Sometimes the rain stops just in time

Sometimes your position feels just right.

Sometimes things just come together.

I’m not exactly sure how these instances happen - no one really is.  I suspect that all our daily efforts create and let lose small sparks of positive energy that surf inter-galactal tides of the universe until they culminate into one lucky and occassional occurence of fortune (for all you bookworms, that would probably be the 2nd Law of Yellow Bug Physics).  Sometimes the sweetest puppy in the world falls right into your lap and licks you on the cheek.  It happens.

And so when I woke up today, it didn’t know what was in store.  I didn’t realize that controversial conversations would go so smoothly. I had no idea that the sun would shine all day long.  I was unsuspecting that today I would feel so fresh on the bike.  And how was I to know that American Idol would be on two nights in a row?

Caffeine is the greatest mood-enhancer known to the people of earth.  The people of other planets might know something we don’t.  But look at the math . . .what are the chances?   

 The odds of life on other planets = slim

The odds of life on other planets with ability to communicate = come on now, I can barely connect to the internet.

The odds that our existence of life with communication overlaps with theirs = please, we are talking a bazillion years here people and aliens.

The odds that this extra-terrestrial life may also have caffeine and know how to use it = I’m not gonna do the math, but I can tell this is practically impossible and leads me to the next question of how do you discover caffeine without your morning cup of coffee?

And so when you carry the 1, it all equates to a incredibly very small, infininitely microscopically thin chance. . . of anything. 

And so when a day like today happens, all I can do is take it in stride and say “Thanks” to the fortuitous collision of a million dust particles at just the right angle, with the right velocity at impact, at the right moment in the overwhelming span of universal existence. 

And the other thing I know is that if you crash a carbon bike hard enough, there are tiny diamonds left behind as a consolation but they are stuck into the tiny cracks of the pavement and most people don’t have the time or energy to look for them given the circumstances of actually crashing a bike that hard (Note: the carbon has to break and be compressed very hard for this to actually take place.  Do not try at home). 

My computer broke.  Sometimes last week.  I don’t have any nice pictures, cute stories, or make-believe banter for you.   I am fresh out.  My computer went and crushed all my motivation like a baby elephant sitting on a cupcake.  It hurts me to say that, but I will have a new computey on Friday. 

Roman has been nice enough to let me borrow his computer.  So I guess I can dig up a picture from Bermuda just to remember the fun. 

And now back to my dissatisfaction with my no-good, broke down, busted ass computer:

Bike racing is great and I plan to stick with it for along time, but I have got new plans for my next adventure: Spaghetti Western films production. 

It’s the perfect mix of art, action, world travel, imagination, and low-budget operations.  It’s kind of like bike racing (especially when you take into account kit design and you accept Altoona Pennsylvania as “world travel”).  If all goes well, I think I can employ most of my family members and alot of retired bike racers in the cast and crew. 

That’s HOT

To keep costs down and avoid animal cruelty, my cast will ride bicycles instead of horses.  Flat tubes will be painted to look like rattle snakes, which I don’t believe they actually have in Italy.  Finally, women (ok teammies this is where I need your cooperation) will be given important roles as wild heroine cowgirls instead of the usual saloon entertainment. 

I think this could work out.

Just wanted to take a quick break from adjusting my new cleats (more on that later) to do a little cut n paste stuff here. . .   

Ken Says:
January 17th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

As a surgeon who’s job it’s been to scrape extruded grey matter from the sculls of retards who have turned themselves into vegetables or corpses- please wear a helmet even if you are sure it’s not necessary for you. Glad this blog shows picture of a well know Europro wearing his. There is young local pro back who flaunts his helmet-less kit. As cruel as it sounds I’m glad he got dropped from his top tier team so that maybe his adoring fans might think not wearing his helmet has something to do with it.

HELL YEAH WEAR YOUR HELMET YO.

I’m not sure what when wrong with the colors here.? I call it 80’s night tropical sunrise mango fiesta.

This seems totally obvious to me. A Newton meter is equal to the gravitational force of 1 Fig Newton divided by the unit-less co-efficient of my top tube measurement, 50.5. 

So lets apply this to the real world.  My seatpost clamp says 16 Newton meters.  To get my saddle to stay on this thingy, I am assuming that Ritchey wants me to tighten the bolts to 16 Newton meters, not eat 16 Newton meters and then hope that my bike stays together through acts of good will. 

Follow me here where X represents the number of Fig Newtons for which an equal gravitational force is needed to keep my saddle on my bike:

16 Newton meters = X/50.5

so then X = 808 Fig Newtons

And when I think about the amount of force it actually takes to tighten those bolts, 808 Fig Newtons doesn’t seem like much at all. 

People say physics is hard, but I don’t believe them.  It’s like riding a bike- it just takes practice.  And some creativity.