Roots Retrospective (Part I): Do You Want More?!!!??!

Release Date: January 17, 1995










Track Listing
Intro/There's Something Goin' On
Proceed
Distortion to Static
Mellow My Man
I Remain Calm
Datskat
Lazy Afternoon
? vs. Rahzel
Do You Want More?!!!??!"
What Goes On Pt. 7
Essaywhuman?!!!??!
Swept Away
You Ain't Fly
Silent Treatment
The Lesson Part 1
The Unlocking

Strangely I can't find this album in my iTunes library.  I have to wonder if there's a stray disk somewhere in my collection that has not been assimilated. Anyway, I can't say that there are any particular standout tracks on this album. Overall, it does sound just a little bit dated but there are some marquee tracks on this one that really characterize the essence of  The Roots. Proceed, Do You Want More and Silent Treatment have to be some of most classic songs on this album.

Next Up: The 1996 Release Illadelph Halflife

Do you want more of that illadelph game theory before things fall apart?

Hands down one of my favorite groups of all time.  There are only two groups who's albums I would buy without having heard a single track or review.  The Roots are one of those groups.

Well, to be fair, I haven't heard or purchased Wake Up! a collaboration with John Legend. I am not a huge fan of Organix but everything from Do You Want More?!!!??!  to How I Got Over will forever have a place on my iPod.

I had a buddy ask me to put together some new (to him) music and I immediately asked him if he had heard any Roots tracks.  He had heard a few, liked some, but not all.  I agreed to put together a recommended playlist for him but with so much music (8 albums in my collection anyway) I didn't really know how to pull my favorite tracks for him.  Well...I thought I would just go through each album, list the tracks and just highlight the ones I liked and why.  I figured if I was going to go through that much effort, I might as well document it.

This is clearly too much for one post...so I'll just start with Do You Want More?

Products of Our Environment

I don't think that anyone would argue that many of their traits came directly from their parents.  No breakthroughs there.  I am sure you notice it in your everyday life.  Perhaps it's how you talk, your sense of humor, how you cook, your music preferences...the list goes on and on.

What's interesting to me though are the inverse tendencies that are just as powerful as the direct tendencies we inherent from our parents.   One example, growing up we were always late going places.  Not just a little late every once in a while...always late, and sometimes hours late.  I think as a results I have this inherent animosity towards being late.  Not to the point that I am neurotic about it, and sure, I still get caught up from time to time and don't leave the house when I really should, but most of the time...I would much rather be ready early and get where I am going with time to spare.  That being said, I still drive way too fast (like my dad) and I will delay folding laundry for as long as I can (like my mom).

What about you...do you have any reverse tendencies as a result of your childhood?

Scoreboard Update

I may not be using my EE degree on a daily basis, but it does come in handy when it's time to put together a serious project.  My polo scoreboard is coming together quite nicely.  Here's a couple of pictures.  

Here's the backside of the scoreboard.  No, it's not Coke powered.  It's there for scale.

Here's the business end of the scoreboard.  4 digits for time and a game can be set from 3:00 to 30:00 minutes.  1 digit for each of the scores. 

A little shot in the dark.

Another behind the scenes view.

Denver Veloswap...

...is only the world's largest consumer bicycling and sports expo.

But that didn't really give me an idea of what to expect.  All I knew is that back in March a local cyclist told me to keep an eye out for it.  So I did.  I found the date and set it on my calendar.  All I could gather was that it was going to be an epic gear swap of old, new and in-between cycling gear.  Individuals, shops, retailers would all be there to peddle their wares.

We wanted to get there when the doors opened so at 6:00 AM on Saturday morning we rolled out of Choice City to The Mile High to start our morning at a great little diner. We got to the doors about 45 minutes before they opened and we had a pretty good spot in line.  It wasn't quite backed up to the freeway yet (but it didn't take long to get there).

So...it seems like there are two strategies, but before I talk strategy...I've gotta talk layout.  As you walk in, you first go through all of the major manufacturers and sponsors...we are talking about folks like Rudy Project, Subaru...then you get to the big retailers (Mavic, Panda Bike, Full Cycle, Big Shot Bikes) then it starts to get to the guys with piles and piles of used shit, well it's not all used.  Clearly some of the gear might be unused stuff from a sponsor, or maybe some equipment that has one season of use, or stuff that was ridden within an inch of its life.  There's also a LOT of really vintage stuff out there.  I was looking for some odds and ends and was definitely ready to pounce on a good deal if one popped up.

Right, so strategy...it's really not that complex.  Either you can start at the front and work your way back or bolt to the back and work your way forward. I opted to head for the used stuff since I was looking for a deal on some mechanical brakes.

This shot gives you an idea of what the inside looked like.

I actually only spent $25 at the expo but I did score two Avid BB7's with levers, a nice ear warmer and two blinky lights.  Not a bad take for 25 bucks.  J managed to raid the Pearl Izumi women's medium bin to find several pairs of shorts (including two baggies) and three pairs of socks for one Mr. Benjamin.  She also scored 4 handlebars for 5 dollars.

I'll definitely be back next year, ready to deal.  It may actually be worth getting a vendor pass to get in the doors a little early so I don't have to battle the masses next year.  It was amazing how many people piled into the building in just 20 minutes.  I think also for next year, I may actually print out the map.  I got disoriented more than once and J had to navigate me to the guy with the $5 disk rotors...I would have been in the far corner with the 65 year old couple trying to sell their trek tandem for $650.

Oh, this was pretty awesome too.

Simplify

from Wikipedia...

In mathematics and algebra, "simplify" means to "make more simple" by means of reducing, combining, completing operations, or solving.

But in this case I am talking about simplifying life...specifically, my life.  Starting a new job leaves one with limited resources (i.e. time and energy) with which to do other things.  And if it's one thing I like to do...it's "other things".

So I've been thinking a lot lately about ways to simplify my life.  So far I've come up with a few ideas...Not in any particular order of importance.

Purge Redundant and Unused Items

This one is pretty simple.  I just need to look around and  There's a dyson vacuum to my left that just won't get used. It only works okay and we recently picked up a Kenmore that works great and fits our need better anyway.  About 2 feet from that Dyson is a GoPro camera.  It's a great little device but I so rarely do all of the prep to use it and post processing to actually view the videos that it's really just a drain on my time and space.

Batch Processing

I kind of like to let stuff pile up anyway.  Laundry, dishes, whatever.  Maybe those aren't great examples, but there are plenty of things that take some amount of setup or breakdown time so it's not worth just doing it once.  Ironing clothes and cooking are the first things to come to mind.

Prioritize

This kind of connects back to the Purging stuff.  I like projects, and I also love to start a project as soon as I think of it.  Unfortunately this often leaves me with two things 1) unfinished projects that I am not excited about and 2) more projects at once than I really have time for.  So, I am really trying to get through project A before I start into project B.  On that note, the Polo Scoreboard has been making some good progress lately.

Day Twelve - Getting Down to the Wire

My last Friday as a free man was fairly uneventful.  I made a quick run to the bank for some direct deposit paperwork, drove J's mom up to the reservoir to hike around a bit and check out the view of town from ~500ft above and wrapped up with some delicious Japanese food at Jeju's.  With the huge lack of excellent restaurants in town, it was quite refreshing to find one that pleased all three of the diners.  Watch out for the Spicy Tuna Roll though...it's not just a Tuna Roll with kick, they kind of make the tuna into a paste.  Not really ideal.  However, the Samurai Roll is well worth the $14 or whatever it happens to be...that was quite delicious...and elaborate.  I wish I had taken a picture.  Maybe next time.

Note: Not actual Samurai Roll that I consumed but a pretty good recommendation (foreground)

I am starting to wonder which of my many bags is acceptable in a business-casual environment.  I may just have to go with the classic Timbuk2 messenger...at least until I get the scratch for a RE Load waxed canvas bag!

Day Eleven - Cleaning & Driving

We've got family coming in to town which means two things.  1) Get the place ready for presentation and 2) acquire said family.  I did get a good amount of cleaning done...although the Dyson suddenly died as I was vacuuming the sunroom.  I guess I'll have to look at that at some point.  I also whipped up some delicious BBQ and some mediocre mac & cheese.  It's my first attempt at M&C and I was a little rushed, so it's kind of mushy and lacking flavor.  I'll nail it next time.  The pulled pork was delicious...as always.

Day Ten - Lots of Packages Today

I ordered a few things last week (this of course has nothing to do with the fact that I am expecting a steady inflow of cash soon) and everything arrived today.

First was a small collection of Chris King Bling.  I got the replacement bearing for the one I destroyed last week and a few finely machined tools to work on my creaking bottom bracket.  Since I was stranded most of the day yesterday with the Honda in the shop, I took the opportunity to run some errands.  Two bike shops, two hardware stores, one grocery store, two department stores and Jimmy Johns somewhere in the middle.

The second item to arrive was a tiny camera I got off of Ebay.  I've actually wanted an inexpensive really small camera for a while.  I already have a digital camera but it's too big and clunky to stick in a pocket or carry on rides in a useful way.

Last but not least was a none-too-soon supply of tea.  I was getting dangerously low and needed to replenish.  I can't wait to sample some of these bad boys!

Eight & Nine - Dark Hours

The last two days are a perfect example of not being able to recall what I "did".  I mean, it's not like I sat on the couch all day.  It's just that I didn't really do anything of consequence, hence it doesn't stick in my brain, hence, I can't recall what I did.  So when I try to recount, it feels like I completely lost two days of my life.

Fortunately, that's not the case.  Monday was pretty chill.  I think I just did some cleaning around the house in the anticipation of some possible poker (which did not end up panning out).  I also confirmed that my Honda was in fact leaking a little bit of fluid onto the driveway.  The funny thing is that I thought it was from the plumber's visit last week.  I never saw his car, but I assumed a plumber would have an old truck and assumed that old truck would be leaking oil in my driveway.  (I don't even know if he parked in the driveway).  I only noticed because sometime in the last couple of weeks I cleaned up the driveway a bit and now I can park in a different spot.  Who knows how long I've been leaking fluid(s) and how long it would have taken me to notice if I just parked in the same spot all the time.

Anyway, that takes me to Tuesday.  First thing I did was drop the car off at the mechanic down the street (which is quite convenient). It turns out I was leaking fluid from the clutch slave cylinder and I also needed a radiator hose replaced.  That actually grounded me for most of the day so I cleaned a bit more, worked a little more on the polo scoreboard project (making some good progress there) and after picking up the car I went for a short MTB ride.  So, nothing monumental, and nothing really worth mentioning when someone asks "So, what did you do today?"

Even this post isn't worth tagging with a label...

Day Seven - Recovery

There's a lot to do after any camping trip that includes a big ride.  Clothes, sleeping bags, tents to deal with, dishes to wash, car to unpack, bike to put away, more clothes.  A nice perk to being unemployed is that one can tackle these tasks at leisure.

I thought about playing some paintball today, but I really don't feel quite right after the ride yesterday.  I think the elevation combined with the distance really wears me out.  So, I did some stuff around the house, watched a little TV and sometime after washing some dishes and before unpacking the car I did manage to make one of these.

My buddy Fenton sent me a link the other day and suggested I try making one of these with the remainder of my free days...so a couple of days ago I picked up an old fork and this afternoon, I went to town.

There's not much else to report for today.  Even an unemployed bum needs quiet weekends every once in a while.  I did wrap up the evening with a stop by a Blockbuster kiosk and for the low price of $2.99 I was able to pick up this piece of garbage.

I really thought it would be better than is was.  The ending was anti-climactic and he didn't even get the girl.  Kind of a waste.

Day Six - Honkytonk Badonkadonk

Today was the Monarch Crest Trail.  35 miles of riding, 3,500 ft of climbing with most of the climbing above 11,000ft and almost 7,000ft of descending!  It's a really gorgeous ride with some phenominal views and even a little East-Coast style riding.  One of these days I'll tally my observations between Colorado and Virginia riding but for now I'll just say it was nice to ride in the trees a little bit and railing corners.  I was quite surprised that a good bit of the ride was actually shaded. It didn't feel like hot, exposed CO riding until the very end.

If you are thinking about doing this ride I have a few thoughts.

• It's awesome, do it. 
• It's quite fun with a group.
• Even though there's 3,500ft of climbing it's all very mellow.  Nothing too steep until you reach the last 10 miles where there's some short gut busters.
• Get on the trail early to beat the heat and afternoon thunderstorms.
• A shuttle is necessary, plan accordingly.
• A map is a good idea.  Absolute Bikes in Salida has an excellent map.

My recap from a non-trail perspective

1. The King hub performed flawlessly, even missing a ball in one of the bearings
2. I overpacked.
3. I do not like Ergon grips at all.  My hands were both numb and in pain at the bottom of a 5 mile descent.  

Oh, if you've gotten this far and you are wondering what the hell the title is about.  This song was playing when I went into the restroom before the ride.

Day Five - Driving Driving Driving

First things first...

Last night I went over to a friends house to service my Chris King hub.  As I mentioned yesterday, I have a not-so-great experience with servicing this particular hub.  (Here's the recap).

Unfortunately, the last time I tried to do that, I destroyed several of the bearings, marred the axle and gouged the inside of the freehub body.  

This time the King hub did not quite make it out as good as new.  The hub service instructions are very complete and very specific and as a result you really have to pay attention to every word in every instruction.  It's not like assembling some piece of cheap furniture where you can just look at the pictures and get the idea and run with it. no no.  So, in one of the many multi-step processes I didn't quite assemble the tool correctly and I blew out the inner race on one of the bearings.  There were little steel balls everywhere.  I had pretty much figured that was it and I was already trying to figure out which rear wheel I could use since my FSA wheel was at the shop getting one proprietary spoke replaced.  Well my buddy was not so fatalistic. Using his magnet on a stick, we (mostly he) actually managed to get 17 of the 18 tiny balls off of the garage floor and into the bearing.  We got it all back together and it rolled as smooth as butter.  That being said, I still brought a spare rear wheel to Salida for the big ride.  We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, today I had until about noon before I had to hit the road to Boulder, then Leadville then Poncha Springs.

I completely cleaned out the inside of the Honda.  Here's a protip for you shop-vac owners, Keep those filters clear and your vac will suck like it's new.  Before the cleaning and packing of the car I called Chris King and told them what I did and tried to buy a new bearing from them.  Get this, they will sell you the $160 tool to completely disassemble and destroy your $400+ hub but when you do destroy it, they will not sell you the parts to reassemble it.  They are very gracious about working on the hub if you ship it to them, but they will not ship you hub parts.  So I ended up buying the $37 bearing online...and while I was at it I bought the bottom bracket tool as well.  So, I suspect I'll have the opportunity to destroy a $100+ bottom bracket sometime next week.  Good times.

Day Four

This is such a great view!  The climb starts way down right in the middle of the picture.  I almost cleaned it, just one dab about halfway up through a technical section.

So I finally got out for a little ride on the FSR.  Debrief...Shifting works well, handlebar is still in one piece and the jury is still out on the Ergon grips.  I did notice that my rear hub was acting funny.  It wouldn't catch right away after coasting or backpedaling.  A quick call to Ed at Chris King confirmed my suspicions, the hub needs an overhaul.  Unfortunately, the last time I tried to do that, I destroyed several of the bearings, marred the axle and gouged the inside of the freehub body.  Second time's a charm though, right?

I am headed out in a few minutes to meetup with someone that has the hub service tool and hopefully a better track record than I do.

Aside from the hub issue, I got some other good things done today.  I did a little bit of packing for the Monarch trip, purchased some reasonable everyday shoes (that are not sneakers), and I had two fairly profound thoughts today.

Profound Thought 1:

I am pretty sure having a fancy pants phone will actually save me time in the long run, even though it has many many time sucking features. 

Profound Thought 2: 

I am pretty sure my mailman is fucking with me. Although I don't have proof. 

If I have some time next week, I'll go into a little more detail on those thoughts.  For now, I've got to head out and get this hub issue worked out. Hopefully, the report back tomorrow will be positive.  Especially since my backup wheel is in the shop. (I think that was briefly mentioned somewhere in Day Two)

Day Three

I am starting to think 100 pushups is quite a lofty goal.  I am up to 34 in a row and there was a slight hiccup when I had to replace my EVO (since I lost the progress on my app) but I am back on track.  Maybe I'll reset my goal to 50...That's still a pretty good number.

Anyway...onto the day's recap.

First, I had the pleasure of watching the plumber fix some minor issues in the bathroom.  One of the simple pleasures of working from home or being unemployed is that you can basically schedule any service for anytime. Cable guy at 2:00PM, plumber at 9:00AM, sure, why not?  It's also quite great that I am in a rental and I never see the bill.  While Jim the plumber was fixing leaky faucets and climbing into the crawlspace to turn off the water, I paid some bills, worked a little more on my Polo Scoreboard and just did some general internet goofing off.  The scoreboard is coming along nicely but I've got to buckle down and figure out the next details so I can order another round of parts.

When I did finally get out of the house today, I decided to take a trip to try and purchase some reasonable pants.  I don't think my new employer would be happy with me showing up in sweats or cargo shorts...at least not until I get casual weekdays implemented.  I think I ended up in JCPenneys and picked up a couple of pairs of Dockers.  I can't believe what they charge for pants these days!  I mean, if I had it my way, I would wear Levi's 569's every day with some black Asics.  So comfortable.  I don't think I am going to have quite that flexibility in my new job.  But we'll see.

I think sometime after plumber and pants I managed to snipe a digital camera on Ebay.  I've got a decent Sony but it's a little bulky and I've wanted a super slim camera I can just slip in my pocket for a good while.  You see, one of the ways I pass my time is by scouring Craigslist.  I have definitely found some gems, and one of these days I'll finish my post about the stuff we've actually purchased, but I digress.  I found someone selling a pretty slick little Nikon Coolpix but when I went to meet her it turns out the screen was messed up.  It worked fine when you took the pictures but no bueno when you wanted to review them.  I passed on that deal but then got kind of obsessed about getting that camera.  So...

Wait a minute...I distracted myself for a minute...Back to Craigslist.  Here are a couple of gems I've found recently in my free form searching.  

First, can concealers.  (The original ad has been removed but you get the gist).  

Second, a legitimately good deal on a new bike case.  My buddy has one of the same brand and it's rock solid.  Too bad I don't really have a use for one right now.  Maybe for Iceland next year...

I wrapped up the day with some awesome polo with the Cheyenne guys.  A few of them came down to Fort Collins for some epic games.  Those guys have been playing well and definitely gave us a run tonight.

Apologies for the long winded post, I guess it was a pretty fruitful day!

Day Two

So, day two.  I thought I would get a chance to head out on the FSR today, but the afternoon thunderstorms squashed that plan.  In anticipation of riding, I did do a little overdue maintenance on the bike.  Actually, the first step was to swap a tube for J's commuter bike.  It was a good warm up for the task ahead.

I had a pretty smooth cable replace job on the FSR.  I snapped a cable back in April and just slipped a new cable into the housing, I also noticed that the housing on the front shifter was pretty beat up so I figured it was time for a wholesale swap.  I got through the rear when I ran out of housing...so off to the bike shop.  I also figured this was a good opportunity to replace a busted spoke on my FSA tubeless wheels...damn, proprietary spokes!

During my trip to the shop, well actually shop number 2 of the trip, I strongly considered buying the Chris King bottom brackett injector tool, but decided I didn't want to spend $60 on a part that I would use for 10 minutes a year...I still need to clean out my BB though...not sure how I am going to pull that off.

Anyway, back from the shop I replaced all of the shifter cables and gave the drivetrain a thorough cleaning.  (It may be time for a new cassette soon).  I am just about ready for Monarch Crest.  A little riding should help confirm that the shifting and cockpit are adjusted to my liking.  Maybe tomorrow I'll ride.

Day One

So, I've officially accepted the job offer (well verbally anyway) and the countdown begins.  Two weeks from today I'll be sitting in a new office probably filling out paperwork, signing confidentiality agreements, giving up any rights to any awesome inventions I may come up with and one more thing...oh yeah...earning a paycheck.

I figure this is a great time to document what I do in a typical unemployed week.  I guess this isn't really typical since there's a slight sense of urgency, but I think it's still a valid exercise.  I don't know how many times I've been asked "So what do you do all day?" and I've had to honestly reply..."You know, I couldn't tell you."

So, what did I do this fine Monday.

I got an early start to the day and mowed the lawn before it got too hot. I did go out of my way to mow the alley behind the house, but I couldn't quite dig up the motivation to bust out the weedwacker and trim up the edges of the lawn...even with all of the time in the world, there's not enough time for that.

I also managed to acquire a new handlebar for my mountain bike...oh, and I picked up some grips too.  My old carbon bar was due to be replaced and I found a guy on Craigslist selling brand new Easton bars.  The rise and width match my old bar pretty closely so I am quite stoked!  I also picked up some of those fancy Ergon grips for my new cockpit.  Can't wait to try them out...probably tomorrow.  There's nothing like new bike stuff to motivate me to ride...I've got to test the setup before Monarch Crest Trail this weekend. I think we are looking at 5 hours of riding...It's advertised as a lot of descending but it does start at 11,000 ft and climbs up to almost 12,000.  We'll see how that goes.

Also, in preparation for the new job...I picked up a few shirts.  I only had the stamina to hit one department store...going into those places is like walking around at 12,000 ft...exhausting!

No More Sweatpants and Mimosas

Well, it's happened.  I have found a new job.  I will be working for a cool company doing some software development for smart grid products.  With my start date about two weeks away I thought it would be grand to chronicle what happens between now and then.  There's a few odds and ends to wrap up before my start date and there's always a few projects that I've got going on.
(BTW, just kidding about the mimosas)

Things to Do When Moving to a New Town

So, we are right at the 6 month mark...still new to town but definitely finding our way around.  Here's a list of some of my accomplishments since moving to Fort Collins, along with a few things still to be done.

Get a Speeding Ticket

I actually accomplished this one before I was an official Colorado resident.  It turns out Fort Collins has traffic cameras in a few select neighborhoods.  I was looking at rental places back in December and I managed to blast through a 25 MPH section in my rental Prius...yes...a Prius.

Get Your Picture in the Newspaper

I am not sure that I've ever had my likeness in a VA paper but it didn't take long to get my face in a Fort Collins periodical.  Some CSU student was putting together an article for their paper and snapped some pictures of the local polo group.

Join Some Clubs

I have found myself leading the charge for Fort Collins Bike Polo (the hardcourt flavor anyway) and we are also tied in to the Overland Mountain Bike Club.  I am trying to keep my participation at a reasonable level so I don't find myself over extended like I was in C-Ville.  We'll see how that goes.

Find a Place to Hang

Over the years I had a few places I could hang out if I was just looking to kill some time.  In the early years it was Charlottesville Aquarium...then that shifted to C-ville Bike and Tri and Rudy's Paintball.  Unfortunately, Rudy's closed its doors but the bike shop was always a good time-killing spot.  I have yet to find a nice local place where I can just hang out and shoot the breeze without being a lingering weirdo.

Find a favorite ride

This one is tough.  We went back to VA recently and got a chance to ride some local trails.  It's so very nice to know every root, rock, corner, ledge, switchback and you just take it for granted.  I am contemplating picking a trail and just riding that for two weeks...just so I have something familiar to look forward to.

Project update

Things are going well with the two recently announced projects.  I made a slight shift to a different pushup paradigm because I just got a new droid phone and I found a free app (vs 2.99 for the legit hundredpushups.com app).  Anyway, that's been going for about two weeks so far...not really much else to report there.

The polo scoreboard is also going well.  I've got a lot of the basic logic worked out but I need to do a little work on the sound.  This kind of stuff is always a struggle...two steps forward, one step back kind of thing.
Here's a short video of what it does so far.  Once I've get the prototype all sorted out I can really start to think about how I want to build the final setup.

Two New Projects

I hesitate to announce new projects because...well...sometimes they just don't get finished.  I feel pretty good about these two (admittedly, I usually "feel pretty good" about every project) so I am going to go ahead and put them on the table.

They are pretty abstract right now, so this will be short.

The first, is a high tech bike polo scoreboard.  You would think that it would be pretty easy for 6 players to keep track of a game that only goes to 5 points.  But, put a few all out sprints in there, a couple of PBR's and after several games...scorekeeping is hopeless.  I am planning on driving the score keeper with a popular hobby microcontroller (Arduino) and putting the whole setup (countdown timer and scores) in some sort of enclosure.  I've got a lot of the code written and an Arduino Nano sitting on my desk but I am still waiting for some components to get across the country before I can really start building and testing the prototype.

The second is pretty straightforward...I started it once before but only made it about half way through.

One Hundred Pushups

I'll do the test today and start on the actual routines Monday.

Just did the test and pounded out 24 good pushups...which lets me skip ahead to week 3 according to the website.  YES!

2004 vs. 2006

In 2004 USA Today ranked Charlottesville as the best place to live.  In 2006 CNN Money ranked Fort Collins, CO as the best place to live (with many Top 10 finishes since then).  I never thought I would have the chance to move from one "Top Ranked" city to another but here I am.  Each of these cities definitely has its perks.  Personally, I can't say which is best just because of the relative time I've spend in each (10 years vs 6 months) but I have definitely formed some impressions.

I think this is a good time to reflect on the pros and cons of these two fine cities while "The 'Ville" is still fresh in my mind and "FoCo" is still fresh and new.

First, an easy one...Weather.

This is really a tough one. As a cyclist, it's really hard to beat the Central VA winter.  With winter lows typically in the 20's you can pretty much ride 50 weeks out of the year without too much trouble.  If it gets really cold (for VA) then you can just ride in the woods, somewhat protected from the wind.  As long as there isn't snow on the ground, you can suit up and do some riding.

On the flip side, we have Colorado winters.  BRRRR!  For example, January 1, 2011 the mean temperature was 6 degrees (F) with sustained winds of 22MPH.  There's no way to be on a bicycle in that kind of weather.  In contrast, the mean temperature was 48 degrees in C-ville.

But now...6 months later. It's about 70-80 degrees here in the fort with pretty low humidity, while my Virginia friends are suffering with 90-100 degree weather and so much moisture in the air it feels like a steam room.  I guess weather is not so easy.  I think the lesson here is that we are going to have to pick up skiing.

More to come...

A Weekend in Sunny San Francisco

Our good friend Sally moved from Charlottesville to California several years ago.  She started out in L.A. working for Yahoo and ended up moving to San Francisco a couple of years later.  We've kept up with Sally a little bit over the years, making an effort to hook up with her when we were in Monterey for Sea Otter.  The last time we were out there we met her (then) new guy, Tommy.  Tommy seemed pretty cool, but Sally already knew that, she didn't need our stamp of approval.

Fast forward ~3 years later.  We are living in Colorado and we get an invite to Sally's wedding in San Fran.  Well, we are already halfway across the country and San Fran is an easy direct flight, and Sally is awesome, so it was an easy call.  As an added bonus, we got a chance to hang out with another C-ville friend KP. We actually stayed with KP and fam in Marin over the weekend.

After a day of chillaxin' and eating in Marin, we geared up for the wedding on Sunday.  The ceremony was held at the UC Berkley Botanical Gardens.  It was a very cool venue.  A small amphitheater nestled in a redwood forest.  After a short ceremony we headed over to the cocktail hour.  The highlight of the afternoon had to be when they introduced Tommy & Sally for the first time as a married couple.  The small crowd started with some hearty applause and was showing no signs of letting up...the applause continued...and continued...and people started standing...clapping louder and louder.  I didn't set a stopwatch but I am pretty sure it was at least a 2-minute standing ovation for Sally and Tommy.

After the reception we rolled mack to Marin to recoup and gear up for the party that evening.  It was an "Under The Sea" Nautical-Themed bash.  The DJ was more into his custom mixes than entertaining the crowd, but it was a fun-loving crew that embraced the nautical costume recommendation completely.  I think none so completely as Johanna though. She really pulled off a great fish costume from head to toe.  I wasn't so motivated but I did wear my captain's hat all night long.  I even got a nod from the toll booth attendant on the GG bridge.

We had a little bit of time before our flight the next day and went on a great hike with KP and little G.  It was a short walk out to a great little beach.  We had some lunch, threw some rocks into the ocean and just enjoyed the wonderfully humid air.  It wasn't Virginia humid, but just about anything beats the dry Colorado air we've been living in.  

We are now back in Fort Collins, recovering from last weekend and gearing up for next...we've got a visitor coming!

Consistent Weather brings Consistent Riding

There's been a fair amount of riding this week.  Starting with the dusty short track race last Tuesday...I've ridden a couple of new trails.  Here's a shot of me super-focused in the roller section.  I don't think you can see my single speed nemesis on the Langster in this one.

I actually placed pretty well considering I haven't done any serious racing in a long time.  17th out of 50 racers. I definitely think some of that had to do with a really solid start position.  This week I got caught up in the middle of the pack and by the time the first 30 guys get stretched out onto the single track the top racers have already probably got a couple of minutes on you.  But more on this week's race a little later.

The day after the short track J and I went out to Red Mountain which is a natural area about 45 minutes north, right at the Wyoming border.  Now...a few mountain bikers mentioned Sandstone when we first got here and J talked to a park ranger that was surprised that no one had mentioned Red Mountain (which directly borders Sandstone).  Well...we found out why.  Red Mountain was kind of miserable.  The trail was either horse-width loose double track or really grainy riverbed.  There was one short section of nice buff interesting trail but it did not make up for the rest of the garbage.  Now, I could have been a little down on the place because I was sluggish from the previous day's race...but I don't think so.

So, no riding Thursday but I played a lot of polo on Friday.  2 1/2 hours of 2 on 2.  The weather was perfect and we played a LOT of polo.  With only 4 people on the court, you get a lot of play time in.  All that did was set me up to again be sluggish when scouting out some new trail the next day. 

On Saturday we went into Wyoming to check out Curt Gowdy State Park.  It's a little over an hour away and has got some really cool trail features.  I think we only saw about half of the trails, and by the time we figured out the map, we had already run the race course in reverse.  There were some really cool rock sections and "play areas" to be explored.  It's nice to have some Porcupine Rim style stuff so close.  Now, it's not as epic or nearly as technical as Porcupine but it's definitely got some cool features worth checking out.  I think it makes it a great spot for a wide mix of skill levels.

So...back to Tuesday and back to the short track.  I was feeling pretty sluggish all day, but I decided to suck it up and head out to the short track anyway.  Last week I got a really good position on the start line but this week was a little different.  As we all piled onto the start, I was somewhere in the middle of a huge pack.  There's a picture of the start group (64 racers) to the right.  I took my time and pretty much decided just to tempo the race...until the end of lap 2.  That's when the Langster reared his head again. He passed me at the end of lap 2 and I managed to stick on his for the rest of the race but I couldn't get the pass on him...not this week.  But, rest assured...I'll be eating my Wheaties and will be primed for next week.  I've been riding the hardtail for the last two weeks, and it's been fine but I think it's time to bring out the big dog.  The FSR should be able to squash all the little annoying bumps on the course and rail the corners.  Here's a sweet shot of me powering one of the climbs.

My First Race at 5,000 ft...

Tuesday afternoon, 6:20pm, 65 degrees and sunny.  I roll over to the start line and get ready to tackle 4 laps of the short track course with 50 other riders...yes 50...and this is only the sport category.

Somehow I managed to put myself near the front of the pack for the start.  Here I am, coming off of some epic cold...with my only serious efforts being sprints on the polo court and I am in the first row of riders.  I already felt a little overwhelmed because I thought we would only be putting in 3 laps...but I had just heard the announcement of 4 laps.  I look over my shoulder to see if I can sneak my way back a little bit, but no dice.  My bed was already made, I just had to suck it up.  

I knew being near the front would pay dividends for the upcoming "pump track" section early in the course but I really didn't want to have to mix it up 9 wide going into the first corner.  Thankfully, the start was pretty tame, no wrecks that I could see but someone did bobble the first serious rise about 5-6 riders in and everyone else was pretty much doomed to do a quick hike up that section.  It actually worked out pretty well for forcing people into some single file action since there was some super-tight single track up ahead.  

The rest of the race was pretty standard stuff.  Tight twisty sections, short climbs, several open spots for passing.  The course was very dry which led to some sketchy corners and a LOT of dust.  The 15-minute bike ride home included much hacking, coughing and sneezing.  

One minor achievement...I didn't get beat by the guy on the Langster...(yeah, the track bike).  It was pretty close though.  He bobbled one of the last corners pretty bad and almost racked himself.  It looked like he was going to jump right back on without losing any ground...but it became clear that he was going to need a moment to compose himself.  It took that opportunity to pass him on the inside.  I mean, it wasn't a full on track bike, he did have some riser bars on it!  He rode the fuck out of that thing though...basically his two primary weapons were 1) locking up the rear wheel and 2) an excellent inside dab.  

If I can stop blowing dust out of my nose by next Tuesday...maybe I'll do it again.  Right now...I am just going to find some food and maybe do some arts and crafts.  But first I need a damn shower!

Here's a short video of the Beginner Men start.  50 Racers there too!

Kokopelli Trail Recap: Game On!

We loaded up Wednesday morning and set out for Fruita.  It took us a little while to get the truck and car packed but we had it all dialed and we were ready to roll.

My 11-year-old Honda Toting Four Bikes Like a Boss!

When we rolled into Fruita, Don, Richard, Kyle, Fenton and Nick were itching to squeeze in a ride.  Don and Steve still had to pickup their rental bikes and Kyle had to assemble his IF.  Unfortunately, the airline lost Fenton's bike and he rode the backup hardtail.  Fenton's bike did eventually show up in the wee hours of the night.

Nick and Richard's Preride and 18 Road Trails

Fenton Assembling the Yeti Thursday AM.

With all of the riding ahead of us, Steve, Johanna and I grabbed an early Mexican dinner and did some last minute food shopping for the trip.  The rest of the crew got some delicious pie at Hot Tomato.

Overall it was an amazing trip. The original plan was shuffled a bit when we couldn't figure out a reasonable shuttle system or route for the 35 mile climb and we decided to just skip ahead to Porcupine Rim.  Porcupine was amazing and I don't think anyone regretted that decision.  On the third day we broke down camp and did some local riding in Fruita...which was pretty lame compared to dropping 4000' over 14 mi the previous day. In hindsight, maybe a short ride at Slickrock would have been the way to go...but it is what it is.

View From Campsite Number 1

Campsite 2

Just One of the Stellar Views Along the Way

We Got Pretty Good at Packing the Truck by the end.

Kokopelli Trail Recap: Pregame

Well, Steve found the highlight of his trip to be a few days before the serious riding even started.  I booked a New Belgium Brewery Tour for Myself, Steve, Don, Johanna, Richard and Nick.  Johanna actually wasn't feeling well and Nick wasn't in town yet so our crew of four hopped on bikes and rode over to the brewery.  The weather was perfect for a bike ride and an afternoon of drinking beer.  The tour itself was kind of lackluster due to our less than stellar tour guide, but, the beer was good...(except for that last brew we sampled Le Terroir I think) .

Anyway...we had an interesting afternoon after the tour but instead of boring you with my story...I'll just let the following picture speak for itself.

Kokopelli Trail: Fruita to Moab: Prep

We've got a bunch of friends coming in from VA next week to do a huge MTB ride from Fruita , Colorado to Moab, Utah.  It's going to be 3 days of epic mountain biking.  With a big weekend on the horizon, we've been laying low this weekend.  We are making some final bike preparations and working out the final details of the plan.

Each day is going to be broken up into two ride sections.  The entire Kokopelli trail is about 142 miles...but we aren't actually going to do all of it.  Our 3-day itinerary starts with the first 40ish miles, then we'll shuttle to the halfway point for the start of day 2 and pretty much ride the rest of the trail on the second and third days.

People will start showing up next Saturday and we actually hit the trail on Thursday.  I am sure a lot will be happening before we even hit the first mile of trail so stay tuned.  There's a plan for the New Belgium Brewery tour and even some talk of skiing.  Who knows what else is in store.

Most Excellent Weekend

I got to experience a few "firsts" this weekend. First time at 9,000 ft (outside of an aircraft), first time on showshoes and first time on cross country skis.

There really isn't much need to pick up a winter sport in Virginia. East coast snow has never been great and it's typically warm enough in Charlottesville to ride consistently 11 months out of the year. Sure, a few of our freinds head over to West VA for cross country skiing or get passes to Wintergreen but I never bothered. Now that we are in Colorado where you can go from spring to winter in just 60 miles...it's time to branch out.

A few weeks ago J and I were invited to spend a weekend in a yurt in Colorado State Forest State Park (the dumbest park name ever) so we decided, "why not?" Never Summer Nordic has a network of yurts throughout the park. We stayed at the Medicine Bow Yurt, elevation: 9,000 ft.

We skied the .4 miles uphill into the yurt on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend snowshoeing, skiing and eating. The accommodations are somewhere between primitive camping and cramped motel. I know that doesn't really sound appealing but it was actually pretty nice.

Medicine Bow Yurt, Outside

Trail from yurt back to cars

Inside of yurt

The yurt had a propane stove and was furnished with 3 double/twin bunk beds. Technically it could sleep 9 but anymore than 6 adults would get pretty crowded. There's also a small wood stove that heats the yurt up pretty well.

Here are a few more pictures of the epic views we had the pleasure of taking in.

Looking off the deck at dusk

About 20 minutes uphill from the yurt

Trail leading up from the yurt

View from the deck

Travis, Sarah and Wynona

First Month in FoCo

Well, we've been here almost 5 weeks and are getting settled in nicely. All of the boxes are unpacked, all of the bikes are built and we can get around town pretty well. I was sick for a good part of January but Johanna was able to take advantage of some of the warmer days and hit some of the trails around town.

The drive from Virginia had its ups and downs. We started off on a Thursday evening headed to West Virginia. We had the birds and our luggage packed into the Honda. Everything was great until about 30 miles from our destination. Snow started to come down and we found ourselves driving through the mountains of W Va in the dark, in the snow. Not fun, but we made it. The next morning we made our way to Chicago. Traffic was fine, but we had a little bit more weather to contend with on the way. Nothing like we had yet to see, but still very annoying.

We stayed in Chicago from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon and spent some really good time with my sister-in-law and brother. We ate, chilled out, visited a Whole Foods the size of a small airport and even helped them prep for their adopted greyhounds they were expecting in a couple of weeks. It was nice to just chill and recover from two days of snowy travel.

On Sunday we had a short leg to Grinnell, Iowa to visit some old Charlottesville friends and of course on Monday morning we wake up to more snow. We had 460 miles of driving to do to cover most of Iowa and Nebraska to get to North Platte. We faced some really rough weather all the way through Iowa and well into Nebraska. This was the second snow front that we were driving through.

We made it safely to North Platte (which is kind of a hole) stayed the night in a Motel and were off to Fort Collins the next day. The weather was much nicer and we had a short (~240 mile) leg into Wyoming and down into Colorado.

It would still be a couple of days before our stuff would show up but at least we were off the road.

Most days there's some Charlottesville Tea in the tea pot and the wood stove is roaring in the sunroom. We've had our mix of weather with high's near 0 and some nice 55 degree days as well. Getting around by bike in this town is awesome (which was a great excuse to buy another bike) but I can report more on that later.

So, next time...maybe a tour of our house, a recap of my latest bike project, and some of the other things we've been getting into over the last 5 weeks.