Tschüss 0x7DA

Abnormally balmy 55° for the last day of the snowiest December on record, so I did a photo-wander around town:

OG skater turned tap handle meister:

John at Champaign Surplus graciously unpacked his sewing machine and sews a stop in my Ortlieb strap after replacing a broken clip. Today is his last day in a 41 year career at Champaign Surplus.

Santah, Common Loon, The Dirty Feathers or Ryan Groff warming up for tonight’s show ?

photo op alert heard loud and clear:

favored warming of the innards spot: 602. E. Daniel

Special K with red sauce, Framboise, and Moylan's Nor Cal IPA at the Pig; life is good.

few more in the set for the adventurous…..

38.8 @ 18.6 max 32.6

Mid to upper 40’s, winds in upper teens gusting to low 20’s and moderate threat of precip.

I bravely removed my balaclava when the ride over to the start caused me to feel a bit warm. After my ears quit yelling, I was pretty comfortable and enjoying the balmy conditions.

North of Tuscola:

A rare occasion that I’m in front:

Festive 500 total – 111.2

If you havn’t seen it, A Sunday in Hell - Paris - Roubaix from 1976 is a great film.

30.2 @ 18.1 max 31.9

30°, 16 mph from the SSE, fog and incoming freezing rain ? Let’s go for a ride!

Checking the radar at Sadorus revealed pretty pink bits arriving soon which signaled the time to surf tailwinds home.

 

I made the mistake of watching some vintage Merckx TT footage today. It’s probably the main reason I agreed to today’s ride. Seems like he’d be in the big ring here though.

via simonk:

a most excellent table via milanofixed.com: 

2010 fail compilation

If I had to put my finger on a favorite funny video in 2010 it’d be this one. Yes, the song is on my sansa clip.

Exhausting Variance

rest here.

Christmastide

Meanwhile, 5 or so years ago ….

Rest of the set here.

Oh Night Divine

Snowww and low motivation to push pedals so I guess I’m out of the Festive 500. Meh.

.

mmm bokeh:

Found this pic of a buddy's Bengal and thought I’d repost since the photo has come to mind in the past and I’ve wished there was a way to easily see it:

Not yet, but soon …..

42.2 @ 17.5 max 29.8

Stage 1 of the Festive 500 in the books. Martin and I were the only responders to the challenge despite multiple email attempts to roust riders. Temps in the mid 20’s and winds in the low single digits.

Breaking the math down for us who still use miles and inches it looks like I/we need 44 miles a day to hit the 310.7 by the 30th. With snow forecasted for tonight, my hopes aren’t too high. I *could* make a go of it on the commuter but without a computer (no computers on commuters) I’d be hard pressed to track it. Fixed gear in Highland Perthshire anyone? yikes.

Dog Fort sorties were out en mass cheering us on. One so enthusiastically he was pretty much under the front bumper of a passing car before getting it in reverse and outta there.

Extraordinary Eternity

from this

Skylands spruce hiding in the snow:

Howell’s

 

superlinear scaling and 300 million blue whales

Neural North

Not sure if I’ll still like this oil paint filter in a month but for now I do.

Segway-toting priuses are invading:

Stitched and tone mapped Altgeld:

Filtered verdigris wall:

and DCL wall:

rest of the set.

Meanwhile, on the internets:

need to retry this tilt shift tutorial

Very nice vid and pics of the lunar eclipse on winter solstice

I dunno….

I’ve wondered for years if someone, somewhere will fix STI levers. Looks like a couple guys will!.