crazy, sexy, cool

I may be dating myself in reference to this album but that’s what this week has been. A good thing, maybe, as these past few days, my fingers have been busy tapping the sides of a coffee cup, not a keyboard. But all that caffeine and hanging out hasn’t been for nothing, as I’ve been quite the serendipitous slacker of late.
crazy - the crostis descent
When people told me this year’s Giro looked crazy, I didn’t fully comprehend what they meant. With the death of Wouter Weylandt, and stages that look like they could fit into the Spring Classics, the Giro has been both sobering and surreal. To add to the general insanity of it all, comes this article, which states, in part:

The descent of the Crostis worried Contador more than the climb to the finish on the Zoncolan. He admitted he had never seen anything like the dirt road section at the top and the near vertical drop off at the side of the narrow road. “It scares me,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport who followed him during his ride.

He was told that the race organisers will erect safety nets to catch any riders that may crash on the descent but said: “That doesn’t go close to the limit, it goes over it.”

Nets? ...Really?
sexy - pave.cc
I’ve been lucky [serendipitous?] enough to meet a lot of amazing cyclists at Ride.Studio.Cafe. Last weekend, Neal regaled me with stories of climbing the French Pyrennes [with a standard double crank] and at one point jerked a thumb over his shoulder at an impossibly slim cyclist named Raphael.
“I’m trying to get him to drink vegetable oil,” Neal said, “he’s killing us on the climbs.”
A few days later, I walked in to find out that Raphael’s friend is opening Pave Culture Cycliste, a shop that has most all of the RSC regulars and employees [sorry, Rob] making plans to move to Barcelona. The store closes from 1.30 to 5.00 for a group ride that heads out at 2.15. Every. Single. Day.

Hola, Barcelona, HERE I COME!!!
cool - m. scott morton
I met Morton at - of all places - a business networking event organized by our alma mater this past week. He mentioned he lived in Harvard [the town], one of those places I have grand plans to bike to ever since discovering 1. a “Harvard to Harvard” ride on mapmyride.com, and 2. the Harvard General Store. Morton mentioned he designs and constructs furniture for a living and my interest piqued, I asked for a card.

So glad I did. Because, woah. His stuff is amazingly beautiful. I rode to RSC the next day to spread the love and Morton and his adorable son even stopped by yesterday.

And yes, when I get the legs to ride to Harvard, I’m swinging by his shop!
Enjoy the race/bike/furniture porn, and have a great weekend, guys!

[look] what's new

[Disclaimer: this is not nearly as interesting or insightful as Competitive Cyclist's What's New. You've been forewarned.]
A few days ago, on one of my near-daily treks to Ride.Studio.Cafe, I walked in to see Dave S., Dave N., and Sal huddled around an iPad the far end of the coffee bar. Clearly excited about something, they slid the iPad over to show me their new gagdet: a Square. A small, white credit card reader that can attach to an iPad, iPhone, or Android phone, they had just finished putting the cafe menu into the iPad.
“Look, look,” Sal said, coming around to my side of the coffee bar, his hand hovering over the iPad.
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen those before,” I said.

Their faces fell in unison, the momentary disappointment then replaced by outrage and accusations that I was jaded. They went so far as to make me re-enact the scene again, but this time - to their satisfaction - I feigned shock, surprise, and awe.
Not usually being in the know, I’m usually on the other end of the equation. This might sound ironic given that I seem to be on the Internet ALL THE TIME but I have remained fairly oblivious even with an iPod, phone, laptop, and Kindle. So the following might not be new for you, but hey we can all pretend, right?
ifixbyx

I’ve known Mark, the mastermind behind ifixbyx, for a few years now and keep promising to visit his new space [but have yet to do so]. I understand how foolish this is because Mark gets to play around with Di2 on a regular basis. Yes, Di2. I love Di2. I think Di2 was made specifically for me, although I've actually never used it. Anyway, as I could go on and on about Di2, even if you don't have a fetish for Japanese electronic groups, if you’re looking for a top-notch mechanic in the NYC area, you can’t go wrong with Mark. He’s recently gotten a new website courtesy of Gage+Desoto, and it is pro. I like. A lot.
NYC Velo

My favorite store in the city, NYC Velo is celebrating its sixth birthday next Sunday [party here!]. They’ve also gotten a website facelift for the upcoming season, as well as some great new hires. If you see a short Asian girl trying on every pair of Oakleys they have, that will probably be me. And yes, my nonexistent nose and I look amazing in Jawbones.
Jens Voigt’s Army

I love it.
H-Zontal Bike

...I don't love it. For so many reasons. [Thanks, Josh.]
I know, I know. You're all blown away. I knew you would be.

the weekend in pictures: ride.studio.cafe

Since first visiting Ride.Studio.Cafe last fall, I've been meaning to go back. A big, bright space with racks of Rapha, there are enough Cervelos and Sevens to make you reconsider your conviction that there is such a thing as owning too many bikes. A big coffee bar sits on the side of the shop, a wide table perfect for hanging out and resting tired legs while sipping good coffee or espresso. Spacious but cozy, with good company both behind and outside the coffee bar, I promised Rob I would come back as soon as I got my IF together.
But things like "winter," "cold," and "being lazy," kept getting in the way, even with all the events they were having. Finally, with the weather cooperating and all day events scheduled for their first anniversary on Saturday, I grabbed my IF and made my first geared trip to Lexington.
Lucky enough to catch the club riders after their ride, I walked into a packed shop, filled with a number of super domestiques in Ride.Studio.Cafe/Rapha kits. I was a sweaty mess, but that didn't keep a few nice people from pointing at my chest and asking about NYC Velo.

Drawn to the coffee bar [against my better judgment, as afternoon coffee tends to make me bitchy], I wussed out with a San Pellegrino. Then found out that espresso, De La Paz's Perfume V, was free that day. Sal promised it was interesting, and really good, with that intense look that baristas and coffee aficionados use to tell you you're going to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if you decline. And because I am a pushover, I said yes.
There was half a cup of Stumptown coffee too. Because, hey, last time I visited I drank an Americano and three shots of espresso so why not keep up the trend of consuming stupid amounts of coffee whenever I'm there?

Amped up like a paranoid squirrel, I left before the party [plus beer] got underway. Still, I've found a new favorite place to hang out. I'll be back soon!

the weekend in pictures

Found part of a note on the way back from a ride...

Visited Superb for some repairs...

And made a new friend, Milo [Christian's adorable American Pit].

cx worlds in nyc

The sky has been dumping snow for most of this week, making life somewhat miserable and prone to cabin fever.
If you're in NYC this weekend though, there are a couple of reasons to get your ass out of bed early. NYC Velo is holding a viewing party for the Cyclocross World Championships on Sunday morning. If the cyclocross isn't enough incentive, well, there's always the promise of muffins and coffee [and who can't use a good cup of coffee at 8.00 in the morning?] and some cool peeps to hang out with.

Unfortunately I won't be there [thus diminishing the cool factor, I know] but every viewing party I've been to at Velo has been awesome. So, go, have fun, make new friends. It might be ass-early in the morning, but I guarantee you'll forget about the miserable weather.

to build an if

There are times when the days blend together. Whether it occurs because of a great winning streak in a game of Beirut or because of late night ramblings over a midnight snack with a friend at a 24 hour diner that eventually turns into breakfast, anyone with even a hint of a social life will understand this. Even with a couple hours of sleep thrown in, one day can turn into another, the reminder that you mentally crammed 48 hours into 24 only hitting you full force when the headache of sleep deprivation sears through your temples. Too bad when the overpowering desire to curl up on the floor and doze saturates your brain, you’re usually already a drink or two into your next blurred-together day.
Of course, the last time my days blended together, it was due to back to back to back episodes of “To Catch a Predator.” Me, pedophiles, and Chris Hansen. Until 3 a.m. Oh yeah.

And though Chris Hansen’s magnetic creepiness was woefully absent, the past few weeks have blended together, too. Sleeping in until almost noon, trudging through the slushy streets of New York, going to too many bookstores...and before I knew it, 2010 had flowed seamlessly and somewhat unmemorably into 2011.
It wasn't until last Sunday night that it occurred to me that it really was 2011. That night, in a slightly chilly bike shop, with some Victory beer, the help of another Chris [Harris, not Hansen], and some oddly shaped tools, I slowly assembled my very first road bike.
It started with a bottom bracket tapping and facing set; a gigantic metal contrapction that does the frame-prepping equivalent of douching and brazilian bikini waxing. Each tap got inserted so as not to cut through the BB threads, “chasing” them, before the facing cutter was fitted onto the outside edge of the BB, shaving off most of the paint. It hurt a little to do [doesn't waxing anything?], but I managed not to screw it [or my frame] up.

With a hammer, I pressed my first fork crown race, clanging away at the crown race installer. Then, feeling very pro mechanic, pressed my first ever headset into place, perfect and pretty. Okay, that’s not accurate. I only really installed the bottom half of the headset while Chris did the hardest part of aligning the top half. After spacers, bars, and brakes were attached, Chris made me figure out how to install the derailleurs myself [which was totally cool because those are only the exact parts that don't come on a single-speed bike]. I got it, eventually, only to be laughed at when I tried to put on my wheels, tightening them down like they had track nuts on them. Chris had to fix the wheels before helping me wipe down and measure out the chain, installing the brakes, and insisting I wrap one side of my bars. And he took pictures, documenting my embarrasment.
A la "To Catch a Predator," the bike build was a team effort. I was the equivalent of the Internet pedophile that stupidly walks into a TV set [“well...I thought it would make sense to put that...there...is that...wrong?”], while Chris [Harris] pretty much played the part of my other favorite Chris [Hansen] by attempting to reason with me [“do you really think that’s a good idea? You're building your own bike...What did you think was going to happen here tonight?”]. All very much like one of the greatest shows on television, with the exception that when I left the store, I wasn’t tackled by some burly cop screaming at me to get down on the ground.

And at the end of it all, I had a road bike. All I really got to do that night on the bike, was to pedal the length of the store. The saddle was a little lower than it should have been but once I cruised past the display of Chrome bags, that cliched realization, the prefix for those "I told you so"s [or more accurately "I TOLD you--Jesus CHRIST! WHY don't you ever LISTEN?!"s], that this bike was made to measure, hit me. It felt perfect. Not in the pre-fabricated, psychological way born of expectations, but in the physical sensations of a just-right reach, a standover that didn’t feel dangerously questionable, and the tangible fact of how the hoods fit into my hands.
And that’s when I knew. When I ceased to have any question in my mind about this simple fact:
Y’all are going to have a hard time catching this predator.