I hear you....



Jackal told me to never write about sex, politics, or religion on my blog.

One of these days I plan to do all three. Just for shits and giggles.

I told him that my "blogosphere friends" should "know" me well enough by now to survive anything I might write about here. I told him that I can't imagine that anything I'd write would offend anyone of you. I also told him that if I did offend anyone, you'd get over it. You may not agree with my opinions and thoughts but, hey, that's ok. I can guarantee you that I won't agree with everything you might say or think, but that won't change the way I feel about you. Fair enough?

It's my blog and I can write what I want to, write what I want to....

So, there we are...

I didn't go to the group ride tonight. No fuel in the tank. I've been waiting for a harassing email from Fatty giving me hell for not showing up. It should be scathing. It started raining pretty hard at about 10 till 7 and I was thinking "boy, I hope Fatty is out there getting his ass soaked". I really did. Not only did I think it, but I hoped it. Good training for him for the race he has coming up this weekend. 200 miles of gravel. Him and G-Ted and Super and Doug. Crazy. Hope y'all have fun!

Well, I just got the email from him. I'm now a "fair weather rider", according to Fatty. Damn! That hurts! Was it last Tuesday that it was raining and I was the only one to show up? Two weeks ago? Oh well....

He said he just got home, stripped naked, and started drinking beer. Said I'm not high on his priority list. I told him to kiss my ass. Gotta love the dude!

Anyway....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Memorial Day 2009....

Father and son, WWI and Korea....

The Mississippi at Lynxville, Wisconsin....

Judy and I drove over to Readstown, Wisconsin today to visit the graves of several of her family members. There are veterans who served in every war from the war of 1812 up through the Persian Gulf War buried in this cemetary. There were more flags marking the graves of veterans than there are residents currently living in Readstown. I suspect that it's like that in most every small town in this country. There was a time when a young man graduating from high school felt an obligation to his country and he enlisted and left for "the service" after graduation.

Perhaps that's not an accurate representation of the past. Perhaps it's just the way that I viewed the world, since that's the way it was in my family. Both of my grandfathers served. My father served. All 5 of his brothers served. 2 of my 3 brothers were in the Army and, like me, they served multiple tours. My 3rd brother tried to enlist but had a disqualifying medical condition. I can't even remember how many of my cousins served. More than didn't. My wife's family was the same way. If you were male, you went into the military. No one told you to. You just did it. Strange, eh?

I realized after I enlisted that not everyone actually does go into the military after High School. There were probably 175 boys in my graduating class and less than a dozen went into the service. One went to the Naval Academy and ended up flying with The Blue Angels. That was pretty impressive, to me.

I suppose that the war that was going on in Viet Nam had something to do with the numbers. Perhaps it was just the times we lived in. Maybe that's the way it's always been. I don't know. I do know that I spent 7 1/2 years on active duty with the Army and another 5 drilling with the Reserves and I wouldn't trade the experiences that I had for anything. There was a lot of miserable duty but there were a lot of fun times and good opportunities, too.

It's all good!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Memorial Day Weekend....

Downtown Hudson this morning....
More flags....

Training for RAGBRAI. Seriously.

Little Miss....

Brother of Jackal....

All smiles....

Ummmm.....

Let's go, Papa!

Jackal and his new Scalpel....

The Queen of Cross looking at her Goldfish....

Dancing in the sand....

Surly with the Burley....

Climbing....

Mad skilz....

I got up this morning and rode to Orange then south with the wind to the blacktop that goes west into Hudson. (D35?) Wind was out of the NE so it was pretty easy spinning on those two legs. East and north were a bit more difficult. It was good. 32 miles.

Went to Toad's for lunch with Judy, Brother of Jackal, Jackal, Moo, and Ms. Rhea. That, also, was good.

About 4:30 I rolled the Surly up to Jackal's and put the Queen of Cross in the Burley behind the Surly and did the "Mini Tour of the Parks" with her and Jackal, adding 19 more miles to today's total. She's getting big. It's hard work pulling her! LOL.

I hadn't ridden the Surly in awhile and I'd kinda forgotten how much fun it is.

Take a few minutes to ponder the reason for Memorial Day. I know that to most Americans it's a day off from work in late spring. A time to eat and drink and carry on. Consider the price paid by those people for whom this holiday exists. Be thankful that there are those who are willing to sacrifice everything for something greater than self. Enjoy the day.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Crushed....

Redg to the rear, Courtney off the front....
Courtney says Hi!

The Thin Man was selling a bike at 6 this evening, Chris was going to practice with the band, and Fatty was trying to taunt me into leaving with the fast guys. He kept telling me that they were going to "take it easy" tonight. He was trying hard to keep a straight face when he said it. Fatty, Tony, Doug, Jackal, Steve B., and Deerslayer together and they were going to "take it easy". Right. I was born yesterday. These things were said to me after Fatty stole my water bottle and hid it in Tony's jersey pocket then tried to feign innocense. Poor Tony.

Anyway....

The group rolled and Fatty waited a minute for me to get my ass in gear. We were about to leave when Courtney rolled in. Asked her if she was coming with us tonight. "No, I'm going with the 6:15 guys". "Ummmmm, there won't be any 6:15 guys tonight so you may as well come with us". She did. She's strong. Redg was pulling in as we were pulling out and said he'd catch up with us. Cool. He caught up with us at Hudson Road and then we were 4.

The wind wasn't as bad as it was on Tuesday. Only about 20-25 out of the north tonight. We went north to the end of Union Road and then waited before heading over to Janesville. The fast guys had gone to Finchford and were cresting 3 Tier shortly after we got to the "T". Jackal was aero and rolling at about 35 mph down the back side of 3 Tier with Doug and Houlihan on his tail. Fatty left us and caught on to the group and then they were gone. Redg, Courtney, and I took turns pulling the last 3 miles into Janesville then we headed south on old 218 with a tailwind. We took turns pulling all the way to Cedar Falls. It was definitely good! Those two kicked my old tired ass tonight! :)

Thanks to Fatty for riding with us and to Courtney and Redg for pulling me along tonight. It's all good :)

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Sweet....

Am I offended? No.
The Thin Man....

31 miles. Wind. I hurt all over. I think that Brent and Redg hurt too. Scott and Chris are fine. Hmmmm....

Thanks for blocking the wind for me, Redg!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Beautiful day....

Fatty and Jackal....
Windy in Hudson....

I knew that I wanted to ride sometime today but wasn't sure when. The sun is shining and the temps are hovering right around 50 F. The wind is out of the NW at 35 mph. Sounds like a perfect day for a ride, eh?

I got up a little late this morning and went to check email. Fat Albert was already up after a hard night of partying and was asking if I'm watching the Giro. I pull it up on my 'puter and we exchange banter for the next hour or so. He asks if I'm going to ride today. About that time I get an email from Jackal saying that it's cool (46F) and windy, how 'bout a ride? I guess it's unavoidable at this point. :) After I called Fatty a pussy for wanting to wait for the rain to stop before riding the other day, I couldn't back out of a windy ride. Funny how that works, huh?

We met up at 63 and Ridgeway with plans to head south. I hate starting a ride with a tailwind. That means you fight a headwind on the way back when you're probably tired. (builds character) These other guys don't seem to mind it so I won't complain about it. We met John and Kathleen with a few others heading north and waved and yelled at each other as we passed. From what I could see, they were all smiles riding into the headwind. I know that I was just starting my coffee when they were heading out this morning. Good seeing you, guys and gals!

The trip south to Hudson was almost too easy. When we got there we rolled through town and then headed east toward the Eagle Center blacktop. The wind was so strong that it was hard to maintain a straight line, even when going west with a quartering tailwind. I'm probably the heaviest of the group and the first hill out of Hudson saw me coasting past Jackal and Jeremy. I heard some derisive comments from those two about "there goes Schleck again". I don't know if they were referring to Frank or Andy, but I know it wasn't meant as a compliment. Fatty was on his CX bike and said "hey! I'm outta gears". Jackal took off so I took off too and The Corpulent One gave chase. That's a 5 mile section of rollers, a couple of them pretty serious, but it was easy with the tail wind. Fatty rolled up beside me and made a comment about me being too quiet. I told him that I was just thinking about the impending trip north and west.

To the idiot in the Audi: I don't like you.

When we got to the Eagle Center blacktop we turned north toward Orange. Holy Crap! Holy Crap! Whoa! The speeds came down from the 25 mph range to the 10-12 mph range. It was hard to keep the bike on the road. To say it was windy would be an understatement. It was BROOTAL!

When I finally made it into Orange, Jackal and Fatty were waiting for me. We turned west and rode through town and then out to Ansborough, where we headed north again. When we got to the intersection with Shaulis, Fatty continued north back into Waterloo and Jackal and I went west to hook back up with the bike path which took us north back to town.

It was a good ride. I'm not sure if it was fun or not. Parts of it were fun. Parts of it hurt like hell. I'll just say it was good and leave it at that. 29 miles in 2 hours.

I need a shower and some lunch.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Small group....

Chris, Craig, Doug, and I rolled from the shop at 6 this evening for a "short, easy" ride. Sweet Amy showed up just before we left but didn't want anything to do with the boys. Can't say as I blame you! :)

We went out of town on 4th then north on Union to C57 then east over to Center Street. We talked about continuing east from there to Wagner but decided to go north again to Janesville, then east to Wagner. There were a couple of fellas out and about with their pick 'em up trucks that wanted to let us know that their horns worked but, for the most part, folks were pretty friendly. I guess it only takes one moron to spoil it. Didn't happen tonight though. Low 60s, sunshine, good friends, and not much wind. How could anything spoil that? :) Plus, we talked trash about the guys that weren't there. Mainly Fatty, Tony, and Jackal. That was fun too!

I did my best to stay on with the group without slowing everyone down. Doug and Craig took off a couple times but when they were done trying to crush each other, they waited. (I guess there is something primal that they can't ignore that forces them go for the sprints at certain points in the ride:) Fortunately I didn't make them wait too long. It was a great ride! I can't remember the last time I carried on a conversation with another cyclist at 20+ mph. I'm still fat but my fitness is definitely improving! Yay! Doug and Craig left us at Westfield and Chris and I parted ways at Ansborough and the highway.

We ended up with a bit over 35 miles in a touch under 2 hours, including my 4 mile easy ride to the shop. They made me work! It was fun. Thanks, guys!

Jackal will be home from hell, er, I mean Florida, tomorrow night. I know he will miss that place....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Damp days with Fatty....

Fat Albert....
Blue....

Sacrifice.... Before the blood turned red, it was C-Dale green....

I left work early today to drive all the way to the other side of town to renew my drivers license and to fill out a profile card at the bank. It was raining cats and dogs when I received a text from Fatty. He said something about going for a ride so we shot text messages back and forth for a few minutes, then I went home. Just an FYI.... People in this town drive like morons. The worse the weather, the more chances they take and the stoopider they drive.

I got home and turned on the 'puter and sent my little buddy an email asking if he was going riding. The rain had almost stopped and he was saying something about waiting awhile for it to pass. I called him a pussy. I feel bad about that but it's the truth. I did. (The part about feeling bad about it isn't true, though) I got dressed and met him out on the trail and we rolled south to Hudson. It had pretty much cleared up by then, though the trail was quite wet and we were getting wet from the spray. It started to rain when we were just outside of Hudson. A light, cool rain. It actually felt pretty good, as you can see from Fat Albert's smiling face in the top picture. He's a bit warped, ya know.

Judy told me that I was an idiot as I was going out the door. (She was smiling....) When I told Jeremy that she had called me that he said I was moving up in the world. I said "how so"? He said an idiot is higher than any of the asses. Sweet! That's kinda like skipping a grade in school!

Anyway, it was a fun ride with good conversation. Well, we conversed a little when I would catch up to him. Then he'd drop me like a bad habit again and I'd chase so we could talk some more then he'd be off again. Strange little dude. I think he's an accomplished sadist. He tortured me on Ho Chi Minh and smiled all the while.

The 3rd and 4th pics are Jackal's leg. He's doing some follow up training with a newer laser operator in our facility in Florida this week and took a spill, apparently, while riding his brand new C-Dale Rize mtb down there with a couple of the locals. Well, it isn't actually his. He wanted to send his bike down there for the week but it was brootally expensive to do that so he made some calls to see about renting one. He has connections! Talked to The_Smackdown in Minn-ee-so-tah, who talked to someone in Florida, who arranged the use of a bike from a dealer in Winter Haven for the week. Gratis. How sweet is that? Jackal bleeds C-Dale green and got hooked up because of it! (the blood actually comes out green then turns red, so as not to freak anyone out. That's a little known fact that I thought I'd share). He said all that was really injured was his pride. He sacrificed his body to save the bike!

That's about it for this evening.

Thanks for the ride, Fatty! It was good!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Ummmmm.......

I just received a message from a normally reliable source stating that Jackal loves Florida and is thinking of moving down there permanently. Seems impossible to me but, well, who knows.....? Perhaps he's taken a liking to palm trees and sand?

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

In no particular order....

The Queen of Cross at a roadrace....

The Cat 4 finish. Can you say "close"?
The women of PRC....
Waiting....

Still waiting....

Almost time....

Chit-Chat....

The "experienced" guys....

Kat and the ladies....

Little Miss....

Feels GOOD!

Sweet medals courtesy of Mike Johnson.

The Cat 5 podium....

The top 5 women minus Kat. She was busy racing again....

The ladies.... The wind was BROOTAL....

Jackal....

Uphill into the wind....

John leading the old(er) guys....

Working together....

Riding the gutter....

The chase group....

The 3's....

Strategy....

Stringing the group out....

Cresting 3-Tier Hill....

Back into the headwind....

More pics and write ups at the Bike Tech Blog.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!