Archive: February 19, 2009

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why you need a new bike this year

Thursday,  02/19/09  11:07 PM


(When magazine editors appear to be reading your mind :)

First, an update on my weird disaster (wherein my frame was nearly destroyed when a errant coat hanger tore the derailleur out of the dropout)...  my Kestrel frame has been repaired!  I haven't seen it yet, but Edgar at RoadRunner Velo called to say it's all done and looks great.  He's mailing the frame back to my local bike shop, who will then reassemble the frame back into a bike, and poof! I will be back on the road sometime next week.  Yay.

But in the meantime I've been using this as a bike buying excuse, or at least a bike shopping excuse, and obviously Bicycling Magazine agrees...  their latest issue has a comprehensive survey of hundreds of new bikes, including many I've been looking at (and many others I've never heard of).  They do not include any Kestrel models, and especially not the RT800/RT900 which I've been thinking about lately, especially while watching the boys from Rock Racing ride them in the Tour of California.

I'm going to the Solvang Time Trial tomorrow and there's an outside chance I might be able to hook up with the SoCal Kestrel rep, Brenda Lyons, and an even more outside chance that I could see one of the Rock Racing RT800s close up.  Please stay tuned...

 

Thursday,  02/19/09  11:38 PM

Greetings blog public, how are you all tonight?  I'm doing well; had a really productive day, holed up in my office, coding in English (email) and C++, and occasionally looking outside at what appeared to be a perfect day.  Finally mid-afternoon I couldn't stand it anymore and took off for a nice ride along Mulholland, and the views of the ocean were amazing (best part was coming back and seeing the snow on the mountains!)

And then tonight we watched the Tour of California, of course, stage 5, which was pretty boring; another bunch sprint and another victory for Mark Cavendish, ho hum...  but tomorrow will be excellent, because it is the Solvang time trial, and I'm going to be there!  Stay tuned for pictures, etc...  there are many questions, how fast will Lance be, and Floyd, and will Levi dominate again...  and watch out for Dave Zabriske!

It's official: "If the President is a Republican, it's fine to call him a 'chimp.' In fact, it's morally superior. But if the President is a Democrat, you can't call a chimpanzee a chimp lest someone think you might have been referring to the President."  Sigh. 

This is pretty amazing: Nearly intact mammoth skeleton found in L.A.  "The mammoth's fossil was among 16 deposits at the site that archaeologists wrapped, along with the surrounding dirt, in plaster jackets, creating 23 boxes weighing between 5 and 53 tons that were then lifted out intact.  The construction was being monitored by an archaeological consulting firm because the site is so close to the La Brea tar pits - an archeological site that has yielded 100 million bones belonging to 300 species of mammals and birds."  Just don't call it a chimp :) 

How awesome is this...  Darwin: change over time.  I love it, now that's change I can believe in! 

For this I've been waiting all my life: nerd merit badges!  The one at left is Inbox0, you earn it by emptying your inbox completely.  This is admittedly a hard one but there are others which are easier.  I can’t wait to have my entire jacket covered :) 

You might be a nerd if you think this is funny: QDB: top 100 quotes.  I am ROFL, but YMMV :) 

During my ride today I found myself listening to U2, With or Without You, and it prompted me to switch to listening to just U2 on random play.  Excellent stuff, and perfect for a nice ride on a nice day.  I see where U2's latest album "No line on the horizon" isn't out yet but is already available online via P2P...  I'll have to get it :) 

ZooBorn of the Day: A baby Chinese box turtle.  He will end up being about 6" in size and live for about 50 years.  Cute little fella...

 

 
 

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