tubular teaser

Project is almost done.....
Full Report to follow....

picky,picky

Lots of rad bike shots as trade season kicks off.
Courage bikes makes some amazing frames. The SS cross bike is amazing-love the slightly extended seat tube with pass through brake cable and the graduated track ends are a cool touch, but what is up with the leather shoulder pad? After a few races wouldn't this stink worse than Rob Halford's crotch? Do you really want something that collects water snugly wrapped around your STEEL frame? Regardless of this nitpick, it is a rad bike. Courage Cycles.

Colnago doesn't dodge a bullet either. This CX friendly arch looks more like this than something designed to more easily shoulder your bike. If you have the bike wedged onto your shoulder all the way back at the seat post, you are going to have an awful lot of bike hanging in front of you. Can't picture Nys requesting this. The beefier tube sections make it look more like a Stevens.

IF had this classy cool way to run the rear brake cable on a cross bike.
And finally Schlamm's twitter came through with these way to handle the front brake....

Cross on the brain

Double Dagger pretty much rule

Thrill Jockey was always home to a bunch of tedious post-rockers who danced way too close to jazz-fusion lite and world music, so I never really paid much attention to their output. But, as frequently happens, I may have to change my opinion based on the last few releases. Pontiak, Extra-Golden, and now Double Dagger. Hailing from Baltimore, they have a classic arty indie rock sound that brings me back to the early/mid 90s. I never realized how much I missed this classic sound, til I heard it reworked here. Bass driven and melodic. It's got a DC sound, emo in a good way. Wish Dischord put out more records that sounded like this. Made me wistful for bands like Chino Horde-who apparently have a 2lp discography out, but I will save rambling about midwest early 90s emo for a different post. Gonna name check some bands, and I think this is on par with them. Lync, Squirrel Bait, No joke.
This is seriously fucking great and I have not stopped listening to it since I got it. Good at work, good in the car, good working on bikes in the basement. "Camouflage" is the jam and , I wish I got this in May when it came out, cause it would have been album of the summer.
The band even has a documentary??? And a video

Liturgy Renihilation CD

Black Metal is a term that is as abused as "acid-folk". When it comes to
the more traditional kult or orthodox black metal, I would rather just look
at pictures and album art from new bands, while listening to Transylvanian Hunger.
But despite the misuse of the term, black metal is the jump off for some of
the more interesting music hitting my speakers(krallice,nachmystium,bone
awl, etc) and now Liturgy. 20 Buck Spin is the label for the Renihilation
CD.
The my main test for black metal is very simple. Does it make me feel like
I want to ride a horse across a frozen plain as my barbarian horde prepares
to attack a village? Call it the Bathory test, but if it gives me that feeling or
reminds me of Conan, we have a winner. Liturgy passes the first test.
On one hand, this is some furious straight ahead blasting black metal. Vocals
are classic TH era Darkthrone.
On the other, there are some cool noisey-almost sonic youth type parts.
Maybe even some Harvey Milk esque bashing and riffing when it slows down, and
that is all in the first song! The riffing remains furious throughout and
manages to mutate from metal into melodic buzz and back with ease.
This disc shreds. It overcomes the singing interludes, the pretentious lyrical concepts, and the fact that they are from NYC.
I wish I had it when I was gluing my tubulars, this cd and a couple tubes of glue would make for a hell of a night-maybe even River's Edge II.

Vuelta Conundrum

Spanish riders avoid Northern Europe like the plague, but this years Vuelta opens in Holland, features cobbles on the 3rd stage, and a 4th stage that covers parts of the Amstel and LBL race route... What did the Spanish riders do to piss off the race director? Or is this Flecha's big chance to shine?

D2R2 2009

70 miles on a bike usually doesn't take 5 hours and 42 minutes, but put
those 70 miles over the backroads of Western Mass and VT and they sure do.
D2R2 was a major goal for me. It kicked my ass in 2007 and I was looking
for redemption. No photos this year.(wish I did bring the camera
as ther were some amazing bike...next year) No fooling around.
Day started shrouded in fog- a truly grim and mysterious
way to start. The first 13 mile leg was tough, but familiar. Water stop
at a Hansel and Gretel house in the middle of nowhere. Phase 2 was a lot
harder . Got lost twice. Had to walk twice. Ran out of water(3 bottles).
Rest stop 2 came just in time to keep me from jumping in a river. PBJs and
whatever else I could cram down my throat. Baked potatos? Someone needs to
explain that to me. Eating a hot starchy gut bomb in 90+ degree heat???
Killed 2 bottles of water just sitting there. Refilled all 3 and rolled
out. River Road was up next, Shadey downhill run along a river. Very
relaxing. Maybe too relaxing as I missed my turn and continued on til I hit
some civilization (maybe the last time Colrain gets called civilized...). All I had to do to get back on track was climb back
the way I came. Only on a totally scorched by the sun main road. This 2
mile run up Colrain road was a nice prep for the patten hill/peckville rd
suckerpunch that awaited me. Dragged my ass up to the apple orchard rest
area. Saw an RB-1 there and a guy who made the climb on a fixed gear
(38x19). Damn. This ride really lets you know who is beast on
the bike. Also heard the best retort to a person who was whining for
bananas.... "sorry this isn't a banana orchard........" zing.
Last phase home was kind of anti-climatic except for a fear of getting
lost. That is until the Hawk's Rd descent. Rutted, washed out, with tons
of loose fist sized rocks. This thing was a real sting in the tail (not
unlike the last dirt climb)
So got lost three times, crashed once, walked three times. back again
next year with a lower gear and a couple less pounds.
The support on this ride is killer. For 50 bucks you get breakfast, all you
can eat at the rest stops, and a burrito and a beer at the end. Most of
the races you do are 2/3rds of that price and you are lucky to have porta
johns and neutral support.....
This is a ride I hope goes on for many years-at least long enough for me
to try the 170K

Martha Splatterhead and beyond

Southernlord are releasing a new Accused record-"the curse of martha splatterhead". Accused's splatter rock was always pretty rad. Kinda metal, kinda crust, one of a kind vocals. I am not going to try and compare or rank this against other splatter-classics, but it is hands down a good record. Still harsh and unique. You can mention D-beat or black metal, but the Accused were doing this before those things really became genres.
The real thing about this is it reminded me of a bunch of bands who had a similar style and one classic comp that bundled a bunch of them together.
Wild Riders of Boards was the 3rd Thrasher skate-rock comp. It came out at the peak of cross-over,hardocore. It was from the period when every Pus-Zone was a must read filled with crucial tunes. 1985 was the year and on purchasing this cassette, you got crushed by Beyond Possession,COC, and the Accused who were all pushing the hardcore/metal envelope. In addtion you had Slam, Christ on Parade,No Rules, and Septic Death bringing it. Top it off with the drunk-rock of Boneless Ones and the all time classic "Skate to Hell" by Gang Green and you have a timeless classic of perfectly executed hardcore pushing beyond the boundaries. Some went metal. Some went rock. Either way this is a pioneering comp. If you were really lucky, you got the die-cut lp.