No Music Today Either

No Music Today

If you have never heard Bill Hicks, this is a bit that encompasses everything that he's about. And if you have heard him, you've probably never heard this before.

Bill Hicks from Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen:


http://www.mediafire.com/?3zx7jbztz9y

Otter Anew!

Sorry, I took a week off because of my birthday. Rode Otter yesterday. The have done a lot of work on the trail lately. They took out the big switchback at the end of the big downhill. On the north side, they put in a nice reroute. I cranked it out for three hours. It kicked my ass.

Here's a killer to make up for the break:

Sam Cooke, Bring on Home to Me (Live):
http://www.mediafire.com/?aduogmkdhy1

Libras of the World Unite!!!!

Yeah, it's that time of year again bitches!!!
This is what John Lennon did on his own 31st birthday! (note the recently acquitted murderer in the backround):

90's Nostalgia, UL Basketball Starts Today!!!!!!!!!

Official UL practice begins today! Here's some King Kong to get us in the mood.

King Kong, Basketball:
http://www.mediafire.com/?0n0tywssn2m

King Kong, Movie Star:
http://www.mediafire.com/?79asijg25n5

King Kong, Red Hot Lovin:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bonyxymrylm

The Sal Hallow Weekend!

I'm still sore and tired from last weekend. I joined the Kymba group to ride the Sal Hallow trail in Mammoth Cave National Park. I got early Saturday morning with Big Country (BC) and headed down to Park City. We had to get there before the noon ride. Once you get to the park you have to cross a ferry. The Green River at that point is only five car lengths wide. The ferry only holds two cars. We took the ferry across and got a little lost. We went in a circle but eventually found our way to the campsite. We camped at Maple Springs, right next to the Sal Hallow trail head. BC and I met up with Mark and Dave. They got there the night before and rode. The organizers Rico and Wolfie arrived next. We set up camp and waited for everyone to arrive. We had 16 people in all with various ages, bikes and skill levels.


We headed out to ride about 1:30PM . It was already pretty hot. The Sal Hallow trail is an out-and-back. The first half is rolling singletrack that's rocky and rooty here and there. Rico, Mark and Kiersta took off at a feverish pace. I need a few minutes to warm up. I always get nervous taking turns when its dusty. If you keep your momentum, you really don't have to do too much pedaling in the first part. But I was cranking it to keep up with the leaders. I watch them as I ride. They make it look easy right off the bat. We had to stop a few times before we got to the halfway point for flats.


The second section was technical. Lots of rocky descents. I had someone nipping at my heals, so I was going way faster than I was comfortable with. Being on my hardtail didn't help either. My ass and teeth felt the shakes. My brakes were screeching all over the place. I was anticipating a crash any moment. The group already had two. BC and Dave were behind me most of the time. When we got to a steep downhill, I let them pass. But what was just ahead was a long rocky climb with a steep switchback in the middle. I ended up catching them and passing them before the switchback. When we all stopped at the top, we all felt dead. And we weren't even halfway through! The rest was rolling singletrack with a long climb. We got to the end which connected to the Buffalo trail. We refueled and hydrated as some horseback riders came by. Then we got ready for the return back.


We had no big problems on the way back. The rocky climbs really kicked my ass. I ended up hiking the bike on the last rocky climb. I made it up most of that climb but ran out of gas. I followed ricdix's bad line and stalled out. That began my energy drain. BC ran out of tubes so we had to patch a snake bike he had on his tube. Right at the end of this I was dying. I was trying to keep up with Kiersta and pushed myself too hard. I relented and started following Nick. I continued to drain. Luckily we stopped at a cave near the entrance. It had a waterfall. We all lined up to drench our heads. It felt gooooooooooooood! It was refreshing and cold but I didn't dare drink it. Be got back to the site and fired up the grills. We cooked some burgers and brats (I dropped 2 on the ground). It was good eats. I limited myself to two beers (we had another ride soon!). I went to my tent and took a 20 minute nap. Then it was time to get ready to go again.


The night ride was the best. There were ten of us for the 8 mile ride. I had a hard time strapping the light to my helmet. They all took off and I was still in the parking lot trying to put it on. Luckily someone came back to get me. We took off on the trail and I was last. The bikes kick up a lot of dust. Our lights illuminate it so it looks like there is fog out. I ended up in the last group of three. Chris ended up hitting his knee on a tree. I passed him and Big Tommy C and took off into the darkness. All of a sudden it was darkness (not Charlie Murphy). Darkness in front of me and behind me. No lights to be seen but my own. I pressed on and began whistling Smurf's theme to relieve my anxiety. Yeah, I knew there were people in front and back somewhere. But I was alone. Next I began singing Eric Carmen's "All By Myself". After I got through two verses, I heard behind me "Don't wanna be...."It was Chris. He had caught up to me. I erupted with laughter. Finally I saw a train of lights in front of me. Rico needed some batteries for his light. (His light took AAA batteries!?!). I gave him one and we pressed on. When we got to mile 3 out, we caught to another group. It was Nick, Kiersta, Steve and BC. BC broke the bottom tube of his bike! The only thing left for him was to turn back. We wanted to go by himself but Nick and Kiersta volunteered to go with him. Now there were only 7 little night-riding Indians. We got to the halfway point and took a rest. We rocketed back to the entrance. I ended up alone again, occasionally seeing a train of lights ahead of me. I reached my Zen moment anyway. I was flowing down the train without a care in the world. It was nice and cool and I was carving this trail. I soaked in the moment because it hasn't come around lately. I loved it. Riding without thinking. A mile away from the trailhead we came up to Kiersta, Nick and BC. He had his bike in each hand. It split in two pieces. He was pissed. He tried to ride the bike out and broke the top tube as well. We carried on back to the campsite to eagerly awaiting beers.


We got back to the campsite and it was time to party. The beers were hit hard. Chris, Wolfie, and I went over and partied with some Purdue students at the next campsite. We heard them singing and dancing to Bob Seager! They were nice and set us up with some drinks. I had enough around 3AM and headed for my tent. I woke up around 730 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. I began to get breakfast ready and cleaned my bike. Around 10:30 AM we did another ride. There were only 10 of us. This time it was a bit slower. I think I flowed better in the trail. I wasn't sure how tired I was going to be after the last 12 hours activities. I felt great! A few people bailed but I stuck it out till the end. I conserved my energy but I was going to take a shortcut back. We took some fire roads home instead of going back through the trail. BC was waiting and I didn't want to make him wait for too long. We got to the cars and packed up.

We left Mammoth Cave National Park happily. BC wanted to make one stop. We went to Alpine slide next. It was a giant slide where you had to ride a long board with wheels. We took a ski lift to the top of a hill and bombed down the slide. I raced BC and he kicked my ass. Here's to the perfect weekend!:

(Pics by Rico and BC)

Son Volt, Windfall:
http://www.mediafire.com/?3ojxmzkm2x3

90's Nostalgia (Late)

Sorry I'm late, I was at Sal Hollow all weekend. I'll write about it Monday

Okay, Wednesday's show. We showed up at precisely 7:30PM. I hate going to show that early. No drinking time at all. The show was at the riverfront's Great Lawn. I was anticipating to see hipsters crawling over the place. There were a few, but not many. This is the hipster outfit for a girl: Big homeless woman sunglasses, a black and white vertically striped shirt, tight blue jeans, and a giant purse. The guy also wears the tight and a plaid button down shirt. They have greasy mop top hair. When they watch a band, they only feign slight interest in the band but usually act too cool to be in the room. I people watch when I'm out there people!

First up was LCD Soundsystem. They started out with Us vs. Them (not the Pink Floyd song). They were great. They were energetic and interesting. The guitar player really rocked out! They were just a fun band. The sang their harmonies well and engaged the crowd. The weirdest connect was that I thought that they had a bit of the Genesis/Lamb Lies Down-era sound to them. Go check them out.

Okay, lets get to Arcade Fire. I got the impression that most of the people there were there to see them. First of all, that's an aweful band name. Next, I think that the public gets seduced (suckered in) by a band with more than 5 members. All those people on stage........they must be good (See Polyphonic Spree)!?! I just don't get it. The guy can't sing. Even with all those people singing along, he had no voice. They had NO hooks to their song. I judge a band if I can remember a lyric or melody afterwards. None. Next, every song had the same beat/tempo. I turned to someone and asked , "Didn't they just play that song?" They weren't that impressive. I pissed everyone around me by voicing my distaste. BUT WE HAD TO LIKE THEM BECAUSE WE PAID $40 APIECE TO SEE THEM! They were done a great disservice by letting LCD Soundsystem open for them. And what's with the Children of the Corn outfits? They blow. They'll be forgotten in 2 years. The girl singer has talent though. Maybe she needs to go solo.

LCD Soundsystem, Us vs. Them (clip):
http://www.mediafire.com/?0cbxjjmnvma

And a band from the 90's, who could rawk with more than 5 members; The Web, Handcuff Hoax:

http://www.mediafire.com/?akmz12mebnz