Tuesday, March 25, 2008

dang...

I got the right fork for the Villin today. I rode the bike at Hanna park sunday and thought it was pretty cool, but a little slow handling. i liked how it could roll over shit like that gravedigger monster truck but i wasn't very happy with the sluggish handling that I'm sure the old guys and crap bike handlers that i see on 29ers normally love. i like my bikes to feel twitchy though. i run non suspension corrected forks on my SS normally and its perfect for Florida trails where cornering skill is king. well, the new fork sits 2 inches lower and gave the bike a 72 degree head angle. That bike came alive! i can't wait for the maxxis rubber and 28 inch bars friday. the bike already corners better than any xc bike I've ridden and its got some shite bonti tires on it right now. this is gonna be fun.

Tonight is the hounddogs 46Th b-day so he gets to pick the route for the ride. he's keeping it under wraps, but sources speculate we'll be heading out to the well fields tonight. sandy fire roads, joy. at least there will be plenty of sierra to drown my sorrows in afterward. maybe we'll hit benland on the way back. that is bar none my favorite town trail. Lowe's is fun too but nothing beats the pure speed and tech on benland. reminds me of razorback.

i miss that place.

dano out.

late edit: I threw up after the final sprint to the bar tonight. it sucked, and i had to go home with out any beer. pissed.

Monday, March 24, 2008

i just got a new bike. again.

Yep, I go through em! I just picked up a Kona hei-hei supreme frame from my roommate in a bit of a convoluted trade triangle deal. he took my old TCR roadie bike, traded it for a pickup truck from a lesbian, and gave me a sweet barely ridden Kona frame! I'm gonna start calling around and get some safety orange kona replica decals made cause this thing is getting the realtree camo. I figure with all the talk of cheating during last years state series I'll be able to take the fast lane unseen when I'm camoed out... not really. I just want to see more bears. I'll post up picks later I've got beers and bad decisions calling my name.

Dano out

Sunday, March 23, 2008

just friends.

bummer.

i think im just gonna crawl back into my armor for a while. that one kind of hurt.

dano out

Friday, March 21, 2008

I think i might have the bubonic plague..

Yep, I'm almost positive of it. I've been stuck in the house since Tuesday with my new bike just coughing and blowing my nose and feeling generally shitty. death is near. I woke up this morning not feeling any better but I just couldn't sit around staring at the wall all day so I suited up and went for a slow, hacking up my lungs, solo roll through some local trails. Even in my weakened Pretty Jo like state, I was able to get a bit of feel for the new bike and it is awesome! A huge thank you goes out to Lex from Villin for getting me on one of his creations, and also to his apprentice Joe for doing the grunt work to make this thing a rolling piece of art. You've got to see this bike in person, pics just don't do it justice. While I was down at the Villin headquarters, Joe showed me a few new paint jobs he's working on that were absolutely beautiful. Those guys are getting way too good, now if I could only get the right fork for my bike... it will come. I just want to get better so I can take this bike out and really put it through the ringer.


Here's a few more pics.
























Dano out.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008



welcome back to this runaway train i call my life. sorry its been a while since i've posted but i've got good reasons. spring break, bicycles, mountains, girls, beer, racing, beer, and beer. i've been gone since the previous friday, it seems like monthes ago but i think its only really been about 10 days. so much has happened though, oh so much. First off, i spent a week at 17 nebraska. What is 17 nebraska? its a house of people with similar mindsets as me and my people located in the heart of asheville, NC. good things happen there, like mike viertel trying to eat 10 totinos pizzas in an hour. Failure. 7 pizzas though, impressive still. im full on half of one. the weeks started on a friday, with pretty highfive and i making the drive up in the rain, ready to go. we get there just in time to start drinking and meet marshall, the owner of endless cycles cogs and shit. he is very opinionated, and jo an I make it a point to avoid him as much as possible. SAturady we wake up to a frosty artic wasteland outside, and i convince the pretty bastard to get out of his bag and come ride. the whining commences nearly immediately as the starting temp was 29 degrees and we were at the end of the day. an hour and half of frozen feet and bent creek goodness later and we're back at the truck frozen solid. i lost about three toes but im pretty sure kylie rode without socks or gloves and tina lost a buttcheek to frostbite. goodtimes! Sunday rolls around to much warmer temps and a trip to pisgah to meet up with another florida transplant, austin. He shows up for the ride up clawhammer to black mtn on a slalom rig with blue jeans so i follow suit on the big sled with my sweet new/old protec open face helmet. kylie and Jo dominate us on the climb up, playing baseball while waiting, so austin and i return the favor on the way back down. Every time i come up and ride with austin he gets better an better and this was no different. we hauled ass through thrift cove, no brakes style. sunday evening i think we went to a party at warren wilson, but my memory is fuzzy. At some point Ian And fisher show up, and more pisgah fun happens including a trudge op to farlow gap trail. scary awesomeness. friday every one gets going heading down to the flawda for the TDG and Hailes SERC race. Saturday fisher, kylie and I head out to do the TDG, blasting through continuous mud holes and sweet bits of trail. we decide to save our legs after the 34 mile morning loop and head out to hailes for a little preride. trail seems fun, but i'm tired and crash out by 100 that night. Sunday morning come to the feeling of tiredness and dead legs. great. I jump in the race anyway but after the first lap its all over for me and my nonrecovering , tired old man body. 9th place at roughly halk speed for me. 5th for kylie and some where toward the bottom for mikey. Pretty high five lost it at the start, heres why.





The Warlock would not be pleased with that start there pretty. step it up son!!


so everybody is gone, its tuesday morning and im bored already. i think the fun is over and i'n starting to get the flu. sweet. i (heart) the flu. then i get a phone call. from who? lex at villin cycleworks. What? my frame is ready? oh shit....


BOOM!!



Yep its got a scrounged together ghetto build, and yes the stem looks like a limp penis, but its mine, im looking at it right now. and its beautiful.

ORAMM will be mine this year.

when it gets the right fork on it, the bar, seat and cranks will be exactly the same as my Kona, just with monster truck tires stuffed in the wheelwells. im excited.

dano out.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Introducing the two newest members of rat shit..... Pretty High Five and Ian Knabe. Not that its much of a surprise being that these two fuckers are two of my best beer drinkin buddies here in the swamp country. The mitch is still up in the air, he's hammered right now, but i'm not sure if he's ready. Rat shit ain't afraid to drunk dial you at 4 a.m. the night before the race and attack the shit out of you the next morning. thats all for now, expect more when i'm sober.

rat shit is coming for sure,

dano
Introducing the first member of Rat Shit...

Big Daddy aka The Heavy Hitter


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVrlWIPF3XE



Probably some of the most entertaining shit talking I've seen in a while.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

UPDATE: Bitchin Mitch's lady Kelli has dropped out of the trip, taking the Mitch down with the ship. No word on Fisher yet, but he is presumed to be K.I.A.

Rest in Peace Fisher.

Monday, March 3, 2008

4 days. Thats what i want to get through then I get to go ride my bike and drink good beer and live like a rockstar for a week and a half. Spring break is looming, but we've all got midterms to get through before we're set free to forget everything we've learned over the past six weeks. The crew for this trip sounds like a good one. Bitchin Mitch and his lady Kelli, Fisher, Pretty High Five, and myself. A good size, early trip forcasts were sounding like a crew in the double digits and i was bummed about it. That sounds fun at first, but i've been on those size excursions and the fun wears off quickly. Five is a good size number. High Five and I will be piloting the penisfinder north thurs night, and the rest of the crew will roll out early sunday morning.


this past weekend started off pretty fun with a bonfire on friday night. we were in a shady part of town so i volunteered to be the lookout for tranny hookers.


see?
saturday the kickstand put on an alleycat race through Gville. I had to work so i thought i would miss it, but i rolled over at 5 when i got off and caught it just as it was starting so i jumped in wearing jeans and skateshoes on my road bike. the first half of the race i just worked my way up the pack, following people for a bit then sprinting up to the next group. i saw my friend scumbag from up in duval after the second checkpoint so i towed him along for a while until we hi the 8th ave hill, where he cryed like a small child and was dropped. at that point im somewhere at the front of the race but hve no idea where the next checkpoint is as i don't have a map whan all of a sudden Action Dan comes screaming past me on his fixie. I jumped on and we hammered it out together for the second half of the race. at some points we were well over 30 mph, and Action is brakeless skip stopping and skidding through the city. it was intense and i was well impressed. I ended up in second place by taking a "shortcut" on the way back and finding it blocked by construction. dang. I can honestly say that was the most interesting race i've done in quite a while, and i will enter as many of those as i can in the future.
Sunday i rolled down to santos to ride with Little Buddy, regan woodall. We ended up with 3 or so hours at a decent clip, even with both of us feeling a little worn out from the weeks earlier rides. i even got to meet a bit of Pretty's sport class competition this year and he better step up his game a bit is all i can say. dudes had some skills.
thats all for now,
dano out