Friday night looked to be Dirt Farm on the deck at the Pit Box. Rain threatened,but I broke out the fixed and rode over. As usual the deck crowd was well into being hammered by 5:30. So the guy looking at me over the rail must have seen 2 or 3 of me. " HEEEEY you rode your bike here". Yes, "Come on up!" In a bit I have friends coming. "Are they riding bikes too? "No. The magnet for the weird was on in full force. Only one problem. Dirt Farm wasn't playing. OOPs next week. So adults made decisions and we hit Caseys for some food and libations. This truck was parked there and I take shit for how the Jetta looks. HA!

After Caseys we decided to go see the Badweather Blues band at McGirks. I run into a former student in the parking lot. He says "Come on I'll buy you a beer". Twist my arm. Turns out he's waiting to the Twins. More former students. So we get a table and the these two woman come in all smiles and waving at our table.

I figure the guys know them. NOPE. The one in orange is a big flirt. The one that looks like a drag queen is a bit. Then their friend. Tinkerbelle shows up. Now I know the magnet is cranked and running at max. Tinkerbelle is dressed all in pink. Pink phone,umbrella,the whole kit. This woman is scary skinny and scary tanned. Not sure if it was sprayed or baked on.

So the boys are good natured and have some fun. But Scary Spice was looking for more.(She didn't want her pic taken) Jesse asked her if she had any tan lines? She begins to flash us and her friend stops her. Gross, we're laughing like mad and the one girl,gets mad. Don't be judging her. HUH? You come over to our table and sit in strangers laps......... We decided it was time to leave. Escaped from that bad movie unharmed.

Enjoy life OGQ

This sculpture is in front of the Childrens home. They actually utilized the tree that was being cut down and had the chainsaw sculptor create this. It was pretty cool seeing it take shape. Then they moved it to it's new location. Look no food.

On to the holiday weekend.

May is filled with birthdays. Henk, Mike. Cliff,Frank,Jack, Dick and Bob. So the Dinner Club hit to he Ale house for Cliff and Franks birthdays. Tim the owner was working. Now Tim and work don't get along. So our salvation came in the form of Donna the super waitress. As usual. Pizza and beer were had by all. Loose cannon Pale Ale was the evenings winner. More stories of food on the way. Thats it lately. Oh another bitrhday party,OK.

Cliff taking care of the econmics for us.

OGQ

Soon to be older Mike K, Cory P. and I headed out to ride/paint the ESG course before Tuesdays race. The climbs were good. Penn Ave is it's usual bomb cratered self. This course will inflict pain. Thats how it should be racing id supposed to be HARD. If you don't want to climb, move where it's flat. So fater a lap of the course. Cory took us on a new Quaker lake loop in Pa.

Now we were going in reverse on some of the roads we've been on and there's this really amazing stone wall. The thing is perfect. Then Cory points out the "Marble" Racing track. There is a really cool descending spiral wall. He said "There were two grooves cut in it to race marbles".

I'm thinking Man thats a ton of work get those grooves right etc. There were alos these huge sculptures I never really noticed.

Now we've talked about Church road before. But never done it till now. You can see the Church but not the top of the hill. Turns out its a 17 % grade. Tough. That would make a killer race finiishing circuit. In all we rode 70 miles with over 5000 ft+ of climbing.

So the "marble race track" had me curious. I took the Zook and went for a ride. Turns out it has tubing running through it. Very cool. Drop in the marble and run to the other end. Only I can't run right now. The "Egg" sculpture had all kinds of odds and end in it. Bike parts too,go figure.

The weekend was capped off with Tish's pizza and the movie Happy Feet.

Ride, Eat, Drink. Sleep

A food pic for Carl in Fl and good vibes to all battling cancer.

Enjoy life. OGQ

So Bobber (of the last post golf shirt fame) and I headed down to Bob W's to ride the Quad County ride. Part of the shifting focus of my riding. I talked of carrying the camera and taking pics, put the racer in me aside. HA!
Bob W would be doing his first organized ride. He made us proud. Way to go.
Bobber signed up for the 45 mile loop. I signed up for the 45 with the ICU (intensive climbing unit,that added 8 miles and 1200 ft of climbing. Registration ran smooth. We suited up and rolled out. Bob W went left. We went right. We spun along together to the first climb. Bobber said go ahead. See you at the finish. At mile thirteen the road went left for the ICU. I was the only one turning. A couple stair steps and then a sweet descent. Swoopy on new pavement. A sign said 7% for next 3/8ths mile. Back up I went. The climbs were long. Not really steep. My kind of climbs. I passed numerous people. Many with their triples spinning crazy cadences and going nowhere fast. So despite the fact they had almost a 1000 riders,I rode most of it alone.
At the turn for the 65 and 45 I almost went for the 65 which would have been 73 with the ICU.
But I stuck to the plan. The legs felt good and I decided to go hard for the next 16 miles. If I blew up, so be it. Well the road was a constant series of big ring rollers. The TT motor was firing on all eight and I motored. Then Bobber came into sight. I saw him get on a group of two and start to pace line. I caught them slapped Bob an the back and rolled. Felt strong all the way in.
Went by the truck and Bob W had just finished. So I sun out and went back to get Bobber he was on the road in and almost home. So we cahnged had the lunch provided and headed back to Bob's.

We took Bob to the Drafting Room. A great beer pub with amazing food. I had Wahoo with star fruit and mango salsa with sweet potatoes. Bobber had Jambalaya, Bob had corn,black bean and serrano ravioli. We enjoyed some nice Belgian ales. I had a cask conditioned Hop Devil for the second Bob had a Sunshine nectar and Bobber a Penn Weis. YUMO as Rachael says.
Off to Borders for a coffee and dessert. Read all the magazines.

In all a great day. Bobber had to get home for Mothers Day. I didn't eat the chocolates he got for Tish en route home.
Yes I called my Mom.

I'm looking forward to the circuit race tomorrow and see how the legs do.

Enjoy life. OGQ

The weekend started clear and cool. We hit Danny's Diner for breakfast. Everyone had the red pepper,swiss cheese and ham omelette. Yummy.

Henk and I headed out to Pa for some hills and different roads. The sun warmed our faces and smiles crept across them too. The wind picked up hard on 26. We rode solid and steady fighting the wind. But grinning like fools. Not knowing the whole route we came over Hogan. 56 miles total. Perfect. Legs were done.

Today I did a nice ride with Bobber,Venus and Pops. We tooled up Rt 11 and ventured into Killawog. We wondered what a Wog is? That mystery is still unsolved.

Enjoy life. ONQ

Time to ready for the Cinco de Mayo/Bad shirt party. It was BYOB and potluck. The crew of Venus, Mills, Cliff, Pops and Woofie, Bobber and Tish and myself. Venus whirred the blender and margeritas flowed. Nachos,burritos,beans and enchildas came out of the oven. Cliff brought some fine Belgian ales that were also popped. Faces filled. MMMMM. Then the Palmers showed up with dessert. Perfect.

Maybe there should be a vote on the bad shirts? What do you think?

It's been awhile. Life is mostly the same. Work,try to train. Rinse,lather repeat.
After the surreal experience of Florida,I'm home. So what do you do when a parent starts smoking again? Nag?.( I'll quit getting tattoos when you quit smoking. Mom wasn't happy with the chest piece. I'm thinking a big sacred heart with unforgiven on it. Or maybe her name.) That was just weird that Mom started again. I think it was because her house guest smoked. It was sort of OK when they smoked in the lanai. But then they moved inside. Mom never did that. Oh well here house,her rules.
The bigger news would be a I didn't race at our local cicuit race. Walked away clean,didn't volunteer or anything. Funny I didn't miss it. There's another race this weekend. It creeps on on me. Should I? NO. I said I was done stick with it.
Saturday I hit the local motocross circuit to watch a student race. He had a bad day crashing in the first turn. He was really disappointed. I coached him a bit. Money has come to ocal races. BIG MONEY.The 40+ plus class looked like a dirt bike parade. I felt I wanted to borrow his bike and ride MX again.
Sunday Bobber and I rode 45 miles into Pa. and back. I did some good TT efforts and felt like me. Drilled a couple hills and generally had fun.
I have to walk more. Maybe after dinner every night would be good for it.
The leg really needs that weight bearing activity.

So I'm looking for sun. I need sun. This is just sort of a catch up post. Amazing how people want to know. "Where have you been?"

A Cinco de Mayo party this weekend. First Friday,Dirt Farm at a new venue. Look for pics.

To all my friends going through the cancer treatment,here's to you. You're the best.

Enjoy life, OGQ