Origami

A few months back, I built a folding bike and named it Origami.

Okay, okay, I didn't come up with the name - Frey did. I purchased the bike from a friend who sells Japanese surplus bikes. It's a Neobike. It's not the best looking one, but it was in good working condition when I got it. I wanted to make it "pretty" so I took out the tools, stripped everything (even the paint), bought new parts, painted and rebuilt it. I must say, it's one of my best builds.

..and now, here's a clip about the art of folding:



Battle: Origami Fold-off!

Tour de France Origami FTW!

In A Perfect Bike World

via Urban Velo

God I miss my weekday morning bike rides. It's been a month now.

I'm now relegated to a weekend warrior. Temporarily. I hope.

Running

The problem with an active lifestyle is that there are days when you don't know which pair of shoes to put on before you get out the door. I've been a cyclist for 5 years, an Ultimate Frisbee player for 7 years and a runner for..well, there's running when you chase a plastic disc right? Running for the sole purpose (of running), for 3 years - on and off. Playing Frisbee is not really a problem because practices are at night and games are on Sundays. Allotting training time for individual sports is the dilemma. Well, that's if you're competitively running and cycling (or both). I semi-retired from competition already so I'm doing these because I like (love) it .

Things got busy at work and I don't have the time to get on the saddle. Yes, I could still bike, but anything shorter than an hour doesn't sound fun for me. Solution: bring out the running shoes! I'm slowly getting my running groove back. It's the ideal way to stay in shape if you don't have that much time to work out. 15 minutes, 30 minutes is enough to get the endorphins I need for the day. I noticed that I get cranky and un-centered when I don't sweat.

Aside from staying in shape and keeping me sane, it's rule number one of Zombieland:

Hiatus

It's been a while since I posted content in this 'dump' site of mine. A few weeks after my last post, a friend of mine was taken away from this world in a violent way. We mourned, but celebrated his life as he would have wanted it. I made an adult move and invested in an apartment - ready to be occupied in 2012. I traded in my fixed gear bike for a cyclocross bike. I got to love long road rides. Spent Christmas in the mountains with the family. Ventured into events management with a couple of friends. Came out of bike racing retirement. Well, I was not able to really race because my category got canceled. Still, I was able to ride in a race.

I learned a lot in eight months. Most of it through research and serious small talk with people I met along the way.

I guess I really wasn't in hiatus. I was on a journey. I still am.