We endured the agony of flight once more (girls' first) to make it to Colorado for the biennial Dugal Christmas in Pagosa Springs, and I got to ski for the first time since I was, maybe, 12 years old? Don't get me wrong, I got to try snowboarding 4 years before in Wisconsin, and I rode a skateboard for probably 10 years as a "young adult," but skiing was something missing from my resume of cool, so it was fun to finally apply what I have learned aboard the various craft I have piloted (bikes and boards...just to be clear...it would be easy, in this town, to assume I had also actually flown an airplane or ultra-light, captained a sail boat or seal-skin and whale-bone kayak, kite-related-person-moving-thing, or some other such apparatus of the affluent, but I guess I haven't hit that sweet spot of $450, 000.
The holiday was grueling. I am not joking when I say that I actually shat 12 times a couple of days before we left. The girls and I had come down with an ear infection for which I was prescribed a massive course of amoxicillin (I had just finished by the time we came home from our 9-day adventure), and that stuff will absolutely destroy your gut flora and fauna. Of course, I abstained from alcohol and ate as much yogurt as I could stand (about half-a-cup a day), but it didn't seem to change much. I also loaded up on high-protein meals in the hopes that I could "solidify things," so to speak...even downing an entire block of tempeh on bread with spinach and mustard one morning...in vain.
The stay out there was tough. It was very, very cold (average was probably 15 degrees), and there was about 2' of snow on the ground for the duration. Of course, this provided excellent skiing conditions, and allowed the girls their first encounter with sledding and snow-angels, but it didn't permit much out-time, and the air indoor and out was so fucking dry that I was worried I would spontaneously combust half the time I was there.
The family is awesome, and Andree's brother brought a tree with lights, which absolutely crowned things as far as the girls were concerned. The town of Pagosa Springs is not much of anything, but it had what was necessary.
Wow...I really have let this thing go. Since the above material was written, I've been to Washington, D.C. for a Park Tool Tech Summit. As always, FOX had the best class, though SRAM improved this year. As for Calvin and friend...I could've just gone and signed up for another stint in the armed services if I wanted yelling. Though he showed us a really cool graphic representation of spoke tension we can draw up for customers, I didn't take home much extra knowledge, and he just seemed ready to be done talking to anybody younger than 60 years old. In his defense, his blow-hard buddy with the sweaty disposition just couldn't wait to let loose on all the "uninitiated," tubular-aversive students. "It's the ride of the gods!", he continued to yelp at any who seemed less than totally convinced of gluey magnificence. I'll grant him that he got me just interested enough to give it a shot for a while, but if I get a flat within the first few months, I'm out. Besides, I think the Icon Elite is a good complement to such an arrangement. Weirdest image from trip up I-95...Philip Morris building in Richmond:
I'm just saying (IJS)...in my opinion, it looks like something out of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" or like a facility used for "extra-judicial renditions." You'd think they would opt for a more soothing (yeah, that's it...soothing, like menthol!) design or more subtle location than right next to the interstate, right?
The shop is coming along, though we seem headed down a path of corporate efficiency that is confused by the sudden appearance of so many meetings I can barely get anything other than my TPS reports done. It is the classic situation of a person that knows money and likes bicycling thinking they can model a shop after any other retail establishment. I grow more convinced, each passing year, that bicycle shops are just a different animal and are nothing like the others. Unfortunately, bicycles are still considered toys by even those coming in and dropping$8000 on a Cervelo P5, since such a machine is, basically, a way for the rider to ride a little faster than the others in whatever race. After the race, it will only serve as a means of training for the next race. It will almost certainly never serve as a means of transportation. Racing is not necessary...getting to work is.
I also worry that the current owners have aspirations of a bottom line that only goes up, but, since I've worked there for the last 10 years or so, the bottom line has been all over the place, through no fault of who happens to be at the helm. The housing market thing is when things really got booted down the stairs, but people make weird decisions all the time, and it just isn't worth getting worked up about how this month is different from the same month last year. There are a million things influencing that number, most important of which is who and how many are employed and what product levels and brands are on the floor. If those two parameters are not the same from year to year, there is very little value in comparing the two. I know, I know...take it to the boss. Maybe one day I'll catch him in a situation that doesn't lead me to think he's got 15 other things that he's planning or would rather be doing.
Media matters include the following:
-finished Suttree by McCarthy (just can't read enough by that guy)
-finally reading Tao of Physics
-enjoying reading the free Progressive Populist that I got in the mail a month ago or so; might subscribe
-might go see They Might Be Giants in April (here in town, again)
-watched "Moonrise Kingdom" (terrific...really liked Bruce Willis' and Ed Norton's characters)
-watched "Jesus Camp" and felt like it was something from another dimension; horrifying
-watched "Parking Lot Movie" and wished I was back in Baton Rouge; I miss that time of my life
-watched "Rush" documentary and couldn't listen to anything but for a few days after...which leads me to the following sub-list:
-Parts and Labor (really good sound...like that Husker Du vocal stuff, but more interesting)
-Unsane (holy hell, how did I not ever pay attention to this band?! I've only scratched the surface
but the stuff I've listened to just blows me away; really dark, brutal stuff)
-David Axelrod thing from the online music place we all know (so chilled it's unbelievable)
-Polvo (just about anything...again, how did I miss out on this?!)
-Deerhoof "Offend Maggie" (another great one)
-Budos Band (can't stop listening to this stuff...goes well with anything you're doing)
Matt (shop owner) and I are scheduled to do the 12 Hours of Tsali in May. May the beatings begin.
Oh, and call your "representatives" and tell them assault rifles and handguns make great paperweights.
Lastly, can somebody please tell me why most of my "views" for this thing are from India? I just looked at the "stats" for this blog for the first time and noticed this odd situation. I have the sneaking suspicion that it has to do with data mining, but it could just be that a rarely published blog about a father of twins that likes to ride bicycles and commune with the natural world is just more important in other parts of the world...who knows?
Love and kisses,
Brad
Never gets old
