best five song set ever/music

Every March South by Southwest takes over Austin, and every year I say I'm going to make it more of a priority. I still haven't been able to fully immerse myself in music, but tonight I went to a mini-show that I'm thankful I didn't miss.

I've been a Cracker fan since Kerosene Hat was released, and have since gotten my hands on some Camper Van Beethoven material as well as purchasing every subsequent Cracker family release. When I received an email that David Lowery and Johnny Hickman were playing several shows for SXSW, I made it a priority to attend at least one. And I picked the right one.

After doing their own stage setup and sound check, "Cracker Unplugged" played five of my absolute favorite songs:
All Her Favorite Fruit
Big Dipper
One Fine Day
Eurotrash Girl
Duty Free

Even though it was a stripped down performance, I was blown away. I regret not catching them all the other times they've passed through town, but I won't make that mistake again.

After the show, I headed to Casino el Camino for dinner. I had attempted to order a burger beforehand, but the wait was so long that I just decided to come back afterward. I beat the rush - about 15 people got in line after me, pushing the delay upwards of two hours. Thankfully, the showing of Braindead / Dead - Alive finished before I got my food. It's tough to eat a 3/4 lb burger while watching zombie heads puree-ing in a blender.

coasting downhill/sports

...is just too slow. More on that later.

This post is long overdue (sorry, Nick). About three weeks ago I took the plunge and seriously upgraded from my starter bike.

I check the various bike classifieds in Austin a few times a week looking for deals. One that I kept going back to was a listing in the Austin Cycling Association ads. It had been there since December, so when I emailed Ray (the seller) to ask about it, I was pretty certain it had already sold.

Ray was on vacation when he first got my message but let me know that he still had the bike. He also mentioned that he had replaced the wheels - the classified listing stated that the were not included. Once he returned to Austin, I took the bike on a couple of test rides down Duval, we eventually hammered out a deal (thanks for meeting me on the price, Ray), and I picked up my new ride on the evening of February 22nd.

The bike I hope to put my next few thousand miles on is a 2003 Litespeed Tuscany. The frame is polished titanium, so no worries about paint chips or rust. The components are 9-speed Ultegra. I've purchased a 12-25 cassette to replace the tiny 11-21 that's currently installed and a 90mm stem to improve my form/fit.

Weather and school have really been cutting into the time available to ride, but this morning I hit Southwest Parkway before church. On the long downhill south of William Cannon, I achieved a new high speed - 42 m.p.h. I can tell stability and handling is much improved over the Fuji.

Over the next few months I plan to get some longer rides in and actually start doing some true training instead of just cruising. Schedule permitting, my next goal is to ride the Hotter 'n Hell 100 in August. I should probably ride 50 miles in a day before trying to do 100 though...