Appropriate?

The family and I went to the gym this morning and then to the Farmers Market. Upon leaving our car we were accosted by some minister guy, I forget his name. He asked us if we knew we would go to Heaven when we die. Not wanting an endless conversation I said yes. He asked me how. I said my beliefs and it was what I was taught. I was somewhat feeding him a line of BS, since I just wanted our of there. He went on how he knows he is going to Heaven because he found Jesus, the son of God, who died for us, and on and on...
He asked if we would do a prayer with him asking God/Jesus to allow us into Heaven.
I said no.
He asked why.
I told him I thought what he was soliciting and where he was doing it was inappropriate and we walked off.
He and is "posse" eventually left.

Jeez.

Noisy Neighbors

The house behind our home has been a rental since we moved in 7-8 years ago. Never a big problem, just lots of coming and going.
The new neighbors, college kids, had a party last night. More and more cars kept coming and filling up the street. I sleep through about anything so I never heard them nor did the kids, but when Jen got home from graduation at 2 am there were four cop cars around the house. Someone must have complained. Usually it's Jen, don't mess with Jen's sleep, but she was gone.
I checked out my garden this morning and it was safe. Lots of bottles and cans in the street. Kids these days! Hell, if I was still drinking I may have made my way over there. I heard some girl voices!

I have my road bike out on loan to see if a customer may like to buy a sweet new road bike with 7900 on it. We'll have to wait and see. I will hopefully try and mtb again today. But first I have to tech a boyscout event this noon.

Later.

Ditto

Another great morning mtb ride! Pretty much like yesterday but ran into Charlie at the North Loop.
Not much else to report.

Later.

Calling In Sick

Today is one of those days that it would be nice to call in sick. Just got back from a good mtb ride and would love nothing more to be a lazy bum in the sun all day. Ah, but I have shit that needs to be done at work so I will head on my way soon. I do plan to have a coffee on the patio at the Veranda, if I get my shit together in time.
Only crashed twice on the ride today! I'm getting better.
During the ride I talked myself into and out of racing at Afton this weekend. Maybe if it was closer I would do it...then again, maybe not. Mankato is fun so maybe I will shoot for that one.

Later.

Tired Legs

No rain all day and none on the radar. But with the 5:30 ride came a fine mist. Nothing too bad, just messy and cold.
Ten of us headed out from the shop. Missing was Jeffro...not too sure where he was! It was a good ride overall. Everyone took turns pulling and chasing. We flew up and over the Alp. Doc said we did 9:58, better than a few weeks ago...so I guess we are going the right direction.
OPUS is done so Matt showed up and showed us what being Cat 1 is like...ouch.
I have been able to overcome my mental block of not wanting to go into too much pain, AKA The Hurt Locker. Just dig deep, go, and don't think. It seems to be working.
The legs are tired tonight, however. Zoe kept looking up at me on our walk, wondering why the hell I was going so slow.
Next week we plan on staying out till 9, getting a 3.5 hour ride in. Hopefully we slow down a bit!
Thanks for the great ride.

Weekend Pics

Below are some pics from the past weekend.
Nice ass...yep, it's mine

Nice group ride! Josh needs a gold chain!

The Burley.

Anderson and me. Dorks.

Later.

Tuesday Ride Line Up

This ride may hurt more than others. Sounds like a good turn out, despite the weather.
Here is what I know so far:
1.) Jimmy
which usually means...
2.) Doc
3.) Williams
4.) Jeffro
5.) Mike
6.) Charlie
7.) Nemeth
8.) Me
Plus more...

Here we go!

WIND!

The wind is back. Mr. Anderson, Jeffro, Kyia, Sheila, and I headed out for a four hour "over distance" ride this morning. With overcast skies and a strong SE wind we weren't talking much. Jeffro had planned to pull off early to make a concert. The wind had gotten to Sheila so she planned to go too. Kyia thought her allergies were kicking her ass but turns out she may be getting sick...she too opted for the shorter ride. That is always a tough call to make. Push on through or call it?
Anderson and I were left and kept fighting the wind. We didn't have a "set" route and meandered around till we hit Briggs Lake. Cruised around the lake and headed for home. We still ended up with a tad over 3 hours. My legs are more tired than I thought from pulling the girls around yesterday for a couple of hours. I was not sad we didn't make the 4 hours.
Got home and started up the mower. Grilled some hot dogs, folded laundry, and now waiting for Jen to get home so Brinna and I can go play some soccer. Let's hope my knee holds up!
Tuesday Night Ride tomorrow and I feel it will hurt. Sweet.

Out.

Tuesday Ride

The legs were tired today. I was able to do my share but I felt it. The ride started out weird. We were running late, had to go to Granite for other riders, and I had a complete "shotgun" blow out in the first block! We decided to not pay attention to the wind and head a different route from the last three rides. Unfortunately the roads were shitty and busy at first but that cleared soon enough. The group also cleared out to 5 riders for the remainder. It seemed we were always battling the wind. I hope once OPUS is done we get a bigger crew to share in the work up front. I had a rider tag my rear wheel and he hit the ditch pretty hard. Luckily nothing serious happened and he was back on the bike quickly.
Ended up with a 3 hour hour ride.
Avery struggled going to be tonight without the Nuk, but survived, and so did the parents! Jen is very ready to be done with school and have a life back. The kids are at a point that when one of us is gone it is hard to get anything accomplished...can't wait for the teenage years.
Still got a walk in with Zoe. Felt good to stroll around and stretch the legs.
Time to read and sleep.
Out.

Oh Yeah...

I forgot to mention that on Saturday Brinna had her first tooth come out! She was pretty excited. The Tooth Fairy brought her $2...I got a quarter.

Last night Avery decided it was time to give up the nuk. As bed time approached she quickly started to change her mind. We talked her into it and she made the night! She too was pretty stoked in the morning.

Moving along.

Great Weekend.

Going into the weekend I was pretty pissed about the weather. I had plans to get a lot done outside, but wasn't sure if that was going to happen anymore.

Saturday:
Broke out the lawnmower for the first time this year. Started on the 3rd pull! I could see my breathe the whole time I was mowing...so I didn't sweat!
Cleaned out the Hosta garden of leaves and dead heads. Picked up a load of mulch and some seeds for a garden.
Dropped a load of stuff off at the compost site and picked up some "free" mulch...I ran out.
Went for a bit over two hour ride with Mr. Anderson. It was a good ride and I didn't crash! Mr. Anderson found a pretty good sized Raspberry patch too.
Took the kids to McDonald's and then to the gym to swim.

Sunday:
Up early and out the door for a three hour road ride with Mike and Josh. Gorgeous ride on a gorgeous day. I knew it was going to be nice.
Picked up Mike's tiller and got to work. I thought tilling up a plot of grass for a garden would be easy. No such luck. It took a long time to break all the grass up and pick out the clumps of grass. Finally finished that and put in some onions, radishes, lettuce, spinach, basil, carrots, peas, and beans. Next weekend I will put in some tomatoes and peppers.
Grilled up a pork tenderloin...very tasty.
Cleaned the garage...I should take a picture, it looks awesome. I am starting to think I have "too" many bikes.
The inventory (not all mine):
1.) Surly Steamroller
2.) Surly Karate Monkey
3.) Surly 1x1
4.) Surly Pacer, baby blue...mine.
5.) Surly Pacer, black...Jen's.
6.) Salsa Casserole single
7.) Bridgestone fixed...bad weather bike
8.) Salsa El Mariachi
9.) Gary Fisher Tassajara GS
10.) Cannondale SuperSix
11.) GT Tequesta, Jen's
12.) Felt Cruiser, Jen's
13.) Jamis Daisy, Brinna's
14.) Trek 12", Avery's
16.) Raliegh SC30, mother in-law's

Plus some more at work! Not to forget the Burley trailer, BOB trailer, a trike, two strollers, all the shit normal people keep in their garage, and still no room for a car.

A good weekend.

Doom Goes Boom

Yesterday morning I was going to go for a road ride, but with the crazy wind continuing and cold temps Kris and Kyia brought me mountain biking. Overall it was a great time and much better than the road. I need to hone my "skills" a bit more however. I went down pretty hard at the North Loop...again. Took a dry corner too fast with too much air pressure (yes, again), and slipped out into a tree then the ground. I was a dusty mess with a crunched wrist. All is ok...just have to live with the reminder every time I take that corner with Mr. Anderson..."be careful on this corner" or he'll look back and say, "just checking"! I deserve it!

I have this weekend off and it's time, or finally time, to put my garden in. I'm pretty excited to get it going and start reaping the benefits, starting in a couple months.

Later.

Wind

Shit...a week since the last post! Maybe I'll change the title to the Tuesday Group Ride Recap.

Well I did go mtn biking the first time this year on Monday. About the third turn I went down fast but nothing hurt. After that I had a blast. I miss mtn biking and the bugs are not too bad yet. Maybe I will do more of this for awhile.

I wasn't sure if the Tuesday ride would happen. Lots of wind and looming rain. Three people showed up so it was on. Charlie, John, Ben and I drilled it into the wind down to Fairhaven then cut over to PowderRidge. The wind was nuts. I don't think I have ever been out on a bike in that kind of wind. It was constant! Not wanting to ride on Hwy 15 we hit up some "grav" (making Matt happy). It turned out to be much longer than we thought. It was a cross wind so it tended to blow the bike out from under you. Once we turned the corner on some asphalt it was go time. Charlie and I took turns pulling at the front. We ran out of gears! It was a nice reward after fighting the wind.
I'm glad we went...it was pretty fun. If I went by myself it would have sucked ass. Something about suffering with others makes it a bit more tolerable!

Out.

Feeling Good

Had a good ride tonight on the Tuesday group ride. We headed into the wind which meant Four Whores and "the Alp". We were significantly smaller than last week but just as fast. We cruised the Alp...from stop sign to stop sign was 10 minutes 11 seconds. According to Jim that is pretty fast. All I know it felt fast.
I am feeling pretty strong but need to work on my lasting power during a hard pull or attack. It will come.

Later.