The Light of the World

2010-06-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a good long break from the computer. Just so's you know, I sort of lost the will to talk.

Now trying to write some in my little notebooks and take pictures, and look at birds with my new field glasses.

Mr. Chris came back from France and we've been taking some hard hills. I've been teaching him how to eat 3 sandwiches a day and still be lean and with a stunning bib-short tan.

Hope you all are doing okay out there. I'm better than I've been in a long time.

PS-- This blog is dead.

One of the Good Ones

2010-05-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

2010-05-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Snus tig's up a custom "Cop Caller" exhaust for the Ghost.

That thing about too loud vs. too old and all of that? It's true. Fuck 'em. I'm a pissed off white boy in a fast car.

A fast car with NHTSA approved child safety seats securely fastened in the back.

Sigh.

2010-05-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

2010-05-23T02:43:00.001-07:00

Some people were born to Rock and Roll.

2010-05-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

Anatomy of a Sunday.

ALIVE.

2010-05-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

I did not push it here. I did not have to push it into the shop. It moved itself, loudly, and with little chirps from the tires.

There has been some progress in this life. There are disappointments. My own failings.

But, the kids are beautiful and the car runs. Another summer looks up from getting dressed and smiles.

.

Friend Report

2010-05-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

You are all Golden and I Love you.

2010-05-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

2010-05-02T00:32:00.001-07:00

Red Dot, Pink Shoes.

2010-04-29T15:19:00.001-07:00

2010-04-29T09:06:00.001-07:00

New Tuesday Schedule

2010-04-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

It's nice, if you can avoid getting killed by thousand-pound boulders.

There is a waterfall here. It's private and you can hear the trains way down in the river gorge.

Then later: 9 little beers. All good.

Twin Turbo, Missed Shift, 253 mph.

2010-04-27T08:02:00.001-07:00

Park Time

2010-04-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Goddamn Fucking Goddamn Car

2010-04-18T13:58:00.001-07:00

2010-04-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

When it comes down like this, look out.

Look out for me, baby. I might be driving down your street with my head on the window. I might be turning the radio off and on.

Depression like a bomb in the middle of my life. Scattering children and wives everywhere.

Shit I say, I can't believe it. Try explaining your actions later. Just try. I dare you.

I'm not as bad as you think I am, but I'm pretty fucking close.

Look out for me, baby.

2010-04-11T11:04:00.001-07:00

"I'm straight, and I want to take his place"

Song of Myself

2010-04-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

Seth reads a bit of Whitman for the first time on my phone, just after 3 this morning.

Ace Hotel

2010-04-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

2010-04-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

West Coast Boot and Shoe

2010-04-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah boots.

Wife boots.

Rush To Relax, wife.

2010-04-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Maybe just like when you got so drunk and left your keys on the bar and couldn't get your sweater on so you threw it down and lost all your monies.

But then you got on your bike and rode home like nothing was the matter.

Maybe it's just like that?

-----------------------------

Japanese tourists are not afraid to drink all the Shiranami you have, and then let you take a picture of their white GF1.

Big fat white guys are not afraid of four pounds of pork knuckle, stewed, dried, and then deep fried.

Proof

2010-04-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

George T Stagg.

Monocle Man

2010-03-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm bummed about Monocle Man. He's everywhere.

The bummerest part is that I might be mistaken for He.

Except that I Work in my Workwear. Or used to, at least.

Now just fetishised and fading artifacts from my life in sawdust.

1969

2010-03-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Play them all at the same time.

Compost Bag

2010-03-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

If it's 70 degrees and all of the trees that looked dead a few days ago are lurid, be sure to ride the bike to work like you always do and with

keys wallet ipod phone clogs work-shirt drink-chits all in ruck. Sing merrily the way. The sun warming your crotch. Fuck, stop for a beer because you have time but you know

already and I don't have to warn you if you live here that the wind will start at nine; blow all of the umbrellas down the street and up on the roof. Then the rain. And rain.

There's always a compost bag somewhere to keep the important parts dry.

Thanks Shayne for the photo.

Jacques Magazine

2010-03-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

This goes out to the old boys. You know who you are.

If you're at work, you might want to wait until you get home to watch these.

Good, old fashioned Smut of the highest order. There's something really pure about this. Sexy without the gross is hard to come by (unintentional pun) in this world.

It's easy with bicycles and cars-- Not so much with goils.

Is it just me, or is the world getting kind of better?

Jacques: The Sports Issue Trailer, 'Squash' from Jacques Magazine on Vimeo.

Jacques Magazine presents Tori from Jacques Magazine on Vimeo.

Dead

2010-03-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

So many long nights together. I been on your wavelength, girl.

See you, baby.

beer, pig.

2010-03-21T01:09:00.000-07:00

Big Star meant so much to me. Thank you Alex. And K for telling me to buy #1 Record.

4:51 am.

2010-03-19T04:51:00.001-07:00

Neckbeard

2010-03-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with your eyes.

2010-03-07T02:03:00.000-08:00

I'm 38 years old and moving house. Always moving. It's been a good winter. Not rained and all the cheery blossoms are out.

I'm dragging out the last of my things. it's after 2 in the morning and I have to pick up the truck at nine. 62 hours on the mats this week and I feel like a little kid.

I don't want you to expect anything from me. You remember what happened last summer when I kind of fell off the end for a little bit. It could easy happen again. You know how it works.

I got friends. Don't worry. They been coming by and dropping off things. I'm paying back my dad and the guys at work bought me and the wife a night downtown. The other wives are going to sit with our boys.

We'll go out to dinner and to The Clyde for drinks. Maybe we'll both get a minute of silence. I don't know.
--------------------------------------------------------
I wonder if my sons would like to row out on the river. We were talking about having fat bastard kids, or Lacrosse boys, or Crew boys. The loneliness of a long-distance runner boys.

I've been wild enough for all of us and look where we landed. I want them to know how to sharpen a knife, keep the fingernails clean, lap in a valve. Play push hands. Run a mile all ruddy and blonde.
Dance the way they do now without giving two shits what anybody thinks about it.

Some things don't have to exclude the others.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

2010-03-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

this is not a pipe.

Before Work, I

2010-03-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

Ate Bunk.

Worked on fucking goddamn fucking car.

And picked up my new ruck.

Broder

2010-03-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

Wife contemplates meat/cheese/fish box.

Decides to begin with soup.

Heart you, Broder.

Like somebody we used to know that's gone beyond us.

2010-03-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

the cat.

Because I Stopped Caring About Talking

2010-02-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

Living a model life.

2010-02-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is beautiful to me.

2010-02-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

2010-02-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

Denim Demon

2010-02-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

This won't make any sense to you.

1st anniversary of PRPS Barracuda jeans. Worn approx. 300 days. This is when it gets good.

2010-02-13T02:11:00.000-08:00

Testing

2010-02-09T00:42:00.000-08:00

Dickering about with the new Lumix LX3 to see how things are going to look.

Le Tour, 1962

2010-02-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

This is for Monseur Chris (Le Aubergine Blanc), who will be back in Paris next week communing with his beautiful family.

Best to you all. We love you dearly, and impatiently await your return to these soils.

Bohdisattva

2010-02-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Philosophy of Bill Murray.

Which gets me thinking about guitar picking.

2010-02-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Mississippi John Hurt

John Fahey

Jack Rose

Three generations. One, two, three.

2010-02-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

I didn't make it to the Tweed Ride. I woke up puking at 6 am. Silas did it to me. I finally got out of bed this morning because I had to go do inventory.

The proscuitto de Portlandia, coppa, lardo, and pancetta are hanging in the rafters in a small room that I built to house the beer and sake. It's dark in there, and smells good.

I like a long-term project. Especially one that requires a certain amount of benign neglect. The difficult, expensive, and time-consuming part is now finished.

Waiting is easy.
----------------------------------------------
There was a thump on the porch this afternoon. The sound of which I like.

My apologies to the Reverend for talking him out of these a year or so ago. I changed my mind and spent the money so you don't have to.

Beautiful.

WHAT TYPE ARE YOU?

And Berg, you need to SEE what Davis could do with that blind, two-finger style.

edit: and, the Tweed Ride. 150 people? GTFo.

Tweed

2010-01-28T11:11:00.001-08:00

I'm going to do this. But I'm going by myself, and hope that I don't see anybody I know.

Is this the exact opposite of racing? If so, that's kind of where I'm at right now.

2010-01-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks. Yesterday and today were hard. We thought we had a new place nailed down, and it fell through.

I was already painting the trim and firing up the smoker in the backyard. Oh well.

Today, young Silas woke us up by laying in the middle of the living room and crying out "My body hurts".

He's been nothing but puke and the other thing all day. Around five, he was looking pretty glassy and I realized he wasn't holding down any liquid at all, so I took him to the doctor. Our family doctor. She looked me right in the face and said "He needs to go to the emergency room".

I said fuck it. We'll do it farmer-style. I got her to give me a scrip for some butt pills for the little dude, and I've been giving him 5cc of pedia-lite, every five minutes for the last 4 hours. He's keeping it down. Sleeping and looking bright-eyed when I wake him up for his "sip".

Wish us luck.

Equal

2010-01-18T20:50:00.001-08:00

Every reason you should spend money at Rivendell and Velo Orange is right here.

2010-01-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

From the Riv site:

Ten percent of receipts on Thurs and Fri will be donated to Haiti relief. You can read about this on the Velo Orange site, too. Chris there proposed it to me--VO's doing it, too, and it's a good idea. If you don't know Velo-Orange, you should. On the surface they may appear to be competitors, and at the most basic level, at a business-discussion level, I guess there's no denying that they are. But they're also friends, and they're pointed in the same general direction we are, and let me tell you, folks-- it's good to have more companies, more people, going in that direction. It's not like the racing world isn't ten times huger as it is; it's not like this movement, or whatever you might call it, has a full head of steam. More really is merrier, so go to

Velo-Orange

and whip out your credit card.

Donating a portion of sales to Haiti relief is a sensitive, tricky deal--- as a business, you depend on sales, but also, you want to do some good along the way. I've thought of this as "leaving good snail tracks," and there are selfish and altruistic components of it. If we swirled down the crapper in a few months or a year or some other dreadfully short time, I sure wouldn't want to look back and think, "We cheated a lot of people and were selfish SOBs along the way," and now we're out of business, oh well."
No matter how things are going and how they go, I want my worst thought to be something along the lines of, "Well, we tried hard. Maybe I wasn't a good enough businessman, but at least we didn't cheat people, and we gave a bunch of money away to good causes, and that's better than nothing, that's nothing to scoff at."
Don't take that to mean we're going down. We haven't had to lay anybody off (but are in no position to hire anybody new). We either earn business or don't, and we try to.
The Haiti relief deal going on now--- a cynic who hates us (and hates VO) might say we're using the disaster to boost sales. It would be hard to defend against that. Well, today we had a lousy sales day, capped off with a huge refund (bike deposit refunded, circumstances changed). We sent $1000 to Mercy Corp, directed to Haiti. It's not braggy stuff, but I'm mentioning it as a preemptive measure, in case somebuddyboysomewhere gets the wrong idea.

Anyway, the Haiti disaster is a disaster for all other charities, too. Whenever one cause makes big news, money that would have flowed to the other charities gets refunnelled to the Newsy one.
I do happen to think Pat Robertson's comments on the earthquake are --- well, I think he's full of --- well, I should probably just say I think he's off base. Is that OK? And I'm sure he doesn't care, or read this. I mean, I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, and I'm sure he claims to mean well, and I'm sure in the next few days he'll clarify what he really meant....but holy cow, Robertson...

These are good people, doing good work.

Pat Robertson, on the other hand, is a cunt. Fucking christian assholes and their mouths and being up in everyone else's business.

Enough, already.

2010-01-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

I was just telling Hamachi, that mostly right now, I just listen to Eddy Current, drink Red Oval, and try to find the bottom of Haw-lin.

Such is my journey.

Where are you?

2010-01-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

Do you think that the Welk Band were burners?

No way.

And, this is a little more realistic.

I've read nothing but good things about the Lumix LX3, and am excited to start taking pictures again.

Just like Sister Ray said.

2010-01-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

For my birthday please?

2010-01-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

I am in love with the Casual Dots.

2010-01-07T01:35:00.000-08:00

Three on the Third

2010-01-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday, rockers.

You are the best.

Resolute

2009-12-31T14:22:00.000-08:00

1- Improve father skills.

2- Depression will not get me.

3- Less talk, more rock.

4- Air out the Colnago.

5- More poetry, less yelling.

6- Air out The Wife.

7- Neck tattoos.

8- Pushups.

9- Mixtapes.

10- I will do better.

Do you have things that you'd you'd like to work on?

Will you tell me about them?

I'm listening to you.

.

2009-12-24T12:11:00.001-08:00

Pig Sunday

2009-12-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

Keep your football. We makin' bacon. And prosciutto. And loin. And shoulder, butt, and a metric shit ton of sausage.

One of the perks of working in the restaurant business is having access to a proper kitchen, and to the purveyors who can supply you with the goods.

"Cooper" was a beauty. Killed and delivered thursday, and broken down today. 2 inches of fatback and two 24-pound hams. The knives were sharp and we drank some pretty good tempranillo.

Spirits were light. I like to meet my food. I like it a lot.

2009

2009-12-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

For you picture takers/likers.

.

2009-12-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

The Selvedge Yard.

New Koan

2009-12-13T00:18:00.000-08:00

Here Now

Now and again
I am here now
And now is when
I'm here again

Samuel Menashe

Stolen from POETRY magazine. September, 2009.

Rest Easy, Jack Rose.

2009-12-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

There were a lot of cold days where we used to live. I like to think that I remember the two dogwood trees on the shady side of the house and the bees in the quince. But I don't really.

When I think about it hard, there's only January. Sitting with the Ashley Book of Knots and waiting for my sons to come.

Jack Rose was there, too.

February 16, 1971-December 5, 2009

.

2009-12-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

From Antler

Whitmansexual

Whitman was a mansexual,
a womansexual,
A grasssexual, a treesexual,
a skysexual, an earthsexual.
Whitman was an oceansexual, a mountainsexual,
a cloudsexual, a prariesexual,
A birdsongsexual, a lilacsmellsexual,
a gallopinghorsesexual.
Whitman was a darknesssexual, a sleepersexual,
a sunrisesexual, a MilkyWaysexual,
A gentlebreezesexual, an openroadsexual,
a wildernesssexual, a democracysexual,
A drumtapssexual, a crossingbrooklynferrysexual,
a sands-at-seventy-sexual.
Whitman was a farewell-my-fancy-sexual,
a luckier-than-was-thought-sexual,
A deathsexual, a corpsewatchsexual,
a compostsexual, a poets-to-come-sexual,
A miracle-sexual, an immortalitysexual,
a cosmos-sexual, a waiting-for-you-sexual.

Haw-Lin

2009-12-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

My friends and I are warning you not to get sucked in.

Cyclocross, 1976

2009-12-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

This will be my last post of the cx season. Probably.

Oregon: Destroying it, olde timey style.

We're all damn cowboys too.

2009-12-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

Hey Berg, Dan Reeder makes his own guitars. He doesn't shoot them first, but he does a pretty good job. You're going to like this.

Whiskey Soda Lounge: Post Mortem

2009-12-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

We fucking killed it last night.

Andy Killed it. Nick killed it. Dave killed it. Lindsay killed it. Even the new kids killed it.

House full of Portland's restaurant glitterati, writers and critics, and urchins lured in by the promise of free Wassail.

Some screeching woman accused Gabe Rucker of stealing the credit cards out of her purse. "He's covered with tattoos!"

Yeah, he could also buy and sell you.

I'm in love with loving my job.

All three of them.

Whiskey Soda

2009-12-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

Starting another job today. I am so thankful that, contrary to the thousand other scenarios that I could envision for us this Christmas, I think that we'll have a warm house and full bellies this year.

Take nothing for granted, you.

We're all, every one of us, a misstep, mishap, missed opportunity away from landing right on our asses.

Or our feet. I guess it's all how you play it.

Also, I went and got a tattoo of a shark last night. Well, this morning, actually. But who's keeping track of the time?

Walt Whitman And The 501 Jean.

2009-12-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

"Walt Whitman, who in the mid-1800s was quite possibly among the first generation of Brooklyn hipsters."

Cal is Awesome.

2009-11-30T18:16:00.001-08:00

He just is.

Munday

2009-11-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

I just realized that my last five posts have all been videos swiped off the internet. Damn boring.

What's new?

I haven't taken any pictures lately. There's something wrong with my little Lumix and everything looks like shit. Besides, Hamachi and Patches are working their Panas out, so I don't have to.

I suck at racing bicycles, so I bitched out of the race on sunday. Kruger's farm. Always pretty and perfect. Tractor ruts and the last geese overhead. The first place I raced after I came to Portland, and my favorite.

We went up with the Lads, drank some beer, did a little bonfire action. In talking, realized that it was their third season attending cx at the farm, and they won't be three years old until January.

Raising them up right!

Which gets me to considering that my sons already don't think of the the Bicycle as a novelty, or as a toy. They are, at this early stage, already fully attuned to its use as an everyday tool of much utility, and also one of great joy.

It's what gets us to the store. And to the park. And to the Bye and Bye for edamame and brussels sprouts and The Doo-Shay of a Sunday afternoon.

It's my hope that when they're older, they'll ride more than they drive, take pleasure in the maintenance of the machine, and most importantly, not have to think about it nearly as much as I do.

What did you guys do this weekend?

Transportfietsrace

2009-11-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

I do this every day on my way downtown.

But I have an ipod.

Post Ride Convo

2009-11-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

I totally know this guy.

Discussing

2009-11-16T22:55:00.000-08:00

This is only funny to me. The little fuckers have been showing up at the races-- Pushing their bikes around like it's Valencia St. and dropping cigarette butts everywhere.

Thank god I'm too fat and hung over to race anymore. Ninkasi just dropped the '09 Oatis Stout and I'm fixing to put on the chill-chasing 15 lbs. Fuck Gore-tex and fleece. I need my waxed cotton jacket, a layer of seal blubber, some black, black beer and a bike with fenders. Call me good to go.

See you come spring.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

2009-11-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite songs, and the Van Morrison/Them version is the best one-- But I found this and thought I'd post it. Brilliant.

Colors and the Kids

2009-11-11T08:39:00.001-08:00

Another in our ongoing series of feel good/feel bad songs.

"Yellow, hair. You are a funny bear."

Results

2009-11-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

66th out of 213. I "beat" Trebon and Wicks. Too bad I'm so slow, because I got out of the field in the first group of 20 or so and lost a good forty spots.

The course was really, really tough.

BG hit 33rd. Good going, crusher.

A Little Taste of Mayhem

2009-11-09T19:00:00.001-08:00

SSCXWC

2009-11-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

+

=

Um, don't ask.

Photo by MaxIsNow.

SSCXWC

2009-11-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

This is going to suck. Or be the Best Race Evar. Time will tell.

Again, you're all invited to stay at my house for this. I'll cook up a big pot of vegan chili and buy a bottle of whatever, and we'll be good to go. Because, I know people, and people, they know me. Dig?

Heckle Pit

2009-11-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Someone's camera phone movie of sunday's Heckle Pit. Note the human barriers (which moved all over the course), and the stack of caskets (which were re-arranged every lap).

Every lap. Laply?

That's already a word, right?

Cross

2009-11-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

You might be thinking that it's all smoke. Or some kind of hysteria.

That it's being packaged and presented to you in a way that somehow amplifies its glory.

None of this is fake.

It's all dirt, blood, booze and blind dedication to an unknown cause.

BIKECRUSH

PDXCROSS.

Cross Crusade. Astoria, OR, 2009

2009-11-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

I wore the suit again. The terrible suit. It binds and is hot. I drank beer before coffee. I drank beer before food.

I had food. I stopped at the Safeway in Clatskanie and bought two bananas, a Clif bar, some string cheese, and a bottle of Pellegrino. $4.89.

Out on the highway, some fifteen miles further into the fog of the coast range, there was a guy pushing one of those bicycles with the ratty trailer. A lot of hefty bags and tarps and a brown dog wearing a person's wool sweater.

I saw his down coat with the feathers sticking out and the tape on it, and his wet hair hanging down, and I pulled the car over and backed down the hill. The dog barked at me and I gave the guy the plastic bag of food. He looked like he needed it. He didn't say anything, but it was 48 degrees and going right thru to the bone. I hope he ate it and got some sustenance from it.

The Team had been camped at the fairgrounds for two nights already. They looked like mud and rain and oatmeal stout. They were chopping up pumpkins with a double-bit axe and pretending to eat a little, here and there.

Everything was glowing when I arrived, and there was a keg. I put on the suit, knowing it was the wrong thing to do. Such has been my life.

I'll leave the details of the racing to the Hankbuilt blargh, but I can tell you that we are in trouble with everybody.

True

2009-11-02T13:02:00.001-08:00

I See A Darkness

2009-10-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is in response to Berg's posting of the Cash version of this song. Which is good.

The original, though, is stunning.

Team Hankbuilt

2009-10-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here we are.

LTD

2009-10-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

I could talk to you about my problems. I have a lot of them. I wouldn't even know where to start.

I'll tell you that for most of the last year, I really felt like I wanted to see the whole goddamn world burned right down to the ground.

Where thoughts like this come from, I couldn't begin to say.

I have it alright. Everything that's happened to me, I've done to myself.

Mostly.

The other things just happened. They happen to everybody. That's why I see so many sad people walking around.

We're all wading through the same shit, brother. All somehow linked together by the same hurts.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm alright. Things kind of scraped bottom, but I'm feeling pretty good again.

How are you doing?

The Line

2009-10-26T22:28:00.001-07:00

Two men, turning themselves inside out for 59th place.

A lot can be said of a pleasurable Sunday out at the races. Some beers, some kicks. Families and Wives sitting out the rain in the
tents, managing bored kids. Probably dinner somewhere later.

Something to do around the house. A long shower.

All of this life. This regular guy stuff. But,at this moment, right here, all I cared for in the world was to cross the line before that other man.

We had been at war for two miles, breathing like horses. Insane in the mud and regretting every wrong thing I'd ever done:
Imagined music pounding in my head, and bile in my throat.

And the motherfucker pipped me at the line. He had it. I didn't.

All Wet

2009-10-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

Adam5100 has been flooded out.

Check it here.

CX in the news

2009-10-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

Our local news-jerks at KGW did a little puff-piece on last sunday's hurt-fest.

It's cute.

This Weekend

2009-10-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

I know that I'm always saying that I'm going to post here more. To like, entertain you, and stuff.

Well, Duffman says a lot of things.

Ooooooh, yeeaahhhh.

I'll just re-cap the weekend.

Saturday, it rained. Sheets of it. I went on the N.O.I.S.E. ride. I don't know what that stands for. I do know that it's been going on for some years and is top-secret underground. So underground, in fact, that I had to find out about it on the internet.

This thing was Fun Times. We played Buzkashi in the rain. There weren't any dead goats. I imagine that a couple of the players might have been vegan. On second thought, they mostly looked like they would eat anything. Anyway, the goat thing was a garbage bag full of leaves. Everybody got wet and crashed and yelled. It was so fucking awesome.

Then we poached a park. The one right outside my front door. I was cold and tired, so I watched, drank somebody's beers, and then went home.

I had to get downtown to pick up my wristband for the Scion Garage Fest. The rest of my day was devoted to this. I rolled with my buddy DK. We drank a lot. Took breaks between shows to talk about books and fatherhood, and then dove back in.

Apparently, I showed up at my restaurant just about closing and tried to fight the whole kitchen. They declined.

Below is a picture of The King Khan & BBQ Show. I took it with my camera in order to document the fact that for a good 20 minutes prior, a cute girl with a pointy nose and a black bob was rubbing her boobs on my arm and sort of accidentally touching me in a provocative nature. I liked it.

The next morning there was hungover cyclocross racing.

I am such an amazing super-stud.

(Pic from BG's flickr)

In this picture, you might find my Lads, my Wife, Sean "Handsome" Bob, Sufferin' Tong, Smokey, MaxIsNow, and Cody "Rolls in Horse-shit" the Dog.

I mean, this was some race. It hurt so bad and was perfect. All pony trails and sun and big dramatic clouds. Kids and dogs and beer. So much yelling and smiling. So much love from our tent, to all the other tents, and to all the riders. Our bells to you. Our pain to you.

Thank you strange women shouting "Go! Greenbike GO!" Thank you Dads with daughters on shoulders.

This is a perfect time.

Cooling Down?

2009-10-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

"In fact, Dr. Tanaka said, one study of cyclists concluded that because lactic acid is good, it is better not to cool down after intense exercise. Lactic acid was turned back into glycogen, a muscle fuel, when cyclists simply stopped. When they cooled down, it was wasted, used up to fuel their muscles."

MORE.

Berlin

2009-10-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Big Giant and Little Giantess go a walking.

The Rest.

Cross Crusade at Alpenrose Dairy.

2009-10-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Burning lungs. Burning eyes. Snot dripping, muscles cramping.

Hacking, hacking, hacking.

That ain't bike racing. The Super-Crud done got me.

Went out to the Crusade opening with the whole fam-damily. Nobody was feeling it.

We checked out our new team tent (Jerseys on the way, soonish), yalped at our friends, scorned our enemies, and walked around in rubber boots and waxed-cotton jackets until the cloud-cover burned off and sent us scurrying beerwards.

Thems Lads are troopers.

PDXCROSS onnit!

Olde Timey

2009-09-28T22:10:00.001-07:00

PDXCROSS

2009-09-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

HERE is PDXcross' coverage of yesterday's race.

Aannnnddd...

Tonkin and Babcock straight handling Barlow's brutal run-up. Bad-ass.

Battle at Barlow

2009-09-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

79 degrees, dusty, and fast. One gnarly run-up in the woods consisting of a sheer face held in place with a bunch of railroad ties. Sort of like a set of giant, busted-up stairs with roots and loose dirt in between.

Team Hankbuilt had a good showing. We all finished. BG got 19th in SS. This is an accomplishment.

Onward!

Also, thanks to BG for the pic, and C and M for the water. Good to see you both, and I'm looking forward to Alpenrose next Sunday.