a quality of life issue

it's not a sign post in the distance to sprint for

it's not a plateau to rest upon

it's a "daily battle against the accretion of tiny entropies"

A coworker of mine has photocopied flyer on the wall in her office, it's a poached image of Messenger 29 and all it says is

Alleycat Race

June 5, 1999

In May of 1999 I made a stack of those 11" x 17" photocopies and Devlin and I put them up in bars and bike shops around town. The posters were intentionally vague as it was mostly a word-of-mouth thing and those that actually showed up to race or party knew someone that knew someone.

However at least one of those posters paid-off when a rep from Red Bull called me (on a land line) to offer me cash and product for the race and party. We weren't asking him for prizes, he somehow found out who was doing the alley cat and got the number for Wa Legal and gave us $200 in cash and cases of Red Bull and suggested we use some of the money to buy vodka because that mixed with his energy drink was all the rage in 1999.

The winner of the race (Mike Dodge) got $100 cash and a trophy while 2nd place (Brad Lewis) got $50 cash. With the $5 entry fees we had enough cash left over to buy vodka, two kegs of Elysian beer and plenty of hot dogs with matching buns and such.  It was a party more than a race. Just one of the many raging parties that took place at that 19th Ave East house.

 Tim Mason used to ask questions that went a little something like this: "why race in local crits and win a box of Clif Bars when you can race in alley cats and win cash and prizes and plane tickets all over the world??"

Today when I look at this photo from the end of the race it makes me stop and think and do a little gut-check check-in and kind of count on my fingers how long ago 1999 was. How many of these people have since passed away? (here's to Brad and Devlin) How many of these people are now attorneys? What the hell is that guy doing now? Where is she these days? and so on and so on.

I delivered one of those alley cat flyers to Bike Works in 1999 when Adam Smith worked there and it has been on various walls in various rooms ever since. Into Adam's hands then adopted by Suzanne and now on the wall in Tina's office. That little flyer brings me full circle.

Jason and Donald and Kurt and Chris your patience will be rewarded and thank you for standing by. after the dust settles here at HQ...           ...I'll let you know when XL shirts come in.  

there's a pilderwasser RAGBRAI jersey on eBay today and I'm not the seller but I'd like to know who is. I used to sell t-shirts on eBay but then it got too expensive so I got my own site

10 years later here you are

you are here 

here's how I feel 

about silkscreening T-shirts and innovation and staying fresh and competetive and relevant in today's marketplace

I hope this guy is still rocking his pilderwasser shirt

vote for your favorite   before August 3

Last night I got a good look at Seattle's entry in the Oregon Manifest Ulitimate Utility Bike design competition. The bike has lots of do-dads and tricky tricks integrated. The handlebar acts as a lock and there are wheel brushes instead of full fenders and the designers claim these will keep the water off your ass.

You can see all 5 cities' bike designs on the Oregon Manifest site next week and vote for your favorite before August 2.

I didn't get any photos. But I got some souvenirs and some expensive beers and got to talk with some old messenger friends and I ran into Ian. Pickle-Juice-Vodka-Ham-Cream-Cheese-Pickle-Roll-Yerba-Mate-RAGBRAI-2008-Ian. He's in Seattle spreading the word of the Bicycle Benefits program.

This is a great reminder to work a little RAGBRAI into your daily life. Only 357 days until the next one. 

It's a small world after all. It's a small small world.

This photo Craig Etheridge took a few days ago reminds me of another photo that's burned into my photographic memory, a photo taken 7 or 8 years ago, the photo seen below.

It actually rained in Seattle this week after a long long dry spell and all this stuff reminds me of riding in the rain working in the rain standing around drinking ice cold beer in the rain wearing wet socks at 8am in the rain on the way into work with 9 more hours of rain to go.

Is it raining? 

people pulling plastic bags onto their heads reminds me of Heaven's Gate and trying catch a ride on a space ship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997

Bill Brady photo

RAGBRAI 2014 is rolling as we speak
the pilderwasser collective is having a great time
wish I was there

looking to the future through the framework of the past
not really looking back but being aware of what's behind
looking over shoulder without plowing into parked car
fucking it up and taking notes as to never do it again
looking in the cheesy little rearview mirror
that is distorted by memory
feeling phantom
n o s t a l g i a
syndrome

Red Rooster Bicycle   142 NW Canal Street   is for sale 

the current owner is looking to sell the shop in the next couple months as he prepares for a round-the-world bike tour.  the buyer can take over the location and inventory. Seriously for real. Really.

If you've ever worked in a bike shop or spent some time around bikes you gotta admit the thought has at least crossed your mind. Then you do some math and the thought goes away.

The idea has come up in my mind more than a few times over the past 12 years or so. 

 Rainier Beach is the new Central District 

I want to change the name to Beer Kali park.

It's not about sister cities it's about tall boys

AFP photo from Velonews  

Although I've never been a Contador fan I do not mean to discount the terrible nature of his crash, the severity of his injuries and his long road to recovery. Going from the peak of racing form and conditioning to a hospital bed sucks.

Contador dropped out of the Tour, has a broken leg and needs surgery but his broken bike frame seems to be getting way more attention.  Which kind of makes sense to me because I'm giving the busted bike way more of my attention.

Bike racing has been around as long as bikes have been around. People that make bikes want people to buy their bikes and one of the best ways to get consumers to see those bikes is to put the bikes under really fast riders in really big races.

The theories and speculation on how and why Contador's bike frame broke are amusing to me and the evolving "official" stories from Specialized are even more amusing.  

this is Neil's new pilderwasser T-shirt released into the wild yesterday and a photo of it in situ may follow someday but for now there's a photo of it drying on a lawnchair in the sun. simple and understated yet profound and meaningful.

still waters run deep. 

choose the blue
free refills on your prescription
as long as you don't ask questions

choose the red
and you're on your own
to push the river of question without answer 

kickstand #19 Fall 2004       $37.00

this handy piece of bike messenger history comes with a one-of-a-kind gently used real deal retro made in Canada Windsor Wear short sleeve base layer (90% wool 10% nylon) mens small snuggly and wicked warm featuring the kickstand #8 cover design silkscreened by hand on the front. this base layer will look good in the rain after a cross race in November under your jersey. it's much like something Mike Neel might have worn on a chilly autumn fixed gear training ride as seen on the cover of kickstand #19.

 kickstand #11 Spring 2000     $39.00

this heaping helping of Seattle messenger history, the dickstank issue, from the salad days of zine production chock full of photos of your friends that are now attorneys and doctors. it's one of two original notarized copies known to still exist in captivity and comes with a one-of-a-kind dickstank T-shirt featuring the understated one word design silkscreened by hand front & center on a mens medium slim fit Hanes comfort blend tagless T-shirt 60-40 cotton-poly blend. this shirt will look good at a summer wedding reception under a bowling shirt as seen at Matt & Clair's wedding. 

 I am ready to sell out.

prices include shipping in the USA or hand delivery via bicycle if you live on my habitrails

PayPal is OK but please make sure they're not sold before you send payment. My cutting edge inventory tracking system is highly sophisticated but has a considerable lag time.

There is only one of each set available.

email me maybe

pilderwasser at msn dot com

sometimes the bike commute is the best part of the work day

and that's OK

220 221      whatever it takes