caveman Sisyphused Midnight

Last night I went out on assignment,  to take a photo for SSCXWC'13 PHILLY.
I have a few ideas. 
Yesterday was the end of two days of shooting interviews down in DE.  my car was full of equipment, so I thought I'd get some night shooting in.

Midnight - "Rip this Hell"
from the greatest Cleveland Ohio
 band Boulder, Midnight now rocks us on.

ok, this is just a fact jack,  Belmont is not the safest place to be at night, its an urban park, so you don't leave things, anything in your car, cause there is a white pickup truck that hoovers about the park for years, and does the quickest, sneakiest, smash and dashes.

 I got set up at dusk, at the Pinch Point, a little dirt mound that's the in and out connector.
Just letting, its getting nice and dark out.

A white pick up slows to a stop, the dude is a bit to friendly, leaning out the window, jabbering at me, about something, in a caring need some advice voice. 
I sat on a full apple behind my camera, looking at the dude,  looking at my club, a big tree branch at my feet and looking at the dude.    Not much I wanted to say, "I'm good here".
That's it.  and stared at his jawing, and ignored it with my stare, and after the next break of words, too, staring at him.

He only sat for a few seconds.   and skittered off.

I wondered what would of happened if it came down to me and the club vs. the interloper?

The day yesterday was long and good.    I got up before work and rode the Mann for a nice CX workout,  stopped by the bush and got a blessing.  work and then, shooting. 


round one of steadfast,   the couple of sweaty work crew hours of cutting in course has been mowed and needs to be redone.  OK.   not failure, but onward, new solutions.   the work was fun, so it will be fun again.


Sisyphused

                               photo: KJ. Fetsurka    Current conditions.

 

                                and before w/workgang.  photo: S.Kincaid


Bill Callahn - "Drover"

some of the sites,  I stare and think, Better done than a Duchamp.

to obstacles, objectives, and cold beers.   Best Regards, dlowe.

Art

I like going to the art gallery,  it makes me feel better.

I've got a bit of idle time on my hands, not busy working this week.  I made some modifications to some old lens this morning.

 Made another free float, tilting and shift len.  The gasket, it's a 29er inner tube.  I need to stay busy.

At the Phila. Museum, I was allowed to take as many photos as I wanted, I'd ask politely at each gallery, before hand, pleasantly.  "Shoot away".

 

by chance I came across photos by, Van der Zee, Alice Austin, unexpected nice surprises. 

It is the details, the little things, can mean the most.  Not that the world would not get along just fine despite the flaws.   Just that when things work, all together,  that is my heaven.

a nice painting by Peale.  I did not notice the detail until I looked through the camera and saw it magnified.

It seems that many lights, and other utility objects,  they are ugly.  Behind the museum, a beautiful hill side of rocks, flower garden, long paths.   Ugly modern light post.

I have an issue with the lighting used in the galleries.  The color temperature, the source type and its directionalisim.

Tomorrow is my 51st birthday.   Special?  Yes, I hope to work my ass off.   To cut back invasive brush.   Hack away weeds into a path.   For making a cx practice course at Belmont. 
Time for me is best spent productive and challenged.  

The view from the second floor windows, down into philly,  a view worth taking in, charming.

Next visit, to look at art,  I'm going to carry with me a magnifying glass.
My eyes they aren't as good.   I'd like to take a look into, the finer details.


I ate lunch on the back steps of the museum, in the shade.  I tested out my lens.  

My lunch, stilton cheese, green onions, mustard and greens, crusty bread.   Local brewed coffee stout.   A cloth napkin.  A glass, pint glass.  83% coca bar, cloth napkin.

When I ride my Get Around bike,  I wear trousers and a button shirt.  I want to make the point. 
To look like a man.

I don't think there is anyone out there, that gets, Nude Descending a Staircase, more than me.

Oh so how much I love Duchamp.   and Frieda.  what I'd give to have you sit on my knee, to raise a shot glass with you.

“I feel shame, not for the wrong things I have done, but for the right things that I have failed to do.” mr. m. Duchamp.

f" Diego.

Tonight, for the spirit.  d.

photos in a line about the eating area in the cafeteria. William Wegman.   Funny no one was looking at these photos, maybe the art only hangs in galleries.   These were just decoration.

My nice lunch spot.

 

 

Venue

Venues come and go.  Races, practice spots, secret rendezvous.   clinics. 

Fitness,  legs, drive, motivation falters at times.

Personalities, the souls of the sport, move on, move away, retire, die.

I can't will my bike onward, when chain suck has set in.  That my pedal has failed.
I can only run to the pit, when my tire is rolled off the rim.  and despite how tough I am, my seized up leg cramp,  I just can't pedal anymore.

This year there is no clinic at Belmont Plateau.  This is not a rant about how its wrong, or stupid that it is not happening there.   Its not like that,  not at all.   Its not a right or wrong thing.
as much as I want things,  my wants don't make it happen,  despite my sincerity, the depth of love of this sport that is in my soul.

I'd like to see the UCI CX season start off  Sunday September 8th. @ Granogue.   A one day race.  Full on, attracting the top names of cx to a plot of land just outside of Wilmington DE.   Granogue with The Best Damn Lil' Belgians Race,  75 cat 4 women in the grid.   I'd like to feel awe and admiration of watching the skill, speed, and talent of the Elites.

and Saturday Sept. 7th, would be a National day of CX clinics,  around the US.  and , I'd drive to Granogue, spend the day learning.  Meeting and mingling with the pros, checking out new bikes, treads.  Taste a good beer,  maybe a lap or two of pre-riding the course.   Feeling those pre-season jitters, pre-Granogue jitters.  and I'd pay a fee, that would go to a good cause.

What makes me strong, is my desire, to challenge,  to concede, to make friends with foes, to ride at the front sometimes, and say, make a small hand gesture, "right here, through the brush".

We did not lose Belmont Plateau.   Just because a cross clinic is not able to happen this year.
I understand why It can't happen.   I support cancelling it.  Not allowing it. 
my common sense, it's says to me "this is a public park, with rules, and obligations, of safety, sharing, and maintaining its beauty".   I, like all others need to respect and follow these rules.

I am surprised at how fast things have moved forward, in CX here in phila.  We went from an unorganized underground, word of mouth brother/sisterhood,  to a...

...that in one short month, how much we moved forward, with soon a legit practice spot in the park.  
I have a feeling, and hope, that a clinic will be back, that grass track will reappear on Monday nights.

We have to educate, explain and show what the needs of our sport are.   We need to earn trust.  We need to protect the land.  To not leave a mark.   Cyclocross is strange. 

I remember a couple of years back.  A very cold, wet Beacon CX race.   Riding my hardest with numb, blocks of wood feet.  of trying to shift with mannequin hands.  Sitting in a car wrapped in a towel,  afterwards, shaking for a long period of time.   and I loved it.

I don't know what's up the road, how all this will work out,  but moments change, and I'll be riding into them.

Cheers and thanks to all,  dlowe.

"Cheers!"

one of the first cx race photos I took,  I stayed late hanging out at Granogue, wondered up to the top of the hill to say thanks and good-bye.   Used Dennis Smith's camera and got a picture.

TCB - I got a feelin' in my body

Elvis - "I Got A Feelin' In My Body"

yesterday, stopped by Tired Hands Brewery and picked hops off of vines, then went to a meeting and things are looking good for CX in Phila.  Cheers to the peeps that made it happen!
dinner out, a stroll about the historic sites of phila.
and today,  out on the cx bike, the Cannondale SuperX.  My first ride where I pushed it hard.
Its a good bike, real nice.   I am quite happy with it.  Its going to be a great bike to race.

I leave the house, and just go somewhere.  some road, some legit trails, paths.  some (respectful)trespassing.
CX'n at its best.

tall socks, I wear them because some of the places I ride are a bit overgrown.  Lots of spider webs today.   Found a hitch hiker spider on me when I got home, she lives out in our bushes now.

Cheers dudes.

my wife, Ljiljana

 

 

 

hops

 

really been listening to the Elvis At Stax a lot, think I have to get the complete recordings.

Giuseppe

To be a champion.  
to take a cause,  a music, a sport
and rise above all other humans,
in moving its spirit forward

photo: m.a. DiLauro

Its taken me a bit to see, that to stand on a podium.
a true champion
what is

Giuseppe Verdi - "La Traviata Preludes to Act 1 and Act 3"

My mom and stepfather visited from Beaver, PA.
Stayed a couple of nights.
I love them bunches,
and am inspired, by them.
My mom, this is the 3rd year she has gone to Romania to spend time with kids,  bringing them a hope, a bit of love, that in this world despite its humongous size, that the simple time of sitting down,
spending some time with another,  means something.  My stepfather, here in Phila. to learn a new editing system, Final cut #10.


What I do, working in film/video/photo production, my work, career.  It is because he taught me, brought me onto jobs, showed me the ropes a bit.  showed a bunch of patience.

I miss my old droid camera/phone,  the iphone's is not so good.   Photo: Ljiljana Cado

my nightmares, faults of guilt, whatever I grasp at to make myself feel better, full of enough of humanness.
That still I want to be fair.  concede a bit to others,


We sat in the living room, and after a short chat, we were in a car driving over to see Giuseppe.
Verdi.   His bust.   On the Water Ice ride, I noted to myself that he has lost a bit of luster, his statue.
Michael, my stepfather, is a proud Italian, he took some photos.  One to be sent to the sculpture G. Nista.   and I suspect onward to the Italian American Club of Phila.

                                g. Nista - "Victory"

Tonight, its cool, the bugs are singing loud and beautiful.  I will sleep well.


Cheers to the Champions of life, love, family, spirit, respect,  To those on the top step of the podium.

d.


I love conflict, plight, balance,  from todays ride:

Listener - "Falling in Love With Glaciers"

 

 

Hell Bent

there are rules, like rules to make bourbon


Guy Clark - "Hell Bent on a Heartache"

there are people that break rules for an advantage,  that the others, with honor, that don't break the rules, they are put at an dis-advantage.

Humans are more dumb, by instinct, than most creatures on this earth, so there are rules to try and follow to keep us safe.


but in general, again I say, rules are guidelines, need to have a bit of flex
Honor, dignity, sportsmanship, common sense, love, tragedy, those are rules to play by.

I've stepped up a bit, trying to make Cyclist a viable commodity within the city limits of Philadelphia.
I want to see a Crit around Eastern State Penn.   An urban cx race through Manayunk.
I want to see the phialdelphia bike race, to start on the parkway and finish on the wall.
I'd like to see collar bone creek live up to its name in a mtbike race.
Legit.  enough

Cities, old cites with lots of problems, need to learn, that you want  people to enjoy you.
To coddle them.  Your crime, taxes, stupid old political way of doing things, that it drives people out of the city.   I don't live in Philadelphia, just outside of it, maybe 1.5 miles from the City Line.
You are a service, you need to improve your customer service.  Many municipalities are doing it better, and offer better perks.  Easier to live in.

I want a plot of grass, 40 paces x 20 paces, to ride with my friends, on Mondays in august.
To drink cold tecate, to talk about the up coming season.
I want to wake up, with a dull headache, put on my kit. Pedal over to the view, Belmont, and see 100 new riders standing listening, with bikes shouldered.

Simple, might take years, no problem, I hope, cause I plan to live to be 140.

a heart designed into the base of a bench, abandoned, off in the woods of Belmont.

my best regard friends,  d.

16 - A

Come up with a plan.  Cyclocross Water Ice ride.

RJD2

"Cornbread, Eddie, and Me"

When we finished today we sat around, ate Water Ice, talk about history, places.  There was nowhere anyone of us wanted to live but
Philadelphia. Strange.
  

I got dropped on my own ride, super ok, with that, for sure.  Just funny.

I'm glad so many people, doctors, firefighters, teachers, they are asking me, "where is Cx Wed's going to be?"   "Grass Track".   Its an easy answer, "everywhere is off limits"   everywhere in the city I want to live in, the city I love.  For now.

This plot, it would work fine for Wednesday nights.

Its up by the Mann.
For Grass track, our small oval, would work on the grass area, close to the cricket pitch, the inner city polo grounds.  That plot would do me fine.
photo: Anne Rock

YO! Anne Rock got a flat and the group was a bit ahead, into the boxer section, and we were left behind.  No one noticed that I was gone.  No one waited at the end of a segment for us.  That's ok, I had a good time, Anne and I talked a lot,  we rode the small bits, that make up the ride. The ride is only as fast as the last rider.   and as a few of us sat, at the head of the trail, as Anne changed her tube, an old bloke, like me, worked out on a heavy bag.   Weight bench, bag, dumb bells, just set up in the park.  

Not to say, don't respect the ride.  Don't come out and be over your limits and make everyone ride at your speed.  Get fit.

I don't know who runs what.  Or how things work in this city.  I think, because, each level, runs its own way.  Each survives the best it can.  Each different.   and the power, it just moves around, you gotta find it, and make a deal with it.  In a sense, its raw, and simple.

I am only 50,  in a couple of weeks, 51.   In my head, I see myself younger, like 15.  If only.  I'm not looking for an easier chair to sit in.   A beach to lay on.  Nope.
I see so much potential, in myself, this city, people.

Cheers, dlowe.

to Joseph Garland of Swarthmore, PA. , I hope that I ride across your footsteps from the past.

impending

Its just that cross is starting soon. 
Perfect weather today, the windows are open, stereolab, Nina Simone,  all the good music is up in the mix.
I had a very pleasant ride today.
This day, its a day for reward, for racing in 39 degrees mud.   For flatting and running the longest distance possible to the pits for a new bike.  For training intervals.  For coming in 39th.
Pleasant.

I am just waiting for a pot of water to boil, to cook some pasta.
all the doors are open.  And as the wind, blows through the house, the gas flame burner on the stove, gets to much of a breeze and almost blows out but not.

I am waiting for my wife to come home from work.  
A late afternoon ride for me, a shower, I smell good.


Hell, I love these days.  I love them.
The tree we planted 10 years ago, its full of leaves.


I never fixed the hole where the squirrel got into the house.

paying tributes to the gods, to me,  I am one tonight.

Birds

Paul Weller - "Come On Let's Go"

I just looked at the women, her mouth moving, words into words.
Interject?  she'd raised the volume, and just sped up a bit.

I, sitting on the couch, I've made myself at home on, with a beer, shoes off.
It was a long day, up at 5, full day of work,  then seeing the Mod-father Paul Weller at Union Transfer.

a good show, loud, good selection of song, faster,  just a couple of old ones.   I had my camera, but just to take the 3 or 4 shots I did, that's all I could muster up.  
The shot I wanted, I didn't think of it, visualize it till riding the bike today, in the rain.
A couple of times during or at the finish of a song, he'd turn, head towards his stash on the right corner of the drum riser, and shoot out a good gob.   That's the shot I wanted last night, Paul spitting onto the floor of the stage. The gob flying stage bound, lips still pursed.  Working.     Well its just an image in my mind, that'll last as that.

I did not know the chatting woman, I knew Mark, from racing, and ran into him outside the venue.  I sat with him and a couple of other birds, and listened, to records and recantations of the past.  Till midnight, got up, drove home, had a beer, and went to bed.   Lee "how was the show?",  "It was good, a good night", I said.  She was right back to sleep.

We all looked so old, aged, the audience, I suppose we are.

best regards, david.



Paul Weller - "Fly Little Bird"