i figured with all the rain we've been having castlewood would be the safest bet for riding. i was right. there were several mud holes, but otherwise it was quite nice. and i was quite slow.
on purpose. i rode quite a bit over the last 4 days, so adding a hard off-road ride was not a good idea. it was kinda nice climbing lone wolf in the little chainring, and pedaling sloooooowly up ranger station. it was also a little boring at times. the 'wood just isn't exciting at sub sonic speeds. downhill was fun. the flats and rollers and uphill, not so much.
two things that were in abundance: turtles and mosquitos. i guess it's mating season. i saw turtles on the road to and from castlwood, and 10-12 of them on the trail. and while i was climbing slow? mosquitos kept up with me and feasted on me. ug.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
some days
are better than others. even on the worst days, you can find something good. it may be hard, but it can be done.
good things today:
1. great, brisk ride into work today, never honked at once.
2. the beautiful mrs k got in a nice longer run and she is feeling better pushing it.
3. my inlaws took care of our boys while we had things going on.
4. nice, hot ride home, further enhancing my tan.
5. my dogs were happy to see me.
um, yeah. that covers it. the rest i can do without, and would pretty much like to forget and pretend it never happened.
good things today:
1. great, brisk ride into work today, never honked at once.
2. the beautiful mrs k got in a nice longer run and she is feeling better pushing it.
3. my inlaws took care of our boys while we had things going on.
4. nice, hot ride home, further enhancing my tan.
5. my dogs were happy to see me.
um, yeah. that covers it. the rest i can do without, and would pretty much like to forget and pretend it never happened.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
busy sunday, good for business
although we aren't normally open on sunday, we took this opportunity to invite in the riders of the ms150 ride today in west county. a few of us from work got in early and the riders started trickling in slowly and then in hoards. by noon the place was a zoo. there were anywhere from 30-40 people milling about the store. it was nuts. mrs k was running the front register and i was pumping tires and corky was changing flats and anthony was doing everything else. it was like the old tc warehouse sale, only without the sale. then.....poof. the ride started and it was peaceful. awesome.
the mrs and i drove out together, and i rode home. i took the long way, down south on strecker, which i hadn't ridden on since ethan and i did 10 years ago. i went further south to castlewood and home that way. it was better than a 2 hour ride, which was nice since the sun came out and my tan improved.
when i got home, it was the beautiful mrs k's turn to ride her new bike. she took tyson around for a while, then she took off on her own. she had nothing but grins on when she came home. now she knows why i like nice bikes.
after that, we took tyson and elijah to put put golf. eli was being so good, eating cheerios and drinking juice. tyson proved that put put is not a serious game. deanna is good at most sports, especially those that use equipment other than putters.
back to work tomorrow. wait, what have i been doing all weekend??
the mrs and i drove out together, and i rode home. i took the long way, down south on strecker, which i hadn't ridden on since ethan and i did 10 years ago. i went further south to castlewood and home that way. it was better than a 2 hour ride, which was nice since the sun came out and my tan improved.
when i got home, it was the beautiful mrs k's turn to ride her new bike. she took tyson around for a while, then she took off on her own. she had nothing but grins on when she came home. now she knows why i like nice bikes.
after that, we took tyson and elijah to put put golf. eli was being so good, eating cheerios and drinking juice. tyson proved that put put is not a serious game. deanna is good at most sports, especially those that use equipment other than putters.
back to work tomorrow. wait, what have i been doing all weekend??
greek food rocks
i spent about an hour saturday afternoon cleaning gutters. yep. nasty work. the lowest gutters on my house, the only ones i can reach, are filled with muck. so, i got my ladder out and started shoveling muck. then i realized that since i had the one gutter replaced last summer, it sags down in the middle. that meant that i had to pull out some screws, push it up, and reattach it. i'm so handy i can't stand myself....
deanna and i took eli with us to olympia saturday night. we sat outside, even though mccausland resembles a freeway every 3 or 4 minutes or so. it was just such a nice night. we both really like greek food, and i am particularly fond of the gyros there. that place has a nice neighborhood feel to it.
elijah didn't like the gyros, but he sort of liked the humus, and the pita bread. and mrs k's chicken. he's such a mooch at the table. he wants anything that you're eating. mooch, mooch, mooch, we say. of course, he lets everyone in the place know he's there. he's been on this screaming kick. like, loud. super loud. metal hitting bone loud. nails on the chalkboard of god loud. he did sleep pretty well last night, though....
deanna and i took eli with us to olympia saturday night. we sat outside, even though mccausland resembles a freeway every 3 or 4 minutes or so. it was just such a nice night. we both really like greek food, and i am particularly fond of the gyros there. that place has a nice neighborhood feel to it.
elijah didn't like the gyros, but he sort of liked the humus, and the pita bread. and mrs k's chicken. he's such a mooch at the table. he wants anything that you're eating. mooch, mooch, mooch, we say. of course, he lets everyone in the place know he's there. he's been on this screaming kick. like, loud. super loud. metal hitting bone loud. nails on the chalkboard of god loud. he did sleep pretty well last night, though....
ho hum
i did the ghisallo saturday morning ride. it was terrible. not the ride, but me. i just stunk up the place. it was painful from the word go. it was nice to see some of the guys, talk to people, get out in the nice morning humidity. but it wasn't nice to pedal. i love my new moots, but it really couldn't do much for me. the lack of sleep coming at the hands of the little guy is killing me.
The Beautiful Mrs K
got a new bike. ain't it purty? she was able to put some miles on it today, too, and proclaimed it to be ALL THAT. sad to see the cannondale go, but happy to be on such a smooth ride.tyson's pool party
We had a pool party at the Heights for Tyson and some of his classmates. The indoor pool park is pretty darn cool. That slide makes even a dry-land kinda guy like me want to get in.
"You gotta get some of these new goggles, man. They're the coolest!!"
Later, at the dry part of the party, tyson opened a lot of gifts. A room full of 6 year olds is, ahem, invigorating. A good time was had by all, mostly those under 10.anywhere is good
for a nap. such a sweet little guy when he is sleeping, isn't he? hard to believe this is the little guy the older kids call 'the destroyer'.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Torino Talladega
In 1969 the Nascar wars were in full effect. GM was not really in the game, but Mopar and Ford were going at it. The 1968 season had shown just how aero the new Torino was. But Ford was still overmatched by the Hemi. Nascar would not allow Ford to run the 427 Cammer so they had a new motor, the Boss 429. In order for the engine to be legal in Nascar, Ford need to sell 500 to the public. Initially the motor was to go in to the Talladega but Ford decided the Boss 429 Mustang was the best place for it to be sold. Still Ford knew that to be competitive on the Super Speedways they needed a more aerodynamic car. They engineered a more slippery nose on the front end moving the grille flush the rest of the front. The bumper was a rear bumper cut and rewelded to fit the front. The biggest change was the rockers were rolled. This allowed Ford to lower the car more than a stock Torino for racing yet still be within Nascar regulations.
.
As great as the Boss 429's reputation is, those that experienced it know it wasn't a very good street motor in the Mustang. That's because it's original mission was for the big oval, not the local drag strips. There were something like 750 Talladega's total, including some prototypes. Plenty of them were trashed as race cars, but some pristine examples still exist.
rain, rain, rain
friday, my plan was to ride the new Moots into work and home. as you probably could see, it was raining waaaay to much for that nonsense. so, the beautiful mrs k and i drove in together. i did, however, bring along the bike incase the weather was good enough to at least ride home.
after a hectic day at work, where the boss, peanut, and myself ate nothing of worth all day long yet we ate ALL DAY LONG, the weather cooperated and i was able to get the innagural ride on the Moots. the conditions weren't ideal, but the temperature was. there was still quite a bit of water on the road. nothing like soiling the new ride the first time out.
no matter, because i could see just what all the hoopla is about the bike. it rides great. it's rigid yet smooth. how do they do that? funny how bikes made of the same materials ride so differently. i love it.
after a hectic day at work, where the boss, peanut, and myself ate nothing of worth all day long yet we ate ALL DAY LONG, the weather cooperated and i was able to get the innagural ride on the Moots. the conditions weren't ideal, but the temperature was. there was still quite a bit of water on the road. nothing like soiling the new ride the first time out.
no matter, because i could see just what all the hoopla is about the bike. it rides great. it's rigid yet smooth. how do they do that? funny how bikes made of the same materials ride so differently. i love it.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
oops i did it again
you see, i really, really like the opal. it's my first full carbon bike, and it's a really, really, good one. and i love the color. and it fits. so, i wasn't looking for a new road frame. it came looking for me.a moots sl is a rare bird. it's 6/4 titanium instead of the normal 3/2.5 stuff. and moots is pretty sure they aren't making too many sl's this years because the supply of the high quality 6/4 that they like to use is low. so when corky got his, i told him that i had first dibs when he decided to get rid of it. 2 days later, he said he was ready to let it go. it didn't fit him. geez. thanks. i think. i have been trying to shed the BAS (bike aquisition syndrome) that i have such a bad case of, and this comes along.
everyone should have such things to complain about.
greensfelder
i just had to off-road on tuesday. the weatherman was forcasting rain for the rest of the week, and it was 70 degrees when i woke up.
i didn't want to ride just anywhere. the 'wood wears on a guy, and i just went to chubb last week. i kept thinking greensfelder, but i was unsure about how dry it was going to be. that place can take time to dry out. ah, what the heck. i loaded the oiz up and headed out.
the newly refurbished dogwood is simply a joy to ride. and attaching it to the greenrock and declue to make one big loop is just genius. there were a couple of mud slicks out there, but they were only annoyances. i mostly got dusty. actually, the dust stuck to the insect repellant that i liberally cake onto myself. you see, i am a tick o phobe. i would rather see snakes on the trail than find one of those little bloodsuckers on my body. ick. ick. ick. i found no ticks, though.
i was riding very well. technically. fitness wise, i was blown. i don't know if it was mondays heat, or just the lack of sleep since eli has been teething (or, lack of sleep since eli was born in 2006, who knows....). still, greensfelder is so much fun, i shrugged off the slow legs and let the riding do the talking.
i didn't want to ride just anywhere. the 'wood wears on a guy, and i just went to chubb last week. i kept thinking greensfelder, but i was unsure about how dry it was going to be. that place can take time to dry out. ah, what the heck. i loaded the oiz up and headed out.
the newly refurbished dogwood is simply a joy to ride. and attaching it to the greenrock and declue to make one big loop is just genius. there were a couple of mud slicks out there, but they were only annoyances. i mostly got dusty. actually, the dust stuck to the insect repellant that i liberally cake onto myself. you see, i am a tick o phobe. i would rather see snakes on the trail than find one of those little bloodsuckers on my body. ick. ick. ick. i found no ticks, though.
i was riding very well. technically. fitness wise, i was blown. i don't know if it was mondays heat, or just the lack of sleep since eli has been teething (or, lack of sleep since eli was born in 2006, who knows....). still, greensfelder is so much fun, i shrugged off the slow legs and let the riding do the talking.
monday ride to work day
monday was a spectacular ride to work day. the morning was warm, and the evening was plain hot. lots of people hate mondays. i find it hard to hate them when i get to ride in weather like that.
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