Tag: The New Wheeled Order

Sunset for Kubrick

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments
The sun sets on our old WordPress theme.

Thanks to everyone who tooled around the dimly lit, undermanned, and poorly maintained corners of the Innertubes to inspect and comment upon the options for a virtual urban-renewal project here at the DogS(h)ite.

I think I’ve touched all the bases, repackaged the necessary bells and whistles, and preserved all data for the Permanent Record. And thus, sometime today or tomorrow, I will probably tell the WordPress Blog-O-Mat 9000™ to knock down this old hovel and erect in its place a Shining City on a Hill.

Or maybe it’ll look more like rattle-canning a fresh coat of camo’ on the old single-wide, hoisting a new Anarchy flag, and raking up 15 years’ worth of dessicated dog turds. I tell the neighbors they’re Art, but they don’t believe me, about that or anything else.

If all goes well, you shouldn’t notice a great deal of difference. I anticipate a round or two or three of Whac-a-Mole, but the plan remains to hawk the same old hooey, just out of a new window, minus the bullet holes and duct tape.

If it all goes horribly wrong, well … let’s not think about that, shall we? You’ll probably be able to hear from me without need for a computer, browser, or Innertubes. (“Gaw dam cog sug muh fug sum bidge. …”)

But if you can’t hear the caterwauling, leave a message at the New Wheeled Order sandbox or email me at maddogmedia (at) gmail (dot) com.

Intelligent design

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 11 Comments
The Front Range seems very far away when you're between Falcon and Peyton.
The Front Range seems very far away when you're between Falcon and Peyton.

Lots of good thoughts in comments about the larval T-shirt/jersey design. Thanks to one and all. I think Jon P. hits the nail on the head when he suggests starting with a cheap T-shirt and taking time to dial in the pricey jersey.

The Mad Dog Media-Dogs at Large Velo jersey never did sell worth a damn through VeloGear, and neither did my Bog Trotters cyclo-cross jersey, so I’m wary of getting stuck with a closet full of these things.

I also need to come up with some amusing “sponsors” to put on the sleeves, pockets, collar and elsewhere, and I don’t feel the need to rush, especially since the DogHaus needs a new roof and insurance is unlikely to pay.

So, yeah — T-shirt first. I’ll have a final design and cost locked down by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, I spent part of the last two days riding the bike, which is a lot more fun than playing with Photoshop. Both times I rode northeast on Highway 24, yesterday on the Soma with fully loaded panniers as a sort of shakedown cruise for that eventual tour, and today aboard Old Faithful, the DBR ti’. Forty miles with panniers and 50 without. Guess which was easier.

Highway 24 is about the closest thing you can find to a flat ride in these parts. It used to be the Sunday group ride, back in the early Nineties, and while the traffic has certainly grown exponentially, the shoulders remain wide enough for a double paceline (or a single fat bastard).

The only hairy moments involve a few pucker-pass bridges, a la Highway 115. I don’t care what Satchel Paige said about not looking back — you hit one of these bad boys with an 18-wheeler in the oncoming lane, you want to take a quick squint over one shoulder to see if another 18-wheeler is gaining on you.

The math is simple: 1 pucker-pass bridge + 2 18-wheelers + 1 fat bastard = 1 closed-casket funeral.

More fun with Photoshop

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 11 Comments
The latest and (perhaps) greatest NWO mashup.
The latest and (perhaps) greatest NWO mashup.

Here’s another take on the whole New Wheeled Order thing. Amazing what a casually employed guy with a digital camera and Photoshop Elements can do when he’s supposed to be working for a living.

I don’t have a faux Cyrillic font on the MacBox, so I went with Cracked, which has a nice punkish look to it. Kinda reminds me of “12 Monkeys” for some reason. Oook ook ook.

Meanwhile, fuhgeddaboud the mean streets — seems a guy isn’t even safe on the damn’ bike path any more here in Bibleburg. How’d you like to be cycling along and look up from the trail to see an SUV and a station wagon falling out of the sky? That’d get your heart rate up, a’ight.

• Late update: OK, I’ve done a few more mockups and a little light research and I’m thinking I can do T-shirts with the design at right for about $20 apiece (local artisan, old pal). The big design would go on the back, with a smaller badge-size logo over the left hooter up front.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that a small run of jerseys (15-24) will cost us in the $80-per-item range if I go with Voler, which did both versions of the Fat Guy jersey and my own Mad Dog Media kit. Stepping up to 25-49 takes it down to $75 apiece, and 50-99 gets us into the $61-per-jersey range.

I’ll post mockups of both jersey and shirt tomorrow after I’ve fiddled with them a bit more.