inspired

I return. Inspired.
Suddenly everything known is cleaner and brighter.
Little details like colours and counter heights are odd at first.

NAHBZ overlord. Overload. Overboard.
Day one was spent drooling on shiney objects. Not out of mech-lust, but just sleep deprivation. Thanks Portland for doing MMR better and welcoming me to town. Day two was spent digging, sorting, and trying to make sense of information coming at me all day. I met some really cool people there. Such as Alexis at Villin Cycles, and Jason Grove from El Camino Fab.. just to drop a couple names. Really. when you are learning so much about the industry in one day, its hard to recall everyone. The Thompson Rep, (who's card I lost) was nice enough to give me a DH stem at the end of the day, as he didn't want to pack his stuff back with him.


Seriously.
Some practice runs on the NAHBZ Sunday had me realizing two things.

A)I needed to drop the back of the saddle 5cm so I could hover over it and have tucked suspension in the corners.
2)I needed to move the bars forward 3cm to make my elbows comfortable, and therefore have steering control in a high speed tuck
3)I also needed to slack off my front cone nuts a bit, as they weren't 'zoobomb' loose.

Then came the weekdays before MBW
I did a good ride out to A Better Cycle, then Mech Mark's shop and finally over Rocky Butte (tunnel switchback!) and back into the civilized North East.
I did a wedding ring alleycat, which was as sexy as it sounds.
I visited Ahearn and Pereira who indulged me in bike design geekery.
I took much flack for my non traditional (read: non-ZB-gravity-16) bike setup.
Also, 'Hookworms are slow'.
Trash talk is mandatory in America.

I made a valentine for my love who arrived via rail. She's quite fashionable with 3x lacing for maximum strength. Be inappropriate. as much as possible.

The next day, the dock is too slick to turn while boosting.

I race the Cheetah.
I pass Mark, I pass Zane.
I take their prize.
A crowd of a hundred chants 'SHOW YOUR DICK!'
I oblige.
I are hte fastest zoobomber.

We skip town and hit the coast.
I am bound to my love.
We take our OHV's to the dunes.

'Must be hard to ride on the dunes with those skinny tires'

We hit SF on possibly the worst day of the year. Flooded bike lanes, slick paint, and agro drivers. We were the only bikers on the streets. Still we MASH it..

Oakland is intense. Does the discomfort make for good art? If the amount of bicycles in the LOBOT gallery is any indicator, I'd say yes.



Don't be afraid of cute. embrace it as a male.

Cali is nice. but Oregon is nicerer. We couldn't take it much longer.. so we headed back up to Portland. Sadly, the mood wasn't the same as when we left. One of the zoobombers has passed away. He died in a house fire. RIP Cody.

Finally, the streets of Vancouver were calling. They wanted their Lyle back.
We took the long way back, through Deception pass, simply because I hate the I-5 through there. A lot of Washington depresses me, so its good to finally be home.

Now here we are.
I'm inspired to get moving on some projects, and after a fairly slack month of riding, I'm anxious to get some real kilometers in. So far, its been a good start to March.