Bling! Bling!

I decided to surprise my baby today with a little something special. She's always been there for me so I had a friend whip up some custom headbadgery to show my appreciation. Copper and silver go together like ebony and ivory and I thought it would compliment the titanium and anodized orange parts well, as did my cohort who made the head badge. Indeed it does looks good and my beautiful titanium lady has never looked better. You know what they say, a happy bike makes a happy life.

s

BTW the iPhone 5 takes great pictures, don't you agree!? Es muy bueno con amigos.

Si seenore. I leave you with Kool Keith, Black Elvis

Coffee Shop Pimpin'

I don't want to jinx it until I turn it a few solid work weeks, but it looks as though I have a job at a bank headquartered in KC. Big things. Signed the job offer and faxed it in. Drug test on Monday...so how do I get this heroin out of my system?! Today, tying up loose ends and doing work to get ready for the move back. Stoked to be back in that KC cycling community and to be closer to friends a family. Jah bless! Give thanks!

Brother Ali- Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color (Album Preview)

56 minutes of soul from one of the dopest rappers currently making music. An albino african american with something to say about the current state of things. #headphonemusic #modernpoetry

Preordered an iPhone 5...preordered an iPhone 5 case from Grove...preordered a Niner Rip 9 carbon?===>NOPE

Well, I preordered a 64 gig iPhone 5 because I am an Apple fanboy, I was eligible for an upgrade and because that is the single most important gadget in my life. GPS, contact with friends and family, Banking, etc. I once tried to go back to a "bo-bo" phone, but alas, COULD. NOT. DO. IT.

Then I remembered that I've been through 3 backs on my current iPhone 4 and need to get a case this time. BAM! GROVE MADE comes through with a preorder discount on their handmade in the US of A bamboo and some sort of really hard plant made plastic stuff. Those Portland, Oregonians are such a bunch of stinky hippies!

In other news, Niner released their much anticipated all carbon fiber version of the RIP 9. The RIP 9 is their "all mountain" (<--hate that term!) full-suspension bike and it's supposedly bad @ss. Being the retro grouch that I am, I have never ridden a "fullie" and just recently added a suspension fork to my singlespeed which I may or may not consider selling out. I like the looks of it, but the price tag, not so much. Roughly $3,000 for the frame only and another $550 or so for the matching fork.

Anytime I start lusting over a full suspension mountain bike I have to remind myself that it's not going to make me ride any more than I already do. It won't make me a better rider. My current terrain in Kentucky could not possibly be any funner on the full suspension than on my Kona Raijin Ti. Done. Lust over...not really.

Speaking of lust, still lusting after the Surly Krampus 29+ and am planning a 29+ front wheel on my Kona when they become available. Oh, and this picture does not help! 

Music wise, lately I've been listening a lot to The Foreign Exchange's first album. That's Phonte (of the rap group Little Brother) an emcee from NC and Nicolay a producer from The Netherlands. They made the project sort of like The Postal Service did, emailing beats and verses back and forth and the end result is a great mixture of hip hop and r&b that is great for these fall nights when rejection seems to hit the hardest and you want to cool out and drink a Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale. Happy trails my dudes! 

"good people, good loving, good music in my life...what makes me happy" 

Uncle Paul/Sunday Trail Ride/Atmosphere

Lots of stuff going on in my life (no big surprise I guess).

 My uncle Paul passed away recently. I always felt a special connection to Paul. We shared a love of music, engineering, recording, gear. We also both had a lust for fine scooters. I'll miss his laugh and his attitude. He was really just a cool ass dude. Like the coolest guy I've ever met maybe. He was just dealt a rough hand health wise and made a few bad choices in his life (maybe that was why I related to him as well). He had a million stories to tell and I wish I had more time with him to listen to them.

Uncle Paul was an amazing musician who played jazz clubs with Randy Jackson in New Orleans when they were both young. He played at the Apollo in NY met Downtown Julie Brown, was on MTV. He was in a band called Breakfast Club that had a number 7 hit on Billboard. Worked with/for Jimmy Iovine. Etc. etc. etc. He was a kickss photographer as well. Rest in Peace Uncle Paul.

Here are some of Paul's photo's.

I had a phone interview on Friday thanks to a friend from the MBA program at KU. It's definitely a better job opportunity and I hope I get it.

Life is crazy. Doors open and close. Hearts brake and hearts heal. As my friend Burnsey often quotes, "don't get so busy making a career, that you forget to make a life." Get yours while you can. 

After work I gorged on some fried chicken and sweet tea and then rode out to Skullbuster for a semi-race-pace 12 mile loop. Good for the soul, body and mind. I guess that's why they call it "dirt church".

Music? How about some Atmosphere. I'm in that sort of mood tonight. 

Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to The Pharcyde ...dope mashup album (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Vancouver BC I love your BIG GREEN TREES!

+ = BEATS + BIKES + LIFE

Mud Ride!

Had a day off today and was planning on 30+ miles of riding or two plus laps at Skullbuster. Woke up late..because it was dumping rain. Proceeded to put around town and get some things done while the trail (hopefully) dried up.

Once out on the trail I realized it was still pretty sh!tty. I knew the backside of the trail was gonna be better so I dabbed and rode my way through the muck. It really wasn't that bad, I wouldn't have ridden the trail if it was, but it's been so long since I rode in muddy conditions it was a re-learning experience.

The tire setup I'm running, Ardent 2.4 up front Ikon 2.2 in the rear did okay I guess. The Ardent weighed like 30 pounds by the end of the ride and the rear tire shed mud like a...no wait, it DIDN'T shed mud. I might be looking for a set of mud tires (Maxxis Beaver?).

 I also broke in my new Sidi Dominator shoes which were noticeably stiffer than my old Shimano's, also lighter, but didn't fit as well in the heel. I had some "lifting" so I'm going to either swap out the Shimano insoles or try to find some of those nifty Specialized BG fit insoles.

Overall I think I'm in decent shape for not cycling frequently (at all really). I've been doing a "cross fit" of pushups, situps, pullups (varying grips) and playing basketball after work. Just trying to stay active doing SOMETHING/ANYTHING everyday. Reading. Making new goals for myself. So far so good.

Mike C. with the goods!

Mike Curiak dishes up the sweet video (once again) and makes me want to move to Colorado like a mother******.

All the best of late summer in Colorado. from LaceMine29.com on Vimeo.

Check out his website at www.lacemine29.com

RIP Rick Kerr ... a fellow cyclist

http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/31/2318857/friends-to-build-ghost-bike-in.html

Well,  didn't know Rick Kerr, but I saw his death on the news tonight. It's always sad to see a fellow cyclist die and it seems like it's all too common these days with ADD and ADHD and cell phones and textaholics and zombies and meth'd out Redbull crackheads speeding like crazy. Just a reminder to ride your bike defensively and always be as safe as possible. I guess sometimes there is nothing you can do though. RIP Rick! :-(

About 6 years ago my parents were hit on the Cottonwood 200 charity bike ride. They almost died and not a day goes by that I don't think about them and remember how I felt when my grandmother called to tell me what had happened. I'm so thankful that they are alive today and can truly say that they are my backbone and just really amazing, great people. I'm lucky they are still around today, but my heart goes out to anyone who has lost a fellow cyclist.

Editor of Kansas! remains hospitalized

http://cjonline.com/stories/060306/loc_kauk.shtml

http://cjonline.com/stories/062006/loc_kauk.shtml

Be safe out there!

SOLD 20" Kona Raijin frame

I got greedy and bought two of these puppies. Deciding to sell this one for a score. $1,400 shipped. Includes the Salsa seat clamp and the original seat clamp as well as the dropout with derailleur hanger for gears. Frame is gently used at less than 100 miles, and has not been registered. My personal favorite bike of all time.

24.5" top tube. 70 degree head angle. Short chainstays for snappy handling and bunny hopping the shit out of logs.

Retail for 2013 is $2,000...save $600 plus tax here!

Carver Fork repaint...install...review?

Ok, personal life is...going. Slowly getting over the girl and currently nursing a hangover from last night. I was going to sell the Salsa La Cruz ti frame, but have decided to hang onto it until Kona comes out with their titanium Rove model which I'm hoping will actually happen. I posted on their Facebook wall a while back and they said something to the effect of "we'll see" with a little winky smiley face.

I decided to go with the mullet brake setup since I'm in Kentucky and mullets are the hairstyle of choice. I first ordered up a Whisky 7 carbon disc fork for 1-1/8 steerers but that thing was a pig with it's aluminum steerer so I sold it for what I paid and decided to try out the Carver all carbon 1-1/8" cyclocross disc fork. Carver is the house brand of Bikeman.com.

First off, this thing is ugly (to me at least). I was hoping the sticker would be outside the clear coat. No go. The "sticker" is actually painted/screen printed or some other method that is not easy to remove. I bit off more than I could chew I suppose and had to dive in head first. I went and picked up some paint and went to town.

Originally I decided to do a matte black on both ends and fade the middle, but laid the paint on too thick and had to sand that all down and just go matte black over the whole thing. Finished up with a satin clear coat. Looks pretty boss I think. Certainly better than the CARVER going up and down each side.

Review...it's a carbon fork. Nothing much to note. Stiff and light. Mounts a disc. Done deal. Oh, put a Paul mini-moto on the rear as well and that thing is cool as hell. I'll take more pictures of the full La Cruz build once I put more miles on it. Currently sits at just under 22 pounds. Not bad. Think I gained a pound adding the disc, but should be better in the slop and gravel. I can setup BB7's like a champ so it feels great. Blah, blah, blah! Here are the pictures.