Slow Saturday

Last night’s party was excellent, even though it lasted until after 3 am.  The social interaction alone was worth it, and meeting so many other cyclists was bonus!  Sure, it meant I slept through most of the day today, but I’m thankful to have been invited.

After some beautiful outdoor cello practice, I got caught up watching some insane cycling videos on youtube and digave.com.  I got a big kick out of the Ice Biking video (see below), keep an eye out for the ice sailing guy!  The worst idea I had all day was to ride my bike after watching these videos.  It’s OK, I didn’t ride like that.

Mr. Bieniek Playing the Violin

Accidentally great dinner
While out on my bike, I managed to accidentally have an excellent dinner experience: to reiterate what many of you already know, I am currently learning to play the cello.  I was lucky enough to pick, without prior knowledge, the restaurant where my instructor plays. What a fortunate coincidence!  It would be an incredible understatement to say “he’s really good,” but what else can I say?  I enjoyed the experience tremendously.  He, and his accordion accompaniment, played all kinds of music.  My favorite was their version of Chicago – 25 or 6 to 4.  I asked them to play something amazing and they sure did.  Pictures do this moment no justice, but I’ll include one anyway.   Mr. Bieniek teaches several stringed instruments: guitar, mandolin, violin, cello, etc.  Here is a picture of him from dinner, playing an excellent rendition of Dick Dale – Misirlou on the violin.  It was easily the coolest version I’ve ever heard, much more interesting than the original, which I like very much.

Sorry for the sub-par picture quality, all I had on me was a cheap camera phone; and yes, that is my bicycle in the background, locked to a tree.

Videos:
From Digave.com.

Ice biking on the Charles:

Monster Track V

Artistic Cycling:
After dinner, while looking up more information about fixies (read: pics of fixie girls), I came across this amazing video. It feels rather understated.