out with the Bird

So it looks like no one truly fell for my post yesterday.  Of course I'm not going to be the future DD spokesman.

So, I've got all this stuff to talk about from just one monstrous Saturday adventure, but today will not be the day to start that.  Today is my birthday.  

The Larry Bird year is no longer

You're up Ray

I've finally caught up to my USAC license, I'm 34 (if you hadn't already figured that one out...).

What's on tap for my birthday?  A ride.  Perfect way to start the year if you ask me.  This week my wheels should be on there way to me as well... the hubs are in.  And yes, those are MY hubs.

Annie already gave me her gifts in case I wanted to utilize them for/before my ride tonight.  She got me a gift card to a local shop and a jersey.  Her hope is that I will be able to get a new pair of bike shoes with the card.  Shoes can get expensive, and I might have to return the jersey as well in order to acquire some, but we shall see what kind of shoes they have in the store.  The jersey is more of a relaxed jersey then I am typically used to but it is really neat.  It is very soft, it has some sweet sweat vents in the underarms/sides, and of course has three pockets in the back.

If I can swing some new shoes at a decent price I may be able to hang onto the jersey as well... otherwise it gets cannibalized to the greater cause of the bike shoes.

And a side of good news... it looks like Good Guy Greg has all the tools necessary to get the One9 up and running... so that means I (with his help) can get everything installed and done!  Very sweet.  Remaining parts to be ordered very soon!!

I'm Proud to be...

Married. (I know you were expecting me to say American cause of the whole bin Laden thing...)

I'd like to first say Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife.
(Yes, I'll admit this one time that your birthday is in fact today and not Cinco de Mayo)

My wonderful wife has always been super supportive of me.  I won't ramble on and on through the list, but we certainly have to acknowledge her support throughout my adventures in mountain biking (since that is the theme with this bloggy here).  So supportive that she finally realized the inherent awesomeness in the sport and decided to join in on the action.  She's even talking about racing in the future shhhhhh.  We'll all keep that a secret though because I want her jumping on the scene like a ninja!!!

There was a whole discussion over on singletracks.com about finding a girlfriend who rides.  Some had the viewpoint that no way should you ride with your significant other.  "You need time apart" some argued.  Well, I'm apart from my wife when we work.... and what better way to spend time with someone (you love) than to participate in the amazingly fun activity of mountain biking??

Others argued that one would be annoyed/slowed down by the other.  Hi - welcome to mountain biking.  Remember when you sucked ass??  And you were at the back of the pack??  And others waited for you to get up the hill/get through the rock garden/etc.?  We've all been there.  So NO.  It isn't annoying.  Instead, (and believe what you want Annie) I love it.
It fills me with a sense of pride to see her out there giving it her all and kicking butt (again, no matter what she thinks about her skills at this point she is truly kicking it).  Sure, I don't ride as fast/far with Annie... yet!  Again, she's starting out.  And that doesn't interfere with anything I'm doing.  I can use our rides together as light days in between "destroying" myself out there solo.

So all in all... Happy Birthday Baby.

And to the rest of you, Happy Cinco de Mayo (tomorrow)!

It had to happen sometime

What a great weekend!!
Weather wise things bounced back from the cruel joke that was played on us on April Fool's.  The sun came out and temps jumped up.  It also happened to be my birthday on Saturday.  And UCONN beat Kentucky to advance to the National Championship.

Saturday Annie and I went for a ride at Wompatuck.  It was a great ride.  We got some nice miles in and took some pictures.  I'll leave the details of this ride to Annie.

When we returned from our ride I discovered that a preride for Winding Trails had been scheduled for Sunday morning.  Oh decisions...  UCONN was playing, Annie made ribs and green beans for my birthday dinner, and there were beers to be enjoyed.  Google maps listed the course at just above 2 hours away... I know that to be on the high side, but a 10am ride time would mean an early morning for me.  This is my first race and I want to be as prepared as I can be so I seriously considered attending.  I jumped on the forum and attempted to post a question as to whether or not another preride would be scheduled in the future.  Apparently my posts have to be approved, and apparently no one approves anything on a Saturday evening, soooo I went to bed not knowing if there would be another opportunity.  My posts never ended up showing up so I messaged the ride organizer to no avail.  In the end Annie convinced me to not go and bank on there being another opportunity.