I know Photoshopped lens-flare (and perhaps lens-flare in general) is considered incredibly naff, but I swear this happened by accident, and I don’t care how much of a technical fault it is, I think it looks pretty cool in this context.
I was going back through my Flickr account and deleting some crap pictures and generally doing a little bit of housekeeping and came back across some shots I’ve taken over the years that really pleased me. I might post a few of them from time to time, just because.
The one above was from a little cabin-fever ride Joel and I took one April day in 2007. It had been a cold and crappy spring and on the first nice day we’d had in ages, we got out and aired out a bit.
I’ve been fighting the cabin fever something fierce just lately. It’s been mostly snowy and cold and shitty for the past while, with two cruelly pleasant days thrown into the mix. Last Friday, it was up to about 55, sunny and balmy and just plain lovely. Then it was up in the mid 40s again on Saturday. It’s a sad statement on how acclimated I get to winter when I am simply giddy about a 45-degree day. It’s supposed to be around 40 again this Saturday, and I am looking forward to it with unseemly anticipation.
Anyway, on that ridiculously pleasant Friday, there was a fun and silly cycling event in the evening, another installment of the KC Sprints roller-races. If you’ve never done roller racing, you ought to try it. It’s such a fucking rush. Basically, it’s a stationary drag race, heads up against another person. You go balls out for about 30 seconds, and the adrenaline jolt you get out of it is like nothing else. Whoever spins their wheels the fastest is the big wiener.
I’d had a crapful day at the office – stuff broke, the government was dicking us around, the heat was still out, and the boss was cranky and spreading it around. But after one round on the sprint bikes, I was a new woman. Grinning, babbling, sweating, and going around trying to pester other women into joining the tournament.
My new racing name is “Walleye” thanks to Jevon, in reference to my striking strabismus.
We ended up with only seven ladies racing, but it was still BIG fun. It’s such a short jaunt that even going full bore, you aren’t really hurting much, or for long. The ladies’ bracket wrapped up with Caitlin and me going head-to-head. Apparently the race was close as hell. I don’t know – I always have my eyes closed when I’m up there. I won by a hair, but I ended up splitting my prize with Caitlin, as the jersey was extra small. She is, and I’m not. I kept the gloves, glass, and koozie. I think I earned them! I got a bonus prize from the lovely Tara – a pair of sweet palm-leaf earrings delicately cut from an old innertube.
They’re fabooo! And will be a feature player in my outfit for tomorrow.