still sick

i think i'm going to make a doctor appointment tomorrow. i've been coughing so much i pulled something in my chest.

hmmm...

drive home wed. sick. visit gramma. wake up, still sick, visit gramma, later turkey and pie. still coughing. wake up, clean, shopping. gramma. coughing. wake up, gramma again, shopping, harry potter. tomorrow? hopefully something to write about.

lessons learned but not applied

visit your grandma when you think you should. laundry and trails will be there when you get back. time doesn't wait for you to get your shit together.

sweet

did you read this?
one of the most fun races, ever.

all this talk of ss

My first singlespeed was in 99 I think. It was after being at the Red Wing, MN Norba Nats. The single speed race started and I was on the course with my bassboat blue schwinn homegrown. Hurl, or who I originally thought was Hurl, was walking up the climb with a lawn chair and cooler. He positioned himself right smack in the middle of this open climb. I sat on my bike at the end of this killer singletrack waiting for them to come by to watch some ride and most walk the hill. Hurl of course was heckling them, and they were heckling each other. Then they were all picking on Wakeman… Wake, Wakieee. Great memory. I would officially meet those guys in 2000 for the Single Speed Worlds in Minnesota. It was awesome to meet the guys that inspired me to build my steel stumpy into a one gear. I've got some great pics somewhere of the derby and fire at Grumpy's. I don't remember much of that night before the race. I was so drunk I couldn't see anything but people's shoes and bottom of their wheels. I remember sleeping, well really passed out, in the suburban and freezing our asses off. I remember the Le Mans start, the off cambr singletrack and the tree I hit with my new super wide handlebars (for leverage ya know) that knocked me out cold. What a good time.
That same year John had been starting to get burned out from racing. The singlespeed was a rebirth for him. He raced singlespeed with all the gearies for a bit. Then he started geeking out on drivetrain parts again.
I always like riding single in the fall and spring. I hate leaves in the cassette. Drives me nuts.
I rode the mesa yesterday on the rig. I have been dying to get it off road. i spun the 32:20 stock gear on the pavement thinking about what it would bring offroad. i was nervous about riding the 29er in tight singletrack. perhaps that was a good thing as there was nothing to be nervous about. i can't describe the feeling of riding a 29er offroad. it's just not something i expected. it was really different. fun different. it wasn't like riding my geared bike, then going out there on my single or a dually. it was a completely different experience. it made me giggle. everyone should have one in their stable.
it was good to rekindle the single speed flame... it's been too long.

sick

sore throat, crampy stomach and sooo tired. i just want to sleep. our computer system is down today for some updates. i should just go home. i cut my hair. more than 5 inches. i was sick of it. i dreaded taking a shower. 5 minutes to comb my hair, 20 minutes to blow it dry.

just ride ya fuckin wuss

so i leave work early today. all gung ho to come home and ride my new bike. i'm like a kid and a new toy. i figure get home, john'll be pickin' up case. i'll brown some hambuger, put in the spices and sauce for some kick ass spaghetti sauce, leave it in the pot and when i get home just start the flame. so i get home, brown the hamburger, put everything in the pot. start getting ready, go outside to get my shoes out of the element (i can't ever remember to put cycling stuff where i found it). it's fucking raining. BOO HOO. i almost cried. i was feeling so sorry for myself. i mean, i still feel like i had a right to be sad. it rained on my parade. so i for a few felt i wallowed in self pity. john is hyping me up to ride... i pretty much knew i was going anyway. so i got dressed in my rain gear and headed out on the rig. i had a blast. i headed out to the park and jumped over all the parking blocks. i headed out past the p's and popped on the bike path. leaves and puddles everywhere. it was super dark in the trees. headed past 159th st towards the golf course. headed full speed down the hill. thankfully i had a small light on me or i would've went head on with a concrete barrier. holy crap. they are repairing the path. no biggee, minor detour, but now i had to pay close attention to the trail with wet glasses and not ideal conditions. not 100 yards up there was a downed tree. totally rideable if not for all the big ass sticks protruding everwhere. up n over. moved on. at the bottom of the downhill more concrete barriers. i was able to ride around these. weird with the 29er. i had a great ride. i'm glad i went. i feel alive today and ironically no longer chilled to the bone. now i just need to go out and wipe the purple people eater off.

sold

this weekend was good. no spare time, so the sass is still in limbo. saturday i headed out for an mtb ride in the morning. i was way overdressed. i was stripping clothing at each trail ending. riding ziptie i had to take a puke break. i came to realize i was way overheated. after drooling by the tree for a bit i took off my vest and arm warmers and miraculously rode faster and stronger. amazing what overheating will do to you. november 12th and all i was wearing was a wool jersey and shorts. i don't think i'll be riding in just a jersey and shorts again til next year.
saturday night i headed to a jewelry party. i know this will surprise you, but i was actually looking forward to going. i was excited for some rings or something. the jewelry turned out to not be what i really expected. it was totally foo foo. i only found 2 things i would even consider wearing out of the whole catalog. i bought one. $34 poorer, casey and i left for home. i went to mess with the sass, but was completely infuriated by a QR and the tuggnuts so i quit. up to bed.
sunday was the cross race. it was unbelievably windy. we headed out early to watch sara race the As. she kicked ass as usual and smoked the women's field.














john, mike, frank and zach raced the As. they all looked good together for the first lap. zach was behind on a mtb, but ended up just having fun hopping the barriers and battling with the moots guys. mike fell off john and frank's pace and soon frank fell off the pace and dnf'd. mike unfortunately flatted, he probably would've held out for 7th in his first cross race ever. john continuously put time on a guy he was chasing. he caught him on the 3rd to last lap and rode him for awhile and left him eating his dust on the climb to finish in 5th place, in the money.














after the race we watched our friend matt in the skate park on his p.3. that boy has mad skills. it was fun to watch him for a bit. casey says she was gonna ride like him when she gets bigger.
we headed home after that. we used to have this beautiful tree in our back yard. last year during a nasty wind storm a big chunk of it cracked off and took out our fence. this past spring we lost more of the tree on another windy day which almost took out our back door. well, as you can imagine, after yesterday's winds, we came home to more of the same. the tree is almost gone.
i really need to get back to work.

one down

rig's done. still working on the sass. i need spacers for the freehub. we used to have a big bag full of them. any free time this weekend will be devoted to that. tonight see the twins, snag a couch and get ready to ride. huzzah.

my favorite dilemma

the after xmas bike build will slowly be creeping up on me. every year i know what i'm going to get. two years ago it was the blur, last year the spot. since i will probably be parting ways with the blur i'm leaning towards full suspension. why? i don't know really. i don't feel the need for it, but definitely the want to build one up. or maybe this year i won't build anything. maybe focus on hardwood floors? can i trade bike parts for that?

a blur

that was this weekend. they just fly by sooo fast. i thought i told myself that we would be spending more time at home to take care of it. nope.
friday night we finished building a bike. i'm waiting for the upgraded parts to come in this week. hopefully.
saturday up early to head out to the st. charles area. it was way the hell out in, well, it was far for being "local". temps were in the 50s but it was windy which made for chilly spectators. john loved the course. he did awesome placing 6th in the A race, just out of the money.
after the race, bry, dion, tim, deb, casey and i went out for lunch at some awesome mexican restaurant in downtown st. charles. damn, it was good. it was a long wet drive home after that. i didn't get to test ride the new rig when we got home like i planned. bummer.
we worked on john's bike for the rest of the evening as it needed some minor adjustments. we were both frustrated with the front brake so we called it a night.
sunday morning was the poker ride. it had rained, thundered and lighteninged (?) all night long. we were going anyway. i'm glad we did. it was cold in the morning. the wind was brutal and it was damp. i overdressed and proceeded to join the intermediate ride. while we were pulling our cards john and bryan gave me the look and said join our ride. i was like no lame duck ride for me today. but i'm weak and gave into the peer pressure . i joined their ride. it was a perfect rachael pace. it was a good time. the trails were in surprisingly good condition. burrito hill was a bit muddy but the leaves took care of that. out n back was in perfect condition. i could have rode that trail all day.
after coming back, the downtubes were a bit muddy and there were some flecks on our butts, but surprisingly, that was it. we stayed for a bit and grabbed a bite, had some beers and checked out all the cool swag for the trailworkers and poker ride winners.
i did some shopping later that day, helped pack john's bike up and called it a day.

this just in

mixed feelings

the nrs and xtc are gone. i always have mixed feelings about selling bikes. they are such a huge part of your life and then they are gone.
the blur will be hard to let go.
it's beautiful outside. i wish i could snag a sitter and head out to the mesa. maybe later. right now the only thing calling my name is the frickin' laundry.

the day after

it was wet and nasty walking the neighborhood with the kids for some trick or treating fun. casey, reese and josh aka scooby, bunny rabbit and batman cruised around the blocks of oak forest in radio flyer style. when not being pulled in the wagon, they were sloshing puddles and running upstairs yelling trick or treat. it truly was a riot. two three year olds and a four year old made for some great halloween fun.
back to the p's soak and wet for some pizza and chit chat.

john is reluctantly a year older today. happy birthday to my hottie.