State College Diaries

I went to State College, PA. and took this picture.

State College is just as awesome as this picture.

Friday Inspiration

This is a great story from VeloNews. A must read.

Two years ago, Ernest Gagnon weighed 570 pounds. The 30-year-old lived in self-imposed exile in his Massachusetts apartment, leaving only to go to work and to the grocery store. He was depressed, lonely and suffering from crippling anxiety.
Then the doctors gave him the news and two choices: Gagnon had type 2 diabetes; he could undergo gastric bypass surgery or die. 

Gagnon chose a third option — cycling.

Read the Full Story

This story (like most stories) makes me want to grab my bike and make a break for it; even today when this is happening:

Red Fang Thursday

I'm going to see Red Fang. It's going to be god damn good. In anticipation of this I'm posting dome Red Fang videos.

Enjoy.

Tour de Fat DC: Tour de F#&K Yeah!

This past weekend I took the family to the much anticipated Tour de Fat at the Yards Park in DC and I must say that there was nothing lame anywhere to be found.
(Except the Yankees winning a block away)

There were sexy parade people...


There were lots of oversized board game classics...

There was lots of meandering...

There was a fake/real gameshow...



There were lots of chicks with drums, some say those are the best kind of chicks....

There was me on what I can easily say was the most fun "bike" type machine I've ever ridden. The concept of this amazing contraption was simple; make a bigwheel for grownups that power-slides every time you make the slightest turn. The best part was that if you turned too hard it would send you rolling off, combining my two favorite adrenaline boosting activities;  power-sliding and wrecking. Thank you New Belgium!
Here are some power-sliding action shots:

And here is a wrecking shot.

There were lots of other bike oddities to wreck on...

Yeah that's my voice talking to my 3.5 year old. Suck it.
I was unaware at the time but this video I captured Gwadzilla, (in the pink helmet) deftly outspinning his opponents who were flung far and wide and left hoist in their own petard. (0:45sec)

The event culminated in a ceremony honoring a DC citizen who traded her car in for a bike. Props.

So a damn good time was had and a bunch of money was raised. Cheers to New Belgium and WABA.

Junk En Las Trunk

A friend sent me a link to Half Moon Cycling today. I am impressed on many levels; the first of which being that there is an ass printed right where your ass should go, that's just good common sense. Also, any logo that looks like boobs is a good one in my book. The flaw I see with this product is that anyone with a pair of bib shorts and a some scissors can make their own ass bibs in a matter of minutes. Having said that, these have moved to the top of my "Shit I Must Have" list.

A Turtle Saved Is a Turtle... Somethinged

I saved this little guy from becoming an ineffective speed bump on Sligo Creek Parkway this morning. He seemed pretty pissed none the less. 

Pre Tour De Fat Party At The Pug

Last night I went with a buddy down to The Pug on H street for a New Belgium/WABA pre TDF party. There were lot's of Belgian style beer and bike people, which is always a good combination. There was a raffle to raise money for WABA and NB gave away hats, shirts, and a pretty sweet custom cruiser to this lucky gal.

I apologize for the crappy photos.

The place was filled with poorly lit blurry people. Gwadzilla is in there somewhere.

I had a nice chat with Katie, WABA's DC Bike Ambassador.

I tried the aptly named Tart Lychee, which was both tart and full of lychee. It was pretty damn good, however there is a time and a place and last night was neither. Maybe a hot summer day while grilling pork.

I picked up another piece of beeraphernalia for the LHT.

After having our fill of Belgian style beer, and being raffle loosers, we went next door  to Granville Moore's for some mussels, fries, and actual Belgian beer. I highly recommend the the braised lamb and Navigator mussels.

Over all it was a great night; we met cool folks, gave WABA some money, drank good beer, and ate great food.