Sunday, September 30, 2007

Trippin'

Thursday the Fro Boy took a nasty hit at his football game and landed in the hospital. I loved the kid and he's pretty bright, but he's also got a bad case of the stupids. He'd already injured his arm and knee earlier in the game but decided not to tell anyone for fear that he'd be pulled out of the game. Of course he's the team captain and what kind of example would that be. At some point during the second half of the game his team had possession and he was on the line when he took one to the head. My brother, who is one of his coaches. runs out on the field to get him up and the first thing the boy says to him is,"Dad, I can't move my legs." Talk about some scary shit.

So into the meatwagon and off to the ER for the boy. We got the call after Pat had been waiting for a doctor for a couple hours. Michele has accepted the fact that now that she's the family doctor, she's going to get just this kind of call on a regular basis. Of course there's nothing she can do from 200 miles away but I can certainly understand that it's reassuring to talk to her when nobody in the ER will pay attention. He was eventually admitted and stayed two nights and as the swelling on his spine went down he slowly got his legs back. He was discharged yesterday around the same time Michele and I were driving down to see him. He looked halfway decent when we saw him, but he was also still quite under the influence of morphine too. He's going to be fine but no more football this year, maybe next year if he promises to be less stupid, someone might let him put on a helmet, but it's a bit early to talk about that.

As for Michele and I, we're in Portland for the next few days to visit family and friends until I have to be back at work on Wednesday. I delivered Volpe Sr. back to it's rightful owner yesterday. Michele and I were both a little surprised by the amount a appreciation Tim showed at my handiwork. Anyway, it's done now and I can shift my attention fully to the rowboat for the next little while.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

devolution

noun
1. the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality

Fuck the future.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

This was supposed to be the future...

...and I've been tearing through them at a rate of one every six months.

The ride couldn't last forever

Well I did it. I put the last of my fifteen dollar bottom brackets to bed this evening. Went out for a post work ride at Hamlin to loosen up the legs and not more than a mile in, my failing BB up and failed. It wasn't much of a surprise really but I wasn't expecting the full on failure that I got. I could still turn the pedals but it wasn't easy and I was getting some very distinct grinding. When I got home and pulled it off I couldn't turn it by hand. I'm guessing that one of the bearings exploded and gummed up the works. Anyway looks like I've got some things to think about.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Volpe Sr is done!

Finally got around to finishing it today. Threw a leg over for a trip around the block and it rides really nice. Delivery will be next weekend when Michele and I head to Portland to see my parents. Work on the rowboat also got it's start today thanks to some epoxy and homebrew wood flour, pictures will be forthcoming when visible progress is made.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Finally, a post work ride!

I've been working up in North Bend lately and commuting with another employee to get up there. I had a production meeting this morning in town which meant that we would be driving separately to get up there, so I loaded the singlespeed up before setting out for the meeting. Snoqualmie Middle Fork trailhead is not very far from the jobsite but today is a even numbered day so that's out. Tolt-MacDonald is kind of on the way back and I've been wanting to check it out for quite sometime. Trail-wise it was a good choice, however there was a downside, more on that later.

Anyone getting tired of "bike on bridge" shots?
After the bridge the trail climbs some 600 feet in just under a mile and once up top the trails explode in all directions. Trails everywhere, crazy twisty little wild spooky trails. Perfect place for for a Halloween ride me thinks.


Within five minutes I was completely lost(yet unconcerned).




This is my favorite.

Oh yeah, the downside. Driving home I caught major Evil Empire traffic and it took me well over an hour to cover the 25 miles to home. Guess I should have ridden longer.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Day at the races

I went to the cross race at South SeaTac today. Very fun, maybe I'll strip the commuter crap off the Volpe one of these weekends and give it a try.








I guess that's the end.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Talk amongst yourselves...

Riding posts are getting a little more scarce here at TYOTB headquarters. That's a fact that I'm not really all that happy about, but that's where I am right now. I've got some stupid ideas that I'm not quite ready to commit to just yet so in the meantime keep yourselves busy with this: My new favorite funny.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Breakfast before breakfast

Long week with no rides.

I spent the majority of the last week in working North Bend and then capping each day with a couple of hours in the office. Yesterday I did some laundry and a little shopping while Michele was at work but still no ride. After I got her home I was thinking to myself about how long my week had been while she entered her days hours online. I'm a dumb ass and I've got no room to bitch, Michele laid down 94 hours last week. That's right 94 motherfucking hours of her life in a hospital in a short 7 day span. Of course residents are limited to 80 hours a week on duty, but that's a one month average and her two days off this week will help bring her numbers down.

Yesterday we celebrated the end of her week with a visit to the unknown. A new restaurant and now one of my favorites, Pies and Pints, mmm..., savory pies. Anyway after that a quick visit to the waterfront and a phone call to John and Eithne, low and behold, they answered for a change and seem to be doing well.

At any rate I'm off to grab my bike and go get a paper.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Fro Boy on the water

No ride yesterday, instead I took the boy out in the canoe. It was a beautiful day, lots of people out enjoying the holiday.



Later, Pat showed up with Monkey Girl and we went exploring.



Fin.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Fro Boy skills clinic

Michele and I have lived here for a good two and a half months and it only today the I've finally hit the closest thing to home resembling mountain bike trails. Oh yeah, the boy was there too. It's called Hamlin Park and it's about 4.5 miles or so from home straight up the 5. There's not a whole lot of trail out there but it's a decent place to start learning some technical skills.

We left the Fro Boy's bike(my old '97 Kona Lava Dome) in Portland and instead I put him on Michele's Jamis. This was his first time actually mountain biking and he took to it quite quickly. I was really impressed by the way he was rolling this 7" log after only one failed attempt.

My trademark looking back on the bike shot looks a little a little funnier than usual today.

Fro Boy was really having fun in the places where he could scream down into the little ravines and roll up the other side. The first one he did had a little step on the way down and tough little turn on the way out. I had the camera at the ready but forgot to shoot when I saw that he wasn't on the brakes at all, the only thing I was thinking about was how my brother would feel about me breaking his kids arm at the start of football season. Break the kids arm in late spring and he(my brother) wouldn't care in the least, but take away the kid's football season and I'm in big trouble. I'm not sure how he escaped injury but believe me when I say that I though a little more about the line I put him on the rest of the ride.

I'm absolutely certain that this is the result of some 13 year old hooligan getting his first can of spray paint. I mean really, what kind of insult is "eat my fuck" anyway? This speaks volumes about the current state of our educational system. We should really consider showing kids this in, oh I don't know, sixth grade.

We spent a couple hours out on the trail and I'd say we didn't cover more then 3 or 4 miles what with all the staying in one spot and sessioning that we were doing.

Bye bye now!

Yesterday's failure and successes.

So I didn't get Tim's bike ready in time for the drive to Portland yesterday, so try as I might to limit my garage to one project at a time I failed miserably.

This is the new project, I think it'll take up just a bit more garage space than the bike.


The boat was built by my father 25 years ago from plans drawn by my grandfather some years prior to that. It's the second or third of four or five boats built from the plans(I'm sure mi padre will jump in with the correct order and count). About ten years ago dad passed the boat on to my brother, I feel pretty comfortable saying that it was more about the gesture than the boat itself. Pat called me a couple weeks ago sounding quite concerned and asked if I would be willing to bring it up to work on it. His major concern was that the boat would not survive the drive up, mine was more for the trailer. It's a homemade trailer that must be at least twice as old as the boat and looks made up completely out of rust. Lucky for me both the boat and the trailer faired quite well during the journey. I'm guessing that this project will take just as much time, if not more, than the last boat to take residence in my garage.

Also following me back from the Rose City was this young lad.


My 14 year old nephew will spend the weekend in Seattle enjoying the kind of outdoor things that I like to do and helping me set up the boat/garage situation. What can I say about the kid, other than that with his current hairdo and not-a-stache he looks like some sort of late 70's disco sex symbol/porn star. Gotta love the crazy curly white boy fro.

Seattle picture just for the hell of it.