Road.Art.13; Marseille.

This week, I received a submission to The Bicycle Shop Decal Project from a shop in France named Road Art. Thomas also included some photos of what I presume is that shop, and it looks so amazing, I wanted to post them up as well.

BikeRumor Review: Long Term Follow-Up: Ritchey Design WCS Cockpit + Fork

Check it out.

Recipe Repost: Embrocation Cycling Journal's Curry Butternut Squash Soup

I'd bookmarked this recipe by Lauren Kling on Embrocation Cycling Journal awhile back and was waiting for a good cold afternoon or a nice farmer's market squash find. When shopping for Thanksgiving, we bought some squash and it didn't make it into the meal, so I knew I had to dig out that bookmark this week.

I altered the recipe slightly; based on what we had on hand, I used 4 cups of chicken broth with 2 cups of water, and forewent the cheese since I was serving it with grilled cheese (that's an age-old Wisconsin secret recipe, passed down from generation to generation).

We had also cooked some quinoa, per the original recipe, but choose to save it for a cold salad for later. The soup and sandwich seemed the perfect amount for lunch.

A successful recipe yields empty dishes.

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Recipe from the original posting:

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash

6 c. Stock (I use vegetable; you could use any kind of stock or substitute water if you prefer)

1 tbs. Yellow Curry Powder

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese as topping (optional)

To prepare the soup, peel the squash and halve it. Scoop out the seeds and then cut it into 1-2” chunks. Put the squash in a large pot with the 6 cups of stock, a tablespoon of yellow curry powder, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cover, bring to a boil, and cook on high for about 20 minutes or until the squash is soft enough for a fork to easily pass through it. At this point, I take my potato masher and pummel the squash into pulp. You could also use the “Puree” setting on a blender or food processor to achieve the same result. Once the squash is thoroughly mashed/pureed, turn the heat down to low and allow the soup to simmer uncovered until it has reduced to the desired consistency. This takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour and, in addition to allowing the soup to thicken, really lets the flavors set in. When the soup looks almost ready sample it and add any additional seasonings if necessary.

Turkey Takeoff Snapshots

The Rapha Turkey Takeoff; a challenge to burn 9,000 calories in the four days surrounding Thanksgiving. In those four days, I rode for 16 hours and 19 minutes, covering 251 miles and climbing 8,018 feet, burning a total of 9,036 calories. Below are a series of snapshots from during the challenge, and you can read about a brief moment I experienced.

L to R:
1. Summit of the haunted Turnbull Canyon 2. Fuel for a big ride
3. Bridge at East Fork Road and Highway 39 4. Highway 39, just above 2,000 feet
5. Dam on the San Gabriel River Bikeway 6. My wife's first Thanksgiving dinner
7. Downtown Los Angeles, morning 8. Downtown Los Angeles, evening
9. Mount Wilson 10. Dennison's Schwinn Cyclery, East Los Angeles
11. Men's room grafiti, Birds, Franklin Village 12. Watts Towers
13. The Forum 14. Flat white, Espresso Profeta

Pedaling

It seems like I've been pedaling for hours, because I've been pedaling for hours. I'd like to stop now, please. But here isn't where I'm going, and where I'm going is still a ways away. I can hear the hum of my tires on the road, the ticking of my chain, the cars passing me as I pass each building. Slowly, everything begins to fade as my mind wanders and soon, my mind is lost. Lost from the fight I had with my wife this morning, lost from the dream of a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers, lost from the hum, the tick and the passing everything. My surroundings no longer exist, except to surround me. I unconsciously begin to veer, back and forth and back again. Harder, and sharper I carve, yet smoothly and graceful, the sound of the tires peaking with each pass as they strain to hold their ground between the pavement and my force. Out of the corner of my eye, a manhole cover. I bunnyhop and land on the other side. The imaginary crowd in my head goes wild with cheers, as I've just won the gold medal in Smooth Carving To Manhole Bunnyhop. The hum and the tick are back. The fight is back and the plate of food too. My surroundings are again passing cars as I pass buildings. I keep pedaling.