Idiot!

So you'll notice that this blog does not contain any pictures of my ride this weekend. Why? Because after taking the time to stop, take some so-so pictures, and even do some trail repair (some lazy fuggers have been cutting cheater lines) yours truly left his camera behind. Argh! Yes it was an old lack luster camera. Yes new ones are better, but the old one worked fine for my camera skills, and it was long paid for. Funny, fxwhl found a camera, and I lost one. The cycling karma does not go without notice. Perhaps I need to ride fixed more?

Cheers,

More Fixie....

... Thank you Tomi!





Sorry about the picture quality. I'm working on my skills. Any pointers Gary?

I'd like to get to the point where my random point & shoot comes out as well as fxdwhl or Joel's I'm amazed at their over the shoulder shots... maybe I need longer arms?

Camera found....

.... great thing about 3 year olds, they like to put things in random places. The camera was found in the center console of Kathy's Jeep... it would have been a long time before it was found, but Ella decided her breakfast should go in there, and viola out comes the camera. Interesting thing too, there were about 20 pix saved to the camera rather than the SD card, some 4 years old! Wow, funny.

Here is the after of the bench after I straightend it out, still a mess, but much better.

Prisoner....

.... to A/C and shade. I can't take it much longer. How the hell does anyone get used to this. I've been here for 3 years and it's not getting any easier. I can only ride either first thing in the morning, or late in the evening. I talk to lots of other cyclists here and they don't seem to have as much trouble as I do. I actually miss snow rides I tell them, they look at me like I'm crazy... thing is you can always layer up and adjust for temperature, in the direct sun and heat of the day you can only take off so much and shade is like gold.

In other news, the camera that was found, is now lost again... no pic's until I can find it. Too much junk in the house, why is it necessary to accumulate so much rubbish? Next week I'm beginning to clear out the clutter, fights will ensue. If I find the camera I'll begin to document.

Cheers,

Weekend review...

So my sister from DC and her family are in town this weekend, it's been nice having them around and getting a chance to hang out with them. Funny how when you live 10 miles from each other you don't take the time to hangout as much as you should. I suppose life gets in the way some times.

So our story picks up on Thursday night. I decided to go down to San Antonio and do the Thursday night swill ride. Prior to the swill ride, we did an off road adventure through the Olmos Basin. Alan was there, always good to see him and ride with him. Tobin from NB was also there, the second time I've ridden with him in a week, more than in the last two years I've lived in New Braunfels. Stayed out late, drank quite a few tasty beverages, had a yummy Portabello burger, this veggie lifestyle isn't so bad.

Friday Kathy & Ella had playnastics so I thought I'd do a quick run, and mow the lawn. Got in a short 2 miles, but the legs were spent from the night before on the fixie. Mowed the lawn, and even assembled our new bed frame. Quite a productive day.

Saturday morning I got out for a quick Madrone ride, came home and got ready for dinner at my sisters house. We had a great dinner thanks to her husband who's an excellent party host and cook. The girls had their feet done, Kathy's was her birthday gift from the family, which is really nice as funds are going to be tight moving forward.

Sunday I took Ella to the pool, and then we took a nice nap together. We then dropped her off with my sister so we could have a night together for Kathy's birthday.

Monday, I begin job searching... woohoo! I'm casting a broad net, Kathy has agreed to go anywhere, and this is the perfect opportunity to get back home to the east coast. Anyone hiring back east (DC, VA, MD) let me know....

Another benefit of being home...

.... more time with the princess. What is it about a bean-bag chair?

Now that I have some time on my hands....

.... it's time to straighten out the work bench.





.... and get the fleet in working order.

The Vassago still needs it's rear wheel laced. The Gunnar needs a new rear tire. The roadie needs new tires, maybe some 28's if they can be had on the cheap. So many projects, and no time constraints! Unemployment has it's benefits ;o)

Case of the Mondays...

.... went in for my weekly one on one with my Manager which was kind of strange because lately we've been doing group meetings. I didn't really think too much about it. Go into his office and there's some random guy there. He makes the introduction, Danny, I think was the guys name. Turns out that Danny is there to keep the peace, my boss gives me the news, says it's not his choice, corporate had some complaints from customers that I haven't managed in almost a year, and because there was no one to back-fill my old spot, the responsibility apparently was mine... the problem there is that I didn't have my old mobile number so the complaints apparently went no where until the FNG shows up and can't manage the territory. My boss is actually really cool, writes me a letter or recommendation and lists me a eligible for re-hire. Someone had to be the scape goat, I got the short end of it... or did I? As I made the numb drive home I realized just how lucky I really am. I have a great supportive wife, an amazing little girl, and a supportive and loving family. I'm still taking it all in, as I've never been "let go" before. It's a strange feeling. So, what to do now? Make lemonade out of lemons? The good news is I can float off of savings for a little while, but it did get me thinking about the possibilities out there. I checked on realtor.com and there are houses in my old stomping grounds that are reasonable, provided I have roughly the same income I had here. Granted the houses will be older and smaller, but seeing as there are rooms in this house the we're heating and cooling and not even using, perhaps it's the perfect timing?

Now to file for unemployment, spend time with Ella, and get some miles on my legs.

Oh, almost forgot I found the digi cam, charged up the batteries. So expect more updates and some more pictures. Here's one of the great work Kathy's doing in the back yard.

Another day, another fixie adventure....

Hooked up with Tobin, Joel, and Ride4beer @ the Madrone. I'm way slower than Joel, never ridden with Tobin or R4B, they're all fit so I figure I'm fugged, but what the hay, not like I've never ridden the Madrone solo before. The ride ensues, I'm hanging in the back chatting it up a bit at first, then just keeping up with the crew. Joel's up front on his new Mamasita, he was fast before the Mama, and just keeps me far enough behind that I don't see him except at re-group area's. Tobin's being cool and hangin' in the back with me while r4b is up front with Joel. At some point r4b drops back and I pull ahead. I'm burning pretty good for me, but know I can't keep it up for a sustained amount of time. Eventually we get to the Marina area where everyone struggles a little giving me a chance to pull in behind Tobin who's now taken the lead. The others catch up and at Joel's re-route I go straight into the sh!t, while the boys enjoy the longer, but less techy section. I know I'm up front now, so I take advantage of the situation and power through to the start/finish. We all re-group again, when Tobin & Joel ask if we want to get in another lap, there's no way I can do the first half, so I suggest "Grand Canyon" which recieves funny looks, Joel graciously corrects me and tells me it's called "Flying Cactus"... who knew? Off we go, again I'm pulling the back, when we get to an opening r4b pulls off looking for his lungs, Joel slows to see if he's ok and I take another spot, now I'm closing in on Tobin, who's officially warmed up. I give it everything I have and catch up, Joel's on my freaking rear wheel like white on rice.... I keep it up as long as I can but a cramp reminds me that I'm no racer boy. By the time I heal up I'm at the back of the pack again. I catch up at boat ramp, Tobin know's I'm toast and suggests we short cut over to the Marina and finish up in the dirt, I agree and spin along. We get to the dirt where again everyone is having a hard time, I clean the section and pull up front not to see the crew until we get to the cars.

After the ride I followed Tobin over to his crib to Czech out his rocking new Vanilla. All I can say is if I had the $, I'd certainly love to have one myself, although I don't know if I'd ever ride it for fear of damaging such a work of art.

Tomorrow is a rest day. I'll more than likely spend the morning playing with Ella at the pool, and hiding from the sun for the afternoon.

Thursday night social ride....

.... July was a tough month for me work wise. I haven't been this stressed out in years, at least not due to work. I finished up the month well, so I decided to treat myself to a social ride with the San Antonio Mojo's. I went early for the dirt ride, and was a little concerned since I was on the fixie again. This is a social ride, but the pace was good... not break neck speed, but not really slouching. I got a good workout in, and only had minor issues in the tight twisties which is more a bar being too wide for the trail thing. From the dirt social, we all meet up and head out for the pub crawl. I did reasonably well here until we hit a long downhill, which forced me to slow way down also making the transition back uphill a little exhausting. I hit the Mix, threw back a few cold ones, and decided to call it a night early-ish. I got home around 10, which is unheard of for me on one of these social rides, but it was enough of a ride, and I got to see some folks I haven't seen in months. Good ride, good people, these are the memories I'll take away from this place when it's time to move on.

I was impressed with the fixies performance, the more I ride the more I like being fixed. I'm learning how to adjust my body more for the terrain, but haven't really picked up the rear wheel hop thing just yet, I'm sure I look much like a smash'm up derby car just plowing into things. I am learning how to time my approach a little better, and have a general feeling for where the pedals will be at most objects. The multiple hops or drops are still a challenge and the random pedal strike is a sobering reminder that you can never stop paying attention on a fixie