Wow; that was way more fun than I expected

I don't know if it's the 3 cups of coffee I've already had this morning or the sneaking onto Bike the Drive before work, but I am in a fabulous mood for 10 AM Sunday morning. Let's peep some pics, shall we (sounds like that's the coffee talking)?
I managed to get up before the alarm actually went off so I didn't wake the wife while I snuck out way too early to get in a sizable ride before work.
Although I do feel mildly guilty for not fully registering this year, that did add an element of feeling like I was getting away with something which only made things that much more fun. The cop blocking the Belmont ramp gave me a nice wave when I went by.
Getting on at an unofficial starting point was odd; I felt like I was merging just like a car would. I ended up doing this twice b/c after I made it to the turn-around point and back to Fullerton, it was way too early to go to the office so I went back up to Belmont for an extra couple of minutes.
Conditions were perfect; sunny but windy enough to feel like you were really working at points. Especially over the Grand/Illinois bridge. People were really struggling back up the north-bound portion. Even against the wind, back down was a blast. I stopped to take a self-indulgent picture of my bike in the sun.I also took a shot of my new bike pants. $8 steve & barry pants cut way short and had hemmed to just below the knee. Perfect for the temperature in the mid-50's and very comfortable. Outstanding.
All in all a great day. Of course, as soon as I got on the first time a roadie went flying by advising me my seat was set too low. Thanks guy. I'm only out here year-round, I never would have thought to put the seat in a position less comfortable than I've already got it in. Oh well. If you're surrounded by bikers, odds are there's going to be someone giving you advice whether you want it or not. The sun was out, I put in an extra ten miles or so before work, and now I'm off for more coffee and whatever beer the wife picks up while I'm at work today. Fantastic. Happy Memorial Day!
Current beer-scale: 3.9 (mellow, but I could crack one)

A few more

Some oods & ends from San Francisco while I have time.

Bike lanes everywhere, even though that van is about to pull right into the lane and just about run me over for standing there to take a picture.

The sea lions at Pier 39 were a hilight for me. I could go there every day and just watch and listen. You could hear them over the sound of traffic from blocks away. It was great.

San Francisco was littered with bits of pop culture if you were looking for them. We passed Dasheil Hammet too and I'm bummed I didn't think to take a picture of that one too.

Ah, Nob Hill. The hills in this city pretty much ruined me for the rest of the trip. By the time we made it to Seattle, when we were climbing back up Pike street away from the market, I felt like a 50-year old.

Golden Gate from China Beach. This was in a pretty posh part of town, and even though I don't live in the dumpiest of neighborhoods, I still felt like a hick wandering around taking tourist pictures in someone else's yard. Totally worth it though.

Following up on that hickish feeling, I admit I'm a sucker for a tourist trap bar/restaurant as long as there's a surf theme. Plus, they had Kona Longboard on tap, always a plus in my book. Beer is your friend.

Current beer-scale: 2.1

Portland/Seattle, w/a subtle motif

Onwards and upwards, from San Fran to Portland and Seattle. This leg of the trip was literally awash in alcohol, from the moment we stepped off the plane.

We were greeted in the terminal by a fantastic wall display featuring locally built bikes of all makes and models. The single-speed cyclocross caught my eye.

I totally need one of these.

From the airport, it was downtown while we waited for a former roommate to finish up at the office. I had time to stop at Powell's, which is always fun. No pictures from there though. Once closing time hit, it was off to the roommate's place where I met my new best friend--his kegirator.

We hit it off immediately. The seemingly endless supply of frosty-cold delicious Full Sail Amber was easy to get used to. I could never be a fully functioning member of society with one of these in my house. But since I was on vacation, it was easy to put back 5 or 6 pints each night after we got back from going out. I ended up hiding the bottles of Full Sail we had at the tailgate later in the week so they didn't get instantly consumed. This is why my beer-scale scores have been so low lately, but I'm starting to perk back up. I'm going to have to start looking for it in Chicago while I have time.

Portland wasn't all drinking, even thought it was most of it. On a drive up the coast we stopped in Astoria and Seaside. I believe this is the beach where they filmed the car race at the start of Goonies.

Once it was time to head to Seattle the drinking started back up again, and included some bull-riding Friday night. Surprisingly, it took less drinking than you would think to get people up on that thing.

Yee-ha

And as one last blowout, we decided to get up as early as possible to set up our tailgate Saturday. We ended up shopping at about 7:30 and getting to Husky Stadium at 8:00 AM to set up for a 5:00 PM game. Outstanding. We only had to move once, after the head of parking lot security told us his underlings had it wrong and we were in a reserved lot (PS-way to go guy. You're in charge of a parking lot. You've accomplished a lot, and of course that gives you every right to be a dick to people from opposing teams. Now if only your employees knew what the fuck they were doing too, you'd have something to be proud of).

Actually, the same thing happened 3 years ago at the same game, only that time it was other tailgaters suggesting we move b/c we were in this family's spot that's been there for 30 years. That was alright. Security, not so much. Anyway, once set up was done I could head back downtown on the bus and catch a nap before coming back and drinking more.

Our beer depositories on my way out.

5 hours later, but who the hell brought O'Douls?

I have to say it was a lovely tailgate. Especially once the Portland club sponsoring everything showed up and consumed every single remaining beer, liquor, and over 200 feet of sandwiches. I swear, it was like something straight out of the Bible.

The game itself was fantastic, a great way to end a great vacation. Getting up the next day at 4:30 AM to catch a 6:00 AM flight was not fun, but air travel basically sucks anyway so what the hell. It was a wonderful 10 days, and the further into the workweek I get the more I wish I was still out there. I guess that's why you take pictures.

Current beer-scale: 3.2

As much as it sucks to be cold, it's great to be back on a bike I'm comfortable with after spending a day on a crappy Trek. I'll admit I'm going to be snobby about this, but if I'm going to be climbing hills and bridges and then flying back down I'd like to be on a bike I trust. I just don't feel steady on a hybrid, especially one with flat bars and grip shifters. Still, it was a great ride even though I felt like I was going to fall over half the time.

These bikes sucked.

Still, what a great city. The rest of the trip only reinforced my view of Chicago as the best city in the world, but at least San Francisco didn't have me thinking about it everytime I looked around. Fascinating neighborhoods, ridiculous hills to climb, great climate, fresh ocean air, really a great place to spend a few days seeing the sights.

Hills like this

lead to shots like this

There were a few times I had my doubts, but they were rare. Climbing up to Nob Hill lugging the wife's 50 lbs suitcase. Making the 2 1/2 mile walk to Anchor Steam when we didn't really know where we were going. But even both of those worked out. The view from the top of Nob Hill was fantastic, and the Anchor Steam tour was great. The more I think about it, the harder it is to go back to work b/c that was such a fabulous vacation.

There are more pictures of more stories, but they can wait until I need cheering up as it gets colder. Portland/Seattle up next.

Current beer-scale: 1.3

Yeah, good morning to you too.

There are days when I just hate people. "Hate" may be too strong a word but there it is anyway. Days where the adrenaline rush of almost getting run over outweighs the pleasure and enjoyment of a simple bike ride into work. Again, people just don't seem to get the meaning behind a left arm stretched out coming up to an intersection. I can't even begin to imagine what this guy thought it meant today. Maybe he wanted to ask me a question about it b/c he didn't seem to grasp that I wanted to go into the left turn lane, so he should either pass me or let me go. I sped up, he matched. I braked, he seemed to think this was fun. No, it's not a game. I want to turn left fucker, and I can't do it with you staring at me open-mouthed. Move your ass.

I can only imagine how fun this is going to be once the weather turns. Which already has me gritting my teeth, after a horrible effort at finding some cross tires that would fit Frankenbike. After some effort, and much bargain hunting, I seem to have done it, but who knows. The test ride will hopefully be successful later this week.

The main problem:

Not nearly enough room to go from 25 to 32. Whoops! So time to test a smaller tire on both wheel sets. Frankenbike will be single speed eventually, but he might just stay 7-speed since that wheel worked better and is less out of true.
A few tire changes, and success! We have clearance! Well, clearance with some additional "minor" modifications.
The brake, she's gone.

Mission relatively accomplished, it was time to have some more beer and watch the Bears pull one out of the fire against the Eagles. Much better Mondays after both my teams win, so now I'm going to try and forget about the poor asshole in his car driving to his soul-crushing cubicle this morning. Ah, I feel better already. Cheers!

Current beer-scale: 5.7

on the road again

Caution: This post contains highly positive content about the University of Notre Dame.

The ironies of bringing a bike on a two-hour drive to South Bend in the hopes of saving a little time are not lost on me, but man was that a great idea. It gives whole new meaning to the bikes vs cars debate. With the bike, instead of an hour+ walk from a buddies house, it's a few minutes' ride and suddenly I'm at a tailgate. And when the game is (finally) over, hop back on and beat everyone to their cars, beat traffic out of the bend, and cruise home in time to run to Scooters. Awesome.

And it's always fun to play with the panoramic setting on the Kodak. I love this feature, maybe a little more than I should.

A perfect day for late September. I wouldn't really feel that way now if ND had gotten killed, but they didn't so I can reflect postively.

A vertical panoramic of Touchdown Jesus. I'm actually surprised at how well it turned out, seeing how I didn't think about lining up the elements in the mosaic for the two shots until I had already taken the first one and realized how dumb it was to line things up that way. Still, decent look at the library I spent a lot of time in.

The old reliable, the panoramic from the seats as I filed in. I was steady enough to hold the camera, so despite seats that get absolutely no shade until November I knew I'd be alright with enough water.
Unlike one of the guys infront of us, who immediately after coming in and trying to start some shit with the Purdue fans a few seats over, spent most of the game hunched over, hiding from the sun by putting his head in his shirt. At least he didn't puke, and at least we weren't sitting in front of him and worrying about it all day. Notice the class ring on the right hand. Truly, an inspirational example to alumni everywhere.

An action shot of Kyle Rudolph (#9) catching a 5-yard TD from Clausen. Nothing but luck on this shot, but you can see the ball on its way by the 5-yard line. I especially love the guy in the white shirt already giving the "touchdown" sign. I admit to being baffled by this offense. When they're clicking, watch out. When they're not, they make me want to puke. But they seem to go back and forth between the two for no discernable reason. I guess that's why good coaches get paid. Still, I refused to buy the wife a #7 jersey this weekend and opted for Maurice Crum Jr. instead. What the hell, she wasn't there. If I'm surprising her, I get to pick what I'm surprising her with.

All in all a great day, and thank god, b/c I get to do it all over again next Saturday, only an hour earlier thanks to the 1:30 cst start. Tremendous.

Current beer-scale: 8.5 (extremely high due to the nature of Sundays in the office and impending Sunday Night Football Bears action)

Short week! Only three days! Today's my Friday!

I have literally nothing to complain about (which could make some people wonder why say anything at all I guess), other than the Penguins getting a win last night and having to wait until Saturday for another game. So instead of writing, let's do a picto-blog from BTD. Better late than never.

Here's an opening shot of the south-bound ride just as we were getting on. I think this was at about 5:15 that morning. We were later than the in-laws would have liked but plenty early for me.

A shot the other way. Pretty empty.

Here's my pelaton passing Soldier Field. The best part of the ride was sprinting to get ahead then trying to get decent shots of everyone as they passed. Then you got to sprint to catch up again until the next picture. I realized early on that I sucked at timing how to take these pictures as people were moving, which is why this rapidly lost its novelty during the ride.

A panoramic from the way back. We were still early enough that down and back on the south-branch was pretty empty the entire time. The crowds picked back up by buckingham as we started the north-bound loop.

Eventually, I was just taking shots from the bike as I got separated from the group for a while. This one by Oak Street beach actually turned out okay. The rest of the ride was so incredibly bumpy though, that this didn't really happen again until the ride was over. Huge potholes, and in one asinine case, someone going the wrong direction in the north-bound lanes, made for some slightly less tranquil riding.

Our meeting point at the end of the ride. It was only about 8:30 by the time we were done, so the fountain was as good a place as any to meet up. Until someone wiped out on the gravel, when they tried to turn too sharply and forgot they were wearing clip-in shoes (not me). No pictures of that though.

Turns out 35 miles was about all the Frankenbike could handle. He/she/it performed admirably though, and the chain only came off once after bouncing off an absolutely horrendous pothole at the bottom of the downhill after crossing the river. Sitting at the fountain, I could imagine it sitting there, almost like a dog with its tongue hanging out. There are times when I have very fond feelings for Frankenbike, like when I'm zooming down belmont and manage to snake between a bus and someone trying to turn onto clark through cubs traffic (just like yesterday). BTD was one of those times, even though by the end of the ride I felt like it could fall apart out from under me like a cartoon, parts falling off left and right.

Riding with a camera was fun too, and I'm starting to think I should just carry one with me at all times. Earlier in the week, on my way back to Lincoln Park for our late softball game, I was cruising down lincoln while the "Public Enemies" Dillinger movie with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale was setting up. Each side of the street was lined with old fords and edsels, and all the stores by the Biograph had 30's-style awnings up. Pretty cool to see up close and not something I would have seen if I wasn't out riding. My ride might not always be the most interesting, but it has it's moments.

Current beer-scale: 2.2