A Night In the Past

Something I swore I would Never do again...I would NEVER Blog after a night of intoxication... but I am sober now.

only the power of my hometown can give me strength to stay up till the sun rises.... thanks again my friends... its a new day...

HOW TO be a Roadie....

In this brief tutorial I will explain not just how to go about be a road cyclist, but even take it a step further; This is How to become a "Roadie".

YOU WILL NEED:

-a CARBON road bicycle

-matching ROAD helmet

-your favorite cycling teams uniform kit (bib, jersey, gloves, etc...)

-a razor

-lots of Gatorade and Cliff bars

Step 1:

Get the acquired razor and one of your many bottles of Gatorade. While drinking the Gatorade, use the razor to shave all of the hair off of your legs.

This will help to make your legs look amazing as you hit the road on your bicycle.

STEP 2:

Once you have shaved off the hair from your legs, you wait. Wait till Sunday. There is nothing that screams "ROADIE" more than the weekend warrior. Riding daily and commuting is for cyclist with no money.

Step 3:

ITS SUNDAY! Time to go for a ride! Get out your carbon fiber bike. Be sure when you dress that you wear your favorite team kit. It will make you feel like part of your favorite pro team.

And remember, no matter what any cyclist tells you, it is ok to sit upright and with a low seat........ aerodynamics is overrated.

Step 4

This is the most important step. Its about etiquette. Remember that you probably payed well over $2000 for your Carbon road bike, therefore you have earned the right to take up the whole trail or bike lane as you ride. If you pass another cyclist head on, be sure that you only nod hello if they are themselves a 'roadie' and be sure to scoff at people passing you on steal and aluminum road bikes and spit at hipsters on fixed gears... they are scummy and the only reason they are faster than you is because they are poor so they have to ride their bikes everywhere....

Step 5-Post ride care

Be sure you have a safe place to put your bike for the week.... and if you do decide to commute on it at all, be sure that you always have a clean set of spandex and jerseys.... you can never (and I mean NEVER) be caught on your bike wearing street clothes. That would be so gross.

I will now leave you with this, an anthem to the "roadie" in all of us....

:)

Jacob In Real Life....

A new Approach.....

I am running on empty. I don't know what it is, but I haven't been able to blog..... but I have decided on something new, a whole new approach (though I never did really have an approach to begin with...) I will be continuing TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, but it will be more rare (probably even more so than it has been now) and the remainder will be a series of HOW TOO's.... you'll see... the first is soon to come :)

The Gypsy Swing Revelation

Wow what a lack of posting on my part! I do apologize for not being very active recently on account of my school schedule, but things are finally starting to wind down (at least for a couple of days before the next rush of work comes) and I hope to focus more attention again to this blog.

I spent some time with a band named Le Chat Lunatique last night. I've recently felt this urge to approach and visit with every band that I can, like the ora of the music scene is drawing me in. These people are, as a matter of fact, like minded to me. It amazing to speak with a group of guys that are so established within the music world, insofar as they can rely in it for income. I spoke with them in hopes of finding the primary difference between them and I, aside from the vast difference in skill level. As we spoke, they told me of there struggles with moving producers, self supported tours, and lots of hard work. For there last album, the vocal tracks alone have been weeks worth of work; this was very obvious as they performed; the harmonic vocal lines were clean to a degree that I have yet to experience in a live setting. But back to my point, It seems that that primary difference between them and so many musicians that don't make it is that they didn't give up. When I refer to giving up, I mean it in all aspects that it stands... they didn't give up learning, practicing, working hard at their music every day, playing shows, recording, continued learning, etc... I must say that talking with them was a very pleasurable experience; to see the passion for music within them, knowing that they loved what they did... truly inspiring...

Anyways, I just thought that I would come on here and share this experience with you!

Peace,

Jacob In Real Life....

The Tourist

Freshman fever has taken over UNM once again...This place is a circus.......and you know what that means.....

Bro rape happens everyday...be careful boys....

More importantly, though, I'm looking off in to my future and what is the small remainder of my undergraduate career. I've began to think to myself , In the current job market, that leaving academia may not be the best choice. Maybe the hiatus is was planning before grad school is not necessary. I say this, now on my first day back to school, like a bright eyed kindergartner..... Remember that day?

I remember my mom dropping me off at the bus stop, I had tingles all over. The school held a bus stop practice day where students and parents rode the bus together to make sure that the students boarding the bus knew how and where to get off. Imagine my moms surprise, on the first day, I missed my stop and went to the far ends of Los Chavez.

I remember little of the kindergarten experience, though. That is where I met my friends Michael Baca and attended with old friend Katrina. Also, I remember a girl named Lauren... she kissed me and asked if I would be her boyfriend; naturally I said no and kicked her in the shin....hmmmm anyways, little did I know then that I would be in school for years to come after that, long into my adulthood; I would have numerous first days, friends, missed bus stops, and girls asking me to be something to them (boyfriend, husband, etc...) . But as I stated before, it is only the first day back, and it seems that upon the commencement of every semester, I am ready to uproot myself from this place; I swear I will leave and never come back. No matter how my feelings change, I am glad to be here today.... it feels so familiar anymore. I have dedicated more work in effort in my years here than I did in my 12 years preceding it, and for that I am grateful. But I digress....

First day babel...

Peace,

Jacob In Real Life....

In todays news

turns out that my old History teacher is now a custom bicycle frame builder (matthewscustomcycles.blogspot.com)...beautiful work that he does. The day that I can afford one of his custom builds is a magnificently glorious day.... If you want to buy a bike, you should go to him! 

Peace

Jacob In Real Life...

(PS short and dirty sweet; look out for TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN any day now) 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,

In your final moments you belched out an arrogant shout at me. Your words were unclear but I know very well what it pertained to.
First and foremost, I would like to remind you of a little law that states that as long as me and my bicycle are on the street, I am to follow traffic laws just as any other vehicle does. I receive the same citations, yield to the same pedestrians, and take the same risk (if not more than you) therefore when you pulled up behind me wanting to make a right hand turn, there was nothing I could (or would) do to allow you to go without putting myself at risk. So suck it, and stop being such and ignorant prick.

It seems like this is a weekly experience, an occurrence bound to me by my choice to commute by bicycle. I learned a while back that retaliation is useless and only agitates the situation more-so, therefore I usually don't react on the road. I simply ignore and remain aware. The whole turn around in my attitude happened when a weapon was pulled on me after a verbal confrontation.......

The beer bottles pressed against my back, their cold sweat seeping through my small messenger bag as I left the grocery store. I was so close to home, not but a block away when those bitter words spit themselves out of car window. "Nice bike FAGGOT". The day weighed on me as I watched the car pass, a young guy with his head out of the window and a scowl on his face. I Reacted, "Fuck you! You piece of 'cholo' shit!" This was almost routine, I was no stranger to shouts of anger at passing cars and I had evened thrown my U lock against the body of a car before, so this reaction was no surprise to me. As I looked ahead, I watched the car pull into the turning median to cross into the same apartment complex that I was. Do to the nature of our little scuffle, I decided it be best that I pass and come around at the next turn, as to not worsen the situation. As I pressed my bike passed the car as it waited to cross, the red eyed thug was hanging out of the passenger window of the car waving a cleaver at me. This wasn't done aggressively. He wasn't shouting or waving his body, but threatening me with evil eyes, rocking the cleaver like a ticking pendulum. In a brief moments I had turned the opposite direction and ridden into a culdisac where I felt i could wait for a bit until the situation was sure to have blown over.....

It is since that day that I have decided to play it calm on the road. There is not use to put yourself at anymore risk while you are on a bicycle. Riders, our situations are vulnerable enough as it is, 25 lbs bike vs 1500 lbs car is an outweighed fight and the bike will not win. Trust me, I've tried. And every now in then, you may even get some words of encouragement (About a week ago a guy pulled up to let me know how fast I was going then gave me a hoot of encouragement). And drivers (This goes for EVERYONE INCLUDING MYSELF and everyone that ever sets foot in a car) please remember that cyclist are just trying to do the same as you, get from point A to point B in the best amount of time, and are under some very contradicting laws, so take it easy on them.

And to the driver today, foes of the past, and enemies of my future; I don't give a f*#K what you think I should or shouldn't be doing on the road. I'm going to be there everyday, a lot of us are, and you're going to have to live with it.

Peace,

Jacob In Real Life.....

PS Feel free to leave a comment about how you feel on this topic, whether you agree or disagree! I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Utter Disappoinment

I always thought that I was a huge fan of Australia. I mean what isn't to love? Home of the "Thorpedo" some of the most unique Green Architecture in the world and last but not least, Crocodile Dundee
It wasn't until 2009 that Australia began to disappoint me. I mean, what negative things can possibly be said about the great land down under?
My emotions began to grow sour when I saw a film that played as a catalyst for disdain...

Jackman and Kidman.........

It all started with you! The two of you had to go and make that rechid movie.
But this was only the tip of the iceberg......

I had never heard of Hugo and Treats before, but they give a whole new name to bike hipsters....wowza! I've never been so proud to ride a fixed gear
no "FREEWHEEEEEEEEEEL" for me...

This Australia based Hip Hop group thought it was a good idea to write a silly little anthem on riding bicycles. watch it all the way through and be sure to catch the part where they sample Queen into the song (O'too Predictable!)

All I have to say is that I'd better see some better things come out of Australia
of the beautiful land down under will have lost me forever!

Peace Friends :)

Jacob In Real Life....

The Out Crowd...

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,

I don't know how else to describe it. At this stage in my life, I would much rather think that there is no in or out crowd and that social groups are designed around common interests rather than any sort of shallow interpretation of ones personality. But I must say that we have to leave room for the socially obscure and out of he ordinary.....

But aren't all common interests obscure to those that don't share them?

I know that you can see where I am going with this. Last night I found myself in a basement with some of my closest friends, all dressed elegantly to relive the prom that we never enjoyed. This was no ballroom polluted with penguin suits and Dillard's dresses, but rather a small gathering of people expressing their inner classiness on their own terms. A purple haze cast across the room as the black light met the disco ball, and the keg ran all night. There was dancing, photography, and even a little romance. This "Prom" night was all that many of us probably wished our prom would have been. As I came to think about it this morning, I thought of what people would have thought had they randomly stumbled upon our little gathering, walking into a basement full of oddly dressed young adults, intoxicated by the moment. Whether they would have joined the party or considered it uninteresting is not important. Whats important is that It doesn't matter what they would have thought. This moment for us was beautiful, no matter how out of place or obscure its nature was.

The night preceding the prom was also quite the eye opener. I rolled my bicycle down Central to Downtown with a group of bike friends. We were met with hundreds of cars, all headed in one direction like spawning salmon. They were obviously very entertained by 7 guys riding there bicycles down the heavily trafficed street as they proceeded to honk and shout, both good and bad things. To many of these drivers, both on this night and any time, we as cyclist are part of some kind of "counter culture". For those of you who know me, I do not only mean this about fixed gear riders, but urban cyclist in general (whether you ride a hybrid, road, mountain, or fixed gear bike). But the reality of it is that to us, we are doing something completely normal and familier to us, just as driving is to them.

This brings me to my point. We are all the out crowd to somebody. There is always going to be someone that is going to look at you, your group of friends, or even your family, and say "you are weird as fuck!" as you may do the same to them. But I call everyone to action today! Embrace your out crowd! Be bold! Stand out! No matter they way that you choose to do these things, just do them, because you will find yourself in a much happier place when you embrace all of these things!

Peace,

Jacob In Real Life....

PS: Always feel free to share experiences via comments and emails! And Special thanks to all of my great friends that inspired this one! Prom Night was killer as was Anodyne!

WA.....Continued and completed

U Dub... ( UW aka the University of Washington)

Walking up Roosevelt showed me the side of Seattle that one tourist may never see. The streets are cluttered with bars and pizza joints. Small houses are neatly placed on slopes, decorated with uncut grass and unpainted doors. As I come upon the campus I am greeted by a large chime. It was put in place to bring good fortune anytime one rings the small bells. I, of course, took part in this ritual. I began to near Lake Union, a body of water that separates Seattle Metro from North Seattle (Where Greenlake and the university are located). All along the shores of the lake are small docks where personal fishing and rec boats bob slowly in the calm water. I've come to realize that every time I get within sight of any large portion of water, the air becomes significantly cooler. This may seem a bit obvious but its reality hasn't struck me until I've felt the brisk wisps run across my face. Hayley has told me time and time again to ask one of the people for directions to a place where we can rent bicycles, but me being the "guy" that I am, I stubbornly refuse. After a period of exploring the area, I decide to give up on finding the mystery bike shop that will rent us bicycles, and Hayley and I begin to cross the bridge over Lake Union to move back towards our hotel. On the other side of the bridge, we come upon a classy pizzeria and decide to stop on for some lunch. Hayley being one to not touch a nibble of meat to her mouth insists that we order the four cheese pizza. Upon receiving our order of what I expect to be a bland array of simple cheeses and simple sauce, we are both pleasantly surprised by the taste of the pie. The trick es the extra sweet marinara spread over the soft crust and the clusters of feta cheese hidden strategically underneath the other four cheeses. The pizza and beer leaves me satisfied to continue our trek to the space needle. Up unto this point, I have had the luck of stumbling upon secret land marks and corners of Seattle. It leaves me wishing that my stay could last much longer. Unfortunately the walk back to the hotel only proves to be segments of low income housing and regular urban huh ha that can be seen in any city across the country.

All in all though, the 10 mile walk day turned out to be quite the adventure and gave Hayley and I the kind of idea that we needed when considering a move to Seattle. The remainder of the trip did not involve the kind of attention to detail as the time is Seattle mainly because we went from house to house, driving hours to get from one place to another, leaving the remainder of the trip as quite a blur. But if you have any loose ends you would like tied up or other details revealed, please feel free to ask! Thanks for Joining!

Jacob In Real Life.....

WA

Here I am, Day 6 in the beautiful state of Washington. We've been staying with some friends of Hayley's dad on the Okanogan River, and I mean literally on it. I am actually looking out the window at the flowing water. Anyways.....

In the past six days I have seen the many faces of WA. We spent 2 Days in Seattle, that being the unconcluded part of the story, as I will be headed back there tomorrow for one last visit.

But let me say....

There are very few cities that I have seen that can top the unique persona of Seattle. I walked from Seattle Center to Pike Street, then down to the Bay.

PIKE STREET

As you near the water, the thick smell of salt caresses the air, along with the potent scent of fresh fish. Pike Street Market is alive with shoppers and vendors, a place where both tourist and local come together to shop amongst and array of vendors selling every thing from fresh fruit and flowers, to leather bound journals and hand made soaps. Live music rings from the streets, mostly blues and folk music. A young guy, not much older than myself, was actually playing the fiddle and singing with no other accompaniment, offering an all treble ballad to the passing shoppers. I walked wide eyed over the damp rock floor, sipping my Tully's coffee that I picked up at a local bagel shop for breakfast. The fish market is surrounded by a crowd, all gathered to see the famous fish tossing. Two men, each seasoned in there profession shout at one another as they toss the fish orders back an forth. The crowd applauds in excitement.
I entered a small book store on the lower level of the Public Market, greeted by the middle aged owner. "So how about this heat wave?" He asks me. This morning as I left, I found myself putting on a flannel button up over my t-shirt to cater to the crisp air.......its anything but a heat wave. But I realize, for him, 75 degrees is a heat wave in Seattle... nothing like the upper 90 degree temperatures of Albuquerque. After I explain to the owner that I am from somewhere that is much hotter, we chat for a bit about the unique culture of Seattle, and a little of some books that I enjoy. This was the last stop that I made on Pike Street Market, But there was still some things that I had in mind for the day.

GREENLAKE & THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Hayley and I caught a bus the the Northern Part of Seattle in hopes of finding a place to rent some bicycles. We came across a large shop called GREGG'S GREENLAKE CYCLES.... Coming into the shop, it seemed just like any other. I spoke with one of the employees about the local following for cycling, when he invited me to the pro showroom. The showroom was set up like that of a gallery, the bicycles lined against the walls, hanging individually like large paintings isolated to be properly viewed. aside from the beauty side of the bicycles, there was a certain functional aura in the room that shouted "PERFORMANCE". I was not allowed to be unsupervised and was not allowed to take photographs. Some of the bikes cost more than (believe it or not) a new car. ((((CUSTOM PINARELLO PRINCE)))))).... After I gawked for more time than Hayley was happy with and shot the shit with my new Seattle bike shop friend, we were told that the shop didn't do bike rentals, but that there was a place not to far away that did. We were given directions on a small napkin and Began our walk through the University area...this turned out to be an adventure......................

But I'm sure that you are tired of reading by this time so this will be continued in a series of blogs..... hope you return to explore WA some more :)

Happy 4th o'July

O How I do love the summer time! Its the Fourth of July again...

I have disappeared for some time but am going to go on a posting frenzy starting up here. I will be leaving to Seattle on Tuesday and will be documenting much of that. I also have borrowed a book from a friend and am looking forward to reading that before and during my trip.

I'm sure reading this memoir will fuel the fire of many thoughts in my skull...so look forward to that. Especially all my little Right wing monster friends :) I'm sure you will enjoy talking about this with me later.
But, back to the better part of this! 4th O' July and SEATTLE!
TONIGHT!!:
http://www.cranks505.com/2009/07/this-saturday-4-11-pm-dont-miss-this-if.html#links
Check out the link above^
Fixed and Free bike shop 1 Year Anniversary Party. Its going to be wild, Live Music and all!
Then on Tuesday im off!

I'm sure most people know this, but Hayley and I are very VERY strongly considering this as a city to start our new life after graduation. We will be spending a week there coming in a couple of days. I can't wait!

Well thanks for reading friends! Keep looking me up regularly as I am looking forward to having some real 'blog' material coming up Including a weekly Entitles "To Whom it May Concern". Talk to you soon!

Jacob In Real Life...

Steel and Carbon Fiber....

The summer is passing by, every day I experience can also be thought of as another day lost.

But I would much rather not look at it that way

Instead, I'd like to think of my daily as a series of productive moments where
I am able to learn things, see things, and understand things that I otherwise wouldn't have
had today never happened.

Hayley confronted me with an interesting question tonight.....

"Do you think there are really people out there like Dexter?
I didn't have an answer for her, unfortunately.
But I do have to say that I have always admired the world of Justified crime,
full of Robin Hood style vigilantes
People that commit crimes only for the greater good of the world.
(If you haven't watched Dexter, please give it a try, its f'n great!)

In other News......

I fell in love with a bicycle this morning..
This is a Pinarello pursuit Track Bike...and it is awesome.
Everything from the rear disk wheel to the curved stays and head tube blows my mind....super awesome.

Today Hayley found a wedding ring for me...
Its made of my two favorite materials ever!
(Hayley knows me way too well)

Carbon Fiber mixed with a little bit of Steel and we get......Its no coincidence that these are the two best materials for make bicycles! Hurray!
What can I say? My lady knows me way too well!

I never did intend for this to be a day to day account of my life, but that does seem to be the driving inspiration of this particular post.

I hope you don't mind.

A World All my Own...

Its been 7 days now that I have been off of the bicycle, and I must admit, I feel awful. I found myself down with some sort of ailment yesterday, and I can only assume that it be withdraws from my little two wheels. My new Frame should arrive today though!

But Until then, to satisfy my need for some sort of cathartic satisfaction with cycling, Ive decided to jot down some things here that I feel about cycling...

Do you remember when you were young, the first time that you rode without training wheels? I do. I was four and I wasn't doing well with the whole two wheels thing. After a whole day of struggle with my dad, I found a small hill that I rolled down. As I began to roll, I found my center of balance, and BAM! I was riding a big boy bike!

There were years in my pre-teen days that I raced BMX, which landed me with nothing but scars and bruises. But those races were some of the most invigorating experiences of my life!

It wasn't until I was in my post high school years, though, that I truly found the beauty of cycling. I must say, one has not experienced the sunset until they have ridden the high mesas of our beautiful state on a late summer afternoon.

You see your shadow, cast along the trees and bushes that line the side of our desert highways.
One has not experienced the grade of a hill until they hit a sign that says 8% and realize that their legs have begun to go numb.

During the Tour De Acoma, Id have to say that began to understand how men withstood 600 mile tours. At mile 60, just past the turnaround, I began to feel an unbearable fatigue that I wasn't sure that I could handle. I was sure that I didn't have 40 more miles in me. As I took long deep breathes I began to focus less on the hurt and more on what was around me. A cool breeze in my face and beautiful walls around me. The western plains and Plateaus were something that I realized then I had taken for granted.

In this experience with my surroundings, I found my body more at peace with itself, with its struggle. Rather than wishing the road would end, I wished that it would continue. Since that day, my first crossing and finish of a 100 mile ride, Every experience on a bicycle has been memorable. Whether it be a road ride, a cruise, or a fixed gear ride, its been amazing.

This is why I miss having my bike. I wake up in the morning looking forward to going to work, not because of work itself, but because of the time I spend with my bicycle getting there.

So to everyone that reads this, I hope you have something that frees you from your everyday. I hope that you have a World all your own.

PS: cyclists, stop hating in fixed gear riders. I don't care how long you've ridden or what you think they do to the cycling reputation, give it the fuck up.
I ride all kinds of bikes and believe me when I say, both the most intense and memorable rides have been on fixed gears. Don't be scared...challenge yourself.

Predictable but appropriate......

I know what you are thinking. I did steal my blog name from a movie...one that I love very much.This name was also given to me by a friend (Chris of christheblog) in a piece of refrigerator art, I then being dubbed "Jacob in real life...." forever. I feel as if I have to write some sort of mission statement to let everyone know my intentions of this.
UNFORTUNATELY....
I haven't a mission statement for you...so just do me a favor and check this out every now and then, and see if you find anything interesting :)

And as a first order of business i found it important to share this with the world... watch out for the little soccer guy at 3:15.....its horribly hilarious