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Al_4_ISU

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Posts posted by Al_4_ISU

  1. Just now, Vic Mackey said:
    18 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:
    I don't believe this for a fucking second.

    Name a few others that would be mainstream. I might have heard some that i didn't know it was him. But that's the only song that I definitely know that's his.

     

     

     

     

    • Like 3
  2. 7 hours ago, South Austin said:

    Dave Matthews and Neil Young have such horribly shitty vocals that no quality of lyrics or music can make up for (not that their lyrics or music could be considered high quality).  It always surprises me when someone confesses to being a fan of either. 

     

     

    This is half accurate and half sacrilegious.

    • Like 1
  3. 1 hour ago, Seasick Sailor said:

    We all have a couple. Whether the band's style changed or our taste did, there are certain bands that we used to love but just can't listen to anymore.

    For me, the first two that come to mind are U2 and The Doors. Loved both as a teen. As for U2, I loved them during their Unforgettable Fire through Achtung Baby run but lost all interest beginning with Zooropa. The Doors? Well, I think I just completely overdid it. At this point, I can still listen to certain tracks on The Soft Parade, but I find everything else unlistenable.

    What are some of the bands you used to love but can't listen to anymore?

     

    I just don't think outside of Roadhouse Blues and LA Woman that The Doors hold up well, compared to their peers.

    A lot of The Doors mystique faded for me the first time I did mushrooms and realized that Jim Morrison's lyrics were basically putting onto paper the shit that goes through your head while tripping.  Didn't seem to have much substance behind it.

  4. I was 9 when Kurt offed himself, and didn't really listen to Nirvana until the next year.  I became completely obsessed almost immediately.  Within a couple years, I had moved on, but always still counted myself as a fan.  When I got super into Pearl Jam in college, I sorta dismissed Nirvana a little in my mind and thought of them as a good band, but not as great as they'd been made out to be.

    I listened to them a lot this spring, as I made a point while in the field to dig back into the music I liked between the ages of 10-21 that I don't listen to much today and see what holds up and what doesn't.

    Nirvana holds the fuck up.  Nevermind is a little dated from a production stand point, but the songs are still there.  In Utero is my favorite of the 3 studio offerings.  The three main live offerings (Unplugged, Banks of the Muddy Wishkah, Reading) are still great showcases of what they could do.  Unplugged is absolutely chilling at times.  Kurt was a great songwriter with an ear for a hook and a riff - he probably doesn't get enough credit as a guitarist (and maybe too much as a lyricist).  Grohl is one of the most explosive drummers of all time, and he blew their sound out into orbit - listen to Bleach, and then listen to the rest.  Without him, Nirvana doesn't blow up the way they did.  Novoselic was the Ringo Starr of the 90's - the average dude surrounded by legendary talent who did his job fine.

  5. On 5/27/2018 at 1:40 PM, Braff Zacklin said:

    Hey, Al. This response might be too late to be of much help, but I'll share what I've learned over the years and maybe it'll do some good.

    Also: word diarrhea warning. It's what I do.

    1) When your fork drifts or lifts, it's a sign that it isn't properly weighted. The steeper the climb, the more your weight will have to come forward. This means moving forward on the saddle. On the steepest ups, the nose of the saddle should be very close to a particularly sensitive area.

    That alone might not be enough for some ascents, however. You'll also need to drop your chest as closely to the stem as possible. It takes some practice, but when you get it right, you will feel like you are "wedged" between the handlebars and the saddle. With your weight distributed thusly, you should be able to climb anything that your lungs and legs allow.

    Another trick is to drop your wrists, i.e., the bottom of your palms will be below the grips. This helps because we tend to pull on the bars as we begin to struggle, but with our wrists lowered, we effectively pull down on the fork instead of up.

    2) If your feet are flying off the pedals, you are probably overtorqueing the cranks (pushing harder than necessary on the downstroke, which causes the cranks to rotate faster than what your other leg is anticipating). Roadies and beginners tend to do this because they aren't used to pushing such easy gears and haven't yet developed a lighter touch. Overtorqueing can also cause your fork to rise, especially on a steep incline (it's basically an unintentional wheelie).

    Practice is key. Using your baby gears more will help develop the timing and coordination for a smoother, more measured downstroke. It might sound like I'm pandering to you but I promise I'm not--it's so easy to spin out or overtorque in those big cogs.

    Another solution is to drop your heels slightly. This will help keep the pedal pins secured to the soles of your shoes. But don't drop your heels so low that you pull your feet down and off the pedals--this will cause your shins to be very unhappy.

    I only ride platform pedals with sharp grub screws as pins and Five Ten shoes. The grip is so outstanding you have to consciously lift your foot to re-position the pedal. But I went through many seasons of scabby shins.

    3) One final concern is weight. I tend to put on the pounds during winter. There's a very steep, rooty, scalloped climb on one of our local trails that I usually cannot clean if I'm over 210 pounds. My legs and lungs give out unless everything is perfect.

    Between 200-210, however, I will typically nail the section as long as my line choice isn't too bad and my back wheel doesn't spin out. And at less than 200, I will usually scoot up it, no problem, regardless of line choice or what my rear wheel does.

    Hope this helps. If nothing else, you've read your book for the month.

    Anyway, keep practicing and keep challenging yourself.

    -- BZ

    Lots of good stuff in there.

    I'll definitely implement these techniques.  I also need to get my weight down.  Come out of winter around 230 most years and might get to 210 after harvest.  I'm sure that's not helping anything.

    Had a damn good ride on Sunday AM, getting in ahead of the 100 degree heat.  Rode at Yellow River State Forest in Northeast Iowa.  It's a mix of narrow gravel forest service roads, and multi use single track.  I utilized the gravel for the long sustained climbs, and used the single track for more rolling ridge top riding, or bottom land stuff.  The only time I had to get off the bike was trying to climb some shorter, muddy pitches where horses had badly rutted things up.  And of course the surprisingly deep and fast creek crossing where I had to wade through dick-deep water and carry the bike.

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    • Like 2
  6. 1 hour ago, I Got Worms said:

    In a subcategory of bands that "could've been one of the best best rock bands", I think Blind Melon would have done great things. 

    Agree 100%.  That self titled album had some brilliant tunes.

    • Like 1
  7. 16 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


    Yes, I am familiar with their moderately catchy, yet somewhat bland brand of rock.

    I would concede that label applies to some of their output, but their best stuff is absolutely worthy of inclusion.

  8. 16 minutes ago, Tuco said:

    I agree that it would be a ways out and may not happen at all.   

    My impression is that the Big 10 is mostly concerned about the Big 10 and tends to be a bit, inbred, for the lack of a better word.  Whether it hamstrings national contenders is a distant priority compared to that insular mentality.  And it seems to work for them, on a money basis, which is going to drive a lot of the decisions.  I'm not sure a scheduling alliance would do much to relieve that.  If you look at Nebraska's current schedule from a money standpoint: 9 conf game, 1 P5, 2 non-P5.  That's going to be typical schedule.  Assuming both non-P5s are straight pay days (home game with no away) and the P5 is a home and away, it means that 11.5 games per year will be played in a Big 10 stadium, with Big 10 TV rights.  If you replace 1 conf with another P5, then it drops to 11 games per year.  That .5 game for 14 teams is an extra 7 games the Big 10 stadium/TV.  Okay, maybe not strong because of the lower tier teams can't command as many money games, but it's still money they leave on the table.  And, frankly, that extra occasional visit by a Nebraska (or Michigan, OSU, etc.) means a lot for the lower tier schools financially.  You ISU fans may think we are all assholes, but we travel well, and spend money when we do. There are going to be a lot of schools voting against losing that pay day. 

     

    All of these things are facts.

  9. 17 minutes ago, Tuco said:

    That'd be cool.  The shittiest thing about being in the Big 10 is that outside of Iowa, we don't have any conference opponents that are in day trip distance.  I think that cuts down on the road game opportunities for fans, particularly the students. It'd be great to get some P5 teams on the schedule that are in a 300 mile radius.  (Non-P5 are irrelevant, because we aren't going to play in their house, for the most part.)

    The article is poorly written though.  It's dependent on the Big 10 dropping from 9 conference games to 8, which it says won't happen until 2022 at the earliest.  Then it speculates whether K-State or ISU would be willing to bump one of their 2020 opponents for Nebraska.  Edit: also, since they mention Colorado as a possibility, it would make sense to mention that Nebraska is playing Colorado this year.

    Don't disagree.  Just how it came to my attention.

    I think it would be a ways out.  FWIW, I don't think the Big 10 will drop to an 8 game schedule unless they have some kind of guaranteed scheduling alliance with another P5 league.

  10. Apparently Nebraska wants to put us and KSU back on the schedule.

    Must need that SOS boost.  I'm all about "fuck the traitors", but I'd love to bring them into Jack Trice as long as Campbell is still here.  That atmosphere would be absolutely electric.

  11. I think KU should make a hard run at Leach, and pray they won't.

    Im not sure why anyone would say definitively that he's norm coming back to the Big 12.  I think the opportunity to kick Tech as theyre declining would give him a boner.

  12. Anyone who thinks Steve Prohm is on the hot seat doesn't know our AD.

    Hes notoriously loyal to his hires.  Everyone close to ISU basketball expected us to be down last year.  If we go back to the Dance, Prohm will be totally fine.

  13. Did 50 miles on Saturday.  We had got rained of the field the day before, so I was able to attend the first annual Tri-County Bike and Brew.  A concrete trail had recently been completed in my area that created a 20 mile long trail that mostly follows old rail lines, and actually goes past a few of our farms.

    The ride started in a little town 4 miles from the south end of the trailhead at the bar.  We stopped in the 2 small towns along the trail, and about halfway through the ride, it passes and old ghost town that has nothing but a deer hunting cabin remaining.  They had a bunch of beer out there, and a bike toss competition, which was a hoot.

    We drank a lot of beer, and my father in law crashed into a small pole at a road intersection that's meant to keep motorized vehicles off the trail.  He was a little cut up, but overall it was a fun day, despite being unseasonably cold (highs in the 50's, usually in the high 70's or low 80's in May).

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