First things first...

Brady, I am glad I could brighten your day! Massacration is the shit, if you could hook a brother up, it would be much appreciated!

So, what has been up with me? Not a lot, like usual. I have actually been riding again a little, hit the trails some this weekend. Friday I rocked out on the Voodoo, I was actually thinking about racing in Jeff City on Sunday, but Friday pretty much put those plans in the shitter. I felt pretty crappy, and the heat really hit me in the nuts. I finally got my CX bike finished, and got the new Campy carbon brake levers that I have been lusting over for the past 4 years installed. So, I took it for a ride around town on Saturday, hit up Stephens Lake park for some white trash spotting, and rolled a parade loop. Saturday night, we went to dinner over at Seth, Kelly, and Lucy's house. Very nice! Dillon and Lucy finally warmed up to each other, and it was very cool to see them chasing each other around the house. Seth and Kelly were very good hosts, thanks for the food and beer! Sunday, I decided to roll out at Cosmo instead of the race; I took the Schwinn Homegrown Sweet Spot. This was my second ride on that bike. It is actually a very nice ride, epsecially for a 12 year old bike. The suspension is still comfy, it is light thanks to its 8-speed XT drivetrain, and the Judy SL fork is surprisingly plush. I can't complain, I actually cleared some stuff easily that I have had problems with before. Go figure. I bought the bike with some different intentions. First, I just thought about parting it out and selling it piece by piece, it is in excellent shape and has some gucci vintage components on it. Then, I considered converting it to a singlespeed since it has a floating drivetrain. But, I think I am going to leave it the way it is. 8 speed is actually fine. Everything works great on the bike. So, yah, I guess I am retro. I am going to race it. It will be sweet lining up next to guys with discs and 9-speed and VPP designs, and here I will be on my old school SS. What else...Dillon is obsessed with running around in our front yard naked and playing in the sprinkler, pool, and gigantic bucket wi fill with water for him. He is a little hoosier in training. I stayed home fromwork today due to a migraine headache. Fun.

metal is the law

Hell Yeah!

Massacration - Metal Milk Shake

Holy shit, this is BOSS!

Man, Furby

Your luck is rubbing off on me. Alicia and I went for a ride today, and decided to take out the single speeds. Well, she hadn't ever been off road on hers, so I wasn't too confident of it's trail worthiness. Needless to say, it was chain drop city! Then, I flatted. I didn't have a tire lever with me, so I used the quick release lever and got my hands dirty. The bead on my tire was VERY f'ing tight. Still a fund ride, though...Alicia and I went out to Flat Branch last night without Dillon, her mom is in town and we got an evening off...I fasted all day yesterday, actually I ended up fasting for almost 24 hours. I had to have a cat scan after work at 430, and I couldnt eat. Lame, I am used to taking in 3000 calories by that time, so I was pretty rough. And, we had a picnic at work, so I had to sit and watch everyone else eat. So yah, past couple of days = blah.

And now, I am finishing this post up on Tuesday. Not a lot has happened since then. I can say one thing, though. If you are a Nigerian scammer and you happen to be reading this, consider this an open invitation to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. I am sick of scammers jacking my auctions on ebay trying to get me to ship stuff to them. I am not stupid, quit wasting my time and money. Come see me, I can teach you a lesson in pain (cheese). Last night, I picked up another bike, it is a vintage 1996 Schwin Homegrown Sweet Spot full suspension bike with mint Kooka cranks! Holy crap, this thing is hot. What to do with it...pictures coming soon..

Happy Birthday

To my lovely wife! You are the best, and I hope you had a good day!

Scumbag

TPT

Yah, I went on my first tight pants Tuesday ride last night after an impromptu bout of weightlifting. Man, I am somewhat slow on the bike. Actually, I felt ok, I know everyone was not going too hard, but maybe I might get some fitness for later in the season? It was good to ride with the group again, and catch up with some people. Even guy on a $6000 bike with helmet mirror. Tracey told me that I have big boobs, too. What else...wok. Boring, busy. Dillon: getting big like usual, and getting a pretty good vocabulary. Alicia is doing good, her birthday is coming up in a week and change...We went to Kershas for a bbq on Saturday night, good times. I rocked out to the sweet song of the 211. Rode a big tree and change on Saturday afternoon. Not a lot else, just keeping on.

Quote of the day:

"The world is ours to destroy." --Jason Ozenberger, this afternoon after eating at the Main Squeeze, a Columbia, MO hippie restaurant. Alicia and I were having a discussion about recycling. The hippies at the restaurant were giving us some weird looks after we took a bunch of napkins to wipe juice off of Dillon. Gee, sorry, I just killed some trees. Anyway, I don't advocate going out of my way to trash the place, but, hey, nothing I do will help either. So, I am not going to really make a difference if I recycle my beer bottle instead of throwing it in the trash.

Sorry about the rant. Hippies suck.

Hi

So Alicia and I are sitting at home on another Friday night. Such is the life of a parent of a 22.5 month old. No complaints, actually it is nice to just chill. Alicia is giving me the play by play on the Cardinals game, they are actually up 4-0, but I am sure they will find a way to lose. Not a lot else going on. Alicia is not feeling the greatest, hopefully she will start feeling better. Dillon and I went for a walk this evening and found ourselves at one of our neighbors house. Said neighbor had a litter of 6-week old chihuahuas. Holy cow, I wanted to take one home with us. Super cute, and it would be something for the cats to bully for a bit. Seriously, though, I am thinking Dillon needs a puppy. Maybe I need a puppy. What else...I went out to the group mtb ride at Cosmo last night. I don't know whether I would consider it a group ride since there were only three of us (including me). The ride organizer wasn't even there. It was fun, though getting to ride with new people at a chill pace, and I rolled the single speed.

South of Heaven

Today is the National Day of Slayer.
Be a Hessian. Do something evil.

Busy

Things have been pretty hectic. We were gone for a bit over Memorial Day weekend. We dumped Dillon off at his grandma's and Alicia and I spent the day and night Saturday camping at Indian Cave state park in Nebraska with some of our old friends. We stopped at the local Choke n' Puke on our way to the park, it was the only business in the town of Nemaha, NE. I ate a huge sloppy joe (xtra sloppy), bag of chips, potato salad, and a giant piece of cake. This meal cost me less then 5 dollars. And I was stuffed. We picked up some cheap beer and made our way to the park where I immediately had to use the bathroom. Nice. Our friends met up with us, and we seet up camp and commenced to drinking. I decided it would be a good idea to ride my cross bike on some singletrack after drinking 4 beers. Not such a good move. No kit, no helmet, just shoes. It was muddy, but I somehow managed to survive. Then, since I was schweaty, I thought it would be a good idea to ride on the park road to cool off a bit. I ended up going down this long, windy descent, seriously 45 mph riding my brakes. It really cooled me down, but I had to ride back up it when I discovered that the road dead ended. This had to be one of the steepest hills I have ever climbed. My gps said that at points it reached over 30% grade. I was really uncomfortable, and I am rolling a compact crankset on the cx bike. Nice cool down. Anyway, it was really good to catch up with our friends after a bunch of years and this time it does not need to be so long before we get together again. Work has been busy. Like usual. Alicia owes me $500. Meh she and Curt should split the bill.

Maybe its overtraining...

Man, I am feeling lazy. Not totally sure why, just that I pretty much don't want to do anything except loaf. This past weekend was pretty jam-packed with stuff. I got out on the MTB for a little over 2 hours at Rockbridge park, which was very nice. I actually had a pretty good ride and didn't crash. I was rocking the Sobo, I had to rebuild the rear hub because it was slopp9ing around, and I have to say that the bike rolled like a champ. I met up with the noon ride at 10'o clock at cyclex on Saturday and rolled for 40 miles. It was nice to get to ride with everyone, even Mr. I have a $6000 bike and a helmet mirror and a baggy jersey and I like to swerve and open up gaps guy. Sunday brought another ride, this time on the trail with Alicia and Dillon. We ended up getting a ton of yard stuff done around the house on Sunday, and cleaned up the back yard.

Vell, anyvay...

Inside joke. There was this reel of film that we had to re-transfer at work about a million times due to various issues...there was a very creepy old lady that was very scantily clad doing very gross things being filmed by 2 very efeminate men. So, I heard this one guy, super queer, say "Vell, anyvay..." a ton of times. So, whats up? Not a lot...I rode my geared MTB tonight at Cosmo...very nice. I guess I should have used that at the race. No worries, tho...what else...every time I toot, Dillon goes "Daddy poo!!!" As in "father, you have just broken wind. Whatever am I to do?" So, I have this Morati titanium bar/stem combo on my single speed mtb. For some reason, Morati decided to use some very poochy aluminum bolts with very tiny heads to bind the stem to the steerer tube. Well, yah, I rounded those out after discovering that my headset was loose after the race last Sunday. I had to drill them out. It was nasty, to say the least. So, I had the builder of stuff, Chris Reynolds, help me out with the tapping of the stem and now I am back in business. So yay, thanks BOS!! By the way, I am a big nerd!!!

Just in case I forgot to mention it earlier, Alicia is the best!!!

Shanked

Yah, yesterday's race at Rhetts Run was not good. It would have been good had I not dropped my chain 6 times in the first lap. And, I was on my single speed. I made the mistake of making a last minute change to my gearing before I left the house, and obviously I didn't get my chain tensioned properly. So yeah, 6 times. So I pulled the plug. It kind of goes along with the final run theory in skateboarding, you don't go for that "one more time" run after you have decided to go home. That is disasterous. Speaking of skateboarding, after a 12 year hiatus, I am getting back into the sport. Something I can really get hurt doing. Back in the day, I was full on skater, for 10 years or so. I was serious about it, wanted to turn pro, blah, blah, blah. Then we moved to St Joe and that changed. There were some good places to skate there, but being a smaller town, I got burned out pretty quickly. St. Louis, on the other hand, is a good city for a skater. We used to pile into Franks Suburban with our portible launch ramp, and drive everywhere looking for skate spots. We even used to hit up the roof top at my high school every once in a while...

What else...Leslie graduated from Stephens on Saturday and we went to Holts Summit winery to celebrate. Sans Dillon. Alicia's boss took care of him while we were there. I got sunburned nicely. Dillon went on his first boat ride.

So, thats it. I have a headache.

I saw Brian Shoemaker at Rhetts Run. He is a sexy man.

I want this...

Only in St. Joe. This is a sweet converted Ford Taurus that is now a step side.

What have I been doing?

Quite a bit actually. The past few weeks have been pretty busy. Dillon is going about a hundred miles an hour and it is taking its toll. He always has to be into something, or not listening to what we tell him. He is also going through this stage where he wants to be held at the most inoppertune times, like when you are trying to fix dinner or get ready for work. Nice. Alicia is doing good. She ran a 5k last weekend in Rolla and posted a very respectable time. The weather was nasty too, with a lot of fog and humidity. We stayed with C and K at K's parents house and slept on the most comfortable pull out bed in the world. Curt and Krista were in town for a couple of days, I got out and rode on the road with Curt for a bit. Nice indeed. We hit up Flat branch for food. I have been drinking my Badger Milk like a good boy (ask Curt). I am going to rock out at the Rhetts Run MTB race this weekend, it should be sloppy with all of the rain we have had. So, I am rolling the single speed. I have been sick too, for the past week. Not fun. Work is the usual, somewhat busy. With my lack of training and my almost 180 lb. girth, Rhetts Run should hurt. A lot. Wish me luck...

The good with the bad

So this has been a mixed weekend. Definitely had its ups and downs. Ups: spending a lot of quality time with Alicia and Dillon. Riding my bike for 3 days in a row, all off road. Eating good food. Getting some much needed stuff done around the house. Downs: going to the Earth Day Festival. Seeing more hippies then I wanted to at said festival. Smelling all of the hippies. Thinking about 4/20 and what it represents. Not understanding why people think its ok to try to legalize marijuana.

The worst: today I was cleaning up after lunch. Alicia was getting in the shower. Dillon was playing in the living room. All of a sudden, he started crying. So, thinking he was over reacting, I went in to see what was going on. He was kneeling over by one of our end tables. He turned around to look at me, and there was blood running down from his forehead. I almost crapped my pants. Somehow, he gashed open his forehead on the corner of the table, pretty deep. It was one of those things where I was wondering if he would need stitches. Now, I am not one that is sickened by blood. I have a strong stomach, and I am not worried about getting hurt. But, when you see your own child hurt, that is different. I seriously couldn't believe what I was seeing. So, I picked him up and tried to comfort him as much as possible all the time trying to stop the blood. Finally he calmed down, and all was pretty much good after that. He is a tough kid. I know I have said it before, but wow. So yah, now he has a boo boo on his noodle. It hurts my heart to look at it. Funny thing, though. He didn't sweat it obviously. He was back to his old self after his nap, playing and causing trouble. He even helped me repair the fence in the back yard while I was grilling dinner.

I rode my bike

I actually showed up for the noon ride this past Sunday. It was nice out, so I thought I'd hit it up and catch up with some people I hadn't seen for a while. Rolled out with Tracey, Molly, Jan, and Zach Hockett. They were going around Guthrie, I just rolled out New Haven and back. It was very nice to get to talk to everyone and catch up a bit. Rode my mountain bike on Tuesday, rolled out the trail and headed to grindstone. It was actually not too muddy, but I still got pretty dirty. Not a lot else, just work and getting my swell on.

Dillon is into hats...

Just a few pics from the weekend...

Dillon, post Easter Egg hunt number one.














My hot wife and Dillon, during Easter Egg hunt number one.














Me, being emo post Easter egg hunt number one.














Dillon, cutting the "grass" on his new riding lawn mower.














My drink of choice Friday night.`














My grandma, after sampling said beverage, giving the Malt Liquor the big thumbs up (this pic is for you Furby).
















So our Easter trip was interesting. Lots of eating, one ride since I brought clothes that weren't suited for the sub freezing temps up north, a very bad meal at Denny's on Thursday night that consisted of a salad that had a very long black hair from the illegal immigrant preparing food in the kitchen, a very rude illegal immigrant waitress, a hostess that was such a bitch that I seriously thought about knocking her out, chicken breasts that were so salty that I could barely eat them (and I like salt), and a baked potato that arrived late to my plate. I cut it open only to find out that it was black inside like someone crapped in there. Not a good experience and on par with one of the worst meals I have ever had. The good points tho outweighed the bad: spending time with my Aunt that I haven't seen for 5 years, up from New Orleans, hanging with my dad and little bro, actually drinking a beer with my bro (Jeff), he is almost 22. Visiting family in Iowa. Watching Dillon tear up my grandmas house, to her utmost horror. Watching Dillon participate in no less then 3 Easter egg hunts. Hiding the eggs for the second one. Eating a lot of the candy that he found. A lot. Having the Easter Bunny bring me pickled eggs in my Easter Basket. Playing Doom3.

I don't even know where to start...

So, I guess a lot has been going on since I can't even remember half of it. I haven't been on the bike in a week and a half. Well, actually that is not true, I rolled around town on the MTB Diablo style, no helmet and street wear. Nice. Got my tattoo worked on Sunday. Cecil and Angela came to see us on Saturday night. These are old friends from St. Joe. It was good to see them and catch up on a lot of stuff. I grilled 3 times over the weekend. Thats right, every day. We went to the Metzdorf's Friday night for dinner and hung with the Ranek's and their son, Cyrus. Cool kid, looks like his dad a lot (bummer). Just kidding, Tim is a hottie. Aside from that stuff, things have been prety hectic. Alicia has been very busy putting together the youth rally at work and putting long solo hours. Dillon and I are proud of her dedication and passion for doing her job well!! Here is a tidbit...Alicia's boss Connie's son, Tucker, who is in middle school, had a 4-wheeler accident. He rolled the ATV and tore off his eyelid. Yah, thats right, his entire eyelid. Poor kid, that is rough. He is going to be OK, they sewed it on and I don't think there was any damage to his eye. He is a tough kid, so I am sure he will be good to go. And a bonus for him, chicks dig scars. I am walking proof of that. Work is busy like usual. Dillon is getting big, like usual. Thats what happens to people, I think. They grow...He loves being outside, so we are constantly playing in the yard. A couple of weeks ago Alicia and I took him for a ride, I hooked the trailer to my very classy Litespeed Appalachian CX bike with my Powercranks
installed. We rolled down the trail, it was windy and a much harder ride then I wanted. Dillon+trailer+powercranks+single ring=ouch. I got out on the road the day before on the Look KXLight. Have I mentioned how much I like this bike? Quite a different ride from the Six13, but overall I am happier with this bike. Nice and stiff when needed, strong enough to support my 175 pound fatness, and comfy too. I am looking forward to logging more miles on this guy throughout the season. Now to the pics...The first pic shows the back of my head. I am growing out my yearly mullet. Dillon is finally getting into wearing hats. He has been spotted in this hat on a few occasions.. He has also found the true fashion statement: the bike jersey. I came home from work one day and he was wearing this. Alicia said he just had to put it on, and then he wore it and didn't want to take it off. Notice the game face. Nice...The bad part? It was my stinky jersey hanging on the clothes rack from the day before so it could air out a little bit.

Even more pro

Alicia is getting interviewed by KOMU this afternoon. They are coming to her office! What a star!

I wish I had something exciting to post, but I dont. I am boring.

So Pro

Alicia is so pro. I just watched her on tv. She was testifying down in Jeff City this evening about underage drinking. She knows what she is talking about, check out MYAA for more info. Dillon and I are proud. :)

I've ridden my bike 3 times this week. I rode out to Froze Toes with Frank n' Beans on Sunday, just to talk to a few people. We were talking to Aaro Froese and caused him to miss the start of his race. Sorry man. Tuesday I rolled out on the trail on the Sobo and headed over to Grindstone for some single-track fun. I was a little concerned that the trails would be sloppy, but they were just soft. Very soft. I ended up riding a little harder then I wanted to. Yesterday I hit up Cosmo for more MTB. Soft, like riding thru sand. I am rolling a set of Schwalbe Smart Sam tires, I am trying to get a feel for them. Pretty good ride. I am hoping to get myself into racing shape in time for the Lawrence MTB race. I guess I have some work to do. Those trails are fun, tho, and I used to ride them all of the time. Not a lot else going on, work is busy, I have taken on yet more responsibilities. Dillon has an attitude problem. Alicia is doing good, just getting ready for her half marathon. Not a lot else. Sorry to be so boring.

Holy Crap!

This is one of the most f'ed up things I have seen in a while.

Peanut butter

Ok, so I did not eat any of the tainted peanut butter. But, I have been suffering from some GI stuff for 3 days now. It is pretty lame, the weather has been nice and I haven't been able to go out and enjoy it. Pretty much every time I move around, I feel like I am going to yammy. I actually got up this morning and got ready to go to work, as I was heading out the door, I made a u-turn and decided to stay home again. Yah, feeling bad. The worst thing is the fact that I am going to be WAY behind at work. So, no riding for me like usual. Yesterday I had one cup of coffee. I usually drink over a pot.

Cold forging

Here are some pics from my ride today.

Again

I rode 2 days in a row. I rode yesterday at cosmo park on the mtb, which, I can say, was almost disasterous. I crashed pretty hard in the first 5 minutes. Everything was re-frozen, so I was basically riding on a sheet of ice for the majority of the time. It was one of those deals to where if you made the tiniest error, you were crashing. Nice. I managed to do one loop, then decided to hit up campus for a parade loop. I saw Jaysin (sp?) out at Cosmo, he looked like he was having a better time. I think he is rocking studded snow tires, you could see little holes in the ice. Today I rode on the road for the first time in a few months with Franklin. We hit up the big tree and stopped at Osamas for some coffee post ride. Good times indeed. So yah, that is my secret training. This week I am playing single dad, Alicia is rolling out to DC for work. Lonely me. Dillon and I are going to have fun! Not a lot else going on, just the usual again, wnt to the grocery store today, the mall yesterday, thats about it.

I rode!!

So whats up? Not a lot here. The usual. I am sure you are tired of hearing that. I actually rode my bike this week! I rode my freshly built-up mountain bike. It is a scandium Voodoo Sobo with Sram, XT, Avid Discs, and a Manitou fork. Sweet ride, it was my first ride on it. I rode out to Cosmo park and hit the trails. They were still snow and ice covered, and it was a ton of fun. It was nice to get out on the bike. Not that I am in any kind of shape, but it was fun none the less. What else...work. Hanging out. Eating. Thats about it. We were at the mall this afternoon and ran into Jelly Belly pro Brian Dziewa and his girl Lori. He was in town for a bit before heading out to the Tour of California. He is looking fit indeed. Expect good things this season from him. After that, we had Mexican with the Kershas. I am thinking about maybe getting out on the MTB again tomorrow if I feel like being cold. Riding bikes has really been looking good to me lately, but I am not into freezing my butt off. More later.

So bored

Man, I wish I had something exciting to post. It is so cold outside. I really want to ride my mountain bike, but obviously I am a puss. So, I have been staying inside and lifting weights, getting chubby, and killing zombies. So, everyone better watch out if I am at Froze Toes, I am going to be rocking the party. Unless I go to the mountain bike race at Landahl. Or if the weather is bad, sitting on the couch thinking about how nice and warm I am. Yesterday we went to a super bowl party at the Metzdorfs. It was a good time, and good to catch up with everybody. Kersha brought some ghetto fabulous beer for me to sample, some Tilt, Natty Up!, and some other malt liquor in a giant can that he claims was only $.99. Eek, some of it was pretty bad. The Tilt, tho, wasn't too bad, actually tasted like Red Bull. Dillon had a good time going up and down the stairs at Metzdorfs and trying to tear things up and getting terrorized by the dogs. Actually, Dillon impressed me again, being brave and paying no mind to the 100+ puond dogs constantly trying to lick him and steal his food. Alicia's mom was staying with us Saturday night, so A and I went out for dinner to Hu Hot. I ate a lot, mostly meat, and it gave me some really bad gas. On another note, Smallville has been off the hook lately. There is so much going on in this season. I seriously look forward to Thursday nights.















This is a good pic of Dillon. Notice the sippy cup. It is present almost all of the time. He is well hydrated.















Here is a profile shot of me with some bitchin' sideburns. Notice the beginings of a double chin.
















And finally, Dillon at the mall in one of those germ infested quarter thingies.

Nothing new

So I am sitting here at 9:30 on a Friday night typing this on my new Dell XPS m1210. Very hot new laptop, running both Windows and Ubuntu Linux. So, what has been going on? Actually, not too much. Work, no riding, some gaming on my XBOX 360, actually I have been playing Dead Rising. Very fun, if you like just mowing down zombies with anything you find be it swords, knives, cd's, plates, benches, etc, you can use it as a weapon. Pretty fun.

Now I am typing this on Sunday evening. I ran out of time the other night, so I'll finish up now. Not a lot new. This weekend has been pretty uneventful. Last night Alicia and I got to go out for dinner by ourselves, we had a sitter for Dillon. We went to Addison's downtown. Good food, and good beer too. I had some New Belgium 1554 black ale, tasty. Don't tell my team!! today was laid back, rode my rollers for a bit, my first ride in a while. I finally got my new tattoo finished up mostly, i have a 1/3 sleeve on my right arm now. I'll post some pics soon. We ran into Brian Dziewa's sister Anne out at the mall today, she said he is heading out to California. Lucky kid!! I am looking forward to riding my bike, just not in this freezing temperature. Dillon is doing good, growing like crazy (isn't that what kids are supposed to do?). Alicia is doing well too, se has been running a ton and is getting into good shape, prolly better shape then me. I she is planning another half marathon in April, I'm sure she will do good with as much as she is running. I still have a bunch of pics I need to post. I'll do that soon. What else...I have been running my rc cars some, they are fun to tinker with, I've been changing a lot of stuff around motor wise with them and doing some tweaking getting them to run faster. Thats about all I have for now. Bye!!

Sorry

Yah, it has been a long time since I posted. Sorry. Lots have been going on, so here is a quick recap. Christmas was good, even with all of the traveling. Dillon was a blast, it was fun watching him open all of his presents. We had way too much stuff to bring home from our travels. Alicia and I were both on vacation the week of Christmas, so that was nice getting to hang out together. I also rode a little too. Before Christmas, I went wto the Boulevard Brewery for KCOI's end of year party. I went to meet some of my future teammates, I am riding with them this year. Should be fun. They are a great bunch of guys, so I am really looking forward to that. I have been lifting a lot, actually I have been doing that since last September so I'll need to see a plumber because my pipes are bursting ;) New Years eve the Kippenbergers came and stayed with us. We watched Jackass2. quite funny. What else...actually not a lot. Just the usual, work, dad, etc. I have a bunch of pics to post in the next couple of days so stay tuned.

Some Pics

Last night we went to the Walt's customer appreciation night at the shop. Good times, Walts knows how to cater their customers for sure. Here is a little bike porn:

The las picture is porn of a different nature: Thomas going to the gun show and loving it. So, what has been going on? Not a lot, the usual, lifting, hanging with Dillon, and work. The snow is starting to gradually go away and I am getting the itch to go out and ride my bike a little bit. It sucks having a new road bike sitting in the basement and not being able to ride it. I have a dandy new phone, a Nokia N80 which I have been fiddling with. It has wifi access so I dont have to use minutes if I have a hot spot available for surfing the net. 3.1 megapixel camers, which you prolly cant tell from the pics above. I had a few beers before I took those, so I wasn't quite steady. What else...I watched "The Devils Rejects" the other day during my commute. Great movie, a totally different movie then "House of 1000 corpses", but good. The ending actually makes me a bit sad. We also watched "V for Vendetta", another good movie. I am in the process of blowing stuff out on ebay still. I have a ton of Oakley glasses to sell, so if you want anything let me know. also, I have a PS3 for sale. Let me know if you want it, it is NIB and I have it here along with games and an extra controller. Seths post got me thinking about some old school music. I have my mp3 player packed with oldschool Minor Threat, DRI, The Cure, Agnostic Front, Black Flag, etc. Actually, I have been listening to the Cramps a lot lately and Southern Culture on the Skids. Good stuff. One final pic: this is the middle finger version of "ET the Extra Terrestrial".

Tech tip

In case you are the proud owner of a Losi Micro-T, you will notice that the steering links are VERY flimsy. Well, my collegue and I came up with a very keen way to fix these broken parts. First, take your garden variety aluminum soda can, we used Diet Dr. Thunder, and cut a strip of aluminu, aboot 7mm wide by about 20ishmm in lengty. Next, mark 2 holes exactly .710 inche (18mm) apart for the screws. Install. No more breakage, cheap fix. Donations can be sent to my paypal address jozenberger@gmail.com By the way, I'm sick again. yay

What I did on Thanksgiving

Well, I got up and made a tasty homemade waffle. Keep in mind that Dillon and Alicia were in Iowa visiting family. I worked for a while putting some stuff up on ebay. I went on a pre-lunch trail ride with Franklin which was fun. Broke out the Litespeed for that. I came home and raked leaves. I decided to finish my car, so after a thouough cleaning, I installed new sparkplugs, new headlights, and built the cover for my amp rack so I can put stuff in my trunt without strapping it down. Also, the stealth look is nice, you cant see any equipment in my trunk anymore. Played a few videogames and drove some of my RC cars. Had leftovers. That is really about it, it was a pretty full day.

Ok

So, yah, it has been a while. Today was the first day that I have ridden since the Leavenworth cross race. Rode with Franklin on the road (for the first time in months), on my new Look. Sweet bike indeed. I was cleaning my cross bike today and I discovered a bunch of flesh stuck to the non-drive side caliper of my rear brake from when I swung my right leg through for a dismount and got it hooked. I left it there, sort of a good luck charn I guess...So, Alicia and Dillon are gone for Thanksgiving, I am home alone. No worries, tho, I went and had Mexican food tonight, plus a Boulevard Wheat, and then I set up a RC course in the living room and messed around. Nice. So, not a lot else going on. Just hanging out, being dad, and working. We are busy at work, it is that time of the year. Everyone wants their movies transferred asap, and we have a lot of new stuff going on. I swear, I have made at least 5 hard drives every day. When I came in on Monday, my 8 shelves were full, and there were orders stacked up on the floor. So, I have been editing film till I am about to pass out. Tomorrow I am riding again, lifting again in my quest to gain huge amounts of weight, replacing the plugs in my car, maybe washing my car, cleaning the lawn, and whatever else comes to mind. Oh yah, I will have a TON of stuff on ebay, I will post a link. Happy Thanksgiving!! Check out my race number in the pic below from Snake Alley 2004...Golden!!

Busy

First thing: I spilled my coffee and milk this morning!! The past few weeks have been pretty busy, so its been a while since I've updated this turd. I have been riding a bit, check out this gayness for proof. I hit Krug and Sunbridge Hills a couple of times, the trails are great, but there was a lot of leaf cover and I had a hard time with some rooty sections. Check out all of the climbing!! We had an ok time in St Joe, Dillon was good for the most part and it was good to get to see family. I decided to get rid of the Rock Lobster single speed cross bike and instead I built up a vintage Litespeed Appalacian. Old school with bar end shifters. It is a sweet ride, and light. So, I rode it Tuesday night for a few minutes to get it dialed, and then went and hit Wednesday night cross practice. Fun times, and I didn't feel too bad but I'm sure Josh was taking it easy on ol'dad. Rode the single speed MTB at cosmo on Thursday, felt ok again. That was a fun ride, it is amazing waht riding a rigid single speed will do for your handling skills. Alicia had an activity planned for Saturday in KC. I had initially decided that I was going to do the Mizzou cross race on campus, but I decided to take Dillon and go with Alicia instead and spend the night with the Schoonbecks and do the cross race in Leavenworth instead. Alicia had to work at Metro North mall, a real stank pit of a mall, Saturday morning from 8 till noon. So dillon and I hung out and walked a lot, he literally wore me out keeping me busy chasing him and playing. The mall is pretty barren, which was good and bad. Good because Dillon was pretty much free to walk with me without putting him in the stroller because of crowds of people. Bad because it was boring with not a whole lot to look at. Saturday night we ate a ton of pizza and hung with the Schoons. Sunday went to the race, it was windy and pretty chilly. I knew it was going to be a painful race, there was a lot of climbing that my 165 pound body didn't agree with. The field was tiny, 10 riders. Boring. Actually the course was fun, really fun and well thought out with a sand pit, singletrack, a stair run up, and a paved climb. I wanted to get in the top three going into the first grass section since there was a short 18 percent climb. I managed to do this and blew sky high. Nice. So I got passed and ended up 8th. I wasn't completely disappointed. I felt like I rode to the best of my fitness and my handling skills were there. Just not too fast. I even lapped a guy (I wont mention his name). So, yah, it was a good time. When we got home, we hit the grocery store and relaxed. Not a lot else going on. Hopefully we will get some down time soon. Oh yah, I hooked up with a Garmin forerunner gps for my bike, so check my motion based page for maps and whatnot. This thing is really fun to play with. I have been anti gadget, I usually dont use a computer or heart rate monitor when I ride. But I got this for a steal and I am having fun with it.

Sweet revenge is mine!!!

A morning is not a morning

Unless I spill my coffee. It happens almost every day. This morning was big time. I sat my coffee on the roof of my car so I could put my stuff in and BOOM!! All of a sudden i had coffee spraying in my face from the impact of the cup hitting the floor in the garage. Nice. I also had it on the steering wheel and inside of the door on my car, not to mention the drivers side was covered too. And it was in the garage. So I have a nice puddle of coffee on the floor. I am glad I wasn't wearing white!!

Bling

Yummy titaniun fork and bars. And Chris King wheels. Lighter than my road bike. Seriously.

Re-gifting?

When we were at the Mizzou homecoming parade last Saturday, they were throwing out tons of candy. I thought it might be a good idea to pick up as much as I could and hand it out on Halloween. Would that be re-gifting? Did you know that a beer belly is also known as a "muffin top"?

I can't win

Yah, I am sick AGAIN! Yep, more chest stuff. Nice. It sucks, I actually got on the bike 2 days in a row, Friday and Saturday. Took big pink out to cosmo on Friday. The leaves were down on the trails so that made for some fun riding. However, I am waaaaaaaayyyyyy out of shape. Fun nonetheless, tho. We had dinner at home that night and went up to campus to check out the homecoming festivities with Dillon. Pretty cool but too many people. We went and watched the homecoming parade Saturday morning, it was cold. The little guy seemed to enjoy it, and we had some good people to stand next to, they kept giving Dillon popcorn and candy. I came home and went for the first ride on my road bike in 2 months. It was cold. I got rained on. Smart move on my part. Short ride, tho, less then an hour. The Kershas came over for tacos last night, it was good to get to hang with them. Props to Alicia for whipping up some tasty tacos. Thanks for the nice spread ;) We watched "Click" with Adam Sandler. It was pretty good, funny, yet the 7 & 8 year old kids cussing were a little much. So now I am sitting in the recliner feeling like total crap again. Just a couple of things...quit running election ads on TV!! Also, I am sick of celebrities adopting kids from third world countries. Adopt Americain! Leave Starvin' Marvin at home. Forget about trying to be a philanthropist, trying to look good in the spotlight like you really care about what happens in other countries. Maddonna, you suck! Angelina Jolie, you really suck! Leave. Anyway, sorry for the semi-negative blog. Have a nice day.

My computer at work is painfully slow

I am sitting here at work waiting for some high def files to index and comform, which takes about a year, so I thought I'd update. I am still slightly ill. Big shocker there, I know. A bit of a cough and whatnot. Saturday Curt and Krista were in town, I rode cx bikes with Curt for a little while. It was good to get to catch up with him. Alicia and I did a lot of work around the house, I installed a new sink, we cleaned up the yard, gutters, repaired a storm window, etc. We had dinner with the Kippenbergers at Flat Branch. Sunday, we went to Lowes and I started doing a little landscaping in the rain. Fun times. Not a lot going on, really. The usual. Dillon is getting big, and smart too. He knows where his belly button is, he knows how to turn off the TV when we tell him to, feeds himself with a fork, and a lot of other stuff. Alicia and I are very proud of him. What else...I am playing Gitaroo Man Lives on the PSP, it is fun. A japanese import, so it is pretty weird. I weigh 165 pounds. Yay, I have been trying to gain weight, so I guess I am succeeding at something. It is raining, and has been for a couple of days. I really want to ride my mountain bike, but I am not going to slop around in the mud. Thats about all for now.

Can you believe this crap, Part 2

So I am sick again. I have been sick since last Tuesday, when I made the mistake of riding out at Rockbridge on the Intense. First off, make sure you check the pressure on your rear shock, mine was way low, low enough that my saddle height didnt feel right because of too much sag. I felt pretty bad during the ride anyway, and at one point I was breaking out in the cold sweats. And I flatted. So, yah, that sucked. Not a lot else last week, Alicia and I did get to go out to eat alone on Friday night, thanks Brian and Lori for watching Dillon. We went to Hu-Hot, which I highly recommend. I pretty much ate nothing but meat there, seafood, pork, you name it. It was very tasty. Saturday was uneventful, we went to some garage sales, I hung up a swing from our tree in the front yard for Dillon. Had mexican for dinner and saw the Buttheads. Sunday I made the mistake of riding again, this time on the singlespeed. I was taking it easy, just wanted to get outside for a few minutes. Of course I felt like poop again. I just cant seem to shake this cold, and I am coughing up some nice clay colored stuff out of my lungs. I dont know why I am at work.

Meanie

So we are in the middle of an October heatwave. Lame. I was hoping to put away the shorts for the season and get into some of my fashionable fall gear. Not yet, I guess. So, what has been going on? More of the usual. I am starting to feel like normal again after my sinus cold. Dillon has been suffering with the same crap, poor little guy. Alicia has been lucky so far and has not caught it. Work is busy as usual, we are still trying to get the kinks worked out of the high definition stuff. I have been riding here and there, some MTB and CX. I am going to hit up rockbridge after work tonight on the Intense. Here is a funny story. First off, I am trying to stop cussing. Ok, so Saturday, Alicia, D, and I head out to Wal Mart for an oil change. We usually go to Jiffy Lube, but the Mart is 5 bucks cheaper. So, we get there and they obviously have some non computer savy, illeterate type checking cars in. After 10 minutes of giving him our info, we are told it is going to take about an hour. So, we walked over to Old Navy to return a couple of things (by the way, their small t-shirts are really not small, they are BIG). Went over to shoe carnival. Did some shopping in Wal Mart. Keep in mind Dillon is with us, so he is getting fussy from being in the stroller. After an hour, we go back to the auto dept thinking our car would be ready. Not so. So, we wait around and A and I are trying to keep the little guy busy by letting him play with the demo car stereos and pushing buttons. Alicia goes up to the counter and asks how much longer and they told her an hour more. Nice! So we decide to get our car back and go to Jiffy Lube. Well, the counter person goes on a quest to get our car, and comes back and tells us she can't find the keys. Moron! By now I am doing a hard boil and getting very angry. About that time, our car is pulled in and hoisted up. So, I guess we are locked into waiting. So, we try to keep Dillon happy. Finally, after about 45 more minutes our car is done. I am so mad I can hardly see straight, so I let Alicia pay because I dont want to verbally bash the person behind the counter. They give us our keys and we go outside to get our car. It is still in the bay. So, we are standing out in the parking lot, waiting again. Finally, I couldnt take anymore. I walked into the bay and asked one of the lackeys to please pull our car out. Nicely. He just ignored me and started doing something else. Bad move. Anger overload. Another worker comes over and I said in a very angry tone to pull our car out right now, I dont mean later, right now. Hurry! He pulls our car out, and I start degrading him and Wal Mart in the lot and the rest of the employees. Well, he goes back in the bay and pulls the yellow chain across the opening. When he did this, he hit the hood of my car with the chain. I freaked. I started going off again and he told me that it didnt do anything, but I kept freaking out on him anyway. Alicia had already buckled D in the car and she was telling me to get in. So I got in, shut my door, only to look out my window and see another employee standing behind the chain, holding a big torque wrench, staring at me and bouncing the wrench in his palm. Like a jack in the box, I jumped out of the car and went over to him and asked him if he had anything he wanted to say to me and asked him if he wanted to come around the chain to say it. Obviously big man with the wrench didnt want any, so I belittled him too all the time trying to get him to cross the chain. Finally, I got back in the car again, unsatisfied with the way it ended. About that time a manager came out and told us never to come back. Nice. We informed her that we wouldnt ever darken their door again, and that they had absolutely no customer service. So yeah, I guess now I should be known as the Wal Mart bully. Moral of the story: dont go to Wal Mart. The bitterness of low quality customer service remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. Anyway, throughout that whole exchange, I didn't utter a single cuss word. I guess I am not a completely bad person, just 99%.

So what has been going on with me? Well last weekend we went to St. Joe with a side trip to Liberty. Alicia had an appointment, so Dillon and I just wandered around in the town square, which, conviently was having a fall festival. So we were entertained. Got a coffee at the local soda fountain. I highly recommend the Soda Fountain to anyone who is in Liberty. Very nice help, and a great menu. So, we ened up eating in Platte City, and by the time we got to St Joe, it was Dillon's bedtime. It was raining Saturday morning, and I was planning on riding with Lanses, a local. So we postponed the ride till after lunch when things had dried up. It was windy, very windy. And, towards the end of the ride, cold too. I was wishing for my arm warmers. We went to dinner with my grandma that night. Sunday, breakfast and drove home. Dillon is getting pretty good in the car, he isnt fussing much anymore. So, Sunday night I get a call and find out my Great Grandma passed away. She was 99. She took care of me when I was little, I remember going to her house. She always had food, good food, she came from the old school where everything was home made. I would always try to talk her into wrestling with me, and she usually would. She was one of the nicest, coolest people I have known, she never had a bad thing to say about anybody. She and my great grandfather would come and visit us in St Louis when we lived there and stay for a while. So yeah, pretty much a bummer. I drove to St Joe yesterday morning for the funeral, then drove home around lunch. So yah, I am pretty worn out today.

Can you believe this crap?

I am freaking sick. Yah, I went to the doctor this morning and she said I have a viral infection in my throat and sinuses. Great. I am pretty pleased about that. So, what else? Friday afternoon, Alicia, Dillon, and I drove up to KC to stay with the Schoonbecks. We had a good meal, good beer, and had a good time visiting with them. Dilon also had a blast playing with Alison and Erik. Saturday morning, we had breakfast and Mark and I rolled over to Kansas City Kansas for the first cross race of the season. First off, the race was in a tiny "pocket" park kind of in the middle of nowhere. So, that meant limited parking. Very limited. Like maybe 10 cars could fit. There were people parked all along both sides of this 2 lane rolling country road, which was a little dangerous in my opinion. Mark and I found a sneaky back way into the park by rolling on some of the back neighborhoods, so that was good. We rolled up and got our register on. Mark was doing the 3/4's race and he was slated to go off in about an hour, so we got kitted up and went up to the course. I figured I might as well kit up, that way there would be less to worry about later. I prerode the cours a little, interesting. Remember I am on a single speed this year. The start was at the bottom of a log climb, the finish was at the top of that same climb. Basically you start with a long climb, then long descent, then climb back up again, hit a paved bike path. Go thru some swtichbacks while going back down. Then a trip through a mulch play area with a dismount before it. Long climb, more switchback, stairs, fast downhill around a tennis court, then over a hump that I caught air off of just be cool every lap, then to the finish. Whe! A good course, taped the entire way, albeit a little rough due to the many chuckholes in the grass. Mark had a good race with a solid top 10 finish. My race was 60 minutes. Had a pretty bad start, missed my pedal. Nice. Moved up nicely on the climbs, only to fall back a little on the descents. Just picked people off as best I could, and laid down a good attack through the playgroung and hit the gas on the next climb to drop a couple of people. Then I blew up. The big gear was definitely taking its toll on me. But, all in all I am pretty satisfied with the way I rode. It was too hot for cross though, the temp ws in the high 80's. So, we rolled back to Columbia and ate mexican food for dinner. Yesterday was a day that I spen with Dillon alone since Alicia had to be in StL. Good times, we pretty much played all day inside since it was raining, went to the mall, got groceries, etc. He's a great kid, and it was nice to spend some solo time with him. Not a lot else. Oh yeah, I have a set of Campagnolo Record mountain bike cranks I am selling.

This morning

On the way to work, I listened to the King.
There is only one.









And now I am listening to Cradle of Filth.
Not your run of the mill new goth crap. Both of these bands are old school indeed, kind of metal rock-operas where each song tells a story. Definite beatuy.

Bikeling

Yah, I have been riding a bit here and there. In between headaches. I don't know what the problem is, the past week I have had these splitting headaches that won't go away. Case in point: right now, I am hurting quite nicely. Friday I rolled out on the CX bike early, too early. When I got to the park, there was still a ton of dew on the fresh cut grass, so, by the end of the ride, I was covered in wet, nasty grass. So was my bike. Alicia and I ran some errands on friday afternoon, then went with Rachel and her son Elliot to Coopers landing. Not reccommended. They supposedly have good Thai food, but I thought it was mediocre at best. It is a longish drive to get there, and it is in the moddle of nowhere off of some dusty country roads. So, when we got there, I knew it was going to suck. There were a ton of drunk hippies dancing around to a crappy band, most of them were smoking, not a place I wanted to be at or have my son at. Also, they had porta potties for bathrooms. I found out the hard way that I should have just gone into the ditch, I went in there after some stinky hippie who had obviously been in there with a lit cigarette. Also, there was some liquid of unknown origin on the door handle. So yeah, the food was edible, but not worth the hassle. So dont waste your time unless you are a dirty, fould smelling hippy. There are better places in town. Saturday I rolled out the trail with the Dude. Very refreshing. I haven't ridden with that kid for a long time, it was nice to catch up. That night we went over to Kershas for a BBQ. Yum. It was good to hang out with them too, and the dude was there as well!..Morgan was there with his wife and daughter, so Dillon had a playmate. Sunday, I rolled out with Kersha and Morgan and poached into the MS150 ride. Poaching charity rides is my new thing, I can go on the ride, get all of the support and free food and schwag I want, and not pay anything. Just kidding. It was a fun ride, tho, and the longest ride I have done in a while. I felt good. Surprise. It was also fun watching people on wal-mart bikes try to slog up the steep grades around here, or the guy that fell over coming into one of the rest stops in front of 100 people. Or the girl wearing some sort of weird miniskirt/denin/riding shorts thing. Or the guy that boasted to me about how he hit 42 miles per hour down Sapp hill on his hybrid that he was sitting straight up on, with aero bars tilted up ala' Floyd Landis style. I made sure we got as far away as possible from him. Also thanks go out to the guys that would sit in and let me and Kersha pull them around and then ride past us with a king greeting, "Nice pull". If we hadn't had Morgan with us, I would have made sure once these guys got latched onto us, they would have regretted it. But know, we kept it piano, but you could tell these guys were hurting. I was in the dog house when I got home, Alicia didn't expect me to be gone so long. Sorry! Mexican food for dinner. Dillon hasn't been sleeping at all, no naps yesterday, and he woke up around 330 and stayed awake this morning. Alicia got up with him and let me stay in bed but I didn't sleep anymore either. I should have just got up and went to work. One last thing, if anybody reading this uses Accelerade when you ride, does it give you gas? I farted loudly every3 minutes after gettng done riding yesterday. They weren't stinky, just loud and looooooong. It was amusing to me.

These days

You can find me being lazy. Sunday, Alicia, Dillon and I road tripped to St.L to check out the Kippenbergers' new house. Very nice. I would be happy living there. It was good to see them, made me realize that they are really gone from CoMo. They are going to be missed. We rolled over to watch some of the U City crit. Im glad I wasnt racing. Looked painful. Tuesday, back to work. We finally have our network back up, so I had some work to do. Really, not a lot going on around here. I rode my Intense last night at Cosmo. Great bike, it corners superfast. And, its pink. I have some pics I need to post. Soon.

Anyhow

Not a ton going on here. I rode today for the 3rd day in a row, which might be some kind of record lately. So I have a new bike. Again. I am going to sell the Scalpel in case you are interested. Email me for details. So I have an Intense tracer. Very sweet bike, plusher then the Scalpel but not as racy. I like it though, and it is hot pink. That makes 2 pink bikes for me. It is sweet, Avid mechanical discs, Sram 9.0 drivetrain, Sid race, blah blah blah. It is fun to ride, and quite fast indeed. Alicia, Dillon, and I went to Connie and Russel's cabin on the Osage river yesterday. Connie is Alicia's boss. I ate a TON of pork and a few veggies. I mean a ton. Atkins would have proud of my protein consumption. It was fun, it is amazing to see Dillon playing with other kids. He is growing up too fast. Today the Schoonbecks came across from KC. Mark and I rode for about 3.5 hours, the longest i have been on the bike for a while. And, the first time I have ridden on the road for a couple of months. Afterwards, I grilled some kabobs and we chowed. They brought their 2 kids, Alison and Erik. Great kids, and they really hit it off with Dillon. Not a lot else going on, back to work on Tuesday, hopefully our network will be up and running so we wont fall too far behind. We are maybe going to roll to StL for the final crit at the Gayway cup tomorrow, but I dont know. I am feeling like staying home and riding and spending some time with alicia and D, so we will see what happens.

I guess I can go ahead and update this turd. Last week, Alicia and I took Dillon to his Grandma's house and we flew out to Baltimore. She had a conference to attend, so we thought that would be a good chance to get away. I pretty much had my days free since she was working. The first night, we ate at the Hard Rock cafe with the kids we were chaperoning. The food was ok, but that place is a little overated. I also took a long walk while she was working, one of many. I ended up in the hood and about a ton of strip clubs. Nice. We were staying downtown in the inner harbor, a nice ritzy part of town. But the hood was close by, about 7 blocks in any direction would get you there. The hotel we were staying at was posh, every morning we had a good breakfast and free starbucks coffee all day long. Also they had a nioce fitness center that I used a lot in my quest to go to the gunshow and get ripped and shredded :) Walked prolly about 10 miles every day. I checked out Edgar Allen Poe's grave which was very surreal. It was in a cemetary in the middle of the city, an old cemetary dating back to the 1700's. There were also revolutionary was soldiers burried there too. I took some pics, I'll post them later. Spent some time at Barnes and Noble reading. Roamed little Italy. Hit up the Baltimore Tattoo museum. The Baltimore aquarium. Really, I did a lot of stuff. The flights to and from were pretty uneventful. Went to a great Itallian restaurant on my birthday, Friday, and had some of the best service in the world. Also, I ate homade Beet Ravioli. It was so good, I love beets, and they were mixed with cream cheese in a veal reduction sauce with mushrooms. For desert, tiramisu with a b-day candle in it. All 7 of the kids sang happy birthday to me, which was nice. They were a great group of kids, all of them have a strong stance against underage drinking and they really have there stuff together. They ranged in age from 14-17. We had a good time, but it was good to get back home and see Dillon. What else...We are finished moving at work, we are in the new building which is great. No Gayway cup for me this year. Everyone can stop sweating now, I won't be there to take your money.

Today

On the way to work this morning, I was listening to Mancow and he said something that made me think. He mentioned that Las Vegas was trying to pass a law that makes it illegal for a homeless person to set up their living space (sleep) withing 200 feet, I think, of the entrance to a business. There are people in Vegas trying to fight that law, saying that it is unfair. Why? There is nothing I hate more then going downtown, trying to get a cup of coffee, and having some scummy, stinking, homeless piece of crap approach me and my family to try to get money from me. You smell!! F*!k off!! A couple of years ago Alicia and I were at Sams club to get a few odds and ends. The homeless people that used to sit at the south entrance to the parking lot were in there buying a party sized bottle of cheap vodka. One, they obviously had the money to buy a sams membership. Two, they were buying Vodka!! Part of the reason we moved from Kansas City was to get away from this. Anyway, Mancow went on to say that he should have the right to walk out of the door, squirt lighter fluid on any homeless person sitting in his doorway, and throw a match. Sounds good to me. Not a lot going on this weekend. Hit up the mall. Rode with Alicia yesterday, which was nice. Krista kept an eye on Dillon for about an hour and gave us a chance to get in the rare bike ride together. She is still my favorite person to ride with!! I have some new music to listen to today. Old school Stooges. The Cure, Disintegration. Blah blah blah. I might ride again today, who knows???

To whoever rides at Cosmo today

I cleared out all of the spiders for you this morning. I had to stop every 5 minutes to get the webs off my face and to get the spiders that were decending from my helmet off. I ate a couple too.

Prozenberger rode
spiders were across the trail
their webs are binding

Some haiku for you.

What else...obviously I am not going to Downers Grove. I might ride my bike again sometime this weekend. Or not.

To ride or not to ride?!?

Here is today's excuse: my dog ate my bike!! I am going to ride today. Not the Tuesday night ride, though, because it is too far away from the safety of my house and there are too many sketchy riders there. This will be my weekly ride, for the rest of the week I will be too busy worrying about my fitness for the coming winter, when the rides around here get really tough. Yesterday I totally planned on riding, but the roads were just too wet, so I went to Wal-Mart instead. Sunday I was pretty toasted from my weekly ride on Saturday, so I figured I better have a few recovery days so I could really peak for the Sedalia crit that I will not be attending. I had pasta last night, a little carbo-bloating to get the pump primed for todays long ride, you know, less then an hour on the bike really blows out some calories and I don't need to lose any more weight. It seems like I am just wasting away, the riding has been really hard lately. I am sooooo funny, it almost hurts!!!

Joetown

Every time we go home to St Joe, I leave feeling glad that we dont live there anymore. Not because of family or anything, that town is just such a dump. White trash everywhere, everyone seems to just be a couple of steps behing the rest of the world. We left Friday morning to head there. We stopped in Platte City at the PIzza Shoppe for lunch, I had a mini pizza with corned beef on it. Yah, thats right, corned beef!! Hell yes! They now are my favorite pizza place. The crust is just right, not too think or thin, no grease, and crunchy. When we got to St JOe, I took out the rock lobster for a little ridey poo. That is the only bike I brought, just to make sure I wasn't tempte to go to the Tour of KC and waste $70. I rolled around town and rode thru a lot of grass on the parkway and hit a few trails which were spider central since no one rides MTB's around there. I also brought road tires so I could poach in on the group ride the next day. To my dismay, I realized I forgot my pump. So, I made a trip to the local shop and bought a much needed pump. Time to retire my 9 year old wrench force that has been with me for so long. Alicia, Dillon and I went out to Palmas for some tasty mex food, I had the pork chili which was good, but I would pay for it for the rest of the night and the next morning. The group ride was leaving at 8 on Saturday and a 60 mile ride was planned. I flopped my rear wheel around to the fixed side so I could get in a workout. The route was a challenging one, quite hilly indeed. It was nice to catch up with some of the locals. It was a good ride, fast at times, but chill a lot too. There were supported water stops at every 15 miled which was nice since the humidity was 200%. When I got home, I chowed all day, hit the pool, and went out to dinner with my mom. So, not a lot of excitement. My legs are a little sore from spending sooo much time on my fixie. It was good to see so many people riding bikes in st joe. When I lived there, there were only a few people that rode, there were close to 50 riders on Sunday. I got my new kicks from Zappos.com and they are dope. Old school Adidas Superskate hightops. Hot! I think I am going to get on the roadbike a bit this week. It actually rained last night, so the trails will be in better shape, not so dusty, and I am looking forward to taking the scalpel out for a spin too. I have been getting some good PSP time rocking the emulators. My current game is Smash TV on the Super NES emulator. Fun, simple, and challenging, killinghundreds of people per level to win prizes like a sleek 1999 roadster, VCR's, and money. It is like a gameshow, but you go to a room and people just come at you. You have to survive by killing them and picking up new weapons. The PSP is great, I have so many roms on my memory stick, it is hard to decide what to play. All of the NES, Super NES, and Sega games ever made. I am also going to get a game boy emulator so I can get the hook-up there too. Oh yeah, one more thing, I still have my Orbea Pista track bike for sale, if you are interested, email me.

Full weekend

So Friday was a millon years ago and I really dont remember what we did. Saturday morning Alicia, Dillon and I went to a few garage sles. Pretty interesting. We were at a sale over off Chappel Hill at a nice house. I was holding Dillon looking thru the stuff in the garage when this dirty, semi large lady comes walking up with a lit cigarette in her hand. Now, if you know me, there is nothing I hat more then people forcing you to smell their smoke. The people standing outside the entrance to a restaurant, blowing smoke in your face when you pass. So, she walks right in the garage smoking. So big mouth me, I turn and say "Just because you smoke in your own garage doesn't mean the people here want you smoking in theirs". She turns to me, takes a drag off of her cig, and says "F*#@ you, is this your house?" Ok, that pushed the wrong button. Keep in mind I was still holding Dillon, and I don't take too kindly to people cursing to me, especially in front of my son. Me:"why dont you go and ask the homeowner if they want you smoking here?" She walked away, so I said something to the effect of "why dont you take your smoke someone else you dirty skank." Ok, this is no crap, she came swaggering up and got in my face, like nose to nose. I handed off Dilloin to Alicia pronto, and stood there grill to grill trying what to do next. Needless to say, nothing happened, we exchanged a few more words and she went off in a puff of smoke. In the space of 10 seconds though, I had about a hundred different scenarios race thru my mind. Do I hit back if she tries to hit me? Break her arm in front of all of these people? Block and let it go? So many options, I guess instinct would have taken over. Anyway, it was a nice burst of adrenaline to start the day. I rode my singlespeed later since I had decided not to do state crit and do the Rockbridge MTB instead. So, I got tothe race about 1030 on Sunday. Hot already. Registered and hung out talking to Brady and Kevin. Finally got lined up, Kevin and I were totally not paying attention and they said go. So, yah, last into the woods, ni biggie though since I was the only guy on a singlespeed in a field of geared experts. First lap I worked on picking people off on the climbs and recovering on the descents. Not too bad, it hurt but I was rolling. The second lap was tougher. Third lap I was cracking. There was a LOT of climbing and my legs were torked from mashing a big gear. Fourth lap I was cramping but still managed to roll in for third and the bronze medal in the Show Me state games. I have to say I was pretty happy since it was my first SS race and it was hot. Really hot. Kevin won. Nice. We went over to Curt and Kristas for a BBQ later. Good times, drank some beer, didn't eat too much because I was still feeling pretty bad after the 28 mile sufferfest earlier in the day. Congratulations to Brian Dziewa for taking the state jersey at the crit. You deserve it!! Oh yah, thanks to Alicia and Brady for feeding me at the race since I refuse to wear a camelback.

Blast furnace

Yes, I am complaining. It is hot! Was hot. Supposedly it is going to cool off today, but we'll see. Of course columbia missed out on the rain again. Tuesday night Alicia and I went out for beer and desert for our anniversary after we put Dillon to sleep. Thanks Lori for watching him!! Something cool: I have a psp that is somewhat hacked; I have everything that ever came out on the NES and super NES as well as all of the sega master system games. And, I also have a bunch of UMD files of games and whatnot. So, yah, I think I am going to sell some of my older systems, I don't need them anymore. What else...I rode for the first time in a long time yesterday in the 103 degree heat. On the fixie. Fun!! Not a lot else, this weekend is the Jeff city crit. Will I be there? Who knows...

Dis weekend

Holy crap it is hot!! Friday night Alicia's mom and little bro showed up, so we had a little bbq. Good food, I am awesome on the grill, even though it is hard to screw up anything cooked on the grill. Saturday I went on a Rockstar loop ride with Curt and Darby. It would have been an easy ride had I not rode my track bike with 49x14 gearing and no brakes. So, that made for an unpleasant time and my legs are definitely still mad at me for doing that to them. We went and got everything we needed for Dillons b-day party and made a side trip to the mall to kill some time. The mall was dumb crowded, everybody was trying to beat the 100 degree raw temperature by hanging out in the A.C. I fired up the grill for the 2nd time in as many days for dinner. There were quite a few people over at our place, Kershas, Kippenbergers, Schwarz's, family, Darby. I ate a ton of cake, and I do mean a ton. Like half of one of the birthday cakes. I paid the price for it Sunday morning by turning the water a smrf blue in the toilet. Nice!! So, Dillon got a bunch of stuff, thanks to everybody for celebrating with us. He also got his first taste of cake, the little guy was digging it. Sunday was pretty uneventful, cut the grass, went for a walk, groceries, you know the drill. We watched "The Hills Have Eyes" last night, it was prolly the most disturbing movie I have seen in a long time. It was also nice to have a good old horror movie without CG. Much more realistic, IMO.

For Luke

This would look good on your car.

Sore down there

I am sur[rised I didn't have a bit of blood in the chamois after yesterdays time trial. I pretty much removed all of the skin from my sack and taint (scientific terms). State tt did not go great for me. I started off good and had a pretty good time at the turnaround. Then I cracked on the way back. Actually, in hindsight, I was cracking the whole time, just ignoring it. I almost got blown off the road by a tour bus. It passed within a foot of me, I was all the way on the shoulder/gutter, riding the white line. The bus did end up blowing a woman off the road, requiring an ambulance on the course. I talkted to some police afterwards, they actually had the bus pulled over because of the wreck, but I don't think they did anything about it. I went so far as to email the tour company last night, so I guess we will see if anything comes of that. Kersha ended up first in the 30-34, he set a blistering pace. 3rd fastest on the day, good enough to get him 2nd in the pro1/2. Saturday night we went to Buttheads for a party celebrating Kara's graduation. We had a sitter for Dillon so we got to let loose a bit. A lot. After drinking margaritas at dinner, the keg was flowing. As a matter of fact, Curt and I decided to roll up to campus on our banks and climb Jesse auditorium. Nice. We had a garage sale Friday and Saturday, sold some of our crap, made a few bucks, and made fun of all of the slime that accompanies garage sales. Like15 Mexicans piling out of an extended cab truck. Or the 300 pound woman with tonails so nasty that I wanted to yammy. One word: Lamisil. Obviously Digger, the dermatophyte has been doing a number on her feet.

Tugjob

No, not Tugboat, Tyler Hamilton's dog. I am saying tugjob. Some people hand them out on a regular basis. No pun intended. Caution: excuse laden, poor racing performance, my priorities are fucked up for racing, I have a real life off of the bike post ahead. So yah, not too much going on. It is f-ing hot. Work is busy, which is good. I am back working long days, 630-330. Lame, but only 4 days a week. I've been on the Powercranks a lot, fun times. I did not go to Soulard last weekend. It was too hot. My cat threw up on the floor. Dillon has a cold. I didn't feel like driving. The payout was too low. I just cleaned my bike and didn't want to get it all sweaty. I drank too much cheap beer the night before. I am busy trying to peak for the fall BRR ride (bike ride to Rocheport) so I can't be bothered with petty crits. Fair enough. So I am going to state TT this year without my TT bike (I sold it last year). That is pre-race excuse if I ride like shit. I don't have a CBC skinsuit. Another excuse. I also don't have a sperm cap. One more. But, I have a new helmet on the way since my Giro is cracked in 3 places. Oh, I forgot to add, I have been sick this week.

Today

I rode the powercranks for 2 hours with the Dude this morning. I actually got him to get off the trail and ride on the road!!

Yummy

Just sitting here at work eating Egg Foo Young and thought I'd blog. Not a lot going on, just the usual. Dillon walking all around the house and causing trouble, a little riding on the CX bike, Animal Crossing in full effect. Thats about it really. I am going to hit Rickbridge after work today and see how i feel. Holy crap, I cant think about anything else to say. I guess this was the most worthless post ever. Oh yah, we went to Traci and Molly's place Tuesday night and ate food. It was tasty indeed, and nice to get to hang out with the cycling scene. I was planning on doing some of the fourth of july ride, but it was raining and I stayed in bed. Thats how I roll, no getting wet and dirty and slogging around in the rain for me. Also, we had a Dude sighting @ Old navy. I am maybe going to ride with the dude tomorrow, should be interesting. He better bring his A-game.

Remember

What the 4th of July is. Our freedom, liberty, independence. Be thankful that we have people willing to die for our country. A time to be with family, friends, loved ones. Have a good day!!

Who's a girl???

Don't be such a crybaby Ivan. It is just a scrape! Puss....



















This is what happens to a real man:

Poopy pants

So this will be somewhat quick, but I have a bit of free time; my lunch was interupted by a very urgent matter. Thank you antibiotics. So, obviously I haven't been riding. I went back to work on Wednesday after being off for a week and a half. Nothing new, but it was kind of nice to get in the groove a bit. My shoulder has a very nice black scab over the hole now, and the road rash is dry up there too. But, the rach on my hip is still open and wet and messy, making for some fun times at night when I wake up and it is stuck to the sheets. Still sore too. I want to say thanks to everyone who called, came by, or whatever just to make sure I was ok. Props to Greg too, for hooking up a gimpy brother with a twelve of Steel reserve painkiller. So I have been going to the mall a lot, limping about with Alicia and Dillon. Speaking of Dillon, he is now walking for real!! He is going like mad, walking all around the house without any help. It is fun watching him! He is really growing up. I got out and rode for about an hour very easy around town with Franklin this morning. Painful, the scabs on my shoulder are stif and the rubbing of my shorts on my rash sucked. I don't know how some people ride with this crap the day after it happens. I don't mind pain, actually I embrace it, but I like to keep my wounds clean. I am not going to really say anything about the Tour, but I am not surprised. I think Matt Decanio is right about a lot of things. Anyway, I think Chad at work is goind to hook me up with Animal Crossing for the DS tomorrow, which you can play online. It is a social/lifestyle game where you create a character and move into town, shop, work, fish, etc. I had it on the Game Cube. With the DS, you can play online and go to other peoples towns to get rare items, money, etc, and chat. All over the world. So I think I am going to set up 2 accounts, one nice account that I will use to get a huge house with lots of rare stuff and cool furniture, and be a nice guy, and one account that I will use to be a shithead, trashing others towns and whatnot. Fun times, and yes, I am a nerd.So, now it is time for a few pics.

This is Dillon getting in trouble:


This is me with my signature Mick Jagger game face:


This is my Rock Lobster CX bike. Notice it is a singlespeed and has Campy Record MTB cranks:

This is Pinky:

Guess who this is? The caption on the shirt says it all, I am so motherfuckin' hot. Thanks go to Alicia for this pic: