Beefcakes Bike Blog

Props to Dave Chappelle for laying the humor ground work for my adult years. It used to be old school SNL. After Shrek's Donkey left, it has been sub-par in shaping deranged, yet highly creative humorous minds. Thanks be to Jon Belushi, Chevy Chase, Rossana Rossana Dana (Gilda), Jane Curtain, Dan Akroyd, Steve Martin and again Shrek's Donkey. 13th Baby!!!!!!! Paradise by the dashboard light. We all relate curent nowledge to past experience. This blog entry follows suit. I once had a girlfriend from Nantucket. No. Stop! That's another story all together. I once had a girlfriend who would score poorly on Wayne Brady's sing the lyrics game show. We were listening to the radio or a cassette tape (remember those) and Meatloaf started wailing about mother nature and doing what you can and being barely 17 and being barely dressed (ah those moments!). Anyway, we were singing along and what i heard in her very non church-choir voice was just a few clicks to the left of ON. This ...

On my desk sits a home-made upright open file. It was one of the first things I made upon arrival of my first (and only) table saw. The top slot is labeled "no call bastards". Tenacious tele -marketers met their match. Each tele -marketer's call encountered a politely request to "remove me from your list, please" and i would promptly record the company name on my "no call bastards" list in anticipation of filing a complaint with the FCC. I never did file a complaint, but my intent came from a desire to fix a problem and improve my world. The past workday at Dupont had similar intent - desire to fix a problem and improve my world. It wasn't just my world though. It is everybodys world...anyone with access to Dupont State Forest. I suppose that list is endless with exception of most people on the no fly list or on wanted posters in the almost defunct local snail mail hubs. Trail work is an excellent way to improve cycling friendships in a cyclin...

Part 1 was this past Wednesdays Dupont ride which we started around 2:30. Ok , twice in one week is borderline excessive. Friday rolled around and it was way too nice to stay in. The plan was to meet around noon and hit Pisgah . Ciss y and I hit the parking lot a little late but with just enough time to make a quick loop around davidson river trail/long branch/cat gap before we were to meet Noelle at the parking lot. We trucked it up the river trail and i quickly flatted. I changed the flat and proceeded to act like i was not suffering. I'd glance behind me and Cissy was always on my tail just a "grinning" and riding effortlessly. Note the smile and non-painful, relaxed poise on the bike. We hit the loop fast and blasted down cat gap to meet Noelle. The three of us took off for an extension of the first loop. Cissy and Noelle were moving at great speed and chatting as well. The three of us made good time up long branch back towards 475. There are a few fields/camping sp...

Nov. 1. Scorpios will some day take over the earth. Nothing will get completed but we'll be satisfied and surrounded by creativity. Wake up time for freedom - from "The Cult" sprang into my mind as i thought of yesterdays extended version of our weekly visit to Dupont. Xmater had the day off for religious purposes (arrival of his 1st washer/dryer set up) and we met earlier than usual. Syncronicity was in full force since i had appointments in the area and one other friend who's often on his knees (he is a hardwood floor man) called in saying he was local and wanted in on the fun. Freedom from work is good. 3:30 departure and off to Reasonover/Airstrip/Kornholio (as the locals spell it) Shoals Road, some logs and a few other trails my currently un-coffeed mind can't recall. Freedom rings in my ears this AM, probably because i experienced it yesterday but have to sit in front of this computer and type all day. Interesting is Halloween with 4th of July emotion. It wa...

I'm sitting in a shitty hotel at a convention in Char Latte, feeling juiced up on knowledg about concrete countertops, crappy convention food , beer, late night wings and more beer and just miss my bike and what it brings to my life. If you're reading this you are either another OCD bike fend, extremely bored or you have just entered into a beautiful relationship with me and want to know as much about me as you can find. Either way it's all good. I'm sitting in the lobb]y and i think there's a quilting convention. Frick. Enough crap. The Rowdy Dawg was a XXC race on a kick butt sliver of edible VA singletrak immersed in the mountains directly next to Blacksburg, VA. The race format that tickled my fancy was the XXC - a 39 mile race. I crave Mushin (pronounced Moo shin) and longer distances bring me to this beautiful state. The trail was a lollipop course with a ride up the stick, three laps around the lolli and a jaunt back down the stikc. It was a typical race. ...

Friends, beverages, bike and nature, not all in that order but swirled together in a weekend called milkshake, and it tasted perty damn sweet. This past weekend was "milkshake". I reference my ex live-in sailor of girlfriend's one time description of a peanut butter milkshake we shared at a little soda shop in Brevard. We each had a few chewy sips out of the white styrfoam cup. The cup wall was spackeled with peanut butter and rich vanilla ice cream. We were quiet and quiet was a stranger to us...she looked at me inbetween bites and sincerly stated "this is the best GD F&^*^ing milkshake i've ever had." Not exactly speak you'd expect from a well educated woman but we were still sitting in the soda shop. It just came out of her mouth with force equivalent to blowing liquid out your nose when someone makes you laugh. It was a force so strong it had to blow. Milkshake. We celebrated a season of riding. Old friends, new friends, happy dogs, new dogs, old...

2007 Double Dare – A Synopsis Team Rhymes with Bucket Jen Rinderle/David J. Cook Thursday/Friday Without a doubt, the Double Dare is one of my favorite races. This year was no exception. Jen and I competed in the inaugural Double Dare in 2005 and placed 2nd, then she had to go off and get married during the 2nd running of the 2xdare so we showed up again in 2007 and gave it our all. Pre-race Jen was working in Hickory and drove into Asheville. Jennifer Drum picked her up at the airport where Jen was dropping of her rental car and they were both coming to my house for some chow. We prepared a good meal – chicken stir fry. Jen, as usual, had all of her things prepared for the race. I on the other hand was having my pre-race anxiety attack. My repaired Steve Potts frame arrived earlier in the day and I started to build it up but realized there was no way my slow wrenching would allow for a proper build up. I took the frame to Sycamore Cycles and Wes & Crew slapped that beast together....