Kick'em while they're down!

It's tough to complain in light of recent events about how rough I've got it, but being the accomplished whiner that I am, I've managed to pull through just the same. In all seriousness my thoughts are with those affected by the crash and my hopes lie with those in Iran, doing what they can to be heard.

A few weeks ago I got angry with Mike and Bryan for inciting havoc on bicycle tires everywhere, but I figured the worst was through. Turns out I was dead wrong. Instead my luck has continued on the downward trajectory that has been my path of late (did I mention the torn sidewall on the scalpel during the shed ride a week before Big Bear? Yeah...). If those weren't enough, last Thursday after riding from Hains to work and back I got home only to find another rear flat on the CAAD9 and a large piece of glass sticking out of the tire. I hung the bike up and left it for the weekend deciding to busy myself with house work and spring cleaning instead.

So, come Saturday evening when Aimee and I are heading out for some fine dining at the Olive Garden courtesy of a gift card left over from Christmas the last thing on my mind is a flat tire. Apparently the great deflater wasn't through with me yet. A large drywall screw and my back passenger side tire had become intimate friends during a brief drive for gravel and once again my tire changing abilities were brought to the forefront.

Actually we took Aimee's car and left mine for the next morning parked against traffic where the tire would be accessible on a flat section in front of my place. Long story short, the lug nuts are basically corroded to the bolt and a call to AAA is in order since the 12 inch tire iron just won't provide the leverage. Get everything finished and head back inside to take care of the dogs and grab Aimee for the drive to the tire repair shop, etc and when I come back, maybe 30 minutes later I've got a parking ticket for parking against traffic.

A little additional history here, since I've been dating Aimee I've received a few parking tickets. Most recently and notably are the $100, tow required "failure to secure DC tags" tickets I've been getting by the handful during non-residential restricted times. I currently have two in for review and another which I did not send in within the required time frame. So, not only do the tire gremlins have it out for me, but the parking gods shine elsewhere these days as well.

The Rear derailleur was just a little icing on the cake, oh and my crappy Hayes Sole brake that was blown out on Jamis is in the process of being replaced as well. At least the mechanical Avid BB7's won't have issues with fluid pressures/levels or blown fluid lines. (Sweet! Just got the call the Jamis is all ready to go! THANK YOU FAMILY BIKE SHOP!)

A somewhat exciting and somewhat dissapointing story all in one

This article caught my eye when I recognized the player's name. Dane Randolph played football for Wilde Lake High School basically right after I graduated so I can't say I knew him though I watched a few games that he played in when home visiting from college. I'd heard he was pretty good, D-I material though I didn't pay attention to what was going on beyond that with him. Looks like that prediction turned out true and he got a full ride to play at UMD.


Now, he's a cusp NFL player. He's got the speed and size to be a big time player; but, well, he's actually a nice person. He knows that there are things in life OTHER then being a star and playing in the NFL and he cares about those things as much if not more then football. That's a sign of a good person if you ask me. No run-ins with the law (he was a criminal justice major, who actually completed his degree at that), no general douch-baggeriness and no apparent chip on his shoulder. Must be too soft for the NFL.



The consistency issue I can understand, but with the size speed and brains of a guy like Dane, seems like it'd be a bad idea to pass up a very, very close look at the guy (yeah and I'm biased for the WL alumnus).

Some day I hope my blog can gain me enough fame and fortune for this type of life... Before I even turn it pro none-less.

"Over the weekend, McFadden said that he has two children on the way, one in July and another in August. None of those issues are overwhelming and McFadden already has a lawyer to handle the paternity matters."

Amazing... Simply amazing.

A losing weekend

No, I didn't race (though that'd likely be the title if I had as well); but everything else at least felt like a loss aside from my one major victory of a mechanical variety. Not only did the Ravens lose badly yesterday, the Orioles lost the final game of the season in a trouncing by the Yankees; a game I sat through with a bit of dismay despite the beautiful weather. It really looked like the players just wanted to be finished from the start of the game; even though the normal started weren’t playing nobody looked like they cared. Innings lasted forever, runs were walked in, pop flies were dropped and O’s managed to go out with not even a slightest hint of a fizzle; more like the final bit of air squeezed out from a slow leak.

The night before SC barely eked out their 3 point win over Washington; a team that when they played their best the offense could pick apart as shown towards the end of the 1^st half, though too many dropped ball, bad passes and mental mistakes led to a game that was much closer then it should have been. In reality I should be glad they won, though they apparently showed enough people their weaknesses to drop to 2^nd in the coaches poll to LSU despite the win.

Enough of the loser talk now though, on to the best news from the weekend; I finished building up my cross bike! Everything came together well and I commuted in on it this morning and even felt relatively safe riding it! Aside from the headset and the wheels I built the entire thing from the ground up which I’ve got to say is a pretty good feeling. The only real work I’ve even done has been on the fixed gear which seemed like nothing compared to everything that’s involved in building a full geared bike. Amazingly the bike shifts perfectly and feels solid; though I need to do some more adjusting to the saddle before I get much further with anything. It's probably a tiny bit big at 57cm for me for cross racing, but it doesn't feel awkward or anything I feel like I've got adequate control for cross riding. Hopefully the larger size doesn't mean more ball busting though.

In the end I ran the cables, installed and adjusted the derailleurs (ok, so the front was already clamped on the frame as well), ran and adjusted the brake lines and brakes and finished it all off with some slick looking grey and black cammo bar tape. It looks pretty slick actually; not at all like the thrown together franken bike I expected. I even love the way the red and black saddle (that came with my fuji track bike) looks on the bike; the bit of red really makes it look pretty sharp.

Unfortunately the flash drive solution I came up with for transferring pictures to post online didn’t work out when this morning my computer won’t recognize the memory stick. Hopefully I’ll figure something else out soon and get some shots of the bike up along with everything else I want to get up there.