Happy Friday, or something.


Fill your glass, pimp cup, skull goblet, coffee mug or whatever, and let’s get on with business.

Firstly I would like to offer an apology for Wednesday’s post title. As a reader pointed out, winter actually settled in everywhere (except as I mentioned Australia and Florida) about three months ago. I don’t know why that particular title dawned on me, but when my war zone of a brain settles on something, I type it out and leave it alone.

I guess a more appropriate title would have been ‘AS WINTER RETURNS TO THE COMFORTABLE CHAIR WHERE IT’S BEEN RESTING FOR AT LEAST 90 DAYS, (S)HE OPENS UP THE BUTT FLAP ON HIS/HER UNION SUIT AND BEEFS IT‘.

Anyhoo- As we all wait for longer, warmer days filled with frolic and fun, I will once agin remind you that the second annual Model Building Nerd Off is fully in swing;

A fair number of people have sent me photos of their opened boxes, and millions of tiny pieces to prove that they’re engaging in the process. Then again, a fair number of people did the same last year and wound up going no further.

Remember, because judging would be too difficult if we opened it up to any sort of model, again this year we’re just sticking to motor vehicles. Due to like, three people asking, I guess next year we’ll most likely do planes, which to me sounds really hard.

But for folks who are interested in competing this year, I’ll again announce that among various other prizes, the winner will walk away with a nearly brand new All Hail The Black Market wool Smokey and The Bandit replica jersey;

You won’t look as good in it as Joe, but not many among us can.

Another endeavor that most of us either are unable to do, or smart enough to avoid is this week’s ‘Cross Nationals in Hartford, Connecticut.

So far, besides all of the footage I’ve seen of people sliding wildly out of control on their butts down the big hill, my favorite visual I’ve come across is this photo of Maxx Chance nabbing the Men’s Collegiate Club Nationals title, and a hapless bespectacled soul getting lapped at the line;

If I were him, which I obviously am not, but if I were, I do believe that despite my position in the race, I would have felt compelled to deliver an even more spectacular victory salute than that of the victor;

It figures that upon searching for better quality victory salutes, I should find one thrown by someone representing Ritte Van Vlaanderen.

As a side note, this is something I’ve long enjoyed doing. Regardless of where I am in the race, or who I’m crossing the line with, if it looks like it’s going to be a match finish, I will always throw my bike at the line and finish with a proper salute.

In fact, once a few years ago as I finished mid pack in a one speed race, I deftly crushed a 3 who was crossing the line simultaneously. He proceeded to then admonish me notifying me that we weren’t in fact racing against one another.

I didn’t win the race, but in light of that, I did win the day.

Moving on from schlubs who have to fake victory salutes to champions who know nothing but the real thing, Uncle Neal from Cycling Tips has just recently published the following piece appropriately titled ‘Twenty Questions With John Tomac’;

For the two of yinz who are potentially unaware, along with Coppi;

Merckx;

Juli Furtado;

and Marianne Vos;

-(according to my opinion), JT stands as one of the greatest bikecylcerists of all time.

And those who have perchance picked up a copy of the newest AHTBM fanzine, you are no doubt aware that I also feel as if this is the all time greatest image of him;

I say a lot of people are my spirit animal, but in this instance, I truly believe it.

Lastly, and in relation to this post in which I discussed a particularly favorite musical selection of mine called The Worship Of Silence, it would seem as though whilst engaging in a bit of pre-spring cleaning they have uncovered and then recently digitized an old track they recorded called ‘Amplified By The Sun‘;

At twenty-six minutes and fourteen seconds long, the $6.66 I paid for the song breaks down to just over .02 cents a minute.

I think… I suck at math.

We might have to continue to wait a spell until WOS records new tracks, but until then, we have this, and I’ll tell you what- I’ll drink to that.

Spread this like it's sick

Leave a Reply to Steve Click here to cancel reply.

11 Responses to “Happy Friday, or something.”

  1. Largo January 6, 2017 at 8:40 am #

    A Silver Bullet would be required when staring at a rooted, rutted mess like that while sitting on a bike with an AccuTrac fork. Ruff.

    • suede January 6, 2017 at 3:13 pm #

      Always preferred a protopipe rip meeself, but to each his/her own.

  2. JP January 6, 2017 at 8:56 am #

    I’ll always have a college crush on Queen Juliana.

  3. Steve January 6, 2017 at 9:44 am #

    I’ll never tire of that photo of Tomac.

  4. pedalman January 6, 2017 at 11:12 am #

    Some great photos! The Tomes in his 7-11 kit with the hairnet and factory pilots has got to be one of my all time favorites. Juli Furtado was an equally impressive ‘force of nature’ on the bike. Cheers!

  5. Chris January 6, 2017 at 6:26 pm #

    It’s a good thing trails like the one Tomes is about to shred don’t exist in the day of 5″ travel full sussers that probably weigh less than what he’s astride in that pic.

  6. Nevid January 6, 2017 at 6:49 pm #

    I could say Jonny T and mister Mountain are my spirit animal.. #skateboarderswhobecamecyclist

  7. Crakaveli January 6, 2017 at 7:32 pm #

    We had a poster of Tomac in the bicycle shop I managed as a younger man. A true bad ass

  8. Scott January 7, 2017 at 5:09 pm #

    Curved ale horn for me, mate. At least when I am sent to Vahalla.

    • Scott January 7, 2017 at 5:10 pm #

      *Valhalla

  9. Jose January 9, 2017 at 8:37 am #

    JT told me that the drop bars were not as good on the dirt and he had a hard time getting as much power to the pedals with them. Look, I get it, road bikes were all that we had at the time and some wanted to ride them in the dirt. The CX tradition is a good thing, because just tossing something away for something physically better misses the spirit of the endeavor and why it happened to begin with. Meaning, why not take a super light 29er to a CX race? Would it totally kick ass on a skinny bike? I never rode a skinny tire bike off road much, so I should talk, yet again there was never the opportunity or any reason in my head to do it. Getting back to JT, he also said he was really wanting to give road racing a go at it and prove it to himself. He didn’t elaborate to me on stuff that much, but he always looked happy to see me and gave me the time of day. And I remember him also saying he used the drop bars off road because it helped make him a better bike handler on the road. Interesting thought coming from a guy who was one of first mountain bikers to make handling a mountain bike totally natural.