another fabulous steed

if this is your size, you should buy it. that is, if you are height challenged like ethan. or young children may fit.

really, it's not that small. ok, it is.

six13 on ebay

where did my indian summer go?

just yesterday i had the top down on the ford and tuesday i was riding in short sleeves and shorts. yeah, it's not right that it should be that nice. but, is it right that the indian summer should be ripped from our tenuous grasp so brutally?

i didn't even go to work today. oh, i could've made it there. the roads were only wet and maybe a little slushy at noon. i was worried that ol' bessy and i would be stuck for a couple of days in chesterfield valley. i've got all season performance tires on her...but those only go so far. front weight bias in a rear drive car, even with limited slip, is just a bad combination.

watching the news, it seems like driving anything today is a bad combination. then again, watching the news (with the continuous "storm" coverage!!!) makes you feel a bit like we're in for a snowy katrina. such sensationalism. those weather forcasters should be ashamed.

oil and water

and

more future mustang photos

more photos snagged from the web. i like the rest of the car more than the nose. a little more "mustang" in the nose would really go a long way, i think.

other ideas

besides dog wrestling, poops has shown an affinity for the vacuum cleaner. he crawls after it when it's running. personally, i recoil in horror when that thing comes on. i hate the drone. pooper seems to like it...

dog wrestling

pooper has finally given us a clue as to what he wants to be when he grows up. the ferocious dog wrestler, the mean, the mighty...POOPER!!

look at that face he makes as puts the sleeper hold on rocky's hind quarters! see the other dogs look on in terror! make way for POOPER the dog wrestler!!!

just curious, i guess

this past weekend i saw hanna rush upstairs with the camera in her hand. now, her and her brother are always into something devious up in her room. mostly it's terrorizing poor rosco or mixing makeup and other household goods in a bowl of somekind to come up with crazy concoctions.

when i got up to her room, she was taking pictures of this fish.

"what are you doing?" i asked.

"something," she replied.

"um...are you taking pictures of the fish?" i asked.

"yeah, aren't they great??" she mused.

as it turns out, they were pretty good. i don't understand taking pictures of the stuffed fish, but i can't deny their quality.

the front end?

this is the front end of that possible future mustang that i showed you all last week, courtesy of autoblog.com. at first glance, it reminds me of the new GM Camaro concept, which i like a lot and will go into production eventually. after a bit of staring, i start to see more mustang in the design. i don't know if i like the front end of this concept, yet. i liked the rear end shot. maybe it would grow on me.

just a concept for now, anyway. nothing ford ever shows for it's concept cars ever makes it to production. we'll all be lucky if ford escapes the original mustang's fatefull progress from pony car to behemoth to economy car.

weekend riding

the beautiful mrs k and i were able to get out on our bikes for a while on saturday. what a great day it was! grandma and grandpa watched pooper for us. in return, we strung christmas lights on the roof of their house. it's a loooong ranch, and i'm no fan of heights, but it wasn't steep. deanna just jumped up there and starting stringing lights. i blew the leaves off with the leaf blower first, then helped with the lights.

once on the bikes, we rode down to jefferson barracks for a lap and came back. i took her up military and she did well up the climb. she really has a tendency to attack the climbs at the bottom and then falter at the top. i think she's got that licked now.

sunday, i took off solo to castlewood. it was an even better day to ride. i couldn't wait to try the Oiz again. i wasn't disappointed. the bike rides incredibly well. it soaks up all that i need it to in a cross country situation, and power transfer is killer. again, the fork acts like no SID i've ever owned...thanks kaiser! the bike climbs like crazy, both in and out of the saddle. technically, it handles well, exceptionally well in slow tricky sections.

i ran into a few people i knew there, including my old riding and racing partner, ethan. i was heading back to the car when we met, but i decided to stay longer and get in a little time with he and another friend matt.

the trail was in exceptional shape, too. lots of walkers and hikers, though. and bikes, of course.

learning time

besides a lot of eating, the kids also received a bit of schooling. here, tyson learns the finer points of slicing the turkey from uncle keith.

and hanna plays her first song on the piano courtesy of aunt denise. see? all the waiting for dinner to be served can be very productive!

whoa my hands are HUGE!!!

thanksgiving day at grandma's

thanksgiving day tradition at grandma's house. she cooks an impossibly big meal, we all eat til we're stuffed, you know the drill. before dinner, pooper is shown here greeting everyone.

after dinner, when the grownups want to lay down and nap, the kids go to the basement and get wild and crazy. here, the biggest kid, uncle keith, shows the others a real good time. no one got hurt, and no one lost their turkey dinner on the carpet.

hey good lookin

the serious look

the bored look

the happy look

the typical goofy look

as far as i know

this is the only one of these in the united states.

the Oiz carbon is slated to go on sale here in april of 2007. i was able to preview this thing today and i have to admit i was awestruck. super slick and lighter than my aluminum Oiz, this thing was a full half pound lighter...despite having a heavier fork and wheels. it was outfitted with the new XTR kit, which i hadn't played around with in person yet.

oh, well. i'll enjoy mine at least until april....

turkey day ride

i joined about 25 other riders at chubb trail this morning for the annual turkey day ride. long ago, it used to be a dogfish ride, but it morphed into general pandamonium and anybody and everybody shows up.

even though i felt like cooked spam, it was such a great morning i couldn't pass up the chance to take the innagural ride on the Oiz. meeting up with others always lifts the spirits, too, so i couldn't help but ride better than i felt.

chubb is in such great shape now. the leaves are mostly mashed down, and make for a near carpet smooth trail in some spots. oh, yes, the classic chubb rocks are there, though. i do love that trail. the Oiz rides awesome! the fit seems nearly spot on. the suspension is perfect for racing and getting out of the saddle to sprint or power up a climb is killer. the kaiser-built sid is very impressive...smooth and just the right ramp-up on larger stuff. if you have one of these dogs, give kaiser a call to make it bark. the juicy ultimates broke in fast and nicely. what can i say, it's a fabulous bike.

and, for your viewing pleasure, i decided it was time for a little family photo action, impromtu, using the timer on the camera. it took a few tries, but it turned out well, i think.

Schvonzie

tell us the news, you dufus. you can't just leave us hanging.

official weigh in

the Oiz weighs 23.41 lbs. on the scale. with bottle cages. yee haw.

i'm happy about that.

i really want to do the thanksgiving ride at chubb tomorrow. i don't know if i should. i'm tired enough to see stars every now and then. i woke up this morning at 1:17 am. i stayed awake until 5:30, somehow falling asleep until 6:25. gee, that makes, what, 4 hours of sleep? on top of 5 hours the night before?

hmm.

i've said several times that my favorite book is stephen king's insomnia. the lead character gets less and less sleep until eventually, he is able to see creepy little characters that cut people's life balloons, signaling their impending death.

i started looking out the windows this morning around 3:30am...no creepy characters yet.

waiting for the cable guy

well, he's here now. but he has a lot to do. i hope he installs cable better than he speaks english...

weights, weights

the other day at the store we had some frames and a scale, so the natural thing to do would be to put them together.

the orbea opal frame, the same one i have, in a 54, the same size i have, is 2.65lbs. nice. the litespeed ghisallo is NUTS. in a medium it was 1.87lbs. holy disappearing mass, batman. did you know road forks weighed that much in the 90's?

the colnogo president that i showed on these pages recently came in at a svelte 15.56lbs. sans pedals but with campy bottle cages, in a big boy 58cm.

i'm planning on taking the Oiz to the shop today for a weigh in. i changed a few things around from my initial reading, plus added bottle cages. the rush race weight was around 26lbs. most of the time, so i'm not freaking out about the weight at all, i just want to know. my guess is sub-24, but anything up to 25 will be dandy.

tick tock

i've already been up for 3 hours, but eli slept pretty well.

almost forgot

i did a chop shop tonight on our growing corral of bikes.

the lefty carbon fork on the rush was leaking like an old harley. as luck would have it, the cannondale team mechanic was in town, and my man Luke had him give it some tlc. oooh, so smooth now. they aren't known for their trouble-free operation, but the operation is the best there is...i'm sold on it. i put the rush back together for deanna to ride, fresh fork, new brake pads for the hope's, new cranks, carbon post from the orbea...oh yeah, it's hot.

mrs. k's cdale road bike has been the recipient of all my older road bike parts. her r700 caad5 is now a dura ace bike with R600 wheels and other assorted goodness. i finished it up tonight with some better pedals from the parts shelves.

the opal was shifting a little funny, so i pinpointed the problem as a short rear derailluer cable. new cable, flawless shifting.

my second attempt at avid juicy ownership has started out just as my other attempt had; with spongy feel. only the front brake this time. i pulled out the handy dandy avid bleed kit, which failed me last time due to a faulty brake. this time, in 9 minutes i had a manly feeling front brake and a warm, fuzzy, accomplished feeling.

the chop shop is now closed for the evening!

ummmm, yeah, not working out

i got back on the bike sunday evening after a 2 week break. it was great, even though i was freezing and i was really tired. i rode about 20 miles on the homegrown. i love riding bikes, that sure never changes.

i'm trash canning my prescription to help me sleep. i started taking it last week and after some, ahem, really frightening side effects and no help sleeping whatsoever, it's time to try something else. i thought i was really making some medical progress by being able to take flintstone vitamins, but, one step at a time i guess.

here's to a good nights sleep!

i can't take credit for this

i thought this was cute.

and this was pretty funny, being a mustang owner.

and this is soooooo true.

thanks to some poster over on the 'fisting for the church sign generator.

ug

we did so much work around the house this weekend, our dogs got tired from watching us.

at least someone gets to sleep around here.....

i like 'em big, too!

my love for old cars goes deeper than the pure muscle car. this is my all time favorite, the 1969 lincoln mark III continental. big, sleek, and powerful. under the hood was the second biggest passenger car engine ford produced, the 385 series 460.

ok, so this is a muscle car, but the plymouth satelite was a big cool car, even without the 440 or the hemi. i almost bought a 383 version one time, but backed out because i didn't know enough about chrysler products.

a tie for my all time fav, the 1965 buick riviera. damn, this think is sexy, especially with the 425 buick wild cat V8. love the clam shell head lights, and the interior is to die for. this cars competition? the ford thunderbird.

my nodd to the chevy boys. don't like many chevrolet products, but the impala has always twisted my nipples. this is a '67.

another chrysler product, the '68 imperial. it just sounds formal, doesn't it?

the '65 sport fury, from plymouth. this one has mag wheels, but could come with some pretty darn homely wheels, making it a cool sleeper.

and, as a door prize, this one gets my goat. every time i see one of these things, i grow all nostaligic. i immediately think of a family, not unlike the Griswald's, trekking across the rockies in this bad boy. in '67, the ford country squire could have any number of V8's under the hood, most likely a 352. a 390? maybe. and there may have been some with the 428 thrown in, too.

oh yeah!

this is a 1965 ford galaxie. my dad had the same car, only in a pale metallic blue color. his also only had the pedestrian 352 V8. and he had hub caps. ok, so it's LIKE his car, only cooler.

Party at the Pirtle's!

the wife and i were invited to a party at eric and kerri pirtle's house last night. this was significant for 2 reasons: a party meant we were able to get out of the house, and the party in question was at a house i used to live in.

in 2003, i rented a house in glendale from kerri, ep's then-girlfriend. it was a great little place, with a garage, huge basement, 2 bedrooms, hardwood floors, etc., and it was cheap. how else would i have been able to live in such a neighborhood?? i have some great memories of living there. that's where hanna began staying with me a lot. that's where dan s, lebeouf and i swapped out the engine in the '95. i met deanna while living there. i spent 6 weeks sleeping in a beat up recliner there...ok, some memories are not so great, but it's a significant era in my life, for sure. i moved out around christmas of 2004, which in hindsight was a huge mistake for many different reasons.

the house was perfect for one person, maybe a bit small for two. so when i had heard that kerri and ep were renovating it for their own consumption, i was intrigued.

i have to say, after seeing it last night...awesome. what a great house it has become. the mrs and i were in awe. the front of the house is similar to what it was like when i lived there, only painted better and decorated by adults. the back of the house now extends another 10-15 feet, adding an extra room off the kitchen with a vaulted ceiling and transforming the bedroom from square to better-homes-and-gardens cool, with an amazing bathroom. the garage was extended out toward the front, so the pirtles can park in the front of it and eric can fumble around with his bikes in the back of it. the kitchen certainly looks like it came straight out of a home magazine.

deanna and i wandered around the house a bit, fondly remembering what it was like before and marveling at what it had become. a nice trip down memory lane, and wonderment at what one can do with some imagination (and a home equity line of credit!).

it's a regular jiffy lube around here

after threatening the lovely mrs k with the idea of changing her own oil, i relented and went to o'riley's to get the goods to proceed. her ride, the ford escape, has essentially the same layout as the mazda6 did; 3.0 v6, turned sideways. actually, the escape is an adaptation of the original mazda 626 platform, which the mazda six was adapted from as well. two branches of the 626 evolved into different species, as it were.

one of the finer points of the escape it the access to anything and everything in the engine bay. a feature that did not carry over from the basic car platform was lack space...there is plenty of that to go around.

the only thing lacking on this completely capable automobile is a v8.

my tunes from i tunes

i bought the lovely mrs. k an ipod shuffle for her birthday. while she is pretty versed in things electronic, i am not. you, dear reader, are darn lucky to be reading this. how i figured out how to set up a blog is a testament to how easy blogger makes it for dunces.

the shuffle, about the size of a large quarter, is an amazing little piece. it can hold up to 70 songs or so, and you can clip it onto your sleeve or stick it in the smallest of pockets. it weighs about the same as two quarters.

initially, i had a hard time figuring out how to get music from itunes onto the ipod. i did have a lot of fun finding music in the itunes store, though. i got music from the 80's that i never managed to get around to buying then. we (mostly me) racked up $40 in a day and a half buying music. i burned a couple compilation cd's straight away to use in the car...my ears are still ringing from rockin' LL Cool J at the maximum that the Mach 460 could pump out! i have never claimed to be cool.

once i learned how to download music onto the ipod (silly me, what could've been easier!?! uhhh...) the mrs. proclaimed it to be the best music device ever. she's been dancing around the house with it ever since!

i am now awaiting a gaggle of johnny cash cd's from the ulitmate electronics buff (dan s) that he stuck in the mail for me today. and my brother in law offered up some of his jc collection, too. my days of complaining about never having any good music around are just about over.

the box

is always more fun to play with than what came in it, right poops?

could this be?

the next mustang? this concept was spotted in spain, i think? super sexy, i think. photo courtesy of autoblog.com.

for your ebay enjoyment

my old friend EJ is shedding some of his harem (of bikes, that is). he's always got some spicey hot ride (or two or three) of interest. you can check it out here

3 months or 3000 miles

i don't really like to adhere to that, but i am forced by years of conditioning. i think we all know by now that the 3/3 plan is a myth perpetuated by the oil companies. imperical data from exhaustive testing shows that most modern motor oil hasn't even reached it's stride by 3k.

i had hit 3000 miles on the oil in the mustang. partly because i don't trust the dealer, and partly because i needed to crawl under something dirty and greasy, i changed the oil sunday night. 5.5 qts. of 5-20 and a filter.

of course, it didn't go off without a hitch. it never does. it seems that the convertible has a lot of bracing under the k-member (engine cradle). that puts the drain plug in a goofy position. i had to jack the behemoth up pretty far to get the oil drain pan under there. of course, i positioned the pan so that the first gush of oil wouldn't overshoot the pan. yeah, right. overshoot it did. only a bit, but i really hate spilling a drop. it's a thing, you know. i had gotten good enough from the succession of mustangs that i didn't spill a drop. not so now. i'm rusty, out of practice.

it is a good thing that i didn't trust the dealer. yes, the oil was still pretty darn clean, and yes there was enough. the problem? too much. each time i had checked the oil, i had noticed the oill looked to be over the max line on the dipstick. there ended up being 6 quarts, plus what was left in the filter!! and this was a ford dealer, too. those chuckle heads should know that a 4.6 2v takes 5 quarts. most mustang owners put in 5.5, though, because the dipsticks are a little funky and it's better slightly high than low....but 6.5???

i'll change my own oil, thanks. it's one thing i like to have control over.

scenes from the party

we arrived at the party and the mrs was surprised and happy.

there was a cool cake, but not 30 candles...we wouldn't want to raise the ire of the fire marshall.

there were cool balloons and lots of stuff to let her know she was over the hill. to prove all of this wrong, she has decided to run the chicago marathon again. yay!

and even posters of pictures from when she was a wee lass. it was all so cute. i won't post the pre-teen and teen pics, for fear of castration. i think they are super cute, she does not, however.

something to cheer me up

i was pretty crabby when i got home tonight. just a long day, not being able to ride for the last 2 weeks, etc. there was a bit of comotion in the kids bathroom and what did i find?

surprise!!!

the beautiful mrs k turned 30 yesterday. she was a little bummed last week that noone was going to throw her a party for her special birthday. i had to bite my tongue, because her sister and i had already planned a surprise party.

it all went as planned and she was actually surprised! the look on her face was priceless. we had imo's pizza and birthday cake. there were black ballons and all kinds of over-the-hill stuff, courtesy of denise.

you only turn 30 once, and i'm happy we were able to make it memorable for her. happy birthday, honey!

on the other hand...

...a convertible really isn't much use when it's 40 degrees and raining, eh? what a bummer. i was soooo enjoying being one of THOSE people.

days like yesterday and today

days like yesterday, and even today, make me feel sorry for people with fixed roofs. i mean, besides riding a bike, the best way to enjoy the day was with the top down!

it was glorious yesterday. pretty darn nice today, too, although lacking sun.

wasting no time

orbea oiz frame, kaiser-built sid team fork, industry nine/stan's 355 wheelset, race face turbine cranks, sram X-9 rear derailluer, xtr front derailluer, sram X-7 twisters, avid ultimate 160/140 disc brakes, thomson elite seatpost, titec pluto carbon stem, alphaQ carbon riser bars, 959 pedals, flite saddle...

they are here!

my industry nine wheels arrived today! at last. i'm very glad i waited for blue hubs.

these things are works of art. the hubs are a cnc machine's dream job.

they sport stans ztr 355 rims. the front weighs 620 grams, the rear 810. not bad at all for disc wheels!

gosh dang boy, them's wheels is fancy!