i <3 xkcd

(via xkcd.com)

i'm extremely late to the gnarly awesome hilarious gut-busting shit-kickin' webcomics party that is xkcd. but i laughed too hard and loved this one too much not to use it to add a bit of stick-figure sparkle to your day.

pig zen

HAND-PAINTED EIGHT-INCH CERAMIC PIG, BY GEORGE CHANG FOR AUTO, $125
(via nytimes.com)

"People apparently collect sleeping pigs. It’s a nice little object and a conversation piece that is cool and soothing at the same time." Renata Bokalo - Auto, New York

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

loved visiting auto while i lived in nyc. located in lower manhattan, they hold an amazing annual "backyard" sale every april, usually the 1st weekend of the month. they specialize in distinctive and pricey (but not uppity) home goods and select pieces of furniture, but i snagged some lovely screen printed tees out of the bargain bin for $20 apiece. one was a white on black study of cursive lettering and the other, a pink on gray messy grid of new courier overlay. my favorite t-shirts, hands down. i can't recall the name of the designer, but i have not spotted graphics quite as nice anywhere else.

+ lucky mag review of auto
+ auto boutique - meatpacking district of nyc

ruff rydaz...mount up!

(via garyse7en)

i somehow managed 32 miles last night @ cubcamp: the movie - week 2. i iz TIRED. we rode from 9:30pm - 12:30am. surfer statues, near-death experiences, booze, rice krispie treats, fixie obstacle courses, sharkees sluts, pier stink, maniacal jumping, and sweaty jeans were involved.

the route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1414908

shout outs to spook, markus, aaron, liz, joey, steve, eric, brendan, doug, jack, and the 2-3 fixie fiends upon whom i neglected to impose my presence.

bikes + lights + bunnyfish = happy friday

+ "when the moon is not enough" --> lights for your bikes! (via nytimes.com)

+ "bike dislike" --> a write up about santa monica critical mass, with a focus on the october 5th ride. 200+ folks showed up, but we could always use more. see you @ the november 2nd rambling ruckus. (via latimes.com)

+ kozyndan livejournal --> they live in santa monica! they paint pearl divers & bunnies with fins & octopi & platypi! tune in for glorious stories about japan, australia, and other places i have yet to visit...

201st post!

(via the uber-hilarious marriedtothesea.com)

fat tire fest 2007

the morning started out chilly and foggy. driving up malibu canyon road was a real treat, with clouds weaving in and out of the canyon. got there about 7:45am, but there was already a long line of cars trying to get into the park.



it looked like most people opted to come from the north. i came from the south and was able to take a left into the park, bypassing (can i have a backsies cut?) much of the line. temp hovered in the 60s but warmed up to at least 75 by noon. there were hundreds of bikers there...and with all the vendors that attended, probably twice as many bikes!



the beginner and advanced (led by jamis pro rider kathy pruitt) cross country rides took off around 8:30am, and you also had the option to do self-guided poker rides on the many trails that criss cross in malibu creek state park. the poker ride consists of riding to different volunteer-manned stations at the end of various trails, and drawing a card for your "hand". the best hands got ranked and the top 10 hands all won prizes!



i test rode a plush full-suspension bionicon edison on my semi-guided (thanks luke!) poker ride and loved it. i've been riding a hardtail for far too long. though it's probably in my best interests NOT to splurge on this $2700 beast...note my dangerously spectacular wheelie skills...



after the poker ride (and a quick minorly traumatic rope swing over the malibu creek dam), we headed over to return the beloved bionicons, and luke picked up a fresh niner to demo. i signed up for the hill climb with the cynergy cycles folks and received my lucky (birthday) race number...26! the luck didn't help me power up the hill very quickly, but it come in handy later on in the fest...my time was nowhere near the 1 minute 45 seconds it took the 1st place womens winner to get to the top of the hill. the mens winner did it in about 1 minute and 1 second and the winner of the youth division did it in about 2 minutes and 5 seconds.



while i was pedaling furiously up a small mountain, the mountain bike skills clinic, log pull contest, and wheelie contest were getting into gear. here are some great pics by kanga to show you the fun i missed:





i also snagged some shots of klunkerz director, billy savage, kicking ass in the wheelie contest on a genuine old-school klunker...promoting his wares simultaneously! if you haven't heard about it yet, klunkerz is a documentary about how mountain biking got its start in the u.s. they're holding screenings all around the country, so go check out the site and find out when it's playing near you.



then it was lunch time - you had a choice or veggie pasta or tacos. i opted for the carniverous mexican option and gorged myself on the always-tasty combination of rice + beans + cheese + cow. paired with a 2 below winter ale, a fat tire amber ale, and a giant hunk of heavily frosted birthday cake, the meal was complete.

in addition to the tons of free stickers, head badges, water bottles, clif bars, being given away at the FTF, and cheap $10 tires from specialized ($58 retail!), there was a huge raffle with prizes like complete bikes, bike frames, messenger bags, bulk quantities of drink powder and energy bars, and repair stands...and i won an ultimate support bike repair stand yay! it's not a brand new complete full-suspension bike but i'll make do. =)

shout outs to luke, jen, andi, marizel, greg, louisa, laurie, gary, jim, peter, lisa, curtis, paul, and rudy! so good to see everyone out & about.

+my pics from FTF @ flickr
+some great shots by otb mtn biking club rider kanga @ smugmug

...and if you're not busy on saturday...

+tara's myspace
+team llanes
+road to recovery fund + t-shirt

meet kathy pruitt @ fat tire fest!!!!!!!!!

(via the bc mudbunnies)

after many months of searching for a pro biker to host the fat tire fest, CORBA has managed to snag the ferociously luxe kathy pruitt for this sunday's mtn biking bonanza! kathy is this year's u.s. downhill national series champion, a title she also won in 2005 and 2004, and she currently rides for jamis bikes.

she'll be leading a xc ride, and helping out with a skills clinic, so come out to get some riding tips & learn some tricks. i'm def going to pick her brain about kicking ass in 4x...

see you there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-c

team jenson has short names

my baby fit got her first taste of east LA on saturday, when jen and i headed out to claremont & mt baldy road with a group led by the jenson usa team (tim, rod, & rudy). ray and guy were two other peeps i met, but our group was about 12-13 people large, so i wasn't able to get everyone's info.



the ride was called the "Claremont/Potato Mtn./Marshall Canyon loops", though most of us just looked at potato mtn rather than riding it. these trails involved a lot of fire road climbing and "singletrack" that was more like skinny fire roads. the terrain felt like a bmx dirt jump course, but with lower and more spaced out bumps. loose, sometimes poofy dirt made it hard to go dangerously fast (and to see clearly), but it was a fun ride. definitely good for showing wary first-timers how it's done. no scary technical descents or rocky uphills.

we did about 12 miles, with a fair amount of elevation gain. halfway through the ride, 3 brave souls from our group bombed a steep squishy loose rugged eroded downhill that had no visible lines.



all three made it down safely, thanks to our cheering & hootin' & hollerin' & picture-takin', of course. later on we also saw three deer chomping away on the veg no less than 50 yards from us. they didn't bolt even when a horse came clomping through the clearing. beautiful day too. not too hot, barely a chilled breeze, and amazing views of the surrounding mountains.



big props to the 13-yr old kid riding a single-speed 49-lb downhill bike. and to his brakeless younger brother. and their supportive bike-obsessed dad. my kids will definitely learn to bike before they learn to walk.

what? biking makes you go faster! zoom zoom...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
directions to marshall canyon loops:
210N to exit 52 (baseline road)
turn left onto baseline road
turn right onto mills ave
parking lot is at the corner of mills ave & mt baldy road
the parking lot entrance is on mills ave, you don't need to turn onto mt baldy road

about 1 hour from west LA
google maps
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...stay up to date on sweet deals & fun rides @ jensonusa.com