Friday, April 27, 2012

dear diary

Lots of news regarding the Space Shuttle lately, especially the Discovery and Enterprise, so I thought I'd throw in my eyewitness account.

I was able to view the Space Shuttle Discovery launch, STS-56, back on April 8, 1993 at 1:29am.  I was living in Orlando at the time and got a ride out to the coast with a few others after having done the same trip a few days prior, with the original planned launch being scrubbed at T-11 seconds due to a computer error.  

This second trip resulted in a few thousand people standing on a 2-lane highway, which by then had become a parking lot, 4-cars wide.  They keep you a few miles away from the launch pad and it was dark enough that we didn't know which direction to look until the main engines and solid rocket boosters ignited, turning the black of night into the light of day.  The delayed thunderous roar of the rocket engines rumbled across the ground a short time later, and quickly faded as the shuttle arced northeast along the coast.

It was pretty damn cool for about a minute or two, and I can say I saw it, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.  I guess it will be some time before I'll have the chance to see something similar, but seeing something like this once is good enough that I don't have a strong desire to do it again.

Here's a video of STS-56 that starts off by showing the night launch:

The Shuttle Enterprise was flown over NYC today on its way to the Intrepid museum via JFK.  Here's a shot of the Enterprise flying over NYC, but taken in 1983:

Friday, April 20, 2012

Friday, April 13, 2012

Because It's Friday and You Deserve It, That's Why

A compilation of Bo and Luke Duke's 1969 Dodge Charger (aka The General Lee) jumps from seasons 1-6 of The Dukes of Hazzard:



An estimated 309 of these cars were used during the filming of the series.  There were also some 1968 Chargers used for stunt purposes; "[t]hese Chargers performed many record-breaking jumps throughout the show, almost all of them resulting in a completely destroyed car."  Yeah, no shit.

Watching this show as a kid, it never occurred to me how ludicrous the concept was; but now that I'm 40, I know better than to destroy a muscle car with a 2-bit stunt when I could have just gone around the schrub-disguised jump in the middle of the field.  I'll have to start paying attention to the next pile of shrubs I see though, perhaps I could get some wicked air with my fixie on the return trip.  Ah hell, wheelies are much cooler anyway.

By the way, I've done more mountain biking this year than I did all of last year, leading up to the Dakota 5-oh, anyway.

Monday, April 9, 2012

2012 Men's World Champion Chris Hoy

Watch the hail mary from Chris Hoy as he wedges between Levy and Velthooven coming out of the final turn of the men's world champship race in Melbourne. On the line!



BBC story here.

Monday, April 2, 2012

55cm Handsome Devil Frame & Fork - $250

Update - SOLD

55cm Handsome Devil frame and fork for sale, $300 $250 firm.  This thing will bring true happiness to your life.  Build it up single speed, fixed gear, or use the derailleur hanger to put all sorts of gears on it.  I bought this new from the first batch of frames made by Ben and Jesse.  


Here she was a while back while parked in front of the CRC, when Lyndale Avenue was torn up for a period lasting as long as they damn well felt like it.  Plenty of room for fenders, eyelets front and rear racks, cantilever brake stays, two bottle mounts, and a "666" in the serial number. 
Marks Handsome Devil

Fully equipped with stick-on head tube moustache:
Marks Handsome Devil

Same frame, in brighter light:
The Devil frame, by Handsome

Shoot me an email, it's over on the right ----------->