Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Snow Bound (by surprise)

So today was the the first day of vacation to north ga (mccaysvile) and there is about a foot of snow at chet-e-cheeto's mtn cabin. It is a weekend of a bunch of flashbacks and trips down memory lane. I was with the smith family when they were searching for the house and when they first moved in. Chet and I basically lived together growin up. We were tallys golden boy juniors and best buds. So this is the first time we have taken a trip together since he started college. So bonding and our egging and encourage ment to do stupid stuff has already begun.

Today is also the first day I have been around snow since I left Durango. It is weird. It makes me miss my boys from my freshman year and it gives me desires of driving sideways and stupid through the snow. To bad I don't have the driving skills of the vermont boys and the colorado mexican, so I am leaving my car on the main road and dreaming of drifting and making it up the icy slopes. O and I plan riding the single speed around the neighborhood with out falling on the ice. On top of that I plan on riding at ocoee through the snow on a winter wonder land ride through the snow.

So the combination of people I have missed spending time with and the combination of my wonderful girl friend, chet's sister who I have grown up with, and my two best friends tyrell and elizabeth. Add some beer in there and a week away from work and its hard to beat.

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Snow Bound

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Monday, December 6, 2010

Bling Bling

Buford Ball aka, lil Skinny, officially became a pimp today. He is now sporting a custom "blackcat" green collar. Yeah you heard right! custom bitches! So hide your female dogs, because they will instantly become in heat when they see lil skinny and his bling bling. Male dogs will either bow to him or run off and whimper when they see this stud running the trails or just when he is searching for a new girl or bone at pets mart. His swagger is at a level that has never been seen before. It will even make GQ member Jim jealous and make Worm cringe in fear. I better not let Mrs. Worm see him!

Even though his swag level is at an all time high, he still has time to read my blog. I guess he knows who fills up his dog bowl. He does look a little bit embarrassed though. Guess my swagger is to low for his liking.


Bike Chain Collar? hmmmmm

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Finally!

Some 20 plus hours and some struggles but man I am pleased. No big errors that i can tell and the inking and coloring turned out just about as good as i can do it. So the time off the bike turned out to be a wise decision but its time to pull that orange and black back on go ride.
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Monday, November 15, 2010

Todd Pulling a Jim



Todd is a hell of a technical rider but this weekend wasn't a good one for him. Check it out! and click on the link on the side bar to read about the crash that granted him a trim to the hospital.

Disapearing Act

After a fun but frustrating ride at spaghetti. I kinda fell off the side of the earth. It wasn't a result of my ride but a result of life and and lack of motivation (I hate cold weather).

School is a big part of it though. I have had some big projects that are very time consuming. For example last nights models took me 7-8 hours. It tedious but I am doing good. I have consistently improved and now I am pretty sure I have an A going into my final project, which is due next wed! I can't wait! I am excited for a break from gluing and my fingers are raw currently from using the xacto knife. O and tired of getting critiqued at school by my teacher.

On top of all the school stuff H2 once again made another cut in staff. I am surprisingly still there and this last cut finally affected me. My direct boss was fired and now I am left with no boss and no specific duty. Its nice, my last boss was hard on me and pretty rude before. He talked behind my back and expected me to be able to design and do engineering calc with out any engineering classes. Hello!? My title is just CAD technician. So now instead of being a do boy for one person, I am do boy for everyone. Today I had 5 different people come ask me to do things and to come see them tomorrow morning and I have a on  deadline on two newer jobs tomorrow and thursday. No complaints though. My job is a lot more pleasant/ entertaining and my bosses are a lot kinder/ appreciative and I enjoy working for them. Kindness goes a long ways!

So its been 2.5 weeks since spaghetti and I have ridden once. Its not that I don't want to ride JIM and others. Life is just currently in the way. I can't go two hours of the day with out thinking about something that involves cycling, so I'll be back. Starting the week after thanksgiving I will have time to ride everyday of the week, so I should free to ride soon.

From now on I will feature my random thoughts on the side bar due to the popularity of the last blog. And a project or cool photo on the side bar. Hope y'all enjoy.

Photos of my A Model:



Saturday, October 30, 2010

hill, cramp, rule #5!


So I finally got another cx bike after being harassed by the crew for over a year now. The plan was to have it before Spaghetti and it got here in time, when it looked like it really wasn't. So now the 85 mile dirty spaghetti has come and it was a physical and mental battle for me. So instead of telling you how it felt I am going to just tell you my thoughts as the day happened.

Part 1: Boston Bound
-Man my shoe cover are awesome! Brilliant idea!
-Wow we actually made the start.
-Hey lets attack them right at the start and be complete assholes.
-Ah poop stick my left quad and hamstring feel like ass! This is going to be a long ride.
-Rule #5
-Wow people actually reacted to that stupidity.
-O man I am in danger of getting dropped in the first 10 miles.
-Rule #5
-Ottinger your going to pay for that!
-Damn LARRY!
-Dirt road pace lines are awesome.
-I don't like eating clay from peoples rear wheels. Dirt road pace lines are dumb.
-Thomasville? We are in Thomasville already?
-Thank god we are in Boston! I have to stretch!

Part 2: Leaving Boston
-My leg feels better. Alrighty then!
-Wow this is cool BC is leading the group into the second half!
-Wonder what Terry is doing? tear
-Awesome yellow sign sprinting!
-I wonder what Stormin Norman has in his bag. That is a big bag. Pop up tent? Grill and Hamburgers? Cheese please! He definitely has a blue moon in there somewhere!
-No she didn't. You fuckin cunt knuckle! You just cut my boy Steve off and could have killed 20 people with that shit! I am going to cut you! You wait and see!
-Game on!
-O yeah cunt knuckle your mine!
-She just pulled! OOOooOOO Move over Rick! Take that bitch!
-Yeah david keep it pinned lets shell her! byye
-cunt knuckle "guess I am riding by myself"
-Guess so bitch!
-O man I shook the hornet nest! Game on!
-ahhh crap that’s a gap.
-oooooooUUUUUchh
-seriously? Come on Ginger Snap (aka david) That realllyy hurt.
-Huh holding 26-27mph?
-Ok I am done time to ride by myself.
-What? Rick said slow up? You think this is stupid? I love u!
-This is still hard! Ooooouchhh! stop tim! I hate u!
-Goood I am glad u flatted!
-OOOuuucch Tim! I hate you!
-Peace!

Part 3: I am mister lonely!
-You have cokes! I love u sag man!
-Am I slurring cause I am tired or does this man need me to look at him and say it 4 times cause he is deaf?
-15-20 miles left! fuck u sag man! 10 for road! oooo
-rule # 5
-hill cramp rule #5, hill cramp rule #5, hill cramp rule #5, hill cramp rule #5
-What am I doing? I am runner now.
-I am not an expert.
-Those skid marks into a tree look like something I might want to do!
-Thats a pretty field, wish I had my camera. hill cramp rule #5
-Is anybody behind me?
-hill cramp rule #5
-I wonder if they slowed down. I hate tim.
-I bet they are done eating.
-If I get there and chris aint wearing that shirt I will cut a bitch!
-hill cramp rule #5
-I am retiring.
-I sound like Jim.
-ahhh home stretch. I don't see worms truck. Fuck me.
-Good for him that he is still here and wearing that shirt.
-I don't want to talk to them.
-This spaghetti ain’t doing it for me.
-peace bitches

*Sorry I resorted back to my old style of writing but it was necessary.

Monday, September 20, 2010

One Speed


Every fall Tom Brown hosts one of the eight Florida State Championship races. Each of the last three years have been very different.

2 years ago, I was back in Tally from my short stint in Durango. Everyone expected me to come back to town in shape and they were wrong. I was able to get a surprising 3rd though.

Last year was another year of not being prepared. I had a new bike but lacked some discipline and was kinda scattered brain. Last year, mine as well be considered the scattered brain year in general.

This year was definitely the most interesting. I trained my ass off this summer. Was super disciplined and was looking like the old school Zak was back. I was flying at the Munson TT's and dropped backed down into my race weight of 135lbs. School then hit me in the face and kinda put a hamper on my 6-7 days a week of riding with two a days half the time on tuesdays and thursday. So with me actually doing school work and then add on the new distraction of ms becker, I was nervous coming into the race and maybe a little disappointed that I wasn't able to keep the training up that I had done all summer leading up to the race. The two weeks prior to the race I rode a total of two times. School was rough and I just didn't have time to ride.

Race day came and it was hot and humid. The crew was in rare form with Ron in town and having Kayla around kinda help distract me from the thought of racing. 11:30 came really fast and my warm up was kind of started rough when I found out that my pain in rear little sister squeezed my front brake. I never got it to spin really free but I had to deal and think about the whole time warming up. When they finally called up the class, my nervousness hit its peak. There was 17 damn riders in my class. That is about 7 more people then there has been in the last two years in the single speed class. I guess ss thing has really taken off lol. So the whistle blows and everybody is bumping bars going down the start and I fighting off cubans and locals and find myself in the top five. I am stoked! We hit the double track I am feeling good pass a few and here Daren behind me yelling for me to make some moves. I am also thinking I can't let him beat me! he will rub it in till next year. So I look around and I feel like the pace is to slow. Then some one attacked I followed and then counter attacked him. Boom! I already have 15 seconds on the group right after we turned into Cadillac. My head then starts running through strategies and I am thinking way to much. The plan was to sit in till the third and final lap and then make my move if possible but now I am in first and have a gap already. The trails are also slippery due to it being so dry. So I change the plan. I decide to try and get a good gap and then try and settle into a comfortable pace and let people try to over ride the course trying catch me. The plans working awesome I am 3/4 of the way done with the first lap I have a good 30 to 45 seconds but I  am over doing and feeling it. I start to let off and by the end of the Cadillac on the 2nd lap second has caught and I can't keep his pace. The whole rest of the 2nd lap I can see the leader but I am still suffering to much to bring him back. Start of the last lap third place has caught me I am still hurting from the third lap. He passes me on the multi use and he is immediately gone. 2 mins later though he is yelling at me "he isn't that far up there go get him I got a flat." SCORE lol I finally find a rythm the last lap, but the leader is gone. It was to late. So I end the race in 2nd and very pleased. I was happy with the finish even though I blew it on the first lap and felt slow as Christmas the last two laps. That is till I saw the lap times! I would never in a million years guessed my lap times were as fast as they were. My avg speed was just off Davids and he rode very well in cat 1. I know that this man can elaborate a lot but man it sounded good to read this and finally hear something positive from someone other than the crew.


So after worrying my ass off and feeling slow. I wasn't really slow and it felt FUCKING good! So now what? I don't plan on going to Fernandina to trry and take the points lead but will focus my efforts of kicking some ass Gainsville. I really look to put the hammer down and fight hard to get a win after last years embarrassing experience and total fuck up. After Gainsville I will try to focus on school and the 85 mile off road spaghetti. Then the plan is to do either Felasco or Santos in Cat 1 if I can balance riding and school. 

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Changes All Around

Since my last post it seems like my world has been flipped upside down and changed completely. My weekly routine of work, riding, blowing school off and no social life is no more.

Starting architecture school has to be the biggest reason. I actually have homework now. The teachers care and are constantly on my ass to have shit done. I have done more homework in the last two weeks then probably the last year and a half. That isn't a joke either. The thing is I have somewhat enjoyed doing the homework. I feel like I am in Kindergarten and elementary art class again just way more work and a lot more African Americans students than Maclay lol. I am kinda tired of drawing bugs and still life stuff though. I am just itching to put some of my home ideas down on paper and show people my ideas. I would do it outside of class and but I currently enjoy my non homework time to much since the homework takes up a huge portion of my free time. But other than the little nit pic things, I like the creativity part and I really like to draw. I even like FAMU as a whole. I like the black kids too. They crack me up and are super entertaining. I just can't stand the cocky ones, but making the them feel like idiots doesn't get old lol. Me and the black girls get a long really well tho lol.

With school now mon-wed-fri 9-12 and class thursday 2-3, work has kinda gotten rough. Both jobs are taking up some of my ride time. Not being able to do foodlion is just plain weird and it sucks having to haul ass to every ride, but I plan to keep doing it no matter what when ever hw isn't a bitch. There have been talks with my parents about not working two jobs but I don't think it will end this semester.

The other big change after West Virginia was Kayla. Kinda all happened unexpectedly but definitely no complaints there. She is pretty fucking cool and she definitely earned her orange and black colors this last weekend at the race. She was a sport. Super supportive and it didn't really feel like she was the new to the crew other than she had no meet a bazillion people. She even took shit from everyone and I would have to say she took it like a champ. The fat picture was priceless too. All I got to say is wait till she gets more comfortable around everyone and is talkative. She'll be giving it back. Just ask Tyrell lol. O and I like how everyone has blamed my decrease in ride time to her but honestly its been school. I know its weird to hear that Zak missed a ride because of homework but its true.

So yeah life is different, but I have no complaints. Yeah I wish I could ride more but whatever. I'll get my stars and stripes jersey one day. But things are finally starting to click for me and fall into place. I can't really tell you the last time everything was consistent, good and fun.

Race Report Coming Soon too.

Here is my most recent project. This project is where the famous Tarantula Hawk poem from worms blog came from. It was required to have a poem about the bug we drew and modeled.



Monday, July 26, 2010

Motivation

Been gone from Tally for over a week and it was nice. Did some riding not as much as I had planned or thought I was going to do but all in all it was a blast being on vacation. Time away was good and I glad to be home. I am ready ride and put some hard miles in before the state series starts. So the batteries are charged and I am read to role.

P.S. It was nice seeing that some long lost souls are starting to ride again, but for those who are lacking motivation, check out the videos I just posted on ZORB!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Dupont 2 hour route!

The best dupont loop ever!

Park at Parking lot #19
Corn mill shoal out of parking lot
Big rock trail 2nd left
Left at the top of slick rock down cedar rock trail
Right on to little river trail at the bottom of descent
Hard left on to corn mill shoal
Gradual right onto burnt mtn trail
Right on to corn mill shoals
Stay on corn mill shoals and cross creek
Stay left on corn mill shoals
Right onto laurel ridge trail
Left onto mine mtn trail
Stay left on gravel roads
Turn left on abandoned air strip
Turn left at the end of the air strip on air strip trail
Right at the bottom onto shelter road
Turn left conservation road
Right onto buck forest road
Left on to white pine trail
Left onto hickory mtn road
Left onto ridgeline
Right for 2 hour ride and finish up with 3 mile road climb or take a left and head towards jim branch trail and piece together tails heading back towards parking lot 19.

Description of each trail to come later on. Had type these directions in before I forgot all the turns and lost my hand writen directions.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Zorb Cycles Up and Rollin

My first two blogs have been posted on zorb. This time of year is always the best! New products come out every day and the tour is right around the corner. O and the state series is closer than you think!

So please check my new site out! Give me some feed back! love to know your impressions, opinions and recommendations!
http://zorbcycles.blogspot.com/ or just click on my logo to the right that I spent to much time making!

New song is posted as well! Its just for you big worm!

Monday, June 28, 2010

New New New and New

With life under control and nothing retarded going on I have had time recently to update my sites’ appearance and some new features.

New features include updated links, the song that currently gets played over and over on my ipod and my new site. Z.O.R.B.

Z.O.R.B., which stands for zone out riding bikes, is a site that will focus on things other than my life. I plan to include cool new parts, bikes, and interesting bike news. It will also feature some of my recent sketches and cycling ideas that I annoy everybody with on a regular basis. Just now they will just be drawn out and hopefully a little innovative/ original. Architecture stuff might get thrown in there occasionally once school gets underway.

Site will be officially rockin and rollin tomorrow evening with its first two blogs. The blog will feature my opinions on the new “Gary Fisher Collection” and the new battle between 10 speed mountain bike drivetrains that will take place in 2011.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Definition of Bike Chain

What is your definition of bike chain? Is it a club? Is it a team? Is it disappearing? I keep hearing that bike chain is dead! But nights like tonight at Paradise, remind you that bike chain is more than a team or a club.

Yeah Mark and Darien had a baby. Let me correct myself, their wives have brought them a new member to their families and I honestly like the new Mark and Daren. Yeah they are more sensitive but I kind of think the baby have been the best thing for both them. And on top of that they both have amazing wives: Courtney and Julie. They would both do anything for you and on top of that they are two of the hardest working wives I know other than my two Moms: My real mom lol and Dr. Valerie Berg.

On top of that Steve has a new girl, well not really new now, but his girl friend Kristin is cool as shit! and she couldn't fit in better! Don't fuck it up Steve!

Kent and Rick. What can I say? Maybe the most unique and die hard member! Their families are pulling them in different directions but we all know y'all bleed black and orange, so relax and we know y'all will be riding with us all as soon as you can and when ever possible.

Terry and Ken have the future of bike chain! And they honestly couldn't be any better hands. We have the new climbing goat the "colt 45" and the "corazy" who shows his game face at all times. These two are the future and I honestly hope they stick with it and I hope to become a mentor to them like the rest of the senior bike chain member have been for me.

Tim the roadie,who isn't really a roadie, but we love you any way!

David, he has his motorcycles which I think he can be very successful on if he keeps his head focused and not worry what is going on around him. But I hope he remembers his colors: black and orange.

Jim, “the come back kid,” is one of the most motivated members and usually ends up the one getting made fun of the most. But someone has to be that person lol. He also has Libby, who I believe is very under estimated by most. She is super sweet and I think Jim is afraid to let her share her kindness with us.

Chris, the diehard old school rider, has the amazing Michelle. They might be the best couple ever and they have relationship that everyone dreams of. They are the definition of love and I listen with both ears when they both speak. They both speak eloquently and they have wisdom that I believe that everyone should hear.

Ron I didn't forget you. How could I! You are our only non white member! You are our crazy latino member that no one understands. Fucking Popo!

So what is bike chain? It is not a team and is not dead! It is a group rare individuals that support their friends, families and their fellow riders. They are group of friends that stick together and grow as they grow. So let the black and orange bleed on!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Its been awhile, but It feels good!

It has been awhile since my last post and I have had worm to remind me of that for the last couple months. It like he starts to disown you and think less of you if you don't keep you blog updated on regular basis. So I have finally got to it.

The funny thing about my blog it kind of directly follows the pattern of my life from the last year or so since I have been back in tally. It is sporadic and with no regularity of anything. I have spent some time searching for a major, my previous success in school and riding, and just plain joy. Cyclists are weird in general and you kind of never stop being one even if you’re not riding. For me I see a culvert or a grass berm on the side of the road as I drive and can almost feel the way gravity will pull or that feeling when you hit that sweet spot in the berm and you can feel the way the bike pulls out of the corner. So it’s not that I ever lost that desire to ride or race, it just took time for me to realize that is who I am and you can't fix that. I don't know if it was that I was just burnt out of racing or what, but ever since the red bug challenge my life is back to what it use to be before durango, alcohol, and craziness.

Since red bug challenge, I have routinely rode at least 6 days a week except for when I moved back in with the parentals. I haven't rode six days in a week except for maybe a handful of times probably in the last three years. Man can I tell the difference! My body has seemed to have liked it but I have to admit I probably have overdone it some but I am trying to make up for what I feel like is lost time. I know the fitness is improving and I am skinny as hell again. Mom thinks I am to skinny but I eat a ton. Just ask Jimbo Slade. I can out eat him on a regular basis. I am still lacking some consistency and recovery ability but the speed isn't far off.

School has been just like the blog and my riding very unpredictable. I feel like I have changed my mind on what I wanted my major to be like a million times and it stresses my parents like you can't imagine. Car business is picking up so it is not as bad as it use to be haha. After some talking to the wrecking ball and the mom they have both seemed to have found what I will stick with and plan to achieve. I plan on attending FAMU Architecture School this fall. I never noticed till recently that I got a passion for it and I kind of got that vision like I do for those berms and culverts on the side of the road. As I am typing I can visually picture a handful of house that I saw on the side of the rode coming back from Birmingham last night. It’s kind like me remembering people bikes and there every component on their bike and their cars. So I can finally relax and know what I will be doing this fall and into the future.

So now to what everyone one really wants to hear about: BUMP.
Bump has kind of been a cursed race for me the last couple year and a letdown for me the last couple of years. It also has been the reason people have nagged me about DNFs. I hate that. This race was thankfully not that way. I had a crumby week and a half of riding before the race so I was really nervous coming into the weekend. I spent the whole week over thinking stuff, but tried to think positive. Saturday’s pre ride was long hot and surprisingly good. I rode really stiff and tense early on and thought it was going to be a long weekend but it came together. It clicked when we got to the long climb. I rode blood rock without looking the first time and made it pass the spot I flatted last year and I felt like a monkey had been lifted off my bike. After that point I had a flawless pre ride for the most part. After eating the most wonderful pizza of all time at California pizza kitchen and a night tossing and turning, Sunday came. I was nervous and anxious to get the race started. It was a combination of knowing that I have been riding my ass off hoping that I was ready but as well as that feeling in your stomach like it was the very first race I have ever done. I tried to so desperately hard to show no nervousness especially in front of Jimbo, because I kind of was afraid he was going to crack before his race started.. Come the start of the race, there were 18 people in my class which reminded of the old 90s days, but also knew that I was going to have to ride smart. I know the race was going to start off really fast and people were going to be itchin to go. The mingo time trials have really kind of helped me and I knew that I had recently been going out way to hard and screwing up. So going into the woods, I was dead last. I hung back with a guy from tenn and I liked his chill steady pace, so I hung with him and let the group fight each other. We get to the first road, and I think I might have passed one person before that but still was with the main group. I stayed steady and picked off maybe two more as people were already bonking or had crashed. We come to the long climb road and I decided it was game time. I put in a bigger gear and started to pick up my effort. The legs felt good I was able to keep a big gear going and I was picking people off left and right. I climb the whole climb in the big ring except for the final pitch before the trail follows the ridge. It was by far the fastest I have ever climbed the mtn. I went from about dead last to what I am guessing to be fifth. It also made me really happy to know I pulled back Brent who has been winning the state expert races, so I knew I was riding good. I make it down blood rock a little sketchy and said "wow wrong line" really loud and about thirty people busted out laughing as they watched me make through the section ok but definitely not my normal line. After that I settled into a steady pace and was riding good. I had picked off a rider who had passed me after the climb and was setting my sites on Brent again when we made it to the new section of trail. For those who weren't there it was kind of like loblolly but a little tighter, rockier, like 5 big logs which made me happy, since no trails have logs on them anymore, and it had the those new trail bumps from roots and trees. I make it to the finish line where Julie is there to feed me and I greatly appreciated her help. She is awesome. Come the second lap I had to climb the pavement road back up to where the end of the blood rock downhill crosses and goes back into the road. I had kind of fallen apart at the end of the lap and gotten passed by two I believe, but was able to a get a steady pace again after the road. I catch Brent in the new section with a flat but unfortunately get passed by the guy who I used to pace me in the beginning of the race and some hispanic dude. That is how I would finish and I couldn't really be happier. I rode a smart race and was competitive in my mind. It is only been the second or third mtb race with gears in 1.5 years. And the first one completely sober in awhile. So I am supper happy about how it went and look forward to keeping the training going. I don't want to have to say its been awhile in a long time.

Random Trip Facts Not Mentioned:

1. Darien called Andy Johnston, who won my class, a bleeping sandbagger or something on those lines within 5 feet of him pretty loud. Julie freaked out lol
2. I think keith brought along his daughter’s boyfriend just so he could take him on his first mtb ride and kill him. Poor guy looked like he had been to hell and back and was about to blow chunks when we saw him on the pre ride.
3. Darien has the quietest baby of all time.
4. California Pizza Kitchen is the best thing ever!
5. Jimbo has a few twitches while he drives and while he is talking on the phone but I never called him out on. I like the hand walk on the center console one the best.
6. Darien flatted every time he rode his bike almost.
7. Lil mingo was always there when I felt like crap yelling at me!
8. Jim and I spent 20$ on food at taco bell. and didn't crap ourselves on the way home.
9. Jim posed like 7 different times with his metal plaque and wanted pictures every time.
10. Mark has been training in the morning with Eldon Baker aka Rick Carmicals former trainer and has been trying to keep it hush hush. Nothing to do with my blog, but I had to mention it.