me oh my oh

My _uckin keyboard is giving me a little trouble...I don't wanna talk about that now.

I wanna talk about SSWC09, which is coming up quick, like Michael Jackson's restless plastic-encased zombie self being summoned by elementary aged devil worshipers. (too soon?) What are your plans? Make them known in the comments.

Regarding my own best laid plans...I have feelers out. If I have tried to feel you, and you have not responded...best do so quick. The quicker the better, or it'll get worse. Much, much worse. You know this in your heart. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

I will begin training to winnnnnnnnnnn....now!

...me gotta go

I put some knobbies on my Black Cat Bicycles road/cross bicycle and rode it. It was fun as hell.

y'all don't even know

sometimes I really miss home.

NOW READ THIS NOW READ THIS

I will be unable to attend the regularly scheduled Full Buck Moon. So, once again, I am reformatting astrology (astronomy?) to suit my own ends. The new Full buck Moon is tonight. Meet at the circular fountain in Monterey Plaza at 9pm to softly cruise and drink the beers under the new Full Buck Moon. It will be a town ride, with trail options for the adventurous.


Don't be, uh, kahrazy. Get some.

better than _________________

picture this, only with super gay pink, green and ice blue Speedblend tires...

Get it while you can, I suppose. I pulled the flashy fixie out of the shed in order to ride it to work. The front tire was flat, and I remembered it having been flat several weeks ago when last I rode it, so I pulled the tube and tried to find the leak. No dice. The valve was a little bent, but it seemed like no big deal, and it held air when closed...Maybe I misremembered, I thought, and put the tube back in. Rode to work, loving it all the while.

Worked. At lunch, I noticed the damn tire was flat.So I spent much of the break replacing it, since I knew I would not be able to find the leak. My pump on that bike is the junk pump- an oooold Silca Impero which I leave on that bike because it is not good enough to use always, and not bad enough to throw out. It felt very strange upon use; it would cycle without catching, and then get very sticky. Back and forth with no rhyme. I pulled it off and put it to my lips to moisten the rubber seal again- it is my standard practice to do this to lube the connection and, in my mind, create a better seal- only to have thispop out and ruin my day. Then the valve stem tore.


I had to call my wife to pick me up.

...not horrible.

Is how D answered when I axed him how today's ride was.


Since the camping trip last week ("It sucked.") was so hot and bothersome for him, I've been thinking. He really put in the hard effort for that ride (even with the epic bitching) and it was very much off the couch. I have not been taking him riding. Largely due to my selfish preference for going at my own chosen speed, but also because both older children say that they don't want to go with me.

"It's no fun."

"It's too hard."

I am again saying "It's too bad for you, my friend." to all of that. So today I dragged him out on the condensed sneaky loop. It was condensed in that we drove up the hill to near the top, and I got the car without him later. This allowed us to skip a lot of uphill (which he dislikes) and a lot of traffic ( in which I dislike for him to ride), and begin his conditioning. I believe I have mentioned here before how we used to be ski bums in a fine little town on the Western slope of CO, and how lots of kids in that town were incredible skiers but were burned out on the whole thing by age 10 because their parents had forced it on them and how I want to avoid that with bicycles and my own offspring...well, those are words I should heed.

Today was a search for the middle ground of hard and fun. It began with pave but quickly switched to dirt.

We had an impromptu clinic on riding steeps. This is his 2nd ride on the 24"wheels, and it is taking some adjustment. Looking at how he's had to spiiiiiiiiiin to keep up on his 20", this seems to be a mostly welcome change.




Getting "stuff" out of his shoes.




After a reduced-yet-still-substantial circuit, we broke out the pocket chainsaw and sawed some logs. We used the 2man technique to good effect on the 12" (old and dry) log, but the freshly fallen 18"er broke us, and we'll have to take it in stages.


Then it was time for Brown Lunch.


To begin we cleared away the duff. Then we set out the pan/lid as a base to avoid a forest fire.



Guess what I forgot today?




Jack axed about Esbit legitimacy...I will say (again) that this stove is supremely useful. Compact, able to use natural/local fuel. Practically foolproof, and I should know.





See?



We sat on the hillside log.



We looked out on this.


Then we ruled it downhill some more to crawl back home on pave. 6 hours. 0 complaints.

Not horrible.

what the falafel?!?!

I keep crashing my bike. And it hurts!

I crashed today climbing out of the saddle, one handed while trying to hitch up my pants. I know, but they all seem like Good Ideas at the time. Right hand on the bars, hitching with the left= no problem, if a little jerkier than I'd anticipated. Left hand on the bars, I tugged with my right hand= one stroke OK, next stroke dowwwwwwwwwwn. In the roadbed, in traffic, because I am an idiot.

And because my screwy, bum left shoulder leaves me open to this kind of thing. You laugh, but that is because you are an insensitive jerk, and you have not tried that recently. Really, go out and try climbing whilst standing, one handed. It is harder than you think. I took it mostly on the left knee, so good thing I had on pants.

In any event, I need to get it together. This kind of one sided lop-sidedness is unacceptable. I need to "get in shape."There. I said it. Now I must do it.

As an aside, Arnica works very well to reduce inflammation.