Too Many Shiny Things

Tag: Cycling

  • Set it all on fire

    Set it all on fire

    I think I may have come to a realization, and I am willing to bet that everyone else already knows this, but … The biggest hurdle to creating change is our minds own resistance to breaking our well established patterns.

    I had every intention to make last year, a year of transformation. It started well, I found some motivation and support. I was moving towards my goals of being healthier and lighter. By a stroke of luck I was able to head to Italy to do some biking. Feeling great, and inspired. But right in the middle of the summer I was involved in a car accident that sent me spiraling down. I didn’t feel like I was hurt too badly in it or anything, but after a few days, a pain in my neck was keeping me from sleeping. I figured I’d get over it soon enough and that would be that, but it got worse. During the days, no pain, but any time I’d lay down it was terrible. I don’t know if you’ve ever been sleep deprived, but I am telling you it’s not fun, and I am not good at it. After a bit of time, I decided it was worth getting some medical professionals involved. Unfortunately for me their immediate advice was to stop riding until I could get my neck back into shape. All of my progress and motivation was quickly replaced by anger and a sort of sleepless craziness.

    I seem to have buried my lead though. The problem wasn’t the car accident, the problem was how I saw [and to some extent see] myself. In my head, I’m the smart, fat guy who can talk a great game, but rarely plays. I let the accident be an excuse to fail, because it was much easier to fail by something out of my control than to fail on my own. I stopped pursuing my goals of racing in some cyclo-cross races last year, I stopped eating right, and threw my hands up in the air, saying look at what this stupid guy in a big truck did to me.

    No more. It’s time to set it all on fire. All the notions I have of myself, all the habits I’ve developed, all of the excuses I know how I can fall back on. Time to destroy them all. I think I’ll even build a symbolic fire this weekend, maybe even burn some things … who knows.

    I now know this:

    The manner in which you see yourself, your beliefs regarding yourself is what you “send out” into the world…and the world receives your message and provides you with that which you have conceived of and for yourself

    So my time is now. To start again, a new, fresh. I’ve got some goals going forward, and why not make them real by writing them down.

    Goals:

    • Get outside – I just finished reading Last Child in the Woods, and I now consider it a moral imperative to spend more time outside, with the family or alone.
    • Stop eating crap – Yeah I know, shouldn’t be mind blowing right … but there it is. I’m going with much less processed, no xtra sugary things, and a basic concept of if it didn’t exist 150 years ago … I’m not going to eat it, diet.
    • Be a better human – Be the kind of person my mother wanted me to be. Be the kind of person I want my children to be.
    • Lead by example – I’ve always felt like a moral person in my head, but looking back over my actions, I didn’t always make the best decisions [that’s a whole other blog post, maybe we’ll get into it later]. Live how I think people should live. I am my brothers keeper, time to start looking after him

    I’m sure there will be more, and I’ll update the list as time passes. I realize that there are about 4.5 folks who will have gotten this far in such a rambling post, and I thank you, but if you’ll excuse me now, I have a fire to build.

  • Geeking out … over socks?

    Geeking out … over socks?

    Over socks you say? As it turns out, I have the innate ability to geek out over anything. I’m one of those guys that when I want to do something, I feel compelled to dive really deep in to it. As an aside I was just having this very conversation with a friend of mine, The Bikehugger, about how he is a bike geek, and is really delving into photography, and I am a photo geek really delving into bikes. Not necessarily into all of the little technical facts, but how they make me [us] feel. (more…)

  • More Italian Adventure

    Duo … Well really I should pick up right where I left off. I headed back down to my site. It hadn’t rained in a couple of hours, and I was feeling pretty good about my camp. It was a few degrees cooler than I had planned for, but lets face it, I’m pretty well insulated. I hopped into my bag and passed out, partly due to exhaustion, partly due to the vino. I really expected to be out until morning. (more…)

  • Italian Adventure

    As I mentioned, in a desperate search for some content, I’m going to hash up some of my summer adventures for you to read. You can stop reading now if you are one of my facebook friends, and already saw my posts from Italy in June.

    I was ridiculously fortunate to be able to travel to Italy a few months ago. My friends Jake & Silvia were launching their new tour company [Alchemy Tours] and needed the help of a smart guy who could take photos, since they couldn’t find anyone respectable, they took me instead at a really good rate. (more…)

  • Seattle Summer Streets – Alki

    One of my favorite events when we used to live on Alki was the Car Free Days [now called Summer Streets], I’ve written about it before here and here. Walk. Bike. Shop. Play. Breathe. On Sunday, May 23 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (more…)

  • Avenir RainCity Panniers

    If there is one thing mostly people in the country know about Seattle, is that it occasionally rains here. If you happen to ride your bike on any given day between October and May around here, you probably have yourself some sort of waterproof bag. Something to keep your goods from gettin’ all wet. (more…)

  • TCR – Week 2 Kathleen Turner Overdrive

    One of my favorite movies is High Fidelity. I love how quirky and weird it is in places, and I guess I really like the idea of having a dialogue with myself. This first week as an esteemed member of Team Carbo Rocket, I’ve felt a little like Jack Black’s character in the movie, Barry. Near the end of the film, there is a place where he is talking to a crowd of folks about how his band is in transition … (more…)

  • Rise Across Texas Challenge

    This is another guest post from my friend Jake Young, in addition to everything else, he’s also a guide for Trek Travel, and recently got the pleasure of guiding for the Rise Across Texas.

    “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

    ~T.S. Eliot (more…)

  • Friday Fun Video – Duthie Hill

    I stumbled upon this [now aged] video while working perusing the interwebs. I watched it not really know where this place was, and was only half paying attention to the words, at the end I popped “Duthie Hill” in the googler, and was astonished to find out it’s right here! Just outside of Seattle. Realizing that there is such a sweet training ground, just a hop skip and a jump from my house, really makes me want to start Mtn biking! (more…)

  • TCR: On My Path – Intentional Exercise

    I’ve got 28 weeks to be ready to attack my goal. It may be the most lead time that anyone on the team has. My goal in case you have forgotten, is to have a podium finish in a cyclocross race. Not an easy thing to do in these parts, but none of my teammates challenges are easy either. The fact that I have teammates, supporters, and all of the followers to be accountable to, I’m sure will only serve to continue to motivate us. (more…)

  • Team Carbo Rocket: At the Start

    In case you haven’t heard, or haven’t read up, here, or here; Team Carbo Rocket has formed up, and in the end … I MADE THE TEAM !!! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am, or how honored, or how thankful I feel. I got the word while we were shooting earlier this week in Palm Springs, and it’s been all I can think about. (more…)

  • Friday Fun Film: Signal Cycles Cyclocross

    I realize that this is basically an advertisement, but it sure is a sexy one. Just all the best kinds of bike goodness. Take 3 minutes and enjoy.

    [props to Benji Wagner on the short film]

    Signal Cycles are handmade in Portland Oregon by Matt Cardinal and Nate Meschke. All frames are made to measure, one at a time, one of a kind. The Signal cyclocross team may be new this year, but we are not new to cross. Cyclocross represents the best of competitive bicycle racing, riders push themselves and their equipment through adverse conditions, fans yell and ring bells to show their support. The atmosphere is electric, the fun is contagious. We love cyclocross!

  • An open letter to Team CarboRocket

    Today I was reading one of my favorite blogs and I came across this press release:

    Team CarboRocket is looking for a few good, ordinary folks who are on the verge of doing something extraordinary. You may not even know what that extraordinary thing is yet, but you can feel it burning inside of you. Hopefully, you already enjoy cycling, be it on the road or mountain.

    Team membership is open to anyone who’s interested in doing something big. You may be a total novice or a seasoned veteran, we care not. What we do care about is that — whatever your extraordinary goal may be — there is an enormous gap between where you are now and achieving that goal. Maybe you are overweight. Maybe you have never ridden even a tenth the distance you’re hoping to ride. Maybe you’re missing a limb or two. Whatever hurdle you have to reaching your goal should make you dig very deep.

    If this isn’t clear here’s an example: You are currently an expert level mountain biker with a resume stacked with impressive finishes and maybe even some sponsors and you want to finish the Leadville 100 mountain bike race because you’ve never done it. Sorry, not digging deep enough, no need to apply.

    If, however, you’re a sport-level mountain biker and you’ve been thinking that the Great Divide Race is a little bit too short and you think it’s about time somebody rides from Canada to Mexico and then back, well yeah. We’d like to hear more.

    What’s in it for you? You will be supported and sponsored by none other than Ibis Cycles in conjunction with Bingham Cyclery, CarboRocket sports drink, Ritchey components and the ever humble FatCyclist.com. We can’t divulge exactly what awesome deals and swag you will be getting from each of these sponsors because we are still trying to figure out what Fatty is contributing. Maybe he’ll publish your stories. Maybe he’ll give you his super-secret recipe for quiche. It’s hard to say for sure. But we will say that you will like being sponsored by us. A lot.

    What’s in it for us? We love a good story and we want to follow yours, from ordinary to extraordinary. We will be there when you fall down, first, to laugh at you and then give you a hand up, a dusting off and a gentle push onward. You will keep us apprised of your progress and ultimately your attempt at completing your extraordinary goal by updating your story at regular intervals on the team blog.

    We want at least half the team to be women and total team members to be 10. We don’t want your entire story just yet, only 150 words or less. You need to tell us a compelling snippet of your story including who you are, what extraordinary thing it is you want to accomplish and why it will be so challenging. Email your 150 words to [email protected]. The sponsors will then pick 10 people with the most compelling stories to make up the Team.

    And then we’ll come up with a cool secret handshake or something. We look forward to hearing your outrageously cool idea. Oh yeah, there is a one week deadline for consideration. You have until February 19, Midnight to submit your snippet.

    Love,

    Team CarboRocket

    And here is my “application” to Team CarboRocket. Have a read, tell me what you think. You think I have a chance? Maybe Brad will respond right here on my blog.

    Dear Future Team Manager,

    I’ve been sent by fatty. Not that Fatty, the fatty who currently resides around my midsection. I am 33 years old, I have a couple of great kids, and can never find enough time in the day to fit everything in. Last year I rode my first and only century, the Seattle LIVESTRONG challenge. This year, in addition, to a few more of those I have a completely ridiculous goal of racing cyclocross, not just racing, but finishing, and not just finishing, but finishing first.

    The background – when I decided at the beginning of last year that it was imperative that I rode with team fatty at LVESTRONG I was pushing 400 pounds. At the time of the ride I was 290. It’s gone up a wee bit since then, and this new goal; this is what’s going to send me into overdrive.

    I want to race for Team CarboRocket. I want to stand atop the podium come a cold fall evening, covered in equal parts mud, sweat, smiles and pride, 100 pounds lighter, and say that it was only because of you that this was possible.

    -Dartanyon

    If you feel compelled … send Brad an email, and let him know why I would be a kick ass member of his team!

  • DIY Bike Repair Stand

    So I was doing a little tune up on my bike and was fumbling around trying to turn the crank with one hand and hold the rear wheel off the ground with the other, and I finally just got fed up. I needed a stand to work on my bikes with. A little looking around told me that nearly all the “nice” bike stands were at least $150, and even the crappy ones were around $50. Well I figured that I could certainly spend $20 bucks and make some thing as good as a crappy stand. So I zipped down to my local home improvement store and picked up a few bits and pieces.

    I ended up spending $12.78 and came out with a pretty decent repair stand if you happen to still have a couple of clamps and a post to clamp to.

      I picked up:

    • 3/4″ threaded pipe base
    • 3/4″ x 10″ threaded pipe
    • 3/4″ ->1.75″ PVC Expander
    • 1.75″ PVC T-joint
    • 2 x Small hinges
    • 2 x 1.75″ Pipe Clamps

    Assembly is pretty self-evident. Thread everything together screw the base to a decent chunk of wood laying around your garage, and use the clamps to secure it to a post. You could certainly screw the base directly to the post, but I wanted to be able to move my unit around a bit depending on which cars were in the garage and so forth. The integral part of the stand is the PVC T-Joint, which you saw in half to create a clamp. I lined mine with some pip insulation and instead of using the cheapo draw clasps they had at the store I opted for some hose clamps. I expoyed those to the joint (now clamp) so that I didn’t have to funmple around to much with tring to get the clamp closed.

    DIY Bike Repair Stand

    DIY Bike Repair Stand Side View

  • Bike to School Month – Tune Up Day!

    I had so much fun helping to organize a “Walk & Roll Wednesdays” program, trying to encourage the children of Sanislo Elementary, and families, to find ways of getting to school that don’t involve driving. So, with Feet First, and the Go! Project we have organized this little effort to persuade folks to walk and ride. Hopefully it has shown the other drivers in the community that the roads around our schools, don’t just belong to them. The goal being for them to take notice that there are a lot of children in the area and encourage them to slow down, in addition to encouraging our families to leave their cars at home.

    Well, long story, short (shorter anyway) we’ve had some special things for the kids on a couple of mornings, this morning, we did some light tune ups on the bikes of the kids who ride to school. Mostly just tighten bolts, clean chains, nothing major. But it was my little brain child, and I don’t think it could have gone any better. We had what looked like about 20 kids come to school on two wheels. Which was ’bout a 1 trillion percent increase (dartanyon math).

    I need to give a huge giant thanks to the 2 fine gents who helped to tune up the kids bikes; first Scott from my office, and Stu the awesome proprietor of Sanislo’s favorite bike shop, Alki Bike & Board.

    I’d also like to give a Big ‘Ol thanks to Jen Cole from Feet First, and the Go Project.

    The Sanislo Tune Up Team (from L->R; Stu, Me, Scott)
    Me banging on some elementry schooler's bike for bike to school day.
    Me banging on some elementry schooler’s bike for bike to school day.
    Our practicing expert bike wrench putting on the finishing touches
    Our practicing expert bike wrench putting on the finishing touches