Stupid Hurts

Walking out of the train station I was a just little pissed. I had just found out there would be a 30 some odd minute delay until they would be unloading luggage from the train. Which meant I would have to wait to get my bicycle back. This is why when I travel, I normally never check anything.

I was calling Bobby to change our initial meeting plans when I passed a girl who sounding frustrated as she talked and waved at her cell phone in a language I didn’t catch on my first pass as I walked towards the corner. On my way back I over heard her conversation now with a taxi driver, and found out she and a friend were headed to the youth hostel. Assuming she was a backpacker from Europe and remember how well everyone took care of me when I was over there. I stopped and asked if she needed helped.

It turned out she did. They didn’t know where the youth hostel was, and the taxi driver was attempting to charge them $20 dollars for a half mile rile. Since my plans for the evening were pretty much only meeting up with Bobby who is also a backpacker and going to a bar to complain about women for, I figured we should try and help them out.
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We took the girls to their first Wendy’s restaurant for milkshakes and talking about their trip so far before delivering them to the youth hostel. Turns out they just recently gotten out of school in Amsterdam, Holland, and they are taking a train/bus trip all the way around the Untied States. Their pictures can be found here. The next morning I went with both girls to the Martin Luther King jr. memorial before they caught their next train to Savannah, Georgia.
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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.

After spending more time with the rest of the staff at work I realize part of the reason they stick me on spotlight night after night is because I have a longer attention span than the rest of them. Which is sad, because I have A.D.D just like everyone else.
We have had conversations literally go;

Them, “So what are the plans for the night.”
Me,”I am taking spot light?”
Them, “ohhhh a cat!”

While watching others work the spotlight, I have also seen it wander from off stage to random places in the crowd, or just quit moving all together. It can sometimes get pretty amusing.
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I am feeling a bit lazy right now, so here is my last week or so in pictures [thumb:583:l][newline]
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and most importantly

there are loads more pictures up in the gallery, not dont be a stranger

Another Tuesday and another 20 mile group ride from the bike shop to Perkins. More of the “The Red Dirt Pedalers” than usual decided to show up and play with us today. The fast group showed up for a change, the guys I have dubbed “The Dogs Of War.” These guys only show up when the weather is nice, clad in their brightly colored lycra and straddling painfully expensive bicycles. Each one just bristling for a chance to out preform one of the others. While getting my own bike prepped for the ride I actually head on of the guys tell someone, “I must break you.” In his best Drago voice. [newline]

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We kept up a pretty fast pace all the way there and back and I had a blast riding with these guys as usual. Of course my legs hurt now but I am stillhappy. I also realized I am not really cut out for mountain biking, and I really prefer life on a road.

So I think after a total of 15 some hours of [tag]sewing[/tag] my [tag]messenger[/tag] newest bag is finally done. [thumb:525:l][thumb:524:r]

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I am fairly happy with it, there are a few small things I may have to go back and fix later, but this one managed to address most of the design flaws and functionality issues I had out of my other bags. The only downside to it at this point is that it is a bit bigger than I expected.
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Even that aside, I like wearing it so far, and I can’t wait to get a new [tag]bike[/tag] so I can try it out on the road.

Now the hard part is deciding if I am goign to take my left over fabric and parts and make another bag

It is amazing the silly things I can find to stress out over. My current issue is as such. I messed around and sold my bicycle with the intention of buying a different bike to replace it with. Now after test riding a much nicer bicycle I think I really want that one instead. Part of the problem stems from the fact I haven’t been able to touch or ride the cheaper bicycle so I do not really know how it compares to the nicer one. The other issue with buying the more expensive of the two bikes is that it would negatively affect my saving for my trip to Europe this summer. I dont know if I really want that to happen at this point. But it looks like I may end up with a silly amount of over time at work over the course of the next few weeks so I am going to sit back on my haunches for a bit before I decide. Hopefully I can make a choice before attrition sets in to badly.

That aside I came across one of the oddest things recently. Apparently it is the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars Franchise so in conjunction with the postal service they have places several mail boxes around the city that look like R2-D2. I think they are pretty cool if not just a little odd[newline]
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I got up this morning and the [tag]weather[/tag] was [tag]perfect[/tag]. I had to get out and enjoy it. So I spent my morning [tag]practicing[/tag] my [tag]front[/tag] [tag]hand[/tag] [tag]springs[/tag]. I haven’t really tried them since breaking my leg. After 30 minutes or so, I realized that I landed them a lot more consistently if I tried leading with the other foot, such a simple thing. So I kept working at them till I landed ten handsprings in a row. I hate to admit it but it is really bad when you are sitting on the curb covered in dirt and grass grinning to yourself like a fool and a [tag]homeless[/tag] guy walks by and shakes his head at you.

From there I ran out to [tag]Ruffner[/tag] [tag]Mountain[/tag] [tag]Nature[/tag] [tag]Center[/tag] and hiked about six miles down their hardest trails. I had a really awesome time walking around and even managed to get a few good pictures. i even added a new album in my [tag]photo[/tag] gallery for them Please check them out.
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