Vacation, all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away-
Vacation, meant to be spent alone.
The great thing about finally being able to work for myself is getting to periodically take time off of work to go do stuff, unlike when I punched a clock and I could periodically take time off to do stuff, but I had to let my boss know ahead of time.
My new boss is very attentive to all of my needs aside from giving me a raise, or for that matter, a paycheck. Just the same, the price one pays when one is unable to pay a price, is the freedom to not wear pants while working, and flip both middle fingers to the sky as you beat feet out of town en route to a mountain bike ride and a couple days of swimming pool frolicking.
Which is almost exactly what my lovely and talented assistant did for last week’s end in celebration of two years of wedded almost total bliss.
We started our time away with a dirtbike ride, and a high five with nature;
It was a perfect day for just the right kind of rad getting.
As we were ripping to and fro, my mind momentarily wandered towards the wheel set on my dirt bike. They are the Easton Havens, which I originally penned a review of way back in October of 2010, and then again in December of 2011. It occurred to me that a legitimate and final review might be warranted now, so many years after I first took possession of them, but at this stage, I’m not even sure that the same version of the wheels I have are even still available.
And this is what irks me about reviews in magazines and on sites. Say I read a review about a product that has had a whole hundred miles put on it, or three weeks of abuse- How does that really tell me anything regarding the durability of said thing? Wouldn’t the proof be in the proverbial pudding?
Certainly I understand the impracticality of keeping an item on the market for such a long time when all of that testing could occur over the course of a few weeks in a lab, and that as consumers we have to put faith in the manufacturers and media to pack all of that real world abuse into as short a time as possible, but like my barbecue, I prefer my parts testing to not be rushed.
I would say now after all of the scores of roots and rocks and bumps and crashes, the free-hub issue and bearing swap aside, and having never once put a truing wrench on them, without question they’re the best aftermarket wheels I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning;
Now all you have to do is haul ass over to Ebay and try to find a set of your own.
Anyhoo- the rest of our sojourn was spent keeping some lounge chairs from floating away, eating snacks, putting the hurt on America’s vodka supply and banging our faces on the bottom of the swimming pool;
But enough of that. I was simply offering up an excuse as to why Friday the 31st’s post was postponed until today, and perhaps that excuse will suffice.
What’s most importtant is getting back/down to work/business.
Firstly from Jeff of Bike Jerks (not to be confused with Denver’s ‘Cycle Jerks’, who seem to have pooped themselves right out of existence), as well All City Bikecycles, I recieved notification regarding a bit of new merch that’s come down the pipe;
“Hey guy,
for the first time in the history of the world, somebody is actually licensing a Bike Jerks design. The boys over at Twin Six have begun selling a version of the Bike Jerks jersey that I had them make for me last year via their site.
As it’s crazy to me that someone would actually want to do that, I’m beyond stoked and I’d really appreciate any help you could lend in putting the word out.
thanks,
jeff”
I don’t want to be the one who has to point out the obvious, but a skull could never grow a moustache.
Despite that fact, if the new Bike Jerks jersey is something you can’t see yourself living without, you know what to do.
And speaking of merch, I’m very proud to announce the arrival of the very newest AHTBM t-shirt, the ‘Divided Joy’;
I was torn between that, and ‘Day of The (Dark) Lords‘ or ‘Joy Revision‘.
Oh, and the monkey arms aren’t included.
Like every good heart, this is black on black, so no need to adjust the contrast on your monitor.
If you would like one, I have them in small, medium, large, and extra large, smack dab in the middle of The Market.
No better way of professing your adoration for both Satan and shoe gazing.
Before we part ways, let’s get into the mail bag for a couple dips.
Firstly, there’s my homie Jesse, who can often be found jet-setting around the globe doing fancy pants photo shoots, even though she rarely can be found wearing any pants at all, fancy or otherwise;
Anyway, between doing model-ie type of stuff, it seems as though we’ve engaged in a bit of an informal battle involving sending one another random fodder of either the “awwwwwwweeeee… A bunch of baby rabbits” variety to clips that reduce either of us to crying, snotty useless heaps.
I may have thrown the gauntlet when first turning her onto Eliot Rausch’s ‘Last Minutes With Odin’, because now I’m in the unfortunate position to be on the receiving end of any story she comes across which she knows will push my buttons.
You think you’re tough?
Take the Bethany challenge;
While Jesse might have won this round, I’ll come back swinging.
Of course this was brought to us by our friends at Hope For Paws who were responsible for the saga about little sweet Fiona, which resulted in me sobbing hysterically and throwing all of the money in my pockets at the computer.
Truly, Hope For Paws is doing awesome things for some little creatures who cannot help themselves, and any assistance they can receive I’m sure would be greatly appreciated.
Lastly, El Capitan Sportif of Soulcraft Bicycles and stuff made contact regarding an extension of last year’s wildly popular ‘Meet Your Maker’ Tour;
“The Meet Your Maker Tour is teaming up with the Skyline Park Mountain Bike Race and Inglis/Retrotec Cycles for the inaugural “Race Your Maker” event on Sunday, June 23rd at Skyline Park in Napa Ca, site of the 2008 Singlespeed World Championships. You’re invited to come out and race against (or at least with ) some of Nor-Cal’s best bicycle frame builders and component makers, some of whom will be camping out the night before and discussing how long their wait- lists are and how awesome they are at brazing;
And if you couldn’t care less about this group of ne’er-do-wells you can just come out and race and forget about this nonsense. All the race info is here”.
So there you have it… Get the chance to camp and race along side a bunch of folks who know some things about designing, building and racing bikes.
Besides the absence of boatloads of narcotics, it’s guaranteed to be the kind of vacation Belinda Carlisle could only hope to dream about.
need one of those divided joy shirts brotha
Jessica who? I want to e-stalk her, drink her bath water and maybe stretch the neck… If you know what I’m saying!
Hardy har har har har.
Seriously though.
Jezus Man-
Just call me yarrona. Damn you and your sweet sensitive side.
The “Larry Woodruff” wasn’t in the running for names on the Joy Divided T?
As a matter of fact it was. That you’re aware of this one small detail means a great deal to me.
That J.D. shirt will make Woodruff 10 feet faster.
Faster? Bahhhhh Can it make Larry wheelie 10 feet further?
Stevil – I can certainly relate to the product review time factor. Having written many reviews for bicycle paper.com, sometimes with only a month to test, I have often kicked myself later for not noticing discrepancies or straight up bad design (i.e. shit falling apart). I guess bike products are like buying cars, it’s usually great when you drive it off the lot, but not so great when you’re stuck on the side of the road with a body in the trunk…
Those Eastons are still available, but now you are considered to be an all mountain rider… http://www.eastoncycling.com/en-us/dirt/wheels/all-mountain/haven-29 Get rad.
For the low,low price of only $965.00 for the pair…
If that’s as much of a tearjerker as Odin’s story then I can’t even begin to watch it. 🙁
ahtbm divided joy tshirt = known pleasure t shirt from velodeath.
kinda sucks
Great minds clearly think alike. In my defense, Max Mudfoot initially clued me into this design on February 23rd, 2011. Previous to that, I was unaware of its existence. http://www.flickr.com/photos/333foto/5471912282/
Yours looks better, though…
Awwwwwww gurglegurgle sniff…… I have a couple of four legged rehab stories myself, and they fucking rock.