Two uninvited guests joined me on my bike ride...

AND

Get it? I had a charlie horse... in my foot! Fortunately it was only for the last mile and a half of a 12 mile ride. I slept in this morning so I got the miles in this evening, which was very nice. Weather was perfect! Cool but not windy with full sun. I noticed something about my neighborhood though; wild onion is apparently a very common weed (technically a herb, it is considered a weed by many home owners) in Raytown. I smelled it strongly at at least 8 different places in my 6 mile loop. Most were yards of the unkept variety.

Another observation I could make is that I've discovered a third type of driver when it comes to bicycling. I was already aware of the annoyed/hostile driver who is offended that you would dare take up their lane without a combustion engine. The other type (my favorite) are the drivers who actually seem to understand that we bikers have a right to the road and will politely drive behind until they have a chance to pass, which they do giving ample room. Now there is a third type... the "Oh dear it is a bicycle... what do I do?" driver. These people will drive 10 feet behind you all the way down the block and sometimes will not continue on until I wave them by. These are 100% of the time older folks. Now perhaps they are just honestly not in a hurry and remember the days of horse drawn carriages... who knows, but it irritates the crap out of me when some car is tailing me. Makes me nervous too.

To all drivers... give bikers a break. Wait until you can pass and then do so without trying to run them off the road. Older drivers, please follow the previous advice and do not stalk innocent bikers.

Better than a sea bass...

- "You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here! What do we have?"


- "We have a mutated, ill-tempered AC-130 Hercules!!!"

New drumheads

I'm anxious to get these installed on my church's drumset. I bought a new set of top and bottom heads for all the drums. The old heads have to be at least 3 years old and sound like, well... 3 year old drum heads.

For anyone who cares... I am using Aquarian Response 2 for all the top heads except for the bass drum which has a Super Kick II with Classic Clear heads on the bottom. I also put a set of new wire snares on my brass piccolo snare.

Tonight I ought to be able to get all the drums tuned up and ready for Sunday. Hopefully people will hear the difference... I know I will!

Brrrrrrrr...

12 miles today but it was chilly. 50 degrees = 40 degrees downhill!

Tetris fans (but who isn't?)

And now I have work...

What a difference a day (and a powerbar) makes...

I jumped up to 11 miles this morning! I am still toast , but not the scored carbon kind of toast; I'm more of a light to mid-dark toast. I won't have to scrape myself with a butter knife for instance. Now that is likely a good example of how to take metaphor too far.

So anyway my big question is: Was I just having an off day yesterday or did the powerbar really make that big of a difference? If time were not a constraint I could have gone another couple miles today I think. I have to conclude that it was the powerbar because yesterday I just went out with a bottle of water and whatever carbs I ate the night before. As a thank you to the powerbar people... here is my free advertisment:


Powerbar Harvest! Wholegrain goodness, providing energy for the short run and nutrition for the long run. Available at Hy-Vee, Wal-Mart, Price Chopper, Henhouse and try our new variety pack at Sam's Club!


**These are actually a good deal if you get the 24 pack. The bars come out to about $.80 per bar which is a bit cheaper than Clif bars (and these are just as tasty).

6.5 miles and toast

Actually perhaps if I'd had some toast beforehand I wouldn't be toast right now. Apparently it has been a long winter and if you don't excercise you lose things like... endurance, stamina... fatlessness. Last Fall I was doing 12 miles easily and my longest ride was just shy of 26 miles. I am not boasting since I am an amateur and real bikers achieve far greater distances... but like I said, I am noob.

- This is my Fuji bike. Again nothing to really boast about, but it does the job for me (and mine is actually blue and white).

So six and a half miles completely wiped me out and I am a little sad about that. It is actually a little hard to type right now and you'd be surprised if you knew how many typos I have already corrected. Well enough with the pity party. I have to get back into shape so I can start riding to work to save the planet from CO2 poisoning. Just kidding... although I will say my motivation to start taking the bike 11 miles across town each day IS almost entirely green. And that of course would be the green of hard currency remaining in my pocket rather than filling the already extremely large coffers of big oil. The other portion of my motivational drive is the afore mentioned fatlessness I wish to attain.