Rock and Roll Stew

Traffic.

Or perhaps lack thereof. I have been able to cruise into and home from work for the last few months. I really noticed it last week during school vacation week. There were very few cars on the road.

I wonder how much of it is because 10% of my fellow Rhode Islanders are out of work. A friend of mine was let go from a newspaper yesterday after 30 years of service. We have laid off a few people in our FL facility and in Asia. EP is laying off 55 teachers.

Things reportedly are pretty bad.

Despite the empty roads I see plenty of full parking lots at the shops. Rt 6, Seekonk’s retail miracle mile, is jammed. I went by the Warwick Mall last week at 3:30 on a Thursday and the parking lot was packed.

Is retail really in that bad shape? Have you been cutting back? We are not big spenders, except on cat toys lately, but we are still dining out a lot buying new bikes and computers as needed. We also pay cash for just about everything. I wonder how much of this mess is panic. People are desperate for credit. I hear as soon as the banks start lending we will start to see a turnaround. Wasn’t this what did us in?

Corporations wanted to see growth, a Starbucks on every corner. Well we’re still buying coffee. Maybe the model of exponential growth is broken. Keeping stockholders happy at the expense of good sense seems to have screwed us.

Honestly though, I’m not missing the traffic on I 95.

Where are all the bike riders?

I took the afternoon off and went for a ride. 60F, no wind, roads only a little messy and I did not see one other bike.

Seriously, WTF.

Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?

RIP Lux.

I am not a big Cramps fan but I respect what they did and how they did it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvCDyVlVIw

Reach

I had a pretty nice ride Friday afternoon. It was quite warm and the roads were a bit wet but not bad at all. I like the new bike quite a bit.

I think I may have made a mistake going with at 110 stem. Generally I like a 120 with a 58cm top tube. I thought I'd go a bit shorter in concession to my age, girth and cranky lower back. Not so good. The problem was my hands. I felt like too much weight was on my palms when on the tops and that my hands wanted to slide off the front of the hoods when I stretched out. I lowered the stem about 0.5cm when I got home and have yet to try it again.

I realize some people have to sit more upright for certain reasons but I an growing more convinced that many of the people I see with very high, short stems are just giving in to their first instinct that they don't want to be bent over. Being bent over is much more comfortable on a road bike. Less weight in the hands and rear.

When I was selling bikes I would encourage new bike owners to try the set up as is (stem a bit higher than I would like, but no crazy extenders or 6cm stems. See if it is comfortable before you screw up the handling and position of your "racing" bike. It was a losing battle, like trying to get middle aged women not to push their helmets back off their foreheads.

Anyway, now I have the bards about 2" lower than the saddle for belly clearance. I may pick up another stem to experiment with.

More Stedman's Pix

New Wheels

We went down to Wakefield yesterday to pick up my new Soma Smootie ES at Stedman's bike shop. I ordered the frame & fork the day after Christmas and had most of the parts from my Surly transplanted onto the new bike.

Before going to the shop we stopped to see Mr. Stedman. He is in his eighties and living in an assisted living facility in Wakefield. He can be a cranky old fella at times but he has a heart of gold. Everett is the epitome of an old swamp Yankee.

When we got there he was doing the accounts for the bike shop. He rarely gets to the shop, especially in this cold weather, but still does all the accounting on his kitchen table.

You bike racers out there may recognize Everett as the long time sponsor and benefactor of the W.E. Stedman Grand Prix cyclocross race as well as the Swamp Yankee Road Club (Cox Communication team).

Everett's family has sold bikes at their store since the 1920s when along with gasoline, ice cream, hardware and tobacco they sold Schwinns. The shop went all bikes during the bike boom of the early 1970s when the last gas pumps were knocked over by a drunk driver. The building was built in the late 1800s as a hotel and still has a ballroom with the Masonic symbols painted on the ceiling on the top floor. I worked at Stedman's from 1985 until 1989.

I am convinced it is the best bike shop around. Prices are great, service exceptional. It is now just a bike shop, it is a cornerstone of downtown Wakefield. Locals come in to gossip and drink coffee. Bike racers come in for parts and service. Parents still buy their kids bikes there. Regulars stop by almost daily just to talk. Two of the three full time staff have been there since I left in 1989. Compare that to the turnover at your local shop. The third, a retired Navy Chief, has been there over a decade. It is the shop Maynard Hershon should have written about.

Want a new Tarmac? Go to Stedman's. Need a new planet gear for your 1953 Sturmey Archer three speed hub? Go to Stedman's.

I pray that when Mr. Stedman passes on the shop stays. If you love bikes. I mean really love bikes, and know what Viscount, Simplex and Valentino mean you owe yourself a visit to Stedman's

Jim Ed Rice

It's about time.

Congrats big Jim.

Putting on the foil?

That's for pussies. Ruutu gets two games for biting!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AqRWAqHJInmb4dKB9GZZj7Z7vLYF?slug=ys-suspension010709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Old time hockey! Just like Mike Tyson.

NHL Winter Classic

I never played hockey, I can't stand up on ice skates. I do enjoy the game though. Now that the Bruins are playing so well, I've even started watching them again. (The last few years were just too frustrating).

At first I thought the annual NHL Winter Classic outdoor was dumb and gimmicky but I have grown fond of the idea. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's game at Wrigley.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/winterclassic/2009

Sloth, gluttony and drunkenness

That about sums it up. Since getting an infection this summer I have been virtually completely inactive. I was well on my way to sloth before I got sick but since then I have been inert.

Nega-Coach has coaxed me into doing a very hilly, tough ride in August. He’s even outlined a basic plan for getting ready. I am, for the first time, intimidated by my bike. I have never approached cycling with any sort of plan or goal. I would ride when I wanted to and if I felt good I’d ride a bit more or harder. The problem lately though is I never feel like riding.

I have gotten so heavy that I just feel awful on a bike.

I ordered a new frame Friday and will be selling my Pista and probably my Surly frameset to make room and defray cost. While the bike is not solely for the August endeavour it has been spec’ed with the ride in mind. I hope the outlay of cash as well as having the goal out in the open will prod me into action. I am really afraid of failure.

Wish me luck and go for a ride with me.

Stay (I Missed You)

Evidently Armstrong has knocked up Lisa Loeb.

Sazerac

Really nice whiskey.

http://www.sazerac.com/aWhiskey.aspx

Over thinking the shoe throwing

So a crazy reporter with a weak sense for self-preservation threw his shoes at President Bush. Funny Youtube video, many of us who are none to fond or our POTUS are having a good laugh.

A lot of people only see the humour of an absurd occurrence. I think it is horrifying that the guy could get the second shoe Prezward before the Secret Service muckled him.

What if the hurler had decided to use a pistol or IED rather than a shoe to make his point? Do you think Obama would be able to pull out of Iraq if the sitting POTUS was assassinated there?

The first ever il Bruce race report!

photo pinched from Solobreak

I did not race, nor shall I ever race again, at the Ice Weasel Cometh race Saturday. I was in attendance to support the Nega-Coach MSPCA initiative. It turns out that as Pucci says, bike racers are cheap pricks. There were few takers for the bargain Nega-Coaching offer. Their loss.

I had a great time at the race. There were fewer entitled racer types than I have seen lately. Maybe it was the end of season party nature of the race that kept the mood so enjoyable. It was a party with a bike race rather than a bike race with a party. Make sense?

It turns out that the course was at Doc Raymond’s house. I did not know the good doctor but he tended to my mother in law’s medical care for many years as well as that of my wife. Mom in law, who as you may know, is a cyclist and cyclocross fan, was tickled pink to have a race in her neighborhood. She and number two Dad enjoyed themselves as well.

The course made imaginative use of the limited area. Quite impressive. It took me a few laps of watching before I got a grasp of what was going on. Course designers have a gift I don’t have to see possibilities in terrain. I read a bit of criticism of courses but never any from people who have had to figure out where to put the tape.

I turned out to be a cold but gorgeous winter afternoon. It was warm enough to have a few beers without getting chilled. (A tot or two of Wild Turkey helped).

I have no idea what transpired on the course. I yelled at the few people I knew racing, primarily Solobreak and the wonderful Giulia. The rest of the time was spent visiting with old friends and making a couple new friends. No better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The après cross was fun too. Liz met us over at her parent’s house for dinner and tales from our celebrity guest. It was easily one of the most enjoyable afternoons of the season. Thanks to IBC, the Raymond family, SB and all the bike geeks for a good time.

Dougie Says:

Not all Ice Weasels are weasels.


One of the last cyclocross races of the season, The Ice Weasel Cometh, is this Saturday, December 13th in Wrentham. The race is just past the Wrentham outlets heading toward Wrentham Center right on Rt 1A.
www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7360

I looks like there will be a pretty good turnout despite many New England riders heading to Kansas City for the National Championships. The highlight of the day is sure to be the NegaCoach fundraiser for the MSPCA Angell animal hospital. Read about it here:
http://solobreak.blogspot.com/

For a $40.00 donation to you get 40 days of tough love (without the love) coaching and assorted goodies from NegaCoach Dave

http://davefoley.com/bikeracing/negacoach/index.html

BBC

So how about it?

Solo wants me to be the Phantom Gourmet of gin mills...

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Oh Jeeze. If this is a prank or plant...

teh mutha shoudl hang.

November 4

E. Providence poll closed after powder found
12:56 PM Tue, Nov 04, 2008 Permalink
EAST PROVIDENCE -- A polling place in East Providence has been closed after a suspicious white powder was found.

Maryann Callahan, canvassing authority administrator, said the Grove Avenue Elementary School was closed after a poll worker found a white powder on the floor, touched it and developed a rash around 11:30 a.m.

The worker was taken to a hospital.

Nine poll workers have quarantined.

Some 307 people had voted before the substance was discovered.
Callahan says they hope to reopen the voting site. Hazardous materials teams and decontamination teams are now on the scene.
-- With reports from projo.com staff writers Kate Bramson and Maria

London Shame

Today is the first day back at Deathnic Inc after a week off.

We spent most of last week in NY. We went to Niagara Falls and hung out at a great bar in T-burg. Visited with family. Very nice.

We came home Thursday to find the builders still effing about with our deck and porch. It’s taken them 2 full days to install a sliding door and it’s still not framed up.

We escaped the mess Sunday and went to the Canton Cup cyclocross race. Kinda disappointing. There were no spectators to speak of and the elite fields were very small. The highlight of the day was hanging with NegaCoach after the race. We had a nice dinner and a few beers.

I think I had 5 pints of Fuller’s London Pride and I as am hung over as I’ve been in a long time. No headache but still groggy and blah, I’m glad I had a designated driver. We had a nice time. Nega is fun guy to bench race and share some social lubricant with.

It's Time to...

I don’t mind change in most cases. Time marches on. What does bother me is manufactured image change. “New Look Packaging!” touted along with “Same Quality Product”.

New England grocery store chain Stop and Shop has ditched its iconic traffic light logo for a stylized fruit bowl. I guess sister company Giant has also adopted the logo.

I’m sure it will save on advertising and store brand labeling costs but Stop & Shop like Dunkin Donuts is a New England original and its iconography is a big part of local culture.

On the Cape and need chips? The stores are ubiquitous in New England most bigger towns will have an S&S. Market saturation is pretty good. There are the same old players, Shaw’s/Star Market and the emerging Hannaford’s and Big Y. I just don’t see the reasoning behind such a drastic change to a local icon.