lucky

There are apparently some things every girl should do. One of those things is to take the most roundabout route to your local bike shop with a bottle of champagne tucked away in your baileyworks. Oh, yeah, and ride fast.
Because when bottles of Veuve Clicquot are involved, good things happen.
Being pressured to at least come out to the "Champagne and 40s" themed pre-party ["because we're classy...and we're not"] for the law prom I refused to go to, I threw a bottle of champagne in my bag with a bottle of water before heading out on a quick ride yesterday. The ride was super short, so I sprinted as fast as I could, whenever I could, trying to make my thighs feel that searing burn.

Disgustingly sweaty and breathless, I stopped by IBC on my way home. I expected to drop in for a quick chat and be less of a wobbly-kneed, steamy mess when I left. Lucky for me, though, I happened to walk in on Erich building one of my wheels.
Despite the initial "Ahhh don't look!!!" I got to watch my Miche hubs being laced to my front Deep V rim with DT Swiss Competition double-butted spokes and black brass nipples. This was, admittedly, the first time I've seen a wheel being built; much less one for me. Naturally, I took enough pictures to make a Japanese tourist proud.

The black nipples were Erich's idea, and I initially didn't think it would make a huge difference, and was expecting silver nipples anyway. How wrong I was! Like [unnecessarily] painted toe nails in the winter, it's the small details that simultaneously pull everything together and turn up the sophistication factor like woah.

"Bike Parts Learning Time with Erich" unfortunately had to end before the whole thing went into the truing stand [and yes the above picture is a sneak peek at the already completed rear wheel]. Mostly because I was already late to the pre-party, and I had champagne to deliver. I tore myself away from that coveted space behind the counter, next to a bike stand that held up something too pretty to articulate with words, to get back on my trusty tractorino.
I'm stopping into IBC again today. It's going to be another good day. I can just tell.

transporter

The past few days, I've been feeling like a smack addict with only visitation rights to her children.
Maybe that's a slight exaggeration.
But with the warmer weather, people talking about the warmer weather, seeing more people on bikes, and velospace...bike shops aren't just therapy - more like methadone clinics. I pedal there, shuffle in, get my fix in the form of bike banter or just hanging out, then pedal home to wait for the next bout of cravings.
I'm beginning to think maybe smack withdrawals would be easier to handle than this anticipation concerning my new baby. It's gotten me doing ridiculous things that, in another life, I would have just not considered doing. Case in point:

I decided that the easiest way to get two deep Vs and a pair of tires to IBC would be to just throw them over one shoulder [I did strap my bag on too, just prematurely took the picture]. Never mind that I could have just taken the T; I figured why not, and once I was out the door with my bike, there's never any turning back.
It worked out well. No crashes, despite the fact that I decided it would be a good idea to go as fast as possible to every single location I hit up yesterday. I blame that decision on this addiction, fueled by my own measure of crazy. And, you know, these darling hubs that were waiting for me:

Yeah I couldn't afford Phils, and to be honest, these are going to outlast my knees equally as well. Besides, they're pretty. And anything with two lockrings on either end will get my attention, stat.
I ended up ogling more pretty things at both Cambridge Bikes and Boston Bikes later where chips and stories of getting people arrested were provided. I even got to touch my very first EAI cog. And while I tried to act pretty nonchalant about the whole thing that nearly black 18-toothed sprocket got me fantasizing. I actually saw it - for 2 whole seconds before the fantasy was interrupted by Dan informing me of its price - pressed against that my Miche hub, cradled by a lockring, and spinning like a good Motown record on a vintage turntable.
The sane part of me made me hand it back, because otherwise I'll be staring at it lovingly until I fail my finals. Still...this addiction really isn't going anywhere, anytime soon [IBC and CB - I can't be back soon enough!].

multi-talented

I cannot stand not multi-tasking. If I'm working on hats, I have a DVD playing [due to lack of TV], IMing on the other laptop, and my sewing machine in the middle of the whole mess.
This is probably why I'm not nearly as efficient as I could be but hey, I only have so much free time. Might as well do all the fun stuff at once.
This isn't to be confused with being multi-talented, though. That's mostly my sister. My talents, if any, really, are rather limited. I just have the attention span of a 5 year old, and as weird as it sounds, I need distraction to stay focused.
But lately I've been meeting more of the multi-talented in Boston. People who manage to ride bikes fast and excel at all kinds of other things. Music and art seem to top the list; from woodwork to punk rock, it's all kinds of rad that people are actually capable of being passionate about something.

RMM and Natasha are two stellar examples of multi-talented, super awesome people. They're amazingly nice, into all kinds of cool stuff, and ridiculously down to earth. They're the kind of nice you actually believe; not the kind of nice where you immediately start wondering what the other person wants from you as you simultaneously back away and look for more interesting people to talk to. They're the kind of nice where - despite my social awkwardness and tendency to sometimes feel like I'm wasting people's time which they would rather be spending with cooler people - I feel totally comfortable chattering to them about ice cream cakes and photos.
Natasha even let me take this picture of the two of them wearing my hats [RMM won the heartbreaker hat contest] Friday night at the afterparty with her very complicated-looking camera. Aren't they just the cutest?
And with that fuzzy feeling of aw-that-couple-is-so-cute! and this gorgeous weather, I'm off to pay attention to the [Italian] love of my lifey.
[Make sure to check out all the photos Natasha took of the event...and the winner of my hat!]

aftermath of an afterparty

I woke up uncharacteristically late this morning, half fully dressed.
I do remember what happened last night, despite the fact that I finished off a whole beer [even chugging the last quarter of it]. But that's mostly because I haven't really slept.
But sleep is for the weak when Cambridge Bikes puts on an alleycat and throws an after party at a super secret location, complete with free beers, boldsprints, and great company.

As usual, I didn't race, but cheering on friends while meeting new ones is always a good time. Add to that getting to see friends that I hadn't in a while, and I didn't really need that quickly-turning-warm-because-I've-been-nursing-it-for-over-an-hour PBR to get my fun on.

So much fun, in fact, that I chose to shirk my blog duties and didn't take many pictures. I even stumbled out of the party not even knowing who won my hat. Irresponsible, I know...but hey, Natalya will definitely be posting some amazing photos soon [I even got to take a picture with her super cool camera!]. In all, a successful party/race/start to the weekend.
Now if only this coffee stuff will actually start working and get my brain functioning again...
[Also, some more pictures up on Flickr]

rollercoaster ride

I was in tip top temper tantrum form yesterday. And although I knew I didn't have any right to be, I was angry at myself for sounding so lame in my apology.
I was biting back a cocktail of anger, stress, and general exhaustion combined with a knee that felt like it was splitting in half as I rode back home. UPS told me my pink, front rim was waiting for me at home and I managed to drag it into my apartment, totally beat. I wasn't even that excited about it.
And just for shits and giggles, I decided to check my normally-empty-save-for-the-rent-check mailbox. And found this:

Sent from Georgia from an old college boyfriend, just when I was starting to despair that the only person who gave a shit about my day was the homeless disabled guy that calls me sweetheart and hangs out outside the liquor store, it made me sit on the floor and cry. The card told me it was for White Day, a holiday totally made up by a bunch of Asian people who figured out that they could sell twice as much chocolate if, on March 14th, they instituted a reverse Valentine's Day where the men have to give the women chocolate/presents/whatever [in Japan, only women are supposed to give stuff to the men on Valentine's Day]. Unexpected and utterly sweet, it lifted most of the black vortex of depressing that was swirling over my head.
A few hours later, I got an email from Erich at IBC and my jaw dropped. And then I almost screamed:

It's so fucking pretty. The decals were coming off from the start but Erich found out that they were over the clear coat but under the matte. He managed to peel them off, sand it down, then spray on a layer of matte to even out the ugliness left by the decals. Vinyl transfer were made, stuck on, and now...just look at her!!!
I knew Erich was awesome but now he is super-duper-omg-are-you-serious?! AWESOME. Looking at that picture nearly made me start panting in anticipation. I got flushed and my heart started beating faster. It got me giggling at my screen.
Sure, she won't be done in time for the Freddy v. Jason alleycat tonight, but in a way, that's for the best. If I'm going to ride a bike this hot, I'm going to have to do some catching up...[but I'll see you all at the afterparty!]
[Good luck to all of those racing!!!]

bike[s] boy[s] birthday[s]

Facebook tells me three of my friends are turning a year older today. Oddly enough [because I wasn't into bikes at all until a little over a year ago], all of them ride bikes.
There's the OCR 2, the Schwinn [plus wrecked road bike], and a fixed conversion...I mean Mark, Dan, and Jones.
And presents/hats/cookies to be given/sent/made. I know, I'm slacking...I've only been able to give presents to two out of the three; and I've known the one that's not getting anything [yet!] the longest.
And he reads this blog! But there will be a hat coming your way, Jones, this summer, and maybe even those Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies [still bookmarked for when you, Lauren, and I are running our bike shop/vintage store/bakery/cafe...or when we hang out again...or when you guys get married (!!!), whichever happens first]. I also sent Lauren a good amount of Herrell's hot fudge, so don't let her tell you any different. I'm sure I'll hear you guys fighting over exactly who finished the last of it, too.

I'm also delivering a giant cookie to Mark - one of the smartest and nicest kids I know. He's just become the Managing Editor of the Boston College Law Review [congrats!!!], and [voluntarily] sits next to me in Con Law, despite the fact that he's probably afraid my stupid is going to rub off on him. Get that brake fixed, dude, so we can go on rides. And by "go on rides" I mean we can start off together but you'll drop me faster than Britney got rid of her kids.
Dan already got cookies. But his band's playing a show tonight at O'Brien's. You should go.
Happy Birthday, guys...and I just realized...why haven't I gone on rides with any of you yet?!