Return

Moveitfred has been granted a release for mildly appropriate behavior. He returns with a Gloucester pic from the sunny day.

What is the sound of two hands clapping?

Moveitfred is planning a trip to Belgium in 2010 to research cyclocross. And he's about as serious as he can be about that.

Salut

To blogger cyclist friends:

Train smart, ride hard, be well. Hope to see you down the road. I won't be posting a darn thing here for the foreseeable future. I'm just going to keep this blog sitting for as long as blogger allows as a place for links and such. Some new writing projects are tugging every day, and clearly (in my mind, anyway) it's time to cut loose the things I cannot keep up with anymore.

Fun stuff, Moveitfred

Crack Arrived

Rainy pisser of a day. I hope to be especially productive over the next few hours by eating air-popped corn and drinking two press pots of Oren's. Doing what I can to stimulate the economy.

Coffee and bikes

Good looking East Village city bike, no? Discovered some killer coffee down the street at the Roasting Plant. To stand out in the crowd they've developed an automated, theme-park ride system for making the joe. You order up, worker pushes a button, and freshly roasted beans are sucked up through tubes over your head and into machines that grind and brew. It's all very clinical and not at all warm and baristamente, but it's a memorable cup of joe.

Stopped by Oren's to get some of their fresh beans, but they closed up shop early for inventory. Damn. So ordered online and am pacing the house waiting for the delivery.

It's important shit like this keeps me busy while waiting to go back to work. Put in 90 minutes on the mountain bike yesterday and just finished 60 minutes of brisk hiking through the sand at the shoreline with the dog. So far, a stellar beginning to 09.

Now, gotta hammer out some script pages until the kids come home.

Yeah, kinda cold

Did the 60 minute tour of town with son. Slush/sandy roads. Some fun stuff to plow through. Not really that cold, but I can't seem to get the gloves dialed in. Fingers are soooooo freaking boney and long that they jab into the ends of the gloves, compress the insulation, and quickly go numb. Just completed the painful thaw process. Now it's time for hot chocolate and settling in with the giant lego Star Wars craft. Goal: get that mutha built before bedtime.

New Powershot

Lazy good-for-nothing dog gets first test photo. Little camera feels like a postage stamp in my big, gawky mitts. Lots of tiny buttons to accidentally push.



Taking mountain bike out today in the ice and cold.

Yes, really.

Resolutions

Exercise less and drink more coffee. Generally average Krups burr grinder crapped out just before the holidays. Going to pull the trigger on this bad boy:


Opinion for the new year: those who stop or cut back on coffee consumption are weak-minded fairy boys.

"Yeah, but my doctor says..."

So tired of this whiny crap.

Snowing like a mutha outside, and moments ago a big lightning flash nearly blinded me. Strange biblical shit, for sure.

More resolutions:

• Eat more processed food.
• Show more contempt for others.
• Put on 20 lbs by March 1.
• Cut out flossing altogether.

See you maybe once in awhile in 2009.

Southampton 08

Simply put, effin stark and cold.

And that's about the size of it.

Gloucester

Here are a few of the better shots from Gloucester Cross 2008.

Good weekend for Brooke Shields to wash up on the beach, or something like that.

Elite men cranking up the hill at the start of day 1.

A taste of the mayhem at the barriers.

Trebon ran away from the elite field both days. Just his kind of course, for sure.

Son happily rocking the barriers at the end of day 1.

Kids digging deep for glory at the day 2 race.

Women up and over the start/finish hill on day 2 and flying into the hardpack.

Run-up of pain added for day 2.

Good to see lots of old and new friends. Weather was very uncrosslike, but great for spectating with the family. All involved at Gloucester do a fantastic job with the race.

Sacred Fishing Grounds

Kids and I are off right now for the holidays. As we are far from practitioners of the Jewish faith this is simply two unencumbered days off, as it were.

Yesterday we explored the Sacred Fishing Grounds down the street from our house. The tide was high, the eelgrass was browning, and the creatures were plentiful. We managed the hat trick of capturing numerous small blues, some short stripers, and two fat porgies. All were released as per the pre-established tenets of sportspersonship.

On to cycling news:_____________ .

Wait, I can report that I am regularly and joyfully cyclo-commuting to work. The entire process is much more ingrained in my daily rituals now, and on my best weeks I've cut down my driving to two days. What has been especially cool in this suburban wasteland is taking the left turn on the way home from work and hitting the singletrack in the newly official mountain bike trail near my house. Some killer sand-to-the-bottom bracket fireroads make for a challenge as well.

On Monday I discovered a new patch of tempting woods adjacent to work. My Russian satellite contacts report a series of trails in there. Just need to make sure humans are not being skinned and sacrificed within its dark bowels.

And, uh, cyclocross?

Do you ever?

Wonder about neighbors who post ridiculous signs out by the road? We got these people, see, a few houses down who, in what must be tremendous urges of over-protectiveness, outrage, and guilt, feel the need to flood the roadside with "Slow Children At Play" warning signs. They got the stand-up plastic A-frame versions of these signs, the plastic-coated stick-in-the-ground versions. Big, yellow signs everywhere.

Now, there's a tremendous weight of irony that I'll let you in on. These kids don't "play." At all. It's not one of those "oh, they could be out more often, like the good old days" observations either. These kids are NEVER outside playing down by the road or otherwise.

And, yep, they look like this:

Bet you anything, too, that if we lined 'em up and fired off a starting pistol they'd, yes indeed, be slow children.

In other news, thanks to the wonder-knowledge of Solo and CTodd I'm gaining confidence with my mac right-click habits. Also, G-Willier hooked me up with a stellar full-finger glove rec for my oversized mitts. Ah, the wonders of the blogosphere. Thanks Hombres.

Got in a spectacular solo ride today on the cross rig. Managed to mix in plenty of terrain, discovered that my fav cross field over yonder in town had been mowed down of its summer neck-high weeds, and even worked on a few dismounts.

Temps are dropping and the sky is blue. I assume Venus and Mars are alright tonight too.

Right-click

I was the KING of right-click with the mouse on the old PC. But, bad news. The PC crashed and is currently awaiting repairs. What to do? Purchase a mac. This is the good news.

However, where is my right-click? This function was my lifeline to fun and frivolity. How do I grab, copy, paste with this shiny new whiteness?

One problem in this whole equation is I have no time to learn something new and I'm an idiot. OK, two problems. But somewhat related nonetheless. Need one of those Geniuses to move in for a week.

Anyway, wanna know what else? The logline for my screenplay sucks. Effing sucks right now. That about sums up life. Cycling/cross? Nope. Keeping up with regular job? Barely. Getting kids to school on time? Once in awhile. Eating well? Does two bowls of ice cream tell you anything.

Gotta nail the logline, gotta nail the logline.

Might go to Nittany Lion cross. Or might not.

Man, I need to be driven by fuel and have passion for dirt, or however that saying goes.

ps, can there be anything worse than being on Solo's list of the "not being updated much?" Jeezus, how's that for kicking a guy in the rocks?

FYI

Back in Black

I suppose it's time to post something here, a task that's getting hard to complete with any frequency (yeah, like once every month or so). 

In brief it goes like this: back from a stellar vacation in Cali where I spent way more time in the water than on a bike and that was just fine, doing some very cool and prompt work for Andrew in order to help the cause, gearing up to devote a year to writing at least two screenplays, picking up a new online teaching gig to test the waters there, and, oh, also continuing the responsibilities of family and the usual job. 

I'm feeling way behind balls right now, but the work I'm doing is a big loin rush. As the cliche goes, I'm stretching myself in some new directions that are pushing the fun and cool factors. So, to all my blogger friends out there ramping up the fitness for what's left of road or the beginning of cross, well done and hammer on. I'm looking forward to hitting a number of cross races this season, but I'll likely be in my usual position of way off the back. If there's one thing I've learned as a newbie cross racer it's that someone like me needs to devote a healthy chunk of time to training in order to see some results, and that sort of dedication just ain't fitting into the life program right now. 

(Random observation: didn't have one insect bite during a month stay in the warm, dry climate of Cali. Right now I'm itching myself to the fucking bone from what must be approaching a dozen violations of my person.)

So on the program today is an attempt to transfer my two online courses from the "test site" to the "production site" for the start of online classes next week. See my college, in its infinite wisdom, switched course management systems over the summer from what everyone in the universe uses (Blackboard) to a new startup system (D2L). As you might imagine, the transition has produced a bug or two. So I have managed to successfully move my courses from Blackboard to test D2L, and now I will attempt to reach my hand into the hat and pull the real deal out for all to see. 

Add into the mix housesitting a black lab puppy. The little fucker is cute as a button, but she divides her day into good (sleeping) and bad (chewing, pissing, crapping). 

If you have a compassionate bone in your body, wish me luck. 

Shaky City

Heading out the door bound for Land of La. Earthy rumbles will no doubt serve as good prep for dodgy, off-camber turns. Be back in a month or so....

I don't get it, but whatever

Meg tagged me? With a meme? Dude, I am WAY out of the loop on this one, but I just finished up a brilliant job teaching over the summer, got nothing to do right now, so here goes:


If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?

My purple Zank. Easy answer. The bike does it all, and it's comfy steel all around, baby.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?

See answer above. My Serotta Legend ain't too shabby either. Check back in six or seven years when I have my new Sachs. Answer may change.


If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?

I would ride from my sister-in-law's pad in Long Beach, Cali along PCH to my day job teaching swim and rescue classes to female, 18-25 yr old lifeguards-in-training in Newport Beach, Cali. And then I would ride back to Long Beach. Why? The scenery, man.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrow minded?

Yes. Road. Because I suck at off-road. I hit trees regularly.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.

I would beat my testicles with a wrench before I would ride a recumbent.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?

See answer above. Replace "ride a recumbent" with "race a triathlon."

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why?

Ice cream. To keep my slim, sexy figure.

Can you conceive cycling without racing?

Here's the deal: I think I confuse "racing" with "touring."

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?

Drop my bibs and shit with it.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not?
Also, answer it.

What are you going to do tonight, Moveitfred?

Well Moveitfred, I'm glad you asked. There is the usual Long Island Fiasco circuit race tonight, but here's an example of where my head is at right now. Instead of racing I will be attending the double feature tonight at the film fest. I'm hoping to catch up with a couple of new screenwriter friends, talk shop, mingle, and say things like "I appreciated the visual elements in that film, however I believe the narrative arc was misconceived."

Two more things:

1) I have no friends and nobody reads this blog, so I have nobody to tag. I will accept my fate.

2) Heywood: if you're out there I need your help to screw my f'ing head back on straight. Dude, I'm going to a FILM FESTIVAL tonight! It's gotten that bad.

FFFFilm FFFFest

Took my man card out of the wallet for the week and replaced it with a pass to the local film festival. Moveitfred hangs out with the other artsies and retired greys watching indie shorts and features late into the night.

Notice that besides getting in line for a new bike that will reach home sometime in the decades to follow, there ain't much talk about cycling on this cycling blog.

That's because there ain't much happening.

I'm putting all my rocks into the bag that requires the driven, virile Heywood to trash my ass into shape for cross season out in the hinterlands of California over the coming weeks.

Good plan, huh?

In Line

If you pay attention to such matters, one of the big buzz topics through the intervines this week was the news that Richard Sachs is closing and locking the front door on all new frame orders.

If you're not in line and you want one, better set your preferences on ebay and hope some dude with your same build suffers a brain hemorrhage before you're hooked up to tubes yourself.

After about 10 minutes of careful consideration, I got in line.


Now all you f'ers can fall in behind Moveitfred, atmo.

Six years or so gives me plenty of time to decide if it's going to be a road or cross frame.


Atmo.

Just Summer

Trying to be mellow by parking myself in front of the euro feed of TdF right now. Dudes are killing it bombing down the Tourmalet at the moment. Glad I'm right here sipping a big cup of joe. Just mellow.

Dodgey experience yesterday down on the south shore of the island paradise at Cupsogue County Beach. For summer the swell was pretty big, and there was a powerful sweep from east to west down the beach. Was out in the break with two killer swimmers: my daughter and friend. Both strong, all-county quality in the water. Tide coming in, and quickly we were caught up in a large set of waves. The first two in the set broke over us, washed up the beach, and then washed back out pulling us with the volume of water.

OK, this now officially sucked. We were now washed out to the furthest breakers, and the big overhead swells just kept pounding down. Not much time to breath as the swells were coming in tight sets. Others got washed out too. The Atlantic was flexing its muscles. Not fun.

Luckily these two girls were killer! My daughter, the smallest by far, was struggling. She was getting tossed and held down. We pulled together. Ducked and got pounded. Came up together for air. Assessed the situation. Put our energies into calmly moving toward the beach.

Wasn't easy at all. The sweep down the beach kept us moving parallel to shore. Lifeguard teams jumped to full alert. Guys were flying out into the surf with cans and ropes. We were getting completely shellacked by the surf. As we were moving in, lifeguard teams were screaming past us to those way out. They were in real trouble.

We finally caught some swells that lurched us toward the beach. Felt great to finally be in knee-deep wash. The girls were awesome. The lifeguards were awesome. Others--adults, teenagers, strong-looking people--were being rescued out behind us. Towed, roped, finally all made it in sputtering and gasping and thankful.

It's the old cliche but true: it's amazing how fast things can change and turn to shit!

Back to TdF. Front groups ready to climb Hautacam. Coffee's about gone. It's a steamy day here. Showers passing through. I've got new cross wheels coming from UPS today. Going to throw on a cassette and check those out later. Countdown to cold and cross.


Find more videos like this on Cyclocross Magazine


But it's just summer now.

Tracking

Type:
Package

Status:
In Transit - On Time

Scheduled Delivery:
07/14/2008

Shipped To:
EAST SETAUKET, NY, US

Freddy is:
Jazzed


Forthcoming functional set of clincher hoops for the cross bike. Can't wait to slap 'em on.

man...

photo from pez:



there is just way too much funny going on in that pic.

Stuck

Why is it that every freakin' pathetic little breakaway I've ever been in has never stuck?


Big congrats to RGM/Sachs rider Justin Spinelli who took second in that other big race over the weekend. Understand he did it all without any help. Pretty good tuneup for the real season that starts in a few months.

Thunder God

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is THE THOR when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

CX Magazine

Hey! Time to get off your lazy ass and pay for a subscription to CX Magazine. Where else are you going to get the best news written by the best people and edited by the leaders in this industry? Huh?

Yeah, yeah, you're going to do it soon.

NO! DO IT NOW! Issue #3 coming out soon, and now's your chance.

CX Magazine

ZPG

Ride your bike to work, to buy groceries, to go to the beach, to make love.

And then buy a patch or something.

Zero Per Gallon

Shipping

Wheelset to Tim in Canada:

USPS: $30

UPS: $240

C'mon Brown, that's ridiculous. And your employee at the store was an unhelpful, cranky prick. Guess they have corporate contracts that keep them in business? I don't know.



USPS=Lance
UPS=Jan

Neck Deep

Approaching a month without a post. Cool! At what point does blogger come and board up the space?

In this fascinating, brief post I am here to say I am mired in online work that is keeping me away from all these troublesome blogs. I have signed on for some additional work/pay/abuse at my regular job, and I am also completing some additional work/pay/abuse at two other cyberspaceic locations. In all I stare at a square screen for hours from the comfort of my casa, dog at feet, cup of joe jittering above the keyboard.

Great thing about the whole debacle is that I get to sneak out on my bikes pretty much whenever I want. Of course nothing of interest to report there, other than I believe for the first time in my cycling career I hit a mammal* the other day. Strangely enough, can't recall ever doing that before.

(*ed note: animal mammal. Upon reflection, have hit a few human mammals in my time on earth)

Offending mammal was a squirrel. The little F'er was alongside the road, did the spastic peepee dance as I approached, and instead of darting left into the safety of the woods it darted right into the path of my front wheel.

I've read and seen horror stories of these creatures attempting to jump through moving hoops and getting all caught up in spokes, forks. Not the case here. I just kind of bumped the little guy. It did a skid and half tumble, I didn't go down, no problem.

Still, I hope I broke a couple of its effing ribs.

Du-Du

I'm a might sore after completing the underground duathlon today. The brazen side of me felt there would be no problem entering into an event with two parts running, even though I don't run. The intellectual side soon figured out that I was setting myself up for a big hurt by doing no run training ahead of time.

Predictably, yours truly was dead last and a hurting puppy after the first run. But soon into the bike the legs started shaking out a bit and I was able to put it into overdrive. Despite giving everyone a HUGE head start I managed to reel in all but the first two out on the course. Entering the run third, I crumbled down one spot (just didn't get a big enough lead on Danny-boy, who quickly and easily dispatched me early in the final leg) for a final position of fourth--just off the podium.

Lesson: if I did even a little bit of running each week I prolly wouldn't collapse during those two parts of the event. Duh.

We may do this all over again next month....

Switching Teams

I'm going Mac, and don't plan to go back.

Now, on to some cycling content. Well, Homeboys and girls, not much to report in the way of excitement--as usual--other than to say I'm making a concerted effort to cycle-commute to work at least 2 or 3 days a week. I haven't quite made the leap to full-time, rain and whatever weather commuting, and also getting up and motivated to ride in for an 8 a.m. class proves to be difficult some days. However I have certainly bumped up the overall weekly mileage whenever I do get my ass out the door on time.

I've also got into a groovy habit of looping the long way home through the woods. Although having my Deuter pack on throws off the balance a bit through some of the dodgy sections, I've got a route figured out over some singletrack that I can ride for 30 minutes or more, depending upon how many loops I want to throw in.

Was all signed up for my first race/crit of the year last weekend, but blew that mofo off after a particularly long day at the office. There was no registration fee, and I just felt much more compelled to get some more sleep rather than schlepping out to the course in the wee hours on Sunday.

I'm thinking into the months ahead and wondering how I'm going to fit in any serious training and racing. General fitness, ok. But I'm getting very squeezed short on time. Got several new, time-consuming projects in the works. Besides the regular FT job, I'm potentially doing some new work for two other institutions via the miracle of the Internet, doing some very cool editing for a very cool mag, and pushing into the dream of screenwriting through a program at UCLA next year.

So I will continue to weep and whine, and probably have very little time for this here enterprise....

Convenience

When you're down in Arkansas it's important to be able to get what you want when you want it.



Now, here's your "Where's Waldo/Wild Kingdom" diversion for the day:



Somewhere in this riveting photo you'll spot a particularly ghastly species of serpent working to devour a young, innocent amphibian. Alive.

God, what is the world coming to...

Let me tell you something else. I REALLY got to get my ass back out on the bike before the earth caves in on me.

Arkansas

Heading down to the natural state for some R & R.


Hey, down there the people rule.


Damn the content on this site blows.

1st Shorts Day, Suckas

Das right, shorts weather today here on the island paradise. Cut out of work early to celebrate in the sun. Put in a solid two hour bike and added on a run later in the day. Even sat for a spell out on the Adirondack and broke open a new book from the jungle. Damn, damn buggy today tho. Critters prolly been lying in wait through the mild winter in order to strike back with a vengeance. Actually think I have mosquito bites.

But it's back to rain and 50's tomorrow.

Ugh

Physical exam today. No fun once you become "of age." Enough about that.

For shits and giggles I've been following the Base Building for Cyclists routine quite regularly this spring. It's my understanding my good friend Heywood is also a member of the club. So far, what the hell seems good. More than anything else it gives one a defined structure to follow each week, something me likes very much. Sort of a reason to get out of bed in the morning. What results will follow? Prolly nothing new. When you ain't got the huge engine or burning desire to begin with, nothing less than needles will likely do that much good.

(abrupt transition)

One of the highlights of my life was winning Henry's CX Contest #4 this week. For my pick I went with the LI day one race that Vervecken won. Lots of good memories of a warm day and lots of on-camera time for yours truly and Heywood along with plenty of running commentary on the run-up from yours truly's daughter. Think I'll be ordering a few more of the films at 10 bucks a pop. Send Henry your love and a few bucks for a film--the guy works hard to pull together footage for us cross freaks.

Speaking of DVDs, I understand Ritchie has got a new one out too that's getting the rave reviews. Hmmm...to get in line or not to get in line for one of those frames?

(another abrupt transition)

Funny, I have the nagging sensation that someone stuck a finger up my ass today.