Don’t hate ya’ll.

A few months ago, when we first moved to this cruel cold city, I noticed this bike locked up outside of the local Target.

Wow cool! 1st generation FS butted aluminum MTB w/ Florescent orange swing arm, early 90’s Deore XT and Mavic rims w/ 1.9 slicks. Something you don’t see everyday….
I few weeks later I [...]

I guess my protest yesterday actually made an impact on my boss because today at work he said that I would be able to stay working in the dungeon and don’t have to do sales during the summer. He said I am doing a good job with zee bikes. I guess sometimes it [...]

What’s Up?
25 years of my life and still
I’m trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination.
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made for this
Brotherhood of man
or whatever that means
Actually, shit I’m even older than that…but the song is resonating with me right now in several ways. [...]

Not much time to post today as I am off to work soon. Workin on restoring a Raleigh 3 speed right now as well as this puppy (a Monark from the 50s), which is currently in rust-bucket condition. It has a New Departure coaster brake hub, which I took apart the other day. [...]

I told you I’m a Ninja Turtle! Last night, Jared and I rode South on the lakefront path during a snowstorm. Jared convinced me to do this because he had to ride down to Lakeview to meet a client and get a check. He lured me in with the prospect of pizza. [...]

“My mother is a fish.”
Snook:

This guy did it all. Won a gold medal. Was head professor of Vet School at Ohio State. Invented a surgical instrument (the Snook Hook, which was named after him), murdered his mistress, and got zapped in the electric chair.
Snook:

nicknamed “the human jukebox” and “Blind Snooks Eaglin”…this guy [...]

WIABIS has posted before on how much we love Japan. We are too poor to go to Japan anytime in the near future, but there is lots of Japan in movies, on the internetz and on the YouTubez. We just finished watching Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Have you seen ‘em? [...]

As of tonight, we will no longer have to inflate our bed before going to sleep. Or should I say I will no longer have to inflate our bed, as Jared always made me blow up the air mattress. Our trusty air mattress served us well up until this point, but I am [...]

The bike shop sent me and my coworker to the Park Tools Tech Summit. The event was held at the Westin and featured a bunch of technical seminars on different bicycle products. Basically, it was me and about 400 white dudes from all over the South/Midwest together in some hotel rooms. Who [...]

As the few, the proud who still read this raggedy blog might already know, I am soon flying to Tucson. No, I’m not flying out there for winter training with my team.
Erik Ryberg, my former employer and the closest thing bicyclists have to Jesus is flying me out there to compete against Mickey in [...]

I discovered the perfect way to stay warm without having to dawn a fat jacket, drink myself into insanity, and hibernate during the brutal Chicago winter:  balancing on one leg, holding your arms above your head, and bending your back a lot in a room heated to over 105 degrees.  Jared maintains that drinking and [...]

A few days ago was the overnight screening for my much anticipated sleep study. I made sure to lay off the dope and take it easy on the sauce over the holidays and even shaved my beard for the occasion (mainly because I had to).
After filling out some paperwork, getting measured (79.5kg & 6ft 3.25in) [...]

As we enter into a new year and the door of the past year hits us in the ass, I would like to take this time to reassess what the hell happened to us in 2009.
It is not often that I stop and evaluate my life because that only leads to depressing conclusions. However, [...]

Yesterday Jared and I rode around in a blizzard in search of Christmas presents for my family. After running up a credit card bill that I won’t be able to pay off any time soon, I was satisfied that my family would not look upon me as a slacker who didn’t take the time [...]

Hello SEBASTIAN, lurkers in the mist, and the 5 people willing to openly admit to reading our blog. Sorry for bringing you out of the closet, SEBASTIAN. I know. I know. You wouldn’t want your employers or your family to find out. It hasn’t become socially acceptable yet. In [...]

Dizzy. I just finished inflating a queen-sized air mattress by mouth. The mattress was purchased approximately 2 hours ago at Target. After spending 2 nights on the floor of our new apartment, Jared and I decided that an air mattress would be a better temporary solution to bedlessness than our flimsy Thermarest [...]

I don’t really remember signing up for it, but a few weeks ago I received a call from some female at the University of Chicago regarding a sleep study. She asked me a lot of questions about my eating, exercising and sleeping habits. I must have answered something right because a week or so later [...]

As you all might know, temperatures recently plummeted here and we’ve officially nose-dived into winter. Despite the cold, I still see a lot of people out riding bikes. These winter warriors inspired me to ride the 10 mile commute up to work the other day instead of taking the train. I discovered [...]