2.19.2010

worth the digression.

yes, this is a cyclists blog...well its a lifestyle blog, too. unfortunately, the text regarding my trip to st. louis disappeared into the web when i tried to add a video.

in any event, let me at least share with you a very special band. these guys are special, and it won't be long before their name becomes associated with greatness.

the band is called blah blah blah. maybe you recognize them; somehow everyone seems to think they've heard the name before. if you don't, now you will.

without further ado, i present the one and only, blah blah blah:



blah blah blah band will make their SXSW debut this march in austin.

2.17.2010

a message of love.

happy valentine's day. i hope everyone had a hot date or a good ride, or perhaps you had cake and also ate it. if i was a dinosaur, my name would be metaphaurus, and i would have been a bipedal carnivore, a loose interpretation of a species nearing extinction in the kingdom of hipsters.

here is a heartfelt excerpt done by a shop in denmark. please watch:



2.12.2010

winter wonderland

i know i haven't added much in a while; things have been busy round these parts. i am having a hard time even staying on a regular sleep schedule. when i finally do get into my bed, its so very exciting. i have been doing pre-slumber victory dances because i get so excited to alas get under the covers in the midst of winter.

i hope you gotta big plate, because i am gonna put my bikes on it: a 7-course installion to curate, tasteful photos to take, and web stuffing; add to that marketing campaigns, a brand new dish for 2010 commuters, a handmade travel case in the oven, plus a few drinks to wash it all down. i am so full, i can't even fathom dessert, but look what we have in store, a store, this spring?

so many good things, its hard to resist. still on the rotisserie slow roasting is my ongoing education, a new entrepreneurial endeavor, and keeping up with blah3. i know i am biting off more then i can chew, but how do i stop? there's strong parallels between the american diet and capitalism, one being a quenchless appetite. consumption in america is omnipresent. my younger sister, who i am now visiting in st. louis, is very interested in this phenomenon, and just showed me this photo-chop job she created in its honor:

never leave home without it. like it? its pretty good, right? keep on rocking in the free world, america. neil young said its cool, that means its cool. two tuesdays in a row, i surrendered to my 'insomania,' and decided to just roll with it. after 36 sleepless hours, even with very little energy, a third wind comes in twice as forceful as the second, negating any notion of fatigue. its this type of wind where the illogical or irrational seems not only feasible, but instead some sort of profound idea.

in this particular case, the idea was to get on a bike and go out cruising in the snow. i have been dying to do this. on my way to st. louis, i stopped and spent an evening in chicago. after driving from milwaukee to chicago through white out conditions, riding through the fresh white snow was all i could think about. with me i had a freshly built, "commutist," set up as brakeless fixie. i wanted to do some wheel testing, and naturally, i wanted to debut it in chicago.
upon my arrival to chicago, i had two meetings. i persevered (with the help of a red bull) through the first. the next was off, dinner was on, and then it was time to surprise my recently engaged friends. as is common when you are restless, clock hands seemed to be making quicker laps. it was after midnight by the time the demo version of the commutist finally hit the pavement, or the snow covering the pavement. as soon as she was out of the trunk, she jumped right into the snow, and started doing snow angels in this winter wonderland.



alas, it was time for my ride! in a whisp of clarity, i hesitated. maybe this was a bad idea? there was a reason for this ride, as i needed to retrieve some documents on the other side of town before departing to st. louis. i pondered driving in order to rest up before my trip. i quickly backhanded this cowardice thought, realizing i could crash on the bus. besides, i had been reveling all day about this very moment. 14 inches of snow was well on its way, and as i took off into the night, it continued to fall. check this out:



i can't tell you how much fun this ride was. it ought to become a new sport. someone phone up to the winter olympics and tell them we can fill the 5 am slot with a new event. it is similar to downhill slaloming in a way, but without the gravity. take a selected amount of snow, some pylons, and we'll start races, complete with controlled skids to maximize how fast you can pass each mark with out slowing down excessively. now i am the first to promote having at least one hand brake but, every now and then, i find myself a hypocrite. i do not know how to skid, thus i really have no business riding brakeless.

not this night, though. i had the roads to myself, and i was having the kind of fun you can only dream about. again absent of exhaustion, i felt an incredible high as i knifed though empty streets. with the rest of chicago fast asleep, i was in a world all to myself, absorbing the beauty of the snow covered boulevards before the salt and plow trucks could come roaring through. i felt no sense of cold, no constraint of time, nothing other then how far i could take this skid before......yep, eating it (several times).

there was something completely liberating about taking this freshly built bicycle and riding it into the ground. after stopping by my old loft, and letting my feet and hands thaw out briefly, i got back on the road and took a scenic route home. i stopped in for a fill up (revert to that profound idea thing) at the shell, only to warrant the attendant (top left) coming out to horass me. everything was fine once i told him it was for an art project. that line will let you get away with nearly anything. is it because they actually believe you or because they simply aren't threatened by artists? i am not sure.



ultimately at 4 am, i arrived back to my friend's apartment, thankful to be warm and out of the weather. this time, there was no energy for a bedtime pow wow. i stripped out of my wet clothes, depleted as a puppy would be, and collapsed onto the couch. i was out cold within minutes. hey, look what time it is now....slalom anyone?