Gloucester II

again, you can see here why I am not a race photographer....





















Best bikes? Saw a Wilier cross frame. And a couple Spiuks that looked cool.

Gloucester Field Trip

Went up to Gloucester for the cross race today. Warm and sunny, Perfect fall day. 100 plus starters for the 4 race is an indication that cross is popular in NE. Full day of racing.

October, Parlee, and Maietta all had bikes on display. The Parlees had deep dish Edge wheels with giant Parlee logos that looked sick. Their cross bike is totally over the top and rad. Maietta was new to me and had this cool frame on display.


Treborn's bike looks big sitting there and still looks big with him on it.


and still looks big with him on it....


Watched all of the elite men and women. Both Dombroksi and Treborn were dominate. The Treborn Johnson battle was pretty epic, but Treborn had the final blow when he opened up a ridiculous gap with 2 to go. He held enough to basically free wheel across the finish line. A good sign for his upcoming European vacation.
Here are some other random bad race photos shot from the north side run up and beer garden.




A beer garden and real bathrooms(no porta potty nightmares)! Big day out.
My computer is acting up so I will dump some more photos tomorrow.
Watching cross and not racing it is kind of like watching a porno. It is cool to look at, but more fun to do. I can't believe I have to wait until next year to try this out!

K-9 Possee... Campy Only???

There has of course been a long history of cycling caps turning up in black culture Spike Lee/Brooklyn, Wesley Snipes/Colnago, Mariah Carey/Vitalicio Seguras. So I shouldn't have been too surprised to see the K-9 Posse sporting matching Campagnolo caps on the picture sleeve to this record.
I didn't even notice at first as I was too busy grabbing every hip hop 45 with a picture sleeve in what was the illest score of the fall record collecting season thus far. 12 James Brown 45s, 4 LL Cool Js, 2 Beastie Boys, 3 Fat Boys, get serious. 40 records later as I am looking them over in my car, the K-9 Record catches my eye. Campy hats? Only the best for the K-9 Possee! Outside of this odd cycling tie in, the record is not so good.
Either way it just goes to show you, start a record about collecting records and cycling and who knows what will fall into your lap.

more kickboy face

With headgear that would give Keith Richards a run for his money watch Claude Bessey run down the Factory labels roster.

Life of Crime

I heard this for the first time on the Laughing Hyenas record of the same name. Wasn't a huge fan of early LA punk. Too arty for my tastes, and anyway the Weirdos were dropping Condor in 1990 which was competing with too much crucial music to get a lot of spins. Fugazi Repeater for example. Thankfully some cheap bootlegs introduced me to the brilliance that is the early Weirdos. Life of Crime, Neutron Bomb, Solitary Confinement Destroy all Music. These are fucking classics. Unlike a lot of the more arty shit their contemporaries were playing, elements of the Weirdos sound were pretty much Incorporated into the classic Cali punk sound.
And by more arty shit, I of course mean this....


I never would have checked for this video if I hadn't namechecked Kickboy Face in the last post about economics.

Non Cycling Odds and Ends

60 minutes was a home run this week. One segment on a Delta Force soldier that was hunting Bin Laden and has a book coming out and a second segment bringing another financial time bomb too light. Sub-prime mortgages might be bad but credit debt swaps are worse. More interviews with Jim Grant who seems to be an economist I can appreciate. Grant seems like a less partisan Thomas Franks, but I really am not familiar enough with him to say that for sure. His book will most likely be on my xmas list. I would get a subscription to his magazine, but I already read too much that I barely understand. I need the Lester Bangs or Kickboy Face of economic journalism.

This is a pretty crucial article. Sobering in light of where Bush's exhortations for the average American to fight terrorism by shopping and traveling and spending have gotten us.

Third up is a movie review. Streetfight is a documentary about the race to be Mayor of Newark NJ. Wire fanatics should do themselves a favor and rent this. So much of the Carcetti vs Royce action seems lifted almost directly from this.

Roller-rama. Winter is coming

Took the rollers out of cold storage last night. Forgot how much fun they are to ride. You can zone out on a trainer, but rollers require you to pay a little more attention. Maybe not as "intense" as a rear wheel trainer, but time flies and you use your brain more. I think I will do most of my indoor training this year on rollers rather than a trainer.