The theft

I have been in a quandary about what we have done. We as in a friend and I as we have stolen a bike using his car. I say stolen because it wasn't ours and we didn't pay for it. I have worked out my justification over the past 2 years of seeing the bike languish in a parking lot under garbage and other broken bikes but the truth cannot be ignored. Sure, it hadn't moved for 2 years, the tires had rotted through to the rims, The spiders living inside the handlebars had died or moved out BUT somebody could have been coming back for it. I feel neither regret or remorse about having removed this bicycle and then stripping it down but the eerie thing is that it came apart so easily. Almost as though some unknown force had been maintenancing it after it started to rot. It could be that the previous owner had been a bike nut and wanted it to be ridden long after he or she had passed on. So in a sense, I am like the bicycles Godfather and it shall stay with me long after the initial rider's demise. Cool. Scarily, as I cleaned and began to strip parts and paint I found a PANASONIC mark and I clued into the destiny that had brought the bike and I together as we all know my fondness for Panaracers. I intend to upload more pics and seeing as how I just managed to buy a jug of paint stripper with my new found wealth you will be seeing be seeing more bare metal than a 25 to lifer, son. Any and all tips are welcome as I may run into snags that I don't know about.

Get yer wait up!

There is a series of these promoting cycling, commuting and something to do with a sega game about a dolphin that saves shit. I cut the company name off of it and I am thinking about putting it on my bike. I started thinking about that, my bike I mean and if it would want me to put a sticker on it. Does it care? Surely if it did it would have puked grease and clenched it's BB tight when I put the supreme sticker on it so many years ago. My friend named his bike. He wanted a woman's name but the bike is a canondale badboy and he needed to make it gruff so
Vasquez it was and boy oh boy it is fitting. The way he explains it i pretty funny. I guess I really have nothing more to write so that's it for now.

This post is brought to you by CAPITALISM

I saw a t-shirt with the ubiquitous Che stencil on it and a caption under it reading This T Shirt brought to by Capitalism I laughed and wondered how many people would buy it. I have seen similar things on the onion.com talking about Marley posters in frat houses or University anarchists who's parents are capitalist. Pretty funny but not that memorable until I encountered the uber consumer while I was riding to work. He was riding one of the newer cross bikes that used to be called city bikes that used to be called hybrid bikes that used to be called road bikes with riser bars. You could tell he had put a lot of thought into his "kit" since the bike, still gleaming new, already had stickers and something of a spoke card in the wheel. What caught my eye more than the bike was his pseudo cyclist uniform. I guess in order to ride a bike you have to be as uncomfortable as possible to get "street cred". The low slung messenger bag that had the red Manhattan portage logo double sized on the flap acted as a counter weight to his 3 coast 3 cadence while his north face jacket made sure the 15 degree plus weather wouldn't chill his bones. He had chosen to go with the Velcro strap around his trousers since rolling up expensive jeans probably irreparably creases them. The buttons on the man purse were neatly across the flap and they were, in order, a pentagram to show how much he didn't care about God (yet riding without a helmet puts you in his hands entirely), a middle finger that was flipping me off for looking at this buttons and a Che button. WTF! I had no idea what that meant but the implication of Che being a satanist who was flipping me off almost ruined my morning. I quickly averted my eyes only to lay them upon the pre-faded/written on vans. If you know the ones than you can imagine my dismay and if you don't you can find them online and they look like ass. How lame do you have to be to pay more for shoes that already have writing on them? I passed him and was happy to be on my way but he must have felt my scornful glances because he ended up at the same bike parking lot that I was at. He went out of his way to flaunt his affluence by asking the staff if they could break a 10,000 yen note. He didn't have any change for the vending machine I guess.

Tour de Saint-Laurent

Or, Le Tour de Nouvelle-France. Who knew this even existed at one time? Looks totally effin' dope. (Can't figure out if you can embed vids from the NFB/ONF, so I've posted the link below).
All commentary is in French, but there's not much anyway, and if yer a good Canadian you should understand it all perfectly.
60 Cycles

Scene while riding

This is one of the pictures I took while we were out riding a couple of weeks ago and it pretty much sums up how fun a long ride, amidst beer stops can be. There were 5 of us that day and we covered about 90 solid Kms with additional shaky ones that were mostly side trips to pick up more beer. It was sunny and a little chilly but it was the chilly that quickly turns to refreshing as you sweat away the time. I need to upload some more pics but until then ride safe and remember that commuting is like midday snacking while you wait for the weekend buffet.

On my way down

Last year end was going great. Greater than any year had gone in a long and, despite being on the verge of being cut from work, I was optimistic. The weather had been great, bonus season is around the corner and I was coming into more than a week off. I was on my my to work on Christmas and I decided to take my camera because it was probably the last chance I was going to get to commute by bike to Shinbashi. I have commuting by bike since June 1st and I can honestly say that I can't go back to taking the trains. I get frustrated by every stop thinking "jeesh, I could be at blahblah by now" or "I am going to get sick from the prick next to me coughing all over everyone". I was riding high on that buzz when BANG. I slipped on a wet patch and slid into a car waiting for the light. I dismounted, being already half on the ground and went over to the sidewalk. Now the driver didn't know what to expect and my gut said BOOK IT outa here but my conscience said you hit his car and you're at fault. Never did it cross my mind that all those drivers that have hit me with their sideview mirrors should have stopped or the taxis that speed in front of me and slam on the brakes to drop off a fare were in the wrong. I honestly felt that it would go smoothly. He called the police and I waited. This sort of thing has nothing really to do with cops but the guy was shocked and pissed and I was wishing I had kept on going. The cops showed up and took my information and his then proceeded to berate me about what I had done and how was I going to recompense the driver for it. I told them that I had stopped so I could give him my info and that I should pay for it but burst out laughing when the cop asked if that was it. I couldn't control my laughter and the driver, taking pity on me had to turn away and smile. The cop was upset so I asked what I should do and he told me to apologize so I responded " that's a good idea" but didn't say sorry because he was waiting for it and I thought I was going to lose it again. I haven't been back on a back until the 11th of this month. I was really pissed about the whole thing and I tried to hide it from my wife but the more I thought about the angrier I got at all the drivers that have squished me into parked cars or almost killed me while they talk on their phones. When I finally did tell her she laughed and asked if that was it because she thought that I had hit a pedestrian in a cafe in Israel or something. Nobody had been hurt and I was still alive. I have never been so relieved before. The whole time I had been doubting my choice to stay at the scene but I felt better about the whole thing and I was guiltless to start the year. I shot some other pics that day and you can see some of the sights I saw everyday on the way to work. Here's to 2009 RIDE SAFE! The track bike that never moved. I guess there were some days that it wasn't there but I usually saw this bike on the way to and from work Tokyo tower. I must have passed this place more than a 100 times and I always thought it was pretty cool. This is the park where I stopped for beers and the fixster took pity and talked to me. If I had the extra cash I would buy a Brooklyn machine works Gangsta (full brakes) because it was such a fun bike to ride The arch thing by the park. When it was lit up at night it was cool and reminded me that I still had an hour to go before I was home.

Dopeness

Rapha Gentlemen's Race - Sept. 6th, 2008 from RAPHA on Vimeo.
via D'ordinaire