Wheel and Come Again - Apr Dubstep mix

So I thought I would share all the mixes I have made for myself this year.

Wheel and Come Again is the first dubstep mix I recorded so it might not be the best but it has some amazing tunes on it as you will see from the tracklist.

Again it is currently encoded as VBR until I find a better hosting location and of course feel free to send to friends or embed a link anywhere that won't get me sued.

Tracklist:

1. Unkown - White label - ASBO
2. Distance - Battle Sequence - Chestplate
3. Fracture - The Phone Call - Compound One
4. N-Type - Way of the Dub (Caspa RMX) - Dub Police
5. Caspa - Louder - Pitch Black
6. Benga - Out of Phaze - Tempa
7. Silkie - Cyber dub - Disfigured Dubs
8. Movado - Gangster 4 Life (Coki Rmx) - White
9. Benga & Coki - Night - Tempa
10. Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This (Plastician & Skream RMX) - Southern Fried
11. SPMC - Trust Nobody - Tempa
12. Dubwoofa - Devoliz - Dub Police
13. Mala - Lean Forward - DMZ
14. Skream - Sublemonal - Soul Jazz
15. Quest - Deep Inside - Deep Medi Musik

Bass Transmitter - Nov Dubstep Mix

Just completed a new dubstep mix at the end of November entitled Bass Transmitter.

The tracklist is a little heavy on Tempa records, but they seem to have waited until the end of the year to release all the dubs they've been sitting on since last fall.

The file is currently encoded as a high quality VBR, so the sound quality kills a little of the bass weight, but I am looking for a free hosting service that I can post 320 kbps files to.  Feel free to pass along to friends or embed a link in your blogs or whatever.

Set list is as follows:

1. Shut Up and Dance - Epileptic (Martyn's No Strobe Mix) - SUAD
2. Silkie & Harry Craze - French Knickers - Break the Habit
3. Skream & D1 - Hitch - Tempa
4. Pangaea - Router - Hessle Audio
5. Ramadanman - Bidding War - Tempa
6. Breakage - Untitled - White
7. Headhunter - Royal Flush - Tempa
8. Quest - Eden - Deep Medi Musik
9. Headhunter - Prototypes - Tempa
10. Seven - Sirens - Tempa
11. Skream - Simple City - Tempa
12. Luke Envoy - M.U.G.E.N. - Wonderland
13. DZ - Old Timers - Black Acre
14. Silkie - Skys the Limit - Deep Medi Musik
15. Pacheko - Bi-Polar Bear (Starkey RMX) - Lo Dubs
16. Gemmy - Bass Transmitter - Punch Drunk
17. Sukh Knight - Shooting Stars - True Tiger
18. Joker & Rustie - Play Doe - Kapsize

2008 Top Ten

It is that time of year when fellow musicheads begin to look back at the year in music. 2008 has been a mixed year for me. on the one hand, I have been really into dubstep and buying lots of 12"s, but on the other hand, there has been a huge number of disapointing albums released by bands I really like this year. The shear number of less than stellar albums made this a little more difficult than in years gone by but in the end this is what I came up with.

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War); Best album of the year-period. now where is that part 2?
Cat Power - Jukebox; a lot of people don't seem to like this album but I think her arrangements of the covers performed within are incredible. add a couple of stellar new songs and you have a great album all around
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold; what can you say about Atmosphere? Every album rocks and every album is better than the last. I have no idea how they do it.
Menahan Street Band - "Make the Road by Walking"; members of the Dap-Kings, Budos Band, and Antibalas. They also cover "Going the Distance" from Rocky. How coudl you possibly go wrong here? Simple you can't, awesome album that I will be listening to for many years to come.
Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City; yes the Dan Wilson production makes it a sound like a Dan Wilson album, but the songs!!! great storytelling inside great songwriting point to a great future.
Nick Cave - Dig! Lazarus! Dig! ; I've never really been into Nick Cave before, but I am sensing that I may have to start investing in his back catalog after this album.
Nomo - Ghost Rock; Discovered this album late in the game via The Current and I don't really know anything about them. One of my new year's resolutions however is to learn more because this is an awesome update of afro-beat to dance around the house to.
Various Production - Versus; of collection of remixes they have done of others and that others have done of their tracks showcases the wide variety that comes out of this incredible production group. add to this the various new songs that have come out online and on vinyl and it has been a productive and strong year yet again.
The Heavy - Great Vengeance and Furious Fire; part lo-fi indie and part Curtis Mayfield and all awesome. This has been in regular rotation on my iPod since I bought the album.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes; I didn't want to succumb to the hype machine but this album really is good.

paying to watch commercials or the 2008 BTAAs

Went to the 2008 British Television Advertising Awards Friday night at the Walker.

As usual they were entertaining. Lots of laughs and many of the PSAs were just devastating and powerful.


It is interesting to me to watch these ads with slightly more critical eye than I have in the past due to being immersed in school work. I feel like I experience them in an entirely different way.

Since we were there the first night we were treated to an introduction by Peter Biggs and he talked about changing media and how we are now getting our content in so many ways that weren't available just a few years ago--cell phones, online, video billboards etc. With this in mind, they have started to include ads that are not specifically television ads which included online ads of course but also an intriguing ad campaign from digital billboards as well.

I did think it would be fun to share what I thought were the best and the worst of the BTAA winners and so without further ado I present my top five favorite ads. I chose these because I think they are creative as well as communicating a strong message about the brand:

Glennfiddich "Every Year Counts"



Florence & Fred for Tesco "Revenge"



VW Genuine Spare Parts "Cuckoo"



Volkswagen Golf "Night Drive"



Big Yellow Storage "Tide"




Now on to those ads that didn't do it in my opinion. Most of these are visually/creatively stunning but the message and brand seems to be an after thought:

Audi A5 "Lines"



VW Golf "The Great Pretender"



Heineken "Jamaica"



Sony Walkman "Music Pieces"



Skoda Fabia "Cake"



And finally I know most of you might not agree with me, but this year's winning advert, while I enjoy it immensely, doesn't have any connection to the brand at all. I dare anyone to make a connection. IMHO this was only made to go viral, but how many people remember what this is advertising?

Cadbury Dairy Milk "Gorilla"

post-election art

I've been thinking about this since art attack the other weekend, but now that Obama has been elected what does that mean for the art world?

Thre has really been a massive amount of art created in response to the Bush administration's policies-whether in direct response or responding to the overall anxiety that is/has been in the air. in addition, an large number of artists have either come of age in this time or honed their craft during this period.

So for those who fit into this category, what next?

Obviously we have the economy that could usurp the pull of the Bush administration on the artistic community, but it has to give one pause to wonder what the change in administration means to the overall art community.

thoughts for a post campaign world

So I wrote this Monday and have been too lazy to post it. I haven't re-read it or edited it or it would never get posted so here is my take on fixing our political system warts and all.

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Since it has been impossible to escape, I have been thinking a lot about elections lately. There are so many things that piss me off about our elections that I have been brainstorming ways to make it better. So here are my thoughts broken into 2 parts—voting and campaigns—on how we should change this massive pain in the ass that happens every 4 years with a minor pain in the ass in the middle (BTW if you don’t agree, let’s see if you have any better ideas).

Voting:

1. Federal election laws not state election laws!!! I think that congress should set standards that every state needs to follow. Everything from registration rules, poll times, number of precincts, and type of ballot (whether paper or electronic) should be the same everywhere. Now I think there could be room for states to tweak things (if the polls should be open from 7am-8pm and your state wants to be open longer then you go for it), but a minimum needs to be set.
2. If you have a state issued ID card or Driver’s license then you should be registered to vote in your state (and not to be all big brother but really everyone should have an official ID). This kind of feeds into the first one but it is important enough to be called out in my opinion. This would make it that much easier for everyone to vote and to help to eliminate the need for voter registration drives (and voter registration fraud—note not actual voter fraud).
3. Change Election Day to a Monday and make it a national holiday so no one has to work.

Campaigns:

1. Debates – Having 3-4 debates that try to cram in as many topics as possible in such a limited time or having some bogus town hall format where “undecided” voters get to ask lame questions was proven once again to be almost completely worthless. How about we have a series of moderated debates (maybe 5-6) that are each on one specific topic (economy, health care, foreign policy, etc). This would allow the candidates to go into greater detail and hopefully make the campaign more about issues than personality.
2. Show us the goods – instead of these sorts of vague policy positions, I think the candidates should have to draft their top legislative priorities (5, 10, or maybe to match the debate topics) and actually draft the legislation they would submit to congress upon getting elected. Of course this doesn’t mean congress would pass the bills but at least we can truly evaluate their positions and priorities.
3. Campaign Spending – some people are concerned with just how much Obama raised this year, and if you aren’t you should be (imagine a candidate you hate with that much of a monetary advantage). I think candidates should be forced to use public financing. This will limit the amount spent and maybe make it a little fairer. And no, I haven’t figured out how to handle the primary season but one option could be:
4. Hold the conventions earlier. Then if one party picks a nominee first there will be less time that they could use money raised during primary season to attack the other party’s potential nominees
5. Infomercials for all – as another part of limiting money spent on campaigns, I think all major party candidates should get a half hour infomercial with the party in power getting to go last (kind of like making them the home team). Also give them an equal amount of time for commercials and such, but they can decide when they want to place them to best reach their core demographics. I mean the FCC should be able to make this an issue of “the public good” and force the broadcast stations to do this.
6. Fix the primary/caucus season mayhem – I really believe that 2 states that don’t reflect the demographic make up of the country shouldn’t have so much sat in our political process. Why not have the parties separately or together have some sort of drawing for the order. You can decide how many states get to have a primary each week starting in Jan and then randomly draw names for the order each election. This allows for any state to potentially have a major say in who the nominees and ultimately the president might be.

That’s all I have right now but I’m sure I could come up with a million more. And no I’m not sure how to scale this to local races or how to limit outside groups having their say but you have to start somewhere right?

And yes I know some people will say this infringes free political speech and to that I say bullshit. No one is limiting WHAT you can say just how much money you have to say it.

What you have a better idea? Then let’s here it!

I'll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today

I have a major exam to study for in Spanish and a big project to finish up for Wednesday in my info studies class, so what am I doing?

writing in the blog I haven't touched for a month.

Typical.

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we've been getting the NY Times Sunday edition for a few weeks now and I came across an interesting article as I was finishing my coffee today (there is absolutely no way to finish reading it on a Sunday-or even make a dent in it in my case).

It was about a new challenge to gay marriage. people were arguing that since gay couples can't procreate they shouldn't be able to marry. The main couple they interviewed tried to say this had absolutely nothing to do with religion, but the funny thing was they were an infertile couple.

so my question for them is, should you have to be able to prove fertility to be able to get married then? because there is no difference in their inability to conceive and a gay couple's inability to conceive.

GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!

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The wife bought the new oasis album this weekend.

I have decided there are 2 requirements for every Oasis album.

1. there must be at minimum one line that directly references a Beatles song or lyric

2. there must be at least one song that is a direct rip-off of a Beatles song.

that is my review. 2/5

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In biking news, I hit my season mileage goal this weekend with an awesome ride along the river road. leaves were at peak and the temps were great.

too bad I dressed for slightly cooler temps and was roasting by the end.

Season total - 1504

wondering if I can get another couple hundred miles in before the weather kicks me off the streets.

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In other biking news, shouts to Phillipe Gilbert for winning Paris-Tours this weekend and schooling the sprinters who thought they were going to get their chance.

One last big road race this weekend and then I will have to focus on Cyclocross to get my fix.

the end is nigh

at least the end of my lazy summer.

one class that had little to no homework followed by 3 weeks of chill time and now it's time to go back to the real world.

start my new schedule at work and my new semester at school this week.

Liane and I did get out of town this weekend though for a trip up to the cabin in Ely for possibly the last time (at least until we help her parents move out). kind of sad but it is a little far for them to keep driving not to mention the layout of the lot is getting to be a bit much as well.

I was able to get a little mtn biking in up there and riding on dirt roads is a surefire way to get your throat all scratchy.

If I had another month of vacation I could definitely hit my season goal but it looks like I will need to count on the weather staying relatively nice into the end of October at least (I'm planning on riding until Thanksgiving but we will see how that goes)

Month Total - 300
Season total - 1200
miles to goal - 300

living the glamorous life

since I joined twitter, I find myself posting here less and less.

i suppose it could be a combination of the easy add nature of twitter, combined the the perceived effort to actually type something up.


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the big in-law family reunion was this past weekend so I got to spend some quality time in des moines.

we went to the IA state fair on sat and it was interesting to see the differences from the MN fair.

it definitely seemed like there was still more of a connection still to rural life than MN. we checked out the animal barns and got to see part of a sheep shearing competition. also checked out 4-H and the agriculture building which not only had all the winning veggies on display, but the infamous life-size butter cow as well.

one other notable difference was in the food selection. I did not see one cheese curd or mini-donut booth the whole time I was there. lots of pork chop on a stick however, and if you go I recommend the IA pork growers assoc. booth--YUMMY!!

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I picked up a couple of CDs before we left that I was completely unable to listen to even though I had them uploaded on my ipod (that is a different story though)

2 weeks ago I picked up the new Hold Steady and the Fleet Foxes

a lot of people seem to be thinking this is the hold steady's chance to make it to the big time but I am not so enchanted with this album. definitely not up to their last one and probably nothing will ever touch seperation sunday. I get the feeling it must be more palatable to non-hold steady people since those critics are the ones crowing about it.

Fleet Foxes is not up to all the hype but it is a very good album. you've no doubt heard the CSNY and 60's referencines so I won't repeat them here but it is a solid debut and I look forward to more music from them in the future.


right before the trip I grabbed the new various and a couple of used CDs: Bowie-alladin sane and PJ Harvey-Is this desire?

The new various is a collection of their remixes (including one of the sugababes) and others remixes of their work. given some of their more experimental reinterpretations via white label 12"s I was expecting a little more. I also felt a little let down by the remixes of their own work. the one "new" track limbs showcases their strength and I am still looking forward to the new album hopefully soon.

as for the bowie and pj harvey, they are both classic albums that you should have if you don't, so don't even think twice.

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since I've missed a couple weeks again here is a quick catch up on the biking (2/3 of the way to my goal)

w/e 8/3 - 91
w/e 8/10 - 52
season total - 1043
miles to goal - 457

Wasting my time

Hey, I got a great idea.

When you provide me content for a group blog you are contributing to, don't send me the same exact post you put out on your personal blog the same exact day.

I spent the better part of an hour finessing a really rough piece only to find it already posted for the world to see.

thanks. appreciate you.

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apparently I am very mechanically uninclined, because last sunday Liane got a flat on her fixie and I thought I had patched it-problem solved.

fast forward to Friday night and her tire seemed a little low, but I just pumped it up and off we were to run some errands and grab some coffee.

2 miles in tire is flat-again. Apparently the glueless patch didn't stick completely down and was bubbled up from the air, so I ripped it off and tried another one which proceeded to do the same thing and we had to rack the bikes on the bus to get home.

awesome.

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haven't posted any biking info for 2 weeks so here's a quick recap

w/e 7/20 84 miles
last week 111 miles (first 100+ week this year and I can feel it)

total miles - 900
miles to goal - 600

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in other biking news, I was glad to see Sastre beat Evans in the TdF. It definitely showcased how much of a team sport cycling is.

interestingly for all those haters that were mad at the ASO, what do you have to say about Gusev getting sacked?

imagine if the ASO had relented and allowed Astana in, only to have that happen? they probably would have had the whole team kicked out and banned for life.

been a long lonely time

so apparently business students need to be told that creativity is important in developing new products/services in businesses.

My professor emphasized this for about 15 minutes of a little over an hour lecture. I kind of thought this would b self-explanatory but might be explained by his other comments on creativity.

He told the class that creative people don't always fit into company culture and may for example say things that are inappropriate in business settings or may dress differently. This is ok because they are creative.

This is why I am not getting a degree through the business school.

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haven't checked in with riding mileage for a couple weeks, but I have been too busy to get much riding in. If I was commuting so much it would be fairly pathetic actually (the wind last weekend didn't help much either).

I am almost halfway to my goal for the year however, so that's not too shabby.

W/E 7/6 - 51
W/E 7/13 - 57
Season to Date - 706
Miles to Goal - 794

stimulating the economy - june edition

I went music shopping at the fetus this weekend and picked up a couple of new CDs and one old one.

First up is The Alchemist Manifesto by Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada. For those that don't know this is an offshoot of Antibalas co-directed by Adrian Quesada from Grupo Fantasma. I didn't notice until I got the record home that it was released on ESL, but despite that I was expecting more of a mix between the latin sounds of Grupo Fantasma and the afrobeat sounds of Antibalas or a kind of Harlem River Drive feel. That is not what you get from this album. For anyone familiar with the ESL sound you will not be surprised or disappointed. Loungish, latin-influenced mellow grooves that are perfect for summer and will probably be added to soundtrack of coffee shops and wine bars all over.

Next up is the Nigeria 70 Lagos Jump comp. Where the first Nigeria 70 comp focused almost exclusively on Afrobeat and Afro-Funk, this new comp includes more Highlife in the mix making it more of a kindred spirit to the Lagos Chop Up comp on Honest Jon's. I am a big fan of all the sounds represented on this comp and from this era in general, but I am not knowledgeable enough to give much more info that could be easily found with a simple web search. Suffice to say that if you enjoy Afrobeat and Highlife from the 70s you both know what you are getting with this collection and you know you need it. Awesome summer sounds.

The in my triumvirate of CD purchases is Hootenanny by the Replacements. Since all their Twin Tone records have been re-released I found my self a used copy of the remaster from just a few years ago. I will be honest that it is not my favorite Replacements album (that is a tie between Let It be and Pleased to Meet Me) but how can you go wrong with any album that includes Color Me Impressed and Within Your Reach?

last week on the bike

Given a week of actual good weather I was able to hit the roads either commuting or on the road bike everyday but Thu (and that was by choice), so it all added up to my biggest week yet this year.

I'm a third of the way to my season goal and am over 200 miles for the month with a week still to go.

week total - 83
season to date - 521
miles to goal - 979

Busted en route to work

I decided to try out a new route to work that didn’t have me dodging the traffic on Central during morning rush hour. It was pretty slick not faster but not slower either.

The only slowdown was crossing a stoplight when crossing University. I stopped and waited for the traffic to clear which took a couple minutes and then…..nothing. There were 2 cars on the other side of the light but despite the serious lack of traffic the light was not changing. It must have been timed for a busier rush hour than today, so I gave up and went through the intersection.

That is when I was busted. The passenger in the first waiting car yelled out at me about going through the red light.

I have to say my first reaction was anger – “I hope you never speed, roll through stop signs, or turn right at a no turn on red”

I quickly felt embarrassed though because I was in the wrong and despite the fact that no one was cut off or slowed down or anything, this person now had an additional reason to get angry about bikes on the road.

Just plain stupid.

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Much later I got to thinking about being yelled at.

Why is it that it is “acceptable” to yell at bikers from your car? Would these same people honk their horns if they saw someone breaking some law in their cars (except driving the wrong way on a one way)?

I kind of doubt it, so is it some sort power trip that the cars bring out or is it something else?

back to reality

living in a world where the twin cities is filled with top level racers had to end some time and Sunday was it (heck the nature valley team had their travel bike boxes out 15 min after the race).

I did get to ride in the women's peloton in Mankato in comm 2 w/ Jenn x. That was pretty wicked and her incites and understanding of the peloton was incredible. It was also fun to see her turn on the announcer voice for her phone ins.

Sunday, Liane and I helped out in the morning at Stillwater and then watched the last half of the women's race and the men's race from chilkoot hill. I picked the other side of the hill from last year and definitely did not get as good of pictures so I now know the best place to stand next year.

I will be uploading pics and vids as I get time and may link to them here.
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After the race Liane and I ran errands (groceries and free mulch) before biking over to Chipotle for a free burrito.

and speaking of biking, I actually got more miles in than anticipated despite not being able to ride to St. Paul on Wed and being to lazy to ride there to the TT on Fri.

If I have any hope of making my goal, I better get a move on though.

weekly miles - 33
season total - 439
miles to goal - 1061

Another Fine Mess

The NVGP seems to have more than it's share of bad weather.

last year was close to perfect, but 2 years ago in Minneapolis manhole covers were being blown out by the water pressure from the storm.

Last night was a return to awful weather as the rodes dried out from the day's thunderstorms just in time to get soaked by the night's thunderstorms. Luckily we had just finished getting the expo tents up so I had some shelter from the rain, but it was just windy enough to get me wet and chilled before I coudl go get the raincoat from the car.

After holding the women's race to try and let a storm cell pass they ended up doing call ups just as the skies opened. I was stuck under the farmer's market which ended up being the best place to watch the race as turn three caused carnage all night long, not just crashes but gaps being created by riders unwilling to take too many chances. In the end Kristin Armstrong was incredible lapping practically everyone and 2/3 of the filed getting pulled. it was all for naught though because despite having a podium presentation the officials neutralized the race overnight.

The men's race was even more of a cluster if that's possible. Once again things got strung out from the get go, but there was some wicked racing with O'Bee/Olson off the front and Kelly Benefits organizing the chase while Rory sat on their wheel. I figure that Health Net pretty much had the stage win in the bag when a moto crashed on the course and in the confusion they neutralized the race at the start/finish and it was all brought back together. There were a few choice words said by the riders who had been in the lead as they worked their way back up to the front but by then the officials gave the peloton the choice and the vote was overwhelmingly not to race.

There's definitely some upset riders if you search the WWW.

Hopefully today goes a little better

cycling yin and yang

apparently there is just as much need in cycling to balance itself out as there sometimes seems there is in the rest of the world.


This weekend at the Fixed Gear Classic at the velodrome, despite competing hard all weekend, crashing good on Sunday, and still coming in second in the overall, Cari Higgins from team America's Dairyland was just an awesome ambassador for the sport.

She came out with free goodies from a sponsor and instead of just putting in the time to hand it out she actually sat and talked to spectators, especially those with smaller children. That coupled with her performance has definitely made a fan out of me.


on the other hand we have the news today that Tom Boonen failed an out of competition drug test, testing positive for Cocaine. This just a couple weeks after getting pulled over while speeding and under the influence of alcohol.

Has his success and stardom gone to his head? what will this mean to a sport that is desperate to fix its image?

unfortunately balance

the human sloth

at least that is how I am feeling right now.

barely any miles for the week and I feel completely drained.

Of course some of that has to do with being out at the velodrome this weekend for the Fixed Gear Classic and baking in the sun today, but still I feel kind of lazy.

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finally got liane's bike into the shop and one on one was fast as lightning getting it ready to go. now she has a sweet single speed (nicer than mine) so that we can cruise around town together.

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busy, busy week coming too with the Nature Valley Grand Prix. I don't know if I will even be able to touch a bike let alone see my wife. Yikes.

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I got so few mile that I'm not even goign to list them this week (and probably not next week either)

end of something special

Just finished watching the last 2 episodes of Six Feet Under last night and I am still drained and in awe today.

Not having cable I never saw this show when it was on tv but I borrowed the complete box set from my cousin around Christmas. I finally got around to starting to watch it sometime in February and was hooked immediately.

There is something in the relationships and actions of all the main characters that seem more real than any other show I've ever watched. Not only does the show force you to look at how we as a culture deal with grief but it also puts our relationships under a microscope. As over the top as it might have gotten at points, it is hard to argue that you couldn't see a bit of yourself in any of the actions the main characters.

It's kind of sad but I do kind of feel a hole now that I am done with this series never to meet these characters again.

another time around the sun

another birthday has come and gone...

...everyone asks if I feel older but I don't feel any different than yesterday or last week or a couple months ago. It not that I am all about the "age isn't a number but how you feel" kind of thing.

To me age is something that creeps up on you until one day there it is looking back at you in the mirror or telling you it's a better idea to stay home and watch a movie on Friday night.

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Liane gave me a flip video ultra for my birthday and the weekend was filled with lots of good food. We went to Cafe Twenty-Eight with my mom on Friday and Liane & I went to Masa on Saturday.

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I got a couple of decent rides in this past week en route to my second best week of riding. If I didn't have the NVGP coming up which is going to eat into my riding time next week, I think I might make up the mileage I'm down from the bad weather this spring.

Weekly Total - 68
Season Total - 388
Miles to Goal - 1112

you can't win if you don't try

WOW! What an amazing stage at the Giro today.

There is a reason that Phillipe Gilbert has become perhaps my favorite pro cyclist in the peloton today. He isn't afraid to attack. Success or failure, he gives it his all every race. To an extent Boonen is similar because he isn't afraid to attack even if he is much more conservative in his riding (or maybe he is kept on a leash).

What does that have to do with the Giro?

Today the Killer showed that he's a hardman who isn't afraid to go all in (kind of like Jens yesterday).

From the attack on the descent from the first climb of the day, Salvodelli buried himself until Diluca took over and put the hammer down and gained even more time eventually coming in second.

It was interesting that Contador seemed to not know what to do and eventaully the team car came up alongside of him and like 30 seconds later he attacks, but kind of half-heartedly and all major challengers came right with him.

Ricco definitely shoudl have been in pink for his attack with a few KM to go, but for some reason Sella decided to drag the lifeguard" up the climb just barely keeping him in the lead. Maybe he is blown. I guess we will see tomorrow, but it looked like he needed to follow someone's wheel and didn't realize when he needed to go on the attack.

I think ultimately that has always been my problem with USPS/Disco/Astana. they seem too tightly choreographed and the riders don't seems to have much freedom. I guess I like a little more passion and drama in my sport rather than cold and calculating.

I am guessing they are hoping to stay close to the lead if not in the lead tomorrow and figure that Contador will pick up time again on all his main rivals in the final TT. I really hope not though, becasue I honestly don't think the lifeguard deserves the win.

chillin' and grillin'

planned a little birthday/holiday bbg at our place Sun in honor of stewtron's recent and my upcoming birth celebration. For a bit I thought we were all going to have to hide in our basement, but aside from a 5 minute little shower we had pretty good weather.

Follow-up up our food fest by going to the NE bulldog and everyone else ordered more food!! We finally were able to grab the shuffleboard table (the first time in about 8 visits) and after 3/4 of 1 game had some pricks on our jocks trying to get in on the action (keep in mind I have seen guys run the table for hours before). Dudes need to chill out. I decided I didn't need to be stressed out at my party so I bailed at 11.

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The new Bike fest website is finally live

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thought I would get out on the bike Saturday but too many errands and prep for the party but I did get out with Liane for a short easy ride Sunday morning.

kind of though that with the lack of school I might get out a little more as well but only found the time on Tuesday. guess we'll see what happens this week.

Weekly Total - 23
Season Total - 344
Miles to Goal - 1179

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side note: I got my first pair of bib shorts as an early b-day present and took them out for a spin today and was completely sold on the awesomeness compared to regular shorts. The ones I got were on the low-middle end and the chamois is super comfortable and the construction seems solid. The only issue that I've seen is that the leg grippers are so strong they kind of pull on leg hair if you try and adjust them like I did before the ride (I just don't think I can do the leg shaving thing)

killer climbs and amazing riders

after the last couple of Giro stages, I have to say that Emanuele Sella might be my new hero. I mean he has ridden these last two mountain stages like they were nothing en route to take 2 stages and solidify his hold on the green mountains jersey. I only wish Soler hadn't been injured as I would have liked to see the 2 of them duke it out.

Ricco for all his smack talk was pretty awesome in today's stage as well, putting in dig after dig on the final climb to dislodge all his major rivals. They might have been able to claw their way almost back all the way back to him, but he definitely put them on notice. It's too bad he is such a poor TT rider or he might have a chance to take the maglia rosa.

Diluca who hasn't looked strong enough to defend his title did look strong right at the end today. I love that he will look like he is just about to crack and then right at the end/steepest parts of the climbs he just has another gear and takes off.

Looks like Astana will be defending the maglia rosa for Contador and with his newfound TT abilities, I really don't see any way for him to lose unless it is in the over the Gavia next saturday. Having that monster climb right at the end of the Giro is just plain mean.

the race of truth (sort of)

the last few riders are still out on the course, but the TT in the Giro is having the expected affect on the GC with all the usual suspects in the top ten so far (including surprisingly Simoni).

Now I am not an Astana fan, but I have kind of been cheering for Kloden because I think he is a great rider who has always been stuck playing spock or bones to someone else's capt kirk. Given this I was pretty psyched that kloden came in with a huge time to take 2nd with only a dozen riders left on the course so it seemed like team leadership would fall to him for the rest of the Giro (especially since Contador had a broken elbow or whatever).

here is where the drama queen BS comes in though. Contador, whose injury is supposedly right where he needed to rest his elbow for his aero position, comes in faster than Kloden. Why do I get the feeling that all this wringing of hands over his "injury" is similar to someone taking a dive in football soccer to force a red/yellow card.

As Ricco noted, for someone who had such a bad toothache they needed surgery and then took some time off the bike until the last minute call up to the show, Contador certainly seems to be pretty strong so far.

art. yard work. Rascal. NVGP

another year, another Art-A-Whirl over.

Actually made it out a little bit this year......ok so just in the Northrop King where Liane's studio is but at least I made it out this year.

Crowds seemed ok. Fairly busy Friday and a little slow sat but busy by the end. Liane sold a couple paintings so not bad for her.

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I thought that with the good weather finally that I would be out riding a ton but yardwork got in the way instead (and the wind on Sunday morning). I love having a house but taking care of the garden and the yard can definitely take the wind out of your sails some days.

In the end it was probably good that I didn't get a chance to ride Saturday, since I rode so much during the week to school and work. Sunday was windy when I went out but I think I was just worn out because I haven't ridden that many days in a week since last Aug/sept time frame.

Hopefully the weather stays nice so I can make up for some of the riding that I missed in mar/apr as well as some of the riding I am sure to miss in June due to the NVGP.

Weekly Total - 74
Season Total - 268
Miles to Goal - 1232

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speaking of the commuting I did last week......after aaw Fri, I went to the Triple Rock to see Dizzee Rascal and EL-P.

got there in time to see Busdriver, who I was excited, to see but he just wasn't my thing.

Rascal on the other hand was an awesome show. I couldn't believe how many people knew all his stuff and he worked the crowd really well. I missed him the first time he came to MPLS with the Streets, so I am really glad I didn't miss him again.

Unfortunately I was to tired stay for more than the first 4 songs from El-P but what I caught was pretty wicked.

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speaking of the NVGP, it is getting closer and the work for it is picking up.

I spent my free time over the weekend getting content uploaded to the new website which will hopefully launch this week.

my other task is helping to manage the TRIA Your Cycling blog so I am trying to wrap my head around all that is needed for that today.

as for race day(s), if all works out, then I will hopefully be giving live updates via twitter or through the blogs. will depend on access to wi-fi and probably more work than I think it will be (which is a lot) but it should be pretty wicked if all goes well.

the killer shows a little fire

yesterday's stage of the Giro was interesting.

DiLuca put in a massive attack but Ricco (and Contador) was able to follow with little problem. I wonder if it might be too early in such a tough tour to be going on the attack?

Some seem to think that Contador couldn't keep up at the end but I think he realized there will be plenty of places to grab 5-10 seconds on his rivals. interestingly Ricco had some comments on people who said they hadn't been training and yet were able to respond to such an early attack.

I did like the Saunier Duval technique of sending Piepoli up the road to be there when Ricco went. Very Smooth.

also you have got to love DiLuca's game face.

He always looks like he is about to crack or is really struggling and then he just kicks it up a notch like he did at the finish yesterday.

The next few days don't look like they will shake up anything but the points competition so Wednesday's stage seems to be the next one with some potential to shake things out a little more.

A little bit of this...a little bit of that

Heard a rumor today that I hope is wrong. Word is Twin Six may not continue producing jerseys as the t-shirt market is more lucrative. It doesn’t make sense to me as their jerseys have gotten props all over the joint, so hopefully my source is mistaken.

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World Cycling is having their annual(?) Warehouse sale this weekend.

I went to check it out yesterday and walked away much poorer. Got an ’07 FdJ jersey (dorky to wear a team jersey? Maybe, but at least I didn’t buy the matching bibs), a Selle San Marco saddle to replace the awful one on my single speed, and a couple of DVDs for only $10 each (Giro and Flanders ‘05).

Lots of cold weather gear and a good amount of stuff for the ladies as well

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Soul Jazz is releasing an awesome dubstep comp next week called Steppa’s Delight.

It is HIGHLY RECCOMENDED for anyone as it has so many big choons.

Kode 9 – 9 Samurai
Plastician Feat Skepta — Intensive Snare
Uncle Sam — Around The World Girls (Tes La Rok Mix)
Shackleton — Blood On My Hands
Joker — Gullybrook Lane (Instrumental)
And many others

The only bummer is that the vinyl editions do not include the Joker tune which is just a crime as that song is just sick.

Really all his productions are just insane, and it is just the way it is that many of the top producers tunes are exclusives and may never see the light of day for us normal consumers, like benny page, seven, and most of the skream and benga productions.

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Speaking of dubstep I just have to say that Youngsta has to be the best dubstep DJ hands down. I save his Rinse FM podcasts until I have listened to everything else because they are always just incredible

Talk about your bad luck

After working all day to make the break stick, David Millar broke a chain when he tried to respond to Pavel Brutt’s attack with 1 km to go.

Normally I would say he acted like a spoiled brat for throwing his bike over the barriers but I kind of think he had a right to be frustrated in this situation.

I wonder what the rule is on his time since he was with the break with only a click to go when he had his mechanical?

The results should be up soon so I guess we will find out then

Update 11:45:
Well it looks like they gave Millar the same time as the last member of the break at 25" down. At least he gained a few seconds on the leaders but that's all he saw out of it.

slip slidin' away

what is with the Giro and crashes? I know the first few stages of any grand tour are a bit nervous and you might see a few crashes but it just seems that the Giro goes above and beyond to fill its quota.

As of stage 4 this is the list of riders who are out already due to crashes (not counting all the riders feeling the effects of crashes like Ricco):
Stage 2 DNF: David Zabriskie (Slipstream Chipotle - H30)
Stage 3 DNF: Bradley McGee (Team CSC)
Stage 4 DNS: Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC)

apparently David Millar didn't crash yesterday but got his shoe ripped off in the scrum and had to go looking for it before he could continue.

Unfortunately today was no exception and there was a crash with about 700m or so to go and a Cofidis rider looked like he broke his collarbone. The video of it made me cringe as he must have touched wheels and went sideways almost catching himself before he went over the bars right onto the shoulder.

That kind of brings me to another point, I don't speak Norwegian but the web coverage on NRK has been awesome. I am sure they get the generic feed everyone does but even if that's the case the coverage has been great. You are right in the peloton seeing all the attacks and people shouldering past others, team leaders yelling instructions, just awesome (and you can watch it free).


Massive respect for Cavendish and his first Giro stage win today. He looked to be boxed in on the right with about 400-500m to go and when Bennati went he was able to swing to his left and take it easily. Cavendish kind of reminds me of McEwen with his ego but he more than backs it up with his results.

Finaly if you have any desire to understand the 11 different intergiro competitions check out the article on Cyclingnews and good luck on keeping it all straight

Since it is so early the GC really isn't set so here are the main jersey leaders (they shouldn't have changed today):
Maglia Rosa - Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
Maglia Ciclamino - Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
Maglia Verde - Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
Maglia Bianca - Morris Possoni (Ita) Team High Road

last week on the bike

well it seems like minnesota can't make up its mind because the weather will be nice one day then cold and crappy the next.

I was able to get out for a decent amount of riding but almost all of it was commuting to school and back. Once finals are done I am hoping to be able to get out and ride a little more regularly and most importantly longer. I haven't been able to get in over a 20 mile ride yet this year, just pathetic.

Weekly Total - 51
Season Total - 195
Miles to Goal - 1306

fashion faux pas?

some might argue that pink with orange and blue argyle is a pretty bad look, but I can think of at least one person who might argue with that:


Congrats slipstream and Christian Vande Velde on taking the maglia rosa.

and in one of the many things I love about the Giro...this year they aren't messing around. Here's day 2:

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Nope its not that the semester is winding down-although after this weekend spent cramming for finals, I will at least have a break for a month. It also has nothing to with the weather finally getting nice in Minnesota. We’ve still got a couple months to wait for warm temperatures and the winds to get under control.

It’s the best time of the year because the best of the grand tours—the Giro D’Italia starts on Saturday. Why is it the best? It finishes around my birthday for one, but more importantly it consistently has some of the most amazing mountain stages around (this year especially with the Gavia coming into play).

I won’t go into too much detail because race junkie has a great primer, but I do think it will be a race of survival this year.

As for favorites or predictions.......

for the sprinters jersey....it's going to be hard for the sprinters this year with a course that skews to the climbers but Robbie McEwen may have started to peak at the right time. Otherwise I think Danilo Napolitano is one to watch as well. I would love to say the cricket is going to pull it off, but with all the injuries this spring I don't think his form is up to taking the jersey (stage win here or there probably).

For the climbing jersey....it's hard to argue with Soler as an obvious favorite but he is focused on the Tour so maybe not. The other favorite has to be Simoni in his last Grand Tour. It would be great to see Piepoli take it for all the work he did last year

for the maglia rosa....Simoni is always a threat when it comes to the Giro. With 4 time trials I'm not sure that it is his type of Giro but the mountain stages make him a likely podium contender. Di Luca has been MIA this spring due to his fight not to be banned and lose the 07 Giro so I just can't see him pulling off the back to back wins. With Piepoli as his top lieutenant Ricco can't be counted out in this year's Giro but is he mature enough to win a grand tour and are his injuries healed?

going up around the bend

well I think that after yet another week of crappy march-like weather in April/May we might have finally turned the corner.

Saturday ended up being a pretty great day and Sunday was better. the only down part of the weekend was not getting out on the road bike Saturday. I did make it out Sunday morning for a short ride though. I only had about an hour so I went here:


The rest of the weekend included getting ready to have Jennifer and Monte over for dinner Sat evening, so lots of cleaning and errands to pick up supplies.

We got a couple of awesome desserts from Bellaria Bakery. a dark chocolate mousse torte and a petite chocolate cream cake (kind of like a really fancy hoho). both were fabulous. I also picked up a key lime tart for teh next day and I was less enthused about that. The key lime filling was right on but it was in a regular pastry tart crust vs. a graham cracker crust.

For dinner we made simple quesadillas for apps and our entree was Chicken in Escabeche with onions, carrots, and roasted poblano peppers. We also made a great side dish of Braised Fennel with a Guajillo Chile dressing.



During our errand running we stopped at the Fetus so I could pick up the new Nick Cave which is awesome. I have never been a big Nick Cave fan, liking a few songs here and there, but the new album is great from beginning to end.


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Weekly Total - 30
Season Total - 144
Miles to Goal - 1356

recent advances in medicine

saw a story on cyclingnews today about a photog that was in a collision just after a sprint in a race in the Netherlands.

a somewhat unremarkable story except for the following line:

"He had to be reanimated at the site"

reminds me of this

Maybe I just don't have it....whatever it is

This "spring" and I use that term very loosely has been miserable for biking.

I have the colder weather gear and all, but riding when it's below 35 degrees just isn't that fun. It might be easier if I had some strong reason like training for a ride, racing, losing weight, etc. but at this point I just don't have that strong of a reason.

Of course this week the real issue has been rain and snow yesterday, but hopefully we will turn the corner sometime in the next few weeks.

I tried to go out for a short ride today around 4 and a half mile from my house it decided to start snowing just enough to make my sunglasses impossible to see through and make the road wet. I cut the ride short and when I swung back onto Stinson I not only had snow but wind in my face as well. No fun.

Weekly Total - 37
Season Total - 114
Miles to Goal - 1386

Brasstown Bald - OOPS addition

well, well, well....the self-described best team in the world and the new America's team have to be feeling a little foolish this evening.

Both Levi and Trent Lowe getting schooled by High Road's ace up their sleeve, Kanstantin Siutsou, on the climb that is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Personally I do think that Astana played their cards right, getting a rider in the break and letting Slipstream do the work. I can't fathom however that Brunyeel missed the fact that the guy trailing Levi was so close in the GC. Supposedly they knew how close he was so Levi must have just been done.

Slipstream on the other hand was kind of confusing. Missed the big break and then drove the peloton faster than they needed to before leaving Trent Lowe without any teammates on the final climb practically immediately. I have to wonder if Lowe truly knew how close Siutsou was in the GC because he responded to all of Levi's attacks like they were nothing but he seemed to completely ignore Siutsou's attack at the end. You have to guess that he had the gas left in the tank because he jumped in the last 200 meters to get second, so it's questionable that he didn't follow what has to be the race winning move.

Chorizo and Black Beans in a Chipotle Salsa

Made this the other night from ingredients around the house and it was pretty tasty as well as quick and easy.

Chorizo and Black Beans in a Chipotle Salsa

Ingredients:
12 oz. Chorizo, preferably ground or casing removed
1 can Black Beans drained and rinsed (1 1/2 cup home cooked beans is even better)
1 can Diced Tomatoes (fire roasted would be good)
1 can Chipotles en Adobo
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tsp Cumin

Garnish:
White Onion sliced
Cilantro (optional)
Queso Fresco (optional)

Corn Tortillas (if you want tacos)

Making the salsa:
In a blender puree the tomatoes, garlic, cumin, 2-3 chipotles and 1 Tb of the adobo sauce.[to add even more flavor you can pan roast the garlic as well as the cumin seeds]

Making the rest:
Brown the Chorizo in a large saute pan, breaking apart the pieces as much as you can.
Once Chorizo is browned, add beans and saute together for a few minutes.
Add approx 1 cup of the salsa and simmer for 7-10 minutes stirring occasionally until the sauce reduces and just coats the chorizo and beans.

Serve as taco filling, tostada topping, over rice, or however you would like it garnished with any combination of onion, cilantro, and queso fresco.

Not with a roar but.......

well in the end everyone got something apparently.

Rock racing is in the Tour de Georgia.
The Tour which has had more than its share of financial issues has a new "Founding Sponsor"
The fans get.....well maybe a pretty good race with the overwhelming favorites Astana (and their wah, wah we're the greatest thing since sliced bread routine and machine like efficiency), beloved dark horses Slipstream (Zabriskie, Vande Velde, Pate), and the team everyone loves to hate-Rock Racing (will the Puerto boys be kickin ass and taking names?)


As for my riding this past week, I had my biggest week so far but the crappy midweek weather put a damper on too much riding. Saturday I tried out a couple of the hills I like to ride over by the U and I definitely have a ways to go but overall I felt pretty good.

Week Total - 39
Season Total - 78
Miles to Goal - 1423

weekly recap

Hopefully we have turned the corner on this awful weather we have been having.

Monday I rode to class in snow flurries and I wasn't able to out again until Sunday.

Only had a half hour to ride though so noting big just the cemetery hill loop with just enough of a head wind to make me sad.

I am hoping to ride to class tomorrow and wed morning as well as work Friday so hopefully the weather holds out like they are saying. I wouldn't mind ditching the cold weather gear.

The weekly recap:
Weekly total - 22.4
Season Total - 38.4
Miles to Goal - 1461.6

Tornado Warning and new kid on the block

Well unfortunately my pick did not win but 3rd is not too bad Ballan, especially considering that he was up against Boonen and Cancellara in the velodrome.

And if I must be wrong, I am happy that it is Tomke that proved me wrong to take his second win in the Hell of the North. I kept waiting for Cancellara to attack in the last couple of km but he was reportedly having cramps so that is understandable.

If there was a revelation in this year's Paris-Roubaix though it was Martijn Maaskant from Slipstream who hung on in the chasing group with the likes of O'Grady, Hoste, and Devolder then attacked and went on to get 4TH.

You could see O'grady and Devolder try to drop the other two and then it looked like Hoste was trying to shake him at one point in the run in but he held on. I somehow think that he is going to be taken a bit more serously after his spring campaign this year and I hope that Slipstream has him locked into a contract or they are goign to lose him.

Who do I think is going to win Paris-Roubaix?

Of course I would love to see Tornado Tom pull off his second victory in the Hell of the North, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this guy might do it

Don't count Cancellara out either though, but I kind of think he might have peaked a little early for Paris-Roubaix. And I guess it is possible that Stijn Devolder could take a flyer and get the double, but I think there would be trouble back at the Quickstep ranch if that happened.

Really?? Really??

Rock Racing sues to get into Tour de Georgia

I've gone back and forth on Rock Racing this year as I like a lot of people think Michael ball is abrasive and pushy and ultimately a bit self-centered.

On the other hand, the "Puerto 3" are getting screwed by the larger cycling world, just like most of the other riders out there who have been busted for doping. Hamilton, Sevilla and Botero have valid licenses from the UCI so they should be able to ride. period. Tyler Hamilton served his suspension, so what if he claims he is innocent still. If that is the case then I hope that people have the same opinion about Floyd when his suspension is up.


This latest attention grab however is ridiculous. oh boo-hoo someone actually told you no and now you are gonna sue them? maybe if you stop being a prick to everyone else in the cycling world stuff like this won't keep happening

weekend recap

I took the road bike out for a spin Sat morning for the first time this year. Nothing fancy, just my early season/no time route down Johnson back on Stinson and then up cemetery hill and around to the new bike path (A little over 8 miles with a good hill).

It felt really good and I kept up a nice avg speed so I am definitely sure I am ready for a 15-20 mile effort next weekend unless I can find the time this week.


On Sat I was also able to try out some of the new gear I picked up over the winter and I was well pleased. The Craft thermal windstopper jacket I knew was good from Friday, but it really vented well as I started to get sweaty.

The other big plus was my Pearl Izumi Gavia gloves. Very warm but still easy to grip the handlebars and shift. And the little grip pads made sure I didn't drop my water bottle when I unexpectedly hit a pothole while drinking.


After spending the day running errands and finishing the final retakes for the music video I am in, Liane and I went to the Artcrank opening at One on One. Holy Cow!! It was seriously packed with tons of people spilling out onto the front sidewalk and out the back. The line to buy prints was from the bike counter to the coffee counter. It was nice to see so many people out for (and buying) local art. Liane and I each picked up a print. Mine was by Sean Turbridy and Liane's was by Amy Rice.


The weekly recap:
Weekly total - 15.2
Season Total - 15.2
Miles to Goal - 1484.8

Such a little thing, but the difference it made......

So today was the first day I actually got the bike out on the pavement this year (I suck this because I am almost a month behind last year), and it was just the short 4 mile dash through rush hour to get to work and then home this afternoon.

What is amazing to me is that despite a couple little bumps as well as the climb up Lincoln on the way home, I wasn't even winded on my ride. Last year the first couple of rides I fet and new I was fairly out of shape, but today I was spinning along almost too fast for the gear on my commuter bike.

The only thing I can point to that I did differently this winter was riding the trainer. I wasn't even very consistent until February but apparently it was enough to put me on the road with a little bit of fitness. I guess I will be testing this tomorrow morning when I take the road bike out for the first time and tackle cemetery hill.

For anyone who has read this in the past you know that Tornado Tom has been my guy for the past couple of seasons, but I have to say that Phillipe Gilbert is my new rider crush. Training to some old videos of the spring classics this winter he is all over them and then you get to this season and he has been incredible.

I think the reason I like him so much is that he just picks a point and goes for it. Whether he has riders to go with him or if he has to go solo like Het Volk it doesn't matter. Sure he gets caught most of the time but I love the devil may care attitude. It's just great to see a rider who doesn't seem like he is so controlled by the DS. Francaise Des Jeux may just have to be my underdog team to root for this year.

Here is some Het Volk action, check out the attack about 3 minutes in

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

And just for the hell of it here is some Milan-San Remo action with Cancellera schooling everybody after 300km and taking the easy win

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

chasing back on

I haven't really mentioned it much but I have been interning/volunteering with marketing for the Nature Valley Grand Prix since January.

I've been focusing on interactive content (both researching options as well as helping to get some new content off the ground) and updating the website (you can blame me when the results aren't up soon enough). It's been pretty fun to see behind the curtain for an event like this.

Even though the race is more than 2 months away, there are a couple of pretty exciting things coming up.

The men's field of the NVGP is an invitational this year, but there are going to be a couple of ways for Cat 1s to get in on the action.

Locally there is gonna be a little competition to fill some of them. Called the info on the NVGP Qualification Race Series the info looks like it went out to the world this week via Bikethrow and MN Bike Results and hopefully it will some additional excitement the local races and TT involved.

The other exciting news has been confirmed but not announced so I won't go into it too much here, but there will be a way for other Cat 1s to get on an amateur squad at the race in a similar way to the locals.

More to come.

no surprises

so I totally overslept and did not get up until the primavera was over this morning. I attempted to go to read the live coverage recap or watch highlights without learning about the winner in advance.

fat chance

the very first place I went there it was it big bold letters "Cancellara wins Milan-San Remo"

best laid plans and all that.

I was fairly psyched that my new cycling crush, Phillipe Gilbert, was on the podium continuing a tremendous early season. It's funny but now that I have been watching old videos while I ride the trainer, I notice that he seems to be everywhere. And let's face it, how can you not respect someone who just goes for it win or lose all the time.

Personally I think that he has a big win in one of the classics coming up yet this season. Maybe Flanders or maybe one of the Ardennes.


On another note, I am trying to decide if I want to pay for the Cycling TV coverage of the remaining classics and the Giro or not. It's more than I want to spend but I am dying for some live coverage of than the ToC. I have heard mixed things about the coverage and quality so I am really unsure. Guess I will ahve to decide soon though or I will miss the rest of the classics.

I know that it’s the big new thing to allow comments on newspaper websites but I wonder what they are trying to achieve by doing this and is there any research behind it. Does it make people care or get involved any more?

It seems like a knee-jerk reaction to the issues affecting traditional journalism. Almost like they feel like they need to do something so they just pick the simplest option. People will feel involved if only they can add their own $.02

So the ultimate question has to be whether this capacity actually adds to the news or detracts from it.

Based on reading these comments for the last few weeks, I can definitely say that for me the comments on the Strib do not add to the content in any meaningful way. As with everything of course there are exceptions to the rule and you do occasionally get insightful comments that add to the discourse and fill in missing information. Unfortunately the vast majority of comments only lowers the discourse.

Take this example from an article today about towns bracing for flooding, a reader registered as Hipocryt85 writes:

“Maybe we better BAN FLOODING too. Flooding hurts people, property and sometimes KILLS. Maybe we better BAN them too. Makes about as much sense as banning GUNS.” From here he/she goes on to continue his anti-gun control rant in several other comments to this story and as a side note he/she must have lots of free time because he/she has similar comments in practically every story I have read in the last couple of days."

Now this begs the question, is this what the Star Tribune had in mind when introducing this capacity? I am guessing the answer is no.

The whole idea of web 2.0 is a bandwagon that people are jumping on before finding out where it is headed. The Strib already provides forums communities for people so why do they need this additional piece?

This one goes out to the ladies

So I have picked up my first couple of releases of the new year (one today and the other a few weeks ago) and it's been all about the ladies with the new one from Cat Power and Erykah Badu.

This probably shoudln't be surprising to me, but as I peruse my music collections, the boys do have the overwhelming edge and I don't think these two will make a dent in that lead.

Jukebox brings to mind a kind of a 60s Memphis/roadhouse easygoing feel especially the opening take on New York. Clearly this is due in no small part to her backing band n the album which is also her touring band-The Dirty Delta Blues Band. You can practically smell the cigarette smoke in the air on Ramblin' (Wo)man and original Metal Heart just slays me everytime I hear it.

Now I will say that I am a Johnny-come-lately to Miss Marshall's music with The Greatest being the first album I owned but I do think it is impossible to not say that this is an artist who is at the top of her game right now. Now this is Cat Power's second album of covers, which every review seems to make a big deal out of for no reason that I can figure out. There are plenty of great artists that played standards or songs that they just liked arranged differently from Dusty Springfield and Sinatra to Tom Jones or Isaac Hayes. I know that we have moved to a music loving public that expects artists to write and record their own songs but the thing about this album that I feel makes it work is that her arrangments make these songs her own.


As for another album that seems to be dividing both fans and non-fans alike Erykah Badu's new one New Amerykah part 1 definitely pushes the boundaries of the accepted sound of 'neo-soul'. With this album she really takes and explodes the expectations that I think people have of her music bouncing from more traditional Badu songs like Me and Honey to waving the freak flag with tunes like The Healer and the last half of Twinkle.

I don't know that I have a whole lot more to offer that you can't find in the many reviews elsewhere but I HIGHLY reccomend checking this album out and I am definitely looking forward to part 2 this summer.

Music I slept on in 2007

So as typically happens, I discover a number of releases that I slept on after the year is done.

First up are 3 EPs in the Sad Clown series Atmosphere put out throughout the year. Before getting around to checking them out myself I saw some back and forth out there about the style being different from the usual Atmosphere stuff. I suppose that’s true to an extent in that they tend to sound a little more party jam style, but once you get into them they’re classic Atmosphere. And even if they are a little change up, you want to listen to the same album again and again?

The Rooster from Bad Fall has to be one of my of my fav Atmosphere songs with its melancholy sixties-ish groove and lyrics that weave an intricate story that could just as easily be a short story in some literary journal.

And let’s not forget the Atmosphere’s Christmas present of the Strictly Leakage free MP3 LP.


Next is the Very Best of Ethiopiques 2-CD set available as an import. I have been wanting to get into this series but it is a little intimidating to know where to start so this is a perfect jumping off point. A little expensive as it is import only right now, but I got mine used on Amazon, so it wasn't too bad.


I am sure that I will disover even more that I missed as the year goes on but that is part of the fun.

Tour of F'in California

So a few unhappy campers after the penultimate stage and last chance to try and take some time from Levi.

Mark Cavendish looked to take a stage and erase the oops of leading out no one earlier in the race. Look again though as he is penalized for being helped back to the peloton by his team car after the entire Rock Racing team crashed and took him with them 8km from the finish. Unsurprisingly Mark Cavendish was not happy:

a disappointed Cavendish told Cyclingnews. "It's just bullshit -- who is working on this f**king race? When you have every car in the peloton dropping back to get me on... like it has been in professional cycling for a hundred years... who is working on the jury here? What are you going to do, make it a f**cking crit every day?

Even Bob Stapleton had a few choice words about the incident "If Cipo was practically in the f**king car, but Mark comes from all the way back and wins... and that is something that has to be yanked, that is completely wrong" Considering the adjustment to the rules made last year to keep Levi in the yellow jersey following that early race crash, this does seem like a sketchy decision as Cavendish still needed to make his way through the peloton to the front AND win the bunch sprint to take the stage.

Kevin Hulsmans from Quick Step had a completely different kind of complaint after the time trial Friday. Apparently he was selected for the doping controls and when the controller came to get him the whole team was in the showers, so the controller waited right there for him to finish. Not a big deal except the controller was a woman. "We politely asked her to leave, but she refused. What were they thinking? That I would try to escape through the roof? Would they send a man to look at eight naked female athletes?"

Dominoes

At the rate that people are dropping out of this race, Levi might be racing by himself (maybe Chris Horner too) by the end of the race. I mean look at this list of people who either did not start or DNF yesterday:

Riders who did not start stage 4:
Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner)
Johannes Frohlinger (Gerolsteiner)
Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner)

Riders who abandoned during stage 4:
Dmytro Grabovsky (Quick Step-Innergetic)
Patrice Halgand (Credit Agricole)
Jonathan Hivert (Gerolsteiner)
Mathias Frank (Gerolsteiner)
Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner)
Julien Belgy (Bouyges Telecom)
Tom Danielson (Slipstream-Chipotle)
Jackson Stewart (BMC)
Jonathan Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast)
Matt Crane (Health Net-Maxxis)
Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United)
Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell)

You have to feel for Jackson Stewart. Taking the max on all the KOM to get the jersey back and then dropping out due to hypothermia.

Hypothermia? At the Tour of California? Absolutely ridiculous. And who would have predicted that Gerolsteiner would have a smaller team than Rock Racing by the end of the race.

Add the virus going around to the miserable weather and it’s amazing more riders haven’t dropped out. The start list for stage 6 should be interesting since it still has a good amount of climbing in it.

Tornado Tom and the Argyle Armada pt. 2

Big Tom took his first win on US soil today in stage 2 of the ATOC with third place going to Cipo of all people.

Apprantly BMC's plan is to have a rider take off alone each day and take all the KOM and Sprint points. Today Scott Nydam must drawn the short straw and going it alone for over 4 hours.

Slipstream played it perfectly and helped Tyler Farrar into the yellow by taking bonus time in each sprint. Can he hold it with the big climbs in store for tomorrow's stage? Time will tell but I am guessing no.

No publicity is bad publicity

In the continuing circus that is Rock Racing, Michael Ball has once again shown a flair for getting everyone talking about his team, but maybe more importantly talking about Michael Ball.

After AEG lists the Rock Racing roster minus the trio of Sevilla, Botero, and Hamilton, Ball goes ahead and announces them at a press conference and seems to pretend he doesn't know they are excluded at first. What a mess.

I have to say that initially I was with rock racing on this one. The whole Puerto thing has been a joke and to have 3 of their riders barred for that is ridiculous. On the other hand, acting like a spoiled child is a sure way to make sure people don't take you side.

Hopefully the UCI can just finish this stupid investigation and focus on what is happening today in the cycling not 2 years ago.

--------

Paying attention to stage 1 more than my homework, I have to say go Jackson Stewart with the epic solo break that must have come as a, perhaps unwelcome, surprise with no one bridging up.

IN the women's racing world, the one and only women's race is done and congrats to Brooke Miller who pipped Laura Van Gilder at the line for the win. Hopefully both of them can make it to the NVGP again this year.

Updated - 10:15pm

Well as one might expect Jackson Stewart's epic breakaway did not net the stage win, but did get him the KOM and most aggressive jerseys.

My pick in the poll from the ATOC website, JJ Haedo, went ahead and won the stage (I suppose you get lucky once in a while).

Big George should maybe start thinking about skipping the ATOC after bumping with Boonen and hitting the deck.

Shouts to Freddie Rodriguez for beingthe highest placed non-Pro Tour rider today.

General classification after stage 1
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 4.07.20
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 0.02
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) High Road 0.04
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.06
5 David Millar (GBr) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 0.07
6 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team CSC 0.08
7 David Zabriskie (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30
8 Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0.09
9 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) High Road
10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 0.10

ASO to Astana, You are SOL

Well the big news out of France was ASO giving Astana the big FU for the entire season.

No Paris-Nice, No Paris-Roubaix (not that Bruyneel cares about the classics), but especially No Tour.

On the one hand ASO has a point in that this is the second year in a row that Astana has changed management in the wake of doping scandals and it is fair to make them prove the changes are for real this time.

on the other hand Bruyneel points out:

“ASO does not invite us because of the past of a team that had the same name. Many other teams, with a similar suspicious past, that even did not change management or structure, can participate without problems. Where is the consistency? Is Tour the France not loosing all credibility now?”

This kind of makes Astana this years Unibet, except the Vuelta is welcoming them with open arms (kind of like 2006 all over again). ASO also was strategic in inviting all the other ProTour teams to Paris-Nice thus pretty much silencing any outcry like there was over the Giro.

It should be interesting to see how this plays out over the season and whether Astana exists next year. I suppose we can wonder if Contador is all hype and if he could actually win a Grand Tour that isn't handed to him in the Vuelta this year.

Stay Tuned

Tornado Tom and the Argyle Armada

Surprising to no one paying attention, Quickstep once again dominated the Tour of Qatar and Boonen took the overall for the second time in three years.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the ToC later this month.


On the other hand Big props have to go out to Slipstream and CJ Sutton for his fourth place, that very easily could have been a podium spot if not for the crash in stage 5 that left Backstedt with a broken collarbone (hopefully it doesn't thro him too far off track in his classics training).

Even bigger props to Ryder Hesjedal for his third place in the GP La Marseillaise to open up the French calendar.

One dimensional director

Just got done listening to the latest Bicycling Mag podcast, an interview with Johan Bruynee at the Astana camp in NM, and I was interested in a comment he made towards the end.

When asked about races other than the Tour that they are focused on he mentioned that they are not that strong of a team for the classics and that is one thing missing from his palmares. It got me thinking that despite having a strong classics rider in Hincapie at US Postal/Disco, the focus was so strong on the Tour that the one day races really got short shrift.

Now that he is with Astana, I think it is even worse because they really don't have a leader for the classics. Even more than Disco they are built to win races like the Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, and the Dauphine. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Update: Beofre I could even post this, the news came out that Astana Will not be going to the Giro this year. Apparently the fact that Contador has said he couldn't care less about anything other than the Tour and that Levi has only used it for a tune-up himself is behind the decision. Too bad for Kloden, this might have been his only chance to win a grand tour this year.

Desert winds a blowin'

As I said in my previous post, I was looking forward to some racing in Qatar and this is not what I was talking about:


I had in mind something more along the lines of this:


And once again Tornado Tom and the boy in blue er white take it to the rest of the peloton with some massive speed to put all who would challenge the golden child in a world of hurt.

Major props go out to Chris Sutton from Slipstream on staying with the leaders and getting fourth on the stage to put himself in a nice position to maybe grab a podium spot.

General classification after stage 2
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 2.34.59
2 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step 0.09
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto 0.14
4 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream p/b Chipotle 0.15
5 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick Step 0.20
6 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence - Lotto
7 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre 0.21
8 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.26
9 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Silence - Lotto 0.27
10 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step 0.32

They ride in a land down under

I have to admit that while I have been following the Tour Down Under, it just doesn't excite me very much.

YOu would think that after obsessing over cycling all summer and then scavenging for the smallest shred of news or "news" over the fall and winter that I would be ecstatic about the 2008 season getting under way.

Vvicious headbutts aside, I just kind of feel apathetic about it though.

I am looking forward to the Tour of Qatar however.

Overheard - Hennepin & 9th St

"So I was pretty much screwed out of my power.

I had the ability to add to my ice spells, but now I'm not in control of the ice domain anymore so it's pretty much useless."

and so it begins

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone but I think it's pretty awesome that Slipstream will be racing in my personal favorite of the Grand Tours.

And since the same folks also bring you Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico. There should be lots of opportunity for Phil LIggett to talk about the guys in Argyle on World Cycling DVDs next year.

And just in case you hadn't seen it, ESPN had a pretty good feature on the boys as well

maybe the library is the way to go

December was a good month for getting some reading done. January has been so far but somehow I don't think it will continue

Books finished/read in December:
Discipline - Paco Ahlgren
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
I am Legend - Richard Matheson
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

Books Read in January:
The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K. Dick (from 4 Novels from the 1960s)

Books Currently Reading:
Tour de Life - Saul Raisin w/ Dave Shields
Fugitives and Refugees - Chuck Pahlaniuk
Essays - George Orwell

Books on Deck:
Phillip K. Dick - the Rest of 4 Novels of the 1960s
Rant - Chuck Pahlaniuk
High Fidelity - Nick Horby

Other Items Read/Reading:
Rouleur Issue Seven (Subscription was one of my fav xmas gifts)
Believer Issue 50 (just got my last issue in the mail-no good)

New Year's resolutions and such

well I am a little late with this but thought I would finally get around to looking ahead to the coming year and my goals for it.

Biking - I initially wanted to increase my yearly miles to 2000, but with all that I will have going on this year with full time school and my little internship/volunteer opp that I am involved in I think I will need to work to achieve my total from '07. So my goal this year is 1500 miles.

School - I am now enrolled in the UofM and hope t be admitted to Carlson for Fall semester to pursue my marketing degree. This will be a huge focus in the next couple of months as I acclimate to a new school and submit my application to transfer into the school that has been my focus for the past 2 years. It should be fairly intense as I am planning on going to summer school the next two years for practically non-stop school so that I can graduate by the end of '09

Nature Valley Grand Prix - The volunteer opp I mentioned above is helping with the marketing of the NVGP, so I hope to be successful and not make a fool of myself. Nothing is set in stone but I believe I know what I will be doing and it should be pretty fun and exciting so more to come.

Beyond those 3 things I just want to make sure I save some time to be with my family and hopefully travel a little (cross my fingers, I am hoping to be in DC for my birthday and the CSC invitational).