Jimmie Hendricks
Jim Morrisson
Janis Joplin
John Lennon

All good, all J names, all dead, perhaps before thier time.

*ahem*

Zappa.

Everyone else should just bow down to him.

And I can't believe I haven't listened to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I will remedy that pronto!

Ok. Trump Card time.

Tom Waits. More creative, original, and out there than any other.

A voice that sounds <blockquote>like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.</blockquote>

Who could possibly challenge Tom Waits.

William:Who could possibly challenge Tom Waits.

^-- This.

That was one of the biggest quakes I have ever been in! It kept going forever.

il Pirati:.

Stevie Ray Vaughan?? Cum'mon!

I believe I have heard his music before but I guess I forgot that I had. Listening to him now, I remember listening to him a lot in 2000. And he is very, very good.

But the combination of intelligence, wit, skill (in playing and composition), sexiness of voice (despite the circumstance under which he got it), mustache growing ability, influence and; quantity and quality of material generated - Frank Zappa is simply untouchable.

.

I had a dream last night in which I was ardently defending Mario Cipollini as the pinnacle of cycling pedigree to a room full of lesbian urbanites. My argument, rooted mainly on adoration of his gorgeous hair, failed to persuade the audience, if I remember accurately.

The pro peloton lost one of its most flamboyant and colorful characters when 2002 World Road Champion Mario Cipollini retired. Michael Ball (now there's a real greaser for you!) persuaded him to come out of retirement to join his ill-fated Rock Racing squad two years ago. The arrangement lasted only one season, probably due to Ball's reputation for failing to honor financial commitments, and "Super Mario" returned to retirement. He has several rooms in his mansion which serve as walk-in closets: a shirt room, a suit room, a shoe room, and so forth. He is still the most popular cycling icon in Italy and is widely adored by women around the world. Jolie managed to get an autograph in Santa Clarita a couple of years ago before the final stage of the Tour of California when Cipo' actually finished the race. He was a pure sprinter and generally pulled out of the grand tours before the mountain stages, earning him criticism from fans, sponsors, and race directors. He eclipsed the record for stage wins in the Giro that Alfredo Binda had held since 1933, racking up 42 Giro stage victories by the time of his retirement.

He regularly incurred fines for uniform violations in big races, especially the fine-happy Tour de France. When the Giro started at the Vatican in 2000, he appeared at the line in a pure white skinsuit with purple trim:

For a time trial in the TdF he appeared in a skinsuit with a sublimated pattern of the human musculature; he looked as if his skin had been flayed off:


More often than not, he just illegally rolled up his sleeves to eliminate tan lines. The fines were worth it to him and to his sponsors, who always reveled in the extra publicity his antics generated, but it also cost him participation in the TdF from 2000-2003, when organizers decided they had had enough and refused to allow his team to race. The fans adored him, dubbing him "Il Re Leone," The Lion King, because of his long mane of hair.

I'm surprised that there are cyclists out there who are unfamiliar with him. He has almost as much name and image recognition as Armstrong and a larger than life persona that wrote him into the annals of cycling history.

Here he is as a young sprinter in '92 at the end of the Greg Lemond neon era. This was the year that Armstrong won the world road championship at 22 years of age:

thom:

You can add me to the list of cyclists who have never heard of him. I haven't heard of most of the auto racers, either, but I drive a car. Is that surprising?

What?!!? You haven't heard of the Michael Schumacher/Damon Hill rivalry from the 90s? About Benetton's 6 second pit stops that Schumacher ditched for Ferrari's 15 second pit stops? Shocking!

I have to drive a car too, sometimes, but cars are not an obsession for me. Last time I tried to count, I had acquired 26 bicycles since the disease took hold. I think I might have missed the beach cruiser in the back yard. Okay, 20. Seven of them are Jolie's.

I was just a little shocked at the vehemently negative sentiments directed toward a great cycling star like Cipollini.

Beany for the BIGGEST WIN EVER!

Forget Schumacher & Hill, what about Tommi Mäkinen & Juha Kankkunen!

Hi Beany,

I am from a country with Umlauts but don't have one in my name. I do, however, have "ch" sounds in both my first and last name that are also impossible to pronounce correctly for American tongues.

The above picture is sort of multi-national. The text is Dutch, the main character is Fin and the actual scene is from my old hometown, Munich in Germany.
I understand some Dutch so I can paraphrase what's in the article but can't give you an exact translation. It basically talks about how one of the fastest men on four wheels (Haekkinen) is also pretty good on a single wheel. His act was part of a celebrity circus fund raising event for hungry children worldwide. The show took place in the Circus Krone in Munich which is the winter quarters for one of the most famous circuses in Germany.

batmick:
I am from a country with Umlauts but don't have one in my name. I do, however, have "ch" sounds in both my first and last name that are also impossible to pronounce correctly for American tongues.

I don't have an American tongue and I can't figure out how to pronounce your last name. Maybe when we meet you can tutor me on pronunciation. I'll try to get it right.

The above picture is sort of multi-national.

Thank you. That was helpful.

Njord Noatun:Commuting lesson of the week:

(Leather soled shoes) + (Pedals without toe cages and straps) = (Bad idea)

Ouch.
Funny thing is, that I really haven't cared to ride my new-to-me Competition until I put toe clips on it (that is, WHEN I get it pried from Sonja's hands).

bëany:Also I'd like an umlaut in my name. So I will try to change it now.

This is my signature in a (non bike related) online forum that I help moderate:

Njörðr Nóatún

Enough umlauts for 'ya?
:face-monkey:

Here it is typed the way it used to prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet:

batmick:Now you've gone ahead and runed it...

Good one!

I need to sleep for a week when this show is over. just sayin.

Okay, I'm sorry I couldn't respond in a timely fashion; I was busy all weekend refereeing the Cyclo-Vets Omnium. I even missed the Custom Bike Show for the second year in a row.

Translation from the Dutch:

"Switching from four wheels is Mika Hakkinen, the fastest man in the world. The Finn, who earlier this year became Formula I World Champion, is actually outstanding on one wheel as well. He proved this last Saturday at an exclusive appearance in the famed Circus Krone in Munich. Hakkinen was one of the many prominent people who raised money for hungry children of the world with a performance."

Regarding diacritical marks:

The diaresis is used for different purposes in various languages. In German it is known as "Umlaut," which means "changes the sound around." When it appears over the letter "A" it changes the sound from "ah" to "eh." Over the letter "U" it changes the sound from "ooh" to a vowel equivalent to the "u" sound in the French name "Luc." Over the letter "O" it changes the sound from "oh" to a sound with no equivalent in English, rather like an English speaker from the East Midlands would pronounce "er," but not quite. To approximate the sound, round the lips for "oh" and say "eh." In German it appears only over the vowels a, o, u.

In French it is called the "accent tréma" and is used over one vowel in a pair signifying that both vowels are to be pronounced separately instead of as a diphthong, for example "Anaïs," "naïve," or "Saül." The pronunciations become "Ana-ees," "na-eeve," and "Sa-ool," respectively.

In Heavy Metal it is used to affect individualism, for example "Mötley Crüe," "Blue Öyster Cult," or "Motörhead."

In the case of your forum handle, placing it over the "e" makes you "bay-an-ee," three syllables instead of two!

I like the two Nordic letters for voiced and unvoiced "th," consonants that exist only in English today: "ð" and "þ" respectively. These two letters were also used in Anglo-Saxon or Old English (remember the lines I quoted from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from the year 793 in our discussion about sacking churches on the Easter Sunday Downtownies Ride?).

He Batmick! I hob's ned g'wusst, du kommsd aus München! Leider ist mein Bayerisch sehr schlecht. Ich habe deutsch in der Nähe von Freiburg gelernt und schwätze imma no' schwäbisch, gel?

S'freut mich!

My life is stressful in a way I could never have dreamed of a decade ago. Cycling keeps me sane.

Free bungee cords!

If you see a tire tube on the side of the road pick it up. Cut the valve. Then use it as a bungee cord.

For the last 7 years, I've had two bikes. A '78 Schwinn Superior and a 80's Fuji Team Road. At one time or another, both have been fixed, single speed, 10 speed, 6 speed... etc. Well, after 32 years of service, the steerer on the schwinn cracked out of the crown... about 6 miles from home. After nursing her home, I quietly dissasembled my trusty old tank. BTW, If you're interested in the frame and fork, let me know and we'll work something out. It's pretty big, around 62-63 c-t.

Anyway, the silver lining here is I've got my first real parts bin. Sure, there's always been a box with a couple chainrings and brake levers, but now, I'm flooded with cranks, cables and housing, bars, etc. I also got to consolidate all my "nice" parts on the fuji. I think she turned out great and it's a better commuter than the Schwinn ever was. I am going to miss having a fixed gear, but as the big three-O looms on the horizon this month, I think I'm too old for one anyway. :face-devil-grin:Just sayin'.

Just wonderin'....

...how come motorbikes don't have weird little holes in their seats like some bike saddles do?

Last night I freaked myself out. I needed to blow off some steam so around 9pm I headed out and meandered down toward South Park via Park Ave. I took a right turn at some street I'd never turned down before then a left on Richmond. I was surprised to find myself rolling down a long dark street with lots of debris on the side of the road and a turnaround at the bottom overlooking the 163! Also at that moment a really creepy song by Bloc Party came on my iPod and I was just creeped out as I climbed my ass off to get out of that little dead end. Just sayin...