Bad Feeling, Good Feeling

The 8 Hours of Labor has come and gone and my results were poor. I'm not overly concerned because I believe the problem lies in lack of sleep. The hotel was not the most comfortable and my bed-mate had a case of the "jimmy-legs" which kept me up as well. I feel fairly confident that the first FSC race will yield a much different and improved outcome. I plan to bring an air mattress to sleep on instead of having to share a bed. I am also focusing on being very well hydrated all week prior to the race. This event is notoriously hot and humid. I feel confident in my fitness and plan on doing a moderate ride tomorrow. I will post the outcome next week.

The Time Is Now

It's the last week of riding before the first race. The 8 hrs of Labor is this weekend and I'm doing a two person co-ed team with my friend Marnie. We don't plan on winning or even placing but are using this race as a way to re-acclimate ourselves to the race format/environment. We will both ride hard and fast but we will not be killing it all day. The following week is the FSC#1 race in Gainesville. That is where we pull out all the stops.

I have some minor repairs/upgrades to make to my race bike for this season. I will probably do them tonight to allow myself a few days to ride them and break them in some. I am replacing my chain and cassette and adding a fork lockout. I'm hoping that the lockout will allow me to run lighter pressure on my Sid fork and give me some softer handling on the course. My choice of tire for the 8 hr is a little aggressive for the course (Tioga Red Phoenix) but I want a "confidence tire" for the first race that will allow me to rail the loamy sections of singletrack at the course.

Going Well

The training continues and is going well. The knee seems to be recovering fine. I did the Cycle Haus road ride last saturday and finished with 60 miles. The knee felt great while pedaling and no abnormal amount of pain afterward.

The 8 Hrs. of Labor is in a couple weeks and I look forward to riding it. I will be racing in the coed division with my friend Marnie and we are looking to use the race to just get our minds back in a race mode. I'm not expecting to win or even place as there are bigger races the next two weeks where finishing position is much more important.

I am also looking forward to the 12 Hrs. of Dauset. It sounds like we will have a decent sized contingent driving up from Florida to compete in this race. My friends daughter will also be racing in the junior division and I look forward to seeing how she handles the possibility of doing more then one 10 mile lap. I hope she intends on doing a night lap as well. It may all be for naught if she doesn't get her nutrition figured out and stops bonking out. It's hard to teach these kids anything!

Catching Up

It's been a while since my last post and have been way too busy doing the usual to post anything. Plus the "usual" isn't very exciting. I have been riding a ton to prepare for the upcoming season. I still commute to work on the bike and have been getting up earlier to extend both the morning part of the ride as well as the ride home. I have also started intervals one day a week which kick my ass. I do a long ride on saturday or sunday as well. I'm at the lightest weight I've been at in a while and I feel pretty fast on the bike. I started riding the race bike off road and have decided to make some minor suspension changes to hopefully improve my performance. I'll try to post more often as the season approaches.

Colorado

The Colorado trip is in full swing. Got in yesterday and built the bike as soon as we got to the house. As soon as my brother-in-law Ben got home we went for a ride at a trail called Falcon. Not being used to mountains and altitude, it was a very humbling experience. We rode 10 miles. Five torturous miles up then five beautiful, fast, crazy downhill miles back. Then back to the house, one Fat Tire Ale, dinner, and then pass out. What a great first day!

Life Goes On

I am officially done grieving the death of Billy Mays. I feel a certain loss, a hole in my life that cannot be filled with a pathetic Sham-Wow. It would have to be something much more substantial like a new Ronco product or something of similar high quality. I will savor the last of my Oxy-clean and Magic Putty knowing that I can no longer buy these products when Billy is not here to back them. Who knows what kind of hap-hazard quality control will go on when Billy is not here looking over someone's shoulder (who's shoulder I have no idea). Good bye Billy! You are now Chopping in a much better place!

With that said and done, I continue to ride and train on my schedule. I leave for Colorado in a little over a week. I look forward to all the climbing and even more to the descending. When I get back I will be starting some intervals. I'll post any ride picture when we get back.

Time to Increase

Had a good day on the bike yesterday with another four hour ride and 75 miles. I commuted only two days last week due to other obligations. This week I plan to ride to work all four days. My trainer says I have to start increasing my time by ten percent. Basically adding at least 10 min of time to my commute. That should not be a problem. Next weekend is the fourth of July and I don't know what the riding will be like for Saturday. We plan on having a cookout so there will be a lot of cleaning and preparing that needs to be done beforehand. 

My sister and nieces come in to town on friday. We look forward to seeing them. We haven't seen them since our May trip and the time spent together is always too short.

Big Week

I had a big week of riding and feel good. I finished with over 200 miles this week and felt that I rode pretty strong on saturday. I hurt myself by getting into a six man breakaway just after the halfway point of the ride. That effort, which proved to be fruitless because we were caught right before the sprint, did me in for the rest of the ride. I got dropped as soon as we were caught. I was unable to keep up the speed of the group but I still felt pretty strong. I decided to keep riding and continued on with the ride by myself. Near the end, I met up with Doug from the Cycle Haus who had also called it quits and we rode back to the shop together. According to him, at the point where I met him, I had only missed about 10 miles of the complete ride. With that being said, My final mileage for the day was 75 miles. Had I not gone with the breakaway, I think I could have gone longer with the group. You can't just be a strong rider, you have to be smart too. 

I look forward to more bike commuting this week but monday I have to drive. I have some side work after my regular job that requires my truck.

Bad, Then Good

First the bad news. I had to cancel my trip up to Georgia. I was pretty disappointed last night and even more so today. I really like the trails in Dauset and would have enjoyed having our friends daughter stay with us for a week. Unfortunately, all my driving partners dropped out due to other issues and obligations. That makes for a long drive by myself to get there and a late drive back to be home in time for work monday morning. It just didn't seem like the best idea once I really sat down and thought about the sixteen hours of driving that I would have to do. 

Now the good news. I completed the work week and commuted every day. It takes about 30 minutes to get there and I stretched the ride home to an hour. So as of this morning, I have 9 hours on the bike for the week. I plan to ride today and tomorrow which will probably give me 5 more hours. I'm feeling good and plan to continue with this training regime until my trainer has me change over to intervals. 

Small Town

You can tell it's a small town and nothing is happening when a police officer pulls over a cyclist for no headlight/taillight and issues a ticket instead of just a warning. I guess the town has to make their money somehow, and catching real criminals is just way to time consuming. Well I was in the wrong and the lesson has been learned.

The riding is going well and I feel like I'm making progress. I've been on the bike three days a week and plan to start commuting to work again this week. I'm racing in Dauset Georgia this weekend and plan to use this race as a measure of my current physical ability. I'm also picking up our friends daughter who will be vacationing with us for a week. 

Beat Up

The heat is taking it's toll on me this week. That and the fact that recent rains have caused everything to grow profusely, is forcing a tough work week upon me. We've been working 10 hour days and I'm exhausted. Have had no energy to even think about riding my bike.  I sometimes envy the air-conditioned office trapped workforce. Of course my heat endurance is through the roof on days that I don't have to work. Unfortunately I'm too tired to take much advantage of it. 

Not sure what type of riding the weekend holds for me. I don't think the saturday road ride is in the cards. I don't know if I'll have what it takes to hang on after this week of work. I'd also like to ride the new bike somewhere. Still weighing all options.

New Baby, More Fun

I am continuing to try and put more "fun" into my riding. To help with this I put together a new bike.

It is a Rocky Mountain Slayer with six inches of travel. It weighs a scant 35 lbs.... Ok, maybe not scant, but not as heavy as some all mountain bikes with that much travel.  I plan to ride this a lot and hope the increase in weight will help to make me stronger. It has a "pro-pedal" feature which should help eliminate the typical bobbing you get with this much travel. All reviews that I've read say that if you have to pedal up to get to the downhill part, then this is the bike to have.  I'll let you know how it rides after this weekend. 

On another note, Congratulations to Kevin Hofmann (see his blog link listed on the side). He won first place overall at the Hammer Head 100. This feat is even more impressive because he did it on a single speed while competing against competitors with geared bikes. Kevin is a Machine! (and I'm proud to say my friend and trainer, and if you want an autographed picture I will be selling them for $10). If you have the chance to ride with him, take advantage of it, you might learn something.

Going Slow

Kevin says you have to learn to go slow if you want to go fast. With that knowledge, I rode slow this morning. I spent an hour on the bike before work just going slow. Let me tell you, it was actually enjoyable. I cruised around the neighborhood and just enjoyed the ride. I kept my heart rate below 124 bpm and just reaped the benefits. Ok, maybe not reaping just yet, but still working in the right direction. I'll say this though, it is definitely harder to ride slow when you are so used to pushing yourself to the limit. The nicest thing about it is that it is at a pace that the whole family can keep up with. I can incorporate some family time with my training rides.

On another note, I bought my long travel bike. A Rocky Mountain Slayer. I found it used and will post pictures once I have them.

Exciting News

Just found out this morning, we are going to Colorado july 23rd - july 29th. I can't wait. Now the pressure is on to find that long travel bike. 

First Week Of Training

I'm through with my first week of training for the 2009 race season. I rode 30 miles on monday, 36 on friday and 56 today. A total of 122 for the week is not a bad start. I also went to the gym one day as well as swam a half mile. This coming week will hopefully return me to bike commuting to and from work. I have a training outline from Kevin that I'm going to try and adhere to. 

And so it begins.

More Of The Same

Work is picking up with the change in weather and people are finally getting off their wallets and having some landscaping done around their houses. Of course now we barely have time for any extra work. 

The boys have their last baseball game today which is a relief. I've noticed a steady decline in enthusiasm from the kids at practice. Amy has been looking for other activities to get them into. I told her to involve them in anything that "She" can coach and take them to. 

Riding has been limited but will start to return to normal frequency after this weekend.

Home Again

Made it home safe and sound. I think we did it in record time for us, 8 hours. Spent the day napping and building a skateboard ramp. I'm already missing our friends and the prospect of just getting up and going for a ride like we did there. The trails in Georgia are amazing and I plan to try and sneak up there to ride every chance I get. I emailed one of my riding friends and I may try to maneuver another long weekend and snag a race up there, but it's all speculation at this point. Thanks again to our friends in Georgia for putting up with us and taking time out of their lives to show us a good time. We had a Blast!

Georgia Riding Part 5

Unfortunately our last day of riding. Rain cancels our part 6 and ends our vacation. Part 5 took place at Blankets Creek. This is a local trail that is highly maintained and has a little of everything. Many climbs and descents and a fair amount of technical sections and rock gardens. We rode the South Loop first and then took the entire family on Dwelling. Dwelling is a little easier and allowed the boys to ride with a minimal amount of walking. We all had a great time!

The riding alone was well worth the trip to Georgia, but we also got to spend time with our friends who we never see enough of. We are sad to have to go home and go back to work. I am happy though that I have a good start in my training for this season.

Georgia Riding Part 4

We braved the cold yesterday and rode Pinhoti. Man, it was beautiful. The trail was great and the scenery was dramatic. The portion we rode was an out and back that was basically a continual bench cut along the edge of a mountain. They were plenty of steep climbs as well as some fast and exciting downhills. Word of caution: Ravens are NOT the optimal tire for this trail when it is wet and snowy. I did enjoy the ride but had to be a lot more cautious due to lack of traction. Had I switched to the Crossmarks that I brought for back-up, it would have been a different story. For best results in those conditions, something even more aggressive would be preferred. Overall, excellent ride, excellent experience, and definitely a do-over!

On a side note, this flat land Florida boy continues to school the native Georgians on how to climb! All that training with my Cycle Haus team is paying off!

Georgia Riding Part 3

No riding today. Too cold to get my butt out on a bike. These are photos of actually snow flurries outside of my friends house.

Instead of riding we went to the movies and did some shopping at stores like REI which we don't have at home. We also took the kids bowling. Still enjoying the time here and we will be riding tomorrow regardless of the temperature. We are going to ride Pinhoti in the morning, then maybe a local trail in the afternoon.

Georgia Riding Part 2

Completed a ride at Fort Yargo State Park on Monday. The weather was cold and blustery but we layered up and hit the trail anyway. What an awesome trail system. It was a 13 mile loop on my computer with a good mix of climbs and downhills. Nothing too technical, but fun and fast. They have added a new section called Monster Mile. It is an uphill mile that takes the place of the straight gas line climb. This alternate mile twists and turns through single track and has several large g-outs. After that was a section called horseshoe drop which was a massive 20 ft. g-out that was steep and slick. After you completed on side of the "shoe", you turned 180 degrees and completed the other side, same type of drop. I examined the drops for several minutes then chickened out. Had I seen someone do it first I may have ridden it, but I couldn't be the first rider and no one else wanted to try. Good stuff anyway!

Georgia Riding Part 1

Yesterday we rode Big Creek. They have a large freeride area where we spent all of our time. We went for the boys and they did not disappoint the local riders. Several mini airs and the adult riders were cheering them on. That quickly fueled the boys to try bigger and bigger jumps. About ten runs is all it took to exhaust them due to the long push back up the mountain between runs. It was just too steep for them to ride up.

Today we hit Bull Mountain. We rode about 12 miles but it took us an hour and a half. It was basically 6 miles of uphill. The pay-off was well worth it with 6 miles of screaming downhill. Some of the downhill was single track but the really fast areas were jeep road. This allowed us to let gravity take over with a greater margin of error.

More riding and updates as the week goes on.

Another Riding Vacation

Off we go to Georgia this afternoon. I'm very excited and hope to ride about 4 to 5 different trails this weekend. Places on the potential ride list include but are not limited to Pinhoti, Yargo, Blankets, Bull Mountain. I'm hoping to get in as many as time and weather allows. 

This will be the start of a new training regime. My Friend Kevin has offered to start helping with my training. I think posting the picture of him is what pushed him over the edge. That and the sad look I put on my face every time I see him. I think it should be a good inspiration for me because Kevin usually mixes the right amount of harassment with riding tips. I look forward to making some progress. 

Finding Joy

I have previously written about my inability to find joy in just riding. Everything must be race related. Either actual racing or training to race. Riding at a friendly pace with family or friends was either a terribly boring chore or just not done at all.

 This past weekend, I think everything has changed. I was finally able to just have fun and enjoy the ride. And what is this magic formula that enables you to break free from the chains of racing you ask. It is a magical element of mountain biking called "travel". Six inches of travel to be exact. 

My friend Josh brought his Specialized Enduro for me to ride at our camping weekend at Santos. I have never experienced such pure joy just riding a bike. And I'm not talking just a slight smile on my face. I'm talking laugh out loud joy! There was no pain, no suffering, just laughing. 

I couldn't believe how much fun I had. I aimed that bike at every rock and root on the trail, and a bunch that weren't even on the trail, and that bike rolled and jumped over everything. Step-ups, step-downs, g-outs, it didn't matter. That bike made me feel like I could ride anything. Even with all the fun I was having, the true joy however came from watching someone who knows hows to ride a bike like that in action. Following Josh was like watching some freeride cartoon. He caught air over pebbles and whipped the back of the bike up in the air on every fast turn. It was hard to control the insane asylum inmate-like laughter. 

It was a great experience and it opened my eyes to a whole new segment of bicycling. I'm looking into buying an Enduro as I type this. I would love to add this bike to my collection.

This is Josh showing me how it's really done. Thanks Josh!

A Little Riding

I did a little riding this weekend. I forced myself to get up early on Saturday and did about 25 miles. It's truly all I could squeeze in because right after riding, I raced home, showered, then took the boys to baseball. Right after that we went right to the air show. I'm glad I rode and felt good afterward. I plan to bike commute every day that we work this week and maybe try to sneak in a visit to the gym. 

Camping this coming Friday with plenty of mountain biking planned. Things are slowly getting back to my normal riding/training routine.

Unmotivated

I am in a total funk. I just can't get motivated to ride or go to the gym. I get plenty of sleep but I'm still feeling tired sometimes. I just have to snap out of it. I'm making a commitment to myself to bike commute all this week. I am looking forward to it and I hope it starts me back on my other bikes. 

My friend has sent me several gym workouts. I've used one so far but I have to stay motivated. It's hard doing it by myself because I have no one to push me and no accountability. The coach that I tried to start using fell through. Maybe we got our signals crossed, but I haven't heard from him at all. I would think that he would want my money but I guess not. I'm hoping that my friend Kevin, who reads this blog, will take pity on me and take my under his wing. He is a PRO rider and knows a lot about training. I also value his opinion.

Here is Kevin. (picture being added to further guilt him into helping me).

Boys Of Summer

The Boys have started playing baseball. They play in the "coach pitch" division. They seem to really enjoy it and they are amongst the best hitters on the team. 

The rules are very loose and it is designed to teach the kids the basics of baseball. There are no outs, or strikes, and every kid gets to hit each inning.

The boys look like little pros with the way they stand and swing the bat. It does make a father proud.

Of course I have been forced into coaching due to the fact that our current coaches openly admit that they have never "played" baseball. That should be a prerequisite if you ask me. I guess baseball knowledge nor excessive facial piercing has any bearing on whether or not you can be a coach for the YMCA.

Recovery

Will recovery ever happen? I skipped last Saturday's group ride because my body still felt drained. I've now had a second week of rest but still feel tired. I have been doing a lot of physical, overhead tree pruning which quickly tires the body. Yesterday, we removed a 30 foot coconut palm that was out over a canal. We had to drag the heaviest part, the heart, up out of the water on to a seawall. it took three of us and a come-a-long. I am still going to the gym but I need to start spinning. No group ride this saturday either, the boys have their first baseball game. Maybe I'll ride sunday.

Over Tired

My body feels totally exhausted. I went to the gym yesterday and swam a mile in the pool. Then I went through the majority of the leg exercises that I do. Today I feel like that was a mistake. I just want to sleep. I know that in the long run, days like yesterday will be very beneficial, but in the short term, it's hard to stay motivated when I can't stay awake. And so I continue. I plan to do the saturday road ride but I don't know how long I will hang on. My friend is a personal trainer and he is sending me workout lists to rotate through each week. All for the quest to change fat into muscle and hopefully gain 15 more pounds of it. Clydesdale Sport, here I come.

Home Again

Back from a long but successful weekend of racing. We fought a tough battle and finished third in our division. It is quite an accomplishment as the teams continue to get stronger and stronger. 

I had a great time and truly enjoyed the visit from our friends as well. I also got in a nice and easy recovery ride this morning which is usually something I don't get to do. At this point I'm exhausted. I plan to unpack the car and take a nap.

Getting It All Together

I'm collecting up all my things and going through the checklists for the twelve hour this weekend. I will be heading out early on friday to ensure a good camping/pit area for the race. I have to do some last minute shopping tomorrow and plan to have the car packed tomorrow night to ensure a speedy exit in the morning.

I had the bike all tuned and dialed in for the race but decided to do one last ride yesterday just to have some fun. My friend's daughter is in town and went with us. She has only been using clipless pedals for about 2 weeks and is still a little sketchy getting unclipped. We rode about a mile and stop to regroup and explain the next section to her. As she pulls up along side of me, she forgets to unclip and falls. Normally not a big deal except for the fact that she slows her fall by bracing the end of her handlebar on my derailleur and hanger before hitting the ground. It couldn't have been more perfect aim and was equivalent to hitting the hanger with a hammer. We get up-righted and start to ride away and my drivetrain clunks and skips like crazy. NOOOOOOOO! A few cable adjustments allow me to finish the ride but a panicked call to the bike shop later that night arranges the necessary logistics for repairing the problem. Luckily the shop owner is good at calming my nerves and the bike should be back to race-ready by the time I leave. 

I'll recap the race when we get back.

Getting Closer

The twelve hour is a little over a week away and bad luck has struck one of our riders. She has fallen and dislocated her shoulder. Hopefully it was a minor dislocation, (she has yet to see a doctor) and she may be able to still ride. I know she has been training a lot for this race and I was confident that we would do well as a team with her on it. I have a back-up rider getting ready but I'm saddened to think it won't be our originally planned team that is racing. 

The course for the race this year will be the same as last year. That is good news. It was a fast course last year with the technical sections grouped together at the beginning and the end. I know that my friends daughter is a little nervous about riding the course, but she has nothing to fear. I know that her current skill level should get her through most of the course relatively unscathed. Once we ride through the tech sections with her and show her the lines, she should do well there too. She may have to walk one or two areas, no big deal.

I continue with my training program of riding, yoga, and lifting weights at the gym. I look forward to seeing if there is any improvement in my riding during the race.

Special Request

I have been requested by my adopted daughter to list the yoga poses that I do. So here they are in the order that I do them:

1. Half Moon

2. Warrior

3. Tree

4. Sun Salutation

5. Standing Knee

6. Palm Tree

7. Chair

8. Triangle

9. Downward-Facing Dog

10. Dance

11. Cobra

12. Bridge

13. Spinal Twist

14. Shoulder Stand

That's it. I don't know if the names are universal but I know the actual poses are ones I did when we were in an organized class.

Health Club Observations

I've been to the YMCA several times this last week and have made the following observations:

1. People will drive around the parking lot several times looking for the CLOSEST parking spot. Why don't they want to WALK very far to get to the gym?

2. These same people will start every workout with 30 minutes on the TREADMILL, STAIR MASTER, or ELLIPTICAL machine. 

3. People will stand  outside their car before going into the gym to finish their CIGARETTE!?!?

Now I know that I also have some strange ideas about fitness. Like I'll ride my bike to the gym, workout for two hours, ride home, and then eat chicken wings. But I think that is justifiable. My first three observations cannot be explained.

I have also continued with my daily yoga. I'm doing 45 minutes every day now, usually first thing in the morning. I recommend it to everyone.

Pitiful Results

Sunday's race yielded pitiful results. The race begins with a long road section, somewhere between a quarter and half mile. I was determined to stay with the pack during this section. Unfortunately, I geared the bike easy to enable me to make all the climbs later in the course. This proved my downfall in that the other guys in the class are much stronger riders. They used harder gears which allowed them greater speed on the road. I was able to hang with them from the start to the end of the road but quickly blew up after that. Once we hit single track, they just pulled away and left me breathing dust. I suffered through the three laps at a snail's pace, finishing last.

I try to stay positive and say that this was just a good training ride, but the competitor in me wants to do well no matter what. I'm just focusing on the 12 hour now. Its twenty days away and that's where I want to be the strongest. I'm going to add intervals and weight training, starting this week. I'll keep you posted.

Mid Week

I have been starting my morning with yoga. I've done it the last three days and I love it. It actually wakes me up and eliminates the normal morning aches and pains. I rode the bike to work the last couple of days and look forward to the race this weekend. 

Not much else going on. 

Clear The Roads!

Attention all drivers in the state of Georgia, Clear the roads and beware! There is a newly permitted student driver rampaging and terrorizing your roadways. My advice, stay off the roads for the next 5 or 6 years until common driving skills have been sufficiently mastered. This is for your own safety. Thank you.

Seriously, my friend's daughter has accomplished one of the great many milestones in life, she passed her driving permit test. We are all very proud of her and I would expect that she will quickly become a safe and proficient driver. She will have very good teachers and be driving in some difficult traffic (Atlanta area). I'm sure that she will soon be the designated driver for her father and myself. 

Cold weather has finally passed, I think. I plan to jump back into serious training again this week. I hope to start with some calisthenics as per the recommendations of my coach. We also have a race this coming weekend and I will be riding the single speed again. This time I'm borrowing a friends bike that has a suspension fork. I hope to be more competitive because of it.

Quick Summary

The visit from family is almost at an end. Our house is a mess and cleaning and recovery should take at least one full day. I forget what it's like to have children 4 years old and younger around. It can be very draining on your nerves, especially when they are not your own.

The race at Markum Park went well. I finished Fifth out of five but I'm totally ok with that. I rode my full rigid single speed and was cautious because of it. Some of the downhills were wallowed out at the bottom so I opted to walk those. The margin for error is too great with a rigid fork. I did however complete three laps and got a hell of a workout, both leg and upper body. 

I have hired a coach. I'm hoping that he will be able to better organize my ride time so that I can train effectively verses just all out riding. I will keep you up to speed on how that is going.

Back to It

The week starts again and I will be back to core exercises twice a day and bike commuting to work. I plan to start elongating the ride home to tack on some extra miles. It's supposed to get cold again on wednesday which I am not looking forward to. The morning ride can be quite brisk.

My wife's sister and her family arrive on tuesday for a week long+ visit. More on that later.

Resolution Diligence

This week ends with continued encouragement and satisfaction that I was able to stick with my New Year's resolution. Yes it's only been one week, but you have to start somewhere. I bike commuted to work all week except Friday because I had to use my truck to pull the spray trailer. That was actually the first time I used my truck at all this past week. I even rode the bike to the grocery store. I also did my core exercises all week. Usually this is the first resolution to get dropped. 

I also started preparing for the 12 hours of Santos today. I did the saturday morning road ride with the Cycle Haus and got in 66 miles. I actually felt pretty good afterward. Of course I sat in a lot and didn't do a lot of work at the front.

The twelve hour team has been set and we should have a strong showing. I'm pretty excited.

Comment Response

I wish to refute sk8rmom's comment on my last post. There were no glory days! I'm not saying that I didn't have my share of good times, but the main source of enjoyment came from knowing that time is the great equalizer.

 There is only a VERY small percentage of the adolescent malformed that actually improve as time marches on. Sure, you occasionally have the ugly duckling that 20 years later is a Victoria's Secret model. And an even smaller percentage of the big time high school athletes are still living the dream in the realm of professional sports. But the reality is that most of the "beautiful people" are just as fat, with similar or less hair then me. And the poor women.... what you have endured. I've seen examples of previously beautiful size 1's blossom into alarmingly large specimens. 

Ah,.. Time... my dear friend, how you have righted the wrongs of the past. For this I am truly greatful.

What's wrong with me?

For years I've lived in a utopian solitude. Preferring to hermit myself away from everything that was Hamburg NY, circa 1989. Everything in my life was fine until recently. I now find myself completely obsessed with "facebook". I don't know how it started, but I can tell you that it has been an ugly decent into the depths of flashback Hell. I am on the site daily looking at pictures of people I once knew, hoping that they have aged worse than me. 

I don't know if it's because 2009 is the year of my 20th high school reunion, or if I have finally just recognized the gaping hole in my life that was once filled with a youthful exuberance and adolescence. A strange but strong bond, held between high school "non-populars" as we fought an emotional battle to "fit in".

Or is it because twenty years later, I look at my life and say "man, did I luck out!" I mean come on... aside from the slight gut and receding hairline, I'm probably in the best shape of my life. I have a beautiful wife that puts up with most of my bullshit, and two great children that I'm sure will end up with high paying jobs to support their aging father. 

So as I prepare once again to log on to the site, I crank up a little Til Tuesday - "voices carry", put on two rugby shirts with the collars popped, and tie my sneakers Behind the tongue of my Nike high-tops, I draw strength from the knowledge that I surf this site only to mock,. And that it only re-affirms my opinions as a self proclaimed elitist snob.

Post Camping

Camping was great! We couldn't have had more perfect weather. We had fun, the boys met new friends, and we did a bunch of bike riding. The boys were very impressive on the pump track and on the bigger jumps in the Vortex area. They also did great on the trail. We are looking forward to going back.

.