It's been a long, long time. I raced in Florida, the girls are much bigger, precocious, and adorable, and we've just been through a whirlwind of bicycle advocacy. The job scene is still very dismal, with little hope on the Interpretation front, and a shop that may or may not be realizing the mistakes of the past and what needs to happen for future success.
The 12 Hours of Santos was a blast...or should I say a wash? I flatted twice within five minutes on my third lap and seized my quadriceps on the sixth. I had never experienced muscle failure in my legs, before, and I don't plan on it happening again. I had to use my bicycle as a crutch to push myself off the trail and out of the way of other riders. It was quite pathetic. Anyway, I just quit. I didn't see any reason to wait out the regeneration of overly stressed muscles that needed more than a few minutes rest and a little food. The fact is that I just didn't train at all for it, this year. It didn't help that we rode some of the other trails in the area for a couple of hours the day before. I thought that this would help me get warmed up, but it just produced a dramatic and slightly painful front flip over the handlebars and some slightly sore legs on race day. Here's a glimpse of what southern FL has to offer...you'd be surprised...enjoy the soundtrack these guys rocked. I especially like that somebody commented that the videographer "made it look easy," with all the deadbeats on the side of the trail and crashing in front of him.
In the hopes of conquering this demon, I spent the first few months after the race riding downtown and running 9 flights of stairs 20 or more times, with push-ups at the top. I'm really committed to nailing this next year. Ever since, I've been hitting most Tuesdays and Thursdays with the local group rides, with some Sunday mornings thrown in for good measure, though the work-outs are still just barely getting ramped back up. I've had a really bum last month or so, mostly because I'm not riding anything capable of keeping me with everybody on the road, and I've got a couple of puds for riding partners that are forever canceling on plans to hit the trails. The next plan is to start running with Mark from the shop, since he's dependable and does the kind of distance in which I need to involve myself (his trail runs are 15-20 miles). I've done more than a few 13 milers on the greenway, and I'm sure having a change of scenery and not having to do out-and-backs will motivate.
So, all of the above was written fairly long ago, and the shop is now closing. We will, most likely, wind up with a new, well-funded, and surprisingly young owner, which is neither here nor there. At this point, I could give two poops, since the girls need a daddy with a solid job, and we've signed them up for two days of daycare each week for Fall (partly for their own benefit, partly for ours). I'm one of two former employees with a paying job, and I couldn't care less about the future of the shop, as long as it is about providing real bikes for real people. I am truly at the end of my wits with those that think gluing tubular tires or flushing disc brakes should be same-day services in a shop that truly (and obviously) services every kind of rider out there, not just those with overpriced wagons and fat wallets...fucking idiots.
I've been lightly engaged on the road, recently, and I've been doing it on an old, lugged, steel, Taiwanese, DiamondBack. I finally got the Schwinn Circuit powdercoated (for $100), but I've yet to get a new group for it (I'm probably going to go with Ultegra, even though Athena was attractive...I've just not become a fan of practically removing my hand from the bar to shift the other direction on the Camp stuff). Yes, I know, the price is right with an employee deal and the Italian stuff is rebuildable, but Shimano is just so much more intuitive.
Fuck knows where things are going, but it was good to see you still creeping on the blog, Christopher. It's more than I can say for some of my other old friends that I anticipated would've commented by now and jostled me out of my "literary" funk. Things have been overwhelming the past 6 months or so, and I appreciate any of you that are even still occasionally checking this thing to see where the Jaynes' are headed. I could get in to the fact that we've had two termite swarms in the house, and how funny/absolutely infuriating it is to deal with pest control employees that don't know that you went to graduate school to study forest insects ("Are you sure they're termites, sir?") and to get a contractor to assess the damage done. I could also get in to how much fun it is to forget your insurance card for a doctor's visit and have to receive 5 pieces of mail as a result to finally get the visit paid, or how cool it is to show up on a bicycle with two car wheels for tire replacements and then get four tires replaced when you bring the car in for a free alignment check (yes...I paid for the alignment on top of the free alignment check). Lots of cool stuff, lately, but the upshot is that I think I'll be full-time bike shop guy from here on out, unless some real dick rolls in the door with a bag of cash...not an impossible scenario, given the tiddely-winks and shenanigans the current owner got himself into over the eight years he was at the helm.
Anyway, I hope to get this thing up and running, again. I've been in a really low place for too long, now, and it helps to share with the few of you that still look in on me. Here are a couple recent photographs to visually update. We absolutely massacred the blueberry farm this year and hit the strawberries at least twice. The giant swallowtail larva is on the grapefruits I grew from seed earlier this year. Can't wait to imprison the chrysalis just long enough that the girls can watch the newly emerged adult float away.
Stay tuned...and rent Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and the Banksy movie. Those movies are really good. Oh, and don't read Derrick Jensen (it'll just depress or upset you in a do-nothing kind of way), but read Freefall by Stiglitz. Also, last month's Mother Jones is really good, albeit a little on the downer side.
Thanks for hanging in there. Things are getting better.
3 comments:
Nice to have you back.
C'mon back!
one more time--where are you?
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