Anybody ever heard of a bicycle manufacturer named "St. Regis"? A local guy is selling a freak-sized road bike, but I've never heard of the brand. Google has been little help.
Anybody?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Snooze=lose
So local golden boys (and personal favorites) Bad Brains are playing at the 930 club in a few weeks. Why the hell didn't it occur to me that it might...maybe...just possibly...sell out? Cuz I'm an idiot.
It did, and yours truly won't be there. Unless I come across some tix on Craigslist. And even if they turn up, they'll prolly be a premium. I'm rather annoyed with myself.
In other "cool punk shows I'm not gonna see" news, apparently NOFX is playing in Annapolis tonight (also sold out...for good measure). Goddamnit. I guess I wouldn't have made that show, even if I weren't fighting this damn cold. Tonight is also my 20th high school reunion.
Apparently, I'm getting kinda old.
Hope all the former classmates attending the reunion have a blast.
*grumble*
It did, and yours truly won't be there. Unless I come across some tix on Craigslist. And even if they turn up, they'll prolly be a premium. I'm rather annoyed with myself.
In other "cool punk shows I'm not gonna see" news, apparently NOFX is playing in Annapolis tonight (also sold out...for good measure). Goddamnit. I guess I wouldn't have made that show, even if I weren't fighting this damn cold. Tonight is also my 20th high school reunion.
Apparently, I'm getting kinda old.
Hope all the former classmates attending the reunion have a blast.
*grumble*
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Further Fixie Forest Forays (aka "The Epic"™)
Ok, so Epic may be a bit overly dramatic. Anyway...
I decided that since it wasn't such a horrible experience the first time, I'd give this whole fixed-gear dirt riding thing another go. This time, however, I decided to step it up a bit, opting to ride my go-to loop in Reston.
Since this loop is significantly more interesting/challenging/rocky/rooty/hilly than my first fixed outing (@Wakefield), my plan was to only ride a portion of the ~10 mile loop. I figured I'd head out 'till I was half-tired, then head back to the trail-head.
Much like the first fixed dirt ride, I found that riding these slightly more interesting trails wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be (even with the 32x15x29er gearing still attached to the bike). I pretty quickly reached my first planned end-point (the cricket fields), but decided I felt no worse than a normal ride, so I pushed on, planning to make the halfway point of the loop. Once there, and still feeling good, I figured I could turn around and head out the way I came, or I could simply finish the loop. Since the second half of the loop has far less climbing than the first, the choice was easy. I continued on and made it to the end of the dirt portion of the ride (~8 miles) in decent time and feeling pretty good (aside from that pinch flat that I had to repair along gang graffiti row under the highway overpass - yay). All that remained was the ~2 mile paved bike-path ride back to the car. At this point, my lower back started bugging me quite a bit. I'm guessing that it was a result of either having to pedal every inch of the preceding 8 miles, or of having to strain like a bastard to make a few (aka "most") of the climbs. Whichever, the last mile was not terribly enjoyable.
On the whole, however, it was a great ride. I made all but two of the climbs (which is about par for me, even with a properly geared ride). I'm hoping that getting a correct size Tomicog will lead to easier climbing and hopefully less back anguish on future rides. I'm still leaning towards running fixed at a certain beercentric ride in the not-too-distant future. Gotta put in a few more rides with the right equipment (cogs, not beers...tho, now that I think about it, beers might help too) to be sure I'll survive the experience.
I decided that since it wasn't such a horrible experience the first time, I'd give this whole fixed-gear dirt riding thing another go. This time, however, I decided to step it up a bit, opting to ride my go-to loop in Reston.
Since this loop is significantly more interesting/challenging/rocky/rooty/hilly than my first fixed outing (@Wakefield), my plan was to only ride a portion of the ~10 mile loop. I figured I'd head out 'till I was half-tired, then head back to the trail-head.
Much like the first fixed dirt ride, I found that riding these slightly more interesting trails wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be (even with the 32x15x29er gearing still attached to the bike). I pretty quickly reached my first planned end-point (the cricket fields), but decided I felt no worse than a normal ride, so I pushed on, planning to make the halfway point of the loop. Once there, and still feeling good, I figured I could turn around and head out the way I came, or I could simply finish the loop. Since the second half of the loop has far less climbing than the first, the choice was easy. I continued on and made it to the end of the dirt portion of the ride (~8 miles) in decent time and feeling pretty good (aside from that pinch flat that I had to repair along gang graffiti row under the highway overpass - yay). All that remained was the ~2 mile paved bike-path ride back to the car. At this point, my lower back started bugging me quite a bit. I'm guessing that it was a result of either having to pedal every inch of the preceding 8 miles, or of having to strain like a bastard to make a few (aka "most") of the climbs. Whichever, the last mile was not terribly enjoyable.
On the whole, however, it was a great ride. I made all but two of the climbs (which is about par for me, even with a properly geared ride). I'm hoping that getting a correct size Tomicog will lead to easier climbing and hopefully less back anguish on future rides. I'm still leaning towards running fixed at a certain beercentric ride in the not-too-distant future. Gotta put in a few more rides with the right equipment (cogs, not beers...tho, now that I think about it, beers might help too) to be sure I'll survive the experience.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Told ya so
A month back, Sara Palin quoted a "writer" (apparently not further identified at the time) when she said "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity". It turns out the writer is one Westbrook Pegler (1894-1969) an ultra-conservative (*surprise!*) who also had nice things to say about Jews, gays and the civil rights movement. He had especially kind words for Robert F. Kennedy, saying "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies". RFK Jr. was, understandably, unamused.
Originally (as far as I know) blogged here.
I found it (as I do much of my news) via Boingboing.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Bicycling Magazine makes things right(!)
Bicycling Magazine has put things right regarding the use of my image in their print magazine and on their web page. They've asked that I keep our specific communications confidential, and I've agreed to that. So, I've pulled down the letters I wrote to them, as well as their responses to me.
Generally speaking, I specified terms and compensation that I felt were fair, and they agreed to them. They also agreed to post a correction in the magazine giving me credit for the original image.
I'm happy with the way things worked out. I can only hope that going forward, Bicycling Magazine (and publishers in general) will be more careful about the images they use and the manner in which they acquire them. That's really the heart of the matter. Photographers have rights. We've got to stand up for them. They've got to respect them.
Generally speaking, I specified terms and compensation that I felt were fair, and they agreed to them. They also agreed to post a correction in the magazine giving me credit for the original image.
I'm happy with the way things worked out. I can only hope that going forward, Bicycling Magazine (and publishers in general) will be more careful about the images they use and the manner in which they acquire them. That's really the heart of the matter. Photographers have rights. We've got to stand up for them. They've got to respect them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)