Kits that I love...

Last year I think my attitude was too negative and I focused on shit I did not like. This year I am a new man. I will be like Oprah and have a column of things I like.

This post is about a new team kit that I like very much.

The new Team Embrocation kit is designed by Jeremy Dunn.

A couple of weeks ago I caught sight of a new kit that more or less blew me away. At first I thought that maybe Jeremy was wearing a retro kit, but upon closer inspection, it was something quite new and refreshing.

This piece is modeled by Gary Eldrich.

I like this kit because it looks like it fits extremely well, and has colors you don't see every day.

Strangely, the way the kit is designed, it makes the rider appear unusually svelte.

Jimi Version 2

Some companies really surprise me by being so proactive in ensuring that their customers are really happy. Jimi, the company that makes the Jimi currency carrying device is one of those companies. After my tragic destruction of my other Jimi, I was pretty depressed since I really loved my first one but I broke it while at Canton, and I briefly wrote about it on the blog.

Last wendnesday I was really surprised to get an email from the president of the company explaining that he had read my blog and would like to send me a replacement. I was shocked first of all that people read this blog, and more importantly I could not believe that I would be able to get a brand new one!!!!!

I even had the choice of color. My unhealthy obsession with Orange continues...
MONEY CLIP
There are several things I love about this functional art...

more to come later.

Time for work.

Embrocaters

All right...why don't these things work anymore?

I am using the Quolem Super extra hot balm. It has snow flakes falling on it on the sticker. It even SMELLS hot.

I always buy the hottest stuff, I slather it on to my legs, but I don't even get a tingle, nothing. I do get a nice glossy sheen though.

So what has happened?

Could there be some sort of a threshold where once you use the embrocation more than 12 times, your body becomes immune to it? The stuff used to work miracles back in 2005, but now, it is just no more than a fragrance.

The Death of Goods Revised: Even Steven

In the last 7 days all hell has broken loose and I feel that everything I own is falling apart and I have no money to contain this mass destruction...but luckily there are super great people and great companies out there who have very much changed my outlook. Read on friends.

Yesterday, I found a $20 dollar bill on the sidewalk. I got to it before these BU girls wearing matching black North Face vests and tights lunged for it. At first I wanted to bring it to the police station, but I quickly noted that there was not a station for miles. So I kept it, but gave a substantial amount to this poor looking gentlemen. I gave him some money and he gave me some sweet smelling cocoa beans and some tasty portabella mushrooms.

1) Yesterday I am riding home and my fricking awesome Lazer genesis helmet falls apart. The little plastic piece that attaches the retention system to the helmet broke off so I am riding around Cambridge with this blue retention system around my head and my helmet is half way down my neck. It reminded me of a toupee that flys off on a windy day. This is THE one helmet that actually works for me. The head retention system is amazing in that even when it is knocked around, like when you hit your saddle on your head as you desperately climb the run up, it returns to its original position so you do not look like the goof with his helmet on crooked.

I contacted the nice people at QBP and it turns out the product representative is a fellow Hupster!!!!!

So today I received a new Lazer Genesis helmet, and I must go home to paint it.


2) Slow leakage on my FMB tubular tire. Very sad indeed. I was riding into a good spot yesterday, taking strict orders from the Holmes, making up good ground and keeping the HR below 80%. after taking a light decent onto the pavement, I just feel and hear this booooooooaaaaaaaa(imagine a tubular crying for pain as it is being unrecognizably deformed) The tire is going all over the place. Thankfully, I got the most professional bike change from my 5 man pit crew. REVISION. I threw a small bit of Stan;s in there, and after 3 days it is still holding perfect air. Yey Stan's!!!!!

3) My fricking Jimi broke! No no, not the Jimi us Bostonians refer to but my cool space age wallet. It broke...I crushed it underneath some luggage while at Canton. As a former plastics engineer I love this wallet on many levels. I love the different translucent colors, the functionality, the slightly tacky feel, and of course for its minimalist attitude. Full write up later....
After the race I was frantically looking for my Jimi. I found it underneath a pile of shoes, leg warmers, and spare wheels. The top had been sheared off. I was devastated. I believe this was fitting since several hours earlier my soul was shattered and bruised by the wind and fellow competitors. I do apoligize to the young man with a mustache I drafted off and outsprinted at the finale. You came by to say hello, we shook hands, but I had terrible gas and was not much of a conversationalist. Sorry! I will find you and greet you next time!


4) My stomach. What is going on there. Every time I eat anything I feel nauseated. Help me. I am showing signs of the Stigmata.

5) My Reynolds Solitude wheel finally died. I crashed on it at Canton and I may have stepped on the wheel as I simultaneously blew out the ligaments in my knee. It is currently being repaired at the Cambridge EMS, which is actually my favorite bike shop in the area.

Canton Race Report

I dropped my chain.
Flatted.
Race over.

Eco Cross Race Report

File tread did not work here so well.
I changed wheels and had only the 14 and the 15 gear.

A young man lapped me twice.

Soul shattered.

Gloucester Race Report

I dropped my chain 3 x
Everyone was fast
Cheering was loud

The Wedding and The minutes that would not end...

Last weekend I took a pretty cool trip down to Charlottesville, VA. I headed down there for my good friend Jamie's wedding. Initially I was going to drive down 10 hours, but at the last minute, a super cheap flight appeared so I just flew to Baltimore and rented a car from there to C'ville.

It had been about 4 years since I quit grad school and left Baltimore. I have always had this love hate relationship with Baltimore. As I drove down North Calvert street, I had this immense sense of nostalgia, and I could not believe how much I had missed this really shitty city. At least that is what I thought of the place when I lived there. While visiting, I could not believe how cool of a city baltimore had gotten. I felt that the city is much rougher and grittier than Boston, but the architecture and the way the city is laid out is at once provocative and inviting. It looks like a place where they could film dark feature films like Batman, or the Crow. I envision one day living in some of thier super old and beautiful warehouse structures they have in the district right behind Penn Station. I never thought I would say this, but I truly miss living in Baltimore, and now I see how cool it could have been when I lived there.

The wedding was totally fun. I usually hate weddings, but I was pretty pumped in going so that I could hang out and reconnect with GenjiRyder. Being a bit of an introvert, I was a little bit nervous about meeting the other groomsmen, but they turned out to be the nicest, funniest group of dudes ever, and I wished I had friends like that when I lived in C'ville. Jamie and I spent most of the morning and afternoon chilling out at the cafe, talking bikes, and eating incredible sandwiches at the Revolution Soup thing. The wedding went by amazingly fast, and at 11PM I snuck out to drive back to baltimore to catch a flight out. I was such an idiot and should have booked another day in C'ville.