Pie

far out fangtooth

far out fangtooth

out Friday night, went to check out a new venue and some music

sorta another strange place

cool walk down to a basement,

huge rooms

but again the vibe is off

Make it more squallerish, flopped in,

or make it nicer.

@The Underground Arts.

more led lights, hating the led stage lights.

 black dice

Phila. is cool,  and people are out, I sent myself a text, how I feel about this new generation of audience. "The ants are out to eat the sugar".  Well behaved crowds. Consuming.  Good? enough.

and people are doing, trying to do, work hard, for themselves,... I went to a new Woodoven pizza place in Andorra strip mall, (Roxborough).   Good pie, nice place to pop into. No beer.

the art on the walls, real nice...

Pizzeria DiMeo's

the pie was good, maybe needed to be cooked a bit longer, needed just a bit more crisp.

prepped for the ride, trying to fill in the blanks

  yesterday went out to get my 100 in on the cx bike.  broke a spoke at mile 56 and headed home on my wobbly wheel.

did stop for a nice cherry pie, been thinking about cherry pies as of late on my rides.

Cheers ants!   dlowe.

a bit of the BlackDice quick done

I have some rough ideas for shooting a music video, ...daft book stuff... how it works in my mind

Warren's Pretzel

I've just finished a Sprecher Octoberfest, tasty.   A bit tired.   I got some good miles in yesterday.   Went out with my good friend, George Klimi, for an early morning, hitting up the hills in Gladwyne.  George does not race, he did in the past.  But as he says it "why does he want to beat people he does not know?"
so we beat on each other, me the dickhead I'm am when it comes to being competitive, had to try and crush him, Why?, for George taking Georges sprint hill from me, our last ride.  George is a way better sport than me, most are, I'm a gloatter.    Then that night I made it out to gv30 to drive the rest of the pep outta my legs.

I'm not good at pre-visualizing,.... I'm looking forward to Bike Race.  Plan to get down to Lemon Hill to help set up the Philadelphia Ciclismo and Revolution Wheelworks tents, have a beer or two snap some pre-race pictures, then hop on my bike and get some Cool shots of the Race.

I think sometimes that I don't see all the work that goes into stuff.   That I just can see the product and oggle it.  Like it just happens, simple.     I like taking photos, and I'm trying to get some good pops, capture it, how it lives in my mind.  So after a hard day of riding, I'll be out on my bike today, riding the course, looking for some places to snap.   I enjoy the search, as much as the find.

Looks a bit like a bike victory salute, the W melded intop of the H.   Its Warren's initials.  On the base of the Pretzel.   I like the Pretzel.  most of the time I like Warren, he rides, races, a bit brash, and a good person. 

the pretzel's been tagged.  Yo "Sysinsl Oyw"  hows it going?

the Pretzel park is where I won a doughnut eating contest put on by Bruce Willis during the filming of the 6th sense.

I stopped by the park today cause I was buying bread and crack rolls from Agiato.

my mind wanders a bit, now and then, I and just try to keep up with it.

if you go to the race....    stop by Lemon Hill, and have a beer.  

Cheers, d.

World Away

I like the part of riding, where I am taken away.   That what I'm doing at the moment, is the moment. Pedaling.

Mainline Cycling's Cycles BiKyle put on a nice crit out in Norristown today.  I was happy to be able to attend.  Raced the 45+ race.

This part of Norristown, its a world away from my home in Bala Cynwyd, and such a different feel than center city Philly.   Quiet family streets in a old park like small time-ishness.   Parking was easy, day of quick, bathrooms, yep easy.  and the course, my kinda course.  Just up and down the blocks with tight turns on each end.

I was calm in the race, and finally finished a semi-respectable 14th. 


Nappy Brown - "I Found It"

sort reminds me of the Jimmy Cliffs "many rivers to cross"   I like music, it takes me, away...

I'm sitting in my office upstairs with the windows open, the neighborhood is quiet, no playing kids or yard machines, listening to some Nappy Brown......   and its off to bed early for me, work tomorrow, early call. 




some pics from the last few jobs, ...behind the scenes,    way different things go on, then the stuff you see, .....that pops up on the tv or movie screen. 

something to write about a bit in the future, ..... enjoy you riding tomorrow. 
Cheers, d.

Noodles

after getting smoked at the race in Lancaster, on the puny airport landing strip, Smoketown, I headed west a bit to hit up a noodle shop.
Called Rice & Noodles. www.riceandnoodlesrestaurant.com  it was 2:30, the small place was full, and had a dozen people waiting for tables.  

I had my camera and wanted to show a picture of the women cooking, I wanted to snap the instant she set a bowl of steaming noodles onto the counter. Her face lite by the down light, her hand still holding the bowl, as its set ontop of the counter.   It was a nice light, but I felt odd, cold, about pulling out the camera and waiting for that instant to happen.

so I snuck a photo with my phone.

really cute friendly waitress's, great food, cheap. really nice.  a beautiful meal.



My riding, its been going good for fun, but racing,... well my results are not there.   I've changed my mindset a bit.  I might not have the short intense fitness I want, but I do have some.   At smoketown, I used what I had, pushing into the red, my nose in the wind a bit when I could.   Aggressive, again.   I'm tired of hanging in there, I'm going to go hard, and if that makes a poor result in the race placement, so be it.
I have a feeling I'll soon be back in the mix at the end of the race.

seems not to matter to me, what I think and recant back on after the race, on how I placed, what I did, well or poor, I'm know that I am full of fire,

surly

gruff

rye.

Cheers, dlowe.

Spurs

The cyclocross bike, is my go to bike, through out the year.  My treads wear down a bit fast, rolling so many miles on the road.  The more dirt I can put into the ride the better.   I'm a dot in the greater Philadelphia area of 6 million or so people.   Still I find new places and trails.   Along rivers, railways, under highways.

When I'm a passenger in the car, driving somewhere here or there around these bits, I have that dog eyed stare, and drool.   I see little places, off the road, full of trees, land lock by development and infrastructure.  My nose runs.  I log it away into a niche in my brain,  along with all the other places of ideas to explore.

Sometimes these spurs, they make sense, and much like mountain biking a flow.  The loop needs to have not too much road, and not too much meandering cul-de-sac trails.   Nor too much bushwhacking,  a problem of being out on the cross bike in the summer on the seldom used quiet trails.   Overgrowth.  Stinging nettle.

My scientific method consists of, a good breakfast, large coffee, hovering the landscape on my computer, flying over the land courtesies of Google maps.

Sunday morning is a good time to get out,  less chance of someone being upset that you've road into their trespassing zones.   The work site tend to be idle.   If by chance there is human contact, I look like I belong, in a real I don't belong way.  "why is that dude out here on a bike, in that gear" thoughts must go through their heads.  I try to make eye contact, or a quiet respectful slinking away.  "oops, I'm sorry, this isn't the way to 7-ll shortcut",  or "just headed down to the river".   

A real useful tool in this linking spurs together is Strava,  I can study where I was, its hard riding a dirt path in dense brush, no way to know that a road or connector is just, lurking close. 

I've found this is better ride to do solo, no one to ask if we "keep going" when you hit down trees, briars, or urban blight zone.  I'm not allergic to poison ivy.   I do get a bit scared, nervous at times.  These foot paths, trails, close to it all, but so isolated can sometimes be used by the un-savory, mentally unstable, homeless, punks, delinquents.     also...  If I have my camera with me, then there are some long stops for picture taking.

Its an interesting feeling to have, to feel that I'm an responsible for myself, getting lost, hurt, in an area that is remote and seldom used.

I feeling pretty positive that with a couple of more rides that a link, flow of road and trail can be made from Conshohocken to Valley Forge.   Then the task of finding a line off of the SRTrail back into Phila., maybe up in the power lines to make it back to Manayunk.     My goal, a 100 mile loop.  My loop stands now at 70, with too much road/bike path.  

a bit of info on how I rolled. I ride a Cannondale caad9 cyclocross bike,  RevolutionWheelworks wheels, the treads today were Clement's Lax clinchers, (time for some new treads)   I carried my Canon t3i camera, with a 50mm, 10-24mm, 28mm tilt/shift, 50mm tilt/shift, holga pinhole, and holga-C lens.   I used a Lowepro slingshot 102allweather bag.  Garmin 500 gps/cyclocomputer.   Google maps, and Strava.   One water bottle, one cliff bar.  aprx. 50 miles of pedaling.  $40 cash. Phone,....a  couple of tubes, patch kit, pump, mini multi tool. 

I am amazed at how big the world seems when I don't know where I am going, and how small, once I understand where I am.

cheers, d.

Work - School

it took me a bit,  I don't see work as work, nor should I.   I find pleasure in the act of doing most task, and if not in the act itself, then the results from it.  

I now realize that learning, that going to school, its a life long thing.  I think that the sooner one discovers in life, that you learn for yourself, ...and yes school, it is a rigid learning block of time, that turns many off to learning.  I saw school as a task, to complete.  I did not take advantage of learning as much as I could.  and its taken me quite a bit longer to see how much interesting stuff is out in this world, and how many things I want to learn.

maybe its the Internet, I know there is some place to look for an answer.   Lots of info right here.

a lot of this, for me, has come from riding the bike.   I started late, and failed a lot, still do, but it got my brain working,... it lead to social interactions and meeting a lot of cool people.  it lead me to try and write, to try to think and  express myself.  to taking pictures,... to go the the museum and gaze upon a painting and wonder, how did this come about.   My job, its lots of problem solving, mostly hands on stuff, I really enjoy what I do, even the mundane just physical labor part of it.  I wish the hours where more regular, and the days a bit shorter.  but, I'm doing what I'm doing because I sorta drifted to it, I had no plans for what to do after I "graduated" college.  So I accept my choices.

I am quite spoiled, living at this time, in this place.   My life, compared to the millions, billions others, its pretty soft.

Been working on the yard the last couple of days,...and  had one of those freaking great mountain bike rides yesterday, the trails empty and my legs full of juice.  went out for beers, with a couple of friends.   Gorka, and Meisha. 

photo: a. Gorka

Meisha, chatting at a quiet Earth Bread Brewery.

trying not to toil along in life,....
cheers, d.