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

critical mass

today we did our first critical mass ride in columbus ga. it was a success in some regard. we rode from the bike shop on broadway, up 11th st. we turned left on veteran's parkway. we turned left on talbotton road. then we turned left on 2nd ave. the hill up 2nd ave. was a bit of a tough time. i had to help adam weibaum's son up the hill. we continued down to 10th st. we turned right on 10th st. then right on broadway. while on the ride, annette wanted to ride single-file. wade (and myself) wanted to ride two abreast. a lot of the other people kept swerving around the road. my boss (buddy) was swerving around, slaloming the lines between the lanes. i don't know what to do about that.

if we do this again, i want to have a talk before we roll. i need to stand up on a chair or something and read off some rules. i'll have to remind people to not get out of our lane. i'll have to remind people (buddy) not to swerve around the lanes. we'll have to come up with a solution for getting split up at red lights. it happened three times today, and was tough to get back together. i think, as well as (who just suggested it), that me or tom should ride in the front, brian should ride in the middle, and me or tom should ride in the back. i think we should decide to ride two abreast and not worry. because people were trying to pass us and that wasn't going well. and kids. they need to listen (better) to everyone, especially tom and i (and their dad), because they have a tough time riding a straight line. so we'll work on that. but all in all it was fun. and the tv channels and two people from the paper should have a great influence on spreading the word in town.

thats all from me now. except to say that last sunday i rode 102 miles. that was fun. peace. and keep the round side down.

jg

just another monday

yo to all,

its been rainy as hell as of late. some hurricane just passed by us.

johnathan had a party at his house saturday night, which we attended. i was d.d. though and my sprite remix didn't give me enough courage to take to the dance floor, so we went home a little early. the party kept going and ended in a small brawl. guess we got out in time. then went to see bewitched. it wasn't as bad as war of the worlds, but not too much better. then we sat at jz's. watched robot chicken. then went to hamilton station for poker. i got off to a bad start, then had a winning streak. i started losing again. we were supposed to go play halo and i was trying to go big enough to either start winning, or go broke and be able to leave. i finally went out with trip fours to a full house. oh well.

today i went to the bike shop early, placed an order, checked on another, and came home. we closed today because of the supposedly bad weather. but its been pretty sunny all day. hopefully i wont get in trouble for closing the store and it being sunny after all. i just hope i can get forty hours in this week.

in other good news. i think having a diploma got me better insurance rates. my geico car insurance quote was like 300 per month. it went down to 181 a month. but my parents plan is a mere 143 per month. i think i'm gonna stay on it. and go get some food right about now.

snowshoe. road bikes. fireworks.

since the last entry i've gone to snowshoe, west virginia. i've been riding my road bike.

work has been fun. we've got the tour de france going. so lot's of people have been coming in and time goes quicker when there's tons of stuff to do. on the same subject as the tour... my road bike is fun. i've got in about 125 miles since i built it. i would ride more, but was out of town.

anyways. its time for dinner.

sunny all weekend.

i'm so boring.

the path of the righteous man...

is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you. -jules

the missing rock

our rock radio station in town has a contest going on... they took their rock (their logo) and hid it somewhere in town. i haven't found it yet. the first (and only) prize is a sea doo and 1000$ in furniture from somewhere in town.

i'd like to win. i'd sell the sea doo and donate the furniture to a needy family. then buy a bike with the sea doo money.

i found out what memorial day was for. and i knew what july 4th is. speaking of holidays... i go to snowshoe on june 24. that should be considered a holiday.

going to work now. jsg

halo it is...

we've had some good few nights of halo at 106 b 7th st lately. and a three day weekend. go to work tomorrow though. but thats okay. cleaned our whole place up yesterday. then slept until noon today. memorial day. another holiday that i dont know why exists. is that the same as july 4th? but a good excuse for people to drink beer and have barbecue. for some reason my credit card shows i have negative credit. but i've made a couple $100 payments in the past week. it should be okay. hmmm. my car payment is due in two weeks. i got to go get more checks, then send one in to citizens bank. wherever they are.

i want a road bike. i hate my figure. back when i had a road bike i was good looking. hmm. i think im gonna get a langster after i get back from snowshoe, if finances are good. peace to all. or to none.

j.s.g.

chapter 6

so then the train came whistling into town, with it came dan and jen, the two craziest people this small town had ever seen. they got off around 9:22am and went into howard's bed and breakfast. there they met alison. she wasn't her usual self, tired and grumpy. she cheered up enough to say hello and start telling them her life story. dan and jen listened because they didnt want to hurt her feelings by telling her to shut up. dan had eggs and ham; jen had hashbrowns. jen likes hashbrowns.

After checking in and putting away their things, they were ready to explore what wetumpka had to offer. the strip of three stores downtown, the office depot, and the strip clubs. if there is always one thing in a small town on a big highway, its strip clubs. there has to be something keeping the truckers from getting off at other exits. the most popular trucker in these there parts was bob. bob was a big guy, wore a scruffly beard, and had a little yorkie along for almost every haul. bob went, unusually, to the antique store and ran into dan and jen. he said, "i haven't seen y'all around these here parts." this scared dan and jen because they hadn't met any huge truckers with scruffly beards before.

so dan says, "we aren't from this area, sir. we're from the city, on vacation." well, bob liked them right away and introduced them to the other folks in weumpka and took them to big birthday party at the jones' house. that's where it got interesting.

chapter 7

blah

howdy folks who aren't reading this.

i graduated a couple weeks ago. it was boring. took three and a half hours. i ate a big late lunch/early dinner. steak. mmmm.

over the past few weeks i've been working nearly every day and riding every day to work. i've been able to ride a good bit too. like really ride. went to flat rock saturday, cause i stayed out too late. lol. then sunday we went to conyers. this army guy that was on his first mountain bike ride took a nasty, nasty fall and slid down the rock. the bike toppled a bit further. we got paramedics out there. we had to help them carry the guy back up to the ambulance. then we finished riding the second half of the trail. it was tough. nothing like conyers to start up the summer riding season.

i'm done. work, bill paying, halo-ing, sleeping, waking up, eating, riding to work, and repeating to go take care of.

joseph

cane creek direct pull

oh well. no spare parts for the singlespeed. got some cane creek brakes coming. they look nice.

i ended up riding at flat rock. and today worked from 9 until 7:30. long day.

i got my wireless router set up. ha. im going bed.

i walk on saturday. fun.

jsg

blibbity blobbity bloo

i dont know.

i worked today. had to fix something tom screwed up on. didnt getg out of work until 6:20. we close at 5pm. anyways. i rode to work again. rode home. my car didn't move today. saving gasoline feels so good. my dad and mom brought my bike work bench down today. its in the corner of our living room. that inspired me to mess with my singlespeed. i wanted to take a link out of the chain to tension it up some, but had to put that link back. It was too short. so i put it back, then went to adjust the brakes and the screw i needed fell out. it was stripped. oh well. ill try to find a replacement tomorrow in our spare parts bin.

i think i am going to go ride after work tomorrow. phenix city. that should be fun.

last night i saw "sin city." It is really one of the coolest movies i've ever seen. its definitely got that tarantino feel too. i have a hunch he did more that just guest direct. plus its this really cool black and white with random splotches of color sort of thing too. for example, dwight's converses were red, but everything else was black and white. or goldie's hair was gold. plus, its got the girl from gilmore girls in it. as a prostitute. she doesnt get naked, but she is definitely hot. so is marv's (i think) parol officer. anyways. go see the movie before it gets nominated for a boatload of awards.

joseph.s.grimes

new apartment

its been a little while since i posted. i am officially done with school. forever. i took my final in renaissance art history at 1 o clock. i actually did pretty well on it. plus... last week i turned in a 4.5 page paper. it was supposed to be 10 pages. he gave me a A-. i was really happy with that. i should have got less, but dr. brown sort of likes me.

i got a $625 surprise when i got home... my final installment of a scholarship check showed up. i get to pay down my credit card a good bit. and maybe get a new pair of mtn shoes. hmm...

oh. just to brag. i have 3.0 Mbps internet. if you dont know, thats fast. hehe.

Its currently cinco de mayo, and 18 minutes after i started typing this post. so im gonna stop, and go pop the top. that rhymes. i dont know. anyways. joseph.s.grimes

summer is coming.

nobody is going to read this, so i feel like i am wasting my time. but anyways. i got a new email address. its josephgrimes@gmail.com. its neat. it has POP and i can use that through the apple mail program on my computer. anyways. i also just got Tiger 10.4. its the newest OS for mac. it comes out in two weeks. hmm. arghh we be pirates.

school is wrapping up. i have a speech tuesday about my final math paper. it should be fun. not. anyways. work is going well. i forgot to order a shifter, but other than that things have gone really well since i assumed the role as store manager. i gotta give reggie credit though cause she is the one that really set it all up.

on the more personal side for updates... i am coming along well with my collection of tools for my bike workbench. rachel be jealous. i just got a Park p-handle allen wrench set. a few weeks ago i added some cone wrenches to the collection. i have a pedro's screwdriver set coming in this week. i should be able to do all repairs soon from my new apartment. i also built a rear wheel for my DH bike last week. its a perfect match for the monster front wheel. hadley DH disc hub. Sun doublewide 24" rim. DT spokes. black everything. its stealthy. i like it. it sounds good. tickticktickticktickticktick. thats how it sounds. yeah.

i am about to clean our back yard at my parents house. then go to flatrock park to try to help with the new trail.

joseph.s.grimes

icycle dh results

Thought i'd put this up. i dont know if i am much of a downhill racer or if ill just do better jumping off stuff... but here are some results from the race i did back in february. brr.. it was cold.

Beg. Men DH
Nick Kerr 3:08

Joshua Hennessey 3:11

Leif Kruse 3:19

Joseph Grimes 3:30

Frederick Livingston 3:46

Wesly Miller 3:57

Chris Ward 4:05

Eddie McElyea 4:07

Owen Simpson 4:08

Ben Bryan 4:10

Tim Wilkie 4:17

Tim Beeching 4:19

Steve Barker 4:27

Tony Ledbertter 4:31

Darrin Tinsley 4:43

Cory Weldon 4:55

Richard Beytagh 5:35

and if youd like to compare(http://www.sycamorecycles.com/icycleresults.html) my time (on the same course as) to the sport and expert racers times you can see for yourself. 4th beginner...would be 9th sport, or 13th in expert. hmm... i could have gotten 1st in expert women. yeah. thanks for actually reading this if anyone gets this far. joseph.s.grimes

cold coffee is gross.

stuff has been okay. trying to get a house its not going so good. or well. if youre an english person. been riding the collection of bikes a bit. mainly my enduro. rode it to work, and in p.c. recently. rode the bighit once lately. rode the singlespeed a few weeks ago. broke that chainring. sucks. getting new ones currently. waiting on my hadley rear hub. will be a sweet ass wheel. black spokes, hub, nipples, and rim. yeah. i got my final math paper back yesterday. it is all marked up. whatever. like i am supposed to fix it all by thursday. ha. tuesday night here i come. i need to see jazz. and take him camping this coming weekend. looking at hawley usa as a possible place to work. its over in lexington sc. probably move somewhere in 2008 or 2009. i need to pay my car down before i go anywhere. or sell it.

jg

it sure doesnt feel like 12:15 am.

maybe cause its really 11:15 pm the previous day, and we're just being tricked into thinking today is today. last week was busy. i decided to not post anymore since nobody cares enough to read this page. or at least nobody wants to comment. but thats okay too. "...i awoke, and faintly bouncing round the room, a never ending coral maze..." phish. i rode my bike today. skipped breakfast. tried to convince myself that a granola bar was enough. it wasnt. and i was reminded by the hydration gods that youre supposed to drink water before youre hungry, cause your head will hurt for the rest of the day. speaking of which... i just got home from johnathan zarley's. we played halo for the last few hours. i wanted to get jazz today. i havent seen him in a while, but his mom was like he's grounded. oh well. i am currently typing aimlessly for whatever reason in a sort of stream of consciousness style. whatever comes to mind. astronaut. get the idea. also been thinking about a song thats close to my heart.

Crazy how it feels tonight
Crazy how you make it all alright love
Crush me with the things you do
And I do for you anything too
Sitting smoking feeling high
And in this moment it feels so right

Lovely lady
I am at your feet
God I want you so badly
And I wonder this
Could tomorrow be
So wondrous as you there sleeping
Let's go drive 'till morning comes
And watch the sunrise and fill our souls up
Drink some wine 'till we get drunk

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
And is this real or am I dreaming

Lovely lady
Let me drink you please
Won't spill a drop, no, I promise you
Lying under this spell you cast on me
Each moment
The more I love you
Crush me
Come on, oh yeah

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
Is this real or am I dreaming

Lovely lady
I will treat you sweetly
Adore you I mean you crush me
And it's times like these
When my faith I feel
And I know how I love you
Come on, Come on
Baby

It's crazy I'm thinking
just as long as you're around
And here I'll be dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
To each other we'll be facing
My love
By love
We'll beat back the pain we've found
You know
I mean to tell you all the things I've been thinking deep inside
My friend
Each moment the more I love you

Crush me
Come on
Baby
So much you have given love
That I would give you back again and again
Oh my love
Meaning I'll hold you
But please please let me always

yeah. im going to bed now. peace to all, or none.