spunk

 on the way to the car after the show Saturday night, nice fireworks going off over the river....

I saw X, again,  Saturday, at a sorta strange punk fest.   Is punk dead, or alive right now, I'm not sure what phase its moved to?     Its been a long time, almost 20 years since I've seen X play.    I don't think I could have imagined at that time, how much  music and our world would change.   From being underground, DIY, to "punk"  playing on a cities festival pier, $20 t-shirts are a norm, miller light banners all over the place and da punk people walking about sipping from them plastic Miller Lite  beer bottles.  

I got to the front of the stage early, standing almost exactly the same place I stood last time I saw them.   To the left, in front of Billy Zoom.  

They sounded good, a bit rough,  and not quite full of the zests/spunk that they had at the first show.

 its nice in life when things last,

and I look back, and see how I and the world have changed.

and how I imagined what my world was going to be,...

nothing like I ever imagined.

Ronald Regan is a hero, Ha!  The death of the Music industry and its $16.99 CD

Tasty beers everywhere.

cars that still only get 18mpg

The independent, they seem to be more independent, and the dependent

they seem to even more locked into their controlled simple lives.

Longevity, we create our own history, for most, right now, despite their hundreds of thousands, pictures, videos and words we create, will disappear into a  quick and most anonymous death.

we are just wanking off

our sports stadiums, life span 20 years, school buildings 35 years, nothing is made to last

not much is thought is given to why we build and create, that maybe in 100 or 1000 years someone would like to look at what we've made,

and read something into it

what our hearts and minds were like during our lives

I like this young/old city of Philly,

in its short life, you see ebbs and flows of human existence

suffering, creation, invention, refinement, debate, care, hate, abandonment

This city can't deny it's ID

we are an animal that loves the creation of competitions

Whirlybird,

I don't think anyone can imagine what goes through the mind of a  racer.

By the time I am ten feet past the finish line, my minds been blanked.

The thoughts, suffering, purpose, its gone, so temporary.

I hope cross last for 1000's of years

I think there is a good chance it will, I plan to race the rest of my life.

cross has no poseurs

you don't fake it out there.

we all suffer

I don't care about leaving my mark on the world, but I do think it is important for me, to be part of a statement, of some thing that represents our time,

something that others can look back on,  in,  I hope the far future,

and see part of us

That they can sit and reflect on what we left to them,

and how life, millions and millions of people

have been here

and that the brief moments we have

and Super Deep Powerful Moments, of our Importance, are

     much like the intense thoughts and feelings blasting through our brains during a simple cross race

I'm amazed that what I feel, that at that time is so strong and intense can be so brief...pooof

a good day to you

cheers, david.

w/a view

 overlooking the schuylkill river  

philadelphia, Cheers  d.

tools

at most cross races I just set out the tool box, and I'm OK with, others, using what they need.

 over the last couple of years I would consider myself to be lucky, in that I've not lost a tool

 its time for me to get a new box, this one sorta busting out

and I'll think I'll throw on a "luggage" lock

just to prevent a tool not making it back

 after picking up trash and such around the tent, I was putting the box back together

and found I was short one 5mm allen

 and that was it

 I don't really care about that tool,

and it was fun to go through the tool box and see whats been riding with me to the races.



but, ... um,.... who takes a tool, uses it to do a tweak or repair,

and does not put the tool back.

Cheers, d.

Banger and Crashed

Two days of racing at Charm City,  mmmm, charm, don't know about this city of Baltimore,

If I made a charm city bracelet, it'd have little charms of hookers, trash, gravestones, and potholes hanging off of it.  Just what I saw a lot of to and from our hotel.

I like the "charm" of the city, not quite sure if I'd make it my home, but then again, all I've seen of this town is its Certain Charms.

The racing, as always a great two days, a great venue, course lay out, and well run.

(cycling captured/Anthony Skorochod)

Me, I'm coming around, a nice 9th on day one, and day two,  felt great, sitting second for most of the first lap, then into lap 2 I took myself outta the top 8 with a crash, and on lap 3 I took myself all the way back to 15th with another crash.  I drove myself to a snot drooling brink trying to fight my way back to my carrots.  Ended up 12th. 

not happy to be crashing, popping like a Banger,

but it does feel nice to have some pep in the legs.

I took my cameras with a lot of intent

only manged to do a little time with click, and no video

but figured a bit out,

                gotta say Ms. UK'er,... Helen Wyman has kicked some MAC ass on this racing visit   riding away from everyone at every race.  Liked to see how she'd do against the tip top US women.  It's cool that racers atr flying over here to race.

     

Had a great meal at Johnny Rads.

these guys,  my travel mates for the trip to Charm City.   Made my weekend a good one.   Our time off the bikes was full of interesting talk, humor, beer drinking and racing support.      plus,  oh yeah, we saw a real hot hooker on the corner Sunday morning on our way to Starbucks.

a miss and mash post for ya, but, again, a real nice weekend, all round. cheers, D.

phila x

I like the days where my schedule for on the bike says "light spin".    I just pedal about, wide-eyed, not huffing and puffing, going back to revisit whatever might of been caught outta the side of my eyes during a workout.

I had planed to pedal a bit more, but it was quite blustery, and it would never stop spatting rain, so, I only adventured as far as the top of the plateau.

the marks of the courses are burned into the grass

from the past few Wednesday Nights Workouts.

Lots of riders are showing up, and at times, getting everyone pointing in the right direction, and stopping the lip flapping, and bike pedaling, and doing whatcha came to do is, ...

a delightful byproduct of a good scene.

I have not been riding cross that long.

My Wednesdays workouts were lead by Mr. Yozell.

He's got a keen spark in the eye, and,

I stood, early and quiet, trying to blend in,

I felt lucky, and a bit in awe.

and I pedaled as hard as I could.

Leadership, respect, a good teacher, cool traits to learn,

and I wish I would of watched and picked-up more from Mike.

Cheers, d.

11th

back to racing.

11th both days, a bit on the downside of how I wanted to finish.

thought maybe 7-15th was how I was running right now

so my results are plopped right in the middle

11th makes a very good motivation to train and eat right

(the shoe stuffed and drying)

two days at Nittany

wet, a real nice way to start the season

some mud bogs

good corners

and fast racers

needed some mud tires, grab the pair of Clement clinchers from the shop

the Crusade pdx's

 Its been a while since I have raced on clinchers, but there were only a couple of places to pinch on the course, and I loved how the tires worked in the mud at Wednesday nights cross practice, so I went with them.

Very nice,   not a lot of tread, they felt to be rolling fast, the rubber compound is a bit pliable, soft.

I don't think they will wear to well, but I only want to use them in the mud.

and in the mud,  they float where you aim them, a bit of a abandon in them, but if you make them bite, they steer quite well.

When I can, I'll get the tubular version.

got some aluminium cogs too, and they seem to running great, I don't know, I've always felt that they were sharper and slippery than the plastic. 

In my mind they stay cleaner, and chop and expel grass better.

they seem a bit hard to come by,

but I found 'em at a mega-bike web site for a good price.

It was a fun weekend, and it is great to be battling my 45+ foes again, and a bonus this year, our own race.

and as Always, nice to share beers, heckle a bit, encourage a lot, work the pit, congratulate and commiserate      ....  its nice to be racing cross again.

Cheers!  david.