It's been awhile. I'm sure if you read these you say "It sure is" or have given up.

But the mice have been busy. We made it to Belgium Comes to Cooperstown. A fun brewfest. But way too expensive in the end. Plus I had to reign myself in the as I was going race at Highland Forest aka The Quagmire. Panhandle played the brewfest and there was some good food.

Next on the beerfests are The Ithaca Brewfest and then The Big Pour.

We also celebrated Jaunty mouses' successful cancer treatment. How you ask? Why with more food and drink at Moxie.

So it was the return to Highland forest. Pops always said " If you'd move up I'd be on the podium". So I did. Back to the Expert ranks. It poured at the start. So lap one was follow the rain rut. The brakes started to go. Lap Two was peanut butter. No truly no brakes. Lap Three a comedy of errors as I Flintstoned it around the course or looked for things to bounce off the change direction. No crashes. At the end nothing in the tank. Thus the "Hollow Empty Eyes".The "Ommegangsters" slayed it that day. Jeff W became "Delicious" and Katina became Mrs Delicious. Pretty funny story. As usual Jeff's parents were there cheering us all on.

Dougs Fish Fry was a winner on the way home.

The kitchen project continues. DNA really helped with the floor. We three banged it out in six hours. The crazy thing is my legs are killing me. Worse than any race I've ever done. I guess it was all the up and down. Muscles that don't get used.The "Flair" is up for sale. How retro. But no ones biting. Where's the hipsters into this?

We did try to get cook. But we hit every diner for breakfast. Busted out Jaunty mouse grill for a fine meal.

WE took the Strom down to Wellsboro to check on City Mouses possible new digs. Got to hangout with Tom and Mary. See the new scooter. Took a ride and saw the Grand Canyon of Pa.

City Mouse got a little squirmy towards the end of his 270 miles. A gel pad??? Nice work LGV

Kross is kreeping up and that means race promotion duties too. Plus the weekly practices.

The new rig is ready to roll.

Also more pics at the other site I'll try to maintain.

http://harderthanblogging.shutterfly.com/

Get out and ride. Drink good beer,love the one your with. OGQ

Here's what it looked like. Juat a little rust and duct tape and spray foam. The "black hole" is magnetic after the gas door rusted off. Whatever it took.

After 14 years the Jetta City in no longer in my possession. Was it right to get rid of it? I still wonder. It had grown to be part of me. Something you could joke about. The mechanic I had loved the car. Many looked at it and wondered how it stayed together. It did. It never let me down,German engineering. I donated it to the Salvation Army. Some queried "They took it?".
Yes they did. Some even offered to buy it. They will also take none running vehicles. So here's it's final pics. Good bye little car,it was a great run. Lets hope your replacement lasts as long,if not longer.

So in the wayback machine we go. Katina has been asking for more and so has Carl in Florida.

You're probably going to read about bikes,food and beer with travel sprinkled in.

So lets start with Memorial day weekend. Jaunty mouse and Country Mouse pointed the lesbian truck west to Pixburg. The Tom Tom was screaming turn left all the time as it wanted us on route 80 not 17. Click end of that till we stopped for dinner. Then memory took over. Technology is something when it works. We rolled into City mouses' house right on time. A Witte was poured and some appetizers eaten as the IPA's made their way put.

Saturday we opened the pool. Took a run into Pix and saw some sights. Dropped off a ton of bke parts at Freeride Pittsburgh. It's a cool place where people can learn bike repair assemble their own bike and keep it. Get them on the street and not be reliant on a car. Then we hit Bannicks bike shop. First you had to find it. No wayback machine needed here. It was a time warp of odd and everything bike related. Very cool. We hit the upper hillside for aview of the city. The Sharp Edge called our name and Belgian beers and exotic meat burgers passed our lips. A stop at the 6 and Save aka the VFW was in order. I think I'm one beer away from my free t-shirt and discount. Drink up men.

Sunday found me back on the bike and in search of new routes. Thanks to the bartender at the Dew Drop in I was on a pretty good loop. You don't have to look far for hills in this area. En route home I saw a group of twenty or so 250F dirt bikes heading into the weeds. I stopped a couple and asked about the trails. They said they were all over. The rest of the day I could hear the Brrrap Brrrrap and new they weren't far away. Have to get the Hooligan out here again and ride these trails.

City mouse planned a pool party and new friends were invited. Laughs were had as we set City mouse up with the Z3. It's a known fact that the Miata is a "little gay car" but was the Z3. We believed so. City Mouse roared in denial. Then he offered to show Mike the car. We told Mike to say "Oh, Look at the little gay car". Well it was too funny to hear "It is not" come out of the garage. Maybe we should have a poll?

Monday was more sightseeing starting with breakfast at DeLucas. Man vs Food has eaten here and after having the seafood omelet I can see why. We hit Smokin Joes sixty beers on tap. Great place better than Fatheads. Dinner was at Majorrca. I had wild boar, Vince had oso bucco, Bob had a salmon dish. All were excellent. Our appetizer was stuffed calamari. There's a keeper.

After that I was signed up for the Single Speed Palooza. Other gangsters signed up were Drumroll and the infamous fast couple Jeff and Katina. This would be Katinas first ride on SS, borrowed one at that. Jeff was up with the big dogs, Drumroll and I in the "north" and Katina with the big kitties. I knew getting to the single track in the front would be imperative with over 200 riders going to be on the course traffic problems could occur. I entered it first. Drumroll close behind. We had a good gap as riders clogged up on the hill behind us. Away we went. Stewart is a great place to ride. I left it all on the course for 14th Greg snagged a 4th. Jeff had a good run with the pros. Some mutant crushed it in 1:25 flat. Freak. Katina took second in the Expert Women. Killer. Overall the Gangsters got a lot of "airtime" from the promoter. Gregg donated some 750's for primes. In the trivia I scored a pair of Specialized sunglasses. Overall a great event. It sort of spiraled out of control for them. Thanks to the Watershed for hosting us and as always serving great food.

Fast forward to last weekend. City Mouse returned to Bingo. Friday night I made Pad Thai. Ther has to be a zillion recipes for this. It was good. Peasant food can be some of the best. Saturday night we used our gift certificate for Moxie, now we went to the other end of the spectrum. Vince had divers scallops I had grilled veggies with tuna. Excellent as always. Probably the best place in the area. We watched a documentary about abuse by priests. Interesting.

Sunday found me road racing in Whiskey point taking a wrath for not doing the 50 miler. Vince had to be in NYC so we had made plans to see Panhandle at the Black Bear Winery. The race we like always sit in till Marathon. Make the cut, be there at the finish. It worked. AJ made the cut and a few other TVC'ers. There was some horsepower here with Peter Ozlins and Ernie Bayles.

The group worked pretty well and it came down to a sprint up the hill. There's that word SPRINT, I don't have one so Iwas 4th in the age group. I was happy I made the cut. Jaunty had brought the little gay car over and City Mouse had found his way back from the birthplace of Nelson Rockefeller to be there at the finish. Lunch at Aiello's, a celebratory beer and we were on our way to see Panhandle. We tasted some wine. YUCK way to sweet for me. Enjoyed the tunes. Bobber and DNA met us there. Got Vince on the road on time and another work week ensued.

Done with kids for another year. Not a bad year.

Enjoy life, ride your bike, drink good beer, tell your friends you value them. OGQ

Friday Country Mouse and Jaunty Mouse headed to the Big Apple to see City Mouse and Trans Mouse. The drive went well a bit of rain. We were there and a bottle of Witte was opened. We headed up to 111 th and hit a brewpub for a light,well not so light dinner and a couple beers. Young ,loud and crowded. This could be the theme for the weekend. We also went to the historical site of that first Big Ol Mo' uprising. The Stonewall,had a Bluemoon then off to the Blind Tiger for a night cap.

Saturday found us heading to French Roast for breakfast. Let the Journey begin. Eggs Benedict for me. Very nice ,Good coffee flowed and of we went. Jaunty mouse wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge. So we went and walked across it. Always a sight to see even in the rain. Coffee was "working" and the mice needed shelter. Ahhh, comfort food was found and we headed back to Broadway to see Hair. Gaggles of B.O.B's filled the theater. People of all ages were there. We were in the third row. Let the show begin. I'd seen it in the park in the summer and was curious to see it on stage. The music was great. The message still applies and the energy was high. Just like the 60's. At the end City mouse and Country mouse got up on stage and danced with each other. That was fun. The stage flooded with people and all were having a great time. Megan did a great job. The Buddhist part cracked me up.

Trans Mouse wanted to to go Williamsburg to see the regentrification (or maybe just look at young hipsters.) He'd picked out a few bars for us. Starting will the Alligator lounge. Pretty cool place. You get a personal pan size wood fired pizza with each drink. Good tap selection. I went for a Widmers hefeweizen. We were in the "Land of Pixie Fixies and PBR's ". But you wouldn't know it. Not a PBR in sight. The beer maven was a Betty Page girl. Which I find very cool. He was friendly and pointed us to TM's next bar the http://www.spuytenduyvilnyc.com/ the Spuyten Duyvil. This place was easy to miss. Then inside it was like they'd bought a pawn shop and added taps. Another Belgian hefe graced our lips and CM got a pickle plate. No recession in Billyburg here. Eight bucks for carefully weighed out pickles. Again not a PBR in sight. I have some Pyrex I could sell them too. The bartender here was jerk. No tip for you. After reading that this was rated the number one beer bar. I didn't agree. Sure they had a zillion expensive bottles but who really drops 9-75 dollars for a bottle of beer. I didn't agree with their reviews at all. So we moved on to Barcade(http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com/) another recommendo from the Alligator girl. Down a dark alley we strode. City Mouse was a bit worried about this leg. But a block later there it was. They had lots of "old school" video games. A superb line of taps and friendly bartender. Country Mouse and City Mouse had a casked Hop Wallow by Victory. JM had a red ale. He then told us if you're drinking beer you have to go to

Radegast Hall Beer Garden, http://www.radegasthall.com/index.php. Well we wended our way to and fro and couldn't find it. Ask the hipsters I did. Hmmm. no luck. Ask the next group. Bingo. This place was like going back in time on the one side. I almost expected knights in armor to be sitting at the tables or at least Viking. We found three feet of seats and slid in. Chatted up the kids and ordered beers. City and Trans went off in search of brats. This was the best beer of the night in my opinion(even after the five others) Blanche de Bruxelles Witbie. They served them in liter or half liter. The brats came back and one looked like a "burnt penis",this is and old joke from the MX days. A friends mom always cooked, rather charred everything and put it in a cooler for us to eat. "Burnt Penis" was a regular on her menu. I'd ordered a couple pretzels too. Turns out two of the guys played in a band called.

http://www.myspace.com/meshachjackson Meshach Jackson

One was a lawyer, T mouse was enamored and the female was a photographer. As always we had fun chatting with those around us. Time for the creepy old guys to head home. This moniker came from a XM radio. A comedy bit about old guys at concerts. Since we were in Hipster Central. We used the ruse we were looking for our kids. Not really. The title comes from a sign in front of restaurant. The pic of Karl eats Dick was in the mens room at the last place we were. But no one has proof.

Enjoy life. Ride your bike, respect your friends. Love someone OGQ

So Country mouse aka Ronnie broke out the lesbian truck( that was half of beers for Vince) and headed west. While City mouse was picking Tranny Mouse up at the airport for a rendezvous in Pixburg. Let the drinking commence.

It had been a bad week at work with the crazies getting crazier and more politics then the Obama staff could handle. I needed out and got it.

My arrival was greeted with an Ommegang Witte. Nice start.

We went to Isabelles for a six course meal with great wine pairings by Trans mouse. The restaurant hung on a hillside with great view of the city. Food was ok, some better than others. We all had a course we liked best. Then a bit of site seeing at night.

The next day the mice made a nice breakfast and headed to Pix for some more site seeing. We toured all the neighborhoods and stopped at one of the Universities to see a church modeled after a chapel in France. Wish I could have taken pictures inside. Onwards to the Church Brew Works. The food is better than the beer. They had a decent lager made with quinoa.

Toured around some more and headed for the "VFW." This is becoming a haunt for us. Great beer store called the 6&Save with bar in the back serving Belgian beers. If you drink 16 you get a shirt that gives you a dollar off. City mouse made this goal this week. More on that later.

Always interesting people in there. We're now on a first name basis with a few.

We all pitched in and made dinner. Herb rubbed pork loin. Curried quinoa salad and a Thai broccoli salad. Better then our six course meal.

Sunday was Easter. So more food. Cliff and I explored a bit while Vince was at Church. I snuck a ride in on the route we found. Hills of course. Then we headed to Pix for some lunch. Nothing was really open. So we ended up at Images. They could smoke here and a couple queens were drunk and arguing with each other. LOUDLY. The beer menu wasn't bad. We didn't stay long. Enough of that,there's more fun people at the VFW.

Movie review. We watched Bottle Shock at mix of Little Miss Sunshine and Sideways. Not bad but quite predictable. Beers were poured.

Monday found us up at the crack of dawn to get Tranny Mouse back to the Big Apple. Then we went to Deluca's for breakfast. What a menu. It was tough to decide what to have. I went with the breakfast chorizo burrito. Vince had the veggie burrito. Yummy. The first pirates game was today and the fans were rolling in. Already well oiled at 8:30 in the morning. Lots of black and gold. The evening found us cooking in and then hitting the VFW. You'll see a trend here.

Tuesday is a blur. Wednesday we headed out to North Park. Vince road around the lake and I hit the MTB trails. Not bad after I found them off the cart paths. More exploring needed there.

Thursday Vince wanted to try the Velodrome at the city park. It's a half mile paved with a slight rise in it. I was doing an interval workout while V circulated. Then a Tri guy showed up and we rode a bit of tempo. The a big strong kid showed up an a Trek TT rig, fully kitted and was getting down to business. I tucked in behind he was lapping the 25-27mph range. I took a couple pulls and offered to help. He declined and was on a mission. I sat behind him for 40 minutes. Swoosh,lap after lap. Thanks kid. Today found us at the OTB bar in the south side. Now OTB is Over the bars. It's owned by a mountain biker and had a bike theme interior. Pretty cool. Good beers on tap. Most patrons were messengers drinking PBR talls. Food was great all bike named. The Penn Brewery Hefe was best. I'm leaning to session beers. Thursday we also went to see Beer wars. It was satellite feed of the movie. More like an event documentary style. Pretty cool. Then a live Q&A session after. Made us thisrty.Another round at the VFW,working on that shirt. Vince scored his tonight.

Friday was a little R& and having lunch with the friend of a friend from here. We went to another part of the city( drawing a blank,but it had to do with a war,so sweet cobbled climbs there.) and ate at The North Shore Legend. We were greeted by the "Food Artist" aka a chef. Very pleasant. Great food. JR was fun to meet.

Sushi was calling for dinner and City Mouse knew a place in a strip mall. It was superb and cheap.

Twenty bucks a head for each and it's BYOB. Ommegang was sacrificed. The off to the VFW.

The beers went down easy and cheap. With Vince's discount shirt. I'm halfway there. We met a husband and wife chef team and talked food. Talked with the locals that we'd made friends with.

A fun night. A great week I was recharged for sure.

Saturday was a nice weather day and hated to waste it with driving home.

Oh the Buffett reference. With XM radio we had Margaritaville on all the time in hopes of hearing Fins. After 97 hours of Jimmy we did. HA!. We did hear some new songs and covers by him I didn't know he did. We were "Buffeted" to say the least.

Spiced it up with the new Neil Young. You get a dvd of Neil doing some of the new stuff and great cover at a show. Neil, Rocks.

Enjoy life. OGQ

It seems like a month passes before I post here. It's that time of year. You get busy,the blog takes a back seat.

So this post is "I drink coffee just to hear my own heartbeat". That's a line from a local bands song. Check them out http://www.panhandle.com/ great live shows. Good people.

Now about the pure sex. I'm sure that would have raised some eyebrows. But really it's about a new pair of cycling shoes scored on Ebay. I really think the white road shoe pro look is really cool. White MTB shoes for Kross would be totally Euro along with the white kit. I now in my possession are a pair of Specialized road pro shoes. They'te white fit like a glove and are super light. Very nice.

More sex in the beer I had tonight. I hit the beer store today. 217 bucks later I walked out with ten Ommegan Biere de Mars and ten Brooklyn number 2. Needless to say this turned heads of the 15 bucks for a thirty pack lager drinkers in line. Me I had 60 buck six packs. Granted I was buying for three people. So tonight I enjoyed the fine taste of a Brooklyn 1 and 2.

Last Sunday the mice and Mills went to a beer dinner. The first one in the area. Quite tasty.

The meatloaf with habernero sauce was the best paired with Flower Power pale ale. MMM.

Now I hope Carl in Florida reads this. Beer and food.

Racing started. I was a but worried I was behind the curve. But the legs were good and I had a good night. Did one attack.,covered breaks and chased down a final attack and countered only to get swallowed up with 200 to go. But that's cool.

I now have the killer team for the 12 hr race. Some other "Gangsters" and Katina,she rocks. We will kick ass there.

A visit to my favorite store "Sallys" rewarded me with a tshirt. Belgium is cool. I'm cool. Nuff said. Thanks for reading.

Eat well, drink good beer, ride your bike and treat your partner well.

Enjoy life, OGQ

The Gravity of Reason.

After a day and night with the grand kids. The Traveling Mice awoke early and crept out of the house under cover of darkness and headed for their maiden voyage on the Freedom of the Seas.

With a an air of trepidation the Mice headed to Miami. Where everybody has a cousin.

After the usual airline delays. Our plane landed on time. I'm beginning to think they build in the delay. Then make it up to make you feel better about their service. We deplaned and got our bags to find a friendly rep from the Royal Caribbean team. They got us and our luggage right on the bus. A short bus ride with a very funny driver. Who gave us the nickel tour of Miami. Both the "highs" and the "lows". We did see some local color. Boarding and customs was a snap. Mom take note and do online registration. We were on board and headed for our first buffet in fifteen minutes. But first we checked out or room in steerage. Nice and pleasant. With a good size window. Back to the buffet. Quite the variety. We chowed down and headed for a tour of the ship. That's our window on the world for the next week.At 4:15 we had our evacuation drill. All ran smoothly and back to our exploration. In the immortal words of Mrs Page. HUGE. But all very nice. The ship is only three years old so it wasn't showing any wear.. Each night they fold your towels into some sort of animal. Clever. Fun.

We went to dinner,casual tonight. Where we met our dining companions. They were from Quebec. Denise,Lucy, Diane and Gosylyn. Fun people. Lucy became our translator. The food was very good. Our waitstaff was from Bali and were excellent. After dinner more touring of the ship and a drink on the promenade for what would turn out to be our favorite activity,people watching. Off to bed. Day one was travel at sea. Our first port of call will be Haiti.

We awoke to our new port. Off to the dining room for breakfast. Part of the fun was meeting new people. We departed and went to the "compound". This was a manufactured village,that was supposed to represent Haitian life. Yikes, you quickly tired of them hassling you to buy something. The weather was just a bit off for the reptile to get in water. Back on the boat and it was formal dinner night. The mice dressed appropriately. Then what was to become a nightly thing we hit the promenade. Each night had a theme. This really being the welcome night. Now another thing we began to notice was the outfits some females wore. I was thinking most would never wear those at home. But hard to tell. Lots of stilettos. The classic was the "hooker mom and daughter" combo. Lots of T&A. It was a pervs paradise if you like young flesh. The other end was the Dad and Grandpas decked out in Billabong or American Eagle. I'm sure they never thought they'd be wearing that. City Mouse found a community bulletin board. Lo and behold "The Friends of Dorothy" were having a meeting at four. Hmmm? Put that on the itinerary for tomorrow. Back in our berth. We found an elephant on our bed. No seasickness or detection of the ship rocking. We went to see the stars.

Port of call. Jamaica. A quick boat ride over to shore and we guided through the fence and razor wire for a little shopping. Even in the "tourist" zone we had far too many pan handlers. A short walk had us in "Straw City" maybe not the best place to be. While City Mouse was using the internet Country Mouse checked out a few shops. Had a sample of Jamaican Blue Note coffee where upon the shop owner offered me "something better". It's cool, it's Jamaica Mon" he said.

Ahh, no thanks. Chuckle. We wended our way through some fun shops and I picked up some bracelets with our names on them. Local trade. Then we decided to be real tourists and hit Margaritaville. We had,what else? A mango margarita. To the tune of 34 dollars for two. Collectors glass included so minus fifteen for the glasses. But they knew how to work the crowd here. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. We made our way back to the ship for lunch. Buffet number two. We saw it today. The feeding frenzy. There were fins to the left and fins to the right. Big eaters all here. Then I signed up for the rock climbing. Nice wall made it all the way up.That would be a return trip. Off to the deck for some sun. Now this is what we came for. Sun, heat,clear blue sky. A quick shower and we went in search of the Friends of Dorothy. Odd they were disguised as physicians. No shows even though we saw other members on board. Out to the sunshine for a drink before dinner. Tonight we caught a show after dinner. A tribute to Broadway. Not bad. The promenade awaited for "Dancing to the 80's". City Mouse would cringe whenever the cruise director came on. This was billed as three thousand people dancing in the streets. More like three with 2993 watching. Then all hell broke loose. The shrill noise of a psycho teenager flipping out on her parents. City mouse was quite taken by this display of outrage by the young lady. Me I see it often at work. One man walked by and told her "she needed to take her meds." That was funny. She was too busy yelling to hear him. But the crowd was fun. Just like college we began to name people by their traits. Tonight out towels became bats.

Port of call Cayman Islands. Today we booked a trip to swim with the stingrays. This would turn out to be the highlight of the trip. The guys running the tour were fun and really friendly. The sky clear blue as was the water. About a 45 minute ride out to the sandbar. Now as the guides described the rays were like puppies that had been fed,but still wild. In the water went the patrons. Sure enough the rays glided right up looking for food. Bumping and nudging you. Big and small ones. When you got to hold them. They had these big yellow lizard like eyes. They felt like a wet portobello mushroom. Very fun. Snorkeling around and seeing them slip under you. Touch them as they went by.After about an hour it was back to town. Another Maragaritaville beckoned. Where we had a Cheeseburger in Paradise. Not bad,not the best burger I've ever had. A different crowd here. But they were doing free shots of tequila. Our them right down your throat type of thing. Odd here they didn't play and Buffet. back to the boat for a little more sun and a beer. Tonight I broke down and had a martini before the show. Gin has not passed my lips in seven years after the near death experience. A vodka and Poma martini made it into the line up as did an appletini. I'll stick to beer. Good beer. But gin will always be it for martinis for me.

We hit the comedy show. They had some uncalled for anti gay humor that pretty much ruined that for us. More people watching awaited.

Port of call Cozumel. Now I've always wanted to see Mayan ruins and today would be the day.

The flyer said a short boat ride and a short bus ride. We boarded a catamaran and headed to land. OOOH, I hit the point of maybe throwing up would be better. But made it through and landed Ok. Well the short trips took two and a half hours. Then a speedy look through the ruins.

They were very cool. Back on the bus for another ride to our lunch at the beach. Country Mouse made it in the water. Mother Ocean was doing her job cleaning out my sinuses. Then it was rush rush rush to get back. This was the kind of off boat excursion you hear about. Tonight we did a late seating for dinner. We met a guy who worked for the cruise line. He and his Cuban girlfriend were funny. Tonight we would also met the ex pro basketball player Stu Shine. Like Shoe shine his wife said. Funny.great guy. Our towels became a cobra today.

Overall if you have any doubts about a cruise. Don't hesitate. Do it. We had a great week on our floating city. If you can't find something to do or don't have a good time it's your fault. The food was very good. Service was generally excellent. You'll garner all kinds of tips from people who have cruised before. Our only glitch was at departure and part of that was our fault. But it all worked out.

At the Miami airport Country Mouse recognized Mario Batali and we had our picture taken with him. Foodies at heart we are.

I like mine with lettuce and tomato,Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes. Big Kosher pickle and a cold draft beer. Good God almighty which way do I steer for my...............................

Enjoy life. We sure do. OGQ

Time stretches like an accordion.
I went snowmobiling for the first time in 35 years. What fun that was. Cory has been trying to get us to go and the opportunity arose. The new sleds are FAST with a lot of suspension. Still not the most accurate steering things in the world. First we hit the lake. ZOOM. Cory was gone with Mike in tow. Me, I was all fogged up and it wouldn't clear. Finally got that figured out. The trails were groomed the moon bright. Sweet. We had so much fun. The power lines were giant whoops. Just point it and pin it. Crazy fast. Very moto. Huge upper body work out. I was laughing so hard at some points. We went to the Choconut Inn. Then to the Brackney Inn for wings and few brews. I know. Beer and snowmobiling is like, beer and boating. Capped off the night at the Silver Lake Inn. The whole night was way fun. I had the camera. But was having too much fun to take it out.

Next City Mouse and Country Mouse are headed on their first cruise. That will be an adventure.
As my Mom told us. "If you don't have a good time. It's your own fault. " Words to live by.
We'll meet the "New City Mouse" on Friday to explore a new brewpub in the city. So A beer and food report will be upcoming.

I got to ride outside last night and some redneck soaked me from head to toe by going through the biggest puddle and just covering me in a surf style wave. Had to turn around and go home and redress to get back out for the ride. Finally the bliss of riding outdoors replaced the anger of the dumb ass.

Then it was "fall off the wagon" for beers and wings. I was famished and enjoyed them. You can't be a Monk all the time.

So to all who read this. Enjoy life. Make the most of your friends and smile. OGQ

Saving My Love up for my Lover.

So it's been bitter cold. Blue skies part of the day,then the gray creeps in and shrouds everything. Sucking the life from you because you know it's so damn cold out. I love the clear blue sky when it's cold. But it has to be more than three hours.

I've been pretty religious with the trainer. Rode in the snow when we could. That was fun.

Fresh air sunshine. Next I dragged the skies out. Minus 7 the first time. Not bad,sunny no wind. The next day 17 still not bad. Then we had a 42 degree day. What? I wanted to drag out the bike and ride. Slapped down quick with almost a 50 degree temperature drop. Ouch. But out we went. This time I got froze to the core. Now this reptile doesn't do well in the cold. So still thawing out. How does this tie in the title? Vince has been in Argentina ( Not easy on him) But it's warm and sunny there and we are constantly in contact. Until this trip. Spotty Internet for him. But we made due. Twenty years ago this would have been send a letter. Talk to you when you get home. But we all get addicted to routines. Ours was severely disrupted. Then he returned home to the homeowners nightmare. Broken water pipes. Wish I could be there to help him today. I'm headed there for the weekend. We both need it. Plus it's Superbowl weekend. Pixburg will be crazy.

So in an effort to stave off the seasonal affliction disorder and no Vince fix. I've emerged myself in trying to learn Photoshop. This requires a total rethink of how "art" works. Along with trying tho learn my new camera. The two take their toll. Having fun and being frustrated at the same time.

Effort two has been the local music scene. Dirt Farm continues to shine. But we went to see Panhandle and they will now enter the rotation. Check out there site.

Here's some pics from Photoshop. Well, a pic. Now Blogger is frustarting me.

Good beers and food still permeate my life. But have dropped a few winter pounds and Kross is on my mind.

trying the new format and now the title doesen't show. Go figure.

Enjoy life. OGQ

Might as well jump on the best of 2008 bandwagon.

The event that should have the most impact: Obama winning the election.

The worst event: Prop 8 being defeated in California.

Ok so on to things you probably expected.

Best new race of the year: The Kirkland Kross. NY's first sandpit. Armed with years of riding the NY Kross Kontingent Kourses. Margaret and Krew. rocked a first time event.

Best Race of the year: Dave Panella Memorial. I'm sure Dave was watching.

Best race I had this year: The Portland Dirt Criterium. Kross in the summer was kool.

Best race I returned to: The 12 Hours of Roundtop.

The race I want to see turn into an "Event": Ommegang Kross

Best new product I used: Nokon Cables. Smooth stiff and precise.

Best bike product I really want: Rapha clothing.

Best Road trip: Portland. Beer,BF and bikes. Period.

Best diner in Bingo: Clinton St Cafe. Killer food at a bargain.

Best restaurant in Bingo: Moxie. Great atmosphere,great food.

Best new band I've heard. The Lugnuts.

Best Friend: Bob Mills, weathered the storms and is right there.

Best Party of the year: My birthday. Friends, food and good times.

Best beer bar: The Blind Tiger in NYC

Best day of the year: 6/27/08 My life changed. All for the better.

Holiday update enroute.

Let's see the other title could have been . You know you're a big ol' homo if you wanted a Easy Bake Oven as a kid. But it's the holidays and I'm going to spill the beans about gay youth.

Did you secretly pine for or ever get an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas? Or you could sing the little jingle. , Suzy Homemaker,Suzy Homemaker, What a busy girl are you! If so this is one of the first warning signs of where you were headed. Maybe your Mom overrode Dad's " That's a girl's toy." and you got one for Christmas and were the happiest kid on the block. Plugged that oven in and were whipping out little cakes before Dad even got his presents open. You were so proud of your pastry skills and Mom affirmed them. The day was spent being fascinated by a light bulb cooking toy. Finally you ran out of Easy Bake cakes and had to resort to actual recipes and your career towards gaydom took off. Thanks Mom. The pic is of a vintage Easy Bake. Check Ebay and see how many ere there. This one belonged to a friends son. Hmmm?

MOre impending doom weather wise. But hey, I have an Easy Bake and go back in time.

Cupcakes anyone?

Bike related News I have a "NAKED" LaPierre Kross frame now. Sweet 12k weave. In a word light. This bike will be like a light saber in Jedi hands next season. Bobber scored me some black socks with a Krown on them. Now the King will have to defend the Kingdom. Looking forward to it. At the DPM I had legs for a bit. It was fun to hit the front and turn up the pain. I guess you can never leave what you love. The sirens call was strong at the end of the season.

Look I got another new ride the Jetta became an Audi. Just like that. Simple. Bobber pulled another trick out of that hat and hooked me up with a Caddy emblem too. I'm so blinged out

That's how I roll.

Whats on the Ipod?

Cliff Eberhardt 12 Songs of Good and Evil

Ralph Stanley

Greg Brown Over and Under

David Bromberg The best of David Bromberg

Bike shop party tomorrow. That will be a hoot.

Happy Holidays to all. May your life be as filled with happiness as mine is.

Eat good food, drink good beer, thank your friends, hugs. OGQ

Tuesday found Country mouse not having to to go work with a snow day. This meant City mouse would be here earlier and we could roll to the "O" even earlier. Sweet. Traffic was light with the advantage.

Got into NYC early walked around and checked a couple places to eat that Vince had gift certificates for. We decided on the Turkish place. ODD no on here,Oh well menu looks interesting. So in we went. After a normal lobby,they took you through a curtain into the "tent". The decorator basically bought bolts of fabric and made a fort like you did as a kid,ceiling walls, fabric every where. I had a lamb dish with "Palace spices" what ever they were. In the end it was OK. We went back to the O and watched "The Big Eden" a great flick anyone could watch.

Wednesday found us heading out to the Metro diner for breakfast fuel up for a big day of walking. Our goal was Signature Cycles. A Ultra high end bike shop. En route we came across the Toga bike shop. A NYC standard that's been around forever. A cool place. They still rock the black jerseys of death. I think George Hincapie got his start with them. Signature was right around the corner. But no one knew how to get in on the second floor. People kept directing us to back to TOGA. We called and go in. Well lets set the record straight. I will never be buying a bike here. Super high end builds. Parlees, Seven, Serotta. But I guess they're best known for their fittings. They had Rapha clothes too. Those things are like a Hickey Freeman suit of the cycling world. I lucked out they didn't have the color I wanted. Anthony took the time to talk to us. Turns out he's a first year Krosser and had done the Ommegang race. So we talked all things Kross. Then it turned into beer. We asked him where the good beer places were. He said he drank at the Blind Tiger. Bingo! We did too and were headed there saturday. He said "I'll see you there". This story will pick up later.

Then we headed to see the opening of MILK. What a great movie. Sean Penn was amazing in it.

Simply put go see it.

Toady's dinner found us at the Heights one of Meg and Kevin's old stomping grounds. Turns out we sat next to the owner. He had food recommendations for us. It was decided that we'd have calamari and try the wings. We split a large. Vince went with mild I headed for the "Inhuman". They came out dressed in more of a salsa. Very hot and tasty. Good stuff. Home and we watched Zodiac. It was OK. Too long,they could have taken out a half hour and no one would have noticed.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. So we watched the Macy's parade on tv till we saw Meg on the float. Then we headed off to Joisey for dinner. Little Grampa Karl was drafted to teach the kids how to ride bikes. So LGV, Kevin, the kids and I headed to the ride zone. After the ride we were off to The Garden Eden to pick up dinner. Some winter ales were poured and we settled in for dinner. After dinner we played card games with the kids. Then back to the O.

Friday it was up early and make a nice breakfast. Fresh fruit,eggs, multi grain bread and some good coffee. Then it was down to P0rt Authority to pick up Mike and Sarah. Do tell what tales of terror their bus ride has wrought? Sure enough. Mike calls and they be 20 minutes late. Some wacko went nuts at the bus station and wouldn't get off the bus. Ahhh, the bus. More innocents injured mentally. Cliff will never ride again. So we whisked them back to the O and headed for Canal St in search of knock offs. Watches, Pashimas, handbags and bad cologne abounded. Where were the carbon fiber wheels? I wondered? Turned out the Indians and West Africans would deal. Mike wanted a watch, Sarah sunglasses. In the end Sarah got a watch. I got another Swatch too. Love Canal St. We then decided a little snack was in order and went to the Garage in the Village. More calamari and spring rolls. Topped off with a couple beers. Back to the O to get ready for the show. Kevin got us great seats for Wicked. The "Grampas" made a nice dinner. Salad, crab cakes and fresh veggies. Some nice cheeses with stuffed peppadews to start us off. A couple Harpoon winter warmers. Then a Sauvignon Blanc. Time to go.

We leave an hour early to get to the show. Then the problems start. First the inspector is holding the train. Three times later and that train is out of service. Yikes. We hop on another after hearing a Charlie Brown adult voice tell us what to do. This one rolls out then stops and crawls at a snails pace. I see Vince eye the watch. More directions from the conductor. What to do? Ride it out. Then it stops again. More options. It's decided we'll walk. WALK FAST. We did and made it with three minutes to spare. This time even Vince was worried. Settled into our seats and the show began with a bang. Very impressive set. Lots of movement. FUN. After the show Kevin's dresser met us and took us back stage to meet him. He took us on stage. Very cool. Then Kev had to go. We headed to Times Square to Heartland Brewing for a couple beers. I tried the winter ale. Tasty. At last call we headed back to the O. 1:30 what was I doing up that late?

Saturday was another homemade breakfast and then head off to see the sites. Rock Center, The Twin Towers site, Macys, Bloomies, Lord and Taylor. Sarah had a Longchamp bag to return.

This was like the price is right for Mike and I as she and Vince decided colors. Key chain 63 dollars. Handbag 2500 dollars? What? We weren't their target market. She did get a nice new green bag. All the big three had great window displays. You wouldn't have know there was a recession. One of the stores had the had Vince wanted for Christmas so he became a hipster in his Kangol hat Sooo Samuel Jackson. We walked through the garment district. More color decisions by Vince and Sarah. Mike and I hit the "Husband seating area" all it lacked was a cooler with beer. We got a call from Bill and Janet. They had the last two seats at the Blind Tiger. We were on our way. When we got there they had a table for two. We grabbed as many empty seats as we could. Then a couple got up and we grabbed their table before they even had their coats on. Now we were set. I was again in a winter mode. Had Elysian Winterfest, a couple Criminally Bad Elf ales that were cask conditioned and a winter stout that was truly the bottom of the cask. Food was ordered. again the quesadillas rocked. The cheese platter a joke. Wings tasty. Pommenade salty. The cheese dip tasty and the deviled eggs were excellent. Ran into Anthony and his girlfriend along with a couple friends of his. So we talked Kross and motorcycles. Vince chatted him up too. It was great to see Joe and Clare. Good to talk to them they brought a friend too. Sorry forgot her name. After dinner we parted ways and Cliff took us to Brooklyn Heights for a view of the city. Then we dessert in a little bistro and headed home.

Sunday was breakfast at the Broadway diner. Turns out they shot Joe Black there. OK. A big breakfast and were on the road to Bingo.

Enjoy life. I sure have been. OGQ