Ylots ofs funs!

Tuesday. May 21st. 2013...

Reveille. About 0430. Prepared myself (scientifically) for my ride to just south of Bellevue, WA with my pal, Dyno...

0446, eating healthy chow. Dredding ride a bit, because rain coming down really hard, but still resolute. Then a text from Dyno. Ride - No Go. Too wet. Wise man! Crawled back into bed with Mrs. Ocean & NeeshaCat. But...

So Dyno. In Mrs. Ocean's exact words, "Dyno is a wuss. A skinny wuss." Then what does that make me? "A wuss too, but apparently a fat wuss."

Honestly? Couldn't care less. Fell back asleep. Then awoke by Mrs. Ocean giving me a coffee from Whole Foods. She left the drink, then went out to golf. Whatevs. But then I started sipping the damn thing, and then I got rejuvenated...

Faced the day, and went out for my bike ride. Wet. Damn wet. After 6 miles I was completely soaked to the core...

Headed North to Everett. Had a moment on the Interurban bike path, where I felt so free, but even more so, OPEN & COMPLETE. Had the foresight to bring my ipod. Yet, updated the music device with my best of NMN 2012 (aka - mostly Manatee & Opossum), and also my NMN 2013 pre-list. God Damn. Singing aloud on the bike path, like I was Mick Jagger. God damn fun!

Only concern on the ride, was my nutrition. Rode 50 miles due east on Mon. No problem. But, this morning I left three hours later than Mon. My stomach growling from the get-go...

So rewind for a sec. Last weekend, our inaugural bike camping ride! At South Whidbey Island State Park. Also, got my grapefruit ride in. (17 months and running). Dyno, Skirtsteak, with all Dyno's kids (3) along with Ocean & Ocean Jr. Honestly? Probably my favorite ride on Whidbey to date. Why? Just a COMPLETE ride. Also, last time I can remember camping exclusively, was when I was in the Army.  This was way, WAY better, not to mention on the ferry ride home, I saw for the very first time a pod of killer whales!

So back to biking and other stuffs. MS 150. Gotta train for it. Learning to enjoy my home. Home ain't Mukilteo only. I really, REALLY don't like the word "only" anymore. Huh?

Home is also: North to Everett. Northeast to Snohomish & Lake Stevens. Also South to Edmonds and don't forgets god damns Northwest to Whidbey Islands...

So that's that. Ylots ofs funs! What is that exactlys?

Drunks phone calls (emails toos). Bike camping. Training for runs of crazy distances that I does'ints understands personallys, but does on anothers levels (aka running from Mukilteo to Everett). Drinking coffee while overlooking the Puget Sound in North Everett. Biking to Lake Stevens. Biking to Everett. Biking to Edmonds. Biking to and fro God Damn Yurt off Yesler in Seattle. Playing tennis. Swigging in the form of celebrating. Journaling...

Bottom line? I'm done. Done explaining myself. So then what? No more talks only, just ready your god damn selves for "Ocean Trust". The way I see it, life is science. life is art too. Both of them, but they are completely different. So, what does that mean exactly?

I'm interested in enjoying life. How so? By opening up!!!

The Theoretical Bicycle pt.6

No longer theoretical, been riding it daily for about a month. Dream come true.

 

 

 

What's New?

My newest interest?

Applied cartography. Wonderful activitIES.

But do not distress. Still adore devouring ribs, swigging, and drunks phones calls!

To Be Clear

2013 NMN new requirement: 15 songs pre-1982. Plus one song from 2012 or 2013. Sorry, but house rules...

Enjoyable. Running from Muk to Ev. Ran a marathon with Dyno Sun. No glory, but just cool. I know on paper it's Dyno's 2nd, but non-paper it's his first by my opinion. Either way, lots of fun...

What's next? God damn bike camping. Hello Whidbey Is!

MAJUN and 2013 NMN

Majun. You know. It rhymes with cajun.

Next monthly challenge will combine May & June. Majun. Check out the Majun link under the chalkboard. I set it up for Dyno & Gerald, but all welcome to join in. Just let me know. There's nothing like accountability...

Finally, 2013 NMN criteria will be released now. Work on it over the next six months, and the CD's actually will be sent out in the month of November for a change. Select fifteen songs pre-1982. The sixteenth song must be from 2013. We are up to eight letter animals...

So what's up with the caption above? Well it's all about _ R _ _ T. Something very significant in my book. It's something that needs to be updated, renewed day in, day out. Within, without...

The Theoretical Bicycle pt.5

As the Theoretical Bicycle stayed Theoretical for a little too long I mulled over every part probably more than was healthy. Now I have custom paint on the fenders and cargo rack. Worth it? Well, it looks pretty good in my eyes and it kept me busy while the frame was not showing up. Pretentious? Hell yes. One of the very few non-new parts on the bike is the cargo rack. I had this Axiom Phoenix rack for a couple years and I've been impressed with the sturdy construction and the style of the curved aluminum sheet on top. The colors were not right for the Theoretical Bike though, I wanted to get it back down to bare aluminum. Powder Coat is stubborn stuff though, it doesn't like to come off without a fight. After some time on bicycle and automotive forums, it seems the best chemical assistant for removing powder coat is spray-on gasket remover. After the first application the layer of coat turns really rubbery and puffs up, easily peels right off in layers. I was able to get most of the powder coat off both parts with subsequent applications of the gasket remover but the really stubborn bits took a lot of elbow grease, steel brushes, scraping. It took about a month.

Painting was a lot easier. I had emailed Volagi and they sent me the Pantone code for the cream color paint they were using. I was able to find a local company that sells quality spray paint in the same color - bonus! I set up the extra bathroom shower as a paint booth with some plastic drop cloths and a lot of tape. The biggest trick to good looking paint is careful masking ahead of time. I drew the lines on my fenders by laying the fenders flat on the floor and just dragging a sharpie, also laying flat, along the edge. It gave me just the right amount of exposed silver and left a perfect line that was easy to follow with tape. For the curves I laid strips of tape down on a surface that I wouldn't mind marring but could also be peeled back off. Then I scrounged around to find round shapes around the house with the correct radius, a mix of coins and spice jar lids, and they were easily traced out and cut with an X-Acto. Then just peel them off and reapply to the appropriate fender or rack part. Then Primer and Paint, a few coats of the latter - easy peasy. The black pinstriping is 3M black reflective tape (.25"), I found it on amazon. Its very reflective and supposedly plenty durable for longterm outdoor use. I then just cut more radius forms out of black electric tape for the curved black pinstriping at each end (the reflective tape not quite flexible enough for that tight of a turn). I hit everything with a few coasts of clear coat for a final layer of durable protection and they are ready to mount!

It seems I don't have any decent pics left of the paint application, you'll have to wait until the next post (soon) to see the finished product.