Anthem Redux

This past weekend the small group of us reconvened for another performance of the national anthem. This time at the Minnesota United game (our pro soccer team- GO LOONS!).

What a fun experience!

I must admit, once I learned some of the details about our schedule, I was less than thrilled about agreeing to perform. We had to be at the media gate at 11:30 am. Sound check was about 12:15. Then the anthem was at like 2:05pm. So 2.5 hours of ill-used time. On a Saturday.

But the staff was super friendly and communicative and we were well taken care of. they gave us a $15 voucher for food and we had freedom to walk about the stadium concourse after our sound check. We were also stationed in an auxiliary locker room just steps from the team locker rooms.

It was their Pride game- hence us singing. But they had all the welcome signs out, Pride flags on the field, banners, etc. The team wore special rainbow Pride jerseys and we each got a version of that shirt as part of our swag. Along with a Pride soccer scarf! So not a bad haul.

And we of course got tickets so we could watch the game.

Plus as we’re staged before the anthem, the players are like sniffing distance away and walking by us. It was pretty cool.

The anthem went really well and we got TONS of compliments from the staff and patrons. Lots of folks just coming up out of the blue and saying how lovely it sounded. Some staff even said things like “one of the best anthems we’ve had” and “definitely a top 5 anthem”. So that’s always nice to hear.

We all got some beer and stayed fie the first half. Had I not had another event on Saturday afternoon to get to, I would have stayed the entire game. It was awesome to watch and the energy in the stadium was great! They like their soccer here!

Got to see three Loon goals too, so that was neat. Loons were looking really good— too bad they were playing Portland and it ended in a 4-4 tie.

I’m definitely going to another game at some point.

Pic of Fast Eddy

Eddy Love

This is mainly a trial to see of I can post any pics to my blog.

First Ride

Well, my plan was to post pictures of Fast Eddy (my new bike) and picture of my inaugural ride. But for some reason, WordPress is saying I’m over my size limits and I can’t post. Which sucks.

So I’ll narrate instead.

I must say, I think I’m getting better at the bike build thing. And even though this Eddy Merckx frame was a bit of a gamble as it was smaller than my current bikes, the gamble payed off. With the special seat post and longer stem, the bike fits my long torso just fine. And the smaller frame is waaay more comfortable for my short legs. No more but grazing!

Comfort was my overall impression of my inaugural ride. I did 30 miles with no back/hip/knee/neck aches to speak of. And riding in the drops (low part of handlebars) was probably the most comfortable I’ve ever been in a low position.

The vintage brooks saddle was also comfoetable in my ass— with no pressure points or taint crushing noted.

Handling was stable. Easy. Not twitchy or nervous. That might be in part to the longer stem. But also Merckx bike frames have a slightly different geometry and are kind of known for comfort.

I’m still trying to decipher if he’s quick though. It felt like I could get going pretty quickly and was spinning at a decent rate- but he also didn’t feel quite as ready to accelerate. Which could be the steel frame or alloy stiffness. I need more saddle time to suss that out.

But overall, Fast Eddy is a good bike. And definitely eye catching. If I can ever post a pic of the finished product, you’ll see.

Furrr-iday

It’s been a minute since I posted a bunch of thirst traps. And since I don’t want to be at work today…

That’s some happy trail!

Hollywood eyes

Free Mustache rides

Where’s that left hand?

Lean, mean, love machine

Imma rip your dick off with my ass

Where did I leave my coffee?

Flex n pecs

Palm Sunday

I mustache you a question

Let’s make it a fourgy, bro!

Modern gladiator

Furrr-iday

It’s been a minute since I posted a bunch of thirst traps. And since I don’t want to be at work today…

That’s some happy trail!

Hollywood eyes

Free Mustache rides

Where’s that left hand?

Lean, mean, love machine

Imma rip your dick off with my ass

Where did I leave my coffee?

Flex n pecs

Palm Sunday

I mustache you a question

Let’s make it a fourgy, bro!

Modern gladiator

Restless Redux

I’m still restless. And when I have prolonged bouts, things happen. Like new car purchases or furniture purchases or bikes or really anything where money is involved. Evidently it takes this mood to loosen my purse strings.

This time, it’s taking the form of a mini-vacation.

Next month (on my birthday weekend) I’m taking myself to Provincetown. Just a 4-dayer total, but I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve been meaning to explore P-Town for awhile now. After all, it is one of the “gay destinations”. I’ve already done PV, SF, PS, and KW. So logically, this one needed to get checked off the fuckit list.

I’m glad there are no big events there when I’m going. No bear weekend. No pride. No parades. So I can just relax and explore it without it being IN YOUR FACE GAY! It’ll still be gay- just manageably so.

I already have my plane tix (flying out very early on my b day), my ferry tix, and my air bnb reservation. My plans are to get a bike and explore the sea shore and dunes. To hit the beach. Shop. Tea dances at the Boat Slip. And to eat some sea food.

And since there’s so many artists and art galleries there, maybe I’ll do a little lahrt shopping”.

Now I just have to get east coast beach thin in 5 weeks.

Anthems

Oh say can you see- who’s singing the anthem at the Twins game? Yeah. That was me. Well, me and 8 others.

Third from right

One of the nice things about being a section leader and consistently reliable singer is that I get asked to do gigs like this. It was real last minute- some snafu at the Twins management level. But we got asked to sing for Gay Pride night at the Twins game last Friday.

Thankfully all of us had sung this version of the anthem before at some point, so it was easy to dash together. 30 minutes of rehearsal and bam. Performance ready.

We all color coordinated to represent the gay pride flag (I’m wearing pink). And we got to sing standing in the grass just behind 2nd base. It was pretty cool walking out there. And it was kind of cool thst I wasn’t nervous about it at all. Just more in awe of doing it.

There are recordings out there of it, but I don’t have a link I can share. Suffice it to say that we didn’t suck and actually got several compliments on our performance.

And we got some gay Twins swag. A rainbow tank top! And free tickets to the game of course.

And— we may also be doing it all again for Pride Night at the Minnesota United soccer game at the end of July! Finger’s crossed for soccer swag!

Biking

I busted out some bike rides this weekend. The one on Saturday was semi-impressive by my standards. I did a grand tour of the lakes and Minnehaha falls.

36 miles averaging 18 miles an hour. Which is saying something on this route because there are traffic lights and rough patches and other crap to contend with. But evidently the low wind situation helped. plus I was mashing a higher gear on the Nago.

Me at the Falls

Then on Sunday I took a different bike out and just did double loops of the lakes. But managed to hit 18.1 miles an hour for an average. And this on my single speed bike.

Oof. Was tired.

The second ride left my legs a bit wibbly. But it’s nice to have good weekend weather to get out and be outside.

And in other bike news: Fast Eddy went to the Bike Spa for his final fitups. In a week— maybe two— I’ll be test riding him. Would be nice to do it before August.

Speed Racer

In my Facebook feed, some pop art “popped up”. And it was of Speed Racer.

Now, if this were an original painted canvas, I would so be all over this. I loved speed racer as a kid. I would race home from swim lessons to watch it every day during the summer. I even had a little Mach 5 matchbox car.

Yeah, the animation is crappy and the storylines are cringe, but as a kid I liked it. Mainly because of all the cool things the car could do (jump, saw blades, etc). Very James Bondian.

Anyway- my strongest memory is of an episode where the Mach 5 nearly gets melted. There’s like this little remote control car driving the Mach 5 into a fiery furnace and they barely escaped. I remember being quite distraught over it all. And evidently it made an impression as I still remember it to this day.

All this got me thinking of other TV that scared me as a kid. I didn’t like the Sleestaks at all (in Land of the Lost). I had nightmares about them. I also had nightmares about a particular Space 1999 episode where people were getting sucked into this tentacle creature thing and then eaten alive. LOTS of nightmares with thst one.

Creepy Sleestaks

Space 1999

I also didn’t care for the Black Hole— the Disney space movie. Creepy robots. And disaster in space. And when Maximillian the robot used his spinning Cuisinart attachment to chop up the scientist??

Like a book is gonna stop him….

This was nearly as nightmare inducing as the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica.

That creepy red eye tho

I Google searched these episodes and reviewed images and details, and looking back the production quality is pretty poor. Hard to believe these shows upset me that much- but they did.

Pink Bike Boy

I don’t recall if I blogged about seeing the boy on the pink bike when I would ride to my old job. But yeah, that kind of sums it up right there. I would see him a couple times a week as we headed in opposite directions. And while he didn’t grab my attention, his bike did.

It was a soft, pale pink. Almost rose. Kind of 50’s vintage pink. With gold trim (gold wheels, gold crank, gold chain, etc). The pink and gold worked and it made me want my very own pink bike.

Well, behold!

Fast Eddy

So, I found this gorgeous, pink, Eddy Merckx frame on eBay. It’s a tad smaller than I normally ride, but I’m excited to try it as all my 58 cm frame bikes are nut grazers because of my short inseam. So this frame may fit me better.

The build has come together pretty quickly. I’ve sourced a good mix of vintage and new components: Chris King headset, sugino messenger cranks, H Plus Son deep dish wheels, Thomson seat post, vintage Merckx stem, vintage nitto handlebars, and a rare raspberry colored brooks leather saddle.

What I’m waiting on now are the brake levers. Then it goes into the bike shop for the brake cabling (brakes are important so I tend to have professionals do that part) and final tweaks. My goal is to be riding him by August.

Then I’ll be a bunk bike boy!