Riding can suck sometimes...

Riding your bike can suck sometimes, especially when you haven't been riding it much, and you get mixed into a semi-fast group ride which is of course what happened to me this morning. I planned on running into the group ride of course, I just didn't plan on getting into the mix, which when I get into the middle of this ride, I can't help it. The competitive juices start flowing, and next thing I know I'm trying to take the intermediate sprint points on the ride, which at this point in time I have no business doing. The great thing about being a sprinter is that the muscle groups that make you a good sprinter don't go away when you've not been riding, they just lie kind of dormant until called upon on a Saturday morning group ride to take the first sprint line out in the countryside. I of course took it, and then paid for said efforts for the next 10 miles, because the pace on the ride today was actually pretty fast. There is one section of road that is long, and sort of downhill, and normally on this ride we'll ride across it at a pretty good rate of speed, meaning about 29 or so miles per hour. Today, no doing chief. Pegged at 36 chasing down a group in front of us. This speed was only maintained for a short period of time, but in that short period of time, people were popping off the back of the ride like lemmings jumping to their deaths. One after another. I was riding caboose baby, punching tickets, and hoping that I wouldn't be next, which would have been entirely possible, but somehow, I stayed in the group, and made it to the 2nd hill that we ride up out there, which is where the ride normally gets pretty hard, and at that point in time, the legs said to me, "NO MORE YOU ASSHOLE!! WE'RE DONE!! SCREW YOU!!" And things got very hard from there on out. I turned around, left the group after they had dropped me, and rode back into town by myself. I had company for a few minutes, but they were going too fast for my shattered legs at that point in time. So I rolled all by myself, which I don't mind, good time for reflection, and for me to cuss myself out for letting myself get out of shape so bad that I am now getting dropped on a ride that I can normally dominate pretty easily. Which isn't saying much really, because there are a bunch of cat nothings, and local group ride heroes out there on a weekly basis, but it's pretty fun to watch them suffer and take things way too serious on a training ride, but no matter where you go, this always happens. It has happened to me in the past back when I was living in Maine, and it happens here. Guys are the same. You get some bikes underneath their asses, a little testosterone flowing, and next thing you know the nice little ride you wanted to take with some friends turns into who can stomp whose guts into the ground. It's all in good fun of course.

Another couple of friends of mine got engaged this past week. Congratulations Johnny Wall and Maureen Noh (see pictures of them below, I'll let you decide who is who in the pictures because I'm not labeling them). Anyway, they decided to make it legal next year out in Fletcher North Carolina, nice little town outside of Asheville, NC, should be a good time for all who can make it on out there. Love Asheville. Lots of dirty smelly hippies out there, in other words, my people. Back when I used to be a hippy at least, which wasn't that long ago, about 10 years ago. I'm very happy and glad that I've burned or destroyed all pictures where I had long hair, because they're disturbingly funny, and I look funny enough, I don't need bad pictures haunting me from the past. Know what I mean? Yes indeed, very bad pictures indeed. Then again, I'm pretty sure I just take bad pictures anyway. I honestly can't remember too many pictures that I have of myself that I actually like. There are a few that I have that were taken of me racing and or riding, and some of those aren't too bad, but the general photography ones, you can forget about that shit. They're no good at all. I'm one of those people that can't smile on command. Someone tells me to smile, and I can't do it. It needs to be spontaneous for me to be able to actually be smiling in a picture. Sad? Yes. True? Also yes. That's the curse of being me I guess. Ah well. It's just something else that I can avoid, the whole picture taking thing. Which I gladly do (avoid getting pictures taken of me, just ask the SO about that). And I plan on doing that avoiding thing for a very long time. I'll bust a move and pose for a picture every once in awhile, to make folks happy and all, but overall, you can forget about it.

The last big Fall Classic bike race over in Europe was today, and I'm more than happy to report that Paolo Bettini took it over Gilberto Simoni. I'm so damn happy that Paolo won, because if Simoni had won, I don't know what I would have done. Don't like Simoni that much as you might be able to tell, but the freakin' Cricket (Bettini's nickname) is the bomb. He's the reigning Olympic champion, and he's had a rough season thus far, not doing too well here and there, but this makes it all good. All of the Italians want to win Lombardy. Find one Italian who doesn't want to win that race, and I'll call them a damn liar to their face. It's like Milan-San Remo, they all want to win this one, especially since it is the last big race of the year, and pretty much wraps up the season for the most part. Everyone now will head off on holiday, get chubby, and then start training again come November or so. Some later, some earlier. Some will just keep riding, because they dig it. Others might ride some cross races, or do something else for a little while, but most of them will be back again next season to give it another go. Ah, the Tour of the Falling Leaves as the Giro Lombardia is know, might be one of the most visually beautiful races on the calendar. There are a shit ton of pictures up on www.cyclingnews.com , check them out here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/oct05/lombardia05/?id=results I don't think that you'll be too disappointed with them.

Music pick of the day today, if you're sort of into techno or electronic stuff, check out The Overseer. Good stuff. I swear, no really. http://www.overseeronline.com/ It appears that this guy is just another pasty British guy cranking out beats and songs whilst living in his parent's basement, and DJing local clubs at night. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but get some sun at least once in awhile will ya??

Halloween party, in a couple more weeks, and as always, I'm hoping for an all house rocker. We'll see what happens. I'll be sure to throw some pictures up there for everyone to have a gander at. Hopefully Rocco, aka, Rich doesn't pass out and or get sick again. He has a penchant for doing such things, and then we can take funny pictures of him. So I take that back. I hope that he DOES pass out. It'll be a hoot.