In search of the Dover Demon...

Dover Demon Search Mission #1

Kastumi's Log: Monday 5/26/2008
Weather: warm, sunny, but with an unsettlingly strong luke warm breeze coming in from the northwest

Equipment: Bilenky PVB Rapha Custom Sram Force Speciali: Birthdate 5/25/2008 and Fuji Roubaix Dura Ace: Birthdate 5/24/2008

Summary:
PVB and I met at Flour in the south end at around 9AM this morning with all of our paranormal detection gear in hand. We quickly had our double espresso, small coffee, and gooey caramel delight and headed down through Roxbury, JP, and other ups and downs on our 1st combined quest in search of the Dover Demon. There was a sense of mystique and energy in the air as we had just received a telegram last night that there were numerous sightings of the demon by several trustworthy sources.
For those unfamiliar with the dover demon, please take this time to read up on this lesser known and uncommercialized menace that has been terrorizing the quiet town of Dover since the mid 70's. The demon has not been sighted in quite some time, but as PVB noted, it has most likely abducted anyone who has been unfortunate enough to encounter it. There has been 36 peoples missing in Dover since 1976. For a small town of 5,000, those statistics are staggering to say the least, and are not mentioned on the town website or on real estate ads.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/doverdemon06/

We were both on very very new equipment and were eager to test it out in search of the demon. I noticed that compared to my steel tool, the aluminum carbon mix was noticeably stiffer and lighter, which allowed me to keep in pace with the PVB. He was riding a new tool from Bilenky. All decked out in Sram force with ceramic bearings, even for the Voce Sotte King headset and wheels.After stopping for supplies at Dover centre we were ready for some action. As predicted in the channel 4 news last night, the Dover Demon appeared at around 11:30 AM right on South Road.The unsuspecting PVB is about to be surprised by the Dover Demon. I was going to say something, but I was too lazy. It turned out the Demon is actually your typical average extra terrestrial, about 35 in age, and enjoys clubbing, going to Barnes and Nobles, and likes to shop at Ikea when it is not crowded with people pushing their huge baby carts.
This is a terrible look I am giving as I am watching PVB trying to feed the Dover Demon a clifbar. Moments later, the fricking eyes lit up on the demon and it started to chase us. Although it looks very unathletic, it was actually pretty fast, and as can be seen in the photo above, I am riding for my life. We never were able to recover any samples for testing, nor did we discover that it was a male or female.

From The Past...

Road/Cross/Track
KHS Aero Turbo 1997
Bianchi Trofeo 1997
Giant CFR 1998
Ritchey Road Logic 1998
Giant TCR 1999
Bianchi Axis 1999
Strong Racing Cyclocross 1999
Cannondale Caad 4 2000
Ciocc SLX 77 2000
Litespeed Tuscany 2001
Lemond Malliot Jaune 2001
Colnago Crystal 2001
Orbea Zonal UVA 2001
Klein Quantum Pro 2002
Fondriest M. Di Campiglio 2002
Soma Double Cross 2002
Abici Road Machine 2002
San Rensho 2002
Fondriest Cross 2002
Desalvo Cross 2002
Desalvo Road 2003
Cannodale CAAD 5 Saeco 2003
Guru Carbonio 2004
Specialized Langster 2004
Giant TCR ONCE 2004
Specialized TriCross 2006
Ablocco 2007
Cannondale CAAD 8 2007
Bianchi San Jose 2007
Specialized Langster London 2007
Hampsten MudPig 1 2007
Hampsten MudPig 2 2008
Zanconato Cross 2008
Fuji Roubaix Team LTD 2008

Finally... a New Frame!!!!

On Saturday I went into ATA cycles to see if they had any road framesets in the $800 range, just to see what kind of cool frames they had on blowout. I really wanted to buy a BMC from the ZD, but it was just out of my price range at the moment, although he made it very very tempting. Having dealt with ATA before, I should have known better. The guy there looked at me like I had just come in off the streets with tattered clothes and a shopping cart full of items I had collected over the years. He was trying hard not to throw up at the thought of what janky frame can be purchased for such a small sum.

This was the same dude who tried to sell me a Dura ace crankset, which was taken off a bike, for $560 and told me that that was below wholesale. It was for the better I suppose since some things came up this weekend and my budget was reduced down to $500.
In the past, I would have never considered getting a Fuji. They are just so fricking ugly, but this one is really growing on me, and it actually looks a lot better in person. I will take some pictures when it gets here. Like in the picture, I will use a white Specialized Alias saddle, and maybe some Lunar orange handlebar tape. All in all, I think it is a really racy looking frameset.

I ended up getting a 52cm, which has an effective TT of 53cm, and I will use a 12 or 13 cm stem.

In the end, I settled on this one, $500 shipped. The frame and fork will be about 2-2.5 pounds lighter than my current road frameset.

At this point I am having some custom HUP decals made so I can transform this frame from the biggest poser frame, since I don't ride for Toyota United, and change it into a FauxHup team bike. Ha Ha Ha!

Newest Hipster Helmet

I have a tangential acquaintance with a part time artist/kung fu instructor/ 401K supervior named Steve Link.

He is apparently on the forefront of something called Elevated Fashion. Elevated Fashion is approximately 5-7 years ahead of High Fashion, which is widely regarded as 10 years ahead of fashion, as we know it today.

Recently he shocked me to my foundations by casually noting that these helmets will be the biggest trend among Hipsters within the next 2-3 years.

It is true, it combines everything hipsters love. It is White, it has a star, and it is not an official cycling helmet, and retains much funk inside the helmet.


Disclaimer: This is a sincere post. This is not meant to be a hater blog on hipsters.

Quiet lives of white kits...

Much like PVB's car that can only be operated between the ambient temperatures of 280-294 Kelvins, there is only a small window each year when I can use my beloved white kit. I like to keep this thing as white as humanely possible, which means three things

1) Never sweating in it
a) It leaves a yellow stain
b) Your butt birthmark becomes revealed to all.

2) Not using it if there is even a hint of moisture on the Doppler 5000

3) Don't wear it while experiencing LATE NIGHTS AT THE DISCOS! (I always found it funny that Marco Pantani and other Italian cyclists would talk about going to the disco for dancing after a hard stage at the Giro)

Sadly, I missed the first Hup Blanco order so both of my kits have been preworn, but I discovered that I could bring them back to their original blinding whiteness by using a little somethin somethin I like to call OxiClean.

I take a load of that stuff, bring a large pot tap water to a light boil let sit for 5 minutes, and soak my kit in their for approximately 6 hours. After that, hand wash, and it is looking like new, and perhaps even better than when Zac or Jamie initially danced around their living rooms in their brand new white kits.