I ordered new Wheelz w/Powertap from Williams Wheels. Cost me a pretty penny but I got a good discount and they should be a nice upgrade from the beat to shit Neuvation’s I’ve been rockin since the spring.

BikeReg is my new place of employment. 3 months and going strong. I moved away from UMass central, good ol’ Amherst, MA, and into a sweet new apartment in Easthampton. Or as I like to call it, ghetto Northampton. I have tall ceilings, new hardwood, a laundry room, and my bikes don’t even take up 1/4 of my space in the apartment. Some pictures below.

Sorry for the quality. Taken with my iPhone.

Thanks for reading. Outtie 5000

In more interesting news I was offered my Mom’s 2003 white Nissan Maxima GXE for 60 hundos ($6000) and would be a considerable upgrade from my beat up 96′ gold Nissan Maxima SE. As a whole I’m on the fence about this proposition because I would like to get a diesel VW Tdi or BMW 335d but as they are $25,000 and $50,000, respectively, $6000 seems like a much more affordable and viable amount. I figure if I purchase the Maxima I can still justify buying a PS3 or Xbox 360 in the immediate future, as well as an HDTV. No car loans = nex-gen gaming console. Also, a potential new mtn bike or new set of racing wheels won’t be such an economic burden.

Thirdly, a full-time position in Northampton means I’ll be moving back to the Amherst area. While living with my parents in Dracut, MA has been a pretty awesome deal (free food, laundry service, and no living expenses), moving back to Amherst means more time with the girlfriend(I’ll be mooching her apartment), spending time with UMass friends, and far superior riding, which all in all out trumps the aforementioned free parental services.

In music news, go download The Rosebuds, A.C. Newman, Blitzen Trapper, and Ra Ra Riot. All of their most recent albums are worth a listen. Use Rapidshare, iTunes, Amazon, whatever just go download them.

And RIP  Ruckus. You may have filled my computer with DRM laden songs but your vast array of free music allowed me to forgive your small faults.

I’ll be honest, blogging has been a chore. Twitter seems to be a much more effective tool. Twitter is like the lazy version of blogging. I don’t feel I have to be witty or interesting at all, which for the most part I’m not.

Either way… let’s see…well cycling has taken a bit of back seat as I’ve been trying to navigate the waters of a job search with little to no luck. I had a job offer from my internship last summer that fell through when they did a job freeze in December so with bleak prospects on that front, I’ve taken a more proactive effort in trying to get my résumé out there for some crappy entry level position. I think I may have graduated about one semester too late, or early, depending on how long this recession lasts. With unemployment probably pushing 10% I’m even considering migrating to another part of the U.S. of A. so I don’t have to take some shitty office job in Boston. Someplace warmer might be nice. Someplace I can ride my bike in January without my ass freezing to my saddle would definitely be an upgrade.

And that takes us to cycling…

After two unsuccessful physical therapists farting around with my ailing hip and knee, making me do all kinds of wacky stretches and strength training exercises, I finally found a cycling PT specialist that actually knows what’s going on. He pinpointed the muscles that are messed up and the cause, a rotated hip on the left side, causing a strain on all kinds of things surrounding the upper region of my leg and back. He even said that all the past stretching was making it worse. Go figure right. So 9 months of pain and suffering may be coming to an end. If I had seen this guy in the summer, things would be a lot different. The way I see it, I’m about 6 weeks behind training wise. I can probably expect to start racing in May if all goes according to plan.

Stay posted. Big things are coming for 2009.

Anyways, here’s some updates worth mentioning:

1. The Olympics are almost over. I tried to protest in solidarity for Tibet by not watching NBC’s coverage of the 23rd Olympiad but Bob Costas was just too mesmerizing as the official NBC host. Well, there was that and watching Chinese beach volleyball cheerleaders. And I enjoyed learning about the Steeplechase track and field event.

2. School starts in 10 days. Overpriced text books, beer, and Freshman. WOOOOOO!!!

3. The epic battle between John McCain and Barack Obama is shaping up to be quite a Presidential race despite the fact John McCain cannot use the internet and he’s pretty much senile. He’s still riding the POW wave for support…35 years later. However, I did stumble across this today:

Curtesy of McCain vs. Minnesota

Possibly the best picture of this election season.

]]> http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/long-overdue/feed/ 0 jburtonrider http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/beijing-update/ http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/beijing-update/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:28:11 +0000 jburtonrider http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/?p=87 ]]> Every day I hate the Olympics more and more. And every day China looks more like crazy commies aiming only to control and manipulate anyone in their rule. First we hear that the media’s internet access will be restricted, now athlete’s visas are being revoked and denied for no worthwhile reason.

Smog Update

It seems like every piece of news surrounding the Olympics is about the incredible amount of pollution in Beijing but despite monumental efforts to clean up their smoggy city, Beijing won’t be pristine anytime soon. I feel bad for the athletes forced to compete in the outdoor events, especially the endurance events like cycling and the marathon.

Photo ©: AFP Photo and Cyclingnews.com

Upon arrival to Beijing, a group of USA track cyclists wore black facemasks to protect themselves from the smog in the Chinese capital city. The fact that these athletes were verbally reprimanded by Olympic officials for “offending” the Chinese just shows how spineless and ignorant the Olympic committee and the international community can be. Everyone is so worried about political ramifications of offending the almighty China. Obviously if this is the case then the Chinese shouldn’t have been allowed to host the Olympics in the first place.

Now I understand that speaking as an American I may sound hypocritical in my criticism of the Chinese because the U.S. was founded on the backs of slavery and the genocide of Native Americans, but with that aside, China’s human rights violations still are relevant and should not be ignored. More news has surfaced this morning, courtesy of Yahoo! Sports, about olympic gold speed-skating medalist, Joey Cheek, not being allowed to compete based on his advocacy and involvement against the atrocities in Darfur. Because China is heavily involved in the region, economically and politically, they don’t want someone to come into their country and speak out against the war. Basically, China doesn’t care about human rights, and anyone promoting peace and equality is not going to be allowed in China and be a representative of that peace.

The International Olympic Committee is spineless. Dispiccable. Irresponsible.

They are supposed to protect athletes. Instead, the IOC is being easily manipulated by Chinese authorities.

On a lighter note, Paris Hilton really zinged John McCain with her mocking ad in response to his attack on Barack Obama. Link

So that was taken right before hurricane Katrina hit the mainland in MI. If I saw that cloud descending upon my town I would be out of there asap.

Thanks to Cafe Glace for posting these pictures.

I personally think the Olympics are a much hyped money-making scheme that has lost all of its charm and nobility in the past 20 years but allowing China, with its countless human rights and current environmental violations, really takes the cake. Not only has China been committing cultural genocide on the Tibetan people for the past 60 years, but also their heavy manufacturing with its unregulated emissions and constant pollution is harming their population and contributing to that little problem we like to call Global Warming. The worse part is that China is so heavily embedded into the global economy that if an entire country decides to stand up, protest the Chinese Olympics, and not send their athletes, China could and probably would take that as a direct insult with political and economic consequences down the line. So, by granting the Chinese to hold these summer games, the international community has been strong-armed to send their athletes, thus ignoring the atrocities the Chinese commit on a daily basis.

Who would have thought that only about 15 years after the Cold War we would be sending our athletes to a Communist country to partake in an international meeting between the world’s best athletes in a gesture of peace and friendly competition.

Oh yeah, here’s a picture of the gray haze over National Stadium in Beijing taken on June 19th, courtesy of USA Today:

]]> http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/beijing/feed/ 0 jburtonrider http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/future-president/ http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/future-president/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:49:47 +0000 jburtonrider http://jburtonrider.wordpress.com/?p=74 ]]> Come on, let’s be serious.

Seeing that my blog is named after an Albert Hammond Jr. song, I just thought I would share that his new album, Como Te Llama, has been leaked on the internet. I do not host files but simply by searching “Albert Hammond Jr. Como Te Llama rapidshare megaupload” will get you the album download in no time.

For all of you law-abiding, record store purchasers, the album is due out next Tuesday July 8, 2008.