That's That

It's time for real life. College has been over for awhile, and now so is my Watson fellowship. I've had some great experiences that I thought were worth blogging about. I hope you enjoyed them. I am now retiring this blog. You can still get in touch with me by email or facebook.

I have moved to Austin, Texas where I will be working for awhile. You're welcome to come down when it gets cold up north to hang out and/or ride bikes.

Oh, and don't worry. I WILL STILL BE RACING BIKES.
I'm not going to turn into one of those wankers who whines about how I am too busy to race bikes, I just can't travel as much.

Thanks for reading!

BIKE GEAR (almost) GIVEAWAY.

I will have a bunch of extra bike stuff at the 24 hour race to get rid of. Name your own price! The box of stuff will be by my car with a sign. Please put cash in my car or give to my support person.

I want to get rid of it all by 7pm Tuesday, so your last chance to get it will be Renegade 'Cross on Tuesday. You can also email me to claim anything you might want.

Stuff includes:
Camelbak mule (no bladder)
Profile Design aerobars
Planetbike frame pump
planetbike tire levers
red blinky light
700x37 continental contact tires (slickish) with tubes
Disc brake rotor converters (from 6-bolt to the XTR kind)
Salsa seat clamp
schrader tubes

And a bunch of other random stuff.

"Only time they exciting is when they mentioning S[ea]n"

Blueprint 3 comes out shortly, but it's all over the internet today. Get ready to buy it.

I had a lot of fun racing bikes around Des Moines on Sunday. I tried a couple not-so-smart moves. Had a lot of fun being aggressive, almost dying, and then being aggressive again. Somehow I hung on to not completely suck.

It was a great race and a great course. Props to everyone involved in organizing it--- Rasmussen, PRC, all9yards, etcetera. And to JJ for announcing. Great job out of ya'll.

I know it's a good day in Des Moines when I ride down to the mountain bike trails and find a bunch of my friends.

On that note, 'Cross Practice Tuesday!!!!! Check it
I'll see you there. Maybe tacos on wednesday. sleep on thursday and friday. 24 hour race on saturday (i'm only doing 12). Moving next tuesday.

Where's Noo-Noo?

"Same song, I'm back, been around the world. Ro...."

Well, maybe just around the good old USofA. Here are some pictures. Shortly I will be off once again only to settle somewhere new. Real life. That story at....whenver I get around to it.

Welcomed back to St. Olaf. It's been 2 years.
Northfield. Someone is missing from this picture. We always road down main street after every ride.
New dirt jumps!
Fun little TT organized by Jim and friends near Faribault. Thanks!
See how this parking lot is wet. It's gasoline. These girls sprayed it all over their car and parking lot.
Clams. MMMMMM. We caught them, then we ate them.
Thunder storm. Riding in DC.
Chamois time is training time, somewhere in Pennsylvania.
Posers on the bike trail near Bethesda, MD.
Famous structures.

Economics of bicycle inflation. Even non-economists love that guy.

Home

Or at least, the only place that feels like it: Northfield, Minnesota. For a few days.

Peculiar Pictures from the Sprachraum

I wrote this post while in Germany, but never finished it, here ya go:

I was trying to think of a word for the areas that speak German (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc). Apparently Sprachraum is a German word used in English to denote a language's area, not defined by national borders. Now that you've learned something, I'm going to dumb this down with all the stupid pictures I took on the other side of the pond.

I've heard people say that you have serious language skills when you start dreaming in that language. The other night I had a dream where people spoke to me in German, but I spoke to them in Arabic. A predicament.

F-in right.

Bunker to keep the nazis out. I'm serious. Oh and inglorious basterds comes out today. perfect.
Fountain dude. The water he produces is clean and ready to drink.
lost cow.
There is some odd appeal for Texas everywhere.
Have I ever told you about hillbilly trash day? If not you will have to ask, and then you can see how they handle hillbilly trash day in germany. This guy is using a bike instead of a pick-up truck. I guess since it's sustainable you could now call it hippie hillbilly trash day (but I mean this all in a good way).
This flower sure made me excited about shopping.
Fill in the blank. This is on the Fahrradbrücke, or Bike bridge.
Yes, that roller bag is hooked up to his bike....

pastry?mmm....snacks....

Iowa's Mecca (PICTURE UPDATE)

Otherwise known as Iowa City. Let me explain. Mecca, as many of you know, is the town in Saudi Arabia made famous from the life of Muhammad and where many Muslims travel on religious pilgrimage. Many major religions have something like this, a trip any believer is supposed to make at least once in their lifetime. For whatever reason though, Mecca is the particular word we use in the English language to describe a place that is especially worth travelling to. So, given that I think IC is the best place in Iowa, I like to call it Mecca. Not to mention that everytime I am back in Iowa I make a trip to IC, my very own non-religious pilgrimage. But there is more to it than that.

While riding around on a flat tire after the group ride, I realized this. Why would anyone go to Saudi Arabia? If you ignore religion it is just a big desert. Yes, there's one more reason which you already thought of- oil. So that gives you a resource that is terrible for human existence and Mecca. Iowa, has the same two reasons. Seriously, why would someone go to Iowa? (think of a foreigner who has only heard of NYC, DC and LA). It has a terribly inefficient resource, Ethanol and feed corn (yep, nobody is eating corn anymore), also bad for human existence, and Iowa City. Though, I don't know why anyone would come to Iowa even for Iowa City, I just think it's a good place to go if you are stuck in cornland.

And for those of you that are going to give silly answers like Deathbrai and the Iowa State Fair, or give exceptions like soybeans, let me say this about that: I have successfully not been in Iowa for both Deathbrai and the Fair this year (victory), and this is just a joke, so your exceptions don't matter.

Riding in Meccca
I did not drive to Iowa City only for the group ride, but it worked out conveniently to go there. I did it once years ago, and wanted to experience it again, especially after all the silliness in Des Moines. The Iowa City Group ride on Thursday night seemed to me what a group ride should be: Great chatting, hard riding if you want to, comfortable places to sit on if you are being lame and most importantly very positive attitudes. Also, real hills, gravel and riders that actually work together.

It had none of that nervousness and anger that has become regular on Des Moines' ride. I will go so far to say if I made the mistake of living in Des Moines, it would be almost worth driving to Iowa City for the group ride.

The group in IC seemed nicely organized with a lot of people rotating through, but with certain people that wanted to hurt (or make others hurt) rotating/attacking a lot more. There were a few different attacks and things that made the ride interesting. But I think the big difference was that there was not a bunch of Tri-retards and Tony Nichols-like people who only 'race' their bike on Tuesdays. For real (amateur) bike raceers, such training rides have a greater purpose, and should look a lot more like the screenplay of a race rather than a one act of 'just trying to finish with the front group.'

But maybe my experience in IC was very rosy-eyed. If I'm around, I'll try to make it back to actually finish a ride and see if this description holds out. Old wankers in Des Moines: commence your whining. I'm trying to find a job, but if that doesn't happen soon maybe I'll stir the pot a little more back in the 515.

Recent Sightings
Seattle Sharrow

Bigfoot sighting. He makes some alright coffee.
RRR, defiance. Sweet park for riding bikes in circles though.
Cam and Tony (yeah Tpod, I just called you out).
Taylor, Kyle and friendly dog.
IC group ride. They even ride gravel! And check out the amish cart ahead.
Emo-Cipollini.
Space needle. I though it was big, as in almost in space. It's small and space is still far away.
Baseball game.

Amish kids riding bikes. The dude on the left has no shoes. I was trying to find a pick-up after double flatting. Thanks Posh.