Day Six: Weekend in NH

Last weekend, I went up to NH with some good friends from highschool. We were up in a place called Tamworth NH, and there was still tons and tons of snow. I finally had a chance to try out cross country skiing and I loved it. It was soooo bad ass and when you start going, you can really fly! Too bad I feel like it tore my Hip Flexors.

Anyways, this is a picture of what the snow looked like outside the cabin. It was completely frozed, and underneath it was about 4 feet of snow.

Even out there I was able to occasionally check to see who won La Primavera.

Day Five: Europe in Brookline

In Brookline, right near my work, there is this strange, and beautiful section right by the Saint Mary T-Stop where there is a Japanese bakery, a new French bakery and a small Spanish Tapas Restaurant. There is also an Economy Hardware store where many hipsters like to work.

Finally, there is a really small Sushi Express there that serves addicting Fried Chicken bowls. It is a must try.

DAY FOUR

This is Meg and I's cat Gwen. I used to have my own cat named Gwen, but she met a terrible death when she got run over by a car two years ago. Coincidentally, Meg also owned a cat named Gwen. Although hers is Gwendolyn and mine was Gweneviere.

She sleeps, literally, for about 20 hours a day.

She is usually a sweet cat that often exhibits outbursts of rage and violence.

DAY THREE: Building in times of great economic uncertainty

Also, I just want to say a big hello to many of my European visitors. I see that there are some visitors from the Netherlands, Germany, and England.

Hello and Welcome!

Tough times ahead...

You know that tough financial times lurk ahead when you start using Coinstar and start patching tubes...

Day Two

This is a little pig that makes a Oink Oink noise and his noise lights up with Blue LED's.

Ritchey Road Logic 1997...

My first real road racer...Ritchey road logic 54cm.

This frameset had the deepest Cobalt Blue paint job I have ever seen. Nothing I have owned since then compares to how beautiful this frame was.

I had to sell two road bikes (Bianchi Trofeo, Giant CFR) to get this frameset and some Campy Athena components, which was like $650 or so after the pro-deal.

I loved this frame so much, but i had to sell it when the graduate program I was enrolled in at UVa did not pay me when they said they would....

The terrorizer...

This morning I was walking to work and ran into these creepy creatures so I terrorized them by chasing them all around Brookline.

DAY ONE

I hope to publish one picture a day for the next month.

No matter how crappy. This one is from my walk to work, over the BU Bridge. It was super cold and windy and my hands went numb just taking this picture. Then I saw some girl riding her bike with no gloves. So insane.

3/17/2008

Why do people eat sushi when they can eat this...

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a weakness for delicious bottled drinks and Japanese snacks.

In my house I have a whole cabinet filled with Japanese snacks which I may devour in one sitting while watching some ridiculous Japanese TV show.

The flavors in these snacks are just so fricking complex, with the subtle tertiary flavors giving rise to caramel goodness. And they are just so fricking SALTY!!!

Many of these candies and snacks are not for most people. PVB almost threw up after eating a half melted Mochi Surprise.

Below you will see some of my favorites...

1) Salt + Seaweed potato chips...(You must never buy the ones with English titles on them)
2) BBQ flavored crisps
3) Cheese and fishy splendors

4) Kinokono Yama. Delicious Chocolate mushrooms.

New Best Friend....

Back in 2002 I spent hours weighing out different options for the best digital camera under $300. I finally bought this little number, the Fuji Finepix 2600. It had a wopping 2.1 MPXL, and was around $350 including all of the accessories.

Today, I shall make a huge purchase...A new portable digital camera that I can take to document the plight of mankind...


I just bought he Sony Cybershot W55. I cannot believe you can get a camera of this caliber for $129.99. It has fircking 7.2 MPXLs!!!! That is more than my digital SLR. How can they pack so much equipment into this little nugget???

Totally Tubular...

This year I vow to accept tubular wheels and all of the rewards, as well as the pains that are associated with owning these little nuggets.

There are several interesting tires out right now. But this one especially caught my attention.

Note the addition of the side knobs on a smooth file tread.

HUP 2008 Team Launch Event

2008 Hup United Team Camp Details...

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE…..

Chris Milliman, who is an amazing professional photographer, friend, and Hup Teammate, has volunteered to take our team photos! As many of you know, his photography as well as his writing has been featured in well known magazines and websites, such as Velonews and Cyclingnews, as well as in many ads we see everyday. I am very, very, very, excited that he will be taking our team photos. Just take a look at his website as well as his blog, and you will understand…

http://www.chrismilliman.com/

Photo courtesy Chris Milliman

1. You Must RSVP on the Evite so we can get a headcount.
2. Please bring some food for the Friday Night cook-out and/or some waffle mix for the Sat breakfast
3. Bring sleeping bags, and if they desire tents to camp out in the backyard (There may be a fire pit in the back yard for bonfire)....
4. Feel free to bring a movie for Fri night...(No R-rated movies because Young Jamner is not yet 17)
5. Professional Photo session is on Saturday so bring your race kit if you have it and your nice bike.
6. On Friday there will be an optional MTB ride for those that can arrive early, will roll out by 4pm from the base camp into the woods!....
7. Please bring your Varsity game for the Saturday road ride, there will be some KOM, QOM, town-line sprints....will be likely 3 hour road ride with coffee stop. I will be bringing my Junior Varsity Game.
8. Bring a proposed race schedule for the racing season so we can chat and strategize race support
9. Spring clothing distribution.
10. Matt does have a wife & 3 kids (6 yr old, 4 yr old, and 1 yr) that will all be in the house while the camp is going on...so we must be on our best behavior and not make the kids cry.
11. BYOB: Miller High Life or other fine beverages.
12. Matt is working on getting an official videographer to film parts of our team ride. May get motopacer (working on this as well)....need to document this camp on video.

Itinerary

FRIDAY MAY 2^nd the year 2008

Arrive into New Hampshire HUP TRAINING CAMP between 6-7pm (at training camp base) (or those that can arrive earlier, see below)

4:00 TEAM RIDE (MTB or CX bikes) (Optional attendance for this time)

7:30 TEAM DINNER (cupcakes welcomed by anyone wanting to bring) - local + organic food choices

8:30 TEAM UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION

9:00 TEAM CHAT - SEASON RACE & CAMP PLANS (perhaps monthly mini-camps)

followed by MOVIE and-or Games (+ BONFIRE pit)

** Please note - bring your own tent if you want to camp in the yard....

SATURDAY May 3^rd the year 2008

7:30 TEAM BREAKFAST (Belgian Waffles)

8:30 TEAM RIDE (ROAD) (3-4 hour ride)

1:00 TEAM PHOTOS (In Woods behind house)

3-4 TEAM DEPART

PLEASE SEND IN YOUR RSVP THROUGH THE EVITE!!!

And thank you Matt for hosting us for the weekend!

Blown Away....

I am blown away by how awesome the MINT flavored Bontrager handlebar tape looks on my Hampsten.

I mean Damn!!!!!

It is like this light blue/green embodiment of utter awesomeness.
Please super relax and enjoy some pictures.

This is the result of living in Cambridge and buying too many bikes.
The little DuDad barrel adjuster...
Hampsten Mudpig. Complete, in Training Mode. For the races I will be using Mavic 32 hole Reflex rims laced to Dura ace 7850 hubs, Challenge Grifo Dry Tubulars.
I finally broke down and bought some Paul's Neo Retro brakes. They are not mind blowingly strong, definetly not as strong as the mini v-brakes, but they have so much more mud clearance.
The cockpit. The Thomson X-2 stem is pretty nice. one of the only silver stems out there.

Mint................Hint of Mint.
Some welding work by Co-motion. It is really good work, but it does not blow me away like Moots welds.
Kind of a cool rear brake bridge.
The superlight BBG chainring guard. This chainring guard allows me to use a 39 without the chain rubbing. Astute readers will notice that I have three of those damn connector links things in a row. Is that dangerous?
My cross bike from 2006. This thing was actually pretty incredible.

I ended up getting the Iris Blue tape for the DeSalvo road bike as well(See picture 1 above). The Bontrager tape has a thin Gel backing to it so it is almost twice as thick as the Fizik Microtex tape. I hope that I will no longer have numb hands after a 4 hour ride...

My next big purchases will be the LUNAR ORANGE BUBBLE handlebar tape for the white DeSalvo cross/pit bike, as well as a salsa Lip Lock in Dark Blue.