2008: uncle jay tells us what happened, in case you forgot

someone else's idle thoughts...

whatever.

if i were king of des moines . . .

oh yes, heads would roll, and then the bikes would roll.

a belated xmas gift--the ENTIRE arthur brown groove

including "fanfare," "fire poem," and the song, "fire" a mono version, by the crazy world Of arthur brown.

drop a little 'cid, smoke a lot of weed, or drink a whole bunch of wine. or any combination of the three.

but CRANK IT UP!!

can i get an . . .

aw, SHIT!!

this will help him concentrate.

amen.

holidays, 2008, take 2

from the mostly reverend, and all the kids at the orphanage.

. . . . .

on a completely different note, folks [and by that, i mean liberal bloggers] are getting their knickers in a knot over this whole "obama's invitation to an invocation thing." FINALLY, someone has written my thoughts EXACTLY. i knew that if i waited long enough, someone would do it for me. but here's how it starts, and now you know why it sums up my thoughts perfectly:

"who gives a rat's ass about an invocation anyway?"

read the entire piece here. but my thanks for saving me a bunch of time to the last chance democracy cafe.

ding dong school time at the orphanage

this one's for the good doctor, out there in oregon.

homey d. clown talks cycling

it's that time of year again, and homey needs to talk to you kids riding bikes in winter, so sit down. [whack!] sit down. what we've had the past few days is just a little bit of cold and snow. today's the first day of winter; this ain't the worst of it. folks already talking about "epic" rides and shit. [whack!] i don't think so. homey don't play that. i was here last year, and said the same thing, so pay attention to me this year. [whack!] pay attention. when you go out and talk about "epic" this and "epic" that, you ain't fooling anyone but youself. go out and have as many memorable rides as you want. but when you say this ride and that ride is epic, you're just saying you don't ride enough. [whack!]

i said this almost two years ago, so pay attention when you watch this film. then a couple weeks later, i said this. [whack!] why don't you listen to what i say? then over a year ago, i reminded you all when i said this. [whack!] don't get homey pissed off; homey don't ride this.

peace, love, and

. . . frozen neuticles?

what time should we ride today? i'm thinking maybe 1100 am, or noon?

s'posed to be close to 0F by then!

by the way, good morning, islamabad, pakistan. thanks for visiting and staying a while. y'all come back again real soon!

* * * * *

notes from my ride--

i know many of you read this, just hoping for some little snippet of wisdom, a rare nugget of truth that might slip from my lips. well, i'm willing to share a little with you today, just for persevering with me through all the stuff above. the chart below this text puts the ride in a rather graphic, easy-to-understand format, but let me explain the numbers first. i've been testing a power tap set up since mid-summer, and have just been gathering data from various rides, getting used to using it, and reading the numbers, but not much more than that. but now i am using the powertap system to gauge my workouts. so i now have a small library of data against which i can make comparisons and such.

today, i rode just over 3 hours, from about 1030 am to 130 pm. it was about 22F when i left, and dropped to about 10F by my return. the wind picked up a bit, too, with light to moderate flurries. my maximum cadence hit 198 as i was trying to catch up to my riding companion as we came from one trail to an open road, and my cassette was clogged with ice and schmook. i held 198 or so for quite a while, actually. my max power hit 540 watts; not the 900+ hit this summer, but i wasn't trying to do anything today but ride. we did have some nice hills and headwinds today, though. the most pleasing thing, however, was the power distribution of the ride [49.56% recovery and 43.41% endurance] and my HR zones [16% recovery, 67% endurance, and 17% threshold or higher]. good verification of what i already knew was a "great fucking ride" [GFR] as measured by fun, tough guy points [my bottle froze, too], time, weather conditions, and almost total absence of other cyclists seen. we saw one other rider, at gray's lake. you guys have fun on your trainers?

.....

so below is my ride, in pie graph form.

.....

first ice beard submission, winter 2008-2009

i went out riding with my stealth cycling buddy today, as we do most weekends lately, now that dave's moved to the western suburbs. i imagine he's training for the upcoming roller season. unlike last year, however, today our timing was a few hours better; the weather did not deteriorate quite as quickly as it did when the harsh pre-christmas blizzard of '07 found us several miles out of town, and the gruelling ride back in scored us beaucoup "tough guy points." well, we racked up some TG points today, too, but just not as many. were it not for an apparent warren county policy against plowing gravel roads, we might STILL be out there southwest of cumming.

scored my first photographable ice beard of the season. not bad for the last day of autumn. sigh...i took several photos, to get the best one; the one that distills the essence of the ride, and the captures the "me" that went out, and later, returned. i believe that this one, me in my beanie, my armless mannequin sunning atop the buffet, says it best.

i am more than just a radio personality, orphanage director, and spiritual advisor to cyber thousands. yes, i also do a little r&d for a number of cycling concerns. i did a little work in the windchill tunnel today for an unnamed frame builder, who has contracted with me to help develop a better/faster cross/gravel bike bike.

although i am contractually bound NOT to say anything about the nature of my work, as it relates to any specific bike or detail, there are no restrictions with casual use of raw photographs. these two fall within acceptable guidelines. what do YOU see?

winter approaches . . .

and frankly, i'm excited as hell about it. snow and ice has been piling up the past few days, the forecast for next week calls for "dangerous windchills" of -25F to -35F, and the cars and trucks are giving me w-i-d-e berth as they approach my bike.
she-it.
is this heaven?
no. it's iowa.
a few observations:
1--after heavy snows, it's easier to get through on most side streets on the sidewalks rather than the streets. folks are pretty good about cleaning their sidewalks. the city takes a bit longer, understandably.
2--nights are much brighter with all this snow. i love reflectivity.
3--riding at night is a whole lot more enjoyable--is this even possible?--when you have a half-pound of freshly-roasted, freshly-ground coffee beans from zanzibar's in your back pocket.
4--the gravel roads are going to be i-fucking-deal the next week or so. i-fucking-deal. mark my words. or you can stay inside and train for your next roller race.
5--some very exciting things are happening in the metro cycling world. 20" and 24" wheels could be quite the rage this summer. mark these words, too. i'm on to someting here.
6--you're gonna see some younger kids riding road bikes in the not-too-distant future around here. yup. road bikes. craziest damned thing to imagine, eh? young kids on road bikes. uh huh. you wait and see.
so there's some thoughts i had tonight while out riding. what did you think about during your ride tonight?

never let a bad boy do the DEVIL'S work

it's kind of embarassing, actually, when these things happen. they give a professional like me a bad rap. i've worked my entire career to get my OWN bad rap, and this jerk almost single-handedly ruins it.

at least he is offering to make it right.

but if jonathan page can't take getting heckled by good old red-white-and-blue hecklers, maybe he SHOULD consider staying on the old side of the atlantic.

killin' time?

how's your aim?

test it HERE, too. these things are fun.

thanks, tengrain!

observations

it's been kinda quiet here at the sermonette the past week. i've been observing zappadan, of course, throwing shoes, and doing a fair amount of "work." the lord works in strange ways, as they say. [i don't say it, they do.] in addition to all this, i've been riding my bike through the rather challenging cold and snow here lately. i prefer the snow, by the way, to the extreme cold. but saturday, on my way home after my ride and a bike kollective board meeting, i stopped at zanzibar's on ingersoll for a cup o' joe and a chat. i then rolled on up the hill, and encountered scores of folks on a variety of big wheels. in front of gt's, i encountered scott sumpter, who told me that they'd raised $10,000 for the charity they support, the children's heart connection.

$10,000. holy shit! quick math: 70 big wheels, 175 people, $10,000. that's a lot, man. good job, kids. amazing.

a bit of irony, though. as i was leaving gt's, to continue home, a tipsy voice from the crowd outside asked me, "where's your helmet?"

gotta love that shit, eh?

anyway, next time you see some old farts on big wheels, think kindly of them. they just might be saving someone's life.

news of the weird

BITCH FIGHT!!!

don't ya just LOVE it? read here

britain's going to the dogs...

thanks, jimmy!

gimme five feet!!

Vehicles passing bicycles: Drivers would have to be at least 5 feet from bicycles when approaching them before passing under a proposal being drafted by Sen. Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City. Penalties for violators haven't been determined. "We've had a fair number of fatalities in our state with car/bicycle collisions and, in every case, the car wins," Bolkcom said.

contact YOUR legislator TODAY!!

[click on link to find your legislator's email address]

zappadan salutes lennon

share your thoughts on john's life...

uncle frank wants YOU!!

the kim west radio cycling show is celebrating zappadan, and we want your help. during last night's episode, #33, "pearl harbor meets zappadan," we featured only zappa bumper music, that music played going into and out of commercial breaks. in addition to an explanation of the highest of holy celebrations, we closed the show with an extended--for us--"joe's garage."

but we need your help. zappadan runs from december 4 through december 21, giving us two more shows to feature the music of frank zappa. what do YOU want to hear? leave your suggestions, along with links, if you have them, in the comments section below, or send them to me at kimwest@kxno.com. we'll give you props for your ideas, and you'll have the great feeling knowing that you've helped make a great show--the kim west radio cycling show--even BETTER!

you can hear last night's episode, #33, "pearl harbor meets zappadan," by going here, and clicking on either of the "listen" or "podcast" icons.

of course, you can listen to any or ALL of the previous episodes, because here at the kim west radio cycling show, there's no such thing as garbage, just old episodes.

uncle frank and the mostly reverend grandpa kim thank you for your suggestions.

grandson acknowledges, and sends it back at ya'

last night, jabari and i were but 2 of the 15,955 in attendance at the iowa-iowa state wrestling meet.
he may be only 16 months old, but he's a pretty intense fan of the sport. his dad coaches at iowa state. he says hi to his friends at the aristocrats.