Saturday and Sunday I got in two good road rides. Saturday was a bit cool (chilly), i.e. long sleeves and leg warmers. Yuck! By Sunday I'll be riding in Hawaii wishing it wasn't so hot. Anyways, stopped into the local Starbucks for a hot choco. I hate to admit it but I kinda liking our local Starbucks. It has free wi-fi now. Alterra has better coffee but it's sometimes too busy and they are discouraging people to hang out there too long. It gets a boat load of med students practically living there.
Saturday night I took myself on a date to see Junior Brown. I've seen him before and he kicks you know what. He did not disappoint. If you like good old fashioned honky tonk tunes mixed with the blues and wicked guitar showmanship you should check him out in your town. The drummer was fun to watch. I sensed that every night must be different for him and needs to be on his toes to follow Junior. The Bass player was solid too. When you don't notice the bass player it usually means he's good.
Sunday went over to Sun Prarie for the Cyclocross Grand Prix. Beautiful day. Good racing. It was nice to catch up a bit with some of the riders I know.
I haven't seen these Stevie Ray Vaughan in Japan posting before. This version of "Say What" has a different tempo than how he usually played it. I wonder if that was on the spot or rehearsed? Either way these guys are so tight and could play off of what Stevie was doing. Makes the hair on my neck stand up listening to this.
Also found him doing a German tv version for comparison. If you break it down it's freaky the way he phrases and accentuates with the Wah pedal and his bending. Not to mention his TONE! Blows me away.
I finished a couple of projects this week that required power tools and making saw dust. My days are so much better when it involves fixing or making stuff. "THE CASE FOR MAKING STUFF WITH YOUR HANDS!" One of them was a new shipping crate for the stuff we ship to Kona, HI for Ironman World Championships and the other was a new roller board.
I didn't take a pic of the shipping crate but here is the new roller board (A roller board is used to build ski specific strength ie. double poling). What do you think Randy? If I build another one someday I might tweak it differently but it seems to do the job.
Nordic skiers have been building roller boards long before Chuck Noris started hawking his "total gym" thing. So, no it's not like the thing Chuck Noris uses!
Speaking of Chuck Norris how about some jokes. 1. Chuck Norris does not wear a condom. Because there is no such thing as protection from Chuck Norris. 2. Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas. 3. Chuck Norris will never have a heart attack. His heart isn't nearly foolish enough to attack him. 4. Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night. 5. When the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. 6. Chuck Norris doesn't breathe, he holds air hostage. 7. When Chuck Norris crosses the street, the cars have to look both ways. 8. Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door. 9. Chuck Norris can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves. 10. They once made a Chuck Norris toilet paper, but it wouldn't take shit from anybody.
This past Saturday was the Crank and Crawl gathering downtown.
Jack's new moto. I now have a partner in crime to talk about motorcycles with. We both are new to it. I'm shopping for a dual sport bike.
Would love to get the Kawasaki KLX 250s.
Getting ready for Kona. This year we have 15 athletes from the team who qualified.
I meant to post pictures of the truck ages ago. I think it will always be a work in progress because my ideas for efficiency change depending on useage. My workshop, office, bike hauler, expo display hauler. Everything has a spot.
The race room is actually pretty comfy now. I like sleeping in it when I need some privacy. Traveling with people is not always my favorite thing to do for a loner like me.
Some of you may have noticed that I'm on the Facebook thing now. Total peer pressure! Why is it that I find Facebook annoying? When I do go on it I scratch my head about what to do with it. Someone should have told me maybe I shouldn't "confirm" anybody who asks. It seems really inane stuff I don't care about from some people. I saw on the news today that the kid who invented Facebook is about the 3rd richest person in the U.S.. How can that be? How does he get that much money from such a useless time waster?
Should I start in about people on their cell phones when driving? I'm in a mood I guess. I sort of compare it to mother's with kids that are smoking.
I should go now. I'm getting worked up!
Off to Hawaii in week! I will be missing a another visit by Rodrigo Y Gabriela to Milwaukee again. Aargh!
Mahalo, DJB
Sunday, September 05, 2010
It was nice to be back in Penticton, British Columbia for Ironman Canada. I haven’t had this race on my schedule for about 3 years and it's one of my favorite places to explore. The views are amazing and the area has a unique climate well suited to fruit growing and wine production. It was also rewarding for the team to have some solids results. Viktor Zyemstev won the Pro Men’s race with 4 of the 5 athletes getting on the podium as well. Kyle and Janelle were also the best-placed Canadian Pros, eh!
This trip was particularly fun for me because I fell into a routine that many would consider a vacation, except for me its what I get to do for work. I think I figured out that the less social activities the better for my well being as it lets me explore the places I get to visit.
Essentially, I concerned myself with a daily schedule that looked like this. Up early with a leisurely breakfast on the deck of the restaurant to read the paper (The salmon run was the best its been for 100 years was the big news). A couple of times I went for a morning spin too. After that, it was off to the expo to work on our athlete’s bikes and generally hang around the truck. It often got extremely windy in the afternoons so it seemed like a constant job to make sure tents and awnings were securely staked down or put away. Once “work” was done I took advantage of the amazing riding in the area for 2-3 hours. This year I had my mountain bike too so it was nice to ride the road one day and then switch to the trails the next. I hope the pictures convey how nice it is to ride around there. Nice climbs and good scenery around every bend. I would have like a few more rides on the mountain bike trails. The area I was directed to is a maze of forest roads and singletrack but very little signage or anything so it was trial and error finding my way around. You could tell some trails were meant for downhill only but I wouldn’t realize that until I tried going “up” them. Throw in the fact that its open range for cattle and you never know what’s up ahead. One morning I had to do some backtracking since the herd I came across didn’t appear as though they wanted to move out of my way. I wasn’t too sure how well behaved those things are so I played it safe as I felt out numbered.
I often was just finishing the ride as the sun was going down and after a quick shower it was off to dinner and a nice glass of wine (I’m in wine country after all) with a book as my companion. I probably got a few looks as the lonely guy eating by himself but really I like it that way. In bed by eleven o’clock and I was ready to start again the next day.
I’m back in Milwaukee for Labor Day weekend then off to Madison, WI for Ironman Wisconsin. After that it’s off to Vegas for the annual bike industry convention (looking to see if I really need to go. I really don’t want to). Before I have time to be at home again in Milwaukee for much time, it will be time to pack for Hawaii for Ironman World Championships. Man, where did summer go?
Great shack for a burger the way you want it called Burger 55.
Nice roads to ride.
The KVR rail trail was a nice 3 mile warm up to get to the trailhead.
Okonagon Lake.
Saw this old Trek with Scott Drop-In bars on the rack. Back in the day that was a...unique bike.
After Ironman ended i stayed a few more days to continue catching up.
Like I mentioned in the last post, I spent time just hanging out at Placid Planet. Shane brought in one of his handmade guitars for me to play. The body is from a old beam out of a friends house in Massachusettes. It plays great. The wood is marred with worm holes which give it some character to look at.
Kelly pieced together a tall-mans-kid-bike. It's a 26" wheeled Schwinn inspired copy from a Giant frame he found. Tall guys can actually ride this thing.
Another long time riding friend of mine owns Placid Boatworks and builds some beautiful carbon fiber boats. It's always interesting to hang out in another kind of shop and to see how he and his crew does it.
One of the main reasons to stick around was to be shown some of the new mtb trails that the guys have been building. The long running tuesday night leaves from Placid Planet. I forgot how different the riding was. I've become used to the flowy fst stuff from traveling out West. Adirondack roots and mud was a slower pace that demanded more technical awareness. Of course when someone flats we all stop. Good commarderie. It's nice to know that sometimes 15-20 people will show up. In the lean years sometimes it was 3 or 4 of us.
After the ride we hit the summer concert series on Main Street park. Actual "young people" music being played out in the open. The town father's must be rolling in their graves.
The Wednesday night ride, which meets by the tree at the beach, has become an even bigger night to ride. It's officially called the "Booze Cruise". Show up with a 6-pack. No one gets dropped. Beer stops along the way. I was told up to 30 people show up but this particular night was kind of rainy. I was so pysched to hear that 30 people come. We tried for years to get rides going like this. I think back then we ruined things by being "racer" types. The crew there now is really behind doing trail work and just enjoying some good group rides.
Rest stop. Crack! Splish!
Another Rest Stop.
And another rest stop.
Leaving Lake Placid I made a few stops too.
Chapel Pond
Beer walls climbing area.
Spent a night at Jim's handbuilt house in North Creek, NY.
Jim and Pooch. It's a great place for morning coffee on the deck.
"In an era of Google Earth, Tom-Toms,MapQuest,Magellan's,GPS, Lonely Planet travel guides to Anartica, and 13 year-olds calling home by satellite phone..from Mount Everest, no less, just how does one become lost anymore?"
-Michael DiGregorio in BIKE
I've been meaning to do some updates lately now that I finally bought a new camera after my other one died. My most recent trip about 3 weeks ago was to Lake Placid, NY for Ironman Lake Placid. I've missed the last two years of Lake Placid due to other NRC races with the road team so I was excited to go back and catch up with my friends and one of the best places in the world. I like that Lake Placid is a little bit off the map. I appreciate that cell phones don't really work up there. I miss living in that small town atmosphere where you pretty know everyone on some level. It's a great place to get LOST. Lost in friends, lost in new trails, lost in good times from "back in the day".
Keep checking back this might take more than one post.
My first stop was to stay with Randy and Lisa. This was actually the fist time I got to meet Jonathon since he was born and like many boys he likes trucks. Randy showed me the trails he's constructed on land adjacent to the house. It was pretty cool to have some ski trail literally right out the back door.
Ken and Julie are the owners of THE BEST BIKE SHOP! If they don't have it you probably didn't need it. It was nice to be invited to the staff party. I spent some hours at the shop since many of my friends were working there and they have a good espresso machine. Kenny was probably glad to see me go and stop bothering the employees.
Placid Planet had a new door that was cool.
And...some big chainrings too!
Liquids and Solids" is a new bar/eatery opened up by some friends. Seems like all us mountain bikers ended up there several times after rides.
I ran into Dusty and Chrissy. Dusty and his sister Lori were some of the first people i met when I moved to Lake Placid in 1992. There mom has been reading my blog! HI!
Ironman week was wet. Not all the time but enough where I worked inside the truck most of the time instead of under the Ez-Up tent. Ironman race day was fun watching Special K, The Schultz, and Devon compete. Keith decided two days before to do it. This was Dave's first Ironman distance and Devon's 2nd or 3rd. Inspiring to see those guys having fun.
Keith
Dave
Me, spectating at the finish from the catwalk on top of the truck.
This kid is awesome. Sometimes kids remind us how we should be greeting everyday. Rev up your engine, some fist pumps, blow a few kisses, then let the day rip.
Higlights of my last 3 week driving adventure in the Timex truck.
Watching World Cup Games before checking out from hotel.
Driving through Montana. Truly Big Sky country. I always imagine what it must have been like in the frontier days.
Having to get the truck's transmission re-built in Portland, OR. Not a good thing. Hanging out with one of the athlete's for a day. Fun thing.
Renting a car to go to Bend, OR while truck was being repaired.
Mountain biking in Bend, OR. REALLY GOOD THING!
Finally getting to Ironman Coeur D' Alene a day late.
Setting up the truck with our new expo look. New tents, chairs, banners, etc. I was proud of the work everyone has put in to get it mostly dialed in. There will always be stuff to change but it was nice to hear some positive comments on our visual impact.
Seeing Chris and Linsey Corbin including mom and dad Pickell. Then watching Linsey win her "first" Ironman and breaking the course record to boot.
Driving back through Montana. Had to dodge some thunderstorms which always coincided with trying to go for a ride. At least I got to do some recon on where to go when I drive through again in August. I even found a rest area on I-90 that has some convenient rock climbing routes. It been a long time since I got that excited feeling when looking at rock. Going to dig around for my shoes and gear and perhaps Tristan and I can hit it on our drive to Ironman Canada.
Back to Milwaukee. Hot and humid. Summerfest Music Festival. 4th of July fireworks on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of July.
I found myself thinking about my dad the other day. I'm not sure what sparked this particular memory but it keeps coming back to me.
I have fond memories of the times we went to get ice cream, usually in the evenings after dinner on a nice summer evening. It would still be light out when when we left the house but dark by the time we returned. Dad would say, "Want to go get ice cream?", and off we would go.
Going to Abbotts for a soft ice cream cone as it turns out was more than a tasty treat. To a kid it was spending time with dad on a summer evening with no worries in the world. I wish I could do that now. I wonder what he thought about it?
Do you have the latest phone? What about the latest computer to replace that old one (old being 1 year old)? The coolest watch? I might be guilty of wanting the latest bike but if you were to look at my two bikes they are hardly the "newest" thing out there. A design that works is a design that will last.
I believe the Fender Stratocaster guitar (as well as the Telecaster) might hold the distinction of being one design that has stood the test of time. It's form-follows-function design has been unchanged since it was introduced in the 50's.
The original Timex watch is great too! I'd probably still be wearing it if I didn't work with TIMEX and have access to their watches.
I thought I would finally get some pics up from the last trip before I head out again for Ironman Couer d' Alene.
Driving is not for SISSIES!
A quick ride in McDowell Mtn. Park in Phoenix.
A quick ride in Sedona.
Water bottle modification. It is a bit tight to fit the Di2 battery mount on the Ordu frame but there is a way to get a H2O cage in there.
Ironman St. George
CD came down from Salt Lake to hang out for a few days in St. George. We hit up the excellent trails in the area.
St. George scenery while out riding.
Desert Tortoise
Gila Monster.
Bikes in the hall again.
After St. George I met some folks in Moab for 2 days.
Erin in Moab (Porcupine Rim)
Stopped near Fruita, CO on the way to Boulder to ride with Erin and Bryce. The Kokopelli trailhead is literally right off the Interstate. You can see the Loma weigh station in the background. Racked on some fines there last year.
