A "Blast" from the Past

Well, I am finishing up a room for my oldest daughter, when I cam upon something that I dont use (or hear from) as much as I should. No, not my mother-in-law, nor was it a long lost relative coming out of the woodwork seeking money; he would have to look elsewhere I am afraid. No, it was something that my mother didnt want to take with her into her new dwellings. Thats right, you guessed it, a 1961 Magnavox Astrosonic console HiFi record player! Man, you guys are good.

This has been through a lot over the years; including me playing it as loud as possible-and trust me, this thing is louder than anything you can get today-while dressed up as Ace Frehley with a blue bulb plugged in at the old Oak Grove apartments from 1975-1979. You know, I never had one person complain? It went through a complete ceiling collapse in 1986 and still plays. I have been debating on wether or not to sell it or keep it.


I mean it is 1960's french provincial

style furniture. I dont walk around in powdered wigs, nor do I wear knickers either.

I guess from an artistic stanpoint, it is beautiful. Handmade in Fort Wayne, Indiana of the finest mahogany. It reminds me of the guy in Office Space in the basement all alone and forgotten.

Well, today I cleaned it and plugged it in and put on hmmm...let's see here; Duane Eddy...nah, Beach Boys...no, how bout...NO WAY, I forgot I had this! SGT Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by the...BEE GEES! YESSSSSSSSS! You know, I missed a whole week of school seeing this at the movies at Golden Ring Mall with Michael Bowling. Of course, those of you old enough to remember, you could sit through as many showings of a movie as you wanted. Ahhh, the good ole days.

Ok, back to earth. So, this thing still sounds amazing for a solid state contraption with more tubes than Dr. Jekyll's laboratory. Yeah, nothing like Peter Frampton (aka Billy Shears) vocalizing to "With a Little Help from my Friends."

So, I think I am going to keep her around a little longer. Maybe I will dress her up in the latest fashions from IKEA and try to fit her into whatever scheme we having going on right now and enjoy some Andy Williams or Englebert Humperdink whilst I play along on the trap set.

Its a numbers game

Well, it is coming to the end of yet another fun filled year on the bike; ok may wasnt all that fun. Come to think of it, the rest of the year was kind of a throw away year for me-at least from a racing stand point. I learned that I dont like hitting my head. I dont like hospitals (especially visiting the same one twice within 3 weeks for an operation and Rhabdo). I dont like not racing. I especially dont like doctors telling me I cant be on the bike for at least 3 weeks after my emergency appendectomy (I cheated and raced the next weekend...shhhhh). That was my last race of the year wayyyyy back in may. I did end up 6th, so not too bad I suppose.

Anyway, despite the crappy year, I managed to pull in my best yearly numbers so far. My goal was to log 8,000 miles, but that aint gonna happen. Still managed 330 personal records (200 up from last year). I logged 2,000 more miles than last year as well. I spent 100 more hours on the bike too. I wish I could have spent that time training, but at least I was able to ride.

Snotcycle is coming up at the end of january and that will kick off the race season early for me in 2013. Eh, who am I kidding; those crazy Mayans have the world ending in a few days. Oh well, I guess next years race season will be in the crapper as well.

My Wife is Awesome Post

I usually dont put too much stuff about family things, but I felt today is "My Wife is Awesome Blogpost Day." I have the best woman a guy who wears tight, spandex pants and thinks sitting on a piece of leather and carbon the size of your hand is comfortable can have. Simply put; she makes me look good. She makes me feel good. We dont always see everything eye to eye, but at the end of the day, we know we are still very much in love with each other.

She completes me and she-I still dont believe this-understands me. She "drags" herself to my races; not because she wants to be there, but because I want her there. She supports my two wheeled addiction because it makes me happy. she enjoys that; making me happy. You see, that is what a marriage is about; making the other one happy. Granted I think my wife has a pretty big lead in this category, but I love her with all that I am. I think she just keeps me around for eye candy anyway.

So anyway, sorry that you had to read the mushy side of the moron, but even morons can get all soft and tender too. After 20+ years, I am still learning about you and wouldnt miss it for all of the bikes I own...hmmm, wait a minute, uh...er, nah just kidding!

Better Late than Never

Well, I never thought I would be hopping on the Fixie band wagon. I mean, I always associated it with dorks who wanna be like Andy Warhol and talk as if they just completed their first semester at Juiard and have nothing better to do than ride around the city doing no-handed track stands for the sake of... ok no more of that.

So as it turns out, Bike Doctor of Linthicum (were I call work home, or is it home work?) is changing the name to Aviation Velo. Me being the artsy fartsy singlespeed good natured moron that I am, I decided to "sell" my web and graphics skills to Jeff in return-at his recommendation-for a made in Waterford, Wi. USA, Fleet Velo steel fixie. Now I have dabbled in the fixie arts before-albeit briefly-and just didnt feel any love for this knee crushing, modern velocipede. I mean could I really look like this guy? Good Lord no.

Well, after my first ride, I am hooked. So much so that it is the only bike I have ridden in two weeks, well other than one ride. I have put 110 miles on it so far. It has taken a few iterations to get it where I feel comfortable with the bars and everything else. I finally settled on Bontrager Crivitz bars. Now I know that it doesnt look like the typical fixie, but that is what I want. It feels like my ss mtb's and that is what I am looking for. I decided to go brakeless which scared me at first, but I have gotten used to it...REAL QUICK. I did have a hard time at first forgetting that freewheeling isnt an option.

I can certainly feel that I have gotten much stronger as well. Funny thing is that It is harder work going down hill than climbing. I havent become comfortable with going too fast yet, so it has really worked the quads trying to maintain a safe speed. This is fast becoming my new training tool for singlespeed world domination, well maybe not. I have it set up with a 42/16, which isnt enough for me. I am going to move it to a 46 or 48 set up. It has Dura Ace track hubs and velocity rims. It has the coolest old school Ultegra Octa-link cranks. The Cannondale Save carbon post rocks; very comfortable and light.

I think incorporating this thang into this years training program will be a huge benefit; at least I am hoping. Anything is an improvement after last years medical mess.

I will keep you abreast on how that works out. Of course if I have a momentary laps of reason and forget to keep pedaling, I may have to take up chess or something when my knees are strewn all over the road.