She VI

Half moon lingers languidly, slung from spider's strings in the western sky.
The sky is clear, air crisp with the chill of early spring.
Soon the Sun will rise, I see its pink-orange glow on the eastern horizon.
The light will dash the dark to bits and birds will cheer.

Soon, She will be in my arms.

CX bars and California stars

Finally got to take the Ion CX Pro out for a proper ride today.
Temps in the low 50s and a bit of sunshine made it an easy choice.
I know a lot of others have been out already or are out year round.
Frankly the idea of being on my bike in a non-bike friendly town in mid January has a very low appeal to me.

Regardless, it felt good to crank out 20 miles or so on the bike today.
It also felt good to get a better feel for the new steed.
Here's some early feedback.

I really like the stiffness this bike has in the front end and bottom bracket areas. It is apparent to me, especially when I'm out of the saddle. There was no/very little lateral flex in the front end thanks to the E2 fork/headset/frame combo. Trek runs the E2 on a variety of bikes throughout the lineup for good reason. It works well and isn't really that radical of an idea. Neither the 1.5-inch lower is an industry standard and the 1.25-inch upper also industry standard.

The other part of the front-end that helps with lateral stiffness is the Fisher Control Column (FCC). I really am not a fan of the name. It does nothing for me and it sounds... gimmicky. Despite the name though, it works. The front end with the wider fork, the taller and wider hub flanges along with the 25mm end caps result in a very stiff and responsive front end. Granted I am not a racer and this is Minnesota, so I'm not exactly testing the limits of this bike, but still, early indicators say this all makes for a good ride and one that inspires confidence.

The bottom bracket area is the other area that I could tell a difference in versus my previous bike. Prior to this I had a standard thread in, external bearing bottom bracket setup. This bike runs the BB86.5. Normally I shy away from "non-standard" set ups like this, but this is clearly an upgrade. Between the press-fit bottom bracket and the wider bottom bracket shell, this bike is very stiff where stiffness really matters.

Other thoughts on the bike:

• The Rival groupo is top-shelf. It works well. Crisp and clean. No early troubles at all.
• The Bontrager bits are quality. From the Race wheels, saddle, seat post, stem and handle bars I have found everything easy to use and it works well. That doesn't surprise me, Bontrager has long put out quality stuff.
• My only complaint would be the Avid Shorty 6 brakes. They seem to work fine, but I had heard that these are very noisy brakes. Seems to be the case with these. I'll need to tweak on these a bit to see if I can eliminate that noise because that noise is obnoxious.

So overall, I am very pleased with this bike. More to come as spring rolls along.

Lastly, I leave you with this. Enjoy.

She V

She says to me, "You are the cream in my coffee, the cherry on my sundae, I can handle this all by myself just fine, but it's better with you."

She IV

She said, "Listen carefully because this is important. I love you. This is a big deal. Don't fuck it up."

I said, "I love you. I am listening. Don't break my heart into a million pieces."

It is said...

That love is blind.
Strangely enough, I feel like I've never seen things more clearly.

She III

It currently is 12:52 a.m. CST on a Friday.
She just feel asleep on the phone while I was talking (about gnomes, She asked.)

I wonder when She will wake up and realize that She feel asleep.

She is an absolutely amazing woman. She is incredibly good for me.
Every time words tumble from my mouth She says She likes me more.
Earlier tonight She told me She wanted to hear my voice in her ear.

She simply is the best thing that's happened to me in a very long time.

She II

It had been a fairly typical Wednesday.
Then she asked me if I wanted to get together. I said yes.

She asked if I could pick her up, I said, of course.

She ordered a chai and then sat across from me.
Again, she was dressed in black and she looked amazing.
She has the biggest scarf I've ever seen. she wears it well.

She has eyes that are gorgeous. They are green and hazel and blue and grey. They seemed to change colors  throughout the night. She says the DMV isn't sure what color to call them, so they just call them grey. I would tell the DMV to simply call them beautiful.

She talked about her dog. And her cat. She talked about her job and books and music. And we just talked. She is easy to talk to and talks easily herself.
She is whip smart.
She is fancy, but not that kind of fancy.

The night continued from there.

She has captured my attention.

Too Rad

Watch live video from trekbicycle on www.justin.tv

She

She wore black.
And purple shiny shoes with stripped socks.
The square glasses she wears kept slipping down her nose and she would push them up with one finger, nerd style. Two berets in her hair framed her face.

We talk for nearly six hours. The conversation was wonderful.

The kiss afterward was even better. To feel her pressed again me, amazing.

I cannot wait for next time.

People should not be afraid of their governments

Governments should be afraid of their people.

So...
I found this tonight.

This is from the Greek Ministry of Justice website. It was hacked by the sly devils Anonymous.
They also posted a short video.

Enjoy.