Friday August 8th, 2008

No riding today but I recovered from the past two days pretty well., I hope to be able to get on the spinner tomorrow morning. Gabe and I rode to the shop this morning, what a beautiful morning it was, and he loves to ride. We kicked around the shop for the better part of the morning. I worked while he spread my tools from one end of the shop to the other. He gives each and every one its own identity and personality and really seams to enjoy himself. Most guys would probably freak but I don't mind. He comes to work with me just about every day without complaint so what the heck.

Planning a trip to Roaring Run.......

So I have not been on a mountain bike in well over a year, and with a 24 hour mountain bike race looming in the near future I figure its time I get out and get dirty. I'm hoping that everyone I told about it will be able to come. Some of them I haven't ridden with in well over 2 years and I miss them. We used to ride at least once or twice a week but then everybody seemed to get busy and of course I spend all my time riding on the road now.

Speaking of 24 hour racing......

On the same token the last time I did this upcoming event I spent the following week in and out of the emergency room then a full week in the hospital (read all about it) with MRSA, Man I cant wait to race this Labor Day weekend. In all actuality I really cant wait fro these reasons

• I really do love mountain biking but cant seem to fit it into my schedule these days.
• Nothing like spending 24 hours suffering with 3 of your friends
• There will be at least 15 other people there Racing that I have done 12 or 24 hour events with over the past several years.

Speaking of MRSA.......

My poor dog has it or some kind of similar infection. He got a hot spot on his neck that neither myself or the groomer caught and now he is sick. What a bummer.

On a lighter note.......

Spent the evening hanging with the family. Gabe and I spent some time in the garden picking and eating tomatoes and peppers then off to the blueberry bush for dessert. I have never seen a kid eat tomato's off the vine like and apple but that is how he does it.Then we spent about 45 minutes or so jamming. How cool is that? I picked him up a Line six 15 watt amp and he really seams to dig it.

Newsflash???????

Nigerian Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, has advised other men not to follow his example and marry 86 women. Like we didn't already know that.


And finally something else cycling related...

Valverde favored to win Beijing 250k

Thursday August 6th Ride Report

Had another great ride this evening, even though it didn't look like we would . It was raining and thundering right up to the time we were ready to leave. The rain stopped, the clouds disappeared and the sun came out. What a beautiful evening, 74 degrees and a triple rainbow.

Nicoll, Hammer, Duane, Sean and myself did the three man loop again this evening. Duane and I had a pretty hard ride the on Wednesday and Nicoll had raced so the fact that hammer and Sean had fresh legs so I new that we were in for it. We had a great ride. Lots of attacks and some good, hard pace line riding. Of course close to the end I was spent and hammer was being his usual relentless self so on the final part of the last climb I just let him Sean and Nicoll go and turned back down the hill to finish of the climb with Duane. My heart only gave me a bit of trouble during the ride this evening but nothing that affected my riding. I had the most trouble once we got back to the shop and were just standing around. I know it was a good ride because I know I had nothing left, Duane looked like a zombie sitting on the couch and Sean lost his balance just standing there.


If cats have nine lives how many do cyclist have??????

So we are cruising out Bethel Church Road and had just passed the church and descending back down to 286. There was allot of chatter and we were riding side by side, which by the way is legal here in the state of PA. Now you must understand this isn't a very busy road and rarely see more than a car or two any time we ride it. So as I said we are just cruising along when I notice this mini van pulling off the road and coming to a stop in the burm. I look to my right at Sean and to make sure of our location on the road, I look back toward the road ahead and catch movement out of the corner of my eye. I look to my left and just in time to see the mirror of a car literally 4 inches from my leg. This totally caught me by surprise, but also explained the reason for the mini vans actions. I must say that this rally startled me but fortunately I held my line and let the imbecile continue buy. The whole incident really set the group off so the chase was on and we caught up to the lady at the intersection of 286 and yelled and screamed, pointing out the fact that she had really not made any headway buy passing us then we continued to pass here and get in front of her again, which made us feel better but probably had no effect on her. As she passed us i reckoned back to my early days of riding when a friend of mine, Spa-Man, carried a small bag of rocks with him for just such an occasion. This state really needs to do a better job of getting the word out about cyclist rights on the road. My only regret is that I did not have my camera so that I could post her obese mug and license plate number all over the net.