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Let me start off by saying that Saturday was friggin’ awesome. I got very little sleep on Friday night, as I was really looking forward to the first spirited ride of the season. I was grateful when the alarm finally went off.

It was chilly as I rode over to Dan B’s, but nothing some heated grips couldn’t take care of. We were on the road by 0820, and the zip across the Prospect Expwy, BQE and West Side Highway was pretty uneventful. We made it to the diner where I saw Jimmy and Ethan waiting for us … although I had to scratch my head as I could’ve sworn Dan was right behind me. Turns out he had pulled off to gas up before coming to the diner. Greetings all around, and then wonder of wonders, Ed pulled up on his shiny V-Rod. Hooligan. We shot the shiznit for a while, then went in for some breakfast.

The ride would break down thusly … Jimmy and Ethan on a moderate ride, and Ed would join Dan and I on a spirited run until he peeled off for home. Ethan was chomping at the bit for some street time, and I’m told he did well (see the separate ride report up on the Hooligang blog) … I know they were both behaving themselves when we passed them northbound on the PIP.

Dan led us up to Welch Rd (which was a great warmup, always good visibility through the corners … watch out for a lot of construction tho, the sides of the roads are falling away and there are cones everywhere), around the circle to Seven Lakes (the bicyclists are out in full force — keep an eye out for them), up Rt 6 (hurry, get off the minislab before the tires get cold!), along 293 at a sedate pace, to 218 for a Storm King run. There were some serious rocks in the middle of the road … Dan hit one, and pulled into an overlook to check his front end. No drama, but it allowed us to take some pictures. Me, I love Storm King, but it’s been years, and I slow way down when I can’t see through the corners. Everyone expects it from me, though, it’s just me riding my own ride.

Ed pulled off at the end of 218, and Dano let me on a merry chase throughout Ulster county. We hit CR 14, CR 11, CR 10 as we headed North. We shot West on 44 after Bailey’s Gap for some high-speed stuff. 44 became 55 and led us up some mountains for some stunning views and fast sweepers. Things tightened up on CR7, then we went up some more hills on the edge of Walker Valley, along Rt 52 … more great views and high-speed, well-banked, lightly-trafficked sweepers. Pure gold.

We basically did a big look from there, East on 55 through Minnewaska State Park, then a relaxed ride into New Paltz. The college town is full of short skirts and other yummies, but we settled on pizza at My Hero. The waitress was also a hottie. A highly recommended lunch stop. I think Mike introduced us to it last season.

We looped back through town, across the bridge, made a right to go up Mountain View Rd for a real treat of twisties. I love this road. It dumped us onto CR6 … we made out way onto CR 2 (Krumville Rd), and started looping back towards New Paltz aloing CR 3 from Samsonvilled to Pataukunk, Good stuff, all. We got to do the Rt 55 run again through the park, only this time there was more traffic. Dano held us pack to let some Hardleys get some distance. So when he pointed forward (charrrrge!) after gauging the HD had enough time to, I don’t know, get to London and back, boy was HE surprised when we ran up into him two turns into the run. And to add insult to injury, another one (purple speckles, even) pulls out in front of us. I was laughing so hard inside my helmet, I’m sure Dan heard me. =D

The original route called for us to slab down 87 after New Paltz, but we wanted more fun. We took 299 for a while, but it was suburban h3ll, so we peeled off at New Paltz Rd for a fun jaunt. That led to CR 5, and after a while we were back on CRs 10, 11 and 14. It was a great finish to a great ride, with some really spirited sections. It was worth the traffic and the whitelining down the West Side.

Oh, we stopped off at Rockville Cycles where this really cool old dude inspected our rides and gave us wee yellow stickers. It’s good to be legal. But this guy was for real, he still races motoX in the 40+ class. He was a blast to talk to.

So that’s the report. Dano led a great ride, we had great weather, and the viffers, as always, sangs a gear-driven song of beauty all day long. God, I love this sport.

Today’s submission comes from Papa Whiskey himself:

Okay, so this guy has already won, but given the possibility that for every 2 million hits he might get a new threesome …

http://www.helpwinthisbet.com/

(While I was reading this the hit count jumped by 20K)

Cris

Go, nameless dude seeking menage! I believe it’s SFW as there’s no nudity. But it does have words like “threesome” and “menage a trois”. =P

Whew, I was able to get out to Prospect Park for some laps today. I was worried I’d run out of daylight, as I had to install & route my new cycle computer. It’s a Cateye Astrale 8, which I wanted b/c it measures at the rear wheel and therefore I can use it whilst on the trainer. It also has cadence, which is a feature I hope one day to be a good enough cyclist to use. I wanted to mount the computer tonight and take a shakedown ride, make sure all was well before Sunday’s ride with Blake.

That’ll be my first Real Road Ride on a Real Road Bicycle. =) Other than going to the park or going to Coney Island, that is.

It was a bit chilly out there, but I had picked up a longsleeved jersey a while back, and that plus some old tights did me right. I figure it’s about 55 out there now. Maybe closer to 60, but that’s chilly coming downhill at speed.

The Cannondale did well … she’s rickety above 25mph, so I figure I need to do a tune-up. Hey Jeff, can I borrow a stand?

Tomorrow’s a moto ride … can’t wait!

The word from Cap’n Tim, on last night’s game vs. Team Yasai. Funnily enough, this post (in both original and SANITIZED form) has caused a lot of turmoil. Out of respect for the team players mentioned, I have heavily re-edited Tim’s words so they preserve the good stuff about why you read this blog — the pool. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday night we had a nice victory against the team formerly known as Team Yasai. It was a pretty crazy night.

FIRST of all we only really had 4 people coming. Roger had a prior engagement, Yorgo was in Vegas, Jacob was wherever Jacob goes, and Heather was somewhere in the air flying in from the Seattle area, scheduled to land WELL after we were starting. So it seemed that we were going to have to forfeit the last match regardless. We almost only had THREE people. Chin-Jin – on his day off and with his wife rather ill – had to have his neighbors babysit his children in order to come at all and therefore needed to play first.

As I biked to the bar, I got a frantic call from Vikrum who was convinced he was in the wrong place and staring at an apartment building instead of a bar. I calmed him down and told him the bar would open soon. When I got there it STILL wasn’t open but Vikrum and CJ and the other team was arriving. We had no interest in practicing, but in getting CJ back to his family so we walked in and started playing in the pitch black. Or the very very dim, whichever. It gave me a huge headache for most of the night.

We had already admitted we were putting CJ up first, and they put up Jean Willi, a 3. CJ – playing in only his fourth match of the season – won. It was nice to watch CJ on top of his game. I was saying to Vikrum that watching Kimba give CJ a coach was pretty impressive as they seem to be speaking a different language about some other game entirely that I’m really not playing.

(A little aside must occur here as during this first match I was on the phone with Heather. Heather managed to land at JFK at 7:45 PM. I spoke with her and convinced [read: begged] her to come from the airport with her luggage in order to play. She did mention being pleased I had to grovel, but HEY, it was for the team – I can do what I have to. She agreed to come straight there via subway despite a cross-country flight and 2 hours of sleep the night before.)

Peter and watch the fireworks.So now it was our turn to put up. One thing I had planned for this evening was to put up Kimba against But when I put myself up, they put him up. I actually played quite well but simply couldn’t close out the games that I was really consistently winning.

With the match tied at 1-1, they put up Jim and we put up Vikrum. Vikrum’s good play has finally caught up with him and he’s now a 4. Deservedly so, really, but he’s now forced to win more games against folks ranked below their true skill – like Jim, a 3 [Matt: Jim actually plays like a 4 or 5, he's quite good]. I think it kind of got to him and he had some trouble getting a win. There was also a dispute over a safety on a frozen ball. Jim hit one and nothing else and Peter said that it was a good shot, a double kiss.

Sadly, we ended up losing that match regardless. Vik may have also been confused by playing 3rd. He’s almost NEVER up that late.

Down 2-1, we put up Kimba and they put up their other 5, Jamal. I like Jamal – he’s a good guy. But NOT too good a guy to avoid running into the whirring buzzsaw that was Kimba tonight. The RETURN OF KIMBA! Jamal was able to win one of the games, so Kimba won 5-1. We also managed to meet Kimba’s lovely wife, so he really wasn’t lying all that time about being married. I’m figuring she was his good luck charm tonight and it was very heartwarming.

So NOW it’s tied 2-2 and they put up one of their women – Misako. Bicoastal Heather played very solidly for someone who woke up on the Olympic Penninsula earlier that day. Her penultimate shot in the first game was PARTICULARLY brilliant. An uncoached safety from the middle of the table that knocked the 8 off the rail and placed the cue behind it in a DIRECT LINE with Misako’s ball. Not CJ, Kimba, or Yorgo could have done it any more perfectly and I only wish more than just me could have seen it. Misako couldn’t hit her ball and Heather had ball in hand on the 8 to win that game. Masterful. In the second game there was a LITTLE controversy as with her 2 coaches already used up, Jamal inadvertantly yelled “COACH” as Misako lined up. I incorrectly said this was some sort of foul as it’s basically telling the person “yo, that shot sucks”. The rulebook actually very clearly states it’s not a foul; but if it continues or is repeated the team can protest for bad sportsmanship. Jamal obviously did not intend this and I was able to shut my piehole. Heather then put in a LONG corner-to-corner hypotenuse shot to win the game. The 8 was close to the pocket and she consciously angled it in JUST slightly to avoid following it for a scratch. It is the SECOND time this season Heather has won the tiebreak match at the end of the night to give us the victory.

This was a pretty important victory as going in we were tied for 4th (one point behind 3rd, two behind 2nd, three behind 1st) with another team and we must have gained on SOMEONE (I hope) with this victory. We have two more weeks to go and it’s going to be down to the wire. Next week we are at Dempseys and it should be a lot of fun – I hope to see many many of you there!

Congrats to all!

Busy weekend, busy Monday … and Tuesday don’t suck, either.

Let’s see, Saturday was my ER rotation up at St Luke’s. I went with Sheila from our EMT class, and we had some amazing experiences which I can’t talk about in any specifics. We did see about 40 patients in the ED Triage area, took a lot of vitals and smoe patient history, and saw a LOT of kids come through. It was great to help so many people in such a short time (an 8 hour shift). I can’t wait to get certified!

Last night was Paulie’s birthday party … we had an amazing dinner (complete with fresh-made guacamole) at Rosa Mexicana. The food was almost too good. In addition to the guacamole, we munched on some crab empanadas, I nibbled on Blake’s cactus dish, and I had the best chicken tacos as a main dish. Even had some Key Lime flan pie for dessert, with fresh fruit. Wow. Eat there, you won’t regret it.

After, we went bowling at the Melody Lanes in Sunset Park (Brooklyn). I broke 100 for the first time, like, ever. It was a good night out. Happy birthday, bud!

And this morning? I had illustrious plans to wake up at 0530 to go on a ride in the park. Unfortunately the day dawned cold, so I contented myself with some miles on the trainer. I licked the loudness issue by wearing some earcan headphones hooked into the soundsystem. No more eardrum-shattering volme levels. W00t! Now excuse me, I have some pushups to do before starting the workday in earnest.

Dude. I’m going to become my own de.licio.us or digg.com or summat. Kewl.

As an avvid peruser of Offbeat news, I came across the story of One Red Paperclip. A true tale of a Canadian boy and his desire to trade up, bigger and better, from a paperclip to a house. It would be less hilarious if it weren’t true! Check out the story … and peruse his blog. I love it when I see something original on the interwebs. Kyle MacD, this post’s for you.

A little sheep was wondering where a lot of my pics in the gallery went to. She thought that I had pulled them from the site due to bad memories, and I’m sorry if I gave that impression. See, I moved my website in-house a while back, and when I did not all of the old pics made it. Some of them are still up on Kodak Easyshare, but I don’t think I have a link to them. I still have them all, and am uploading them to the new gallery (hosted here) when I have free time.

For that little sheep tho … here’s a classic from 2005 which I uploaded this morning. Click to check out 2005, which has the cross-country trip in it for now.

More to come.

A great story, about a man (well, a Swede) and his art, his destiny to unite with another Swede, and annoy all of Europe and parts of Asia. They were helped out by Jamba.

Read about the man, the crazy frog, the ringtone, the music, the hate and the love … and go see the Ministry of Sound video for Axel F! SFW and a big 4 whoops on the hilarity scale.

Continuing in the recent vein of “fun in NYC” … I was in Edison NJ for work yesterday, and came back into the city instead of heading into Bklyn after. Picked up a friend, and we rolled through most of downtown on a little driving tour. We parked on Houston, had a bev at Nice Guy Eddies (the jukebox is now $1 a song … got to love that) … walked around the East Village for a while, then bought some indie gear at Urban Outfitters … and popped into Dempsey’s to say hi to Terry. I have to get back there and have some drinks. I miss that place.

It was good to roll in the old stompin’ grounds, but it was cooler to roll in Bklyn later. Went to a bar/restaurant called Alma down by the docks just West of Cobble Hill. I was only in the bar, but a little sheep tells me the food is just amazing. I’ll be going back to get some grubbage one of these days. Some bevs, some good peeps … def’ a good night.

What a great weekend. I had a nice big smile on me face at the end of it.

Kicked it off right with some fresh music in W-burg at NorthSix … “one of the best small venues in the country”. Got there early so I walked around the corner to chill with Mark, the MD of the Empire State AIDS Ride, a good friend whom I never see. He’s one of the guys in charge over at the Abbey Bar on Driggs Ave. I only bring this up as it was quite a special time … they had The Ten Commandments on the tube, and I arrived just as Moses was leading them Jews out of Egypt. When it came time to part the Red Sea, Mark turned down the music and cranked up the tubes, and we all cheered along. Score one for the Chosen People. And I’m not even Jewish!

Back to the music. I met up with Roger and Winnie and some other folks at Northsix to hear +/- (that’s “plus/minus” to the untrained ear). Roger and I used to work together in the long ago, and I haven’t seen him since oh, January. Good to see you, man.

Say Hi To Your Mom was opening, and they didn’t suck, but they weren’t why we were there. We were there to see +/-, and they were just jaw-dropping good. They were tight and they were set to blow some blood vessels with some real rock, indie-style. Check out their site, linked above, and buy some CDs like I did. They’ve signed, they’ve put out a few albums, and they’re on their way. I’m indirectly connected to the drummer, and it’s great to see a friend of a friend make big.

Saturday was a chill day, tho I did rescue Blake when her road bike broke down on Bedford Ave. It was fun to swoop in with the pickup and get her home. Anyone need a rescue, give me a call. I continued the do-goodery Saturday night with my first NYC ambulance shift. I worked with some cool gents (at St. Luke’s Roosevelt) who’ve been doing this for about 20 years between ‘em. The shift went from 1700 Saturday until 0230 Sunday … I can’t really talk about the calls (go HIPAA!), but I can say that things were really quiet until about 2300 hours. Then the city woke up and all the drama started. I learned a ton about how it’s done on the street, and am very much looking forward to next week’s ER shift.

I got home around 0330, asleep by 0400 Sunday, and woke up at 0800 for Pack Day. This Pack Day consisted of Blake, Paul, Clarence and Me. Clarence is the big dog of the pack. We rolled to Prospect Park for some wandering, exploring and frolicking … a great way to start the day. Still I was tired from lack of sleep, so crashed for some nappage after I got home.

And Sunday night? Let’s say that the evening was something I had been freaked out about, but needlessly so … it was good to go back to some places where I hadn’t been in a while … and I got to do some quality out-making with a very hot lady. That’d be about the best close you could ask for a weekend.

=)

Pics from the weekend are up here! Sorry, no pics of the make-out sessions.