So it's summer vacation. I usually use the first week to catch up on stuff I brush aside during the last week of work. That turned into the usual Bingo frustration. I had to return some "assisted living items" except no one knew where to take them. Then finding the building was a chore.

I needed some dry bags for the MC trip. So I head over to the camp store. Who knew they'd be closed on Monday. Oh well. Lots of little aggravations spoiled day one.

The weekend brought my first long ride in awhile. I was going to ride to Danby via a new route.

Not real confident in the legs lately. But I felt good and averaged 18.1 mph with all the hills.

Rode by my favorite church,they didn't disappoint. I don't even have to use www.churchsigngenerator.com to get these signs.

NNS party and the Debutante Ball tomorrow. I doubt I can post pics of these parties. But I'll have fun.

Cancer updates. All my friends receiving treatments are doing well. Tom is ready for the trip. Carl awaits more food, Bob awaits a full head of hair and FDP goes fishing and ...........!

Enjoy life. OGQ

Lots of time to think here at work. So it's a non-cycling/eating post.
But a friends email really hit home as did a Steve Earle song. His email told me his 21 year nephew was killed in the war. So in a way now I know someone killed in the war. I'm saddened by his loss and his frustration over the war and GW.(Check his blog Lonestarbear). Many parallels to my life here. That will come later in the post.
As he pointed out. It would have been his nephews first Fathers Day,he has a one year old son.
So here's a baby and young mother that will grow up missing many milestones in life. Sure, she may remarry someday. His stepfather maybe everything to him(which would be great) But the memories are there and his Dad is gone. All for what?
Now how does Steve Earle fit in? Here's the song line.
Half a million men fly across the water.
One in ten ain't ever never coming back again.
Fifty thousand sons that never could be fathers.
Don't you ever wonder ? What could have been?
Sure hits the nail on the head. And "W" hates Steve. It's almost like the whole John Lennon thing with the government. Steve is on the hit list because he sings songs that make people think about the war and he's outspoken against it. Yeah, lets fear the rocker. He's the real root of all evil in the world.
I found my father dead at age 15. Sure he was the prototypical 50's Dad. Provide shelter and food for the family. Not a big emotional attachment. He was always at work. Anything we did together was his likes and interests. He didn't like anything I did. He really hated motorcylcles and was convinced I'd grow up to be a Hell's Angel instead of a pro golfer. But the point here is he was my Dad. He did the best he could,there was no manual on how to be a good Dad.
Now I accepted the fact he was dead,pretty fast. But was was hardest is knowing the things we'd never share that most father/sons go through. Mom remarried twice and I accepted these new men as my Dad. Hell they didn't marry me. I was just part of the package. I always introduced both of them as my Dad. They were proud of that. I never went through the "You're not my Dad" anger some people do. Because they had become that. Thanks to both of you. I've buried three fathers. Lucky for me. I have the best Mom in the world. Nope sorry,she is.
But I do enjoy seeing my friends do things with their Dad's and know that they really enjoy their Dad.
So I'll do my ride down to Pa. Clean up Dad's grave and reflect for awhile. Chuckle that he's probably pissed off I came on the chopper and not in a car. But that was Dad.
I know he's seen me grow up. As will my friend's nephew will be with him in spirit. Someday things will happen to that kid and he won't have a clue why. But something inside of him will know it was a message from Dad. Saying "Way to go kid, you make me proud." Maybe he'll look at the ground or maybe he'll look to the sky. But I'll bet he'll smile and it will make his day.
So take a moment today and thank your parents or whoever matters in your life and say, Thanks for being you.
Enjoy life. OGQ

Saturday was a private Dirt Farm party. Now they had a raffle and three lucky winners got to have them play at their house. Jeff said," You and your friends should come to the party." Ok by me. It was great. The host had it catered and as the Coneheads say, There was mass quanities of food and beer. There was pulled chicken,brisket,spiedes, all kinds of baked beans and salads, and a killer dessert table.

There were horseshoes, horseballs, and the twenty somethings were doing beer pong. A very friendly crowd.

The band rocked three sets. Playing from 5 till 11. The party was still going strong when we left

Oddly with over 100 people I only knew other "Dirt farmers". I did meet the host and give him a bottle of Duvel.

Riding for the weekend was CVSP. Bobber, Venus and I rode all the trails. I helped them with skills. Venus is getting the hang of the bigger logs and Bobber is improving rapidly.

The Carver rocked as always. This bike is magic. Buy one.

Fathers day we road into Pa. This is hill intervals for me. The SS uses different muscles so the legs took a bit to get firing.

Zoo report. A couple dead snakes,Venus didn't kill them. They'd already met their demise. The cool thing was the Baltimore Oriole chasing the crow. That little orange fighter was having nothing of that. Very cool.

Last night was the dinner group. Yes, Carl in Fla. More food. We started with sliced tomatoes drillzed in olive oil with avocado slices, fresco queso and cilantro. Followed by two types of tapenade. The real suprise ws the bacon wrapped apricots stuffed with Havarti and almonds.

The main course was duck breast and hoysin polenta. Wine pairing included petit shiraz and one Zinfindal. Turns out the 04 Shiraz was "ripe,lush, refined and had a big nose". My fav.

Chuckles tonight in the form of Singer. It's like being in bad movie. The strong men go off the front. I don't quite have the legs to follow yet this year. So it's roll around in the field driving the train with Henk and one or two others. While the rest claw and scrap to hang on. Or say " I have a team mate up the road" which translates into they're not or incapapable of working. tis is a training race. Nothing more. Oh well. I'll get a good workout.

It's almost time to set the alarm for September.

Don't tick off your kitty. You never know.

Enjoy life. OGQ

Hush now, don't you believe it. go back to bed and dry your eyes.

So I made my retrun to the road race scene. The cycling community is so cool everywhere. Lots of "Hey,I amazed to see you riding etc.". Thanks. So we're miffed I was only doing the 26 and not the 50 miler. Baby steps.

We had a controlled start. The Cookies boys asked me to help them against the RUUD team,since I was the only Ommegangsta there. I told them not to worry. Their best were i the 50 miler and these guys can't race cohesively. After the neutral roll out. Mark attacked. No one went. Not my job. Then WHOOSH off went the tandem. Good for Mark. One of me many of them. You chase. I figured we'd reel them in at the bas of the climb. It happened. Six got away we chased. Why is this old guy driving the train? Are you guys here for recipes? And so it went to finish. The tandem would swoop past on the decsent(not always) then on the flats they'd light it up for a bit and all would tuck in behind it. Never,Never once did the RUUD team show it's face on he front. It was CNYC and myself if it wasn't the tandem.

It came down to a sprint on the uphill finish. Sprinting isn't my game. The year I turned Cat 3 I could big ring this hill. Not today. 4th in the 50+, not bad.

Then a picnic at Venus'. Good food,good times. Then it was off to Cliff's for another dinner.

Grilled sausages with fennel and onions. Thehighlight was the Brooklyn #1 beer he got. Very tasty followed by a Ommegang Rare Vos. A great weeekend.

Graham fest follow up. The paper said 27 thousand people came. you wouldn't have known it.

The paper also said the local businesses noted no increased sales. Where did they all eat and sleep? Weird,very weird.

Stuck a Frazz in just for fun. Enjoy life,OGQ

So they're here. In spite of the last two weeks much ballyhooed event. The Grahamfest.(Billy Grahams son was having a revival at BU) It doesn't seem to have drawn the numbers they expected. They had the overhead road signs up with where to go etc. Extra police for traffic control. We headed to the Parkway for an Ale House night. No problemo.

Now for Gay Pride. They're having a bash downtown and have extended open arms to all. The "Grahamers" responded with the "We hate the sin,but love the sinner" schtick. The paper tried to stir it all up. We'll see.

Back to the Ale House. Good beer. Depsite Bob's mentoring I repeated some over the beers on the round the world tour card. Good beer deserves a repeat.

Then happy group hit McGirks for a rousing Dirt Farm night. These guys had a field day with the Grahamfest. Even changing up the words to "Up against the Walk Redneck Mother".

It was old home night there. I knew lots of people. Had a great time.

Tomorrow I debut the new road kit in my first roadrace. More importantly Venus is having a picnic. Which, Thank you Carl, means more food.

Speaking of food. It's off to the Pig for breakfast.

The car is a 1953 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Deluxe Hardtop Edition. The Dirt Farm sings about these bad boys. Bobber always takes great pics,But the planets were askew last night sooo.

Tish said there had to be a picture of me. Isn't that a great t-shirt design? Take it as you will.

Enjoy life. OGQ

That's it. I'm rocking the pink. The rest of the kit arrived and it debuted on the streets of Bingo.


A nice ride into Pa. A little rain. Even climbed Church road. Just for giggles. The church bell was the siren song to climb this 17% grade.The power of pink!


Dopers Suck.com has pink socks. Maybe I'll get a pair.


Friday was First Friday and the start of Gay Pride in Bingo. A ton of people oit and about. We hit a few galleries. Who knew someone would paint oils fo slabs of meat in a meat locker?


Then we headed to the see Dirt Farm on the deck. They were just starting the second set and crowd was drunk and fired up. The did a singalong with Cover of the Rolling Stone. Pretty funny. They rocked some new surf music and medley of all their songs too.


There was a drunk who seemed spastic or epileptic. He would spin and twirl,then stop and give a weather report. Never hit anyone in his dervish. Now and then he would chug a beer. I, the fly paper for the freaks, managed to avoid him. ODD.


Tish was showing us the night sky and pointing out Venus. Well, Frank heard Penis and said where? He was happy.


Breakfast was the favorite. Stuffed french toast to fuel the proposed championship road course.


33 miles 2378 ft of climbing. Lots of false flats. This on will piss off many. Now the nice part is right at the base of the wall is a turquoise trailer. Considering Dirt Farm sings about them it hits close to home.


Movie review. Half Nelson. Not bad,kind of quirky worth a watch. It's a about a teacher who's a doper teaching in the inner city.Later in the week I'll catch.


Down in the Valley with Edward Norton. Hope it's on par with American History X and 25th hour.



Cliff flying his freak flag proud.


Gonna see my smiling face on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone,gonna buy five copies for my mother. OGQ