a few times and as trashed as my legs were I was still able to rub elbows, that is, until RC jumped on LWB out of Seward.  I got BLOWN out the back.  I just didn’t have the speed left in my legs.  I caught back up to them at Leschi and we put in in cruise control for the last few miles.  Greg K road to Fremont with me since he had to head to Ballard and then it was the lonesome chug back to West Seattle.

Now it’s beer, food and football over at my mom’s house in Port Orchard.

Stay Beautiful!