ca bhfuill m'airgead?

been riding to and from work since the last post. non stop. yeah what. i sleep on the downhills... really though, getting back to bike commuting has been nothing short of wonderful. a headlight in my truck went out, and when i went to change it, the cable snapped. so it'll be a bitch to change it. if i get pulled over, i'll either get a ticket for the headlight, my 7 month overdue inspection, or both. i don't want a ticket, and i want to ride my bike. partly because i like riding my bike, and partly because i want to not die from exhaustion while trying to ride 100 miles in the snow in the bitter cold of alaska next month. money's tighter than a nun's wrong 'un right now. has been since la ruta. by the time i recovered financially from la ruta, christmas and mom's bday rolled around, by the time i recovered(kinda sorta) from that, susitna rolls around. i ain't friggen buyin nothin for a month after i get back from ak. here're some pictures of some nifty crack patterns in the ice of oak ridge resevoir:

fuar bean sheain

this morning was great. coldest commute of the season at @5 degrees farenheit. windchill in the negatives. felt great, all my gear worked fine. could have probably used a second pair of socks, but it was only 1:20, so my toes didn't get cold till the end. beard ice was quality. coworkers have written me off as certifiable. i really love 'the cold'. i'm probably gonna marry it.

then there's this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22765054/?GT1=10755

if i ever decide to be a satanic naked psychotic master of a genocidal army, i'm gonna name myself General Butt Naked II

gan freagra.

combined 70ish miles this weekend. good enough. although todays ride involve me being fully masticated, digested, then defacated out the backside of the group to pedal back to the cars on the road by my lonesome. one long downhill on the way back to the car froze my forehead to the point that i was actually having a little bit of trouble seeing straight and focusing by the bottom. never felt right from the first mile. hopefully my commute to work wont hurt nearly as much tomorrow. might have to leave ten minutes early.

amadan mise

rode to and from work today on the rig. no gps as it had a temper tantrum.

the mornings commute hurt. been more than a week since i was on the bike for anything worth noting, and i felt it. i also reassured myself once again that i hate riding in my current selection of tights. i need something thinner. they just make my legs feel alot more sluggish than without. by the time i arrived at work i had some notable icycles in the beard. nothing crazy, just a few little stalags.

(yes, i was that exhausted. i've had a cold for going on three weeks now, it was 6:45 when i arrived, and as noted, i was not in top form this morning...)


for the afternoons commute, it had warmed up quite a bit, and wasn't precipitating when i left work, so i went with baggie riding shorts without the tights underneath. i was fine untill about halfway through the ride when those occassional flurries turned into a wintry mix.

i asked a stranger to take a photo so that i could see how stooopid i looked later(now).


i arrived home, and i was warm all over(seriously), and my legs felt great the entire ride.

icycles on one's leg hair is completely normal, right?? i know, i should have worn tights, and i'm a moron.


but at least i'm fashionable....

crainn sneachta

giar doghluaiste, marcaigh eile agus a thoin tinn

spent the weekend down in manlyjunk with the uniatowski brothers. three days, two rides, copious amounts of whiskey. saturday was a solid 16 miler with both brothers. the basic wissahickon loop in a clockwise fashion. the ground was frozen, fast and made for a very fun ride. had a few drinks at union jacks were we joined sgro, sean hall and neighbor jim. neighbor jim got drunk and rowdy, encouraged no doubt by his fellow conspiracy theorist sean hall. after explaining to the entire bar(unintentionally) that he would let a guy lick his feet........ for free even......... if he was a chick...., he proceeded to innexpliccably perform a flying elbow drop on a solid oak bench. he hit it really, really, really hard. the entire bar stopped and looked to see what had happened. it was good stuff.

sunday we took nick dennis out on his first mtb ride. the trails weren't quite as frozen and firm. in fact, they were soft and slippery. nick's ridden bmx for years, so technical skills were actually above that of your average joe on an mtb, the hills made him want to cry though. he was going to go in his snug, but not tight corderoy jeans and boxers. i tried and failed to convince him to put on a pair of baggy mtb shorts. i was at least able to get him into some cutoff cargo shorts. his ass explained the finer points of spandex and padding to him for the entirety of the ride and into the next day. he went over the bars once or twice, caught some air, made friends with an indian and seemed to have a good time, except for the pesky parts where it wasn't downhill.

























sunday night the unibrowskis and i enjoyed some of the fine offerings at the olde laffeyette brewpub, then i departed to join nick and his lady friend nicole at the khyber. had a blast, saw uncle touchy for the first time in ages and caught up on old times, drank a shit-ton of whiskey, which cured my cold i swear, and puked in nicoles bathroom. sorry about that.

played around for about 20 minutes this afternoon on the karate monkey in fixed gear mode. ate shit over a 4" log. it's difficult, and as fun as i remember it being. currently has a 32 x 15, which will probably soon be changed out to a 32 x 16 or 17(i forget what i have on the other hub). or i'll leave it like that...

deilbh sneachta

photos by me, artwork by snowplows/nature.

uisce liomonaid

went for a walk/jog/ride through the slush and the ice and the sleet and the sun with tim, ray, shawn and ellen yesterday. much better than wasting the day eating crackers and shrimp and watching football.