Yikes

I'm all for tattoos. I love em' (good ones anyway). I have one, and want many more. So it should be no surprise to hear that I was pleased to see a woman with some attractive sleeves greeting me (albeit with shy body language) when I logged in to check my Yahoo mail today. But upon ogling I noticed that she had incorporated a mix of social networking/communication icons & logos into her tattoos. As part of Yahoo's new mail personalizing campaign they have chosen to feature images of regular people. You know; hip, good looking, in shape, stylish regular people like you and me! I think they really out did themselves with this woman. Please, somebody tell me those will wash off!

Apple of my eye

While over at John Nack's blog I found this video shot and edited entirely on the new iPhone 4. As a Lionel Trains fan, I find the subject matter especially interesting.

"Apple of My Eye" - an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.

Never thought I'd live this long

iPhone snapshot: My wife sits below decks on the USS Intrepid

Today was my 32nd birthday. One of the best birthday's I've had in a long time. My wife and I spent the entire day together, which was fantastic because we haven't been able to spend any real quality time together lately. Not only did she get me the new Bike Snob book, but we did some really fun stuff today:

• We had breakfast at the Popover Cafe. I've never had a popover before; they're a new favorite food of mine.
• We toured the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and I saw a bunch of stuff I really miss from my days of working on planes in school and at USAirways.
• I ran through a public fountain with timed water blasts and got soaked. (next time I'll make it)
• We both slurped ice cream cones in the blazing heat as it ran down our forearms and all over the ground.
• We took the Circle Line cruise around the southern tip of Manhattan and back, which was awesome because the tour guide was knowledgeable AND funny.
• We had some amazing sushi at Haru on the upper west side.

Picture of the day

iPhone panorama from a trip to an abandoned theater several weeks ago.

Fat Tire Festival report

I came home from the Fat Tire Festival at Blue Mountain Reservation yesterday evening, so exhausted that I didn't have the mental stamina to throw up a proper blog entry. So here I am tonight, fully recovered and missing the super technical, adrenaline packed trails of yesterday. I used to think that Sprain Ridge Park was home to my favorite trails down here near the big apple, but now I'm convinced that Blue Mountain takes the cake. The trails are so chock full o' jagged rocks that you have to kick the rear end of the bike around and swing your hips through sections of trail. The closest thing that I can compare it to is swooshing through moguls. in some areas I found myself gapping small sections of baby-heads. Some of the decents are so steep and twisty that I found myself grabbing the front brake and swinging the rear end of the bike around to place it in a better position to complete the problem area. I love this kind of riding. There were also plenty of rollers to fly down.
I owe so much to the group of riders I bumped into on the trails. A really nice group of six riders from Connecticut. They let me latch on to their group and took me on two long rides through the park. Above is the route we took. At the end of the day I had 17 miles under my wheels, a bruised left arm from hugging a tree and some intense blisters on my hands from rock climbing on Friday and squeezing the bajeezus out of my brake levers all day. I have a feeling I'll be hooking up with them in the future for some more aggressive riding.

The theater

Spent this morning rummaging about in an abandoned theater in Newark, NJ. New images are on my website here.

Fat Tire Festival

This weekend I take a break from my skinny tire ways and throw my legs over the knobby tired machine. The Fat Tire Festival at Blue Mountain Reservation takes place on Sunday and is hosted by WMBA.org (they're good folk and I've run into some cool members on numerous rides). I'll be sure to post some snap shots from the festival. Stay tuned. As for this evening; I'm throwing up this mobile blog post while onboard of an M7 train bound for Grand Central Terminal. Going to meet up with Kreuter and climb some walls in Brooklyn.


- Posted from my iPhone

Location:E 130th St,New York,United States

Adaptation in the streets

I get a kick out of delivery bikers here in the city. I always wonder how much love they have for their bikes. Do they love their bike as much as I do mine? I can tell you from experience that your work bike is something you don't neglect or take for granted. Your livelihood depends on the care and maintenance your give to it. I enjoy seeing work bikes that have been altered for optimal street use. The chopped bars below, while not anything I haven't seen before, still made me grin approvingly the same way seeing road cranks with massive chainrings on a beat up mountain bike does. There is an adaptation that occurs to bikes on the city. Quick release levers are hose clamped shut to deter theft. Slick tires are mounted to rims. Frames are wrapped in cardboard, inner tubes and tape to help resist chipping paint from frames and in some cases protect the identity of a beautiful (and valuable) bicycle. I have even seen carbon fiber wheelsets, XTR components and titanium hardware on some bikes.

The bike below was nothing special. It was not a high end racing machine. It didn't have any light weight Gucci parts. Whoever the Evil Kineval is out there who chopped his bars narrow enough to split the wickets between yellow cabs in order to deliver someone's tofu pad thai; I salute you!


- Posted from my iPhone

Location:96th & Amsterdam, new York, NY

Half a century

This morning I woke up and just wanted to ride. The weather was beautiful. I knew that the forcast called for thunderstorms later in the afternoon but thought that if I could get out of the house by 8:30 (which I did) then I had a chance at a real challenge ride. I have been wanting to attempt a metric century (65 miles) for a while now and thought today could be the day. I was wrong. I got home with only 50 miles under my belt (half a century). Nevertheless, it was a hell of a ride and I can now say that I've ridden from my house in Washington Heights, to Coney Island, floated around in the ocean, and rode back home.

The ocean was cold but felt fantastic on my legs and after stretching in the water I soon found myself floating about on my back taking in the sights. Coney Island is so cheesy; I love it. Below is the route I took which I mapped on the ever so handy Runmeter iPhone app.