Political mish-mash

Talking about politics has become the cool thing to do. The problem with this is that people say shit that is directly taken from someone else or just total ignorant blather. Then everyone thinks that they are smart. At Mount Vernon political conversations are become more fashionable than low cut shirts. On men (eww). Not kidding.

Today I also noticed how different religion seems to be synonymous with social groups. Must be the way people were raised, and the close-mindedness of small town iowa. I'm proud to be part of the nerdy/athiest group. On the other side of the lunchroom are the jocks/catholics. We also have emo/agnostics (ironic), and of course the evangelical/evangelicals who don't seem to have any hobbies but going to church groups and singing about how jesus is gonna save you baaaaaaabeeh and if he don' you be goin to heeeelllll so you better be saved motha fucka. Hallelujah. There is about a zero exchange rate in terms of dating between the groups. As you can imagine my selection is limited.

Funny quote of the day:
At the tour of california, by the live announcer, refering to the one and only Tom Zirbel..."This town used to be called PASADENA but today it's called PAAAAAAIN CITTTEEHHHY!!!."

I hate life

Today sucked. Figures, back into cold, snowy, crappy weather that should be at least 30 right now, but no, its still 20. 20 was good enough for a 60 minute session on the mountain bike, a ride that somewhat resembled cyclocross racing in that the gravel roads were all really muddy and wet. There were puddles everywhere, and it was 20 degrees. Must be some sort of mutated water from hell, or heaven, doesn't make any difference to me, either one existing would mean I'm going to hell.

I'm working on an independent film with a friend of mine. I think we're going to explore a concept that I made up called "loss of societal focus on the individual". It sounds interesting enough now, we will see where it takes us.

Some teachers are being real toilets. With all these snow days they are all complaining about being behind. But we make up all of the snow days, so there shouldn't be a problem. Clearly there is a big lack of communication somewhere, but anyway the result is me doing homework at 11 at night with no end in sight.

There are some people who obviously don't understand the concept of having a brain. Quote-unquote "I hate thinking." This surprised me not only because of what was said but because of who said it. Why can't there be any hot smart people that are in love with me? That would make everything so nice and simple.

This all sounds really close minded and immature but then what are blogs for. I think I'm only happy when I'm biking. Peace out bitches

The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

I stayed in LA another day. Good thing, it finally stopped raining. Hung out in Long Beach with my Aunt. Totally worth missing another day of school

The tour of California was fricken awesome. Seeing Tom Zirbel on his solo break for 5 laps was truely amazing, the crowds were SO loud, everyone wanted him to win. Oh well, he got caught the last lap and George Hincapie stole the win. Cycling is cruel.

Neutral Service

Start in Santa Clarita

Some of the Team Cars

So if you are going to see a race, see the tour of California. The pro's were just walking around the team cars and the hotels, it was sweet, definitely a better place to get autographs/pics than the sign in. There were maybe 10 people in the parking lot where most of the teams hung out. Don't tell anyone.

Couldn't find the CSC bus, maybe a good thing....I probably would have tackled Jens and Fabian and JJ.
Graham Watson, it was totally sweet, he was just walking around. No one seemed to know who he was.

It poured rain in Pasadena, the specialized jacket SUCKS in rain, I was freezing. But I didn't care.

All I have to say is Tom Zirbel is my hero. The crowds were, rightfully so, going absolutely nuts. Everyone wanted him to win. He's definitely the real winner in my mind.

First race of the year this Saturday. It's a ridiculously technical race at prarie high school that goes over tennis courts and sidewalks. Gotta love 2beeracing races.

The death penalty sucks

We watched dead man walking in sociology class today and watching some one get lethally injected makes me want to throw up.

I'm packing for California...I'm excited except it's going to rain on Sunday. Again, I might add, it has rained for that race the whole week and yesterday it took them 7.5 hours to ride 135 miles. Ceeerazzzy.

There is a WPA (women pay all) dance saturday. Being the nerd/dork/biker/can't talk good conversations person that I am I didn't get asked..sigh. Good thing I guess with the California plans. I didn't want to go anyway!

I hope I get Jens Voigt's' Autograph

Are you on a retarded soccer team?

I got some wool socks today. It's like the coolest fucking thing ever. Light, comfy, warm, cool (seriously), breathable, and they don't smell even after sweating a whole bunch. I cannot recommend them highly enough. I cannot recommend this website highly enough either.

My responsibilities as a jazz band member require me to actually do stuff sometimes, and tomorrow I'm going to a jazz band competition. So I'm supposed to be at school at 7, right? Well, my sister, who is a time Nazi, and who has been known to tell me between 3 and 10 or more times before something exactly what time we have to leave, thinks otherwise. This is generally about half a efing hour before we really have to leave, and I'm sure tomorrow will not disappoint. Great, I love being at school for 9 hours.

Ever notice how certain words or phrases make no sense when you think about them? Like specialized...what the hell. That is the stupidest name ever for a brand. The back cover of cycle sport with Paolo Bettini this month illustrates this rhetoric well:

1) What those things on his arms? Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they are radiators. For sure a great way to advertise bikes, by comparing a human to a car.
2) There also appears to be some sort of medieval armor on his shoulders...
3) His arms are either: In aero bars, which is supid because its not a time trial bike
Dangling out in space (literally), because there are no handlebars at all
4) His leg says "I am specia"

It would be nice if their jacket said "specialized bicycles" or something, not just specialized, because someone actually asked me if I was on a retarded soccer team.

"Yes" I replied...while silently, yet profusely cursing the retarded soccer team's clothing designers.

Tip for parents

Don't beat around the bush

"So, me and mom were maybe thinking that because you didn't clean your room you should probably not go out tonight"

Evidently I need psychiatric help

True to my coffee shop obsession today I went to fuel so I could write on my blog about going to fuel. I rode my bike the 3 miles in town, yeah I even surprise myself sometimes. Turns out it was alright, I didn't freeze my ass off and I didn't crash despite pretty much riding the whole way on naked ice.

So there was this one smartass dude (driving an SUV) that came in, and after seeing my bike outside said (in all seriousness), "anyone who rides their bike needs psychiatric help."

Of course I couldn't think of anything incredibly witty/smartass to reply with so I just ignored him. But WTF? I glad you satisfied your ego SUV man, but maybe you would like to explain to me how riding a bike implies psychological problems? Yes, I'm a psychopath. I like to torture myself in the cold. Thats why I ride my bike wearing more coats than Eskimos to warm coffee shops to drink hot coffee.

Riding a bike somewhere is so much more satisfying to me than driving. It's relaxing, non stressful (here anyway, where traffic is minimal), peaceful and quiet, and leaves a small sense of accomplishment rather than a small sense of regret .

Whining Winter Weariness

Only 4 weeks until spring break, and 6 weeks to Kent Park. That sounds so unbelievable. There is over a foot of snow on the ground.

The plan today was to ride to school and get my workout afterwards outside. That didn't happen. I chickened out in the morning and took a ride with my dad into work and rode the bus home. I rode for 30 minutes outside then came back home not because of the snow, not because of the ice, not because of the roads, just because it was cold and my toes and fingers were numb. Which makes me realize, that is pretty much what I've done every single day for the past 3 months.

At least today was Valentines Day.

This weekend I'm going to the tea house in Iowa City with some friends. Should be a good time.

mvlug.doesntexist.org

It's a website created by my friends. Why you ask? I asked the same thing. Lets take a look:


[21:02:11] Jimi: so what are the goals/aspirations for the site
[21:02:30] David: its just freedom to do whatever on it i guess
[21:04:23] Jimi: like an open source thing
[21:04:30] Jimi: it exists because it exists
[21:04:45] David: yeah
[21:04:58] David: although i don't know if thats the definition of open source, haha.
[21:05:05] Jimi: its like hello kitty
[21:05:17] David: YES
[21:05:23] David: exactly
[21:05:27] Jimi: not a definition, just a philisophical observation

This was an online conversation. Names have been changed to protect those involved. Or have they? But just by throwing that in it makes it even more uncertain, and therefore more efffective. Ha!

What I got out of my Arizona trip

1) As I thought before, I would love to go to college down here (there). I've always loved the southwestern region of the country and want to use college as an opportunity to live in it. Iowa is great 9 months of the year, and winter definitely has a certain beauty to it. But I like to ride a lot, and I like to ride outdoors. I'm not one of those freaks who can ride for 5 hours indoors. Also, I'm only really committed to college for 4 years. I can always come back.

2) Having seriously considered college once more I no longer really know what I want to major in. I've narrowed it down to these. Can you do a octuple major?
Philosophy
Architecture
Civil Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Journalism
English
Mechanical Engineering
Sociology

3) Cars are everywhere and they suck, but they're a necessity. There its lots of traffic in the Phoenix area and I can say it sucks all I want. But I use cars just like everyone else, its simply impractical to bike/commute long distances. That said, driving down a mile to school is ridiculous. It doesn't take a monster effort to bike and its just as fast if not faster.

4) The emo syndrome is everywhere. There are emo kids in Mount Vernon, Iowa. There are emo kids in Phoenix, Arizona. There are probably emo bacteria on mars by now.

All in all it was probably the best vacation I've ever had. Great food, great people, great places and great biking. I logged about 21 hours of mostly good solid tempo over 7 days.

crap......

It rained all day. No biking.

Tucson-U of A and Mt. Lemon pics

All the decommissioned planes come here.

Mall at U of A. Its a great college, very big and busy, but a good "campus" feel.

Some cool buildings. This was the bookstore I think.

One of the architecture buildings. A very modern building covered in rusty old iron scaffolding. It looks very interesting.

?

Student Union

Close to the base of Mt. Lemmon on the Catalina Highway. There was a big bike lane all the way up and traffic was light.

3 miles up

5 miles


20 miles and 7,000 feet up, there was lots of snow here. Very cold.

The view close to the top, too bad it was only 35 degrees

who's that stud?


Le Buzz coffee shop near the base of the mountain. Best place in the world...I could walk around in spandex without being stared at, and they had plenty of food. Whats with this caltech poser?

Flagstaff

Wow, so much has happened in the past few days I'm really tired so this will be quick and probably kind of not readable.

Thursday my dad and I flew direct in to Phoenix/Mesa airport. We ate in Phoenix outside, then drove up to Flagstaff on the Interstate, which was surprisingly scenic. We checked in at the inn then ate and crashed. Friday morning I took a tour of the NAU campus. It was mostly good except for the fact that it is cold there, there was about a foot of snow on the ground, however still warmer than Iowa. After the tour we drove on 89A, a gorgeous state road that goes down the mountain to Sedona, where we ate and drank coffee.

Ended up in Phoenix and I managed to squeeze in a 60 minute ride up Usery Pass. Everything was beautiful, I took about 50000000 pictures, here's some of them.

Drive to Flagstaff

Inn at NAU, super cheap and run by students. Free breakfast. Overall great quality.

Downtown Flagstaff

State road out of Flagstaff


Sedona


The BADASS steakhouse LOL

Usery Pass


Right now I'm in Tucson, Today we drove down and checked out U of A which I loved, then I rode Mount Lemmon. I actually made it to the top, except it was really cold up there since it is at almost 9000 feet. I didn't notice the altitude that much though. I think I averaged 12 going up and 40 going down. Wahoo. Ended up being a 3.5hr ride, I'll probably do it again tomorrow before heading back to Phoenix for the rest of the week. I'll have Mt. Lemmon pics later when I'm settled and not starving and exhausted.