getting back into shape

I am about 10 lbs over where I was last year, it should not be difficult to lose, if I stick with my plan of commuting to work at least twice a week, 3 yoga classes, and 3-4 bike rides, with the intent of getting to regularly riding the 50 mile ATC dam loop this summer, and doing something like 24 miles/ 3 laps at muleshoe or some backtrail on the greenbelt. The ATC ride this past Saturday was difficult -- I tried keeping up with the "A"'s for a little while but got dropped on a long uphill. And singlespeeding on the greenbelt last night was a bit painful as well - I got myself dehydrated and was suffering. Question for myself is -- should I quit rowing? I have not done it all year.

fixed gear mower!

fixed gear mower!
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

bought a nice Brill push mower a few weeks ago. No noisy, polluting gas motor to deal with, nor annoying batteries or cords associated with an electric. My front and back yards are not exactly small, and it does get snagged on twigs and tall grass, but it feels good to mow the lawn in this manner.

Portland

Sacha with my frankenbike fit
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

went to Portland,OR this past weekend for three reasons. One - check out Portland,OR as a potential next place to live, if my current job does not work out and/or I get tired of Austin. Two- visit my friend Elizabeth, who moved out there last year for culinary school. Three - get fitted for a new bike at Vanilla. Portland was very nice, it did not rain at all when I was visiting, it has an amazingly strong bike culture and loads of hipsters, I even ran into Stephen Malkmus at the coffee shop.
my bike is going to be pretty cool..

mt. bonnel

tyler and jose on mt. bonnel
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

I did the full mt. Bonnel /Shoal Creek ride with James and Jose last night. I was a bit sluggish, but I did not feel like my hamstring was underpowered. Now and then there was a little twitch of pain in it, so I backed off. Today, my legs are sore, but it is a normal type of soreness from doing ~ 30-40 miles.

gizmo: squirrel killer

gizmo scanning for squirrels
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

Gizmo got his first squirrel Saturday. The scene -- it is raining, I am walking Gizmo leashless past my neighbors house, he spots one a squirrel in the driveway, minding its own business and being a good tree rat. Gizmo sneeks up to about 10 feet away, the rain helped. He bolts after it, it trys getting to the closest tree, but he snags it in his teeth and shakes it to death. The squirrel screamed and let out a death gasp as well. Gizmo was thrilled.

hamstring recovery

So I had a grade 2 left hamstring pull pre-riding the course at Terilingua in Febuary, which really sucked. I am mostly recovered now, after spending mucho dinero going to physical therapy and weekly massage. It is still not 100%, and gets a bit ache-y after a long ride, like last night's Mt. Bonnel/ Shoal Creek ride. I am up about 8 lbs since the beginning of the year, so I have some major training to do before the MS150 in two weeks.
So in my reduced activity, I have gotten addicted to RPG video games again -- Final Fantasy XII has sucked up 60 hours of my life in the past month, and I think I am about 1/3 of the way into it. The gameplay is very complex but addicting -- it is a great feeling to defeat boses such as this one:

my new hi-fi system is here

glow
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

after 2 years of mulling it over, I finally bought it when I moved to my new house. Audio Research Vs55i amp, dynaudio 220 speakers, it sounds great. I probably need a standalone tuner, and a power conditioner and a better phono pre-amp, but all of that will have to wait a bit.

rollers!

rollers!
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

after almost going nuts with all the rain and ice, I bought these a week ago and have managed to figure them out, I can stay on for 10 plus minutes and I am improving quickly. It was very daunting at first, and I cannot put the rollers on the hardwood floor like you see here because if I start losing my balance, the rollers go skidding across the floor. The deck outside works fine, and the new rug I got also works.

SSWC2007 in Scotland

this year the singlespeed world championships are in Scotland. I went in 2005 when it was in State College,PA, and had a blast. Last year was in Stockholm,Sweden and I really wish I went as I really want to visit Sweden(nothing to do with the plethora of tall blondes there I swear). After talking with a Swede I met in Florence, I have a list of things to check out in Sweden, which I could combine with a trip to Scotland. So -- fly first to Scotland for the SSWC and stay a few days there checking out Scotland, which is high on my list of places to visit. And then fly or take a boat over to Sweden for about a week.

latest LP

back in black LP found bin diving
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

someone sold their AC/DC collection to Waterloo, most were in pretty bad shape, but I managed to snag this copy of Back in Black, which is in pretty good shape -- it needs cleaning, but no scratches. I also finally got Red House Painters II and Ocean Beach on CD, it was time for me to stop mooching them off Sean's iTunes collection at work.
I also picked out my new eyeglass frames today - a really nice blue pair of Alain Mikli frames. My eyesite is quite bad now -- I will probably be wearing them all the time, so this will be the most major appearance change for me since I grew my beard out over a year ago.

ice storm, Pan's Labrynth

I ventured off to work for about 4 hours in the middle of the day yesterday before it started icing up again. I grabbed some more food to stock my kitchen a bit better and stopped by Design Within Reach to order some cubit shelving -- the size is perfect for LP's and I can reconfigure the shelving as my needs change. I have to figure out my carpeting situation - I need some area rugs. I also saw Pan's Labrynth last light at Drafthouse S. Lamar with some friends -- we could not take being cooped up any more. I thought it was probably Guillermo Del Toro's best movie yet. It was definitely a fairy tale, but more in the Grimm's fairy tale model. It was extremely beautiful in many scenes, but graphically disturbing in others. I could not bear to watch the Captain stitch up his slashed mouth. The only thing I did not like about it was how it tried too hard to drop clues about what would happen later in the movie -- how many times did we have to see the knife wrapped up in the dress?

austin ice storm

took forever to get my DSL service operational, but finally I have connectivity, which is good because I am effectively marooned inside my house today. The ice storm has made it quite trecherous to drive, let alone walk, outside. I should have bought more food becuase I all bought the other night at whole foods was a quart of butternut squash apple soup, wasabi peas, bacon, whole yogurt,cheese, a case of session ale, and a 6-pack of some wheat beer, banana, and some baby carrots. I have already consumed the soup and half the package of bacon, and all the wasabi peas, so I am down to carrot, banana, cheese, and beer. I have my turntable set up, so I am listening to some B-52's, which seems appropriate for some reason today.

moved

with the assistance of James and Jose, I moved from my apartment on S. Congress to my new house on S. First. I still have to clean up my apartment, but all my stuff is at my new place. Gizmo is a bit confused, but he loves the huge new backyard. New neighborhood coffee shop - Green Muse. New neigborhood bar -- G & S Lounge. I will still frequent S. Congress, but it is not walking distance like it used to be. I have a lot of unpacking to do and I am tired.

new singlespeed wheelset

pink chris singlespeed king hubs
Originally uploaded by tylernol.

before I crashed the other night, I did manage to experience my brand new, "lightweight" (for me) singlespeed wheelset. My old wheelset was 36H king hub/rhino lite rims/brass nipples/heavy duty spokes, which was heavy. The new wheelset is 32H king hub/bontrager mustang rims/brass nipples/heavy duty spokes. I have not weighed them, but they are noticeably lighter than the rhino lite wheelset. I also moved the kenda nevagel tires over, they were rubbing in the chain stays on my vicious groover. No clearance issues on the stays of my indy fab.

dented toptube on my singlespeed

ouch . Did a nightride on the greenbelt and my HID lamp went out right when I was crossing through a rock garden, causing me to crash very hard into some nasty rocks . I have a prominent dent in the toptube of my IF singlespeed and I bashed my right knee hard as well, causing it to swell up dramatically. It is very painful to bend it at the moment. I dont think I broke anything, it will just be very painful for a week or two. My IF is still rideable, the dent is cosmetic. When I get it repainted, they should be able to get rid of the dent or cover it up with some putty. It makes me think I should eventually get a straight-gauge Ti frame at some point - it would be more durable in crashes, and no paint to chip either.

my morning jacket

my morning jacket played at Stubb's on Saturday. They were incredible. I missed most of the opening band's set, they sounded alright. My Morning Jacket started with One Big Holiday, off "It Still Moves", which is a damned good song to start with. They did a bow after it as if it was their last song and walked off stage.Everything sounded great, "O is the one that is real" is one of my favorites and they did a great version of it near the end of their set, which was probably the longest show I have seen at Stubbs, I think it lasted 150 minutes.

cardigans

I wish they had a real tour in the states. All they are known for is "lovefool", which was 1996 or so, but they have had 3 great albums since. I had to import the last one. It is shocking they are not big here.

first singlespeed ride in a while

When I was more regular at riding my singlespeed this summer, I was thinking of going back to a higher gear ratio of 34:18 from the current 34:19 which I have been riding all year. But based on how much my legs hurt after the short 12 mile morning ride I did today, I think I will be sticking with 34:19 for a while longer. And 34:17 by December is out of the question.

ha ha

oh poor little Santorum kids.

broken social scene at stubb's

saw Broken Social Scene at Stubb's last night. They were great. I saw them in October last year as well, their album is still in heavy rotation on my turntable and itunes. Compared to last year, they seemed more cohesive and polished. Last year they were a bit messy. I have heard that BSS might be breaking up, I hope that is not the case.