Helloooo New Subscribers!

Did I mention this was a personal blog full of ramblings, misinformation, and sometimes gripes and disdain? It’s not all bike racing and butterflies, aside from the butterflies you might feel in your stomach when you get the “New Blog Post” email in your inbox.

However, I'm going to start with some bike racing wrap-ups. Crystal, Dylan, Ian, and I had a great time bombing down south in the EVIL® van and racing under the lights at Starcrossed at the Redmond Velodrome. Conditions ranged from perfect to even more perfect, with Crystal getting to race under one of the most intense rainbows I have ever seen. Ian, Dylan, and I raced the Men Pro/1/2 event, with Dylan also racing the Men's Single-Speed event beforehand. We raced in complete darkness and dealt with spitting rain for the entire hour. Luckily, the soil was quite sandy, so the rain failed to slow down the action (if you were running the right tires). I had one of my best races of the season, but it was 90% tire choice. A Slap Chop in the front with some very aggressive knobs bit into the loose-over-hard mud, and a tried-and-true Donnely PDX in the rear had enough grip to hold the off-cambers and stay planted during acceleration. It’s nice to have fun during a cyclocross race, and I should try it more often.

PIVOT! This blog has such a small audience, and I feel safe ranting about my landlords a little bit. Anyways, they’re useless. The end.

Well, only mostly useless (aren’t all landlords?). Ya see, someone in our house wants to move out. Usually, no big deal. They find a suitable sublet, pay the landlords a fee to modify the lease, and the people staying at the house don’t have to worry about financials or transitioning between roommates (aside from approving the new person). But these landlords have the most pointless lease in the history of leases. Essentially, there are no penalties or processes for moving out or breaking the lease, and the only people that are screwed with a mid-lease move are those staying at the property. So, in this case, the person moving out has zero motivation to help find a sublet or care about the new financial uncertainty we are all in because of their departure. Worse is that they're leaving in mid-winter with only 4 months left on the lease. The likelihood of finding a decent person willing to move in and out within 4 months is low, but I have hope.

I’m not mad at the person trying to leave. I don’t care, and it shouldn’t be my business. I’ve left leases before, and I’ve had roommates leave leases before. However, I’ve never had a lease set up so that it effectively punishes the people who want to finish the lease. I called my landlord to discuss it because none of that seemed right. They effectively told me, “Sucks to be you guys, I expect my $2800 at the start of the month.”. The only thing they’ve done a good job at is alienating the three tenants who will stay beholden to the lease until it finishes. If I didn’t have 2/3rds of the security deposit tied up in this overpriced duplex, I’d consider leaving too. There’s effectively no penalty from doing so (minus section e of the lease; If tenants vacate early, they assume all reasonable costs associated with re-renting the property). Again, I’m not mad that a person is trying to leave, I’m dissapointed that the lease has zero built-in protection for those of us trying to stay.

Ok, rant done. Renting sucks. Housing is too expensive. Blah blah blah. Our lease is up March 31st, so please send potential Bellingham locale units my way.

I need to make this a positive-negative-positive sandwich, so you don’t leave this page with a nasty taste in your mouth and hit the ‘unsubscribe’ button on the way out. I currently have a bad taste in my mouth due to some acidic coffee, but that's our fault for not investing in a better coffee maker.

Well, the good news is that the rain has returned to Bellingham! Our long, dry summer is finally over, and we can enjoy the best trails in North America until next July! I went for a quick lunch loop yesterday, and it felt incredible to trust the dirt again. Leaning hard into a corner on a mountain bike is like accelerating on a motorcycle, it’s all about trusting the surface to not give way. When it’s dry, it’s hard to trust your mountain bike tires to hook up on loose-over-hard hardpack and gravel. When you’re riding a motorcycle in the wet, it’s important not to accelerate or turn aggressively on wet paint or tar. Doing either in an aggressive manner will either leave you on the ground or experiencing a scary moment trying to keep your respective machine upright. Trust me, because one of those moments led me to breaking my foot earlier this summer. It’s funny how mountain biking is better in the wet and motorcycle riding is better in the dry, you’d think it would be the same both ways. Two wheels is two wheels, right?

What’s next? Crystal and I are taking a weekend off racing, so I’m sure we’ll be socializing and goading friends into doing big dumb (me) or silly fun (Crystal) bike rides in the woods. Anyways, thanks for read and 'til next time!