YouTube - Tour de France 2009 - Stage 4 - Crash Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence Lotto)

I JUST saw this crash!  The dude STARES at the front wheel while he is sliding, ROLLS out of the way, then stands up while wearing cleats!?

Tour de France 2009 - Stage 4 - Crash Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence Lotto)

YouTube - Tour de France 2009 - Stage 4 - Crash Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence Lotto)

The One and Only WiseCracker

I don't drink, but I think that this is a great idea! haha
WiseCracker Bottle Opener

The One and Only WiseCracker

Monavie Cannondale » Blog Archive » Monavie-Cannondale @ The BC Bike Race

Check out this sweet video that Tinker Juarez just posted on his blog!
Tell me if you see something there that rhymes with Orange? ;)

Monavie-Cannondale @ The BC Bike Race

Monavie Cannondale » Blog Archive » Monavie-Cannondale @ The BC Bike Race

Theme (Children) Submission on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Theme (Children) Submission on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This was my photo submission for last weeks theme (Children)
I have a pretty good amount of votes already since voting opened late last night!
I think I might actually have a chance, and am very excited! I've recieved some genuine comments also and I'm not worried if I win or not :)

This weeks Challenge is (Abstract) I've taken several photos and I've submitted an entry already. All entries can be changed until the photo submissions close early Monday!


Let me know your ideas, and thoughts!

the Bean Bike on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Now that you know about my photography weekly "Challenges" last night in the middle of the night this weeks Theme appeared on FlickR. The Theme was or is "Abstract" I had a couple of ideas and wanted to test some shots out at "The Bean" in Chicago, I wanted to get the view of the city reflecting off of the bean as "abstract" I messed up in two ways, one I found out really fast that I brought the wrong lens, and two, after I took the photos I took the photos in RAW instead of JPEG. RAW is supposed to be the more superior format, but I don't have the software to open it. Luckily not all was lost since I was able to convert the formats on the camera.

---

So as I am riding my bike around The Bean, a security cop yells at me to not RIDE my bike to get off the bike and walk it. I ignore him and of course continue to ride off in the night. This was a security cop on foot, and not segway, those segways are pretty fast! The cop by foot had NO chance of catching me while I was on the bike.
hmm, maybe I should have passed him on his left? I am hoping to back tonight and hope to have everything lined up for for a better adventure and even better, to get the shot that I am looking for!

the Bean Bike on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

stolen bike

This Crazy Ad I came across on Craigslist in the Chicago area!

stolen bike - $4 (humboldt?)

stolen bike

On Your Left Recap

I know this is really bad and I probably should not blog about how I "honestly" felt, but I might as well have titled this blog post karma!

So here is how the story goes, I am on the bike path cruising around with my g.f.  we are riding around just fine, and people are passing us no problem,  "GOOD" no one is saying "on your left" which you guys know by now is a big pet peeve of mine.

So we are going up this small hill casually as a hear the screeching words on a chalk board "ON YOUR LEFT"  of course he's riding a mountain bike with skinny tires on it and he is probably feeling jolly about himself,
the thing is for me is that they NEVER tell my g.f. on your left.  I feel like they go out of their way to say it to me!

Anyway, I have strayed off the path again, as I watch him go up this rolling hill, in my head I am thinking how much I hate it, and I am just going to ignore it and not let it bother me, haha when
the guys left crank literally fell off while he was riding! I know this is mean, but it looked pretty damn funny!  Since he was clipped in, the pedal kept smacking the ground and bouncing back up and he tried to keep from crashing and clipping out of his right foot at the same time!

This is probably one of the zaniest things that I have seen while out cycling!  Anyway, I was the nice guy and stopped to offer my tools to help him put his bike back together! hahah

So all I can say is when is cycling, the wheel does make a full circle!

Mississippi's still fattest but Alabama closing in - Yahoo! News

Mississippi's still fattest but Alabama closing in

Mississippi's still fattest but Alabama closing in - Yahoo! News


This is really really bad!  The article is worth reading.

Side Lighting Contest Submission on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

So I found this group on FlickR while looking around on the site, and I discovered a weekly "themed" photo contest!

I thought that this sounded like a lot of fun and I submitted my first entry. Voting began yesterday and I'm pretty much out of the running already. But I did not know much about "SIDE LIGHTING" the theme for last week, and I now have learned a lot thanks to the contest!
Every week is a theme, and I'll attempt to participate in as many contests as I can!

This was my submitted "SIDE LIGHTING" Photo:

Side Lighting Contest Submission on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikond40challenge/discuss/72157620064056065/

The Weekend-

I caught up on some much needed Rest and Relaxation, I got out to the bike path a lot and then just come general exploring around Chicago.

This past Sunday was pretty crazy out by the beach since the weather was so beautiful out.  There were people everywhere and it's hard to stay indoors when it's like that!

Here are some more pics that I took yesterday while walking around my neighborhood.
Any picture can be clicked and taken to the Flickr site:









Across the street there is a huge chess set up, it draws a pretty decent crowd, there is a lot of hustling going on out there, so be careful with your money!





Here are some building shots:







Chicago is known for the old school look!



I really liked the last picture.  Click on it to view it larger.
I will post the rest tomorrow plus some more news !  :)

Back on the Bike?

So I have obviously been MIA from the bike scene for the last several years, well at least me physically riding, because I've seen the Tour De France, and the Tour of California plus made a lot of new friends in the industry.
 
With my bike in Chicago now, on the Lake Shore Path, and Summer, I really don't have a reason NOT to ride again.  Although I do not want to neglect running!

Here are just a few creative shots that I took a couple of days ago.




The last one I used a flashlight haha :)

No Peddling -

This sign confuses me when I am cycling ;)  haha

On Your Left...

So I went out for a nice bike stroll with my fiance this morning, I told her that it would be a causal ride, and since my bottom was sore from LACK of riding to begin with this was NOT a problem!

Chicago is very big city, and the path IS 22 miles long, you will see a lot of people out riding, running, swimming, walking, and roller blading, pretty much trying to take advantage of the perfect weather right now!

Anyway, I've gone off path,
As we are riding home I hear a small voice behind me yell out loud to me, "ON YOUR LEFT" as he 'barely' passes us, I laughed at his comment.

1.) Real Cyclists know never to say on your left for several reasons, the first being that you could scare the runner or other cyclists and they almost always end up vearing into your lane.  and the second .  . .

2.) Reason is that we all know how much of a weak attempt it is to make yourself feel stronger. 

I in my mind maybe feel like since he was on a commuter bike, and he saw me in full gear on a Tri / TT bike, that maybe it made him feel better about himself.  If that's the case, then by all means say "ON YOUR LEFT" to me more often !  :)

Chicago Views-

Here is a picture that I took from my Apartment Roof Top, I pretty much get to see this every night and I am just a block under the streets to get to the Lake Shore Path to ride my bike or go for long runs.

The Lake Shore Path has 22 miles of paved path spooning the Lake...
 
as I now FINALLY have access to my new bike

I do not have an excuse to not ride around Chicago.
But as I walk around Chicago, it seems as if Bike, is the fastest way to get around here anyway!

Chicago , Chicago

It's been a long several days, if you are friend of mine on Facebook, you have then probably seen my random rants with text messages from my phone and or photos of just random stuff of how long and what it took to make it up here.
From some special help that I recieved in Chicago, it only took about 45 minutes to unload the U-Haul.
The nice part is that we really did not have too much to carry from Texas to Chicago!  I am not saying that I do not have a lot of "stuff" but the reality of all of that fitting in a Chicago apartment is very slim!
I will be posting pictures later down the road, but it was cool to watch fireworks off on the Navy Pier for the first time from the apartment tonight.