Feb 05. A great guy that I rode mountain bikes with and who I worked as a messenger with was hit really badly by a car. Long story short, he was really really bad off for a long time. He wasnt supposed to walk again, he had a halo around his hips for months that stopped him from rolling off of his back. A botched surgery severed a nerve that controlled the rotation of his foot. He had to live in an awful nursing home for months and ended up weighing 120lbs when he left (he might be 6'1 or so)... He was in a wheel chair and would maybe never walk again. This was probably 6 months after the accident.
Well today we rode together. Not a cruise around the block, but we rode mountain bikes in Hartwood Acres. He did logpiles and rock gardens. He pedals with one leg and has no range of motion from 10 - 2 o clock in the other. He had to build up a goofy bike with a lot of suspension all over it to accommodate this. He is slow on the hills, and hard on himself for being so.
There was a log pile that I saw and thought "dont do that its too hard" and then larry rode right over it. He also wont sell me his full xtr specialized epic because he said he is going to be able to ride it again. People are amazing.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Euro cross
Well it was kind of euro in that I took the train out to Mt Lebanon to meet up with Mayhew (sandbagger) so I could bum a ride out to Beaver for the race.
Summary: Before leaving I told The Amy that "im going stick to Rugg's wheel even If it makes me not finish the race." Well neither and both kind of happened, I held on for dear life for a half a lap, then the Pfluger came up to us, so I had a half assed attack. Joe rode away from us, and me and Pflug towed eachother around for 5 laps before I managed to get him on the barriers before the sprint for second. I couldnt stay with Ruggs, and I almost quit a few times.
Real Summary: "he rode away from us like girls" to quote a friend about the elite masters race at granouge
Summary: Before leaving I told The Amy that "im going stick to Rugg's wheel even If it makes me not finish the race." Well neither and both kind of happened, I held on for dear life for a half a lap, then the Pfluger came up to us, so I had a half assed attack. Joe rode away from us, and me and Pflug towed eachother around for 5 laps before I managed to get him on the barriers before the sprint for second. I couldnt stay with Ruggs, and I almost quit a few times.
Real Summary: "he rode away from us like girls" to quote a friend about the elite masters race at granouge
Monday, October 30, 2006
Philadelphia.
Well I have been in philly for over a week now. Lots of cool and a few uncool things have happened.
- my new cross bike fell of the rack on the turnpike
- my new cross bike got run over by a semi. Yeah a semi
I raced a ridley crossbow last weekend and probably did about as well as I would have done on my own damned bike. Those guys are just so freaking fast, they put 5 minutes into the guys who put 5 minutes into me.
USA CYCLING
attn: Cyclocross B Downgrade
I have to send that letter out later.
The crew at Bicycle Therapy totally fixed my bike, aside from the wheels, which were all that really got hit. They are now for sale.
We rode Wissahickon, which was rocky and fast and hard. I had a 29'er and it ruled. Yozel puts on a cyclocross training thing on Wednesdays, which turned out to be really hard and tiring.
Saturday night was the "Dumpster Derby." Groups of kids show up at 7pm on Pine St in West Philly and race cars built out of stuff found in the garbage. This year they had their own caution tape to close the street down. There was a swimmingpool on wheels and a car that had flames shooting off of the wheels. No photos available unfortunately
Johnturn got his freaking call up yesterday at Beacon, front row with 1 point. The stairs of death kicked my ass. I didnt get lapped!
- my new cross bike fell of the rack on the turnpike
- my new cross bike got run over by a semi. Yeah a semi
I raced a ridley crossbow last weekend and probably did about as well as I would have done on my own damned bike. Those guys are just so freaking fast, they put 5 minutes into the guys who put 5 minutes into me.
USA CYCLING
attn: Cyclocross B Downgrade
I have to send that letter out later.
The crew at Bicycle Therapy totally fixed my bike, aside from the wheels, which were all that really got hit. They are now for sale.
We rode Wissahickon, which was rocky and fast and hard. I had a 29'er and it ruled. Yozel puts on a cyclocross training thing on Wednesdays, which turned out to be really hard and tiring.
Saturday night was the "Dumpster Derby." Groups of kids show up at 7pm on Pine St in West Philly and race cars built out of stuff found in the garbage. This year they had their own caution tape to close the street down. There was a swimmingpool on wheels and a car that had flames shooting off of the wheels. No photos available unfortunately
Johnturn got his freaking call up yesterday at Beacon, front row with 1 point. The stairs of death kicked my ass. I didnt get lapped!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
who needs intensity?
First: I just read this in a book.
"What we have is an ally in name only. We support a government that has no supporters. What we have is a government that without the support of the United States would fall tomorrow."
- Robert F Kennedy - speaking to Alice Lloyd College 4 months and 4 hours before he was killed in 1968. Hey you were the one who thought Iraq.
more important stuff. bike racing.
Holy god are some people fast. That is my summary of the Month of Mud race today. Brady's run state park, 17ish miles. I saw TJ, Krimerney, Pflug, Ruggs, Gorski, BABIK!!! and some other studs just ride away from me. Evan on a 29'er singlespeed to take the singlespeed win. Steevo with a ego deflating 4th place singlespeed, like 139th overall or something. 3rd day of intensity since my trip, and I must say it is a lot easier to just ride really slow for a long long time.
The question remains: How long will I make it before being lapped at Sunday's UCI race in Cincy? I will guess less than 40 minutes. Brutal.
"What we have is an ally in name only. We support a government that has no supporters. What we have is a government that without the support of the United States would fall tomorrow."
- Robert F Kennedy - speaking to Alice Lloyd College 4 months and 4 hours before he was killed in 1968. Hey you were the one who thought Iraq.
more important stuff. bike racing.
Holy god are some people fast. That is my summary of the Month of Mud race today. Brady's run state park, 17ish miles. I saw TJ, Krimerney, Pflug, Ruggs, Gorski, BABIK!!! and some other studs just ride away from me. Evan on a 29'er singlespeed to take the singlespeed win. Steevo with a ego deflating 4th place singlespeed, like 139th overall or something. 3rd day of intensity since my trip, and I must say it is a lot easier to just ride really slow for a long long time.
The question remains: How long will I make it before being lapped at Sunday's UCI race in Cincy? I will guess less than 40 minutes. Brutal.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Last chance for day dreamers to live what they dream of
So im done I guess. 2200 miles, 29 days.
From Colorado it was all down hill after our 24 mile dirt climb up to 11,910 feet. There was ice and snow on top. We hung out at 10,000 feet for a few days freezing our asses off. 13 degrees one morning.
Matt got super sick one morning and puked a bunch. Then he rode 20 miles and puked a bunch more. Then we rode 4 miles and he passed out after looking like one of the zombies from the thriller movie. Oh and after he puked more. So it was 8 miles downhill to a town, and he was so out of it he couldnt even do that. He was blown. I spent 2 hours trying to hitchhike a ride into the town of Cuba New Mexico. Finally a guy pulled over and picked us up. He drove us straight to a hotel, went inside and hugged the owner and left. She said it was all taken care of and to stay as long as we wanted. Holy shit are strangers nice.
We bought our first dinner since leaving, a big pizza without cheese. Matt puked it up 4 hours later. The next day Matt felt good enough to leave around noon. We pedaled on into some looming clouds. 1 piece of hail rolls towards us.. funny, when one split matt's lip and hit my face so hard that I stopped riding it wasnt funny. That was one of the most brutal days, nowhere to sleep, crazy cold hail/rain stuff ...
Well then we rode a few days down to Pie Townnew mexico, rad town. 180 miles from there with nothing...
Matt's friends picked us up in New Mexico, 100 miles from the border. Chris and Morgan drove 12 hours there, turned around and came home right after. Crazy. LA was overwhelming. So many people, so much traffic too much food. ....
Some stats off the top of my head.
29 days/28 riding days
2200 miles
3 showers
7 dollars spent on lodging TOTAL THE WHOLE TRIP. campgrounds/hotels/hostels. bad ass
shortest a jar of peanutbutter lasted - 11 hours
most flats in 24 hours - I think 9 by Matt with 1 day to go
Most Surly's on a trail above 10,000 feet that day in CO - 3
Cheapest Pancakes - Ovando MT - 2.99 for HUGE cakes
Best Coffee - The bike hostel off of towghatee pass in WY
From Colorado it was all down hill after our 24 mile dirt climb up to 11,910 feet. There was ice and snow on top. We hung out at 10,000 feet for a few days freezing our asses off. 13 degrees one morning.
Matt got super sick one morning and puked a bunch. Then he rode 20 miles and puked a bunch more. Then we rode 4 miles and he passed out after looking like one of the zombies from the thriller movie. Oh and after he puked more. So it was 8 miles downhill to a town, and he was so out of it he couldnt even do that. He was blown. I spent 2 hours trying to hitchhike a ride into the town of Cuba New Mexico. Finally a guy pulled over and picked us up. He drove us straight to a hotel, went inside and hugged the owner and left. She said it was all taken care of and to stay as long as we wanted. Holy shit are strangers nice.
We bought our first dinner since leaving, a big pizza without cheese. Matt puked it up 4 hours later. The next day Matt felt good enough to leave around noon. We pedaled on into some looming clouds. 1 piece of hail rolls towards us.. funny, when one split matt's lip and hit my face so hard that I stopped riding it wasnt funny. That was one of the most brutal days, nowhere to sleep, crazy cold hail/rain stuff ...
Well then we rode a few days down to Pie Townnew mexico, rad town. 180 miles from there with nothing...
Matt's friends picked us up in New Mexico, 100 miles from the border. Chris and Morgan drove 12 hours there, turned around and came home right after. Crazy. LA was overwhelming. So many people, so much traffic too much food. ....
Some stats off the top of my head.
29 days/28 riding days
2200 miles
3 showers
7 dollars spent on lodging TOTAL THE WHOLE TRIP. campgrounds/hotels/hostels. bad ass
shortest a jar of peanutbutter lasted - 11 hours
most flats in 24 hours - I think 9 by Matt with 1 day to go
Most Surly's on a trail above 10,000 feet that day in CO - 3
Cheapest Pancakes - Ovando MT - 2.99 for HUGE cakes
Best Coffee - The bike hostel off of towghatee pass in WY
Thursday, September 14, 2006
still getting rad
So I am in Breckenridge Colorado. 10,010 feet high. rad. We were riding down the bike path into town and there was a car pulled over. "hey are you doing the great divide?... yeah...you have a place to stay?.... no.. "you want one?" uhhhh yeah! totally go to a dinner party at our new friends' house, eat well, hang out and be WARM. Our new friend Nicole had ridden cross country last summer and wanted to complete the circle of niceness that comes around to you while travelling. This totally made te week.
We crossed the Divide Basin in Wyoming. 137 miles with nothing around. We got caught
in 38 degree pouring rain. We tried hiding under our tarps under rocks (there are no trees) to avoid hypothermia, wearing all of our clothing, but we were still cold. We
rode for 3 more hours in this until finally coming across a highway rest stop where we slept. Then we had the 137 miles with nothing, which lucky for us was sunny with a tailwind pushing us across.
I have given up any hope of trying to eat healthy like I usually do. Yesterday I had: ice cream, milky way, 3 musketeers, and a donut. Yeah baby. Just a few more weeks until mexico.
Oh we camped out at 8900 feet and it was freezing with like an inch of frost on our tents when we got up. There is going to be snow here this weekend, but I think we will be south enough to avoid it. Rad. Keep in touch everybody and email me if you need to get ahold of me. xsteevox at gmail
We crossed the Divide Basin in Wyoming. 137 miles with nothing around. We got caught
in 38 degree pouring rain. We tried hiding under our tarps under rocks (there are no trees) to avoid hypothermia, wearing all of our clothing, but we were still cold. We
rode for 3 more hours in this until finally coming across a highway rest stop where we slept. Then we had the 137 miles with nothing, which lucky for us was sunny with a tailwind pushing us across.
I have given up any hope of trying to eat healthy like I usually do. Yesterday I had: ice cream, milky way, 3 musketeers, and a donut. Yeah baby. Just a few more weeks until mexico.
Oh we camped out at 8900 feet and it was freezing with like an inch of frost on our tents when we got up. There is going to be snow here this weekend, but I think we will be south enough to avoid it. Rad. Keep in touch everybody and email me if you need to get ahold of me. xsteevox at gmail
Friday, September 08, 2006
vacation
Just a heads up to everybody, I left Pittsburgh a bit over 2 weeks ago to try and ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with a long time friend Matt Ruscigno (justin rode across Mexico with him). So far it has been pretty brutal. We started at the canadian border and intend to go the whole 2400 miles to the Mexican border. It is 90% offroad. Montana and Idaho are out of the way. Glacier park was beautiful. We saw moose and elk and had 38 degreee water out of springs when it was 90 degrees o utside. We camped in really remote areas, away from everything, went 2 days without being inside of a building, or being able to. Went a day without seeing anybody else, other than 2 forest workers. Pretty gnarly. We rolled through the home of the unabomber and went right into the high desert of Idaho. 20 degree nights and 85 degree days. 7000 foot being the standard elevation and 9000 being the passes. brutal.
We cross over Tohgatee pass the other day and crossed into Wyomnig. It was a 9700 foot pass that was 16 miles long. That is a big uphill. The people hav been great to us, most slowing down on the dirt roads to not dust us too much. It is really dry and there are forest fires...
I am currently in pinedale wyoming, a stranger just bough Matt and I breakfast. We are headed out for the Great Divide Basin, which is a 135 mile stretch of nothingness... just desert, no water comes into or goes out of it, it is some sort of natural weirdness. There is no water for 135 miles.. we will have to filter it out of the barrels that the cows drink out of. Then we will be in Colorado. Awesome.
We are averaging somewhere in the 70's as far as miles per day. Our slowest day was 8 hours on the bike going 60 miles. brutal singletrack and quad trails slowed us to the point of walking. Our longest day so far was 90 miles, most of which was offroad on a single road. We will climb over the Continental divide 3 times today, all around 9000 feet. Crazy.
We cross over Tohgatee pass the other day and crossed into Wyomnig. It was a 9700 foot pass that was 16 miles long. That is a big uphill. The people hav been great to us, most slowing down on the dirt roads to not dust us too much. It is really dry and there are forest fires...
I am currently in pinedale wyoming, a stranger just bough Matt and I breakfast. We are headed out for the Great Divide Basin, which is a 135 mile stretch of nothingness... just desert, no water comes into or goes out of it, it is some sort of natural weirdness. There is no water for 135 miles.. we will have to filter it out of the barrels that the cows drink out of. Then we will be in Colorado. Awesome.
We are averaging somewhere in the 70's as far as miles per day. Our slowest day was 8 hours on the bike going 60 miles. brutal singletrack and quad trails slowed us to the point of walking. Our longest day so far was 90 miles, most of which was offroad on a single road. We will climb over the Continental divide 3 times today, all around 9000 feet. Crazy.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Shit Luck
Lyrics to the modest mouse song 'shit luck'
This plane is definitely crashing
This boat is obviously sinking
This building's totally burning down
And my, and my (a whole bunch)
And my heart has slowly dried
...
Decided to ride my single speed mountain bike up to Hartwood to do a few loops then head home. I was on my last stretch of singletrack when I hit a brick that was slightly off the path. I go down after hitting my knee off my stem. I get up checking myself out to see if Im ok. I am. I then realize that I have 2 flat tires. sweet. Its ok. I have a tube and a patch kit. I snapped 1 of my tire levers right off the bat. Great. So after using the skewer to take the tire off I managed to rip the valve off of the tube with my pump. Great. 1 tube and 3 patches left and I used the tube and 2 of the patches, everything stuck and got back together ok. I had a bit over an hour ride home, and I wanted nothing more than to be there right then. I managed to get home without another flat...
This plane is definitely crashing
This boat is obviously sinking
This building's totally burning down
And my, and my (a whole bunch)
And my heart has slowly dried
...
Decided to ride my single speed mountain bike up to Hartwood to do a few loops then head home. I was on my last stretch of singletrack when I hit a brick that was slightly off the path. I go down after hitting my knee off my stem. I get up checking myself out to see if Im ok. I am. I then realize that I have 2 flat tires. sweet. Its ok. I have a tube and a patch kit. I snapped 1 of my tire levers right off the bat. Great. So after using the skewer to take the tire off I managed to rip the valve off of the tube with my pump. Great. 1 tube and 3 patches left and I used the tube and 2 of the patches, everything stuck and got back together ok. I had a bit over an hour ride home, and I wanted nothing more than to be there right then. I managed to get home without another flat...
Monday, August 14, 2006
Kinzua baby.
36 hour vacation with my ladylove.
It started at 4:45 am Saturday. She slept, I drove. A hair over 3 hours to get to a 9am start time for the kinzua classic. The race is on an amazing course. 63 miles, 2 30 mile loops with a 2 mile or so finishing spur. Each lap has lots of hills, probably 6 miles worth, and the finishing spur is all uphill. The course used to host the PA state road championships and I wish it still did.
Last year some ringer from a Japanese pro team showed up and put the hurt on us. This year's field didnt have the international flavor, but still put the hurt on me.
I basically sat in the entire time. Glenn put in a huge effort to chase a break down hoping that I wouldnt screw up the finish, which I nearly did, but held on long enough to put my uphill sprint into action for the win. I really love this course and was glad to have done well. Glenn ruled the school putting his "just riding at the front" game on, where he totally puts the hurt on everybody trying to sit in for like 10 minutes at a time...
Amy and I then headed to The Kane Manor, a bed and breakfast for some quality time. We cleaned up and went to dinner, watched cable TV and just chilled out in some mansion that a civil war general had built. It was frickin huge, and reasonably cheap.
Things that I do now that I once considered being for "yuppies in their mid 20's"
- Listen to Modest Mouse
- Drink Coffee
- Go to Bed and Breakfasts
- Ride road bikes
there are only a few left for me to start including:
- drinking wine
- being a fishetarain ("vegetarian" that eats fish..)
im on my way.
We ate some french toast and eggs before a 30 mile ride to The Kinzua Viaduct. It was the tallest and longest railway bridge in the world before a tornado ripped it down 2 years ago. All the metal is still in the valley in a giant pile of rust. It was pretty sad. The Allegheny national forest is sweet and we drove on route 666 to get home.
I had an ice cream cone on the way home (2nd one of the year, first was after a 145 mile ride with dan chew [it was sugar free])
Soundtrack:
Dinosaur JR
Fugazi
Rushmore soundtrack
New order
Belle and Sebastion
It started at 4:45 am Saturday. She slept, I drove. A hair over 3 hours to get to a 9am start time for the kinzua classic. The race is on an amazing course. 63 miles, 2 30 mile loops with a 2 mile or so finishing spur. Each lap has lots of hills, probably 6 miles worth, and the finishing spur is all uphill. The course used to host the PA state road championships and I wish it still did.
Last year some ringer from a Japanese pro team showed up and put the hurt on us. This year's field didnt have the international flavor, but still put the hurt on me.
I basically sat in the entire time. Glenn put in a huge effort to chase a break down hoping that I wouldnt screw up the finish, which I nearly did, but held on long enough to put my uphill sprint into action for the win. I really love this course and was glad to have done well. Glenn ruled the school putting his "just riding at the front" game on, where he totally puts the hurt on everybody trying to sit in for like 10 minutes at a time...
Amy and I then headed to The Kane Manor, a bed and breakfast for some quality time. We cleaned up and went to dinner, watched cable TV and just chilled out in some mansion that a civil war general had built. It was frickin huge, and reasonably cheap.
Things that I do now that I once considered being for "yuppies in their mid 20's"
- Listen to Modest Mouse
- Drink Coffee
- Go to Bed and Breakfasts
- Ride road bikes
there are only a few left for me to start including:
- drinking wine
- being a fishetarain ("vegetarian" that eats fish..)
im on my way.
We ate some french toast and eggs before a 30 mile ride to The Kinzua Viaduct. It was the tallest and longest railway bridge in the world before a tornado ripped it down 2 years ago. All the metal is still in the valley in a giant pile of rust. It was pretty sad. The Allegheny national forest is sweet and we drove on route 666 to get home.
I had an ice cream cone on the way home (2nd one of the year, first was after a 145 mile ride with dan chew [it was sugar free])
Soundtrack:
Dinosaur JR
Fugazi
Rushmore soundtrack
New order
Belle and Sebastion
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