Pedal to the Metal

broderic on April 13, 2014

It’s been a long time since I ‘pedaled in anger’ as Phil Liggett would say. I got on the bike in the cool of the morning and rode for thirty minutes putting 8.5 miles on this year’s cycling log. I looked at my historical cycling logs and see that I really stopped biking in 2009. In 2009, I put in 500 miles. In 2010, it was just 22 miles. In 2011, only 32 miles. Mileage went up to 65 miles for 2012, but last year it was just 13 miles. So far, 8.5 miles is a start. Hopefully, those will be only the beginning and not the end.

I’m riding my bike, because rowing has caused some issues with my shoulder and elbow. Lately, I can’t row as hard or my elbow begins to ache with overuse, and my shoulder feels funny. Lifting my left arm up feels awkward. So, I need to give rowing a rest. Although, I thought that it would help in my cycling, but as much as I can tell, I still feel slow on the bike. I do feel that my cardiovascular system is functioning better than it would as I wasn’t too much out of breath. I currently don’t have the cycling legs. They need another 100 miles to feel right.

But I looked the part. The weather was about mid-50s, so I dug out the knickers and the jacket. Because I am now under 200 lbs, they fit better like they used to back in 2009. One thing I noticed which I had forgot is that these knickers don’t fit me well. When I am in the saddle, the padding rids up in front of my crotch barely doing its job which is to pad my buttocks in the saddle. I have to pull the back up just to get the padding to slide onto the saddle. The jacket fits except for the neck being tight, but that’s because I am still 10 lbs too heavy for it.

My prescription eyewear is the safety glasses I bought several years ago. The shoes fit perfect although I wish I had toe covers on. They don’t fit perfect to the pedals as my left foot feels too far forward on the pedal. I’ll make an adjustment to get a better fitment.

The bike rides okay. I feel too low in the saddle. Might adjust the height although I know that if it is too tall then my knees begin to ache. The stem I put on it is now too long, because I dropped it down 2 notches in height. I may revert to the old stem or bring it up a notch.

The route was short and the roads were brutal. Winter messed things up.

I’m looking forward to more cycling.

Via Con Me

broderic on April 11, 2014

Paolo Conte’s version is not as swinging as this one is, and his is plenty swinging. I think it’s the hip hop in the drummer that makes it so.

Every time I hear this song, I want to snap my fingers, tap my feet, and nod my head like a Sinatra wannabe. Surprisingly, there’s several covers of this on youtube.com even though I’m sure you’ve never ever heard it. I’m surprised I’ve even heard of it, but I have. Check out French Kiss, my favorite Meg Ryan movie…

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

broderic on April 11, 2014

What’s amazing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that the less you know about the superhero, the better the movies turn out to be. Because you don’t know the story lines, your expectations are much lower. You’re also not so worried about the plot lines of the movie diverging horribly from the comics that you can enjoy and be surprised by the movie. The Avengers kind of works that way, but so does Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

This Captain America movie takes place in the present as opposed to the first one taken place during World War II. It finds Captain America in an America he doesn’t understand. He can’t compromise his principles even for his country, and he can’t understand how his country had compromised its principles.

The Captain finds himself embroiled in S.H.I.E.L.D. intrigue. Can he trust S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect the country without compromising the American principles? It reminds me of Agent Mulder and the mantra Mr. X told him, “Trust no one.” Alternatively, “The Truth is out there.” And it is spelled HYDRA!

This is a better movie than the first Captain America. It didn’t get slow towards the end. It actually picked up with all those revelations. And it made Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a much better television show this past week.

Because I was never a big Captain America reader, I liked this movie.

4 of 5 stars.

Flagpole Sitta

broderic on April 10, 2014

Remember that viral video at the dawn of the last internet boom? Yeah this is the song in it. You’ll sing it out loud too, because it’s catchy as hell.

I’m not sick, but I’m not well…

Burning Down 8-Bit Houses

broderic on April 8, 2014

For today’s musical interlude, I wanted a cool cover of ‘Burning Down the House’ by The Talking Heads, but everyone I listened to, which admittedly wasn’t very many, just weren’t satisfying. All except this 8-bit version. The reason I picked this is because that picture of the band is terrifyingly skewed that it reminds me of the ending to the video for this song. David Byrne’s face projected on asphalt is also terrifyingly skewed.

Don’t You Forget About Me

broderic on April 7, 2014

When this song came out, when the Breakfast Club movie came out, I was just finishing up Catholic school and graduating to high school. One of the kids in the class of ’85 had a party to celebrate it. There was a DJ spinning records and all the kids dancing or mixing it up. The DJ had a few games with records as prizes — actual vinyl 45s. I won a round and had to choose. I didn’t know any of the music of the day because I was in my punk phase and didn’t listen to anything that wasn’t Black Flag, Minor Threat, or hardcore. [poser!] The girls said to take the Simple Minds single. I’m always up for listening to what girls say. It wasn’t a bad choice. It’s a song that reminds me of youth, but I’m sure that for my classmates, the title does not apply for me.