Parenting 101: Video

As a father this video tugs on more than a few heart strings. This kid is a bad ass, this dad is a bad ass.
 

Building A Better Father: Aggressively Granola

I've always been into nature. I've always been outdoorsy. Until now I've been passive in my granolaness. Sure I've done my share of cool outdoor adventure stuff but It's always been just for fun. Now that I am a father it takes on a more serious meaning. I want and need to instill a love for nature in my daughter and am taking calculated measures to do so.

I am becoming obsessed with increasing my knowledge of the outdoors, from gardening to backpacking. I know a lot of the birds that are indigenous to our area; I know most of their calls. Now I want to know theit migration patterns so I can tell my girl where they're going and when. I've created an indoor worm composting bin for our kitchen scraps. Lately I've been studying what plants and mushrooms are safe for eating, where they grow and when so she'll know that not all food has to come from the store. I recently joined MAW (The Mycological Association of Washington) to hasten my mushroom education. Last week I went on my first guided mushroom foray and loved it. I found a handful of morels which I threw in an egg scramble, very tasty.

Doing this research and gaining these new experiences have become my main goal. Hopefully some of what I am learning will turn into future lessons for my daughter with the off chance that one of them might take root and turn into genuine interest, passion, and ultimately gratitude toward nature.

My dad was and is the same way, we would hike a lot, go on the occasional camping trip and generally have fun in outdoors. While hiking, he would make my brother, sister and me stop yaking and stand still in silence for 5 minutes just to see what else was in the woods with us.  This would bring us back into the moment. Sometimes it was a deer sometimes a pileated woodpecker, sometimes just air flowing through leaves; stopping and appreciating almost always resulted in something cool that we would have never seen or heard if we had kept on our way.

Maybe he felt the same call to duty as I do.

The more passions I have and the more experienced I become, the better off my little girl will be.

Happy Birthday Joe Strummer... RIP

Richard Pryor Wednesday

Today is Richard Pryor day for no particular reason.

Is it irony that John Belushi is playing the sober one?

A roast retort in two parts.

Missy Giove - Watcha Gonna Do?

It's not the fact that Missy Giove (object of everyone's early 90's obsession) was caught with marijuana. Don't all extreme sports super stars compete with a little weed on them for good luck? No, it's that she was caught with 400 pounds of it that boggles the mind. (Via VeloNews) "Former world downhill champion Melissa “Missy” Giove and two alleged co-conspirators were arrested in New York Tuesday, charged with plans to distribute some 400 pounds of marijuana."

"Giove, also known as "The Missile," earned a total of 14 NORBA national downhill titles, 11 UCI World Cup victories, two overall World Cup titles and the world championship in 1994."

Never missing an opportunity for laughs, DEA agent John Gilbride dropped this little zinger, “drug trafficking can lead you downhill fast." Rimshot!

It's unfortunate that Missy may be spending the foreseeable future behind bars because she kicks so much ass.



I'll choose to think of her thusly, or like this, or this, or any of these, ok and sometimes like this.

Captain Chaos Is Dead, Long Live Captian Chaos

Tuesday Zappa Fix

There isn't much I need to say in this post except that the last video is by far the best.

Yes, the bleeped out "wet stuff"

Brace Yourself...

Our Hero Crashes

Yes that's right. Our leader, the one we all look up to, the one who has inspires us, had a pretty bad crash over the weekend. There is no word on how bad the damage is but there are rumors of broken bones. We can only speculate at this point how this will affect the rest of his season. We here at CycleJerk are praying for Matt Lauer's speedy recovery...

There seems to be another cycling crash in the news but it's of little significance compared to Mr. Lauer's terrifying run in with a crazed quadruped.

Weakening Outrage

I felt something this morning that I haven't fell in a long time. Optimism. A crack in the armor I have built up over the last eight years. I couldn't quite figure out what the feeling was until it came to me on my ride in. I have harbored a general feeling of outrage for so long that I mistook it for the norm. This baggage has been a heavy burden that until now I couldn't  grasp the true weight of. 

I know Obama isn't going to solve all our problems. To me he is more of a symbol that reason, logic, and patience have returned to our country.

"The future is unwritten..."
                          - Joe Strummer

Tim and Cindy Back In The States

For almost 2 years I have been following the adventures of Tim and Cindy Travis who 7 years ago sold everything they had to live a cycling nomadic lifestyle. They have biked through Central and South America, China, South Asia, New Zealand, Australia, and after coming down the coast from Alaska they are back in the lower 48. 

They did a very indepth interview with KGNU in Bolder Colorado on everything from healthcare to the upcoming elections.

Take a listen 

Why Dave Will Always Be Better Than Jay

Bo No You Didn't

RIP - Bo Diddley

Sheldon Brown - RIP

1944 - 2008

Sheldon Brown died last night of a massive heart attack.

My Cycling Heros - Installment One

image stolen from downtheroad.org

Have you ever wish you could just bike full time? To live on your bike and tour the world? Tim and Cindy Travis did, and have been on an around the world bike trip since 2002. They saved up a bunch of money, sold all of their possessions, quit their jobs and rode out of their driveway in Arizona. They have bike through central and South America, China, and Southern Asia, Australia, and are currently in New Zealand. They plan to tour from Alaska down the west coast of North America and cut across to the east side and then off to Eastern Europe down into Africa.

What they have done is truly remarkable. On their travels Tim and Cindy have maintained a detailed blog and written 2 books based on their adventures. So by selling the book and generating ad revenue through their site they fund their epic trip. As long as they keep biking they keep blogging and as long as they keep blogging, they keep biking. A self sustaining process that allows them to bike indefinitely. It's freakin GENIUS!

Aside from the circa 2002 website layout, www.downtheroad.org is full of inspirational tales, interviews and video, photos, and most important of all, advice about touring and honest gear reviews you can't get anywhere else.

Thanks Tim and Cindy.