Blog changing, please read and take note!

— The name of this here blog has changed to "The Beard, the Bicycle & the Coffee Bean".

The new url is: http://beardbicyclebean.blogspot.com

Take notice, if you are interested in further communication, feeds and the spewing forth of my dribblings.

Thank you for your support thus far.

"Ortolan" / Aaron D. C. Edge

"These are a few of my favorite things" of the day:

— Coffee and bikery... nice. More.

Old guys and old rides of the day:

— One day, I'll be this... and that's fine with me. More, here.

Big, big devil of the day:

— Found here.

Bike of the day:

— Will be buying this, reguardless of funds/lack there of... oh man!

"The Bianchi Pista Classica is a steel frame with steel fork with chrome lugs, a chrome fork crown, drop outs, fork ends, BB, etc. It has beautiful details. The Bianchi Pista Classica will be available in frameset only and delivery is not scheduled until early 2010. No price is available as yet."

More info here.

Today's ride:

— Today's ride was windy, the whole way... couldn't escape it somehow. Zeus (or whoever) was punishing me, making me work harder on the whip today.

Total Distance: 28.09 mi.
Burned: 1,237 (kcal)

"Ten grand spent well" of the day:

— Bike review and more radness, here...

"I'm riding the SL3 home from work when I notice the driver of the pickup beside me pointing at my bike. He's fifteen feet away and its tough to hear over the roar of traffic.

He rolls down the passenger window and shouts 'Nice bike'.

I nod and grin.

'How much?'

I pause to consider an answer then holding up both hands, fingers splayed... respond 'ten!'

Puzzled, he mouths the words 'ten what?'

Another pause... 'Ten thousand' I reply

and his eyebrows nearly shoot right off his forehead, so to make him feel better I add...

'It's not mine, it's a demo'

that appears to help, his eyebrows return to his head which he's shaking side to side 'wow'.

I sense the light has changed, give him a friendly wave and roll away, smiling to myself.

In actual fact the msrp on the Specialized Superlight I was riding is $9200... leaving him a full $800 for his first bibs, shoes, jersey and helmet.

Now that's how to spend a perfect 'ten'."

Message of the day:

— Found here.

Shots of the day:

Col de Espresso Challenge from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Shirt of the day:

— Be nice:

"Guaranteed to bring semi-automatic smiles to your friends’ faces, Martin Bregman’s Say Hello To My Little Friends is the happiest collection of death dealing weaponry."

Found here, buy it here.

Good sit of the day:

— I'm diggin' it:

"The chair is made from your average pallet with instructions that are available to buy on the Studio Mama website for just £10. A charity project has also been set up in Buenos Aires where unemployed locals make the chairs to sell and hopefully improve their lives. To support this project acclaimed artists Gavin Turk, Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread have each customised a pallet chair and these are being auctioned via the Studio Mama website to raise money for the Buenos Aires charity."

Seen here, more info here.

Ten inches of the day:

— My band, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, has done a split with the group Mico de Noche... it's done and in my hands. The 10" vinyl has twenty-eight minutes of heavy rock on it, we are very proud of our twelve + minutes of said rock.

It will be available at our record release show that's comin' up soon, October 10th at the Comet Tavern. Us, Mico de Noche, Black Elk and Madraso.

It's going to be good!

Bike shop of the day:

— Thanx to Doug (at Branford bike shop) for being so curtious, helpful and honest... he works at an amazing little shop and I just want to tell yall to go and spend some money there. The radest Merckx, Look and the Italian-made Milani bikes are stuffed into the nice little place, plus many other wondrous cycling-related items for you to get stoked on. A great find indeed...

"Branford Bike was created in June 1976 by Tim Brockett in the basement of his parent’s house. With just $10.00 in his pocket and a toolbox by his side he concentrated on bike repairs for the first year. Tim gradually changed his business focus to high end road bikes, accessories and Campagnolo components. The current ownership purchased Branford Bike and moved the company to Seattle in November of 2006. The retail showroom was opened for business full time in July of 2008 in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The shop still focuses on high end road bikes, accessories, Campi equipment and customer service. Our new, updated web site was launched in November 2008!"

Go there and love it as I now do!

Veganism of the day:

— Came across this today, stoked.

Vid of the day:

— Amazing, one take, great props and amazing landscape... love Robert Carlyle too!



Thanx to this site, here.

Desktop pattern of the day:

— Thanx to this man and his beautiful photos.

Cycling historical awesomeness of the day:

— Vélo-Rétro is the gathering place for vintage bicycle enthusiasts. Learn about vintage and classic bike history, buy copies of vintage bicycle catalogs or custom classic bicycling T-shirts, and learn about the magnificent velos of times past.

View it all here.

Zine of the day:

— I like it. You will like it. See it.

{ Provided you like bikes and stuff. }

Trailer of the day:

— Might not be awesome, but it might at least be decent... we shall see:

Day-maker of the day:

— Sometimes a ticket is a good thing:

"When photographic artist Leanne Eisen left the Scotiabank Theatre on Monday following a screening of Ponyo, she was surprised to find this piece of blue paper wrapped around the handlebars of her vintage bicycle. At first, she only saw the words, 'Your bicycle has been ticketed because…'... Instead of an official citation issued for some sort of parking infraction, however, what she found on the ticket were charming compliments from an anonymous flâneur, who declared the chassis 'badass' and 'unique.'"

Found here, more about it here.

Quote of the day:

"Never refuse an invitation. Never resist the unfamiliar. Never fail to be polite. And never outstay your welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience, and if it hurts, you know what… it’s probably worth it."

— Found here.

Weird of the day:

— Just go check it out, here.

FML of the day:

"Today, my boyfriend of 8 months dumped me over the phone in between telling the Subway employees what he wanted on his sandwich."

Want more? Here's more.

Today's ride:

— It was too nice out (and practice got cancelled early enough) for me to not keep riding all day long. Thanx to Wayward Cafe and Healeo for keeping my strength up, in vegan nourishment form.

Total Distance: 61.67 mi.
Burned: 2,856 (kcal)