Rainy bike rides are the best bike rides

No one ever wants to hang out so now its up to me to entertain myself. That means riding a bicycle on days it's suppose to thunderstorm. I packed up some water and a chain and headed for Eagle Rock Reservation this afternoon. Its only about 5 miles there, but its all uphill.

It started to rain about 15 minutes into the trip, so I decided to look like a homeless person by sitting underneath this fake shelter.



After noticing that it wasn't about to quit raining, I decided just to keep riding.

You can't really tell from the horrible cellphone photos, but it's basically like riding up the side of a mountain. It's just steep and windy.




I stopped halfway up because I noticed a deer. I looked around and saw 7 more. That was a nice change of scenery.


So I get to the top, and of course it's too cloudy and overcast to see the sites. I sat for about 20 minutes just listening to music and staring at what would be the NYC skyline then decided it was time to leave because the rain was coming down harder.

Going down was a lot quicker, but also a lot more terrifying. Although the rain and wet breaks helped me learn how to skid out my bike tire to slow down. By the time I started the journey back the rain was fucking pouring.

I made it to Bloomfield Ave. where these two assholes in a car decided to pull over..right where I was riding. So they're pulling over and the car is sideswipping me. My entire bike, and I guess myself, is rubbing up against their car because we continue to go the same speed. It sucks because there were cars parked on the side of the street directly to my right and the fuckers in the car continued to close me in tighter. My back tire starts to slide out, but somehow I manage to not eat shit. This whole time the passenger window is down and the woman is screaming "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. Stop, you're hitting him!" They finally come to a stop and yell something else at me cause I'm dragging my hand across the side of their car as I ride away.

I fucking hate people.
but love adventures.

Mets game

My roommate got free tickets to the Mets vs. Braves game today in New York.
Its hard for baseball to hold my interest, but it was an interesting trip.

I constantly got distracted by everything around me.





For instance, there was this little asian kid who got lost and constantly walked back and forth past us looking for his parents. That lasted a good 15 minutes. The security guy didn't even bother to acknowledge him.



The guy one row behind us was by himself and kept yelling the stupidest shit at the worst times. "Lets grill these guys!" was a popular one.

Lets see, Chipper Jones broke a bat in half while hitting a ball. I don't know if that is common in baseball, but I liked it.



I guess since we have the minor league Richmond Braves, I like the Atlanta Braves? I don't know. Maybe I'm just an asshole who wants the team that everybody hates to win..you know, so I can rub it in their face.
Either way, it worked. The Mets were winning up until the last inning. The Braves caught up then won.

me 1. Mets fans 0.

Cookouts are the new black

Danielle and I went to Rich, Billy, and Mike's miniature cookout tonight. They randomly brought a grill with them to campus and tried to have a bbq out on their front lawn - security ended that pretty quickly. We then moved it to the back of the Deacon's Den.





Mike can grill


Then right as we were about to leave I died and turned into a ghost.

:(

vip premier

So I just had a private premier of Sean Jackson's Wonderful Horrible Life via ichat. Technology at its greatest...even 3 states away.

Thanks Clem.

Liberty Cookout

So we had a cookout at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. Fuck that place is nice. To the left is the NYC skyline and straight ahead is the Statue of Liberty. Such nice views.





So we get there and it is windy as fuck. We have 3 matches. Of course the grill won't get lit. So after trying to light the charcoal on fire, then trying to light paper on fire which will then hopefully light the charcoal, we run out of matches. We sit around for an hour and a half trying to find a lighter until Rich's brother finally arrives with one. Hotdogs, fake hotdogs, burgers, chicken, and chicken wings. Good meal.



True Americans






Jam sesh


We end the night with a soccer game then eventually drive home. This is a place that I need to go back to.

Bicycles and Black Flags

So I decided it was time to take the bike on an adventure today. It had been a little over a year since the last one. Destination Black Flag Shoppe in Clifton. A 7.7 mile ride there and a 7.7 mile ride back. Not too bad. Only managed to get mildly lost on they way there.



So I get there and Omar surprisingly remembered me. He and his wife hooked me up with a bottle of water and then lunch later on. Thats how you know good people.



Sick bike he's working on


We chilled in front of the store for a while until I eventually had to leave. I biked back to the apartment and got there just in time to meet up with the landlord.