"Most of the time here at HTATBL we enjoy doing nothing more than dicking around….whether it is a close-up of Stevil’s pee-pee (under a veil of thin, tight lycra), a picture of Big Dave sipping from a flask dressed like a hom(b)o and talking about how riding bikes is the coolest thing in the world (7 mile per gallon muscle cars non-withstanding). But last week the cycling community was dealt a tragic blow with the death of Mike Janelle. Early last Friday morning Mike died of a heart attack in his sleep. He is survived by his wife Maribel, who is 6 months pregnant with their first child.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Mike was an all around ripper who could ride it all. Primarily focusing on ultra endurance events over the past few years, Mike has overall victories in both RAAM and 24 Hours of Moab on his resume. He was one of the nicest dudes on the national cycling scene…. Mike was perpetually stoked…always cheering on his fellow pros and Cat. 4’s alike. Last Friday cycling lost one of its greatest ambassadors and true hardmen…Mike was just 40 years old.
Ride longer, Mike would!!
A memorial fund has been set up in Mike’s honor….Flow some coin if ya' gots’ some!
Mike Janelle Memorial Fund, c/o 1st Bank of Avon, PO Box 5270, Avon, CO 81620."
Thats a hard act to follow, and I find myself at a loss for words so Im going to simply dedicate this entire post to Mike and his family.
Take a spin on your bike this weekend and know that Mikes riding right along there with you.
Well- in all reality, probably just ahead of you...
I wanted to drop this book group a line and let you know that we'll be having a somewhat new site up over at SWOBO , and it will have some new clothing and bikes. To celebrate the Bearded One's completion of the new site (which he says should be up by 2:00pm PST) I want to let you HTATBL-ers know that we'll be posting sales that will only appear within this knitting circle. I'll try to get a new one up every week for the next 3.5 weeks. Then I'll just be tired of the pace of it all, and I'll burry myself into a 6 ft snow bank.
Its nice to be nice, and some days are weirder than others.
Stewart kindly thanked us for sending some stuff to him for a race he threw. Not just any race though- a race to feed the hungry;
Yo--
Thanks so much for the awesome schwag! Those were some kickass shirts and that hat was totally rad. I kinda wanted to race so I could win some shit, but obviously that would've been a conflict of interest :)
Anyway, we gave a shirt and $20 to each of the 2nd place finishers in the fixed/single and geared divisions, and we gave the hat as a "door prize" to the person that looked the most like a new york messenger wannabe :)
We gave the SWOBO sticker and some other stickers to Otis, who was by far the youngest rider (he turned 14 the day before the race), who rode with his mom.
All in all, we had 56 riders show up, raised 336 pounds of food and gave the food bank the race fees (minus some premes) in the amount of $131, which they claim will make 1179 meals for the hungry in Oklahoma...pretty rad for a bunch of Okie dirtbags, eh?
We had a dude from Dallas drive up to race, and I think you'll be proud of the guy that took second and won one of your shirts (photos attached)--he runs the bike co-op we all participate in and founded our bicycle gang, and did the race in running shorts and a hat (he looks like a skeleton covered with weird tattoos). The owner of this awesome Vietnamese supermarket discovered the race (primarily by following the trail of sweaty bicyclists outside to the checkpoint) and told the volunteers there that he'd like to donate a can of food for every racer that hit the checkpoint--an extra 56 cans of food!
Thank you again for sponsoring us so heavily--it was an awesome experience for everyone, and we're shooting for 1000 pounds of food next year!
p.s. the girl in blue took first in the female division--we had enough donated prizes that we could make sure the rockin girls that showed up got some recognition!
p.p.s. the dude in the cast took 5th overall and 3rd in the fixed/single group...and he had a complete yard sale crash. there's more photos at Bike against Hunger.
-Stuart Keating"
Good for you guys, Stuart. Thanks for offering us thanks, thanks for riding bikes, and thanks for helping to feed some folks who need it.
I feel good all over.
Now for a quick PSA-
If you lock your bike up and dont wear a helmet, it stands to reason that you have more concern for your bike than you do your head.
Perhaps the brain damage has already set in.
I just fell off of my soap box, so Ill continue with an email from Able;
"hey there,
just got myself one of them swobos. i am now working on opening up a
beer while riding. it may take a little practice but i will get that
shit down.
so, i send you a drawing. i draw for arthur magazine and
daytrotter.com. i also just had some drawings at the v1 gallery with
daniel johnston! and others...
let me know if you need a different size.
and thanks for making those bikes!
be well,
Now well split from bike loving picture drawers, to Pittsburghs hot metal bridge.
And speaking of hot metal bridges, theres some two wheeled dames up there in Seattle whove gotten their acts together to make a calendar featuring their fine selves.
You can check it out here.
Remember- all I have presently is a UPS calendar.
And I hate brown.
It is with much regret that I notify you all of another missed Wednesday Night Ride due to work.
I had every intention, but today was really the first day that Colina, (who will from this day forward be known as The Skipper) and I were cooking with gas, as it were, in the new Swobo shipping department, and we made an absolute mess by the time the last box passed our hands.
We took a bit of time this evening to put our environs back together, but next week Im committed to getting back into the woods to cause some havoc.
Its really all I live for.
Now then, we certainly dont want to plug the competetion, but our pals at Ghostship Clothing sent us a good clip that made me laugh.
You know how I feel about laughing, right?
I like it.
Finally, theres a girl named Hanna who makes art and races bikes for Circle A Cycles, and shes selling these bad ass hand screened posters she made to help fund her way to Cross Nationals this year.
Help a sister out, wont you?
Anybody wonder where COs been?
Its been a while huh?
Remember I mentioned hes been cooking up something awesome?
Were working REALLY hard to get all pending orders out the door.
I never realized just what an epic undertaking this move was going to be, but every day brings us just a little bit closer to being together.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your patience.
"We've got a bit of a race here in town, been going on for a while, the Dirty Dozen. The 13 steepest streets in Pittsburgh, one of which is arguably the steepest street in the world at 37% grade. Fuckin' right. You can see my images from it at random precision photo(dot)com which is my personal photo site. It has some Pittsburgh punkrock as well. And will eventually have some more shit, as I slowly put my backlog online in this new blog friendly format."
Not that youre interested, but you and I are going to be apart for a little while.
Something about a warrant in Tijuana for some issues that occurred at Juanita's world famous donkey show a few years ago.
I kid. The fact of the matter is, there is an avalanche of everything Swobo that is about to come crashing down upon my head, and in the midst of that, Im leaving town for a piece to go eat some stuffing with Mike and Sue Kinevil.
It may be a point of slight interest, but for the first time in all of my years, I now have an office. Not the Fisher Price 'My First Office" that youd expect, but rather a real work space with a computer AND a phone, that both actually plug into the wall.
Not that I know how to use ether of them...
Today I decorated a touch-
Yeah, thats right- clown shoes, TWO coozies, hot sauce, and a little basketball. Im ready to take the corporate world by storm.
Anyway, soon enough, these shelves will be filled to the brim with the good stuff-
It looks like Ive got my work cut out for me.
And now, an email from RK;
"Stevil,
You may or may not know of the Chamois Army Fort…but you should know of their CX high jinx at the Boulder World Cup:
That’s my son with the boombox.
RK"
If one day I should have a son, and then one day that son should run in a kilt, face paint and a boom box atop his shoulder at a cross race, I will know Ive done my job as a father.
Craig sent in this shot they took of a prized ground score while coming home from a ride. Blessed be thy mountain bike.
Then in my mail box theres an email from 'Chris at Chris King'.
I thought, 'what in all that is good is Chris King emailing me for?'
"How's that for a lead in? Got a little excited, eh? Well, it's not the one you'd want to hear from, it's me, Chris DiStefano. So you like pictures of mustaches. Here you go:
"And you like $6.66 receipts? Well, Ive got something you need to see. Send me your address and I'll mail you a few treats.
Over and out,
CD"
Ohhhhh. Its the other Chris. Yeah, its pretty cool to get an email from that guy too.
Plus, I understand Chris King still prefers carrier pigeons to the internet anyway.
It would seem as though our favorite superhero/dumb jock Jordi not only is able to race the hell out of a bike, but hes got his modeling career right on track as well.
Can anybody say 'Blue Steel'?
Youre a tiger in the grass, Jordi. A sexy tiger.
And now Ill offer up some mishmash mumbojumbo as only the Stomparillaz could provide.
"hiyOXTRA, slappy here gettin on and on with the stomparillaz
apolyptico plan.. Anyway Aspen Guy singer from the spin doctors needs
to get his game face on; and the memo reads, the prefered nomeclature
for flat bar cross bikes is 'gay', not a word i'm that fond of, but
then again it's not as bad as the one for mustache bar.. aanyway he
ought to know that it is hurtful and not nice to miss the off the hook
'cross race we had in carbondale last weekend, but then again, my
aversion to aspen direct marketing is a lil' like the clap.. Aaanyway
STomparillaz Racin' is preparing for a.) the apocalypse b.) ninjas
vampire drones on carbon fiber c.) and stuff. The fleet is
substantial as usual but the 69'r xtra cycle race rigs are a little
silly scary.. so anyway word it up word it out, check stmpz blog pix
--
We will not not stomp"
stomparillaz
"Gay".
Loudass expounds on what he actually means when he refers to me as such;
I meant "gay" in an innocuous 19th Century way, like a dude with a mustache riding a mechacial cycle to impress fine ass late 19th Century woman folk.."
Thanks Loudass. I get it now...
Of the time spent with Captain Morgan and Denzel, Im starting to pick up on the nuances of their individual personalities. When I came home today, Denzel was making faces at me. Hes definitely the clown of the two.
Ok, friends. The sun is setting and I have a burning desire to get cracking on some other stuff now so as to get involved with some other stuff after that.
You all know how we feel about Thanksgiving, right?
Live it up, and tell somebody you love, that you love them. Thank your legs for taking you cool places, thank the chair for not breaking when you sit on it, thank the grocery store for having more food than you could eat in a year, thank the elastic in your underpants for doing its job..
You know, go crazy.
If I hadnt mentioned it lately, were thankful for you all too.
As far as commutes to work go, Blacksock's commute aint half bad.
As it does every week, Wednesday has come and gone, and though we find ourselves nearing the clutches of winter, that didnt stop a few of us from making the trek to the woods to get our pitch blackness groove on.
All in all, it was an amazing night with temperatures on the hill never dipping below the mid 50s.
After emptying our bags of their contents, and attaching whatever lighting systems we could scrape together, we ripped and roared back downtown into civilization to partake of a few more beers and mexican food.
This is where things got weird.
At one point a group of three guys walked past and young Hightower said quietly "I think that was Floyd Landis" to which Danny B responded with a booming "F**k you Floyd!"
Without looking back, the individuals hand raised immediately and he kept walking, though his compatriots took exception to this and immediately came back to confront the offender.
Attempting to defuse the situation I turned in my chair and asked him 'arent you the guy in 'Saving Silverman' as I could think of no other Steve Zahn movies at the time.
He chuckled, and they walked away, leaving me with my shame and crappy fish tacos, which by the way were little more than a can of tuna mixed in with some salsa and dumped on a tortilla, but thats nether here nor there...
Now to expound a bit more on my shame... Ive gotten a barrage of photos from last weekends single speed cross worlds, and with every email, my despondence over what I missed grows.
The following photo by Carson Blume has to sum it all up for me-
and to rub salt in the wound, George forwarded us his buddy Alexs recap;
"A couple of things.
1. you're right. i don't think there's a cuter messenger in the country than molly.
2. if i haven't already told you to, or if you haven't yet followed my instructions, you should now check out pilderwasser.com. Mark Pilder is a seattle messenger for over 10 years and writes one of the best blogs anywhere. (that's his photo of molly, so credit is due to him..) anyway, check out the site..
3. SS xcross worlds was a blast. they had free beer. in this totally unfamiliar world i suddenly live in, so detached from everything i thrived off of in seattle, going to the worlds really reminded me just how much bikes fucking rule the world, how much fun the scene is, how creative and unqiue some many cyclists can be, how achingly hot the girls are who haul bikes, and how awesome it is to race, for fun, to party and scream encouragement and to do something so pure and healty for yourself. it was really good shit. i broke my digi camera last week during polo and i can't seem to figure out how to take pictures with the new one.. anyway, hope you dig the few images i could salvage.
-a"
I contacted Larry at The Fix last night to see about getting some body work done on me, as it would appear Ive thrown my back out from repeatedly kicking the crap out of myself for missing this.
Ive been getting alot of milage out of this one that Joi sent on.
On to more thoughts about pets-
Denzel hasnt been catching too much lately, and Captain Morgans been getting all the props, so I thought Id make him a little rock and roll back drop.
The following flyer has been burning a hole in my desktop for weeks, and the time to drop it is now.
Get your bike, get your bag, get your lock, get the hell to it.
And yet another happening. This time in our own backyard, raising food stuffs for the folks who need it. Race your bike for a good cause, AND perhaps score some new Swobo stuff? Sounds like a good idea to us...
I went by to see some old friends at FTW Tattoo this past weekend, and many Chiladas later, I found myself emblazoned with the mark of the beast..er, I mean 685.
Heres to you buddy...
Michael wrote in with some words to live by.
Number 30- "Never complain about the quality or brand of a free drink."
No duh. Does anyone actually ever do this? A friend of mine used to refer to me as a 'freegan', or an 'oppritunivore'. Rule number one- never look a free horse in the mouth.
Now, while youre burning time on the computer at work, the library, at home, or wherever you find yourself presently,
take some time and check out the work brought to you from the fine folks at Cog Magazine.
Our girl Erin Nicole Brown, occasional photographer for The Bummer Life, and super star to the super stars had some insight on Owen Wilsons recent bike of choice, which he picked up from the shop where she works that goes by the name of Bicycle Habitat.
"So, apparently that photo was taken when he was out on a test ride
last week. he picked up the bike on saturday afternoon.
The day he was there for the test ride, he told John, the sales
guy.. this is the best bike EVER, and then he asked they have these
out in California?
how rad is that!?
x enb"
You dont have to spend much time here to know I think alot of stuff is rad, but that? Thats super rad.
Anybody seen the movie 'Bottle Rocket'?
The Wilson brothers finest work, if I do say so.
Um.., I mean raddest work...
I will now take this opportunity to challenge Mr. Wilson to join us in our upcoming two man team, super-extreme-bionical-retardacious to the max-Folsom relay criterium. Eight (wo)men enter as winners,
six (wo)men exit as non-winners, and sixteen knees will be bloody.
Something tells me Owen aint skeered.
You know another individual who aint skeered?
The Masi Guy. Except perhaps of being crushed by a gigantic pair of panties, but even that were not so sure of.
Ill end with this- El Corpos going over new designs for next spring and fall, and if theres something youd like Swobo to make, or theres a t-shirt design youve been dieing to see happen, etc.- then get ahold of tim@swobo.com and lay the info on the man.
Get a load of this freak occurrence. Three days ago I was in the middle of a thundering air drum solo, arms fying everywhere- I get to the point of the song where things get really heavy, and the ball point pen I was holding in my right hand got jammed up under my work bench and slipped through my grasp and punctured my middle finger.
Now understand, Ive been air drumming for 25 years. Im no novice, so I was in shock by the sight of the crimson stream running down into my hands palm, but like the ace I am, I shook it off and finished the song, barely missed a beat, and Tom Arayas crooning never even paused.
Just like when Laverne & Shirley would mention 'pond scum', and Lenny and Squiggy would walk into the room, I mention 'professional', and along comes George.
"Re: Who is John Galt?
gents,
this pic strain is yanked from my boy Alex of
Oregeonian, but more recently Seattle. Also, from the
rough streets of Aspen which is my home for about
8hours a day until I do the dumptruck and elk slalom
twice a day includes a pool to shred, a free
motorcycle for myself and a front page including porn
and bikes.
I will be heading out on saturday to a cross race in
Highlands Ranch at a church. If anyone sees a multi
colored spray painted bike w/flat bars please say
hello and bring the beer. I have heard it is a
christian association that is putting on the race so I
have a joke for them from my buddy Willis left me on
my voicemail today.
What is the difference between Jesus and a picture of
Jesus? you only need one nail to hang the picture.
ouch.
Have you ever had someone ask you, "Don't you wish you
were me right now?" A guy said that to my pal Metz
the other day after he got a ringer playing shoes, to
which he replied simply, "no" and
then guy says to me, "I can tell you haven't found
your throw yet, How old are you?"
me " Uhh 26"
him "oh man, you got plenty of time. I didn;t find my
throw till I was 39."
so I got that going for me, which is nice!
goooongalagoonga,
george"
You think you know whats going on in Colorado?
You didnt until now.
Sending this clip in, Matthew writes;
"This skill could help male cyclists greatly!"
Ironically, Im presently listening to 'Matthew and Son' by Cat Stevens, and watching the fellow in yellow warm up to it made the whole day make sense.
But aside from that, to that clip, we have to offer a heartfelt 'what the hell?'
Its obvious that young Hanna knows whats what in the realm of quality literature when it comes to dropping the kids off at school..
We understand that a short time later, Dad got an unwelcome splash in the face when expelling said kids.
Hang tight- A very limited edition Swobo HAZMAT suit is on the way buddy.
Anyhow, back to the fine folks at Urban Velo for a second, the following video is a recap of their recent 'Bark at the Mon' alley cat race. It looked like a goodn'.
I was talking to Danny B about just why so many folks are tuning in to the Bummer Life, and he referred to it as 'The Short Attention Span Theatre'.
I guess I cant argue with that.
Speaking of which, its not really wintering anywhere yet. The dirt still tastes really, really good.
Alright check this out. Ill go on record saying that this is the coolest site ever. See, you upload and image of yourself, and then transform it to see what you look like as an Western Indian person, a Japanimation rendering, and so on. This apparently is what Im gonna look like when Im old, if I was Afro-Caribbean, or Asian.
On all counts, much better looking then I am as a plain old 30 something white guy.
I hadda shave between shots, cause theres no Asian man on this planet with the amount of facial hair that I sport.
Who likes soul food/Southern cooking? I do, alot, and had the pleasure of stopping by a woefully empty Sweety Pie and Poppys in Oakland this weekend, and if catfish, collard greens, red beans and rice, black eyed peas and so on are your kinda business, then with all of my heart and soul, I reccomend you go by and say hi. Better yet, hit their eight hour long Sunday buffet.
This joint exists where an old punk rock club stood many years ago called Ruthies Inn, and I havent set foot in there since, but with my gut full of fried goodness, I hardly felt any inkling of melancholy.
I hope everybody had good weekends chock full of bike racing, bike riding, bacon eating, fuzzy buddy snuggling, baby making practice, hijinx, bottle rockets, fresh fruit, horn throwing and fast times at Ridgemont High.
Have a good Monday- Remember, theres only five days until we can do it all over again.
And finally, I was reading some articles in the new issue of Vice Magzine concerning veterans of the ongoing disgrace of a war who are coming back scared, disfigured, and broken. Take a minute of your day to reflect on the veterans of this war, and all of the others before it.
In a perfect world, there would be no Veterans Day, because there would be no veterans. There would be no veterans, because there would be no war.
My god it was a long week.
But here to start off the parade of Friday Hereos is the following video about wedgies from Emma.
Its good to see FOX News has got their eye on some hard hitting stories.
Emma writes;
Awkward 8 year old twins develop wedgie proof underwear-
"My favorite part of the video: "And justin, what are you doing standing there with the underwear in your hands?"
A: Just looking at it."
Up now, Captain Morgan, whos not a Brown Widow by the way, feasts on something resembling a giant piece of popcorn.
He worked on that for the better part of the day...and Id imagine that it probably tastes like chicken.
Friday Hero number 2, who goes by the name of Kim, veteran of the Retrotec single speed team from the days of yore writes in with this bit concerning my recent rib injury;
"Maybe this will make you feel better..
down eight weeks and counting..."
That Kim was one of the finest, sweetest, and toughest girls Ive ever known. Seeing that is heart breaking, but it still makes me remember things could always be worse.
Heal fast Kim, and maybe one day soon you can whoop up on me again, you know- for old times sake.
Friday Hero number 3 is anyone who attends this public meeting today concerning a little piece of mid coast dirt, or.. if theres a public meeting about land access in your berg coming up, Ill extend Friday Hero to you if you attend that one instead..
Why are people so committed to using up every piece of available land possible?
Its a damn mystery, I tells ya.
Friday Hero 4 and 5 are Andy May the one legged bike racer, and Andy May the one legged pirate.
That mans as badass as they come, and will most likely be signing autographs at each and every one of the upcoming Central Coast Cross series.
And while were on the Friday Hero theme through here, Colina and I have come up with a cool idea for our new super Swobo shipping mega-quarters.. Wed like photos. Actual 5x7 photographs of you, and you,... and maybe even you.
Got a picture of you delivering tags? send it. Got a picture of you barfing in Moab? Send that too...
See, years ago we started this thing we affectionately called the wall of shame, but really it was just alot of photos of folks we adore, in compromising positions. Not naming names, but with mullets, for example.
Anyhow, if you think youve got an image that would look good while helping us to redorcorate our new environs, then by all means send it to us at;
Swobo Clothing
Wall Of Shame
104 Bronson St. #5
Santa Cruz, Ca. 95062
All contributions consisting of candy, girlie mags, shiny doodads, stickers and/or patches, hot sauce, mix tapes, testimonials of how much you love your wool, cash, or fanzines wont be turned away.
Finally, you know how we we talking about what wed do if we won the lottery?
I thought of another thing Ive long desired today.
So you know those folks who specialize in retardedly intricate airbrushed renderings on the hoods of cars or trucks that have an equal amount of attention poured into the vehicle itself?
Well, truth be told- its been a long time dream of mine to get the most beat down, rusted bucket of a van, Yugo, Pinto, whatever.. and then get a world class mural of me dressed as an Aztec warrior with a beautiful virgin reclined in my massive arms, and clinging to my broad chest, while the Los Angeles skyline blazed in an inferno behind me.
The clincher would be that I was standing on top of my rusted bucket of a van, Yugo, Pinto, whatever..
A boy can and will dream folks..
High five everybody.
Theres gonna be some moon howling this weekend.
Be safe and sane, arrive alive, better dead than red, a penny saved is a penny earned, and so on.
xoSwo-bo.
While were on kind of a roll these days concerning rock that rocks, everybody's favorite sludge slingers Mudhoney, have recently released a very limited edition live slab recorded in Mexico City, which just yesterday appeared at my doorstep.
It even comes with a coupon so as to get an electronic version that they call an mp3, so I can stop attempting to jam the record into the side of my computer-box.
And as long as my brain is cornered by the magic of tracks on wax, lay your eyes on this extraordinarily limited 7" from 1997 that I have by Norway's favorite sons doing a cover of David Bowies Suffragette City.
Trust me when I say youll never see this record again. Send me a tape and Ill record it for you.
Wasnt it Steve Albini who said record collectors are pretentious a-holes?
He was right.
Now our newest part time contributor, Corey the Courier writes in to explain why his shins might just be so bloodied all of the time;
"Polo is now the coolest bicycle discipline. It isn't for the meek though. It will never go commercial because of the outright violently aggressive appearance of the games. We're all good friends afterward just like pro wrestling, but really want to win during the action.
Me and Chicago's Dumptruck at the Los Marcos Mayhem Tournament in NYC.
Corey the Courier
Polo Phorever"
Ahhh.. shinpads. Now theres a novel idea Corey...
And by the looks of this shot, our boy isnt even thinking about approaching those brake levers with his gloved fingers. After all, hes got a dumptruck to slow him down.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ebay. Its a relatively new concept to me, and every now and again I go there to find out whats happening in the world of rare vinyl, Caramba cranks, and Budweiser sweaters.
I just picked up a his and hers set, so it looks like the Mrs. is gonna have something special to wear for Christmas dinner this year.
Truth be told, I have four of these, just in case.
I was reminded today of a conversation I had with a young French woman last winter discussing the topic of what we would do if we were ever so fortunate as to win the lottery. It was recalled to me that Id told her Id get a Budweiser sweater dispenser in my house so that I could hop out of the shower, dry off with one, throw it away, pull another one out, throw it one, and go out on the town in my giant purple hat and 1979 Trans Am to paint the town red.
And to continue, why does everyone whos ever been interviewed on the subject of lottery winning say the same thing over and over?
"Im gonna buy a house", or "Im gonna take a trip to Hawaii."
Nobody ever says something cool like installing a Budweiser sweater machine in their bathrooms.
D*Pow sent the following shot on from last weeks 'hot Wisconsin cross action'.
Would it be inappropriate to mention that my first thought was of Jeffery Dahmer?
Yeah- I thought so.
Im gonna get sooo fired.
Anybody in Chicago? Anybody in Chicago wanna ride around in backwards circles this weekend?
Then youll want to get your rear tires flat spots to this.
Anyway, now on to a little bike-nerdery. I just picked one of these numbers up today.
Ive had my eye on this since its prototype was first introduced last year some time, and couldnt begin to hazard a guess as to if it works or not, but the idea was so instantly dazzling to me that I figured Id give it a try.
Plus in the above shot it looks a little bit like a Shetland Pony with a boner, so thats kinda cool.
On the tech side of things, its got a T-25 torx, chain breaker, tire lever, a 2, 4, 6 and and 8 mm allen set, and a built it whippit dispenser.
I coulda used one of those on my recent Sacramento trip, come to think of it...
Wednesday has come and gone and I have the following in depth report to lay on you concerning our journey to the cold and wet darkness.
Ok, I lied.
I worked on the new Swobo world shipping H.Q.
No Wednesday night ride this week. Just wrenching, beer and Ritz Bits.
Not a bike ride, but not a bad gig...
By the way, Captain Morgan got something huge yesterday. The photo gave me goosebumps, so if you think you can take it, let us know and well lay it on you.
What the hell happened?
I was going to go to this, but last time I checked it was all the way in the middle of November, now here we are closing in on almost the middle of November, and as usual, the proverbial pants are down.
Would somebody please go attend the CXSSWC for me in my absence. Itll be easy. Show up late, race, stumble, pick a fight, make eyes at a lady, fall down, repeat.
Theres my race strategy/career in a nut shell.
Speaking of shelling nuts at bike races, this has just come across my radar. I remember these days fondly, though I was too wrapped up in BMX to really appreciate what was going on.
"Those tires are just so skinny", I remember my dad exclaiming repeatedly.
Now to move on to getting shelled in general, Im gonna put another picture of Rick Santorum getting run out of town on a rail.
Looks like Harry Potter over there has a magic gesture of his own for the crowd.
From bigoted homophobes, well now go to Slayer show flyers from 1986.
I remember being at Normans Place one time and this goth chick whod suffered a broken jaw, which at the time was wired shut, and had this crazy hair that dangled way down in front of her face was lighting a cigarette. Just as I glanced up at her, I saw her hairspray coated bangs go up like a match.
Those were good times.
Moving on....
Presently I have these two gigantic spiders living just outside my front door. Not gigantic by the Southwest, Australia, or Jumanjis standards, but pretty huge, and Im far from an entomologist but I swear one of these same spiders lived with me last fall.
Its like they appear here every year to catch birds or something.
Anyhow, I feel like an unfit host with them living here and not having names, so this one I will call Captain Morgan, and his partner I will call Denzel.
Every so often I will report on what theyve eaten, not alot unlike What Jeff Killed.
I suppose Im done with this for the day. Tomorrows Wednesday, which is rad. Today I will go punch El Corpo in the stomach for good measure, and will probably go set something on fire with Shaft.
Like Ice Cube says- "today is gonna be a good day."
The above photo is proof that ripping around town and doing skids on a Folsom with a hot chick is better than going on a bender and trying to off yourself any day of the week..
Dont get me wrong- Im not saying there isnt a place for the latter, as Ive been around that block a couple of times myself, but I still would probably opt for the former, and personally Im glad as hell that Mr. Wilson has too.
I like that guy.
Speaking of ripping around on a bike, my personal trail of tears has finally come to an end.
Im gonna call it 'Shaft', cause its big, brown, and a bad mothafu-
-Shut yo mouth!
Go ahead- drink it all in.
Anyhow, aside from wrestling with Shaft, and running errands for a good bit of Saturday, I had to finally handle a sad situation that we here at Swobo world H.Q have been burdened with for months.
Back in early summer sometime, our boy Graham was busy organizing this years Cycle Messengers World Championships and got ahold of us to request sponsorship help.
At the time, I was facilitating all of the requests, but not actually able to complete the transactions, so I sent electronic files for the Swobo logo placement to him, got the product squared away, and the whole nine- Everything short of packing the boxes myself.
Well to make a long story less long, the goods were never sent, and it made us look like jerks and the winners look like winners with no cool prizes full of wooly goodness.
I want to now go on record to say that I have now gotten email addresses, as well as shipping addresses for all of this years champions and have begun to distribute short sleeved wool jerseys to all of them accordingly.
We might be tremendous flakes, but were tremendous flakes with hearts of gold.
The hotness right here is Mahrou who was this years womens trackstand and backwards circles event winner.
We imagine shes gonna do right by her new threads.
Sit back and bask in the glow of badasses.
If I didnt know better, Id say they not only deliver packages with astonishing speed by day, but then also slay vampires by night.
Billy from Godspeed Courier Service has also sent some shots of the after math from the first of their races;
Anyhow, due to the crazy Saturday of work and such, I missed out on M.A.s birthday ride, so I have to take this opportunity and let her know that even though shes an old lady of 17 again, shes still pretty cool in our book and we hope she has many, many more 17th birthdays.
Sky sent this image on, and as far as I can tell, all of these years, Ive been almost hitting the mark in the high paced world of fashion.
That gesture just screams, 'a beers not gonna put itself in this hand'.
You know another gesture that screams that?
Growing a moustache.
The following images would in no way benefit from anything I wrote about them, so Im not going to utter a peep.
Ill let them do the talking.
If that all doesnt look like the most fun possible, then you and I obviously dont share the same definition of fun, and perhaps you should spend more time here.
Even though they dont have em, Throw Rag knows about the power of the 'stache.
The Urban Veloists have put issue number 4 to bed, and its a good one. Theyre still always on the hunt for women who ride their bikes to write a piece for their 'I love riding in the city' segment. Get up, get out, and get on it.
Next, Tina B sent this to us. B stands for bacon, dontchaknow?
Oh yeah- by the way, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot get that damn Shakira/Danzig duet out of my head. Her hips really dont lie.
When I was younger, some friends from the Southern part of California introduced a gaggle of us to this game that they played as kids which they simply referred to as 'Whopper', as when they would finish the game they would go inside to eat Whopper candy. We eventually got pretty good at it, or so I thought until I saw the following video. This, as it turns out, is how Whopper is truly supposed to be played.
I cant help but notice however, that they have completely ignored my personal addition to the game that I call 'throwing a folding chair at your opponents'.
And finally, Id like to present to you Mr. Field.
-A little bit about Mr.Field;
His wife used to make me cookies, he abandoned his career in the education industry for one within the environs of the bicycle industry, (However, I suppose its unfair to refer to the world of expanding the youths minds as an 'industry' as that word tends to imply that there is finance involved, which we all know, the business of public education does not), hes a crafty fellow with a cynical, and sarcastic sense of the world around him and he really likes bikes.
Everybody, this is Mr. Field. Mr. Field, this is everybody.
Ok, enough is enough...As always, heres to the hopes that everybody had a rip roaring weekend, and maintained a respectable amount of trouble.
You know, like I always say- 'all things in moderation, including moderation.'
A grainy video from the mid 80s to celebrate Sunday, and lamenting rocks death.
Im sure its been mentioned here before, but if one was living on Colorados Front Range during the Reagan era, one of the only games in town when it came to getting your fill of loud music was the seminal rock and roll act called The Fluid.
After years of seeing live music, The Fluid is the band who Ive seen more than any other.
The day they split up is a day that rock music took a dark turn.
Not good dark like TADs album "Gods Balls", but bad dark like the faux brooding of The Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan.
Yep. Ill miss em.
Another completely unrelated thing I miss is these;
I just got out bid on em on Ebay.
My birthdays only 11 months away, so anybody wanna get high stepping on em for me?
Those things ruled.
Happy Sunday, and stuff.
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