I'll Be the Pine Tar

Man I am fried! Between the Denver Film Festival, Riding, and going out to eat, it's been a super hectic weekend, albeit, fun!

Friday night Amy & I rolled out to Little India over on Logan & 6th for some delicious Indian Food. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of flavoring & seasoning that goes into this particular type of cuisine, but, man, do I ever love it! We went to the Starz Denver Film Festival to check out Majid Majidi's absolutely amazing movie Children of Heaven. I won't spoil it, but, in a nutshell, it's an Iranian film shot 100% in Tehran with amateur actors, and, explores the bond of the relationship between a brother and a sister. It was just plain excellent! Madjidi was actually present in the auditorium with us, and, gave us a bit of background on the picture both before and after. It was really a neat experience to interact with the director/producer and hear him answer questions. Howie Movshovitz opened the evening with a brief introduction about the director & film, and, really got the audience pumped up for the flick. He does the film reviews on KCFR every Friday, and, has the longest most in depth interpretive reviews of a film I've ever heard. I honestly hear his interviews, and, don't know whether he liked or disliked the film. He can discuss Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, and, somehow cross-reference Albert Camus' The Plague and it's plot during the review of the animated holiday film. It's quite interesting to hear him talk!

Anyway, Saturday, the normal bunch rolled out for a festival of hammering. Chris, Appleby, Jordo, Rogere Phillippe, Darren, a few other newer guys, and myself rolled out to do the "Spring Classics" Loop. I call it that because the longest climb is maybe 2-3 miles max, and, most of the climbs, albeit short, are pretty steep. Think Tour of Flanders sorta stuff in the front range. I dunno...it's my opinion. During the ride, John Q. Douchebag attempted to give me a hard time with his Toyota Highlander. Basically, here's how it went down...I'm riding on a residential road about where a bike line would be say...no centerline, shit, no cars mind you...literally a neighborhood street with no neighborhood. Again...I'm in a fine spot. John decides to lay on his horn about 100 feet or so behind me and accelerate with his engine revving behind me. He quickly swerves around me coming close enough that it was not cool, and, then, flipped me off as I took my hand off the bars as if to say, what the hell dude? He must have confused my motion with something else because brake lights lit up, and the car stops. He gets out, and starts yelling at me about how these are private roads, and, no bicycles are allowed. As I rode by him, remember, he was outside of his car and could have done anything to me...on my bike of course...., I went a bit faster and stayed away from him to avoid any sudden movements on his part. After I rode by him, I said "Man, let's just relax and get along. These are not private roads, and, there's no reason for you to try to hit me with your car. YOu didn't even give me a chance to get over!" "Fuck you!", he replies, "These are private roads...no bikes allowed!". So, at that point it got a little heated...he got back into his car and was approaching me. Again, I told him "Man, just relax...we're just out riding our bikes. Give it a rest". "These are private roads asshole!", he exclaims, "I'm calling the police!". So, now, I got pissed. I replied "You call the police and I'll explain to them that you tried to kill me with your car...or at least attempted to cause bodily harm. That's a pretty hefty claim, and, I'll make sure that you get what you deserve". At this point, Darren was waiting for me, and, he and I both started to argue with this guy, to the point where it was just frivolous. Now, we were riding away getting to the point where we'd be rid of him, but, of course, he stops and decides to start cursing at us even more. My blood was boiling and heartrate rising. Luckliy we dismounted, walked our bikes across a small dirt path that basically cut us off from him, and, were done with it in so many words. Now typically I don't say anything or attempt to engage anyone in any sort of debate/arguement, but fuck...this guy was clearly the aggressor on a street he didn't need to be the aggressor on. It was ridiculous. I don't condone this behavior at all, but, when someone gets out of their car as if to physically attack/do something to me, all bets are off. At that point it turns into a defensive play. Lucky for me, I didn't need any defense. I did feel a bit safer as I approached the other guys because in this case there were safety in numbers! As we talked about what happened, simply because only Darren & I were there, we talked about the "whatif" this guy took us to court. I responded "Oh shit...I"ll totally go to bat against this one...this guy was ridiciulous". Chris ever so smoothingly retorts "Yeah? We'll I'll be the pine tar!" Pretty funny line.

Anyway, we finished the ride, and, I went over to PPC for a quick cleat shim/positioning on the Fixie. Jason has officially done a mitzvah by shimming my left cleat, and, giving it a bit of varus. My knee now tracks perfectly, and, I feel like my VMO is totally engaging. For some reason, my quads have been non-existent in my pedal stroke with my left leg, and now, everything feels great.

Sunday I opted out of MOB, and, headed up to Mike & Kelly's with Amy for the Sunday Fixie ride! As you can see from the motionabsed details, 57 or so miles on my first ever fixie ride! It was so gorgeous out, and, I gotta say, the ride was awesome. My legs feel different than if I'd done MOB, and, I really could feel my pedal stroke improving with each turn of the pedals. My gear ration is 42x15, which, makes it a decent gear to push on the flats, as well as a bit tough up the hills/false flats. Between the weather, the company, and the freedom of not a single driver even passing us on our side of the yellow line (the all swung out extra wide...so nice!), it was pure heaven!!!!