Thursday, March 20, 2008




It's generally the simple things in life that make me smile. Maybe this means I have a simple mind, but I'll let you be the judge of that. Everyday at school I see so many different people of different race, sexual orientaion, political motives, and so forth. With so many different types of people, there is a lot to observe and many oppurtunities to rationalize common stereotypes. I won't lie and say that I try not to stereotype different people, because I most certainly do and I get a kick when I see people who completley support one.


For instance, Asians are stereotypically slow people. Both driving and walking. I am so often astonished on the ability of some to walk the speed they do. I absolutley hate getting stuck behind a couple asian girls walking up the stairs or even worse, a couple holding eachother arm in arm. It's hard enough to walk arm in arm with someone, trying to coordinate your footsteps so your hip movments somewhat coincide with your partners. Kind of like a 3 legged race, but slightly easier. So get two Asians walking arm in arm and you'll realize the true meaning of slow.


Then there are the protesters. There are so many ridiculous causes out there that people care about for some reason and you never really realize it until you go to a college campus. I was told today that our Governor, Arnold, would castrate me if he had the oppurtunity. Not sure what that applied to really, but the guy who told me seemed pretty passionate. I guess the stereotype of protesters is that they are a bit loony, which in reality, they really are.


A lot of Blacks go to PCC also. I get a kick out of it when I walk by a group of them and they are there with their boom boxes "rhyming", usually pretty bad, I think a lot of them don't really understand the concept of words that work together. It's still fun to see though, it gives me a smile.


Now for the Armenians, the felt sweat suits, expensive jewelry, conversations of their Escalades on dubs, and the word "bro" used as much as valley girls use "like".


Then we have white people, although not as many, they are still around. The white kids problem is that they have no clue what they are. The hipsters who follow the "Hipster Handbook" perfectly, the ones who think they are Jamaican and sport the dreads and the rasta beenies, the pretentious ones like myself walking around stereotyping everyone, and the lil punk rock kids who come from wealthy families but dress to look poor in their own rebellion against the "Man"...whoever that is, I'm still trying to figure that one out.




Anyways, I have friends in classes of every race so this isn't meant to be at all derogatory. Everyone doesn't fit a stereotype, most people are completely normal, or as close to what normal would be if there was such thing. But, to the few out there who fulfill the stereotypes, thank you for making me smile, keep it up.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

...



I guess I'm going to try to update this blog a lil more often...in turn you may have to suffer through some boring ones, but I hope to keep things a bit interesting. I guess that all depends on how I'm feeling, how much I have to rant about, and if I can come up with something more than a blog about riding my bike. For now however, you get bikes. Well not entirely, but...just read on.


This past week Ben and Michele were able to come down to SoCal for family baby shower stuff so it was a perfect oppurtunity for us to all go ride together. It's been since last Sept I think when we rode last. They're good company so it was a blast just as I had expected.


They came out to La Crescenta on wednesday and before we rode I gave Ben his new Fork which I had hooked up for him. As I was putting it on his bike I realized that I had been wrong about what parts he would need to adapt it to his frame, strike one against my "expertise". I had the part he needed on an old frame but in order to install it I had to go by work. Problem is, I'm not supposed to Pro Deal anything for other people, and by going to work with his bike and putting on a fork they knew I had bought, might give myself away. Fortunatley the main man wasn't there and the others don't care so it worked out and we got it on and headed to the trail head.


As we were gearing up I noticed on Ben's bike the lack of two important bolts which tighten the stem to the handlebars. Oops, I forgot to put them back on and they were sitting at work. Strike two. To not look like an idiot I quietly rummaged through my truck hoping to have some bolts to replace them, but nothing was found. Time to bite the bullet. I began to tell him and as I did, I remembered reading an article on how some MTB racers take off bolts that aren't really neccessary. Not these ones however. But thinking it out I decided it was safe to risk Ben's safety so we could still ride. I told him they were gone, but it was alright because racers do it and they aren't really needed. We headed out, Ben and Michele with big smiles and me with my fingers crossed. I mean if his handlebars were to slip in a nasty technical section, it could be disastrous, and I think I just might be the one to blame.


Well, by the time we reached the top then made it to the singletrack I had completely forgotten the problem. I even told Ben to follow me off one of the bigger drops on the trail, assuring him it was easy (forgetting a hard landing puts a lot of strain on the joint missing the bolts). Luckily, we finished with no accidents...sorry if you were expecting one. Back at the parking lot I had to confess my sin, at least he was cool about it. Afterall, I guess I was right that they weren't needed. (No, there is no strike three, I don't strike out...at least in my mind)





We got to ride again Saturday morning out in La Verne, Rob came up for it and Craigers, Ben's dad decided he wanted to come along also on a sweet 13 year old bike. It was a fun ride, Ben, Michele, and I holding up the front on the climbing with Rob and Old man Rossell going slow so as not to show any of us up, it was nice of them.
Overall, it was a good weekend, great seeing all of Ben's family, meeting the new members, seeing the old, its always good times with them.




To those who haven't seen me in awhile, yes, I am letting my hair get long...my way to make up for years of weekly hair cuts.


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Time to come clean...



So I have some things that I've been keeping inside for a little bit and feel a strong need to get them off my chest. I'm sorry to anyone whos perception of me will be altered dramatically and I hope that you'll understand, and possibly forgive me for what I have done.




It all started a couple weeks ago. While riding my bike I was doing a lot of thinking. I had forgotten my Ipod, which I usually bring on rides to avoid thinking. While my mind was bouncing from thought to thought I somehow convinced myself to do something I've sworn off, something which I have sworn to other people I would never do. It just isn't me and I've always felt by doing it I would be cheating myself, demoralizing myself, and ultimatley going against everything I stand for. I thought I was strong.




Well, I went ahead and did it anyways. I wore spandex.




Thats not all though. After riding my road bike in spandex bike shorts I had another crazy notion, even worse than the first. As I looked at my legs, I felt awkward having the hair on my legs extend past the bike shorts. Whats the point of bike shorts if the hair on your legs is "baggier" than your shorts. Well, this had to be fixed, but I'm not about to shave my legs, thats as bad as shooting up heroin in my opinion. So I went home and took a trimmer to my legs. I guess the trimmer was a gateway drug and the very next day I took a razor to my legs. Just to see what it's like, right?




Well, I have a problem. It's not that bad, at least for the time being. I'm going to race right? So why should I quit, it's not hurting anyone else, and I can stop at any time, it doesn't control me...




I blame my brother.




Oh, and today in my spandex and my shaved legs I rode w/ the Peloton at the Rose Bowl. I thought they started at 5:00 so i got there about 4:30 for a little warmup and then I could be fresh for the start. They didn't start at five, nor 5:30, not even 5:45. It finally got going at six so by the time we began I had already put in about 20 miles. I still felt strong but not as fresh as I could've been. Anyways, it went good and fast. There were probably about 100 riders at the beginning and after the first 3 miles about 20 had been dropped, then more each lap. I made it four laps, 12 miles. The speed was around 27-33mph, pretty fast for me.




The biggest problem was that I was in the back, I'm not that comfortable yet riding inches away from other riders. Howevwer, at the back, riders go to die. They were like the passengers in the back of the plane in Alive. When the tail was lost, one by one they were sucked out. So everytime a rider plummeted to his demise I had to fight to get back in the slipstream of the survivors. Eventually, I too plummeted to my death.


I did another 10 miles by myself and then called it quits.




I'll get there a little later next week and hopefully hang for the whole 25 miles at that speed. Maybe I hadn't shaved my legs close enough so I had extra wind drag keeping me back...?