overlaid with antlers

Thanksgiving was a full one. I rode out the valley to work, and then rode on further out past the village to a summer camp owned by friends of friends. It was gloriously warm and sunny (shirt sleeves!) early on; then the clouds and wind pushed me ahead of themselves in the later afternoon. There is a surprising (to me) amount of Fall color out that way.




I felt great. It was a perfect meshing of good position, enough rest, excellent conditions, attackable grades, and sufficient legs for the job at hand. It was just hard enough to be felt. It was just easy enough to be dismissed.

It has been a while since I felt that way. It is a Good Feeling.



Here is the temporary replacement stem. Here are the clamshell shifters after I adjusted them mid-ride so as to give me maximum grab area. I lik a lot of hand positions. It occurred to me that having lots of bikes is good for you; in that you are that much less likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries if you spread the use around over different handlebar configurations. Just go with it- it's Science, and Science is something your sweetie cannot deny when you come home with that next bike.


When I arrived at the summer camp entrance I ignored the devil on my shoulder whispering at me to ride out the valley just a little more, and climbed up to join my sweetie (roped in by friends) in the industrial kitchen to help cook for ~80 people. I walked in the door, cracked a beer and mashed some potatoes. Then I sipped at the flask full of rye and washed dishes for several hours, while all around me it was chaos and quickness.

These people are not us. That's some lady and F____- who wanted to talk to me about his army days in Greenland, and would not stop whistling Van Morrison's "Moondance".



We spent the night in one of the cabins...


I hate cots.






Rain prevented the planned ride back in this morning. Instead, I drank lots of coffee and helped cook breakfast for the ~40 people who stayed over. My Big Idea was to use the GIANT bowl of left over mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes (and so prevent them from going to waste). I used leeks to add some texture, threw in some garlic, salt and pepper and browned up 4 giant cast iron skilletfuls. It turned out well.

I wish I had thought to photograph the poor pathetic stuffed bear they have on a mantel in one of the dining halls. You would have loved it. It is the size of a Labrador, and falling to pieces. I have a strange fondness for mangy taxidermy.