Last post, I promise

Yes, bundokbiker is still dead. As many of you have teased and taunted me about, blogging is addictive. However, I wanted to try something new. I've started a collaboration blog (collablogation?) with folks I've met and befriended over 15 years of biking. Check it out: bikecentric.blogspot.com.

toodles, prate

That's it. I'm done with blogs. Bundokbiker is now officially dead. If you have links to it, disconnect them now. It ain't gonna get updated.

Why? I don't have a good answer except that good writing takes a lot of brain cells, and I need to reserve what I have left for breathing, eating, and riding. Every time I'd hunker down to put in an entry, I'd spout off 500 to 1000 words, then think, "Where am I going with this?" I'd save it as a draft and never touch it again. My time, my thoughts, my moments converted to 1s and 0s, stagnating on some server out there. I could have been doing something else.

'Sides, there are plenty of fine specimens out there (stage left, for example) and the Net doesn't need my help to clog it up.

Happy trails,

-ricky deLeyos

Neato torpedo

It's been a long time since I've run into a really cool interactive website, but if you haven't played with google's new map system, do yourself a favor and try it out: maps.google.com.

It is extremely easy to use. You can also come up with funny results. Just enter stuff into the blank textbox at the top, and see what they come up with.

It works so fast it feels like you're working with an actual paper map. I especially love how smoothly the map drags. This is a perfect tool for finding new road bike routes...

Funniest $2.50 I've ever spent. Alfred E. Neuman, from the Swap. 

Max goodness

No riding since last Sunday, thus, no blogging. I've been sick as a dog since Tuesday, and I felt so bad today that I just had to take the day off and sleep.

Sunday's the annual Bike Swap up in Westminster, then the Outlaw will probably lead a ride at Hashawa, which is about 15 minutes from the Ag center. JoeP and I are going to head up there together to save some gas.

The swap's a fun time because people come out of the woodwork and I always end up seeing a bunch of people I've lost touch with. There's always NOS of crap that you don't really need, but just can't resist because it's so cheap. I guess it'd also be a good time to look for stuff that I'll need for the new 29er. Rims, cog, and fork is all I really need, but I may just get the last thing from Chester hisself because he can get it at discount.

On a completely unrelated note, I've got a new nephew! He's four weeks early, but a strong little guy so he won't have to spend too much time in the ICU. Hopefully his parents will let tito Ric take him out on the Burley in a few years.

Dancing Co

Seems that a buddy blogger works for Dansko. Look at the middle picture at dansko.com, then come back here and look at the blogs on the left. Guess who? It's easy if you click on the right spot. ;)

Mellow

Saturday morn wifey and I went up to the Garden State for a baptism. These, weddings, Christmas and Easter masses are the only times that this lifelong Catholic sets foot in church any more. Got back home just in time to see the sun set, so there was no riding for me that day.

In between sleeping, eating, and a little riding, this was the weekend of the movies. We just joined some Blockbuster plan where you pay $15 for the first month, and you can have two movies a day. If done right, you can make out with ~60 movies a month and a lot more dead brain cells. We also have Netflix, so we were ready for the snow.

Saturday night we watched the Village. It's probably the lamest movie I've seen recently. After the brilliant Sixth Sense, M. Night has steadily declined. Later that night, we moved onto This Girl's Life. Watchable, and the spattering of nudity didn't hurt.

Sunday morn we started off with Twilight Samurai. That was probably the gem of the weekend. Can't go wrong watching this with the gal, but probably not the guys. The next one was Old School, which is more appropriate with the fellas. It had me in tears laughing my ass off.

After lunch I struck out into the neighborhood and tooled around with the camera and my bike on my way to Blockbuster. Picked up Chinese Chocolate and Maria Full of Grace. We tried to watch Chinese Chocolate, but after being so pissed off about the Village from the previous night, I decided that if the movie sucks superbad after 10 minutes, it wasn't going to get any more play. This one got the superbad label and was out.

We tried to play La Ley de Herodes, but some effer scratched it pretty bad in one spot and it screwed up my DVD player. It's strange, but after trying to play this movie (which kept dying at the ~2 minute mark), every other DVD kept dying at around the 2 minute mark. I unplugged the player, whacked it a few times, and banged it on the floor for good measure. It must have straightened up the laser because I had no problems afterward. Finally, we watched Maria Full of Grace. I'm glad we finished up the weekend with it.

Melange à Trois

Halfway through the eight mile loop of the Rosaryville ride last night, the drive side bolt on my ENO hub stripped and was trying to escape by rattling itself loose. If you ride fixie - heck, if you ride - you know that you won't get far if the hub is only supported on one side. I just replaced that bolt 20 minutes earlier because the one I started the ride with stripped as well. That previous one lasted only for two hours of riding since I replaced it last week. Three bolts. One hub. One useless hub.

I am now up to three major things that have died since the beginning of the year: this ENO hub, a $300+ Chris King SS rear hub, and (drumroll please) a singlespeed titanium frame. White will get a call from me tomorrow. King will be receiving their rear hub in five days. And Matt, well, this one is just hard to discuss right now. I've talked to him and he's going to build me a new one. However, I have to decide whether I want a 29er or another 26er (which he no longer builds). In the near future, I may be asking for opinions of which way I should go.

Finally, this is my third wedding anniversary. We'll sit in front of a fire and have a quiet dinner to celebrate. Leather is the traditional present for the third, so I'll pick her up another pair of Dansko clogs in antique red. She loves them things. I gave her first pair 5 years ago, and they remain her favorite shoes. She also just got me my first pair of the quirky clogs (Professionals in black), and I dig 'em.

Maleficent madness

I read somewhere that Eskimos have over 50 names for snow. I wonder what they'd call the stuff we encountered on the hills of Gambrill/Watershed yesterday. The powder looked thick, fluffy, and inviting, yet was hateful. It was angry that Markie, Becky, and I spoiled her virginity.

It never allowed our tires to travel in a straight line. It melted and refroze on my glasses to give me a nice sheen of ice so that it was close to impossible to see. It did the same to my eyelashes so that it became difficult to open my eyes. It easily gave way and allowed my elbow and knee to plunge through and find pointy rocks. It sniggered at us for attempting uphills.

I had my EWR, built up with my Fox, and 34:18 gearing. It wasn't a good choice. I even slapped on my Nokian Gazzi 2.6 and pumped it up to 10 PSI so I can have some semblance of float. It was no use. Anything short of skis or a sled was an exercise in futility. On downhills and flats, I weaved no matter if I gave the death grip or relaxed and let the tires cut their own course. Bike and I charged everywhere but straight ahead.

There were a few things I learned on yesterday's ride. If you are going to ride at Gambrill in six inches of fresh powder while it is still steadily coming down:

1. Use a stupid low gear. 1:1 is what the two of them used for the bulk of the ride.
2. Stay rigid. You need no squish.
3. Fixie might have made things easier.
   
4. If you aren't prepared for the white-knuckle/ulcer-inducing/20 near-miss crash/3.5 hour commute back, stay home. I wasn't, and I wish I did.