Dan Action

Junkyard Race and a Big Merger December 22, 2008

Yesterday I went up further north in the city than I have ever previously ridden. Accompanied by Nathalie and a good friend from Boston, Mr. David Wilcox, I traversed the city in it’s miserable state of rain and it’s icy streets. On a typical day such as this, I would hardly dare to venture out of my house let alone my block. But this was no typical day; the day was the blockbuster event of Bilenky Cycle Works’ Urban Cyclocross Race held in an adjacent junkyard.  A wondrous, if chemically poisoned time was had and the course was super fun. Spotted with deep mud and puddles filled with anyone’s guess of toxic levels the course meandered through the junk piles weaving in and out of wrecked cars, railroad ties and tracks, and the hulls of other seemingly ancient and unrecognizable machinery. Fifty or more folks made their way out of doors on such an awful day to “compete” and even more to spectate, drink, or heckle. Most folks actually struck up an easy balance between all aforementioned activities.  No one got too hurt and I’d say most everyone came out of Bilenky with a pretty complete smile on their face.

I made third place in my race which was one of two heats, but declined to race the playoffs. I handed my number over to Lenore who seemed reluctant but eager to get on the course again. It was all so hilarious and everything I wore pretty much got thrown in a plastic bag while I am trying to decide whether to wash it all, or incinerate it all.

In other news, I guess the NY Times must not have gotten my press release, but here in Philly a merger of fantastical proportions was reached. All of the apparel made by myself or Nathalie will be sold under the Camp Cupboard name. To prove it to you, you can see for yourself at: Campcupboard.bigcartel.com. Check it out. It’s our online store. Thanks to Brian at Circle A who helped me out with finding a decent host for the store. You can check out the Circle A Cycles store HERE.

What else? Oh Yeah! Check out the write up and all the Photos from the last two rides Rapha Continental did on the east coast. They both were in Maine. The photos are gorgeous enough to make folks weep. To check those out, Click Here.

Production is Up! December 18, 2008

Our small house has been a-buzz with the whirring sounds of sewing machines and stimulus derived from coffee intake. Nathalie and I have been hard at work through the week fabricating item for other’s enjoyment. We went out to take a few photos this afternoon.

Nathalie with wool winter hat, pouch and neck warmer

Dan: wool baselayer, wool hat, prototype bib short

Stuff is available. An online store will be set up very soon. I just need to think of a name for my brand. Other than that, get in touch with me if yo want anything. Superb quality and full warranty. Thanks, Dan.

Photos, etc. December 17, 2008

  Well, I am getting pretty used to my new schedule now that things have calmed down a bit. I ended up super sick as a toll of last weekend’s intensity. I was bed ridden for two days. I wanted to get a few photos up here from the last race.

Also getting ready for some fun times traveling. Nathalie and I are heading for points south around the turn of the new year. We’ll be hitting up ever-familiar Gainesville for a few days. I hope to get a chance to do some quality riding down there, hopefully with the likes of a Mr. Mike Arena. I’m having a hard time deciding which bike to bring down though. It will probably come down to my Rapha Igleheart since that’s the bike I’ll be needing for my next trip. A few days after returning from Fl./Ga. I am flying out to Portland OR and heading out with the Rapha folks to basically do a pre-ride of the Tour of California. This is going to be pretty rad as well as super hard. Don’t have all the details yet, but as soon as I do I’ll pass the fun ones along here.

D2R2 is up on the Rapha Continental site now, with the Maine rides hopefully appearing soon. Chris Milliman shot D2R2, and man are those photos incredible! He seriously is at the top of the food chain. I truly love his work.

Embrocation 2.5 is being released tonight at a bar in Cambridge (our fair city), if you’re in the area, check it out. If not, Pick an issue up, you’ll be pretty psyched you did.

As far as making apparel, I am, as previously mentioned, getting used to a new routine. I plan on having a bunch of stuff ready to order soon. Mostly the wool baselayers, because that’s what I would want most at this time of year. I will also get some photos of the stuff up in a day or so. It did feel good to send out that first order though.

 

   

What a Week!!! December 13, 2008

Last Friday, pretty early in the morning, I found my way downtown to the Chinatown bus to New York. I stopped in the city for a bit to have some coffee and chat it up with a certain pair or team mates, Kansas W. and Filthy Rich Bravo. We just hung out at the Cadence cafe and yukked it up for a bit before I departed for another bus to Boston.

I was heading up to New England for the last two races of my season (if you can call what I had a definitive season). The NBX UCI weekend in Rhode Island.  I love these two races and have made it a point to make it to them every year. It’s kind of like racing in front of the hometown crowd. Now, before you might get the idea that I was going up there with my game face on, let me assure you that in the weeks leading up to this I have barely gotten any riding in, let alone actual training. Also, the trip was kind of set up to me multi-purpose as I wanted to get to spend some time with Jeremy and talk about Embrocation Cycling Journal with regards of finding my way into a role in it’s production, and one of the best friends I’ve been lucky to have known close to ten years, whom I lived my duration of time in Providence with, Mike Taylor was to have a going away party as he is departing for points much further south. So let’s just go right ahead and admit that this was to be a pretty social weekend with a little racing thrown in just to keep the teeth white.

Traveling by bus to a race is a pretty great thing. It simplifies schedules by the nature of actually having a schedule and it allows me to travel by myself easily. Since I am with without a license to drive, solo travel becomes difficult. The one drawback is that carrying a surplus of equipment becomes impossible. So there I was with the cross bike, a set of carbon boobular wheels on it, a can of Pit-Stop or two, and that was about it. My backpack was so overstuffed with clothing and the like to prepare for a myriad of weather conditions that I couldn’t fit any more even if I wanted to.  So that pretty much left me gallavanting about around New York, Boston, and Providence praying for clean streets and no flats. Surprisingly, I made it through.

I got to Boston and rode over to Cambridge Bike to meet Jeremy, we promptly got to a bar for dinner and drinks, a few excellent folks came to meet up there and laughs were had. Somehow both Jeremy and I thought it might be a good, or at least fun idea to go to a college party where we knew no one but everyone else knew each other. People kept asking us in drunken slurring drawls “Who here do you know? Do I know you”. Good times, not awkward at all. We were definitely the old heads there. It was pretty funny. We got back to Jeremy’s place in Somerville at a stunning 4 a.m. only to rise in a couple hours to depart for the race. Hoo boy. I tried to shake all the crappy-ness from my body, but even at the best I felt, there was nothing in the legs. My race was awful. The start was ok, but after a lap or two I started cramping pretty bad. I bridged a couple of good gaps on the road sections, bringing my teammates with me, but soon the cramps were holding both sides of my abdomen hostage and the ransom was to slow down. I don’t deal with terrorists, so I held out. Then the throwing up started. Swwweeeet. I didn’t get last place, but I sure felt it. In contrast the team mates, known here as the three-Pete, had great races.

That night was not designed to be a recovery night either. Dinner led to a bike shop party, then to Mike T’s departing soiree’.  This was a weekend highlight. One, because it was a classic party. Two, because it had been a long time since spending a night with a number of folks it feels like I used to spend pretty much every night with. And Three, because Some of my other friends: Jeremy, Pete B., Craig, and others were there and having a good time, seemingly comfortable and revelling. It is such a nice thing for me to see newer friends or two different groups of friends (in this case my “bike world” friends and my “hometown” friends) get together and hit it off. It only goes to show that I have good taste in the people I choose to associate with. I am just attracted to good people, plain and simple.

This night ended with a visit to the classic Olneyville System, where I was able to introduce Jeremy and Peter to Hot Weiners, a food only legal to sell in Rhode Island and one other state. Which one it is escapes me. We got to my friend Yvette’s house at the decent hour of 3:30 a.m. and promptly hit the deck.

Sunday morning was a bit easier on the body that Saturday was. Yvette and Michael made us some killer oatmeal and way intense smoothies that made all right with the body, or at least as much as can be right with the strain I was putting on it throughout the weekend. We got to the race to find a snowy, twistier course. Much more to my liking than the day before, and I set out to get a decent warm up. God knows I needed it; it was so cold. Jeremy, Cary, and Dave Wilcox put it an excellent race. J taking 3rd and 3rd in the overall series, with Both Cary and Dave W. making it into the top ten.

I felt a lot better in my race, at least in the fact that I wasn’t throwing up. My result dosen’t do much to prove my better condition,  but I was plenty happy. When endevoring in a weekend such as this, one has to choose between enjoying spectacular friendships and celebrating them, or racing up to my full potential. I feel I’ve done plenty of brushing aside some quality time with folks I treasure to be all serious and duly prepared. Given this abbreviated season of mine, this is no nail in the coffin. If anything, I will come out next year with something to prove. I had a great time, made enough money in the payout to cover one day of racing, and re-solidified some important relationships.  What more can one want in a four day trip? All that and no flats.

This Machine Does Not Work December 3, 2008

   I am in the elated throes of a newfound Funemployment. Huzzah!!

I decided that as amazing as Cadence is, it’s a bit more of a commitment that I’m able to make at the moment. I’d like to take a moment here and express my gratitude towards them for having me there. I can’t say this is the definitive end of my face darkening their doorway, but taking an extended break from work does very much rule.

it’s been a while. You may think that by constantly shifting residencies up and down the East Coast (unicoastal) that would leave ample time for unemployment. Not so! The financial drain of moving twice in one year tends to tap out any meager savings I might have accrued in the former place of my nesting. The first order of business in a move is to secure some work. Luckily, since I have been moving between two pretty familiar places, finding the work has not been too much of an issue. The only drawback that it dosen’t leave much time to stretch out the way one does with the onset of a good spell of ot working.

What will I do with all that time, you may ask. Well, as in any other spell of abundant free time on my hands since I was 23 or so, I will be riding my bikes a whole bunch more. No less than any others, I will spend some quality time on my newest ride, a sweet 5 inch full suspension mountain bike that came down the pipeline from Mr. “tight jam” Stevens. I figure wrestling a 30lbs. bike for three hours at a time will get me faster when I get on the light bikes. I will also be doing some traveling. First up will be a trip up to my two favorite cross races: NBX Grand Prix and Steadman’s in Rhode Island. Not to mention, It’s a good chance to get some hang out time in Providence.  After that, I will be packing up the dogs and bikes with Nathalie and we’ll be heading south for the coming of the New Year.

let’s talk a moment about some machines that DO work. By this I mean my sewing machines. They work phenomenally. In fact, they work so well as to make some excellent hats and base layers when teamed up with my patterns. I will be trying to sell some of my wares this weekend and beyond. This latest batch of hats have been made with alternating panels of Pro-cool, a Malden Mills fabric not unlike DuPont’s Coolmax, and a wool blend, reminiscent of Sportwool. These hats will be $20. Fully constructed of wool, they will be a bit more, as material costs go up. Base layers are different weights of Pro-cool, short sleeve. $20 as well. I also have a lot of Merino wool in stock currently. Merino baselayers will be $40. Pictures up soon.  See you at the races!!!