Because I just figured this out...

Im sure that you know this, because you are probably smarter than me, but:
The dude that Horner gave a ride to awhile ago...

is the same dude that got a Silver Medal in the Nordic Combined.

California dreaming...

Bike (or lack of) stuff:

No I actually have a plane ticket. March 9th I am gonzo to hang out with Matt! for a bit. He contends that LA has amazing riding, and that I will have people to ride with. It was 80 there the other day. I had delusions of doing Redlands and San Dimas... but not having ridden my bike in 10 days would probably make that hard. Jake said Redlands is "really really really hard"... coupling that with poor fitness is not good.

I remember like 15 years ago, I was hanging out with a BMX dude who was talking about all the traveling he has done. At the time, we would all pile 5 dudes and 5 bmx bikes into a car and drive across 4 states to ride new trails for a weekend, then drive home. He thought it was weird that he had been to so many cities, but never experienced them. Sometimes I feel that way about cycling. I have raced a lot of places that I would love to have simply just ridden. Green Mountains, Battenkill, all those mountain bike trails...

Anyway, so my plan is to go out there and ride a bunch, suck up some new roads, maybe do some sort of riding that will get me fit and come home and enjoy the 40 degree rains and probable floods.

Life stuff:
In 1998 my dad bought a Dodge colt new for less than 5,000. In 2000 he was still driving it. He was the president of his company, and by far had the shittiest car in the lot everyday. At that point, the seats were literally held together with duct tape. The car had no power steering, no power windows, NO RADIO, no AC. Guess what, when he got rid of it in 2000, he gave it to my brother who drove it for a few years. It ran until the bottom rusted out and it would no longer pass inspection. My brother then drove it through the woods, and traded it to a junkyard in exchange for the tow out.

Today NPR had a story about the "GM Sunshine," a 5000 dollar minivan available only in china. In the article, they interview the General Manager of GM (GMGM?) and he pretty much states everything that is wrong with some 'Mericans.
-they need gadgets.
-they need SIX TIMES the horsepower of this thing
-they need leather seats
-they need the ability to go 80 miles per hour from a standstill (insert super long rant about seeing the cars sit on the parkway everyday and wondering what the AVERAGE speed of the average American commuter is)...
-they need to pay six times as much

And all of the previous were fine if it is what you want,but the bottom line is what could be a 5-7 thousand dollar car, suddenly becomes a 30,000 dollar car...
Bring me the 5000 dollar car please.


Fifteen wrote: "a little too easy, is just a little too hard"...



I've been having a hard time trying to justify
The clouds arising from the cars we drive
And a little too easy seems just a little too hard today
And I'm afraid my children are going to have to watch the world waste away
Been having a hard time trying to accept the fact
That paying money for four walls leaves the slavery intact
And a little too easy seems just a little too hard today
And I'm afraid my children are going to have to watch the world slip away
I know, I know, I know, life has become slavery
Costs two dollars a minute and additional charges to pray to god today
See I've been looking for some guidance but the voice on the phone ain't got a damn thing to say
And a little too easy seems just a little too hard today
And I'm afraid my children are going to have to watch the world fade away
I was born a little too late to see the dream that they called America
See I only want to be a Free man but it's against the law to sleep on the ground in Gods land
And a little too easy seems just a little bit insane
And I'm afraid I'm going to have to run for my life one of these days
I know, I know, I know, life has become slavery
The ground is my body, it's been poisoned with lead and junk food and toxic waste
The sky is my mind it's been clouded with cigarettes and fluorocarbons and petroleum distillates
The water's my heart, it's been broken with booze and drugs and shooting up paste
The sun is my spirit, it belongs to all of us, I guess we're all one sick race
And autonomy shall reward itself with freedom
And humility shall reward itself with peace
And the dissolution of possession and the integration of humanity
Shall bring forth a sharing of our responsibility
For our lives and our earth

Sn-OMG!!!!!!!!. What bruegger's, you want to raise your prices??

So today I had to get up crazy early to beat the 84 year old neighbor to her sidewalk. She came out while I was shoveling her walk and said "I dont want you to slip and fall and get hurt, or get sick." I imagine this is what her children probably told her and she was just passing it on. She is 84 and lived in the house her entire freaking life... awesome.

So I am a big fan of the "day old" bruegger's bagel basket. 6 bagels that are a day old for a cheaper price. It was $2, then $2.5, and now $3. So I have taken to try and make my own bagels, as I can easily eat a dozen per week. This was the best recipe/result yet.

Whole wheat homemade bagels

Math:
5lb (20 cups, 40 bagels worth) whole wheat flour = $3.00
5 active dry yeasts =$2.50
1.5 t salt = .05 tops
1T organic fancy sugar = .10 tops
1T veg (i used olive oil cause im a yuppie) =.10
water and oven heat = negligible

5.75 for 40 bagels
Less than 15 cents a bagel.
Day olds are now 50 cents each, the price a regular bagel was 5 years ago.


Easy directions:
Mix:
4 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 t dry yeast
1T sugar
1.5 t salt
1T oil.
2 - 2.25 cups warm (90 degreeish... too hot will kill the yeast)


Knead the dough for 10 minutes.



I squared it off to make an even cut.


I tried to evenly cut the square into 8 slices (2 cups flour per bagel), then made "bagels" out of the slices. Supposed to let these guys sit for 10 minutes to let the yeast do what it does.

Preheat your oven to 425 and lightly grease a pan.
Boil the "bagels" for 2 - 3 minutes, flipping halfway through. These did not float, but the last ones did?


Put the boiled bagels on the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes on each side. Careful, this is where finesse comes in, dont let them in there too long or they can burn.


These are like a commercial saying "dont overpay for bagels, look how beautiful they are"




Honestly, if I can do this, anybody can.

Lack of posting. Sorry. Very emotional, equally as not thought out post.

It is winter, I am in full hibernation mode. Sorry for the lack of posting, but I am not about to just write about how much I am riding, as there are enough blogs that talk about that.

I remember when I fell in love with The Smiths. It was my first month of living on my own. I was 17 and making a huge transition. I lived with 5 or 6 others. My bedroom was a closet that only fit a mattress and a small dresser. My rent was like $125 a month, so my days basically consisted of riding my BMX bike around and eating 4 dollar pizzas. One roommate had just gotten back from bumming around for a year. He traveled so much that his day consisted of cooking breakfast, and then playing black sabbath on his guitar, then watching PBS until he fell asleep. Anyway, he picked up a live bootleg somewhere in his travels, which I borrowed and listened to on repeat.

Dont get me wrong, their albums are really good, but their live sets are some of the best things ever recorded. Anyway I was listening to one recently and the lyrics really hit home.

It's so easy to laugh
It's so easy to hate
It takes strength to be gentle and kind...

I sometimes think that one of the hardest things is to not deteriorate into a lot of the people around me. CYCLING CONTENT: I especially think that this is hard when one spends a lot of time riding bikes on the road. It is my opinion that when people enter their cars, they become some sort of evil twin of their former self. Yesterday on a rural road in the middle of nowhere, my cycling buddy and I were aggressively honked and yelled at by a woman easily pushing 75 years old.

This is everyday, several times a day. Obviously the awesomeness of riding bikes all the time does not get outweighed by the people who act as if it their job to try to ruin my day. However it begs the question of how happy the average person driving past me in their car actually is. When I really think about the anger and hatred that it takes to honk or scream obscenities at a stranger for taking up 30 seconds (which will be made up by speeding) is fairly mind blowing.

We had better watch out, or the plot of ghost busters is going to come true and all of the negative energy in the world is going to form a super monster hell bent on destroying us all.

The Smiths live Meervaart Amsterdam 4.21.84