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Saturday was a busy and tiring day. But it was also a fun day. First up was the Fremont alleycat, which was a 3-person team based race.
Team Nuut consisted of me, Spiro, and Darin. For a team thrown together in the waning hours before the race, we did pretty well. We came in 4th place, and I scored a nifty little Shimano Chainwhip/Lockring tool worth about $40. Yee!
After we rushed over to San Francisco for the premiere of No Cassettes, featuring a few fellow SJFers, such as Dan Karl.
And yes, Wilson, I did blog about this. Bitch.
Lately the people at Hellyer have been really cool about us riding on the track with riser bars and other silly fixed gear modifications. As long as you sign the waiver and have a helmet you are good to go. Absolutely free! It’s great because it introduces a lot of people to the track who normally don’t get a chance to ride it.
Riding to the track was a bit of a treacherous journey with part of the trail being blocked off. No worries though, where there is a will, there is a partially broken fence to peel back and climb through.
JP came up with this flyer for the 2nd installment of the SJFixed “It’s a WRAP” Alleycat series. Clear your calendars peoples.
One of the best vegetarian spots in downtown San Jose (or San Jose in general) is Tofoo Com Chay. When I am sick, or on chilly days, the Spicy Noodle soup seriously is da succccculent. Clears up your nasal passages like no other. It’s also easy on the stomach, so you can ride almost immediately afterward.
Five of us rode out to Dave and Buster’s to meet up with everyone for Tricia’s birthday. I love DnB’s because they have this game where you have to time yourself to get this moving light, and I hit the jackpot three times. Hahaha.
A few of us hit up China Palace afterward for some Chinese on the cheaps. Oh da succ.
Yesterday’s premiere of the It’s a WRAP alleycat presented by SJF was sensational. Well over 200 people showed up, and close to 150 people raced. Everything went smooth as butter, Land o’ Lakes style. Checkpoints at various locations in San Jose, depending on the route you took it was around 20-25 miles. Afterparty was at the Lab. Again, I’m too tired to do much writing. So I’ll leave you with some pictures. Mark did a good job setting everything up, thanks to everyone else who participated and helped out.
I’ve had my fair share of flats while riding almost everyday over the past year. I usually throw on a new tube while I’m out on a ride, just because it can be hard to locate pinch or small hole on the fly. Which means that I had a gigantic pile of rubber sitting at home. It would be a waste to just throw them away, especially since most of them only had minor defects.
I had some free time yesterday, so I just sat down with a bowl of water and started patching up my tubes. Some people don’t trust using patched tubes for anything more than a temporary fix, but in my experience, they work just as well as a brand new one if sealed properly. I tried using the rubber cement patches, but I didn’t think the seal would hold for too long. So I went back to the quick and easy pre-glued patches, which I have never had a problem with.
The key to patching up a tire is keep the contact area clean and clear. I like using a Sharpie to mark the actual leak, so you don’t lose the spot. Using water I clean the surrounding area and then wipe it down. Make sure the tube is dry, because it is hard to rough up a wet surface. Sand the area once it’s dry and then apply the patch, and press hard. Be sure to check the tube for multiple leaks, your tube will be worthless if you only patch up on hole on a swiss cheesed tube.
Since tubes are about $4-$5 a pop, you can save quite a bit of money re-using the same tubes. Not only that, but you would be keeping them out of landfills as well. I also found some tubes that were unrepairable, so I’m thinking of ways to re-use or recycle those.
I’ve been taking advantage of the sunny but chilly weather, by riding and just plain enjoying life. A small group of us started Monday off by riding down to the Morgan Hill area, and then back up to this crazy mountain of a hill in East/South (?) San Jose? We just wanted to scout the location for the upcoming Tuesday night ride. Since it was Chinese Vietnamese New Year, we grabbed some food at Di-Lac. The place was jam packed full of da so coo Vtek gais, but the vegetarian food was good and cheap. Even Herb and Chris who I haven’t seen in a while made it out.
On Tuesday, Mark, Matt, Pavel and I did a rail n ride up to San Francisco. Pavel needed to grab some plants for his fresh water tank. He said his spot was in the cuts, and it literally was in a 6 foot wide alley. The rest of the time we spent doing a mini city loop ride, while stopping at various locales. We were all pretty effin tired by the end of the day, but there was still riding to be done. The group went up Yerba Buena, and then bombed the hill, I lazily went down the bottom half only haha. Mark’s brand new el cheapo tire that he put on that day was ripped to shreds.
Truly an inspiration. To think just fifty years ago that there were water fountains designated for certain races. Now we have a black president. WOW. Just wow.
Started the day off by riding out to Los Gatos, to pick up my cousins for the Warriors game since they had an extra ticket. Used my uncle’s car to carpool to the Oracle Arena. There must be something about 2009, because when we went to the game they actually won. When the cheerleaders come out on the floor though, everybody wins.
Can you believe that a couple of pizzas, nachos and a gatorade was $34?
Later in the evening Sarah and Pavel, being the gracious hosts that they are, held a little shindig at their pad. Rolled up to Pavel grilling up some dogs/burgers and veggies that were T-N-E-L-U-C-C-U-S. Reference to Cranium, which we later played. Everybody was eating and laughing, singing karaoke and playing board games.
Not all was fun and games though. During his state of drunken rage, Alex called me out to a race up and down Communication Hill. I was taken back, but I knew I was up for a challenge, because he had consistently been beating me up hills as of late. I accepted. The stakes:
If I win: 3 bike washes/tuneups from Alex.
If Alex wins: A roundtrip via Caltrain to San Francisco paid by me.
Tim came up with this awesome flyer.
Took the train up to the city for a nice little ride around town. Met up with everyone at Box Dog after some idiot directed me to the wrong shop. After riding around for a few miles we got some food, and posted right outside Hooter’s for a semi-decent view.
Heard a huge pshhhhhhhhhhhhh from Mark’s tire, so he had to change his tube with a short valve stem. Went into Gestalt for a hot second, only to end up buying our own drank at the local convenient store. Ended up chinchillin with a great view of the Golden Gate—-errr Bay Bridge. Sorry for the short and abrupt posts, been a long day.
Last night a few San Jose heads went up to San Francisco to do the city loop after dark. The pace was supposedly “chill,” well for the SFFixed.com folks anyway. The total ride was about 20 some odd miles. We covered the Embarcedero, Chrissy Fields, Legion of Honor, the Wiggle, and a few other areas. Someone said the headcount was about 35 riders.
Last night was a real wakeup call, because for a chill ride I couldn’t keep up for shishkabobs. I was winded just getting to the meeting point after taking the Wiggle. Psh. I also need a wide angle lens.
Alex, Bennett, Wilson and I hit up Bender’s afterward, before going to McGovern’s and calling it a night.
Sorry for not posting on a regular basis as of late, a lot has happened. For one thing I got laid. Off. Last week I just became a statistic, part of the 7.2% unemployment rate that has consumed America. So what’s a guy to do? Starting last Friday, which was my last day at work, I’ve been riding like crazy. Riding the hills, the city, the peninsula, south bay, etc.
I keep mentioning to people that it’s almost as if I’ve been given the gift of time. Time to relax, and think about what I really want to do. I’m fortunate to be fairly young, without any family or kids to provide for. I have enough saved up for a little while, thanks to my emergency fund. The lifestyle I have been leading has been quite frugal, so being without work for a short while will not really affect me all that much.
I’ll leave you with a few pictures from some of the rides I’ve done in the past few days.
Photo by Pavel
Photo by Pavel
I cut my little vacation to Southern California short to attend the Race for the New Year in Pleasanton. The race didn’t seem like it was planned all too well, but I figured the company was good so the race would be good.
Tim and Dennis figuring out where to go.
There had to be at least 15 San Jose riders who made it to the Tri-Valley, which accounted for at least a third of the racers. When we arrived, things didn’t seem too legit, as none of the checkpoint doos contacted the organizer. The race commenced anyway, and about half way through most of us pulled out since there were no checkpoint guys. A few of the guys did finish, and Bennett ended up taking home the grand prize of $60.
I thought JP found the checkpoint guy; but no he just needed to relieve himself behind a tree.
Some girl in a nice little SUV shouted out Mark’s name, so we backtracked and flagged her gas guzzler down.
Luckily Ben lived in the area, so we rode over to his pad, where he graciously threw an impromptu BBQ. BTW, I’m sitting in my jammies as I write this.
Alright, I’ve been a little behind in updating with the upcoming holidays and all, so here is something that went down last Saturday.
Completed Winter Wipeout Manifest
The folks up in Stockton put on the Winter Wipeout Alleycat, which had seven checkpoints at Starbucks shops all over town. It was nice to see the boys from San Jose take home a good amount of prizes, in both the race and tricks competition.
I think we had more than a few riders finish in the top ten. Except for me, I came in 42nd place, which is funny considering there were only 30 racers. Whatever. I still got a prize!
I know I used the term ubiquitous in the last post, but Starbucks is ubiquitous. The entire race was based on the different Starbucks locations around Stockton. Shoot, I mean it’s like they completely saturated the coffee market everywhere. It was really funny/ironic, because I just happened to be reading a book about Starbucks, How Starbucks Saved My Life. I didn’t think too highly of Starbucks as a company before reading the author’s (Michael Gates Gill) memoir. After reading the book, it changed my view of da Starbuk doo; I don’t think of them as the Walmart of coffee shops anymore. It was actually quite the contrary. They treat their Partners well, by providing health insurance, education reimbursement, relocation assistance, etc.
Last Friday Mojo’s in San Francisco hosted a Goldsprints event to showcase the new electronic/computer gadgetry, and I must say it was pretty awesome. It was my first attempt at doing Goldsprints, and I was so incredibly slow that they officially changed the name of the event to Bronzedawdle.
Tim was able to break the sound barrier, with a time of 18.71.
Wilson learned the hard way, and found out that Red Stripe does not have electrolytes. He left a lovely acidic parting gift on the curbside.
The new Goldsprints design looked pretty cool, as it visually showed the frontrunner of each race in realtime, and had a bunch of different stats that would have made the CNN ticker jealous.
On my way home from work I ran into Richard Masoner, who is somewhat of a flickr and bike community celebrity. He asked if he could take a picture of my mini spoke card collection, and we spoke for a quick minute. Apparently his commute is 90 minutes each way, from Scotts Valley to Menlo Park and back!
-Photo taken by Richard Masoner
The City of San Jose was sponsoring a free light and helmet giveaway at the MLK Library, so I raced down there to try and snag one. I came a little too late, they had already run out of lights, but the scene was still crazy.
People snagging lights and helmets in front of the library
Luckily my buddy Raf was able to nab one, so he gave me his old light which is exactly the same, only with a North Face sticker so it “knows.” The headlight is worth $20! I owe you a drank doo. Unluckily for me, my battery died and I couldn’t take any more pictures for the rest of the evening.
The City of San Jose was giving away free Cateye lights!
After a quick ride and a couple of grub sessions, a few of us decided to hit up Sabor, for a “doos night out” (no aero). Best decision ever. Felipe was there, so he snapped a nice lil photo for us.
The craziest doos West of North Vietnam
I had the pleasure of watching these gents take on the whole damn scene! They were handling every female in the club, on the wall, floor, ottomans shooooot. Ahhh, Tuesday nights.
Started the day off with a Ride-n-Rail up to the city (read: took bikes on caltrain and traveled to San Francisco), did a loop short loop around the Embarcadero, and got attacked by a huge mechanical spider.
Wat da suc doo?!??
It was an absolute gorgeous day in San Francisco, and all I had was my stupid point and shoot camera again.
Worked up an appetite by then, so we headed over to….the Oldest Slot Machine Video Games Manual Hand Crank Devices Museum.
By then I was seriously hungry, but we couldn’t eat just yet. We came across the biggest gathering of Santas south of the north pole, and got a good view of Santa from behind.
After that we finally were able to grab some food, where Bennett hooked it up by way of his broken Cantonese. Can I get a shieng sha jee jee?
where you want to eat doo?
The holiday season isn’t truly complete without some lame lame lame sweaters and White Elephant!
I'm Jared, and i hook it up ariiiiight??!?
Hey you slap da jack doo!
By the end of the night, the true manifestation of my idiocracy had been fully revealed to all. Bravo peoples, bravo.
I seriously look like an idiot 100% of the time; except right here.
Last night the group headed out to Fowler Park in East San Jose. It was actually my first time on this route, and I was pleasantly surprised by the nice neighborhoods and views on the east side. The total ride was approximately 18 miles give or take. It really sucks because all I had was my point & shoot, so the pictures didn’t come out too nice.
View of San Jose from Fowler Park
Taking a quick breather atop Fowler Park
The weather was seriously cold, and to add to that I blew yet another TWO tubes going over a fatty pothole.
Spiro invited us to go to Sabor, and then decided not to show up for his own birthday. Haha. He missed out because the whole team was working it all night long.
Tina was able to find herself a man, err World War I survivor. Good for her!
I would post the next picture in the series, but I’ll try to keep this blog safe for work.
Also had a board meeting tonight for Works, and apparently there is a chance that the gallery could move to….my building! The owner of my building, has two closed shops underneath my apartment. One is an art gallery, and the other is a wine type boutique. Neither have been open for years now. I think it would be a great opportunity for Works, and also it could help out with filling the huge void in my building. And best of all, it would be right underneath me!
The empty gallery as it currently sits....except with more junk now
It’s been a while since I upgraded any parts on my bike, which is my main source of transportation during the work week.
So I ran into a couple of guys on the street while I was riding, and they happened to be selling a wheel. Nothing fancy, just a machined Velocity Deep V laced to a Surly hub. Definitely better than what I was rolling on.
I was able to get the entire wheel for $60, which should make my commute just a little better. Make friends, and make a deal.
Wet season is upon us, but for some reason there hasn’t been much rain in California. Chances are when it does start to rain, I won’t be able to do much riding outside.
That’s where the trainers and rollers come into play. I’ve mostly been looking at rollers, since they seem to offer more benefits than trainers. They also look a lot more minimalistic, since they are low and flat.
