Bike

I have very clear memories of my father riding home from work on his red Cannondale road bike, making a left onto Point Bluff Drive and pedaling towards our house in Decatur, Illinois with his hands completely disregarding the handlebars. 
There was something about that bike that is hard to explain now. As a kid, the fact that my Dad had a road bike was the coolest thing. I do not really remember verbalizing this as much as it being an idea in my head. In addition to the bike, his compression shorts, fingerless gloves, and wool Colnago jersey put "Dad as a biker" at deity status. 
Fast forward to 1999 when my Dad purchased a new Raleigh road bike from Jim's Bike Shop. The knick in the fork decal decreased the price making it quite a deal, something he talks about to this day. Full aluminum aero frame, carbon fork, and Shimano Ultegra with Flight Deck. This was our first encounter with STI (Shimano Total Integration) gear shifting, which is where the shifting mechanism is combined with the brakes. It was the coolest thing we had ever seen, and only increased our desire to "be like Dad".
A couple years after he bought the Raleigh, we spent a summer fixing up the old Canny, complete with a new paint job and decal set. I bought a pair of aero bars for it because as an early high school student, this was very cool.  Next I purchased a pair of clip in shoes from REI Outlet, and I was all set.  
No one else we knew at the time was into road biking, so there was a cool feeling of exclusivity that came along with riding.
Over the years, I road less and less. The shoes got tight. I graduated High School. I started playing more music. Then I moved out, making the the Canny significantly less accesible. 
This past summer my Dad purchased a brand new GT road bike with full Carbon frame and SRAM Red components. He also upgraded most of his gear and accessories as well. The guys at Performance Bike loved him. A couple months later, my brother Khristian followed suit and purchased a Cannondale Super Six full carbon road bike with SRAM Apex components. This obviously only helped grow my desire to finally get my own road bike.
I started shopping around and had my eyes on a few bikes that ended up falling through. While I was searching, it came up in a conversation with my friend Jason that I was looking for a bike. He told me to call his buddy Craig who works at a bike shop out in Pittsburgh, PA. After a talk with Craig on the phone, followed up by an email with specs and pictures of a few bikes, I made a trip out to PA to test ride a Scott Addict R2. It was a spiritual experience, a bonding moment between the bike and I. 
Over the next 6 months I paid for the entire bike and in April, Jason and I headed back out to Pittsburgh to pick up my bike. 
The first ride with my dad several weeks ago was a surreal and exciting experience. 26 years in the making. 
I feel lucky to have such an amazing opportunity to bond and spend time with my Dad. This is something I will not soon take for granted. 
It would be awesome to go back to Decatur and ride from Wallace laboratory to 112 Point Bluff Drive. But as my family could tell you, I would probably wreck from the tears clouding my vision. 

Ch ch ch changes

I don't know how I left this off the list from the previous entry, but I feel like it needs a entry of its own.

I joined a Crossfit gym.

Back in January I went to a class at Crossfit Covington with my friend PJ Neumann and it almost killed me. The next two days I was more sore than I can ever remember. However due to PJ going at a different time and the money it cost to join, I put off membership.

Towards the end of the month I started to talk to my friend Derek about potentially joining and on February 5, we went to our first class. In case you dont know, Crossfit is the sport of fitness. It combines olympic lifting, power lifting, and gymnastic movements. The workouts are generally shorter, high intensity workouts that push your body to the max. 

The first two weeks we were in a runway class, learning about the lifts and movements.

The jump from that to the actual classes was significant but after a couple of weeks we were getting used to the beating. This is the most I have worked out since I played ball in high school and that pales in comparison to what we are doing day to day. 

Through Crossfit I feel like so much in my life is changing. It has forced me to further examine my diet and sleep schedule, which has (I feel) resulted in more clarity through the day, more energy, less mood swings and overall morale. As a result of these things, I feel the need/desire to grow my relationship with God. I have been acutely aware of the things in my life that need to change. This is very difficult as habits and trains of thought have been established over the years in my life. 

A thought that has been hovering in my life: Conviction and guilt are two very different things. Guilt is often a bi product of conviction. Be careful not to allow the guilt that results from conviction impede the changes you need to make.  

Honestly Though

Time to start this up again..for me.
My last entry was in January? Ridiculous. I want to start being more transparent on here, a task that I feel will prove to be difficult. I am not sure if I should just start writing about current things or try to catch you up on whats been going on. I like the idea of a quick run through so hang on...(these are not in order)

MY OLDER SISTER GOT MARRIED. This is insane to me. Over the last year Kate and I rekindled a relationship that we had not experienced since we were kids. She started coming into the shop and talking over coffee, and I think we realized that despite our differences we have a ton in common (after all we are siblings) and our relationship is more valuable than anything else. ANYWAY, she is no longer a Yurchak, but rather has taken the name of her now husband (so weird to say/type/think) Sparkman. Zach is a great dude, I do believe that they will have a prosperous, happy life together.

My brother Khristian (Bish) graduated College. This was less celebrated than the above mentioned wedding but a big deal nonetheless.

My band released a new single. It's called Undertow and its the first song in a batch of singles we will be releasing throughout 2013.

I started playing at a new church. It was time for me to move on from Journey and I found myself playing at Rivers Crossing in Landen. I have a lot of friends who play/go here including Canoes drummer Doyle. Its been an amazing time of growing as a musician and also as a believer.

My relationship with God has been interesting. I started reading a book called Letter From a Skeptic by an author named Greg Boyd and it has been rocking my world on the way that I view God and my relationship with him. I am challenged to grow in my knowledge of God and the way that I interact with him.

The shop has been going through some changes. We started serving Deeper Roots coffee about 2 months ago and it has been amazing. I have known Ryan and Les from DR for a couple years now, initially meeting through Tazza Mia. I am beyond pumped to be working alongside them in preparing the amazing coffees that they roast.

I am sure there are other things, I may even sneak back in and edit some in if I think about it, even though thats cheating.

A goal that I have is to make this blog less day to day and more thoughts, stories, experiences based. We'll see.

Hammers and Strings

Music. Hmm. Lately I have been playing a lot of it. I guess I shouldn't really say lately because I always am playing. I guess I could say lately I have been playing music in different avenues. I am still playing with Canoes (obvi, that would be like saying I wake up every morning. Kinda pointless), at my current church (Journey), and recently at another church called Rivers Crossings Community Church. In addition I have played twice for their worship leader's group, Brandon Gilliam. 
It's been a ton of fun, I really enjoy taking a backseat. I don't schedule practice, I don't text everyone, I don't cancel practice, I don't drive people, I don't pay people, I don't stress, I just play. I have been branching out and working on playing full midi with my Yamaha cp33, MacBook, Logic, and Focusrite scarlet. I am still learning, but I am getting comfortable every day. 
While all this is great, I will make a statement: I will not be completely happy with my music (mostly Canoes) until I can play a real piano. Whether thats a grand, an upright, a cp70/80 it doesn't matter. I need hammers hitting strings. Let the quest begin. 

Saturday night I played with Brandon Gilliam at The Underground in Forest Park. 

Doyle and Robbie in the green room pre show.

Robbie, Lauren, Brandon, Doyle. Joe is hiding by the snare. 

The Gang Drinks Coffee

And just like that, the beard is gone. I was playing an indoor session on Sunday night and I saw a guy with a stupid looking beard and I thought to myself "if I even look half that bad, that would suck". So I took it all the way down to my "normal" scruff. Oddly enough, not many people said anything at work yesterday. I feel like I look way different, by face looks like an egg or something. Oh well.

Yesterday was a good day at the shop. We were steady through the morning and most of "the gang" was in. We had a good time sitting around, drinking coffee and talking about everything you can imagine.

L to R. Michael, Chris, Brian, Jason

This morning I am drinking a cup of Columbia San Sebastian roasted by Madcap out of Grand Rapids, MI. I picked it up from my friends at Collective Espresso in OTR. I made it this morning via a Hario V60 and it is delightful.

They buy in bulk and then repackage to sell to customers. 

Beard Life

Since early October I have been growing out my facial hair. It started out like it always does; being somewhat lazy, then realizing I have a decent amount of growth, followed by careful trimming to look somewhat presentable. This time around it was aided by my barber Josh using a straight razor and giving me some really defined lines and edges. It really made it look like I had a legit beard. So I kept it going. It got as long as I have ever had it before I trimmed it back a little in late December. Since then I have not taken off any length and it is getting back out there in length. I have days where I really want to cut it off, but most of the time I love it and so I think I will continue to grow it out through the rest of the winter.

I took this picture for someone that started a parody account for my beard. 

5 in 10

On November 9, I was on my way to to see my old friend Aaron Eberly. We had a weekend of hanging out all planned Pittsburgh out. 

On my way out, I pit stopped in Columbus, Ohio to get my haircut (and beard trimmed) as well as to grab a pour over from one of my favorite shops up there, One Line Coffee.

As I was making my way to get back on the highway I stopped at a stop sign to let cars merge from the left. While I was stopped, a car came from behind and slammed into the back of my car. This was very unfortunate. My coffee exploded out of my hand, covering my clothes and my car. After hours of waiting for the cops etc my good friend Brett came and picked me up and I stayed at his place for the night. Saturday AM I obtained a rental and drove to Pittsburg and had a grand time with my buddy Aaron.

I drove the rental for 20 days, and after that borrowed a car from a friend for a week.

Then after much searching, the greatest thing happened. A car fell in my lap. Not literally, that would be terribly uncomfortable. 

A lady that comes into the shop, Jan Campasano, told me her neighbor, Barbara Moorfield was selling her 1994 Acura Integra. It was a 4 door, 5 speed manual. Her late husband Bill had purchased it in November of 1994 brand new from the dealer. She told me how it was Bill's favorite car by far he had ever driven. It had been driven 7,000 miles in the last 6 years, and none at all in the last year. It had under 50,000 miles on. It had been garaged for the life of the car. They regularly took it to the repair shop, the same one since they purchased it. 

I bought it for $3600. Since buying it Barbara has come into the shop with Jan and we have talked. She is the sweetest lady ever, and in tribute to her and Bill, I have named the car Moorfield. This makes the 5th car I have driven in my illustrious 10 year driving career. I believe this is my favorite so far. 

For Myself and Kevin

Is it because I am bored? I don't know, I suppose so. I probably won't post anything about this on Facebook, then again maybe I will. 
It's 2013 kids. I am not going to start off the year by lying on here, it feels good, like having a clean slate. One day you are bogged down by the troubles of the year, the next, you feel invincible!
I have a lot of ideas about things I would like to do in 2013. 
Make more strides as a band, as a barista, as a christian, and as a human in general. 
So far so good. 
Canoes is about to release a new single. 
I am growing as barista everyday learning new things and improving my craft.
I have "traveled" two weekends out of the month so far, and am moving towards a lot fo good things with my relationship with Christ. 
Maybe I won't spew out every detail of every day on here, but hopefully I'll throw stuff up here pretty often. 
This is essentially for you Kevin.