Stupid Hurts

First off, I have made some massive upgrades to my gallery. I am really excited and happy about that. Plus there are a lot of new pictures in several of the galleries.

So I got this call from Apple saying my computer was done in the middle of the week, but I haven’t had any free time until this weekend. Which meant another expedition into Seattle proper. This time Jake went with me.

We decided to take public transportation, because it is nearly $30.00 to take a car on the ferry, but about $12.00 for us to walk on and then $5.00 total for the bus. Plus life is a bit more interesting when you get out in the world and live.

So we rode the ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle. We were sitting on the sun deck and enjoying the weather, when I noticed this girl who wasn’t remotely dressed for the weather. So I asked her; “Were are you from, you are really over dressed compared to locals?” She responded with,”Germany.” So we talked for the rest of the boat trip about all of our travels around the globe. She told us about her stays in the U.S. and South America. Jake talked  about Asia and South America. And I talked about the U.S. and Europe. We all had travels in common. It was only after talking about traveling for 15 minutes did we find out her name was Ana. Travelers always seem to hit it off pretty quickly.

The boat landed a bit later and she decided to come with us for a cup coffee and then walk around downtown Seattle for a bit.

I suggested the International District sense there was a picture I wanted.

So we meandered over that way. After getting us lost in King station I got the picture I wanted.

I got it.

Then we got our drinks before spending the next few hours walking around downtown.

Eventually, we went our separate ways. Jake and I went and got my computer back and caught the ferry back across the water. Before leaving I noticed the lighting was perfect over the bay and got a few more pictures of the city.

The weather was perfect so and I attended the Birmingham Bicycle club group ride. I have been looking forward to riding with them for several weeks partially because I rode with them most of the winter and I miss some of those guys.

When I got there, there was about 50 people in attendance. Several familiar faces, but lots of people I didn’t know. I was still stoked about getting to ride to ride with new people but there is always an inherent risk. Eventually we took off and kept a fairly healthy pace through several tight neighborhoods. Considering the size of the crowd and the width of the turns I was hoping everyone was paying attention and ended up riding a bit more cautiously than normally. There is another group ride I have heard of on Tuesday night that leaves from somewhere else that apparently has a surprisingly high incident of crashes.

Well about 17 miles or so in I was passing a guy on the left when he stands up to sprint. When he does he loses his back tire and the bike gets wiggly underneath him. I dropped my shoulder sat on my seat and pulled up close next to him and he just leaned on me for a few seconds until he got steady.

Unfortunately that was just enough stress to put me over my seizure threshold. So I quickly pulled my bike over into the grass and had a seizure and passed out. I woke up thirty minutes or so later in the back of an ambulance without my bicycle and an I.V. in my arm…..again.

Since the weather is getting nicer, I am going to try to bring back one of the older traditions I heard died out.
I have done alone and I would enjoy doing it with a crowd.

Lets see some Friday night lights!

Where Start: Margaret Mitchell Square (top side of Woodruff park in Downtown)
When Start: we launch @ 12pm next friday night (4/18/08)
Where Going: Corkscrew @ GSU, fly up P’tree, fly down P’tree
Post Ride:FOOD!!!!

I will try to find a prize or something.

For a few weeks now there have been rumors floating around the local bicycle community that there would be a Critical Mass this weekend. Being a cycling photog I almost had to go just to see what would happen. I have been following the movement for some time and they have a history of going really really well or really really badly. The ones I participated in during my stay in Oklahoma were pleasant, but the ones in Florida have a history of police action.
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The weather was sprinkling rain off and on the entire time but we got out, had a really good time, talked about bicycles, life in town things that would make riding bikes in town safer and more fun. I learned why some of the other people there don’t participate on some of the other group rides with the other cycling groups. After 15-16 miles we convened at an art show opening at the Bare Hands Gallery where we took advantage of the open bar and free food before calling it a night.
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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.

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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So I want either a [tag]tri[/tag]-bike or a [tag]fixie[/tag] next.

If i just happen to find $5000 bucks on the ground I would love to get one of these.
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But the odds of that are pretty slim, so more likely than not it will be a fixie since they fall closer to the $200 dollar price range

So this is my final night in Orlando before operation “Home for the [tag]Holidays[/tag] begins.” 600 miles in 10 days by [tag]bicycle[/tag]. I am pretty excited and it looks like the weather will be perfect the entire time. I have a few small last minute preparations to make, but I am still really excited and ready to get started. I will try my best to keep the site updated while en route.

Naked Man Attacked By Gator

It’s is things like this I am going to miss once I leave Florida. My first day here I was listening to a news story about two ladies who were trapped in their car for nearly four hours because the battery died and they didn’t know how to operate the door locks manually. The news in Florida tends to be so offbeat one of my favorite news engines Fark.com instituted a “Florida” tag for Floridian news due to the amount of weird happenings in the sunshine state. a recording of the 911 call. I love how the agent handles it

Yesterday the water park closed early due to the fact the weather sucked and no customers came. Instead of letting us all go home, the management had the life guards stay on the clock and test ride one of the rides for an hour and a half in the rain. I never knew a water slide could leave you sore like that. To make up for having us all hanging out in the rain they got everyone free massages today. After my massage was done the girl looked up at me and asked me if was I going to see a doctor about my shoulder. She thought my shoulder had the texture of raw hamburger meat.

That’s a nice thought

Standing in the middle of a parking lot this morning watching my breath hang coldly in the air, my first thought was, “why am I not wearing pants?” This actually stems from a few days ago when a co-worker of mine noticed me pedaling into to work and mentioned that the water park is supposedly organizing a race team. He asked if I would like to ride with them on a short practice session this weekend. From the tone I was greeted with and the fact everyone else managed to show up late. I was half expecting a friendly slow place ride , and I was confident to, well that is until everyone started taking their pants off.

Standing there in my cycling hoodie and basketball shorts. I watched the other guys stretch and wiggle their way into lycra cycling shorts, booties, and other vestments of the sport. My thoughts went further south as one of the guys I work with started strapping his gps receiver to his arm.

Fortunately the ride itself went fairly smoothly, and thanks to some less than subtle drafting on my part I was able to keep the pace fairly well. Once we got back to the parking lot I was invited to ride with them again a few days later and we talked more about the alleged cycling team, unfortunately I am not even sure what kinda of races we are supposed to be doing.

ride report
temp: 50 degrees
distance: 22.6 miles (verified by gps)
average speed 17.2 mph (verified by gps)
number of times I swore because of the weather: countless