VPI

Contemplating a Budnitz No. 1 now. Seems like a fun town bike that would appear to be very well made. I can even get one with Di2 shifting for the Alfina integrated.

I typically did not yell at people to get out of my way at parades, but there were many "accidental" well placed elbows to the side of heads when people annoyed me.

That is interesting. I have several local shops that sell the Uptown but none seem to have the Beltway in stock.

Went and rode a Cannondale Bad Boy 1 today. Pretty nice bike for my commute option. Little bit of a front suspension with lock out but basically a minimalist setup with Deore and SLX and upgraded hydraulic disc brakes over the 5's Avids. I have not really found anything in the shops that is well built and basic. The Shinola bikes are really well made but goofy looking. They actually ride really well.

Trying to choose between a couple of guitars. Neither of which I can try out locally. Guitar #1 - Gibson Nashville Custom Shop '59 Re-issue ES-335 in Cherry Guitar #2 - Collings I35 Deluxe Carved Top with Lollars Humbuckers. The Collings would actually be a bit cheaper and I really like the looks better I think. It would also come with the lifetime warranty which would be nice. You guys ever played either guitar, have any advice?

I am pretty sure I looked into taking a bike at one time, but it seems like the number of trains that have the walk on service is pretty limited. I am definitely going to try to ride some this weekend, but nothing serious.

I was actually thinking Cross Chek SS from Surly or maybe a Karate Monkey so it could be used for light MTBing as well. Maybe I can go all safety and buy this carbon belt drive Trek.

Going to try to get out on the bikes this weekend. I also need to shop around for a new commute bike. Might head over to Chris' store to see if they have anything. I also found Bikekinetic over by one of the Guitar shops that carries Salsa and Surly.

Happy Birthday Chris.

You know Brent, today happens to be National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. I am guessing if you went out at lunch there would be several places serving biscuits, to everyone at your table but you.

I do have the Red Oxx laptop bag but I never actually used it. I tend to want briefcases to be a bit better looking than the utilitarian Red Oxx variant. I do really like all of my Filson bags.

I am just picking on Tom Bihn users, it is a Red Oxx thing.

I can't imagine anyone bothering stealing a freakin Tom Bihn bag.

Happy Birthday

Mike you should try the French Laundry brisket. 48 hours at 147 I believe. Then throw it on the Traeger on Smoke.

Happy Birthday

Get me one while you are there.

In case anyone is looking for a competitive advantage, I found these skewers that will gain you 40-45 seconds alone over a standard set of skewers. http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/4446464560.html

Thanks for getting me out there Juan. Great ride today and we should definitely do it again soon.

Ended up being an easy 27 mile ride through Maryland and DC. Brilliant day for a ride and that is one of the best places to ride that I have found yet. Found my legs to have no issues but my ass doesn't like being back on the bike. It actually felt good riding since losing another 20+ pounds since the last ride, almost like I cut 20 pounds off of my sub 14 pound bike.

Juan on his sweet Colnago Master about to head into DC.

I am not sure who the reviewers are, but the interior of a BMW 435i feels vastly better than the Audi to me. Audi was not nearly as cheap feeling as they were back when I got my last M3 but they are still, IMHO, equivalent to a nice Camry. It did not help that the little joystick/mouse was really slow to respond to commands, if it responded at all. The 4Runner interior is awful, but it was free, so I did not feel as if I was ripped off.

I thought we had talked about that. I had that and it was a massive lemon. Windshield wipers turning on and off at random, dash lights that would go out randomly, etc. I am not looking for a $100k car, I was looking for a normal car to drive to the train station. It is just hard to pay $40k+ for a car that seems to be worth $20k so I started looking at higher priced cars.

One of the Athletic Directors at PSU drives a hybrid Fusion and it seems like a really nice car. I have given up on finding a car. It seems like the quality has dropped dramatically as the prices have risen. I would have thought the price for the $68k Audi S5 Cabriolet I drove would be around $40k at most after driving it / experiencing the interior. The Porsche Panamera 4S is the only car I drove that I liked, but I cannot get over the looks. Drives brilliantly though for a big sedan. I did love the dealer write up for the car "Load your family into the 2014 Porsche Panamera! This is an excellent vehicle at an affordable price!" at $117,895. I am just going to keep driving my old beater.

I am most likely just going to lease something as I only drive about 5k miles a year. I am supposed to go to the Audi dealership to drive a S5 tomorrow, doubt they have the RS5 in stock and seems kind of overkill to drive to the train station.