Sunday Sweet....Picasso?

Today was one of the best rides of the year, even thou it's only Jan. But it was a MTB ride that had the wife "test" riding my hardtail as her new bike (depending on my 29er debate/out come.)
Kirk and I plus two (Bud and Buggy) did a ride down at Wissa with the significant others (Christa and Wifey) doing their own ride. Even though I was the only one sporting a single speed rig, it was the fastest ride yet this year....and I loved it. Even thou my legs and overall body were smoked from some jackass (me) damn near killing everybody on the road yesterday (still not sure what that was all about.)

After the "boys" had our ninety minute throw down the ladies came rolling up to the cars, and I'm not sure what was brighter the new pink kit the wife was sporting or the smile she had on her face. With the first words out of her mouth being "I love it"....I'd say she had a good ride too. And that's how you lose a bike boys and girls.....well, out with the old in with the new....just what is the new?

So after a little post ride nutrition the wife started the saga of picking out paint colors. This could make the six Star Wars movies over twenty odd years look short....but either way today I start to get my Picasso on. And that means there will be paint on the walls, on me, on the dogs.......

29ers, Tacos, road attacks and more tacos

All that and it's only Sunday morning.


I met up with Gary and Bud friday morning to take Bud's 29er out for a demo. To sum up a ninety minute ride...I WANT ONE, and I want it now! It just rolls so smooth and fast compared to my current hardtail (with 26 wheels.) I can't see myself sporting the green flame paint job (even thou it would match my teams kit) so it looks like the silver it is, now the only question is what wheels. More on that once I ask around.

So after a good ride off road friday the wife and I hit up our fav Mexican restaurant (starting to be a friday thing) for some Latin nutrition...and beer too.

Saturday morning was the Tour de Muffin ride....which turned into somewhat of a race. Six of us rolled out from D-town and headed north staying on the hillier PA side, but atleast I was not alone on the fix gear this week (had three fixies and three gearheads.) We did the 15 up and down miles then dropped down and crossed the river over to Milford, NJ....aka home of the The Baker.

With our bellies full of warmth we head toward home on the flat NJ side and everything was normal till just after we crossed the river back to the PA side. It's a seven mile long slight rolling climb back up into Doylestown. At the bottom of the first climb some jackass ( JA) "attacked" ( as much as you can on a fix gear) and this started the next twenty minutes of "playful attacks." The JA went off the front and one rider jumped after, after 10-15 seconds a third joined and JA attacked again, and again and again.

After a flat in the lead three all six were a group again. Once the ride started the JA went off the front, and again he was not alone. But after a mile of fix gear/gears fighting it out a truce was called and the ride ended peacefully. We ended up with just short of sixty miles, a good day.

After getting home and cleaned up the wife wanted to take the JA...I mean me back out for some more Mexican goodness. Was a sweet day....great ride with friends, followed by good food/beer and a night with the wife....what could be better?

A 29er in the garage maybe....

Pretty in Pink

No, don't get scared here. I'm not talking about myself on this one.

With the package that arrived in the mail yesterday from Hammer Nutrition the wife is gonna be pretty (or prettier) in pink this coming year. I never thought I was a big fan of the color pink, but I think the kit looks pretty badass.

And I guess you could say she was just as pumped to see it, considering once she saw it she immediately changed into it.....in the middle of the kitchen.

Also in the box were some goodies for myself. A couple bottles each of Endurolytes and Perpetuem. The endurolytes work great for my cramping (or lack there of now) problem, but this will be a first for the perpetuem. I'll let you know what I think after this weekends riding adventures.

One last sweet thing was one the box too.....can't wait to rock this badboy.

Meeting up for a little MTB action tonight under the lights (our own lights), but no demo of the 29er yet. That will have to wait until the morning. Ten AM tomorrow I'm rolling out on big boy wheels for the first time.....not sure if I'll sleep very well tonight.

Massages and The Simpsons

Yesterday was a great day out of the saddle. Spent the morning with the wife before heading out to see Geoffrey for a massage (and no it's not weird getting a massage from a man.) Besides the man is great at what does, plus he being a cyclist himself only helps at what he does.

Lastnight was sweet too, just the wife and I making sure the couch did not fly away. We did scratch The Simpsons Movie off our "to watch" list. And from all the negative things I'd heard about the movie I was happy with it. I mean what else can you do with the Simpsons for 90 minutes?

Still on a movie note I saw this morning that Heath Ledger died yesterday. The only thing I really knew him from was The Patriot, but I guess he was one of the dudes from Brokeback Mountain. This was the closest I've come to seeing the movie (luckily) but it's still a sad thing.

I met up with Gary for a 40 mile spin on the fix gear this morning and the legs felt great. A nice mix of hills and flat stuff, a good little workout. Also my Team director sent out the scoring guidelines and series rules for the local racing series and it looks like I could do both the XC series and the Endurance series. I just need to see how all the dates line up with these two and the individual endurance events I want to do.

But doing both series and the individual events (which are my focus) may be to much. I need to map everything out this weekend and talk it over with a few people.

Hoping to take out a 29er for a demo tomorrow night.....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll let you know how it goes.

"Most Depressing Day of the Year?"

What the Hell..........that's really the first thing I want to see in the morning. I mean why not just have the headline read "Today's Gonna F-ing Suck...Face it."

Somehow I fought thru the depression of the morning and loaded up the fix gear to meet Girlwonder for a ride. The shortbus confirmed what the nips had already told me......it was freaking cold.

Then add in a 10 mph wind on top of that.

But wearing most of my cycling wardrope (and looking like the Michelin man) we headed out for a nice 30 mile spin. Just what the meat pistons (and mentally I) needed. You see yours truly here was a prick to the wife lastnight before going to bed. Then I tossed and turned all night thinking about it....serves me right. She was just trying to be supportive (as always) and me being prick that I can be would not listen. Nuff said.

Colder then a Witches......

Yeah, that was this weekend.

Saturday had highs only in the area of 32 and today it could (and did) not get above the low 20's. Then throw in 10-15 mph wind both days and....I give you my version of Hell. But good rides were thrown down on both days.

Yesterday was a good 60 miles ride on the fix gear (even thou I was the only one of the four that had one....I must have missed something.) But none the less was a good ride, pretty much the norm. Out of D-town up to Frenchtown via the (hilly) PA side, but back home thru the normal flatter Jersey route.

After getting cleaned up I meet up with the wife for some well earned beverages and a Mexican feast at Los Sarapes before heading home for a night with the fuzz balls and a movie. The movie was about a seven, but went well to top off a night of just hanging out with the bitches (and wife) at home.

The Wissahickon ride today started out looking like this....

Bud and I (the bankrobber)

but was a good 15 mile spin off road (my first since the race two weeks ago.) And better yet I got to try out Bud's 29er........Daddy likes. More on that once I get to put some miles on it this week. But over all a good recovery day on the bike.

Now it's time at home to watch a little football (that I don't really care about) and my "couple" of beers with the wife. Once things stop being numb (and her beer kicks in) we'll talk. Insert or fav porn music here.....

later.

Friday.....

Not Friday or even Next Friday but the last Friday. Yep, this is my last Friday before it's time to get down to business for the 08 season. Luckily no big changes are needed but it's time to start cutting out certain things (and back on others.)

Things that need to go are the junk food. Sure a little splurge here and there are fine, but the WHOLE bag of Oreo's that I knocked back last Sunday night are out.

And the things that need to be cut back on are the............

yeah, beers. By no means are the wife and I in need of an AA meeting, but we were both having a couple beers with dinner every night and then throwing back a good number each over the weekend. Planning on limiting it to a couple on the weekends...just not saying how big those "couple" may be.

On the riding front, the preliminary schedule for the local MASS series came out the other day. So the big project for the weekend is to firm up the 08 schedule. I also need to do some research on new lights for this year. I've been running a NiteRider FireStorm the past couple of years and it works great, but the weight (800 grams) is twice what of the newer stuff. I'm not a weight weenie but if I can get a "better" light and drop 300 plus grams...even for a Oreo eater that's a no brainer.

Looking forward to putting in a good 3-4 hours on the fix gear tomorrow, and hoping to clean the dust off the hardtail for a trip down to Wissahickon on Sunday. But with the high only 20 for Sunday, we'll see.

Now I need to go take a closer look a that Oktoberfest pic...for research.