I almost forgot, this past weekend I attended an art show. Well, a couple of them actually. But the one that I am psyched about at this moment involves Matt Hall. For one because his drawings are out of control awesome. For two because he shreds on many forms of bicycle. For three because his wife Saska is doing leg waxing for cyclists (see painfully below.) And for fourth because Matt drew the intro to No Secrets in Spandex a Cycling Romance Novel that I printed the first two chapters of in Embrocation Vol5.
All of the drawings seemed to have the theme of "couches" (this is different than coaches- but that would be interesting as well). Or at the very least all of the models in the drawings are seated. Molly Cameron and Brian Ellin are in the one above. I tried to get them to pose in a similar fashion in front of their drawings, but there just was not the light necessary to do justice to the whole set up.Matt's drawings will be on display at Ristretto Coffee Roasters (the one on Williams) and hopefully they will be displayed for a while because they look great in the space. Aside from the celebrity appearance of MC in the drawings there is also one of famed local bicycle builder Ira Ryan and a separate one of his girlfriend Rachel on display. Did I mention that Matt is one of the racers that Ira Sponsors? Lots of love going on with that crew.
Nice KneewarmersYou know - research. How long does the hair stay away? How much does it hurt? How much better looking will my legs be? She also said that for an extra fee she could do a BROzillian. PROzillian is more like it. Ow.
I don't even know how to follow that up. Or transition it into something else? So, I'll just put some of these little dashed lines and that will symbolize the transition.
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Backyard Blam.
Amanda's event went off with a, well, with a Blam if you will. And you will. I must admit that I am a little out of my element when it comes to these events. I do not know any tricks, especially ones that have to do with bicycles. I just get on them and ride for miles and miles. That's my trick.
I once got a Bianchi D.I.S.S. when I worked at the shop in Milwaukee. I saved up for that friggin thing and let me tell you it was awesome. Murdered out to the max. Every piece on it was black. Matte black frame, black hubs, seriously the thing was sick. And I rode it every day, down by the river through the homeless camps, to work, even in the W.O.R.S. series races (getting stomped by the J. Lalonde). But when I got that bike I told myself that I was going to learn how to wheelie.
I tried every single day of the summer. Every day that I was not working I would just ride around in the park near my apartment and try to wheelie. I tried lowering my saddle like the flatlanders. I tried just working on just balance. That didn't work either. (However on a side note I did see a car crash happen because of a woman tanning in a skimpy bikini. But that was the only thing to come of all the practice.) Then I resigned myself to the fact that I would never be good at the bike tricks.
Now, you might be thinking that I'm going to bring it all full circle here. Connect the loop on how I feel ostracized from the herd because I show up at these things and do not fit in because I cannot wheelie. How I wish that maybe this crowd would accept me for my MaxVO2 alone?
Nope, not really.
The event was great. It was swell to see people come out all in the name of the bike. The Clockwork Orange Sprints room was pretty cool too. NEMO did a great job of utilizing their venue and Amanda's enthusiasm alone could put a congregation of bike worship straight to their knees. Which is kind of what she did. Thumbs up. Way up.
Check out the Backyard Blam site for some actual great photos. And I am smiling in that photo.
