First up, I want to give thanks to Peter for allowing us to use the fruits of his sharp eye as this weeks header photo. Peter along with Kevin Sparrow and Eric Von Munz, as well as a cast of various contributers comprise the heart and soul of Cog Magazine.

If you havent yet delighted your senses with their hard work, you owe it to your self to pick up a copy, and most likely after that, a subscription..

Next, George expounds;

"bra,

We finally experienced rubber on dirt around Fruita on horsethief, rustlers, mary's, steve's loops last saturday in a blaze of glory! what a fantastic day that got us all amped for the coming riding season.

I conveniently fell into the lap of the Ute city cycle's dudes caravan for the "training ride." We intended to go out for a long slow ride and well, no one could hold back the enthusiasm and we ended up going for a fast long ride. can't wait for more...my new custom 29er was amazing.

I swear the dudes at Surly read into exactly what I needed and the Road 34 dudes put it together with the right finishing touches like deore v-brakes, weed grips and chain lube. hell yes.

hump day eve I found myself at the shred park with a shovel, beer and a small area to skate.

it will melt, but not fast enough. and right now we're supposed to get a foot of snow overnight.

the new snow just means that the darkness skin up the hill in the morning at 6am will be that much better with the freshness on the way down. tonight was rad, a skin up shred sunset sesh with my lady.

well another week bites the dust.

"I'm so tired of working every day, Now the weekend's come, I'm gonna throw my troubles away.
If you've got the cab-fare, then mister you'll do alright,
I want to see the bright lights tonight.

Meet me at the station, don't be late; I need to spend some money, and it just won't wait.
Take me to the dance, and hold me tight; I want to see the bright lights tonight.

There's crazy people running all over town; There's a silver band just marching up and down;
And the big boys they're all spoiling for a fight; I want to see the bright lights tonight.

Couple of drunken nights rollin' on the floor Is just the kind of mess I'm lookin' for. I'm gonna dream till Monday comes in sight; I want to see the bright lights tonight"

killin it,
g"

...And and offering from Big Steve P;

And you know, that ad isnt necessarily untruthful, as I would expect if one blew smoke in the face of many women we know, shed followed you outside, around the corner, up the street and then most likely proceeded to knock the crap out of you.
I suspect if she didnt catch up with you, she just might follow you anywhere.

Patrick wrote in with a report on the Liverdance freakout;

"Here's the official unofficial recap:
On March 15, 2008,The world famous Warlocks Bicycle Club of Boise, Idaho hosted our third annual St. Paddy's Day alleycat, Liverdance. 75 Racers braved the cold March winds and hail storms as they navigated what appeared to be a relatively quick, 8 stop course.

But with an additional manifest containing 3 more stops coming out of the closest location to the finish line, the victory was completely up for grabs. Unfortunately for the pack, Jason Bauer was in it to win it and that he did with an impressive 20 minute gap over the second place finisher.

Gnarls. The WBC would like to thank our race sponsors for their generous support: SWOBO, Prestige Skateboards, Ira Ryan Cycles, Broakland Bicycles, Fatsaks, The Neurolux bar, O'Michael's Tavern, The Dutch Goose and the Blues Bouquet for hosting the finish line/after-party.
The list of top finishers is available at the blog.

Thanks Stevil, I have a 666 receipt I'll send in another email.
As for "not forgetting to suckit", don't worry, we didn't.
Patrick
Photos by: P77 WBC"

And another event went down that we threw some goodies at. April gave us her view of the damage;

"So I got really excited that spring was coming, and decided I should put together an alleycat. Then I got ambitious and went for a series.

Then I started thinking about Bambi and how all the animals in the woods get twitterpated and pair off in the spring, hence arriving at my theme: Spring Fling. And why not host a two city series while I was at it, and have these two cities be "in like" with each other?

So I went for the two cities I know best, and which are connected by a bridge/public transit system so people could easily come around for all 3 parts of the series. Oakland and San Francisco.

The first alleycat was called "First Date", and all checkpoints were first date spots. Sam helped me put this race together and pick the stops. First date spots included Mama Buzz (a local coffee shop), the Oakland Museum of California, this park at the end of 7th St with a really awesome view of SF, two different movie theaters, the Lake Merritt boathouse, and Wendy's.

At Wendy's, riders had to get french fries and bring them back to the finish line to prove they'd been there... I'm hoping people don't actually go to Wendy's for fries on a first date (hence the epic french fry pile), but maybe someone does?

83 people came out and rode the first race in Oakland (stats can be found on the Spring Fling Myspace page), and the afterparty featured the bands Punch, Spires and Comadre, and 135 cupcakes that I baked the night before.

The next races in the series, "A Day in the Park" and the finale, "The Break-Up" are on April 12th and May 10th, both start in San Francisco. The Spring Fling series (March, April, May) will be followed in June, July and August by the second annual East Bay Summer Series."

I lived in Oakland for 18 years, and no events like this existed then. Wouldnt you know, as soon as I leave the room, the party starts?
It always seems to work out that way.

...And this photo from Sky;

This bar is in Prague. I figure I could rack up a very serious amount of debt and trouble in a joint like that. Once years ago I was in a club in Germany, broke as always. The attractive bartenderess kept giving me drink after drink, so I assumed that perhaps she maybe had taken a shine to me, until my departure when the man at the door presented me with my tab.
Luckily for me, my companion took pity on my ignorance and covered it for me.
Had she not, I might still be washing dishes there to this day.

Now an email from Haiku winner Gabe;

"Dear Stevil,

Thanks to you and/or the powers that be for recognizing my mad poetry skills. I inherited said skills from my Granddad, who consequently was a champ at avoiding the bummer life, regardless of the many times when life for him was in fact, a major bummer. I don't know if this was a Granddad original, but he liked to recite it when the time was right:

Uncle Bud climbed high
atop the church house steeple,
and let his balls hang down
to aggravate the people.

Thanks also for the socks and shirt. My weak-ass nike socks just blew out so timing couldn't be better. Since I wear a size double extra-donut, I'll probably give the shirt to my brother, he rides way more than me anyway and could use the street cred the Soulcraft/Oly shirt would lend him. Keep up the good work.

shaka,

Gabe"

Wherever your grandfather is Gabe, Im sure hes smiling at your victory.

..and another from Scott taken at last years Pikes Peak hill climb.
The Dark One obviously likes his horse power.

Potter sent on a bummer of the most epic sort.
Or maybe not. Do you suppose she got a newer, faster model?

As if we needed a reminder that moustaches are totally sweet, CFO sent on a shot of the godfather of badass, Perry Kramer.

Heres one for the ladies. This little slice of manwich goes by the name of Joe. Hes one of the only people I know personally who has ever raced in the Roubaix, and he is absolutely a top notch individual to boot.

Print this shot out, tape it on the inside of your locker, and be the envy of all of your girlfriends.
Im secure enough with my sexuality, however ambiguously gay Ive been accused of being, not to be ashamed to admit that this image is in my locker.
Hes just that awesome.

And while 'The Hell of The North' is fresh on my mind, I got an email this weekend notifying me of a new place to waste some time from The Roubaix Bicycle Company blog.

The likable douchbag known as Cary sent this list of odd food stuffs as well.
You know, with an emphasis on 'stuff'.

Ahhhh... Maybe the fluffy girl magazine was right. I do feel better. Now onto making my body bikini ready by spring.
That one however, is going is going to present itself as a little more of a challenge.

The weekend found me still unable to hold onto a handlebar with my left hand after Wednesdays collision, so I spent some quality hours in the backyard on rollers.
As much as that blows, I was still on a bike, still in the sunshine, and still with a smile despite it all, tucked away somewhere beneath the behemoth across my face.

Though the phrase' happy Monday' turns my stomach, we still hope you all have one just the same.