more pics

thanks for looking.

jg

more tsali pics

work work work

days have been going by. i took sunday off from riding my bike. and monday. but tuesday i rode in phenix city. just for an hour or so. i had a flat. and got my bike incredibly dirty. then work.

we went to picasso sunday night, monday night, and tuesday night. i spent too much. mandy is working this week again. she quit a few weeks ago. but is back. she gave us a few free drinks. that was that.

so work again today. it was good. tomorrow will be good too. i leave around 5pm. i'm going to flat rock to ride my bike. it should be good and cold. can't wait.

i think i'm going to elijay to ride on december 11th. if anybody wants to go, let me know. thats all for now.

later.

jg

new bike/tsali trip

woooooo hooooooo

i got my new bike ordered last monday, it showed up thursday. i put it together thursday night. oh yeah. took the bars, headset, shifters, cassette, stem, chain, saddle, grips, and rear derailleur off first thing. i set it up with

chris king pink "pretty and strong" headset
easton ec70 carbon flat bars
thomson stem
fizik gobi saddle
esi silicon grips
sram x.0 gripshift
sram x.9 rear der
sram 990 chain and cassette

oh yeah. its still a little on the heavy side. the wheels, seatpost, and seatpost clamp are all gonna eventually go in favor of lighter parts. plus, i'm going to lose some weight in the mean time. i'd say its mid upper twenties weight wise. i'm also going to pull the tubes out and go stan's noTubes. it might get some hayes hfx mag plus ti/carbon disc brakes as soon as i can figure out how to route the brake hose.

thats it. tsali rocks by the way. we rode 3 miles to the trail from our cabin, then 14 miles at tsali, then 3 back to the cabin, then drove to fontana and rode 13 miles. so 33 on saturday. then sunday rode the right loop, the left loop backwards, then the left loop the correct direction, then county line road back to the parking lot. 28 miles. hell yeah.

thats it. now some pictures.

at the shop. roughly 1:30 am friday morning.

at tsali, on the left/right loop overlook trail. about 500 feet above the lake in the background.

me passing some guy (who wasn't in my age group) at the finish line in gainesville, ga

chris king pretty and strong headset and sticker. pink baby. $2 of my purchase price went to a breast cancer research foundation. heck yeah. this is one of only two in columbus, georgia.

athens and bars

i have gone to the bars a couple times now since being 21. went to scruffy murphy's in columbus and drove up to athens last night to hang out with ryan lingo, brian nalley. we went to a place called last call. it was my second time going there. i went about three years ago to this date... and sat at the same booth and tore my jeans on the same nail that bobby tore his jeans on some three years ago.

and on my way home i decided to stop in atlanta to hang out with bobby at georgia tech. we just walked up to a diner. i had soup. and lots of crackers. and water with lemons. so now i'm waiting for bobby to get upstairs and say peace out homey, or later man, or some other cliche'd goodbye. then drive home.

i sold my specialized enduro on ebay last night. to a guy i know. hmm. and hopefully i'll get my new bike on the way tomorrow. thats all for now. peace.
jg

21

tomorrow i turn 21. hell yeah.

blibbity blobbity glam

i dont know. stuff has been cool. i got my second item on ebay now. i'm going to do a race in a couple weeks. thats all for now. nobody reads this anyways. joseph

i want to ride my bicycle...

so i got my surly put all the way together. heck yeah. the white one is the surly. the newest one. the white and black one is my specialized allez road bike. it is an allez comp frame with a campagnolo chorus 8 speed gruppo.

i rode tonight at flat rock park. it was fun. i had my lightset, the helmet mount one, and a blinky for a tail light. i had a flat. thank goodness it was up front, or i'd been fooling with a 15mm wrench in addition to my pump, and tire lever. note the single lever. i used my allen wrench set as another tire lever. dont recommend it though. i enjoyed it. i rode the first loop, the loop across the rocks, the kiddie loop, and the middle size loop. i found out the kiddie loop is .31 miles. the medium loop is .66 miles. the larger loop didn't get clocked because my chain slipped, i got flung foward, and my left ankle met up with the end of my pedal. needless to say, it hurt a bit. so that was it. later.

goodbye weekend 2

its sunday. the week went by quick. i had an ebay auction end. started putting my singlespeed together. its not done, but close. its rideable, to and from work... but not off road yet. i'm getting a surly flip flop hub this week. so next weekend, i'll be ready to roll. work has been okay. brian and i set it up so i leave at 5 on thursdays. work 12-5 on monday, and 11-7 tues, wed, and friday. then like 10-6 on saturday. i wish we could either close or open a full day on mondays. its just so tough saying our hours. "12-5 monday, 11-7 tues through friday, 9-6 on saturday."

i rode my road bike wednesday. only about 32 miles. with a 16.7 mph average or something. slow-ish. i would have ridden friday morning, but i slept in or something.

today i'm going to get jazz for the first time in a few months. it sucks that its been so long since we've hung out. i've just been busy.

i worked at flat rock this morning. sprayed round up type stuff where the trail will go. we just need people to ride it now. bye

ebay rules

what up

just got back from picasso pizza. sat outside and watched tons of drunk, and some soon to be drunk, people walk by. we called it a night as some army guys began arguing with marines, and wanted to fight simply because one was army and one was marine. i started thinking... marine has more letters than army, so we win... but what about coast gaurd?

so my instigator frame was on ebay for all of 12 hours and i got two bids. the second one met my reserve of $100. now, it has 6 days left and could go up more. that rocks. i think ebay will charge me like 8 bucks at most to sell it. but still $120 minus 8 is still more than i got now.

i might try to ride tomorrow morning before work if i can muster up some awakeness. we'll see. thats all for tonight. peace.

jg

buy my bike!!!

i have entered the ranks of ebay-ers. i am trying to sell my surly instigator. i put my reserve at 100 bucks. we'll see if it goes. work has been okay. i'm going to try to sell my enduro in a few months too. we'll see how that goes...

ahhhh!!!!! im going crazy.

so joey's funeral is tomorrow. i'm going to try to go to that. then work. then, ahh, the weekend. later. jg

r.i.p. joey

a friend of mine shot himself recently. it sucks to get news like that. oh well. if anyone who reads this is the prayer type, please pray for him.

joey kopiness 1983 (?) - 2005

later.

i suck

i just got home from a ride that was supposed to last 50 miles or so... i was riding with cat. 4 and 3 racers though, and after a few hills, i was toast. these guys are like muscle, lungs, and legs. and i am not. i'm hoping to plan and follow a training routine for the next few weeks. i want to try to go back out with them and surprise people. of course, that will probably not happen, but... its worth a shot. anyways. i'm just delaying going to the bike shop. saturdays we open at 9 but it is usually slow for the first couple hours, hence, 9:55am and i'm listening to g n r sweet child o mine. drinking the remaining cytomax in my water bottle, planning a comeback.

i got the kanye west album last night. so far i've only listened to about three or four songs really. i heard the first eight or nine, but only really listened to a few of them. i like it. and whether or not an individual agrees with him, i think it took some balls to say " george bush hates black people."

on another note, i have adopted a section of trail at flat rock to be my own, i will mark it, maintain (?) it, and make it. and barry said it may be called the joseph grimes section. that'd be cool. hopefully people wont hate it. hmm...

well, i need to go to work so... ::thinking:: ...i guess this is it for today. maybe someone will read this. or not.

lately

things have been sorta "ssdd." same s'tuff' different day. wake up, waste time for the first few hours of the morning. go to work around 15 til 11. work until 6 or 7. count the drawer if i'm closing. etc. leave.

lately i've been making a solid trip to picasso's pizza. leave work. go there. drink cream soda. was going to go last night but didn't.

at least i've been riding my bike some more. when i was living over near chs, i was driving too much. i was parking in the free lot off front ave. i moved all my stuff out of my temporary housing last weekend. i still don't have a bed. that sort of adds to the process of leave work, go somewhere, wake up early, go to my place, shower, eat, make lunch, watch cnn, check my email, ride my bike to work, get there early, get coffee at judybugs, sit (as i'm doing now), then actually go to work.

i've been riding flat rock a lot. tom and i want to ride in the 24 hours at conyers race. don't know how the finances will go for that though. my car tags are due. $264. damn it. should have kept the jeep. but anyways, flat rock has been a quicker pace trail than phenix city. and similar to bartram's trail, but a lot closer. i have adopted a bit of trail out there (at flat rock). i need to go out there and work on that. hmm.

thats about it for today. later.

jg

p.s. i miss my singlespeed so much. i'm trying to sell my surly insigator frame so i can finance the new one. argh.

bars, drunk guys, bikes

thursday night. rode at flat rock with rick powell. 9 miles. thursday night.it was fun. my friend bobby justgot his student loan and was buying lots of people drinks. and gave me (Indirectly) $150 for my singlespeed. so now i have a hundred dollar bill hidden under a bicycle chain box in my room. i need/want to sell my surly frame to a kid in alabama. then comes the surly karate monkey.

so last night we went to picasso's pizza and this guy passed out in the bathroom. the security for the tap came over and dragged him out to the curb. they set him in a chair. about an hour later, still hadn't moved, the EMS showed up. it was a scene. we left there and went to the big city club. a friend of ours gotus in, and was bartending. awhile later, we noticed another friend was dj-ing. so we hung out for a while. and left. went home. had some coffee. talked some. went to sleep.

going to ride shortly in phenix cit y with rachel and the usual guys. should be fun. blah blah blah. so, anybody reading this? no? i didnt think so. figures.

jg

night rides rule.

i rode at flat rock last night. started at 8:30 or something. it was fun. i rode the first wooded section, then crossed into the second loop section. i rode the kiddie loop about three or four times. rode the larger slickrock style section for a lap too. the trail is coming along real well. i will hopefully be able to work on it some this evening. may try to night ride again.

i have solved all my bike problems. i NEED a karate monkey. i'm gonna sell my SS and already want another. but i wanted a fixed gear bike too. answer = 29" mountain bike rigid fork v brakes flip flop rear hub two sets of tires. waBAM. a SS commuter and mtn bike. now i just need another $200.

just don't drive for two or three weeks. there's the money. just to mention it, gas here is 2.89 a gallon. works well for me because i sell bikes. so people are buying bikes to not have to drive to work. it rules. except for the fact this is america. and people wouldnt start riding their bikes when environmentalism was the issue. they wouldn't ride when everyone was overweight. but when gas prices threatened their dollars, hell yeah let's commute says our average money hungry american. oh well.

jg

pedaling along

days go by

tom and i are planning to race at conyers for 24 hours of adrenaline. i've been riding my bike as much as possible. i am going to sell my singlespeed to bobby. he's at georgia tech. he's gonna give me $125 for it. my surly frame is for sale too. i think i'm getting $100 from a kid in tuscaloosa for it. that'll give me some dough to either rebuild a singlespeed for me or to build a fixed gear road bike.

work is good. i'm salary now with health insurance. but 6 day weeks are killing me. thats going to change, or i'm gonna be working some more 11-5 shifts.

i have a plan... work at the shop until april or may. then move to snowshoe west virginia. i want to work there as bike patrol or mechanic and or sales. then move down to brevard or boone or somewhere north carolina. hows that for a plan? later.

jg

blah blah blah

aside from that, well, i have been working bunches. 48 hours this past week. i've been trying to ride my bikes as much as possible. my current living condition is interesting. im living with three girls that work at fountain city coffee. amanda, andrea and abbie. my current commute to work is a bit further than it used to be. it takes about 15 minutes. but is mostly downhill to get there. i went screaming through a yellow light on the corner of veteran's and 13th st. doing about 28 mph. that was about the most interesting part of the day. i worked. it has been busy at work.

thats it for now. pedal hard.

jg

changes

Come on come on
I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,
but things change, and that's the way it is.

[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]

(Come on, come on) That's just the way it is. Things'll never be the same.
That's just the way it is. aww yeah...
[Repeat]

I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace for races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.
But some things will never change.
Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.
Now tell me what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
You gotta operate the easy way.
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.
Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is.

[Bridge]
[Talking:]

We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty,
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.
But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.
You gotta learn to hold ya own.
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.
But tell the cops they can't touch this.
I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.
That's the sound of my tune. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back.
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs.
Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is. uhh

[Bridge 'til fade]
Some things never change.

blah. me