Easy Reader Jive

Morgan Freeman (a.k.a. Easy Reader) getting his groove on. Does anybody else remember the Electric Company?

Happy Halloween!

Change is in the air.

Just a heads-up for anyone who takes the time to view my blog, I will be abandoning fixedandsingle in the near future. I started this blog as a way for friends and family to check in on my travels and adventures when I moved to California. Well, I'm no longer in California and traveling quite a bit less so I thought it would be good to bring this chapter of my life to a close.

Don't be disappointed, because I'm going to continue blogging at a new location. I'll be posting the new address once I have everything ready.

Thanks for taking the time to check this humble blog out.

-tony

Things that make you go "hmmm..."

Caught this taking place behind the drugstore across the street from the bike shop. At first I hoped they were making a pick up and not dropping off material. But then I realized both situations are pretty bad.

Johnny Mohawk Spies Beer, Tony Helps Him Investigate

On a whim I went up to Minneapolis this last weekend to visit my good friend Johnny Mohawk. I've known him for about four years or so. We worked together at Cycle Works, and then lived together for a while at the Dirtbag Mansion. He moved up to Minneapolis last spring to go to work for Quality Bicycle Products, a large bike parts distributor. We had a lot of fun drinking beers and riding bikes all over the Twin Cities and hanging out with some of his friends and co-workers from "The Q". People who work at Quality call it The Q, a fact that never ceased to illicit a chuckle from me. Why is this so funny? Well in Lincoln we have a well known gay bar which is called The Q.

Johnny and some friends hanging outside a bar/bowling alley just a few blocks north of where Johnny lives.

The Minnehaha Falls. The falls are 53 feet high and are in the middle of Minneapolis. John and I took a very relaxing ride past a bunch of the lakes in the city to go take a look at the falls.

A pretty view of the creek just a bit downstream from the falls.

We stopped by Eric Noren's workshop, he's a co-worker of John's at "the Q" and his own custom bike company, Peacock Groove. Here we see a close up of one of their headbadges.

Finally, I want to show the world that Minneapolis has boring, ugly things too. Of course, I could just be fooling you and really just went and took a picture of some grain silos near my home.

Vomitron's Birthday

Jerod celebrated his birthday last week at O'Rourke's. A small group of us gathered to celebrate. Here we see Jerod react to finding out I didn't get him a damn thing for his birthday. I later bought him a beer and he seemed all right with it.

Five bearded men gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Jerod's birth and how to take over the world. BuWaHaHa!!!

Holly and Zach showing exactly why they are the reigning "Cutest Couple In the World"

Hole-y Goodness

My friend Brent Hermes acquired a pretty cool 1970's race bike. It's dressed in some very early Dura Ace components, including this crank made from a very rare and possibly non-existent metal called drillium. Funny, 30 years later and modern crank arms don't feel any lighter. When are people going to start drilling out carbon fiber? There's probably some idiot who's doing it already.

Bob's Baby Blue Bike

Bob Downey, all around swell guy, likes to own really awesome bikes. He's got a stable of Trek road bikes that is probably only outdone by the likes of mister "7" himself, Lance Armstrong. Well, old Bob decided he wanted to mix it up on the dirt and ordered up a Yeti Arc through the shop. This bike frame might be responsible for more XC wins than any other. It certainly set the bar for what a fast, cross-country hardtail should feel and handle like. I remember drooling over the pages of Colorado Cyclist in the early-mid Nineties, longing for one of these frames. Well, I never got one, but I did get to build up Bob's. I only got to ride it up and down the Cycle Work's back alley, but it felt awesome. Funny thing though, where my 22-year-old self would've LOVED to own this frame, my 32-year-old self found it a bit stiff and harsh. Is it an awesome bike? Heck, yeah! Is it still my dream bike? Nope, 'cuz Mary bars would just look funny on it and my back hurts just lookin' at those swoopy-stays. My tastes have changed from Porsche performance to Cadillac cush.