Fun Friday (Summer Edition)

It’s that time again.  It’s Friday again, which means I take the easy way out and post what I think are funny pictures that may or may not be related to a topic that I’ve discussed in the past.

I like taking the easy way out, hence why the Fun Friday thing continues on. 

Anyway, we’re something like halfway through summer.  Time for fun in the sun, which for a lot of people means trips to the beach.  If you didn’t get your beach body ready by now, it’s too late.  Today’s only Fun Friday photo is about a friend of mine that worked hard all “offseason” to get himself ready for the beach. 

Dicky is so proud of his hard work that he just wants to show off (almost) everything.

Good luck getting that image out of your head.

See y’all Monday.

Down To The Bottom

So yesterday I talked about my new gloves.  It’s important to be able to hold on to the handlebars properly while riding a bike, and you don’t want unnecessary slippage.  Equally (or perhaps even more) important is keeping your bike from slipping off the trail.  On my two main bikes, I’ve been running a Maxxis Ardent, the “do-it-all trail tire" according to their website.  It has definitely done-it-all for me as far as conditions go, but with my recent need for change I decided to give something else a try.

So last night a box of goodness showed up.

I’ve been running the Ikon on the rear of my “race” bike, and I’ve been very satisfied with it.  Good grip and super fast rolling, it’s held great for rides/races with no sign of giving up.  Since it has been a while since I’d put on a new one, I decided that it was time to order a replacement.  Before I ordered anything, I gave Dicky a shout with my phone’s fancy texting capability to ask him about the “new” super-wide 2.35 Ikon.

He said he really liked it, on both a squishy fjork and a rigid frok (even in The Pisgah) in dry conditions.  That was good enough for me, so while I ordered the standard 2.2 for the rear, I added a couple of the 2.35s.

I can see the difference on my garage floor I guess.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to mount any of them to any of my bikes.  Lunchbox and I had a project last night that involved installing stereo equipment in his car, and add to the fact that I had to play handyman on the neighbor’s garage door I kinda ran outta time.

I really like the Ardent up front on both my bikes, so I hope I also like the new, wider Ikon.  I like to dig my front wheel into turns, and with the smaller knobs on these Ikons I hope I can still do that.  There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to mount them up as soon as possible and do a “dry run.”  I should be able to get a set of these installed tonight.

I’ll talk about it soon, but not tomorrow.  We’re back to “Fun Friday” again, and you won’t want to miss that.

I haz special surprise photo to share.

Thanks to Maxxis for the goods.  I know I won't be disappoint.

Madge Would Be Proud

Maybe some of you are old enough to remember this commercial:

Back in my day (damn I sound old), Madge would tell people how terrible their hands were, then trick them into soaking them in dish soap.  Well, I’m not soaking my hands, but I am taking care of them with some new gloves.

Yes, Lizard Skins finally put their gloves out there for public consumption.  Way back at Interbike, I tried to talk them into giving me a pair right off the display.

They weren’t having it.

The original release date was in January, which was pushed back several times for one reason or another.  Well, I finally got my hands of some (ha) a few weeks ago and have been testing them out.  This particular pair is the Monitor 2.0, which is a mid-level model of the long finger gloves that they offer.  I went with these mostly for the color I guess, even though there are subtle difference between these and the others.

I’ve been wearing Lizard Skins gloves for a long, long time now.  They halted the sale of their gloves due to a redesign (which lasted almost two years), but luckily I’d stocked up.  There was a short period of time there where I thought I would have to go somewhere else to protect my delicate hands.

Well, I’m glad I didn’t run off.

I’ve done a few test rides with them and so far, so good.  They are comfortable, very breathable, and don’t feel the least bit bulky. 

And there’s no pesky padding to get in the way either.

As a bonus, they are touch screen compatible.

That means I don’t have to take my gloves off to use my all-out intelligent phone when I take photos, surf The Internets, or check my Twitter feed to see who’s doing cooler shit than I am.

I’ve ridden these in sweltering hot conditions, and on both a rigid and suspension froked bike.  The design is much better than previous years, which might explain why they took so long to get here.  Only a couple of rides and I can say they are pretty rad.  Maybe a long term review will be in order, or even a race day review.  I do have a race coming up soon.

Shit.  I’m not ready for that.

Anyway, go to LizardSkins.com and see if they have anything you like.  I haven’t seen any available here locally, but I don’t get out much.   There are so many different kinds of gloves out there to choose from, so I understand that you might want to try them on first.  I don’t think you need to, but no one cares what I think.  

I still think you should try them.

They even have cool t-shirts available now.

Dork not included.

More Changes?

The new blog header was something I never really thought about until D-Wayne hit me up and said I needed an upgrade…bad.  Since he started doing them for me, I’ve been much happier than I would with any homemade shit I could come up with.  Not that this blog is all that important, but it does make me feel nice.  I like to feel nice.

More changes will probably come along later.  I still have to organize/change a few of the people/logos/companies for my “supporters”, and I also should probably update the reading list of the blogs I follow.  Some folks haven’t posted in years, some that post regularly are sucky, and some, well, I probably should add since I read them and haven’t told you about it. 

I don’t like change a whole lot.  I know it’s good for me, blah blah blah, but since this isn’t my real job it’s kinda hard to get motivated to do it sometimes.  Hell, speaking of my real job, it’s hard to get motivated to do anything lately other than get up to go to work (which I do against my will most days.)  One thing on my ever-growing to-do list finally got completed though…

Reorganizing my bike storage:

Instead of these taking up most of my precious floor space, I get a little more room to walk around, work on bikes, and stumble around after I drink beer.  That’s only a few of the bikes we have here at the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters, but those few being hung up against the wall made a big difference.  I are happy.

While I was in a cleaning mood, I “organized” my music room.

In just a few short months, I’ve gone from barely being able to play the guitar to being slightly (or overly obsessed) with it.  I have three guitars now, which with all the other stuff I already had makes it a little crowded in that small room (it’s also a man cave/sports watching room for me and my boy.)

I’ve been so burned out, tired, and whatever else lately that it’s been all I can do to get out of the house.  Since I’ve been home a lot more now, at least I’ve managed to take the time to get my proverbial ducks in a row.

Hell, I even managed to make a cabinet/cover/whatever you want to call it for Lunchbox’s car so he can hide stuff in the back of his man wagon.

I’ll get motivated.  Soon I hope.  I’ve been playing my guitars quite a bit, but only riding a little.  There is time to ride, but I just can’t seem to get out and do anything.  Maybe a trip to the hills will cure all that ails me.

It usually does.

New Beginnings

Did you see it?  You know, my new blog header up there.  I'm so excited.  Since this whole blog thingy isn't really serious anyway, me as a cartoon character seems quite appropriate.    My buddy D-Wayne hooked me up with a new design. 

Who's D-Wayne? You know, the man behind Dwayne Hunter Design Company (and the author of a shitload of blogs like this one, this one , and this one (where he draws cool shit every day.)

D-Wayne has skills no doubt.  He's a good friend, which is probably the only reason he would waste his awesome talent on this awful blog.  I needed a fresh start, and this is just the thing to get it going.  I really appreciate it, but this isn't the first time he's taken the time to make some cool art for me.

He did this wonderful piece of art quite a while ago, and now you can have one of your very own.  Go to the website below, and buy my logo in sticker form.

Get some here:  B-43 stickers

They are cheap, I mean, highly affordable, so buy a bunch.  Stick them everywhere so people can see that you know  me. You'll get more friends, fame, and money, plus you might even get up the nerve to start up a blog of your own. 

Mine will still be dumber.

Big thanks again to D-Wayne.  You should go to Dwayne Hunter Design Company and have him design something for you too.  He actually does legitimate work, so your business, personal website, event, etc. can get a much needed makeover.  Big or small, give him a call.  I just made that logo up in my head.  Kinda like the way I make up my fame on The Internets.

If you're a hack like me, he can probably help you too.  Will you be as cool as me?

No.  You'll be way cooler.

Now that I'm a cartoon, I'm gonna go see if I can get into some crazy adventures.  Maybe I'll try jumping off a cliff, have a safe fall on me, and see if I survive.

See y'all tomorrow.

Back To The Social Norm

Social ride last night.  Groovy. 

What an awesome ride.  Social pace and all that, we cruised around in the woods for a while and had a great time.  Food, beer, and bullshit after.  I dig that.  Only one minor mishap in the form of a flat tire (not mine.)

Still fun, even though that particular trail is being dumbed down so bad it isn't even funny.  Wait, I'm sorry.  I mean, there are lots of "improvements."

I’m taking the easy way out today, and maybe even tomorrow.  There will be a change around here soon.  As soon as tomorrow, or maybe it won’t be until Monday (Friday is a holiday.)  Depends on how I feel I guess.  You know, being a long weekend and all that I might just make it even longer by taking tomorrow off of here.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited about it, even though it’s only a change to this here Internets blog thingy.  Something cool has been sent my way and I can’t wait to share it.

But I might wait.  If you don’t see anything new here tomorrow, just come back Monday.

Until then, we are under construction.

Last Day

More Florida?  Yup.  I mean come on, there’s not really that much going on here anyway, and you have nothing better to read while sitting on the toilet.

Continuing on…

Lunchbox and I had a great ride in Lakeland.  Critters, good trails, and beautiful weather made it an awesome day.  That ride was only a small stop on our journey though.  That day consisted of taking the tuxedos back to the rental place, riding, and a long trip back across the state to go to my home town.  I’d been through there recently, but this time we got the invite to stay a while from my pal Eric.

I stopped by to see my aunt and uncle first, then we headed out to a local watering hole.  The beer selection was quite terrible, but luckily Eric had some good stuff at his house.  Speaking of good stuff at his house, he has some neat-o decorations.  We grew up skateboarding together, and he still had one of my old skateboards in his collection that I left with him a few years back.

He was gracious enough to let me and Lunchbox spend the night there, so we figured that the next morning we’d do a little exploring before we headed back home to North Carolina.  So much has changed with that little town, but we were able to find a few familiar things.

Like my favorite fishing spot:

My childhood home has been completely remodeled.  I barely recognized it.

There are still plenty of interesting characters around town though, like this fine gentleman hanging out with his bird friends down by the lake.

Oh yeah, we saw some more critters:

We stopped by Gatorland to visit with my brother.  He works there, and he’s not a critter. 

It was really good to see him, especially since I got to see our older brother out in Vegas last fall.  Gatorland was fun too, but they had a lot of rules.

And yeah, even though I’ve been to that place more than I can count, I did the tourist thing for the first time ever. 

A trip down memory lane was an unexpected part of our trip, but it was actually pretty nice.  I saw some family, some friends, and remembered both why I loved living down there and why I left seven years ago.  I’ll be back down there soon, but only for a visit.

Sorry North Carolina, you’re stuck with me for a while.

Tomorrow: 

Not Florida stuff.