Happy happy birthday!!!!  Have a good one!  Miss you!

Kevin and I were embarking on our first of many legendary journeys.

http://www.m0to.com/blog/2007/05/27/day-3/

Well, I guess I should have said something yesterday.  But, today is Bike to Work day.  So, I biked to work!  Hope you did too!  I went a little out of the way to check out one of the sponsored checkpoints at the Institute of Art off Mission Center.  Pretty nice, I was the only guy on a mountain bike, and a long travel mountain bike so the faculty played around with it some.  Nice stop, they had fruit, juice, and baby Clif bars!

Have a good day!

That’s all I have to say about that.

Last week I got a new tattoo.  I don’t have a bunch of tattoos.  I have three actually including this most recent one.  My rules on tattoos are I need to want them for at least three years, and they need to mean something to me or about me.  This most recent one is something I had thought of doing about 10 years ago, but didn’t.  For those of you who have known me through the years know the last six years have been a little rough.  I don’t expect anyone to understand why as we all live our own lives.  But lets just say I haven’t been the happiest dude around.  About three months ago I was talking to someone and I said “You know, the happiest I ever was is when I would get home from work everyday, and ride my mountain bike.”  A week or so later it hit me, is that was what was missing from my life.  Riding.  Since I can remember I rode a bike.  It was my ticket to freedom.  With a bike, the world was my oyster.  After breaking my back on the dirt bike.  I had stopped riding.  Also, all my friends who rode were gone, married with families, or otherwise pre-occupied so I didn’t get back into riding.

Then, about two months ago Alison wanted to look at new bikes.  She was riding the really old bike of mine and doing well, but we both agreed she’d do even better on a bike that fit her better.  That’s when it happened.  I sat on a Santa Cruz Nomad and was like “Oh! This bike was made for ME!”  Then, I obsessed on it for two weeks, and then I bought it.  And, I couldn’t be happier.  Since then my attitude is better, I’m healthier, and I’m way more fun to hang out with!  So, in comes the new tattoo.  I never want to forget to ride again.  Its such a part of who I am and it helps me recenter and find myself again when I’m lost.  I’m glad I found riding again.  I’m glad I have friends who will do it with me.  Thank you!

Hey gang.  Alison and I got to ride Anderson Truck trail for the first time this weekend.  We joined some of the guys from the Kearny Mesa Bike Warehouse along with a few of their friends for a ‘way too early’ in the morning ride.  The ride time worked out well for me as I had plans to get on a train at noon to go up and see my Mom.  When the alarm went off at 5:30 AM I did have my second thoughts.    We met Christos at Santo and the 52 at 6:30 and followed him out to Alpine to the bottom of the trail.  Once there we waited a little bit for the rest of the gang to arrive so we could shuttle up to the top.  We were short on time so we had to forgo the pleasure of pedaling up the mountain.

After unloading at the top we got to experience Jeff’s warm up routine.  Many jokes were made, but I’ll bet that he’s in a lot better shape than the rest of us are and typically less sore.  This was a first time run for us so Alison and I were both pretty cautious.  I’m still getting used to riding again, and I don’t have a lot of steep descent or jumping skills.  But, I was able to get some great shots of the others!  Some of the jumps were huge to me.  Like 5-8 foot drops or jumps.  Just way too big for me at the moment.

As you can see here on the left.  Some of them were so big I could squat under them and they didn’t even know I was there!  For the most part the big stuff was up top and the lower half was fast single track.  The second half was something I was comfortable with.  Ruts and rock gardens don’t make me nervous like steep descents or big drops.  I did however accidentilly roll off a drop I was ready for.  When I came down I was positioned wrong and slammed my seat into my chest.  I think it was the first time I’ve ever seen stars.  I never knew what that looked like before!  Nice little white spots appearing and disappearing in your vision.  Kinda trippy.  I think its cause I usually crash on moving vehicles I tuck and close my eyes right before impact.

We had a couple of crashes, some road rash.  None for me though as I prefer to be remembered as ‘that chicken guy’ than ‘that guy who crashed 8 times’.  I figure once I’m more comfortable on the bike and build my skills up more some of this stuff won’t be as scary.  Fun ride! Can’t wait to do it again.  You can see the rest of my pictures here: Anderson Truck Trail

As those of you who know me, know I’ve been selling stuff on Ebay. Its great, things sell that I would have a hard time selling locally. This last week, I listed some of the remaining dirt bike/super moto stuff I had and specified I would only ship to the US and Canada. Some guy in Russia decides he wants to buy it so pays the buy it now. And, on top of that he has zero feedback. The end result was he took my item off the market. And now he’s non responsive. Great… So, now I have to go through the whole drill with Ebay showing that he’s non responsive which is going to delay me selling this item now for two weeks. Joy!

Ah well, guess that’s the way things work. Fricken lame.

Update: Apparently, because I did specify which countries I would ship to I was able to decline the bid and relist.  Ebay support was actually pretty useful!

I got this link from a friend yesterday. And, what a fun event! I might even have to see if I can franchise it and put one on in San Diego. You can read more here!

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2008/04/30/join-me-for-the-inaugural-fat-cyclist-triathalon/

Announcing the Inaugural Fat Cyclist Triathalon
I am pleased to announce that I will be putting on my very first event this Summer: The Fat Cyclist Triathalon (please note this is a triathalon, not a triathlon). I am pretty darned certain you’re going to want to mark this on your calendar

Here’s how it’s going to play out.

1. Mountain Bike Leg: We’ll begin from my house in Alpine, UT, where we’ll ride mountain bikes up Hog’s Hollow, then down to Sliding Rock — a natural waterslide in the Hog’s Hollow area. The winner of this first leg of the race will be the person who goes down the Sliding Rock with the most panache, as judged by a distinguished panel of three.
2. Road Bike Leg: After Sliding Rock, we’ll ride back to my house, where we’ll quickly transition over to road bikes. Everyone will be required to remark on how strange road bikes feel after being on a mountain bike. We will then ride to Tibble Fork Reservoir and back. The winner of this leg of the event will be the person who can, on the spot, come up with the most clever limerick about a topic which will be provided at the beginning of this leg of the race.
3. Beer-Boiled-and-Grilled-Brats at Fatty’s: Back at my house, the third leg of the race will consist of us all eating exquisitely delicious brats. I will ask Kenny to make bread for the brats, which will make them even more wonderful, if that’s even possible. I will also make Seven-Layer Dip for the occasion. My Seven-Layer Dip is really, really good. On New Year’s Eve last year, Brad declared his intention to eat nothing but this dip. And Brad knows food. Anyway, the winner of this leg of the event will be determined by whoever seems to enjoy the brats most (which is not the same thing as whoever eats the most brats).

Sounds like a great time!

Update: Just after writing this I read the rest of his blog.  Wow.  My heart goes out to him.  When I plan this event I think its going to be a fund raiser to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation to help people like Elden and his family.

Monday was the first day of the ‘New Gig’. Pretty good day actually. The office is about 1.5 miles from my house. The people there rock. And, the project will be challenging! After Nicole (The Boss) dropped off some light reading material (Two 3″ binders stuffed to the point of bursting) I was given a really awesome bamboo plant for Prosperity and Luck. (Prosperity and Luck never hurt anyone!)  Jessica let me know if I fail in my care taking duties she had me covered.  I’ll have to read up on how to take care of a bamboo plant.  This week is going to be mostly getting the lay of the land and setting up some structure. I’m really looking forward to getting this project rolling.

Ok, I’m not actually going to write about every day that I’m working.    But, I am gainfully employed again and I start on Monday.  This week was a mad rush of interviews but in the end I chose the work I think I will enjoy the most.  Both for the challenges and the people.  I’m pretty excited!  I could start this week but I want to take two more days to get some riding in and some stuff done around the house.  We will return to our normal scheduled programming now.

Shortly I’m going to take a ride down the canyon a few blocks from my house.  It ends about two blocks from the new place.  I’m curious to see how viable it is for commuting.  I’m going to run my new helmet cam too!