Robot Journal : The Vendys vs. The Twin Lights Century

9/27/2010

Whew
What a weekend. My body keeps asking me, “OK. Now what the hell was that all about? Why so many bananas?”
Where to start? How about Thursday?

Pavement
Memory is tricky. I totally have this very vivid memory of the first time I saw Pavement in college that is apparently completely not correct. I wrote our pal Matt to help me recall the correct details and he basically wrote me back and said, “you are an old man - your details are all wrong”.
I thought it was spring 1992, but apparently it was fall 1992. And the Archers of Loaf (his band) did not open for them as I had thought. But, he was able to verify that most likely it was the same show where a mutual friend of ours had a modified a t-shirt for the band Ride and made it say “Pipe” in honor of that lovely band... Pipe.
Maybe I wasn’t even at that show?

We saw them in Central Park last Thursday night. It was a great show; they sounded super awesome. The young kids were all cheering for the hits from Wowie Zowie (insert: *sigh*). We drank overpriced wine and ate pizza and hung out with HonkyCracker, Q, and Klutch. Good times.

The Vendys
Saturday we went to the Vendy Awards.
This year’s event was probably the best organized and laid out one. It also had the best weather. The location? Also probably the best. That location, by the way, was Governors Island. We met up with some pals there and hit the trucks.
My favorites...
El Rey del Sabor Truck: Spectacular tamales and quesadillas.

Patacon Pisao: Their speciality was fried plantains that have been pounded flat and then used like a flat bread to make a tasty sandwich. Tasted great and I loved the crunchy plantain ‘bread’.

Yao's Dragon Beard Candy and Guerilla Ice Cream: These were the two dessert vendors I tried. The Dragon Beard Candy (pictured above) was crazy good and was just fascinating looking when you pulled it apart and all the stringy sugar fluttered in the breeze.
Guerilla Ice Cream served some damn good ice cream.

King of Falafel: they won I believe. Their falafel was kick-ass.

Oh, and there was drink. Pacific Rim (started by Randall “the guy at Bonny Doon” Grahm) was serving a sparkling Riesling. Hell. To. The. Yes.

SeriousEats has great photos and coverage of the event!

Twin Lights Century
Sunday my alarm goes off at 4:50am.
Quick shower and breakfast and I am on my bike and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at 5:45am. BTW, do you know who is on the Brooklyn Bridge at 5am? Young lovers.
[side note: i adore riding really early in the city]
Jumped on the SeaStreak ferry and watched the sun rising over Brooklyn and then landed in Highlands, NJ for the start of the Twin Lights Century.

This was the first proper century I have done. The weather was perfect as it was a bit overcast and cool. This made my nose runny, which was annoying, but otherwise it was the most ideal situation. They had great rest stops, very good signage (and detailed maps/cue sheets), and the route was very well laid out. Some of NJ is crazy picturesque.
Here's the route!

It was a good ride. I did it by myself and spent a lot of time seemingly in the middle of nowhere and by myself with only the horses (so many horses) watching me go by and the squashed squirrels in the road to keep me company. There we parts during the last 30 miles where I rode with some other people; it was nice to allow other people to set and keep the pace and it triggers that little competivite thing in the brain that forces you to keep up.
Remind me to tell you about the two hills at the end of the ride. Ugh. One of them was just littered with riders sitting on the side of the road trying to recover.

It was tough. I am glad I did it. I’d like to do it again one day, but maybe faster.
The day after: I am not really sore. Amazing. Viva wine and Advil?
I took a few photos.

Jersey
I bought a new jersey and this was it’s official premiere. It’s the Rapha Country Jersey (the red "english" one) and maybe it’s just the exhaustion speaking, but it is a handsome jersey and it was the perfect weight for the ride (I wore it over a little wicking t-shirt).

Shower & Dinner
That was a good shower. Mrs. Robot made one of my favorite dinners: steak + pasta. She did NY strip steaks in our grill pan for four minutes on each side (per Senor Bittman’s instructions). There was fresh linguine from the butcher shop and a sauce she made that may be my new favorite pasta sauce ever: chopped tomatoes (she cheated and used one of those tetra-packed containers of tomatoes) cooked with the mojo de ajo. Perfect. So simple and so glorious.
I poured a nice red from Provence and she had bought some mini Steve’s Key Lime Pies that had been dipped in chocolate (good god).
I do love her so.

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