Holy diver

Ok, not so holy, but the diver part is true. So, I am finishing a cold PBR as I type this...Yesterday morning I decided to hit up the 10'oclock "group" ride. Well, I guess it was a bit too cold and windy for everyone, myself and one other guy met up at Cyclex for a couple of hours of fun slogging it into the cold headwind. I was definitely glad to be home from the ride. Should have ridden the mtb. Speaking of the mtb...there was a grand re-opening of sorts out at the Pine Ridge campground this morning for the Cedar Creek trail. Steve, Jasen, and a bunch of other people went out there in the 33 degree weather. It was actually pretty cool, I don't think that I have seen that many mtbs in one place, except for a race, in a long time. Anyway, cedar creek is interesting. It is definitely "roughing it" when it comes to mountain biking. I took the suspension bike, the rigid Alma stayed in my cozy garage. We rolled out a little after nine this morning and hit up the new sections of trail, which were very sweet. We decided to roll out the old trail, which is mostly horse trail with a ton of rocks. It was rough, and a bit muddy to say the least. I ended up with Jaysin, Green Beans, Mike B, Fish, and a few others out in the middle of nowhere. We were pretty much riding where there really wasn;t a trail. Well, we crossed a creek and started up this rocky, leafy climb when we all came to a unanimous decision to turn back around. Now, up till then I had stayed pretty dry, except for a bit of sweat. As you know, I don't like to ride thru creeks and get wet, I am usually careful to take the driest route. Not only do I not want to get my clothes dirty and wet, I hate working on my bike. So, I am rolling down this embankment, slow, looking for the cleanest line into this creek to stay the driest, when all of a sudden my front tire decided to sink into some sand and pitch me over the bars. Head first. Into the creek. It was deep, both arms totally submerged, and my chest down to my belly button. Landed on my knees, soaked my knee warmers. So, Pretty much everything from the waist up, and my knee warmers, and my gloves were soaked. And, we were at the furthest point from the camp ground. Luckilly, Mike had some extra gloves, and Nate had an extra jacket, which he offered me coultless times, and Ethan was practically foaming at the mouth thinking I might just get cold enough to stop and spoon with him for a bit (thanks guys!!). Finally made it back to the campground, cold and wet. Also, for some reason today, I had ZERO bike handling skills. Not sure what was up with that. Anyway, ate some cookies, waited for Steve, and packed it in and headed home. So yah, that was interesting. Had a lot of laundry to do, and now I have a bike that is totally assed up that I need to work over this week.

Diddy...the patriot

Wow, I am so glad I had the opportunity to watch Diddy vote on abcnews.com today. That guy is an asshole. Like anyone gives a tin-shit who he votes for or what he does. Crawl back under your rock, thug.
Oh yeah, he looks good in a wetsuit too! Eat some more food lard ass!!

A Day Out With Thomas

For your viewing pleasure:








We took the boys to East St. Louis, straight thru the hood to get a ride on Thomas the Train! Dillon was on cloud 9 and I think Brodie thought it was pretty cool too! We had a good time, thats for sure. We took the boys trick or treating with the Weters on Friday night, Dillon came up on loot, and I have been helping him eat it.



Not a lot else, I have some more pics I uploaded to my other blog

I might puke

I had a sausage sandwich (no, not two dudes between bread silly) for lunch today and it is riding a bit heavy in my fat "fish belly". Since I am such a fat ass, I thought, "what the hell? I might as well over do it for lunch!"

This past weekend was interesting. I stayed home with the boys on Friday, and let Brodie kick me in the testes all day long. Also, I was still sick. I swear, that kid can go from being super sweet to super grumpy in a matter of seconds. He wants to be held, he doesn't want to be held. Repeat. He was fussy most of the day, and pretty much refused to nap. Dillon, on the other hand, was pretty good. Alicia got home, and we decided to press our luck and go out for dinner to get some Mexican. Ordered our food, got it, and Dillon started acting weird. Said he was tired, wanted to lay down in the booth, and wanted me to hold him. Unusual. Well, by the time we got home, I noticed he was warm. I took his temperature, and it was 102. Awesome. So, juice, and to bed for him. Brodie decided he wanted to wake up and fuss at 1230 and I couldn't fall back asleep after that. Dillon woke up around 2, and wanted to sleep downstairs. Eventually, he ended up in our bed, and I went up to his bed because I was coughing my head off and didn't want to bother him and Alicia. So, no sleep for me. Saturday, we got up, and by 9 in the morning, Dillon was pretty much fine and back to his old stuff. So, I'm not sure what the deal was, but I am glad it didn't last very long. We ran a few errands, and I hopped on the Cannondale Rush to ride down to Klunk to pick up a part. I didn't even bother to kit up, I just wore my jeans and a helmet and my mtb shoes. I was still feeling like shit, and wanted to see how bad my knee was for the race on Sunday. Well, the knee was bad, and the lungs were burning because of the crap in them. And my throat too. Not looking to good for the Berryman Epic. I actually thought of bagging it and staying home. Jasen camped out at our house that night on the air mattress since we were leaving at 430 in the morning for the trip down south. I ended up getting a good nights sleep.

Woke up a little before 4 in the morning, made coffee, brushed the teeth, and got in the car and on the road at 430 with Steve and Jasen. The drive down was uneventful, we stopped at McDonalds in Jeff City for some mcMuffins. I was excessively gassy, sorry to my car mates. We made it to the campground, got out numbers, and went about getting motivated for the race. I was feeling pretty shitty, and had pretty much resigned myself to just riding till I didn't feel like it anymore, and then pulling the plug. Everyone was looking for Tilford, he was registered and supposed to be there, but he was a no show. However, Eric Pirtle and Chris Ploch were there, along with an off-road appearance by Brad Huff, incognito in his Springfield bike shop kit. Nice. I initially lined up in the middle/front of the field, but then decided I shouldn't since I was feeling so bunk. So, lined it up in the back. The race started, and as we rolled out of the parking area, I thought it might be fun to see if I could move up a bit. I ended up pretty close to the front and wondered what I was doing? So, I decided that it would be a good time to take a leak. Took it out on a downhill and let fly with the stream. Lost a few places, who cares? Got into the first stretch of singletrack feeling ok, better then I thought I would. Started picking people off, still not going too hard. Got to Brazil creek, the first aid station, pretty quick, around 55 minutes. For some reason, I figured I should fill my hydration pack. Bad move, I spilled water all over the place, didn't get it closed good, had to take it back off to fix it, then decided to get some of the nasty goldfish crackers they had. Then decided to get some food out of my pack, and take some tums. Super inefficient, I was there for 10 minutes. Still not really caring though. Finally got back on the bike and almost missed the trail thanks to the lemming mentality. I was following some dude who turned on the wrong trail, awesome. Rode the next stretch of the race pretty quick, made it to the first berryman aid station feeling pretty good. Got more water and pretzels, and took off. Almost missed another turn, actually rode in a circle for a bit till I found it. It was across a highway, and the marking was on a tree over there. Nice. Then a creek crossing and some very deep, slow sand that I walked, which caused me to start cramping. Some pretty steep, longs hills followed, I struggled with the cramps on all of them. I actually crashed climbing a hill, I got in some lose sand on the climb, spun the rear tire, completely stopped, and fell over before I could get unclipped. Pro!! Not only that, I slammed my bad knee into the toptube on the bike which almost made me pee my pants. Finished up the single track and limped to the next checkpoint, at the berryman campground again. Was told how fat I was by a certain someone at the checkpoint. Thanks!! Hopped back on the trail with a new dose of self confidence. I actually felt better, and rode the rest of the singletrack pretty strong even though I was fighting the cramps. Finally made it to the last road section, and kept seeing people up ahead. I figured I might as well hit the gas and I ended up passing 5 more people. So, I actually had a decent ride given the circumstances, I just wish I would not have been sick and had a gimpy knee. Not a lot else to report, there was a guard at the beer cooler by the name of Furby. Chatted it up with Huff a bit, that kid ended up 2nd!! How hot is that? Ploch won the race, and local man Mike Best ended up third. Jasen, Steve, and I finally got loaded up and headed home with a stop at Burger King. The fat man ate 2 whoppers and onion rings, which I am paying for today.

Tell me how fat I am the next time you see me.

I killed a fly

Actually two of them. The last one landed on my wrist, I picked up the fly swatter and killed his ass dead! Right on my wrist. I am a bad man. Sweep the leg Johnny!!

I am nice and sick, I have some modeling clay coming out of my lungs today, and my throat is sore still. Should make for a fun race at the Berryman.

I have obviously angered the bike gods...

We went up to Clarinda, Iowa last weekend. Left on Friday. I decided to take the 29er with me, there is a park up there with "trails" that I figured I would try out, I also took a set of cross tires in case those trails sucked so I could ride gravel. We left Friday morning, had a delicious motherfucking breakfast from McDonalds in transit. We arrived in Clarinda after lunch. It rained on the way up, and it rained in Iowa earlier in the morning, so I figured the trails would be wet. So, I threw the CX tires (OLD Ritchey Speedmax semi-slicks) on the bike and took off. I decided to ride to the park, a little over 5 miles out of town, to check out the trail conditions. Now, keep in mind that I have never, ever rode these trails before, so I didn't know what to expect. Started in through some mowed fields, found a little single track. I knew it was going to be a problem, I was having a hard time finding traction in the wet grass. I found some single track, and hopped on it. Even tho they were covered in horse shit and acorns and walnuts, they have potential, there is just not much true single track. Anyway, needless to say, after a little over an hour, I noticed the front tire getting squishy. Nice. So, I aired it up, and decided to call it a day and come back the next day with MTB tires. Got home, changed the tires. Rode back out there the next day, flatted again about 40 minutes in. Didn't have enough CO2 to get my tire full, so I had to call Alicia to come and get me. I was very close to performing a bike toss. I also didn't mention that on Thursday, I was riding from work in Ashland to meet Alicia in Jeff City on the trail. I flatted there to. And the day before, my bike was just sitting in the fucking break room at work, and the tire went flat. Those 2 were defective tubes, me thinks, since they split on the seam of the tube. But, jeez, how many flats am I going to have? Rode the road bike yesterday in the wind, now my knee is sore, along with my throat. Not much else going on, Berryman this Sunday. Hopefully I can be full on sick for the race.

This was in my work spam

I translated the German in the subject line.

News Flash

I had some stuff to write about, but I have forgot most of it by now. Last Friday was an off day at work, so I spent the morning with the boys and Alicia, then headed out to Cosmo in the afternoon for a quick ride on the 29er. Every time I ride this bike, something happens. This week I decided to pinch flat. I remember hitting the rock and thinking to myself that that was going to hurt. Well, it did. 3 minutes later, I was stopped replacing the tube. CO2 is not optimum in this situation. I had about half of a 12 gram cartridge left from a previous flat fix, and another full 12 gram cartridge. So, not enough co2. I ended up with a little over 15 lbs of pressure in my tire, enough to limp home. I need tubeless!!! Saturday morning I rolled out to Rock Bridge and met up with Jasen and Ryan. Took the Rush, which is what I am riding at the Berryman Epic. It had been a while since I had been on that bike, I forgot how fun it is to ride. The only thing that sux is that there is only one functional bottle cage mount. So, I packed around another bottle in my jersey pocket. I have a hydration pack, but I don't like wearing it. We got in a couple of hours, then I headed home and went to Wendy's with the boys and A. Then we went to Toys R' Us for a Thomas the Tank Engine event, which totally sucked. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching Thomas and messing around with the trains and tracks with Dillon, but this was hardly worth our time. They had a train mat set up, not even real track. All they had for the kids to do was color pics of the trains, and it was headed up by some trailer trash employee that was too busy talking to some hoosier about drinking and partying. Thats right, they were talking about this stuff in front of the kids! Nice! So, Alicia tattled on her to one of the managers. That evening, Steve and Shelia came over to sit with the boys while A and I went to the MU game. I'm not a football fan. I basically went for the free food, and to people watch. I almost got to see a fight, which would have been nice. But other then that, it was pretty uneventful. MU sucked big time too.

Sunday, we went to the pumpkin fest in Hartsburg with Dusty, Kelci, and Kamryn. It was super lame, packed with people, and didn't satisfy. And, it was hot too.

So, not a lot going on, I have some good pics I need to upload, especially from the pumpkin fest.

Like a fire hose...

Friday night, Alicia and I went to the Roots n' Blues festival with Dusty and Kelci. We had a sitter for the boys for the first time in forever. It was pretty interesting watching the trash come out of the woodwork for the free entertainment. I don't know how many rat tails I saw, I tried to snap some pics of them in stealth mode but didn't have and luck. We had dinner at Addisons and I had a very tasty pizza and a couple of 1554 black ales.

I got up bright and early Saturday to meet up with Steve and Jasen at Rockbridge. I decided to ride out there, and took the singlespeed, which I had just done some work on the day before (new cables, housing, chain). This is where things started to go sour. On the way out there, I noticed something wrong with my position on the bike. It wasn't just a difference in bikes, I can usually jump on this bike and it feels like home to me. Somehow, my saddle was waaaaayyyy back on the rails, and a little low. Not sure how that happened, it hadn't been adjusted forever. So, when I got there, I started to work on it and got it dialed back in, I thought. It was cold, and I neglected to wear knee warmers. Well, we took off, and my knees started to ache from pushing a big gear, the cold, and my position was still not right. I also took a bad line and had a stick go into my back wheel right off the bat. No worries, right? Well, I was really sucking wind, and pushing harder then I thought I should have to up the hills to stay on top of my gear. Well, we rode for a couple of hours, and I had all intentions of riding home until Jasen offered me a ride home. I took him up on it. When we got to my house, I took my bike off the rack, set it down, and noticed that the rear wheel was pretty much locked up. My brake was rubbing so bad, it would skid across the pavement if you pushed it. Come to find out, I had a broken spoke, and it knocked my wheel way out of true. Nice. Well, I went inside and cleaned up a bit, and went to Sams Club with A and the boys. While we were there, I started to notice that I was feeling not so good. I thought maybe I was a little calorie deprived, so I bought a big Coke. Drank it on the way home. Ate lunch which consisted of 2 sandwiches with turkey, smoked cheese, and avacado. Really started to not feel good. Decided to lay down with Dillon for his nap, only planned on laying there for 30 minutes so Alicia could go run, but ended up napping with him for a couple of hours. We got up, and I really felt like shit. Apologized to Alicia for her not getting to run, then went back in and laid down. That lasted for all of about 30 seconds, I ran to the bathroom and puked my guts out. I have never thrown up like that, my mouth was wide open and the stream of vomit that came jetting out was impressive. It was roughly the diameter of a softball, hi powered, and full of little chunks of food, and 32 ounces of Coke. I forgot what it is like to puke, how you should not fight it and just let it flow, so I mistakenly braced my legs on the wall behind me with my head hanging in the toilet, and tried to hold back. Oops, now it was coming out my nose too. I heard Dillon in the other room asking mommy if he could come in and see what was going on. Thankfully she said no. Well, I finally finished up, and blew out my nose which was full of little chunks of gouda and avacado. Took off my shirt, which had puke on it, cleaned up my mess and the spatter, and laid back down. I had worked up quite a sweat also, and I had to towel down my body too. Shivered for a bit, then got hot. I skipped dinner, stayed in bed for the rest of the day. I felt a little better Sunday morning, and was able to choke down a bagel, and some coffee. I felt better bit by bit throughout the day, but still not enough to accept the beer my neighbor offered me when we stopped at his house during our post dinner walk. Monday, I felt a lot better. And, I was hungry!

On another note, if you don't know already, Dillon is potty trained, for the most part. I am not a big fan of him pooping in his little potty, I try to get him to use the ring on the toilet so the poop will have some water to cover it and the smell. And, the clean up is obviously easier, you just have to flush it down as opposed to cleaning out the little tray that it lands in on his potty. Anyway, he calls his poops "roly pollies". How funny is that???

Raise up off of

Friday, October 03, 2008 2 things I saw the above character on my commute to Jeff City via the Katy Trail. That would be a copperhead, I think, and he was not too stoked to have his pic taken. I was actually pretty close to the guy, about 3 feet. There were some people coming on the trail while I was doing this, and I was pointing it out. Of course they were riding 4 abreast and had waist pack hydration packs on. And bar end mirrors. I didn't want them to run over this guy and kill him. I don't care if they get bit, though. Anyway, they looked at me like I was crazy or I had shit on my face or something. Its a good thing Butthead wasn't there... This is what happens to the awning on a bank drive up when your wife goes under it with your Litespeed cross bike on the roof. I am glad my bike is titanium. It did wreck my saddle pretty bad, but it could have been worse. So now I am riding a bike without a saddle. Thursday, September 25, 2008 nom nom nom Wednesday, September 24, 2008 I will break you... This is an open letter to someone I encountered yesterday... Dear Woman riding 2 abreast all the way across the trail on your hybrid wearing grandma sunglasses chatting it up with your friend and obviously not paying attention, I saw you from half a mile away. I was on my way from work in Ashland to meet up with my wife in Jefferson City via the Katy Trail. I was late, she had a doctors appointment at 3, it was past 2 and I was still in transit, we still had to pick up the boys from school and get to Columbia for her appointment. I had a 20 pound backpack on, was on my MTB, and had been pushing the pace for the entire time trying not to be any later then I already was. I was in a bad mood. There was a long stretch of wide open trail after you go under the bridge on the north side of Jefferson City. You could see for a mile. I saw you, you were behind 2 older men and riding next to another woman. You were heading straight for me. I was on the right side of the trail. I had on very bright clothes. I was actually rolling a "gutterball" when I saw you coming, I was practically in the grass I was so far over to the side. You had to see me. You had plenty of time to get single file with your riding partner. You didn't. We clipped bars when we passed each other, and you screamed in fright. I hope it scared a couple of years off of your life. There is no way you could have NOT seen me. Did you expect me to get off of my bike to let you pass? Anyway, the impact almost broke my pinky, it was draped over the end of my bar and got smashed between our bars when we made contact. Next time I will push you off your bike when you go by. Sincerely, Jason Really? I am still surprised that I almost had an accident on the trail. The FUCKING TRAIL for God's sake. People, pay attention and keep your eyes forward. This lady had at least 3 minutes to see me coming. Steve gave me a bit of grief for not wearing my helmet when I go out for a leisurely cruise on the trail. Now I see why. I guess I'll have to start wearing full fingered gloves too. Monday, September 15, 2008 FAIL Decided to attempt the Capitol City Crit on Friday. Bad move on my part. Grabbed the boys from school and met Alicia at the race. MYAA had a booth set up there, so I dropped the kids off with Alicia and registered and got my fat suit on. Then I pre rode the course. I should have done that before I donated my money to the rest of the 1/2 field. Don't get me wrong, it was a well thought out, semi technical course, but had a tough little hill that would really put the hurt on a lot of guys in the race. I rolled around with Kersha before the race, and the legs didn't feel too bad. Not great, but do-able. Lined up at 3:25, we were supposed to go off at 3:30. Didn't happen. We staged for probably 20 minutes before getting underway. Any warm up I had was gone, and this was not the best race to go into with cold legs. I sat about 3/4 of the way back on the first lap hoping to chill for a little bit and get warmed up. Didn't happen. Attacks went, and guys in front of me started going backwards on the hill on the first lap. I made it around some of them, and managed to grab onto the back of the pack for a bit, but mostly I fell apart. Started going backwards too. I made it for a bit before getting pulled. Kersha had a great ride, and won the field sprint for 7th! We hung out for a bit, but decided not to stick around and watch the stage finish for the Tour of MO, Alicia had been there all day, I was grumpy and hot, and we figured it would be better to head home. Had Taco Bell for dinner. Saturday, Steve Miller, Junior, me, Jasen, and Andy headed down to the Berryman for some riding. The trails were in great condition, dry. They didn't get any rain while Columbia was getting dumped on. I took my single speed, and managed to make my way around the trails in a pretty comfortable fashion. Yesterday was chill, we tried to get caught up on some stuff that we needed to do, and had some family time. Not really a whole lot going on. I am tired. Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Epic Lulz So, I put this feedjit bar on the side of my blog, all of the cool kids are doing it. I was looking at some of the stats this morning, someone actually found my blog by doing a search for "tug job". How fitting is that? I am fucking ROFL! One funny thing happened a while back. If you read Alicia's blog, you will see a post apologizing for an earlier link that she posted to what she thought was a David Lee Roth picture. Somehow, the link that she posted ended up going to the meatspin gif. If you don't know what that is, google it and watch it, but be warned that it is NSFW. Everyone in her office saw it, and I guess they got a good laugh out of it. Guess who got the blame for it? She thought I did it, playing a prank on her. Now, I like a good prank as much as the next guy, and I am definitely known for some of the outasight shenanigans that happen around here. But, I would never do that to her, her mom reads her blog!! I am going to sell my Litespeed Tanasi. Frame only. And my Rock Shox Sid World Cup with a carbon steerer. You should buy it. Monday, September 08, 2008 I am scarred for life Yesterday Kersha and I did our annual poaching of the MS150 ride. I actually saw a rider wearing a sleeveless skinsuit with arm warmers. This was right before I decided it would be a good idea to pee off the bike. I think I embarrassed the girl who passed me while I was doing this. It's not like I was facing her or anything, I was just tinkling away onto the shoulder while coasting. So, long time no post. I have been doing a few things here and there, mostly being a dad to the 2 boys and working. D and B are both doing well, Dillon is "full of beans" as the old timers say, and those beans are giving him gas. He loves farting, and then asking me if I can smell it. Where do you think he learned that from? Brodie is growing, which is a normal thing for babies. He is a pretty mellow kid, which is a serious departure from the intensity of Dillon. He farts a lot too, and of course it cracks me up. I practice bikes every once in a while. I did something called a "6 hour solo mountain bike race". It was not a lot of fun, and I stunk the place up hardcore. The bike meet was in Jeff City at Binder Lake. It made my back sore. And my loins. I rode my 10 million$ road bike through some serious flood water on the road, it was bad enough that it had actually pushed a pickup truck off the road and it was in the middle of a corn field with water halfway up its windows. I am a hard man when it comes to feats of daring, I didn't even bat an eye at riding through the water. I can swim, and my bike might float. I did the old mans race at the state crit bike meet. I over heated and pulled the plug early, but thats ok because I rode through that water earlier in the month. I sold my Sentra and bought a minivan. I feel like a dork when I drive it. Not that my Sentra was some sore of super tuned rice burner, but I didn't feel like an old person when I drove it. Just white trash. Friday, August 01, 2008 Today Alicia and I have been married for 10 years! Thanks for everything Alicia! Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Clever title goes here... Hopefully everyone had a good memorial day weekend. Ours was good. Saturday consisted of doing a whole lot of nothing. We decided to drive to St. Louis on Sunday morning, Micah and Sara, Darby, and Thomas and his girl were in town for Dziewa's wedding and staying at the Kippenbergers house. Good excuse to break out one of my many TI bikes and ride with old friends. Well, we got on the highway, and of course it started raining on us, and it rained pretty much the entire way into the city, just stopping right before we got to the K's house. Nice. Not to mention, everyone and their brother was driving like shit in the inclement weather. Well, we got there, and settled in and had brunch and got caught up on everyones goings on. Finally it cleared off enough for us to ride, we drove out and parked at Ghisalo and rode some great roads for a couple of hours. Finished up the ride, and headed back to the K's for dinner. It was getting late, so we ate pretty quick, and Alicia, Dillon, and I packed it in and started home. About 15 minutes into our supposed sub 2 hour car ride, it started pouring. Hard. I pulled off the road in Wentzville to get some gas and let the storm pass. I consulted the Jesus Phone and it told me that there were t-storms from Columbia to StL, all on I-70. So, either we spend the night in Wentzville, or I drive in the rain. Dillon was asleep by then, so I decided to hop back on the hwy and move along, how bad could it be? Really fucking bad!!! I was able to go about 20mph. My bike was on the roof and getting abused. People were pulling off of the road, and parking on the shoulder, or just stopping in the middle of the hwy. It was literally raining sideways. Well, about this time I started to notice that my car was really rocking and being buffeted by the wind. It was dark. So, I am thinking tornado. Alicia was freaking, and I am trying to decide mentally whether I should just pull off the road and find a ditch and cover Dillon and Alicia, or keep going, or what. I finally found an overpass and got as much under that as I could without bumping the car in front of me. It was crazy watching the people that were still trying to drive almost hit each other. I am serious when I say visibility was zero. Honestly, I can't believe there was not a tornado, the wind was blowing so hard. So we waited for a bit, and of course Dillon woke up and started freaking out. So, Alicia was trying to keep him calm, and I was trying to keep her calm. Finally I decided it was time to go, and we got back on the road. We drove in and out of strong storms for another hour before finally coming to the end of it. All in all, I have to say that I am glad to be alive. I really thought something bad was going to happen. I was still shaking and wound up with adrenaline when we got home. Sunday was much less eventful. I was going to ride, but it was supposed to rain all day. It didn't happen. So, we just hung out, got groceries, and tried to relax. I raced my bike last weekend in St. Joe. I did shitty. And, I tried to get in a fight with this tall skinny guy from Kansas. I guess I just have a bad attitude or something. He was going slow, so I passed him in a field. He got back on my wheel and started bumping my back tire. No big deal, just annoying and rude. Then he passed me, and started hitting his brakes for no reason. I called him on it, and of course he got mouthy. It took every bit of self control that I had to not tell him to get off his bike right there. So, I eventually passed him again, and kept it that way. Some nice guy I am, huh? There are a ton of new trails there, if you ever head up that way you should check them out. There is probably over 40 miles total of single track in that town, all well groomed, hard packed dirt. The fat bike bully in action, hard charging to a stellar 10th place in the expert class! Thursday, May 22, 2008 i guess I can update this thing... Or not. Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Riding bikes! I have been riding a little bit lately. Yay! So, I am making good use of at least 3 of the bikes I have. I turned the karate monkey into a 1x8, and it rocks. I spent about 3.5 hours off road with Jasen on Sunday, we rode Cosmo, Grindstone, and Rockbridge. The trails were great, a little wet in spots, but for the most part in good shape. The KM performed great, and I was comfortable for the entire day on the rigid bike. I am trying to decide if I want to use it for the race in St. Joseph next weekend, or if I want to ride the Rush. I hit up Cosmo for a couple of laps on Monday, and rode the Rush. It is amazing how different the 2 bikes are. The rush just rails, and is super confident due to all of the travel. But, the Surly climbs better, and really rolls when you get it up to speed. Decisions... Last night I rolled out to the Tuesday night race for the second time this season with Kersha. Good times! I actually felt pretty good, and made a few half assed moves and made the selection towards the end. Tracey hit the gas with a couple of miles to go, and I tried to go with and got about 2/3 of the way to him but gassed myself pretty hard. I did manage to grab onto Butthead and Brinkers wheels when they came by and we rolled it home. What else...not a lot really. I am getting ready to do a big ebay sell off of stuff, I'll post a link here. Friday, May 02, 2008 NIght ride I went for my first night time mountain bike ride in 8 years the other night out at Cosmo with Jasen Matayas. I forgot how much different the trails are in the dark. I scored a Cygolite Li-ion powered LED system for my bike, so I thought I would give it a try. Needless to say, my lap times around the race course are way slower in the dark. I can't imagine riding those trails at night without knowing them. I am super familiar with the trail system there, and I struggled in a lot of spots. Plans are in the works for a weekly ride out there with lights, come out if you want. On another note, I am registered for the Berryman Epic 60 mile mtb race in the Fall. Good times. Friday, April 25, 2008 A blatant plug... My good friend Chris Reynolds does custom comb work and tuning on harmonicas. Here is his website. The guy does excellent work, if you are a player or collector I would recommend picking one up. Here are a couple of pics.Chris does extensive filing, giving the harp a custom touch. You can get whatever you want engraved on the harp for an additional charge. It's pretty cool, I talk to Chris on a regular basis, and he has some bitchin ideas coming up. Plans for working with damascus steel and titanium are in the works. Thursday, April 17, 2008 Something to ponder... Thursday, April 10, 2008 Bum Bars Definition of bum bars: road bars that are turned upside down, typically found on bicycles of the homeless or clueless. "Did you see that bike? That dirtbag was rocking hella bum bars!" Below, Dillon's version of bum bars: Oh man, I am a RIOT!! Tuesday, April 08, 2008 Odens Beard Not to be confused with Odin's Beard! Oden was the name of the town where the Ouachita Challenge was staged. Steve Miller and I left town on Saturday morning for the drive down to Oden. I decided to put some Coke that I had flattened for the race in my water bottle on my bike. Bad move. We stopped at the Arkansas/Missouri border for gas at the worlds largest liquor store. Well, I was coming out of the bathroom and Steve said "did we drive through something sticky?" He had sticky all over his bike. Well, come to find out, about half of my soda had leaked out of my bottle and glazed his frame and drivetrain. Nice. We finally arrived at our destination after about 8 hours in the car, Mt Ida, AR. The Mt Ida motel, to be exact. Steve had made reservations at this motel, and they had even charged his card. Well, guess what? They did not have a room for us. Great!! So, down the road we went, to the Aqua Motel outside of Washita. After unpacking and getting cleaned up, we drove to Oden to pick up our race packets and partake of the free food at the school. Pretty uneventful, afterwards went back to Aqua and slept. Sunday morning we got up and rolled over to the race for breakfast, which was extra nasty. Microwave pancakes. Gross. CBC was represented in the race by me, Steve Miller, and Jasen Matayas. We were scheduled to roll out at 8, so we got lined up. My strategy for the 60 miles was pretty simple: survive. I decided to start out fast to get warmed up before hiting the single track. I made it through the 2.5 miles of gravel with the lead group, decided I was sufficiently warmed up and going too hard, and sat up when we entered the singletrack. Ok. Well, pretty much all I can say is that I suffered pretty bad for most of the day. The trails were technical and hilly, I think we climbed over 8000 vertical feet. There were some rock gardens that were unrideable, at least for me, and a ton of deep mud puddles. I went over the bars once on a treacherous descent, so I have a bunch of scrapes on my legs and one on my face. The race was really well organized, each aid station took great care of the riders, and was well stocked with food and drink. Really, I can't say enough about how well the race was run, and I think the entry fee was a bargain. Probably the toughest point of the day was climbing blowout mountain, my legs were toasted by that time, and I was looking to just finish the ride. Also, there was a guy in front of me going so slow that I kept bumping his rear whel, but he wouldn't let me pass. Argh!! Needless to say, I finished in 6 hours and 46 minutes, not a very good time. But, like I said, finished, and as an excuse, I have been sick and am still sick, and have been lucky to get 3 hours a week on the bike. So, not too shabby, considering that this is the longest I have ever ridden my bike, time wise. Also, I burned over 8500 calories. Afterwards, we got cleaned up and hopped in the car for the drive back. We took a different route, which led us through the mountains. It was beautiful!! We stopped in Russelville for some mexican food, and I immediately started cramping up. Nice! Not a whole lot to report, really, I have some pics I'll post later. Monday, March 24, 2008 No sleep Since I am sitting here, already having been awake for 3 hours at 7 am, I thought I would post a few pics. My future skater, he can actually stand on the board and balance on his own. Dillon has beautiful eyes, just like his mommy. Pretty.. My Mick Jagger pose. I am going to grow out the stache again... Little Eric, rocking the old school cycling cap. Ok, I am going to rant a little. I hopped on the Rush Saturday afternoon and headed over to Cosmo park. Now, I know that there are no "rules" for the trails there, but come on people. Don't ride on the trails if you are going to cause permanent damage. Someone had been out there when it was very sloppy, and there were a ton of ruts and damage to the trail. Its pretty irritating, people go out there and work and maintain the trails, and then some ass comes along and rides when it is too sloppy to be out there. You can't possible have had a good ride, and I am sure your muddy bike hates you. Anyway, I got in a couple of hours, which was nice. The Rush is a great bike, and I am sure it will be perfect for Ouachita. What else...I need a new battery for my laptop. On a full charge, I have about 25 minutes tops. Fucking awesome! And, new batteries are expensive! We got a new digital SLR camera, so expect some hopefully good pictures from me. Thats about all for now, dont forget, buy my stuff!! Thursday, March 20, 2008 Hi there! Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Its gonna be funny... Somehow I got roped into racing the Ouachita Challenge. Not really sure how, but I am trying to cram 3 months worth of training into 3 weeks. Mmm boy, should be interesting. I am glad I will be riding a full suspension bike, though. I am also going to do the spoke pony showdown as a guage of my fitness in a couple of weeks. And then...I am going to road race! Yeah, I'm back I guess. What else has been going on? This past weekend was pretty good, save for a few blips of badness (see Alicia's blog). Got in a good ride on Sunday, 40 miles of hilly gravel with Steve and Jasen. Micah and Sara came and visited Saturday night, we went to Flat Branch. It was really good to catch up with the Squares, I wish they still lived here. Alicia and I decided on a name for the new kid, Brodie James. Dillon is doing good, too, I have some great pics of him to post up. He is definitely turning into a little geek, just like his dad, the big geek. He loves working on his 'puter and playing Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast. And skateboarding. Hell yeah!! Someone buy my road bike, I am parting it out. And, buy my Airborne. Wednesday, March 05, 2008 I guess I'll update this turd... After getting complaints from some of my biggest fans about updating, I guess I should do just that... So, what has been going on? A lot I guess. I have been riding when I get the chance and the weather is good. I took off with the noon ride last Saturday for the first time on the road bike in a few months. We did an Ashland, and it hurt me. I started having problems with my achilies tendons, and then got some really bad cramps. Nice times, I actually thought I might have to call Alicia to come and get me. I have ridden some trails, mostly snowy which hasn't been pleasant. I am going to get on the bike quite a bit more, so I should be ready to race pretty quick hopefully. What else...work has been interesting. Dillon is growing quite a bit, and he is excited about the arrival of the little brother. Alicia is doing well and is staying busy with work. Man, I guess there is not a lot to talk about, I will update this more often. Oh yeah, I have a ton of stuff for sale, and will make deals. MTB, track bike, road bike, parts, frames. Buy some of it. Tuesday, January 15, 2008 This is good It gets really good at about 20 seconds in. I love celebrities!! Wednesday, January 09, 2008 Big pimpin' A bike fit for a fat man...with no sense of color matching. Sunday, January 06, 2008 Just a few pics... We went to the park today. Dillon really enjoys going down the slides, even though someone shot up the place with paintballs. Here he is throwing his hands up as he starts his descent... Here is a pic of him in my Volcom hoody with my old LA Dodgers hat on on New Years Eve. Pretty Gangsta, huh? Dillon, Climbing up a ladder at the park today. He is fearless. He can go up and down a ladder on his own without any help. Pretty scary for a 2 year old, huh? Another scary sight... Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Feedjit Leave a message! Stuff to peek at... DNA Distro: Velocite bikes Recovery Socks, cuddly Rudy Project CBC Racing Powercranks: get stronger!! Chris Reynolds, builder extrordinaire the Beej King Furby Tattoos for you Krasha Great art!! Titus Kill time (this is Furby approved) Home Movie Depot Butt-head Curtie Alicia FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed Sucking less as teh years go by Prozenberger View my complete profile Blog Archive ►  2011 (2) ►  April (2) ►  2010 (4) ►  November (1) ►  August (2) ►  February (1) ►  2009 (4) ►  July (1) ►  June (1) ►  April (1) ►  January (1) ▼  2008 (32) ▼  November (3) Holy diver Diddy...the patriot A Day Out With Thomas ►  October (8) I might puke I killed a fly I have obviously angered the bike gods... This was in my work spam News Flash Like a fire hose... Raise up off of 2 things ►  September (5) nom nom nom I will break you... FAIL Epic Lulz I am scarred for life ►  August (1) Today ►  May (4) Clever title goes here... i guess I can update this thing...Or not. Riding bikes! NIght ride ►  April (4) A blatant plug... Something to ponder... Bum Bars Odens Beard ►  March (4) No sleep Hi there! Its gonna be funny... I guess I'll update this turd... ►  January (3) This is good Big pimpin' Just a few pics... ►  2007 (50) ►  December (2) ►  November (1) ►  October (4) ►  September (4) ►  August (3) ►  July (7) ►  June (8) ►  May (5) ►  April (5) ►  March (3) ►  February (6) ►  January (2) ►  2006 (85) ►  December (2) ►  November (3) ►  October (8) ►  September (6) ►  August (7) ►  July (9) ►  June (8) ►  May (11) ►  April (10) ►  March (8) ►  February (9) ►  January (4) ►  2005 (20) ►  December (5) ►  November (2) ►  October (3) ►  September (2) ►  August (8) Awesome Inc. theme. Powered by Blogger.