Titles are always tough. But as the shirts say "Old Guys Rule".

My team mate Jason kept saying that The Ramble around Prattsburgh was the most fun race he'd done. I'd seen it advertised and skipped it before.
This year it was different. It did sound fun. So Cory and I piled into zee French car and headed west. It was drizzling then turned to pouring rain. Grumble. It eased up a bit.
As per my usual we arrived early. Got a parking spot, had little to eat and started getting prepped,the temp had dropped about ten degrees. It was the "What to wear blues". But then the drizzle backed off. We headed out for a bit of recon. The first climb to the dirt road wasn't bad.
My goal was to stay on Cory's wheel as long as possible.
We lined up for the promenade through town by the moto. It like being in a cat 4 race again,ebb and flow. Then we hit the base of the hill and the attacks started. I went and going well. Only maybe seven got in the first dirt descent ahead of me. Almost endoed in a soft spot. Then started chasing. When the big motors hit the road the gap opened. Now my training hasn't been all that structured. But the TT motor is coming. I passed a few and thought I could get to Cory's group. Then the first dirt road climb started. Up and Up it went. Finally crested,  Jason had shown up,but over the top the TT motor on KX rig out did the 29'ers. And so it went for the rest of the race. Not quite getting onto the front. Get passed by a couple on the climbs,get them back and drop them on the flats. Very fun, feeling good ,eating and drinking when I should. The starting up something Hollow road, thee twinges of cramps came. A young kid joined me and said "The hardest climb is coming". He was right, a 38/25 was not enough for this one. I walked maybe a hundred yards. I heard Jason yelling "Way to go King" or something like that. That effort put a dent in the legs. Then came the headwinds. Onward we plowed. On a right turn here's Cory with a flat. You Ok?, Yup. Turns out he got three flats in the last few miles. Jason is pumped because the one says they took out the single track. Turns out he was wrong. Now tis little piece of hell almost ruined the whole race for me. Barely ridable,deep peanut butter then a quagmire field. But the garmin was reading 29.4. So I thought the end was near. A sprint at the finish would turn me into a cramping ball of knots. Wrong, we had almost three miles to go.
Rolling through the finish cold and wet I was glad it was done. Changing in the rain and cold made things worse. But then we headed to the Pub and warmed up a bit. Results were up fast.
I'd won the 50 plus. Cory would have been top ten. I was 16th out of 170.
So I get the call up for the podium and second place isn't to congenial about being beat. ( Seems he's a local legend or something) He says " Do you race a lot?". I say yes. He says "I've never heard of you." Then asks if I knew last years first and second place I did. He grunts "Oh". After we decided I should have told him I was a runner and just borrowed the bike. I won a helmet in the raffle and off we went.
I'll be back next year. Lower gears? I doubt it. Better trained? For sure. I'll make it goal.
It was way more fun than Battenkill, crappy single track and all.
I was so tired I even declined a  Southern Tier Imperial Pale Ale. Thanks bro.
We loaded up the Vi-bee and rolled home. Seven speed traps in 200 miles. That's a good use of our tax dollars.

Up next the dream bike needs to get built. Boxes are in my living room.

Lucinda is still rocking the Ipod.

Eat good food,drink good beer and love the one you're with. OGQ

So my life has kind of been like this song by Lucinda Wiiliams. As an old saying goes. "If wasn't for bad luck I'd hoave no luck at all. There's truth in there like "trouble comes in threes".


Buttercup, By Lucinda Williams.


You talk about the junk you do like you talk about climbing trees




You live the life of a little kid with bruises on your knees


You will never cop to the damage that's been done


But you will never stop 'cause it's too much fun


Now you want somebody to be your buttercup


Good luck finding your buttercup






You already sucked me dry, can't do it anymore honey


You roughed me up and made me cry, now you wanna borrow money


You say you feel like a failure and you wish you could take it all back


But honey I gotta tell ya, it's a little too late for that


And now you want somebody to be your buttercup


Good luck finding your buttercup






One reason after the other you're always feeling sad


Maybe you couldn't talk to your mother or stand up to your dad










You want my forgiveness and that I will give to you


But you got yourself into this mess and there's nothing I can do


And now you want somebody to be your buttercup


Good luck finding your buttercup






The first time I saw you, you made me melt


The last time I saw you, you hit below the belt


You might have a beautiful mouth, you might have beautiful eyes


But sooner or later it all goes south when you tell too many lies


And now you want somebody to be your buttercup


Good luck finding your buttercup


Good luck finding your buttercup


Good luck finding your buttercup


 
 
 
Thank god for the bike. The weather is slowing coming around. Had a few rides not all bundled up.
 
Needed to update. I've still been cooking up a storm and enjoying the fine craft brews of out region.
Brooklyn Lager is the current favorite.
Filled my card at Dino's. So we'll see if I win the trip.
 
Enjoy life. OGQ

Food. With this endless winter all I want to do is eat. Sure I want to lose weight for cycling season. But when the weather just keeps pounding you into the basement. It's hard not to turn to food. Comfort food. Of course it doesn't help I read three cooking magazines.
So first it was various pizzas. The came Bobby Flays Buffalo Chicken Wing Mac and Cheese. The only thing that could make this better would be to get out the ice cream scoop and deep fry it, for on the fly deliciousness. Sorry no pic of that. Then there's meatloaf. City mouse chose the Southwest with Chilpote glaze. It was OK. We both agreed. Even made brownies for the "Fresh  homemade vanilla" ice cream.
But the new one is I've finally nailed the omelet, or is that the "Omme"lette. This weekends was green onions, roasted red peppers, mushrooms,crumbled bacon, a little cheese and Thai basil with fresh biscuits. YUM.
Whipped up a green curry with Kale. Kale, the new super food. Have to try Kale chips someday.


Let's not forget Burgers at Dino's.
Waiting to try these  http://www.buckburger.blogspot.com/  maybe when I can ride over there?
Fatten me up!


On another note I sent Wear Cognition ( Sponsor of the DPM) my old wool jersey and the made it into a winter cycling hat for me.
Orange and sweet. Thanks.


Mowing? Time to shave those legs. Maybe the beard will get altered. Trucker stache' ala Steve Cozza. The ever popular goatee aka "prison pussy" doubt it.
Winter is pushing me over the edge.


So as always. Eat good food, Drink great beer, love the one you're with and now listen to good music.


Current choices. The Old 97's, Hayes Carl and Band of Heathens. Power up Pandora!


Later OGQ

So I had the opportunity to head to Nor-Cal as City mouse had a gig in Hawaii. Turns out it was SF beer week too.
I guess I had a distorted vision of Cali as all car crazy and the land of choppers. Must have been confused by all the So-Cal scene. I saw one low rider and few old beetles. Lots of new Beetles with men actually driving them. Not a chopper to be seen. Prius galore. Myth number one down.


Now all the pics you see of SF are of the painted ladies. The old multi colored Victorian houses. Row after row. Didn't make it to that district. Saw a couple in need of paint. Basically big wide streets with low square buildings. Myth number two down.


We stayed in Oakland. It's known as a gritty industrial town and Hells Angels enclave. Not an Angel to be seen. Industrial yes. So a 50/50 split on this one.


Our hosts lived in a very cool, industrial minimal apartment.

We did see the Oakland University where they teach you how to grow weed. There are 1700 medical marijuana stores in Cali. More than 7-Elevens.


It was a day of eating too. A killer breakfast. Then lunch at a Burmese place. We had these two salads. One was made with tea leaves. Anything will mango can't be bad either. I had a Widmers organic wheat. Nice light citrus flavor. Very good. The Rainbow salad was good too. Make them at home.

Our hosts were beer nerds too. So I'd scoped a couple of places in Oakland out. One was right down the street and a favorite. It was meet the brewers day. One had ridden his delivery bike there. I was representing Ommegang  with t shirt. Two girls came right up and said "Oh we've been there. Nice." Two of  my new friends. I got to have Pliny the Elder there. In Pixburg it was 22 dollars a bottle. Here 4.95. They were out of Pliny the Younger. but I made up for it with a Alaskan Triple X Black IPA.

So while our guest headed back to the house I stayed and had another beer and chatted with my new friends.
On the walk back I came upon these two sights. Glad I spell my name with a K. The other should get the message across.

The nest day we took the "Bart" into SF. Cyrus was a great tour guide. Of course I needed to see a few touristy things and we made the the trip to homo heaven. The Castro.
First we went to Fisherman's Wharf. The tulips in bloom were the highlight. You could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. Good luck getting off Alcatraz. Didn't make to the bridge and Mt Tam. But was good to see it. I think a cloud shaped like Gary Fischer drifted by.

Next we hiked up to Coit Tower for the views. Grandpa Vince wasn't to sure about the steps up to it.
The houses were very cool on the hillside. One for sale even had a sign with "Great Views" Hmm it faced the ocean. Glad they pointed this out  for me. I think it's Telegraph Hill they use in the Tour of California. That sucker was steep. We did see our share of "pixie fixies" with hipsters aboard. But like Portland, many are running freewheels and brakes, or a front brake with the brake lever in some stupid place, to show how clever they are and they don't really need it. Posers as they'd say.

Of course there are always those cool bar end variations around the city

After the tower we headed to Trappist,to stave off the beer cravings. Upon arrival it was closed. We were on a street with the cable cars. Pretty cool. We didn't do it. I checked my beer week guide and we headed off to 21st Amendment Brewing. I'd had the Back in Black IPA at home. Great place they were doing beer and brats out on the street too. Tried a sampler here. Monk's Blood was not on the menu. Maybe another time. In true brewpub tradition,great food.

Next we were headed to see the bears and I don't mean at the zoo. That would be tomorrow. Off to the Castro we went. We saw the storefront of Harvey Milks camera store. I thought that it still looked like the sixties here. Odd we saw a  straight couple having sex on the hood of their car and there was a club that had a line out the door of mixed sexes,with drunks spilling out and passing out on the street to cheers of the crowd. Ahhh youth. The Beck motel has been used in movies. Now that was more Cali looking to me. The bears were scarce but the bear flag flew high over the Castro.

Maybe you could have your nails and more done at the shop shown. Hey, Bingo had four such "shops" recently shut down for that.

Then we stopped for a coffee. Here's the motel across the street.

Then we hopped on an antique cable car. It was made in Italy. These were very cool and added to the "time warp" experience.

Back to Oakland and the eating continued.


Up next the Zoo. I kind of have the love hate thing with zoos. I love seeing the animals.especially the big cats. But then it's kind of sad for them too. I think the Toronto Zoo is one of the best. All natural environments and most of the animals seem pretty happy.
They did have polar bears here and tigers. The Lemurs were plentiful and fun. This rhino must have had a huge horn.

Then it was over to the Beach Chalet Brewing for lunch and a beer sampler. We took the B-U-S to get there. But our driver didn't speak English so we figured it out.

Again good beers and burgers. The garlic fries weren't worth the extra two bucks. Some olive oil and a dollop of chopped garlic dropped on them. It was nice to sit and see the ocean while beer tasting.

Another time warp. Where were the surfer dudes?

Then it was off to see Cyrus's rehearsal. Back on the B-U-S. He took us to the airport and we bid our good byes.
Thanks for the trip.
As for the flights as my friend Tillman says. "Time to spare, go by air". Need less to say we had delays etc.
Our highlight of the airport was the morning of departure. Here we are at the SF airport with a line of two hundred people to get through security. V checks his huge bag outside and we walk back into a guard saying. "I'm opening another gate,follow me". No problem, we were third through the gate.
Clean living.


Another snow day in Gloom county. I got the call very early, fed the katz and was back in bed. When I got up and look out someone had cleared my drive again. More clean living.
Ride your bike, eat good food and drink good beer.
OGQ

The pic above is the ugly dolls. I think they're very cool.





So City mouse and Country mouse made the trek to see the "free range" children and the rest of the clan.
Driving was uneventful. Country mouse is not a car person, as you may have gathered.
We were set to stay in a B&B with Joey and Ginny. No name dropping here.
So we headed over to the B&B,that was lackadaisically run at best. They'd told Joey the key was under the oil can. In we went. Walked all through the rooms. Then heard the TV and found the moldy remains of a an earlier happy hour or something.
Now we can "leak the news about Joey's and Ginny's engagment. They're so sweet.

This is when I said it felt like a Saw movie and all the doors and windows would close up. And we'd hear
" You have all been brought here for a reason". That got a few laughs.
Back to "toys R us" we went. Not quite as over the top this year as last. Until Christmas morn and the melee began. I'm all for the joy of kids and presents. Gus went nuts when he got an Ipad, now he's nine. So now nine year olds have cell phones and Ipads. Call me a Luddite. Joey who's 32 got a gift certificate for one.
The booze flowed and so did the food. Good times were had by all.
Glad someone does. See below. Nice Christmas gift.

So moving onto the near year. We hit a couple movies. 127 Hours. Intense. Could you do it? I don't know.

Then we saw I love you Phillip Morris with Jim Carrey who I can't stand but he did a good job and the movie was funny.

We also saw the Edward Hooper exhibit at the Met and someone that basically made doll clothes on another floor. Here you have Hopper who was fantastic,then the typical "art bullshit" on another floor. The exhibit looked like a high end kids clothing shop. I'm missing something about all this.

We also saw the King Tut exhibit. I loved it. How did they make all that? The craftsmanship was incredible.

After the show we were in times square before the big festivities. It had already started by 4pm. We got out of there asap. Headed over to a favorite haunt,the Blind Tiger for a couple pints. The Brooklyn Cuvee Noir was Bad. It was wet was all I could say. Very overrated. Like the year before we had NYE dinner at Mama Mex. But even they cut back. No dumping shots down your throat this year.

As usual no one wanted dessert but me,but all had a bite. Now Herman that's enough. Long story.
Before leaving the Big Apple we swung the little red car by Zabars for duck con fit and I picked up a nice bread. Then it was over to "Whole paycheck" to hit the beer store. Just what I needed more beer. I got some Xingu and a couple black Ipa's to have. Back in Black was one. Yummy,poured from the can.
 So I cooked up one of the duck con fit last night. Saved the duck fat for a recipe for french onion soup and made that today along with a spicy vegan chilli. There's a little duck fat left so I'm going to fry up some sweet potatoes and have some chili. I think a Raging Bitch IPA will pair well with this.
Belated Happy New Year. OGQ