i’ve linked to sunil before, but now he’s running something a bit closer to my heart. RIDE: a motorcycle blog

speaking of cycles, today was a fabulous 60 degrees and sunny. rode in to work, took some time off midday and had a 30 minute quickie around the backroads of annandale. beautiful. every day of winter should be like this.

damn, i love it when ryan’s robot talks about me.

Hell, only with angst this has weight, but angst can’t be induced. Corey says these resentments are unproductive and I agree but regret is pointless. Darn, gratification is just so absurd.

i’m always saying stuff like that.

ugh. staying home today with some sort of miserable sinus infection. i feel like putting my head in the vice downstairs for a few hours. been mildly sick since wednesday, but it just keeps getting worse. i actually have a doctor’s appointment, so you know it must be intolerable.

managed to stay awake through the entire LOTR:ROTK yesterday. it’s not really my thing, but it was good. better than the other two by far.

okay, i’m going to go fish around in my head with a mallet and some screwdrivers. see if i can fix this thing myself.

finished off the clearcoating at lunch yesterday and got the wheels back on the bike last night so I could ride to work today. i’m super happy with the way they turned out, i think it completely updates the look of the bike. pulling and replacing the wheels is a pretty simple thing, but i always feel better about machines after i kinda tear them apart and rebuild them. my understanding of how the whole assembly works is greater and i feel more confident about it. here’s the front rim just after the clearcoat went on.

thanks to rodeoRob, i’m going to a special luncheon speaking engagement with Lance Armstrong at the Nat’l Press Club next week.

alex dropped by last night with an early xmas gift of The Darkness. R-O-C-K … 1983stylee!

Take the “Not All Americans Are Stupid” quiz…

You answered 15 questions correctly out of 20.

For an American, your knowledge of the world and its history is surprisingly good. About the same as the average school-age person in any other country. If you are at school, congratulations. If you are an adult, try harder. Read books, visit other countries, and watch less television. Learn to understand the world better and you could become an ambassador for your country, demonstrating that Americans are not all stupid.

An excerpt from Jason DiSalvo’s Description Of His 172-mph Crash At Daytona

“I went off and hit my back first,’ said DiSalvo. “That’s where all the bruising and friction burns are, on my back. Then I was sliding on my back and my side mainly. I tried to move around because everything was getting real hot. I used my hands because I was trying to steer myself away from the outside wall. Then I remember going through on my elbows real quick. As soon as it went through on my elbows, I dug my heel in and flipped myself up so I could start rolling. I rolled and rolled and rolled. That was hurting pretty bad, so I laid back down and started to slide again. I actually got positioned right on my back protector, so I could keep everything (arms and legs) up. Then my back protector started to get hot, too, so I dug my heel in again and started to roll some more. And that’s when I finally stopped. They say it was more than a football field that I slid.”

started my first mod on the gs last nite. i’m painting the rims a nice graphite grey, did the cleaning, sanding, masking and primer last nite. i should get the base coat and clearcoat done tonite or tomorrow. my basement looks silly.

for one of the first times in the 2 years i’ve been running egoinc, i’m just not feeling it. probably a temporary thing. i have no explanation or idea other than the old blogging adage “boring life, active blog…”

had a relaxed 4 day weekend. thursday morning we did a 4 hour dc urban ride. it was pretty incredible. the city was empty, like a bomb had gone off. we were free to ride pretty much anywhere we wanted. got home in the afternoon in time to shower and eat a giant thanksgiving dinner with the inlaws. piles and piles of turkey, lamb, mashed yamas (?) and all the fixins.

saturday was the old lady’s birthday. took her for a surprise massage and facial at Cynia in tysons. definitely recommended. dinner was at mccormick & schmicks. one of the best meals i’ve had out in a while. it was one of those experiences where EVERYTHING tastes good, even the 2 black+tans were super smooth and rich.

practiced a coupla times with rob & elmer for our little thing this friday at rob’s xmas party. it’s all sounding surprisingly good. maybe this will be a reoccurring thing. we even came up with a name… mellow johnny. i’m reading lance armstrong’s new book ‘every second counts’ that alex got me (autographed, damn!) and came across this paragraph…

“My friends call me Mellow Johnny. It’s a play on the French term for the leader of the Tour de France, who wears a yellow jersey: the maillot jaune. We like to joke that Mellow Johnny is the Texan pronunciation.”

I thought that sounded like a decent name for the sounds we’re making, so it stuck.

going to go see the headbangers ball tour tonite. cheesy sponsor, but some sweet metalcore: killswitch engage, lamb of god, shadows fall, & god forbid.

been spending a lot of time in these streetbike forums: DCsportbikes.net & Cycleforums. kristy’s taking the explorer tonite to dog school, so i buckled down and rode the GS to work. wasn’t nearly as chilly as i thought it would be. i did a short 50 miler around great falls & mclean on sunday and absolutely froze my ass off. can’t wait until my riding gear gets here.

holy crap, did i mention that i finally got my singlespeed working??? life truly IS good.