Stupid Hurts

So there I was resizing a set of sensitive documents to make space on my hard drive. When my computer dies on me……… Again. After I went through the normal trouble shooting steps, I determined it is actually the main board this time. Probably the only part I haven’t replaced in the entire time of owning my Ibook. This wouldn’t be nearly as insulting had I not spent my entire week repairing someone else’s computers.

So here I am looking at a very stylish, very expensive, white plastic paperweight.

The team pictures from Broken hearts came back.
Unfortunately mine is a little dark. But those are the breaks.

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The rest can be found here
Broken Hearts Portraits

SInce atl recently wowed us with Broken Hearts, let’s show them how we can do things here in Birmingham.

this is being thrown by the Birmingham bicycle company be sure to thank those guys

On a side note, I am also donating my favorite messenger bag as a prize to the fixed winner to make it interesting

The Sopo Site has posted up several awesome galleries on their site from the alley cat this weekend. See if you can find me, bonus points if you find my bike.

Sopo’s Galleries

More pics

I9deadbabies Photo stream

Even more pics! racers giving the evil eye!
The Evil EYE!
I am on page 2

This was too good to pass up. We talked about this post race, but here is the whole story for the rest of you.

From James

So, I raced in the Broken Hearts and Bicycle Parts race last night and lost my partner(partner’s race) after a bad intersection and a wrong turn. So I decided to finish solo since I couldn’t reach him on his cell. I was about a 1/2 mile from the finish you have to climb a hill that isn’t too steep, its just fairly long. The traffic in the direction I was heading there were like three lanes. I was in the far left lane (holding my lane) when this Lexus comes up behind me and starts honking. I then began to signal that I was about to turn left and the Lexus gets impatient and tries to pass me. So I almost freaked out because they nearly hit me. So as I turn my head to watch out for the car, I threw up all over the hood and windshield. It was great. I actually was laughing and puking at the same time!! I booked the hell out of there and onto a side street. But it was really worth it. I don’t know why I puked. I think I may of just pushed myself too hard and had too many beers before the race. It was great though.

We all had a blast and some of the stories i have heard like this one made it worth while.

Alison and I rolled into [tag]Atlanta[/tag] on friday night and got to the first party and the [tag]tricks[/tag] competition. My first set of goals were to find Jes, get registered, and find a partner. I managed to get registered, but as it turned out Jes never made it to the party, and the guy who I thought would be my partner ended up not showing the next day for the [tag]race[/tag].

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The skids and tricks competition was a lot of fun to watch but in the end I think I value my [tag]bike[/tag] and my body a little to much to participate in something like that. Before it was over with someone ended up having to miss the race because they managed to break their collar bone, several ribs, and their bike in half from failing a trick. Walking through the parking lot was tricky due to the massive number of bikes stacked on top of each other. We ended up spending the night with Jay one of the race organizers and his dogs Carl and Emma.
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Fast forward to just before the race. I ran into another BikeForums Member James Dean who looked a little sick, I asked him were his partner was. He pointed to a guy completely passed out on the ground. Apparently they had started drinking when they woke up that morning and had only stopped minutes before. I took time to walk around and look at some of the other bicycles and costumes in the crowd. There were lots of people out milling around, but it wasn’t until much later I found out there were over 180 registered racers. (side note james threw up on someone’s car mid race and kept riding)

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As the start of the race drew closer I still didn’t have a partner so I climbed up onto the railing and basically called out to see who all was left without one. Bobby raised his hand and I walked over and introduced myself, we talked strategy for a few moments before the race marshal started calling things to order.

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It was a mass start, we all lined up our bikes on one side of the road and started on the other. With the tangle of bikes and blinking lights it looks like a Christmas light show and was mildly hypnotic. The race marshal called the start. The tense silence turned into a mad scramble, someone fell. I took of to my bike in a slow comfortable jog, since it was all the way in the back I knew once I got to it, I could make up time. Everything else was like riding a steel tidal wave.

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My partner and I did surprisingly well. We lost our map before the first stop. During a sprint I actually watched it go bouncing down the street. But in the heat of the moment there was nothing I could do. We placed tenth over all, and placed first for an out of town team. I got a pair of jeans and he got a coffee cup. All in a days race I think.

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It’s been really slow around here lately, So to shake things up a bit I will be going to Atlanta this weekend for a bicycle race.

Hopefully it will go a long way to shake things up and get me out of this funk I have been in lately.

Since I ruined the [tag]handle[/tag] [tag]bar[/tag] [tag]tape[/tag] on my [tag]fixed[/tag] [tag]gear[/tag] I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to write up a how to on how to [tag]wrap[/tag] [tag]bullhorns[/tag].

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While your legs provide your main source of power while you are on your bicycle, your hands provide a crucial contact point when sprinting, climbing, and stopping. Granted some people think naked shiny bars look nice, do your hands a favor and tape your bars.
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This guide is going to cover taping up bullhorns without brake levers.
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Things you will need before hand

It is much easier to have everything in reach before you get started, because nothing sucks worse than having a nice neat job ruined because you cant find the tape to finish it.

Lets Get Started
You are going to tape from the inside towards to outside of your bars, this way when you are cranking on the bars to climb you are tightening your bar tape.
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With your handlebars in one hand take the bar tape and make a complete loop around them once with the bar tape. (The reason I do this is because it gives me a nice cushy bulge at the top of the bars)
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Continue wrapping down your bars in even passes. Each pass should should should pass over the previous one half way.[newline]

Work in slow tight even loops until you get to the middle of your handle bars near the stem. Now for the tricky part that will result in a neat looking job. You need to take your last pass and cut it at an angle even with the layer underneath it. [newline]

Make sure to keep all of this nice and tight.
Take your electrical tape and overlap it half way around your handle bar tape. Going in the direction you have been wrapping your handle bar tape.
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Loop the electrical tape around your bars once or twice making sure to cover the exposed edges of the handle bar tape neatly. Be sure to insert end plugs into the open ends of your handle bars to keep them from gouging holes out of your arms or legs.

They should look something like this when you are done.

This started off like most other nights, I was [tag]cycling[/tag] across town to run an errand, and then I woke up in an ambulance…..again.

Now here is where the details start to get a little fuzzy. Apparently while pedaling I had a [tag]seizure[/tag] and plowed into a [tag]police[/tag] car right in front of the hospital. I am not sure, because when I regained consciousness I was already strapped to a stretcher, and The first question out of my mouth was “where is my bicycle” .

After being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, I got to hurry up and wait in triage for several hours while the [tag]hospital[/tag] staff found a place for me to be seen by a doctor. Only to get the usual diagnosis, “looks like you had a seizure.” “But you didn’t die”

So I got dressed, and here is where we get usual epic Stupid Hurts twist. After the nurse brings me my discharge papers 3 police officers step into the room to tell me that they have to serve an arrest warrant in a different county and I need to come with them now. I really didn’t have anywhere to be, and if it meant someone else would be paying for my medicine, there really wasn’t a loss here. But I read the policeman’s note pad, and it had the wrong name on it. I gave him my I.D. card.

Needless to say here I am updating my site from home.

Both of my bikes need repairs now, but hopefully I will still be able to race in a week and a half