to the lab, igor !!

it has been a while since i felt right, and had use of my right arm. both are comin' 'round nicely tho, and i reckon it is time to venture out to the laboratory to assess the bike situation. MK may be rocking a two-bike approach to the season . . . . so i thought i would take stock of the available old parts and see if i cain't join her. 4 steel frames, 4 drop bars, maybe three bar-con shifters, various mismatched rim brakes, a thread-on freewheel, the smell of phil grease and a bitch-pile of soul.

where is spring !!

separated at birth pt III

this is one i am particularly proud of. they do not call MKE's own JWM "the elusive one" for nothing. he is indeed rarely seen, even when you are on ride with him and maybe 2 or 3 others. or in a vehicle driving across the state to a dinky little SS race. few photos exist of him in captivity. witness this one, and note his uncanny ability to blend into any background - in this case by impersonating a towering Blue Spruce tree even as he rides his most righteous Singular steed:

BUT, as arlo guthrie once sang - that's not what i came to talk about. for this installment of SaB none other than MK her own bad-ass self was able to capture a pic of . . . not JWM's elusive self - but instead an even MORE rare shot of a JWM impersonator lurking amongst the stately confines of Notre Dame University. no word from MK on how this elusive lookalike responded to being immortalized inside her i-touch . . . but i have not heard from her since.

hunter thompson, quentin tarantino, gauguin . . . . .

and tim gunn are all personal heroes of mine, in the artist category. the painting above is my fave all time- i wonder where former art historian russl B jobs weighs in on the issue ?? anyway, since the good Dr is dead, and quentin is taking another umpteen years off after the stellar " basterds" film, and the Art Institute is several hours away i guess i will have to make do with Project Runway.

nice !!

i gotta say, sometimes i am disturbing, even to myself.

song remains the same

i ran across this story recently. i didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

the various points of story are almost too unbelieveable to be real. a stellar and nationally recognized group of volunteers, doing everything by-the-book. thousands of man-hours. insane levels of hoop-jumping and good faith. every step of the way the model of new-school partnershipping and organization.

all completely thrown under the bus by the Wisconsin DNR at the first sign of a problem. not to be a droning old coot, but this isn't the first time. the Wisconsin DNR has a historic relationship with mtn biking that is overidingly awash in lies, covert and sophisticated back-room dirty deals, and a beyond blatant disregard and viscousness toward the individuals involved as users in the sport. they have done this for over a quarter of a century.

it is always a little surprising to me that the people active in advocacy today seem to prefer to ignore the history involved in this state, but i suppose it is for the best. acknowledging the bad blood that was shed by the bucketful in the early days when the DNR robbed mtn biking of everything would prevent the gains that they have managed to slowly claw back. nobody that took those brutal beatdowns in advocacy then is still in the game today. and even now, the HPT and other modern people are meeting with the DNR this very evening to attempt to continue to get them to throw a bone mtn biking's way, even after they watched the DNR run them down in their headlights and feast on their still breathing carcass. god bless those guys, maybe they will get something, and they are far better men than i am for walking back in there and trying. still, it pains me to see people making the same sucker mistakes we did - hint: never talk with or put in 5 minutes of time toward anything with DNR on a verbal agreement, guys - GET IT IN WRITING. and i don't care if they have a smiling smooth talking "trails coordinator" on the payroll these days - she is NOT ON OUR SIDE, OK ?? you don't need TmonT to tell you that, the "no biking" signs should suffice ( speaking of which - didja ever notice that when a new trail gets built it is always up to the hardworking cash-poor volunteers to procure signage because "there's no money" in the DNR - but when they close a trail the "no biking" signs spring forth like magic ?? ).

so sad, over 25 years later and they still play us like violins.

separated at birth, pt II

has anybody ever seen these two in the same room together ??

1. green bay's coolest singlespeeder ben-g:



and 2. skateboarding & MTV mega-star rob dyrdek:

inconvience in animation

as an update to the broken wrist . . . . . it now appears that i have reached the age where it is actually more advised to throw parts away as i wear them out, as opposed to bothering to fix them. which wouldn't be that alarming if we were talking about an appendix, or a hairy mole or something. but for guys at my age we now put actual parts of the skeletal structure ( freaking RIGHT ARM, no less )into that category. break a bone ?? screw it, lets just go in there and hack it out and toss it in the incinerator - i will evidently be better off. i gotta admit i did push for it a bit, as with the old haggerd bone in there i may not be able to ride, or least i would have to get a susp fork ( !!!!!!! ). screw that noise, say i. take that sucker on outta there !!!

gotta admit, it is appealing from the weight loss perspective. and bonus !!! instant improved flexibilty to boot. there are definately upsides to being so old that my animation of my decrepit body is little more than a medical inconvienience.

speaking of bonus, check out my 74 y/o dad's new ride:



mucho fun to drive. the old man walked into his local dealer and plunked down for it recently. not dead yet, i guess.