Time Trial Chamlionships and a Wine Tasting Party.
Our local bike clubs TT Championships were last night. It had rained all day and was still misting at the start. 19 Riders showed up instead of the usual 40. I'd made up my mind that I would do this TT like a mountain bike. I haven't really had my head into TT's this year so my performances have been so-so. Then Llyod pointed a finger at me and "Said I'm gunning for you!" He'd had personal bests in a row and has beat me on a couple flat ones this year,while I was mentally grocery shopping or whatever my A.D.D was up to. Now this course is one of my favorites. 6 miles of flat,4 miles of up, then 10 of rollers. Long story short. Todd and Pat motored by on the flat that was ok. They've been killing it all year. This race is about the hill and the rollers. Sure enough one by one you start picking off the early starters on the long climb. Through the mist I could see yellow jerseys. Llyod. I caught two,not him. Inspite of the rain I hit 46 on the downhill(instead of 50) carried alot of speed through the turn(thanks to our volunteers) and buried the 12. Another yellow jersey,still not him. Then the rabbit came into focus. Turns out I was what he needed to get that motivation back as I passed and pulled away.. He set another personal best and was fourth overall proving the old dog could still TT. Despite a killer headache Henk gave it his usual all.
We capped off the night with with some leftover beers from the party,pickles and chips. A comment was made"I can't believe i'm seeing roadies drinking beer. Henk's reply was "That's because the mountain/cross guy brought them".
Now tonight Cliff is hosting a wine tasting for us. This will be fun. The never ending 50th party!
Road Race championships Thursday!

Today is Five Bonus Years.
So here's a poem I found on the web. I liked it.
The Clock of Life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop at late or early hours. NOW is the only time you own, love, live, toil with a will. Do not wait until tomorrow. The clock might then be still.

The Loot
Look at all those beers from all over the globe. To Carl in Florida. Yes more ramblings about food.

Tattoed White Trash, Cyclists, Folk from all walks of Life.
These are some pics from the party.

Gay or Cyclist?
Details magazine does this everymonth picking some type of person and comparing to gay men.

http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?&id=content_4865

Coffee,Dinosaurs and Very Good Beers.
The Jittery Joes won out. This weekend brought the Cheating the Reaper 50th birthday party. Tomorrow is the actual day. My card reader is on the fritz so no pics. What a good time. Pizza from Bellas. Wings from Theos, veggie platters, salads, chips and homemade salsa. Beers from all over the country and world. The dinosaur reference is to the Loomis'. Tom and Mary made the trek from Mansfield for the party. When we had our pic taken. He said call it the dinosaurs. My buds hooked me up with some pretty sweet gifts. Just everyones presence would have been enough.
Mike aka " The kid" made me two Adirondack chairs that will far outlive me. One orange and primer model that will be painted in Belgian colors.
Pops and Woofie eased my transition into slobbdom with a barbque pack. The "tattooed white trash" found me a Tour de Trailer Park t-shirt. I'll have to work on the stains. But there's already chocolate frosting on it.Many brought me fine beers from Belgium and local micro breweries.
Bob and Tish are trying to fatten me up with an M& M dispenser. Henk and Connie will be having me trying pilsners in my new glassware. Jim "Triumph" made me 5 new cd's that are playing right now.
Many were afraid that this one would be a repeat of the gin soden 45th birthday. Happy to say. No hangover, yet. Cliff's winetasting party may change that.

So I scored a Kilo.
Here I am running for the shelter of mothers little helpers. I have three choices,all good.. Dopers Suck, a dark roast, Jittery Joe's which does make me that way or shade grown Costa Rican. Two help cycling one helps farmers. All three help me.
I'll need one. Dirt Farm show tonight. 50th birthday bash tomorrow night. Chris Thater Crit sat/sun with the big dogs in town for Sunday.
Which one will fill my cup? Stay tuned.
I loaned the Carver 96'er out for testing by few local fast guys. Looking forward to the reports.

A bit more from Iron Hill
Bob of the prior post was with me and was cheering every lap. He took this photo. Even he got dirty from the dry dusty course. Great support. Thanks Bob.
I can't say enough about the Carver 96'er. Get one.

The Return to Iron Hell err Hill and my second gift of the season.
I swore I'd never return to Iron Hill after the race in the rain two years ago. Not the promoters fault,but mother natures. So it was with trepedation that I returned to Iron Hill. It was a hot dry day and the course was fast and dry. Very fun. Nice work guys.
So it's good to see my fellow racers again. I'm using a 34x18 gear figuring that will be fine. I get the holeshot and plan to runaway and hide. I can hear the clattering of full sus bikes behind and turn it up a bit. The noise lessens. I start to catch the 40-49 group. Wend my way through them amd get on a train on one of the fast downhills. No place to pass. So I bide my time. Over a few logs and the leaders yells "Shit we missed that turn". What? I turn around and sprint up the hill and find it. I'm pissed this is the second time this year.( I show that in the photo). So I catch back to George and Bill. I figure Karl must just be up ahead. I rest a bit on the one climb behind George. The attack him hard. I'm thinking I must be in second,reach for the gelflask and it's not there. Damn those things. The bike starts to feel like I'm getting a flat. I check it after I have to run a section due to traffic. Seems OK. Then on the fourth lap it's going flat. I debate trying to ride it in. Nope. I stop and shoot it with Pennzoil Fix a Flat. George closes to 50 feet of me. I'm not giving this up and go flat out to the finish. It held. but was flat again by the time I went bacjk to change. All photos by dennisbike.com. He covers all the races ,races himself. Good people and a tough competitor.

Bob and Pamala Stanley
Now Bob isn't married to her as the title suggests. Far from it. Ha!
More happy hour good times. Pamala sang Mon-Thurs at the Blue Moon.
Her ability to think was clouded daily by over the counter meds for headaches,allergies, and sinus. I'm sure the wine didn't help. She did the full gamut of songs and kept a good chatter with the crowd.
No Dirt Farm. But the Moon actually did play classic rock this year and not disco/dance all the time.

The Bleeding Ear and what to do.
So this is Steve. We're at out favorite happy hour. The Blue Moon. I'm standing not to far from him and notice he has blood running. Down his face. We all know the horrors of such things in social situations. So I motion him over and tell him. Of course this has the negative effect I was hoping for. Now he's aware of it and keeps checking it. We laugh as he covers his ear(which he had cut). It does stop bleeding and we have a good chat. A really nice guy.Great smile. Maybe the LoneStarBear will see the resemblance. lonestarbearblogspot.com. WOOF!

Race rigs and Gay Men from DC Have way too much money.
So I saw two of my favorite vehicles. A VW thing and a Nash Metro. Now either of these cars would be sweet with a roof rack and bikes on top. Stylin.
Overheard on the beach. " I'm tired of paying 3500$ a month for a one bedroom apartment." Poor thing.
"We're here for the month. The we're going to the Villa in Italy so I can ride my bike for a month. " What the hell do these people do for a living? I figure they're from DC. 3500$ would be almost 7 mortgage payments for me. Let's see you're at the beach for a month,then Italy for a month. I'm guessing you don't work in a factory. Ahh the life of the idle rich. He probably rides a Merlin Cielo or Serrota Ott Trot and has no idea how nice a bike it is.

More musings from the Dogfish Brewery.
This is Jenn, our waitress. Jenn was cute and attentive. I had a lot of fun with her. She said her Mom was cute too. She also said her Dad was blue collar with a beard and hot. We'll leave that alone. The wood fired "canary for one" was excellent( a pizza with chicken) The beer was exceptional. Even if I might have had a wee bit too much. We all left in good spirits and Jenn's dignity was intact.

A Dogfish Head,Thrashers and a drunken Blueberry Pie.
The weather at the beach was great all but for one day. So that day was spin down the new bike path to nowwhere. It "almost" connects to Henlopen acres. So about these three pics. First, Henk made us promise to eat Thrashers fries. Yummy.Second, a trip to Rehobeth would not be complete without a few stops at the Dogfishhead Brewery. This is the sampler,perhaps a appetizer for further drinking? Third,this is the drunken blueberry pie.Like the Vegas ads. What goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas. To protect the guilty that's all I'll say about the pie.

DANCE YOUR WAY IN. FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT.
This little roadhouse is on the way too. The Broken Board Saloon.
A fine place to stay out of.
That's all for now. It's time to head to the shore for some sun sand and....

LIGHTLY BROWNED BY THE FIRES OF HELL
There's a church on the way to Shindagin that has the best sign. It's usually something like "Pray or you will die". Makes me want to attend. Here's todays.
I'd like some peanut butter with my jam please.

SLICED TOMATOES,AVOCADOS AND CHILPOTE
Venus treated us all to homemade salsa, blue corn chips and a beer post ride. Oh and toasted almonds. Yummy. But when I suggested an ice cream cone the Subaru almost swerved off the road. Flurries were consumed ,but not in a flurry. We hit the fruit stand for peaches too.
The MTB Xanax was working.
As you can see I busted out the Hooligan. The Carver was all packed for vacation.

GET POKED IN THE EYE WITH A SHARP STICK OR LOSE A LENSE
Now Venus managed to lose a lense in her glasses and not notice. On the return trip we looked for it to no avail. I on the other hand decided to poke a branch in my head and knock my glasses off my face.
I think the GI Joe look will he hot at the beach. Man. Have I got my Grandmothers nose!

MOUNTAIN BIKINGS VERSION OF XANAX
Today we headed to Shindagin for a mountain bike ride. The cast of characters included myself, Venus George and Laurie. The trails were dry and fast. We set off to do the Chair trail and the Endless Singletrack. Then finish with the Pine Forest. Temps in the low 70's. Low Humidity,bug factor low. Sweet. Here's where the chair trail gets it's name.

Chicago, The final report.
We headed south out of Chicago to Clarion Pa. to visit my sister. The highlight of the trip down was seeing about thirty Hells Angels at the toll booth. I was all set to take a picture and a tanker pulled up and blocked our view.Oh well. Sometimes they get a little grumpy about having their picture taken. Such is the life of scooter trash.
It was good to see hills again as we rolled in to Pa. The two cats are my sisters'. The double pic ( I goofed again) is Hanes he gets his name because he was born in an underwear drawer. He's a little food thief. But a fun cat. There other is Bodo. He had the wild eyed look the whole time we were there. He warmed up to us,but always had eyes wide open look.
We enjoyed an excellent white pizza and a couple beers with my sister. No Iron City for me. Breakfast at the local diner. This diner was like most in America where there will be a group that meets everyday and solves the world's problems. I call them the town council. We sat next to them. I tried a local delicacy called Mush it was basically fried polenta. Tasty with my omelet. While Bob and my sister toured Clarion in her Miata (Bob has a hankering for a convertible). I was left to get sis's motorcycle going for her. A dead battery stopped that project. Hope she has a new one and is riding. It's a nice little bike. Perfect for her. She wanted a pic with her bro and his hardware,so here it is. The rest of the drive home was that usual you wish you were home and not driving.

The Irony of Highland Forest.

I returned to race at Highland Forest after 12 years away. It was the second muddiest race of the year. My field had some horsepower. With Empire States Gold Medalist Ernie Bayles in attendance and his Ithaca posse of honches. Plus a fast guy from Utica. They were starting the 40 and 50+ together. So I moved to the front of the line. It was a long gravel road to double track start. These always get me nervous as I figure some hammer like Ernie can TT right on by the OGQ. But the plan was to pull a McGrath. To you non-moto heads. That's get the holeshot,runaway and hide. It worked. Some guy passed me for about 30 feet. 34x18 was a bit tall for all the climbing. But it worked out. My time was third fastest of the day in all age groups. I won a Shimano XT rear derailleur for my efforts. Kind of wasted on the one gear queer. So it will be for sale. Dan debuted the Dean and had a good time in the mud. The day was capped off with Doug's Fish Fry and ice cream. YUM. We got a pint glass at the race too. It will be filled with a fine Belgian beer to toast Jens.
The other pic is Jens Voight my cycling hero. Jens is now leading the Tour of Germany.

Spiede Fest and Balloon Rally
Now this is a big event for Bingo. Spiedes are Binghamtons claim to fame.Basically marinated meat on a stick. Then put on white bread.
The Ballons are cool to see go up inthe am throught the fog. But we were there to see Dirt Farm. They rocked as always. We stayed to see the Shakes too. Not too bad. I picked up a Spook the Horse cd. Which is a another band some of Dirt Farm plays in.
This is Dawn aka Venus. She had a friend playing at the Pit Box so after being festivaled out. She Tish and Bob headed there for more live music. I went home to snooze to be ready for the Highland forest classic.

The Aussies.
The Aussies were the most friendly of the games. We met Stewart,Dennis and Desmond at X/O's. Stewart is the one giving me my medal for the road race. Dennis helped with the road race registration(L) and Desmond (R)won every track event he was in. The other fellow in the pic with Stewart and myself is Robereto. He's in charge of the Games for Cologne. He's a math prof at the University of Paris. I think I want to got Australia now.

Medal Attractions
Besides free drinks. The medal also attracted the young ones to me. So instead of my usual "flypaper for the freaks" or "magnet for the weird" I had these two and others. The smiling head shot is Roman he was going to do the marathon and is from Cali. Nice smile. Nice guy. Can't remember the other twinks name.
Must have been all those free drinks. Either way. Thanks for my 15 minutes of fame.

More pictures of Wrigley Field and Closing Ceremonies. Sorry about the double.

Here's some shots of closing ceremonies.

Closing ceremonies and more new friends.
So we have this train thing figured out and head up to the closing ceremonies. It's hot out ,really hot. But now they have it figured out,water,snacks and portajohns,clean ones. So Bob and I make a plan where to meet after. As I get to march onto Wrigley field with 10000 or so others. I mill around, all my team mates have left. I see Rich and Jeff and we march in together. It was pretty cool. This is the second time I've been on a stadium floor. The first was a at a Supercross In Pittsburgh in 1978. The closing ceremoies had some fun acts. The gun twirling baton group. The DC cowboys. Cyndi Lauper was fun,even with the bad sound.
The mayor of Cologne got a little out of hand. She really got worked up and it just got silly. I was glad I went.
We found Bob easily ,he started his exit while the Mayor was ranting.
Off to Boystown for drinks,food and fun. With our great chicago guides who took us to some fun bars for drinks and conversation. We headed to Yoshis. A french restuarant run by a japanese couple. The waiter cried that I got a gold medal. He was really emotional. I had a Kobe beef hamburger with wasabi cheese mango ketchup. It was incredible. I know a burger? I wasn't real hungry. Oh and the tuna tartare appetizer was amazing. I'm spoiled. Nothing like that in B-Town. I don't even know where to get a good burger here. Cliff had sushi. Bob had a chicken dish. I can't remember what Rich had.Sorry. But it all looked and smelled amazing.
Cliff had the right spirit to get into racing. One of the games mottos was. Your personal best! It's not if you win or lose. You did your personal best.
He was like "Screw that I trained hard. I came into this and expected results". It was his first race. Cliff welcome to cycling. Wait till you license and race masters with former Olympians,pros ,cat 2's and other guys that are really good. Stick with it. It's a beautiful but humbling sport. Then for a real tatse of the sickness try a cyclocross race. You'll need another bike then two for cross. But by God it will make you strong and teach you how to suffer. Hope to see you guys again soon and stay in touch.

More fun people from the Games.
Wayne is on the left. He's a city boy from DC,without the attitude. He was right up there for his road race,then flatted.
He was not happy after that. He does have a great sense of humor and we did have fun joking around. It was all made better for him in the team time trial. Smile Wayne.
Bill is on the right. He's from Rehobeth. It was his first race. Baptism by fire. He had a good time and came away ready for more competition. Welcome to racing. We'll take a ride at the beach. Or come visit, we'll do hills. Hills make you strong.