Saturday, April 29, 2006

Back from Jamaica

Been awhile since I've been on a computer.

Lots of people in town last week. Over 10 people crashed out somewhere in the house. The wedding was sweet! Went off with no problems and was a great party. Having the cottages and cabins out there was rad. A dj was still spinning when Tara and I finally turned in about 4:30. Amazing how fast it was over.

Been chilling in Ocho Rios Jamaica at Couples resort. It was sweet not having to worry about a thing. All the food and booze you need. Had a sweet little limestone island on the resort that was clothing optional. Lot more chill than the main resort beach and they had a swim up bar. Don't know what I'm going to do now I can't drink rum punch and pina colodas all day.

Mrs. Mason and I brought back 2 liters of rum and I had to grab a liter of Bombay Saphire. It was so cheap. With the multiple leftover beer cases and case of wine from the wedding the party'll continue.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Bad to Good

Riding to Walnut Creek the other day my friend rEy and I cut in through private driveway of some condos to access the trails. We came in hot and two ladies in a BMW were on the left side of the road coming towards us. Both swerved and missed but we received the double bird. rEy reacted with a big FU. I stayed silent. Over the shoulder I saw the break lights and reverse lights come on. I got off my bike, hoped these ladies didn't have a gun and weighted. Sorry came out of my mouth, some yelling came out of rEy, and after starting to yell, sorry came out of the ladies mouth who earlier gave us the double bird. It was cool! What could have been real shitty turned out great. We were laughing together. They helped me refind the access and explained how there is a public access up the road and a lot of people come in here and wreck landscaping to get in the park. "sorry, I knew it was private and I know about the public access up the road, we'll use that next time." "oh, don't worry, our access trail is fine, we just want you to go down that." How cool is that. We were in the wrong. Afterall it is a privately maintained road.

As a result I've decided to be less confrontational with the vehicles and bad drivers. I'm taking the high road. I'll still let drivers know they cut me off or came pretty close, but I'll try and do it in a non-confrontational way. Maybe that way the drivers will modify their habits instead of being even more pissed of a bike is on their road.

I don't know. I am either getting soft or the heat and humidity are getting to me.

Am I fat?

No not really, but sometimes I wonder. Been thinking about this lately and was forced to think about it Tuesday when meeting some of those bike mojo folks. One of the older guys said to my buddy rEy and I, "Oh you guys look like the skinny fast type." How do you respond to that. I was tempted to say, "Well you may be fatter than me, but I bet I weigh as much as you." I weigh more than almost everyone I ride with, at 5'11" I will weight between 181.5 to 184 in a given week. I'll drop 2 lbs when I shit! Reading dirt rag yesterday looking at bike reviewers hieghts and weights they might be a inch shorter than me, but will have almost 20 less pounds of wieght. 20 pounds per inch? Maybe its the hair on my chest and back!

It'll be interesting to see if commuting 30 miles to and from work 3 days a week will help drop the lbs or add them as muscle mass. Maybe I can be a clydsedale by the end of the year.

Goals

Gotta love goals. At least when you're making 'em. Ride to work 3 days a week. One day of the week left and one day of riding needed to make the goal.

Its pretty sweet. I've been on the bike everyday since Saturday. Thought I was going to have yesterday off. Was cleaining the rear wheel cause I was going to pull apart the Surly hub and regrease the bearings. Actually I'm a little afraid to see what those balls look like. Locking up a wheel while riding fixed can't be too good for bearing life. Tara gave me a call and said, why don't you ride down town and ride home from dance class with me. Probably only 4-5 miles each way, but my ass was on the bike none the less.

Found a bbq place, Amigos BBQ about a 1-2 miles on the way in from the office. Killer breakfast tacos on fresh handmade tortillas. One of the benefits of Tejas is the copious amounts of fresh handmade tortillas.

Gonna ride through Walnut Creek Park on my way home to get the off-road fixxie fix in. Rode out there Tuesday night. A group called bike mojo was out there to celebrate daylight playtime. Guess they do a tuesday night ride and then drink. Tuesday will be a commute by bike day from now on and I'll ride with some of those folks on the way home. Hopefully fill the MWC ride void. Plus now that I've got a working freewheel and brakes on the 1x1 I don't get any fixxie dirt.

Ride on!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Commuting

Funny. When you ride your bike to work most everyone notices and is pretty suprised. When you don't ride your bike into work everyone notices too. Oh, decided to take modern transport today.

Needed to drive. Going riding for fun tonight. A group called Bike Mojo is having a keg out a Walnut Creek. Should be fun. Going to go ride with my buddy rEy and then do some drinking. Wont be as fun as a monkey wrench ride, but at least the dirt is dry down here.

Monday, April 03, 2006

The bike wins again


Cool article in this months mother jones. sorry, my blog ain't uploading direct links so you'll have to cut and paste this if you want to read it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/03/street_samaritans.html

Its about how medics in New Orleans were using bikes to get around post Katrina. With all the traffic jams and what not with evacuations leading up to hurricanes this year. One could have definately made better time on a bike than in a car. Will fat Americans ever learn?

Another day commuting to work on a bike. Bosses wife let me in on a good way to aviod the I-35 frontage road. Adds probably a mile or so on the ride, but after 13 or so miles, what's another mile?