Brian Snyder… Making Frank Sinatra Look Like a Hobo Since 1975
Well, crap.
People magazine STILL refuses to name me as the sexiest man alive. I mean, C’mon.
I think I was robbed!
Seriously… I’m going to start sending some hate mail.
I mean, honestly. If this isn’t pure sexiness… I don’t know what is!
Maybe I’ll win next year! :-)
Saturday morning was a chance to sleep in as we all decided to wait for a warmer, later start and it turned out to be the right call. We did the standard south end route and split apart after Coulon with a group heading up to May Valley and another group heading back. I rode up to Bellevue with John, Tony and Todd and then turned around to cruise around Mercer and then head home. It was a fantastic fall day!!! Extra plus was finally seeing Matt T who I haven’t seen since I worked at a bike shop in Port Orchard MANY years ago. He is riding with the Cycle U team right now and I’ll tell you what… hold on to your shorts. It won’t take long before he is tearing it up.
Later in the afternoon, Dustin and Elizabeth came over for drinks and and bike building. Well, actually, Dustin and I went downstairs to the shop and built his rain bike while the girls chatted it up and did crafty stuff in Ro’s craft room. Later it was down the road for Pizza, beer and other fine foods. Good times!
This morning I woke up with a little bit of a hangover and hoped for an easy ride to clear my head. Not happening…
Ride - 92 miles / 3100 feet climbing
Bike - BMC SL01 51-35 q-rings x 11-23 Ksyrium SL wheels
Breakfast - Bagel and cream cheese
Ride Food - 1 small bottle of Heed, 1 small bottle of water (later I stopped for a gatorade) bag of shotblocks, and a snickers.
I missed the move on Hollywood hill but heard it was a well fought climb. I spun to the top to see Gabe, RC and Tony completely cross eyed and Greg sporting a shit eating grin. Freaks, all of them. Paradise lake road has been paved since the last time I have been out there and it just made for a great cruise. Greg and I rode together to Seward park as I wanted to meet up with Rosanna and possibly get a ride home (she was there with her team) but missed her so he and I sat down for a cup of coffee and then he rode with me to Fremont, Nickerson and then along the waterfront before splitting off to go home. I was pretty fried riding home and really started to feel the lack of sleep and the few drinks I had the evening before.
Please, watch.
If you voted yes…. You have no soul.
Junior High School. All the girls were high on New Kids and the fools who were drooling over Warrant and Poison.
Me? I was pissing off my parents AND the neighbors.
Rock on.
Welcome to the Jungle
Paradise City
Sweet Child ‘O Mine
and I know… it’s kind of sissy but this song rocks.
November Rain
Stay Beautiful.
My site is pretty boring lately. Obviously with my legs deep in the off season and the bike only getting a work out 1-2 rides a week I don’t have that much to type about until we get more snow in the mountains OR spring gets here early. I’m hoping for the snow.
I pulled the board out of the attic as well as our snowshoes. I think this year will be the year Rosanna gets new skis. She is running some X-frees from forever ago and I’d like to get her something a little bit better, especially after I rented her some Pocket Rockets at Whistler and Stevens and she loved the feel. I guess I painted myself into a corner. If anyone is getting rid of some - hit me up and we can chat. :-)
The leaves are piling up in the front yard but it has been too crappy to go pick them up. I’m hoping my neighbor gets frustrated enough with how awful my yard looks and sends his lawn service folk over to take care of it.
My plan to NOT pick up dog poop this year is really starting to come together. All the rain we have been getting has pretty much made the poo unrecognizable so if you can’t see it, it isn’t there. Right?
I got the lecture from Rosanna that I have turned into a “Jean and T-shirt” guy. So I asked her if she wanted me to just be an “underwear” guy. No response. She took me down to Southcenter and bought me a few new pants (jeans… she said they were “nice” jeans though) and then headed over to H&M to check out the sweaters, which we ended up buying. All of a sudden I’m 33 and I hate to shop. HATE. Malls kill me. I wish I could just order everything I need from a bike magazine… or QBP.
I think this is the end of my update. I’m planning on taking the dogs down to Lincoln Park by the ferry and walking stairs, or just let them scope out some other dogs and smell some poo… if there is any that is still recognizable.
Stay Beautiful-
Woke up to rain of course but not the downpour I was expecting. So on with the old orange and blue (3 more weeks!) and off to Ladro in Fremont. I met up with Greg and had a cup of coffee and a chat before heading over to Leschi to meet up with Dustin.
Not much of a team ride if only 3 people show up. I guess weather and cross races factor into that.
I love rides like today. The sun came out and off came the rain jacket, I even pulled my gloves off as the temperature went up in our favor. nice and easy pace full of man-gossip and stories, bsically shooting the shit. This is why I ride. Not the race or the drool inducing hill repeats up Zoo. I love my friends.
So anyway…
Ride- 92 miles
Bike - Klein Performance touring 53-42 x 12-27 Sun wheels
Breakfast - Bagel with turkey and cream cheese, Ensure
Ride Food - 1 large bottle of accelerade, 1 small bottle of water, 1 bag of shot blocks
a few observations… I need a 39. That 42 ain’t gonna cut it. Anyone have a 135 BCD 39 tooth they need to get rid of? Also, I need to put 42 ctc bars on. the 40’s are just way too narrow and I’m pretty uncomfortable.
Time to get to work so I can pay the bills…
I have had a bunch of emails about what happened last weekend. I must say I’m sorry I didn’t follow up.
No I did not go to the doctor, yes I think I had a concussion, no I did not sacrifice my “man bag”
The only thing I am suffering from right now is a really stiff and sore back. Those of you that do know my back history should understand when I say this… ouch. I’m slowly getting better though. Pretty stiff in the mid to upper with a lot of pain at night but I have to thank the folks who make Aleve. You all rock.
Anyway.
I picked up Ro from the airport last night at about 9. She was out cold. This morning was breakfast at Easy Street records and now she is in her craft room painting while I try to kill an 18 pack of PBR while I watch the Ducks own Stanford (aka the Pac 10 bitches).
As I type this, UO just got a safety. !#$%^*!!!!
anyway… the goal of this weekend is to relax and I am.
Stay Beautiful.
Matt (and the band) killed it at the Showbox last night. Walking on stage like a champ to Queens “Flash” and then rocking us for a good hour and a half, Matt grabbed a hold of the audience, smacked the hell out of us and rocked our pants off.
Classic Matt. His great music mixed with some classic 80’s tunes (Take On Me!) and the hilarious “Matt Banter”… it all ended way too soon.
I have already done a Musical Interlude on Nathanson a few months ago and although I really want to do another one for tomorrow, I’m gonna save it for later since I have already written one up.
It was great to hang out with my brother and his woman as well as Allison who got Rosanna’s ticket after an emergency work flight to Chicago (missed you babe!). Beers at Kells before the show was much needed.
“I’m Wide Awake and So Alive!”
Yes.
I’m not going to tell you who to vote for. If you don’t know by now and are still undecided, you haven’t been paying attention.
It’s the right thing to do. Besides, if you don’t, you can’t complain.
Friday night I fell down the stairs. Well… I actually fell ON the stairs.
Let me explain.
We don’t have a guard rail in our attic for the stairs below and I am ALWAYS telling Rosanna to be careful when she goes up there because it would be very easy to take a wrong step and end up head first into the stairs. Well, I pulled a field test and ended up falling backwards from the attic to the stairs.
Holy hell I’m lucky.
I smacked my head pretty good, enough to make me nauseous for the afternoon. racked my upper back, smacked my tailbone and re-injured my right hamstring. I’m alive still though and that’s all that really matters. I could have snapped my neck.
Later that night we headed over to Tony and Amanda’s for a rocking Halloween party. Good times with our friends. Those two are awesome and I wished we lived closer to each other, maybe soon…
Saturday was nothing but preparation for Halloween dinner. Rosanna made a killer roast beast along with a great pasta/ pumpkin dish as well as a handmade pumpkin ice cream. Add a bunch of friends and a leeetle bit of alcohol and we’re lucky the cops didn’t bust our party. I mean, Greg K almost started stripping in the street. Crazy.
Today was recovery. I needed to slam 2 Excedrin, 1 small glass of water and an electrolyte recovery drink just to stop feeling a little sideways. Ro and I crawled our way to Easy Street Records for a grease heavy breakfast and then it was nap time on the couch. As soon as the sun peeked out I tossed on my riding gear and hit my West Seattle loop only to get poured and hailed on halfway through. It was nice to get back out on the BMC… I think it missed me. That bike is SO damn comfortable and responsive. Why did I even think about another bike?
Shame on me.
Ride - 35 miles 2800 feet of climbing/ West Seattle repeats
Bike - BMC SL01 51-35 qrings x 11-21 Ksyrium SL wheels
Ride food - 2 bottles of water
Weight - 166 (damn I lose weight fast!)
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.
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.
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!
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 GearI 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.
