It was my Mom's birthday today. Here is a picture of her and my sister from when I didn't exist.

She does not exist now - in time, but time is really irrelevant. This looks like a beautiful moment and that will last forever. And now that this photo is safely ensconced on the internet, it really is about as forever as simple creatures could hope to achieve. My dad seems to agree that time is really irrelevant

Moto Trip

So kind of on a whim I bought a motorcycle. But I should have been planning this for years. Riding in a car, I have been trained to rush to where I am going - to make sure I get there as quick as possible. On the moto, its all about the journey and it makes where you are that much more enjoyable once you get there. Ben and I did a ride down to Baltimore and made a few stops including this one at the Conowingo Dam.




We dodged rain the whole way and it was great. And as soon as we got there, my fiance was waiting with food and generally got everyone pumped about the great night we were about to have. We basically acted like we were in college again, and I definitely have not been that drunk since my 21st birthday. Here is Lindsay... she can't help being so hot



And to top things off, I was completely suprised that the Baltimore Grand Prix was going on that weekend. Ben and I went over to check out some of the racing, and we got interviewed by the AP about the race:

Nearby, Ben Miller, 26, and Andy Munas, 27, of Trexlertown, Pa., watched part of a race through the windows at Harborplace, where the cars could be seen whizzing past just outside. The pair was in town to visit Munas' fiancee.
"We just decided to come over and check it out," Munas said. "It's really cool."

Awesome weekend.

To be young again

Sometimes I want to go back to being young and stealing concrete from the sewer project to build a foundation for a clubhouse. Or just running around the woods collecting bits of trash to build into a TeePee. But I guess I am still just a kid - buying a motorcycle for a new toy, riding my bike, etc, etc. I think the thing I miss is not worrying about really anything at all. Recently, I haven't had much to worry about... its been nice.

Here is a note my dad got from our neighbor (I think she is about 9 or 10 years old).

Specialized Tarmac Pro SL Carbon - Campagnolo Chorus 56

stupid things I've done

When I first got my Specialized Tarmac, it whistled at any speed above 15 mph. In trying to diagnose the whistling, I replaced the front brake caliper with another one I had on a different bike. I did not readjust the brake pads. Unbeknownst to me, the one brake pad was ever so slightly rubbing against the front tire. I was descending at 50 mph when my front tire blew out.

I told all of my friends that had broke some part of their bike - because they had just driven their cars into their garages with bikes on their roof: "I will never do that". I did it.

I took a ride in a clothes dryer. That is actually my profile picture for this blog. No terrible things happened, but that is just stupid.

There are a few other things that are pretty stupid... but I will save that for an in person story instead of the internets.

Crashing

It's part of racing. And as much as I can be pissed about the crash that took me out of the finish of Iron Hill with 2 laps to go, I can be happy that this hasn't happened to me:

I am itching to race again and use this good form I have. Hopefully Johnny is too.

3Rensho Frame for Sale (Campy front disc)

So I am selling this bike. It is a 3Rensho Pursuit Bike (funny bike). It has a 700c rear wheel and a 600c front wheel. It will come with a rather flimsy rear HED track disc wheel (tubular). It will also come with a 600c Campagnolo Ghibli front disc wheel (tubular). The front disc will come with a Continental Olympic track tire on its last legs but that still holds air. Finally it comes with a Shimano hub spoked front wheel (600c).

The bike is fairly rare. The bike was built Yoshi Konno (who was paralyzed in an accident and stopped making frames a number of years ago):

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/3Rensho.htm

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2009/12/yoshi_konno_article.php

I haven't seen many of the funny bikes go up for sale, but the regular track bikes in pristine condition go for around $2000. This one is far from pristine as you can see from the photos, but is in complete working order and ready to be built into one cool project bike.

I am going to start this one off at $1800. That is for all 3 wheels and the frame, fork, and headset.

I may be under-selling this thing, because I know this tension disc from Campagnolo is super rare. I have never seen a 600c before and I know that the 650c versions sell for close to $1000 as collector items. Either way - let me know if you are interested. Or let me know what you think.