A mixed post..

Sorry about not writing yesterday, my goal is usually Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for those of you keeping track. Thursdays and Fridays I usually start the weekend festivities and think I can find more productive things to do with my time than appease the masses.

This is a mixed post because I want to finish my week of riding but sometimes life events happen that get in the way. I was fortunte enough to know Val while she was alive. Me, Erica, Erin, Ashley, and Angus all went to the service for her funeral to support our friend Liz. Liz and Val worked together for a long time and we all knew that Val's sudden death would hit her hardest. Erica was nice enough to pick her up from the airport yesterday and drop her back off today. Myself, Ashley, Erin, and Angus all made plans to get off of work to be there to attend the service.

As I got off work early I came home to pick the group up to go, I was expecting to walk into a quiet house. I should have known better. Liz was getting ready, being goofy, Erica was egging her on. Another one of Val and Liz's former swim instructors was there hanging out and laughing. It was a sight to see. Everyone was remembering the things Val used to do when she was getting ready to go out, and those are some good stories to hear. Laughter was rampant through the house.

On the way to the service we kept telling the stories of the crazy stuff in which she used to do and how she always made all of us laugh. The service started at 2 and when we arrived at a little before 1:30 the church was full, like standing room only full. We made sure that Liz was able to see the service and the rest of us just sort of stayed out of the way. Also the entire city of Concord was there as her father is the police chief. I am happy that they were there to support the family, but that didn't leave a lot of room for the people that knew her and that were seated outside and couldn't even hear the service. Our crew was lucky enough to hear bits and pieces from the front room of the church and halfway through Liz broke down crying and came down the stairs. In orderly fashion I grabbed her and made my way through the crowd the Erica was right behind her trying to comfort her.

While trying to find some shade we made our way to the reception area. Liz declined to go in because it was to hard to see the pictures of Val. It was hot enough that the state troopers followed us into the shade and set up shop waiting for the procession. When Liz opened up her eyes she was suprized to see about a dozen of NC's finest stating right next to us. Erica was also trying to comfort her by telling some Super Trooper Jokes.

We all laughed. They did not.

After the service ended Liz made some plans to meet up with her former co-workers at the Flying Saucer, later that night. We hit up Stool Pigeons right after the service, had some beer, some food and then walked to the Saucer.

I was happy to go 2-0 in pool against Casey, who showed up after work, and Angus. But mostly I was happy to see our friend Liz in the comfort of people that care about her. Then we came home and finished the job and I am almost out of spiced rum...damn. I think I'm done writing for the day. It was a long day yesterday for a lot of people.

Side note, I did get to go riding this past weekend and still need to write about it. To bad I wont get to ride this weekend even though the Burrower is headed out of town. Figures, I get the weekend to myself and can't even ride.

The week of riding continues

As the weather has finally started to turn cooler (well not that days, those are still 90 degrees here in Charlotte) the nights have become great to sit around and enjoy.

Last Thursday Dan (stock photo below, he is on the left)
and I made plans to go ride at the WWC. As I was waiting for him to show up I ended up seeing some of the Southpark guys, Bart and Kevin, going for what I believed to be a social ride. (Heres another pic stolen from the F-Book of the team, Kevin is 2nd from the left next to me, Bart is 4th from the left sticking his butt out showing our awesome sponsor Widmer Brothers Beer).

Well, I was wrong about the social pace but Bart and Kevin were nice enough to pull both of us around the WWC. We did one quick lap of no options and went back to the parking lot to pick up another rider (didnt get his name). But the 2nd lap we did all of the options and really booked it. I usually don't go as fast as we did, but it was different being pulled around the course instead of having everyone beat the crap out of me and never look back. I was informed that we a complete lap in a little over an hour. We booked it on the green trail as I had a quick mechanical and had to dismount. Bart, Kevin and the other rider took off while Dan waited for me to fix the chain. We made the decision to try and catch the group and I put the Culprit in the big ring. I was able to catch up and saw them on the straightaways. So close, getting closer each turn to the group, and then the turns came. I was going so fast and pedling while turning that twice my pedal hit a small stump while I was leaning into a turn that I got bucked off the trail, twice. I just quit trying to chase at that point and turned my attention to the more pressing matter. Beer.

There was a nice mellow band there last Thursday, sitting outside in the cool weather, a couple beers in my hand, it was heaven. Sadly I received a phone call from the Burrower who had news that one of our friends had gone missing two days prior.

I just found out Sunday morning with a wake up phone call that Val Hamilton had been murdered. Here she is on the left with our other friend Liz on the right.


I also found out today they caught they guy who they think is responsible. Here is a link to the article.

Althought we only met a few times Val was a great person. Always a pleasure to be around and in great spirits at all times. Her quirkiness and positive attitude will be missed. I don't have enough kind words about how she made everyone feel comfortable around her and how she was the first one to laugh at everything. I really don't have any other news about the services but I heard the funeral will be tomorrow. Sorry to leave this on a negative note, but you just don't ever think that you will know the missing person on the news.

I apologize

Yesterdays post was a little weak. Just one of those days at work in which nothing happened. Absolutly nothing, nothing good, nothing bad, just sort of a waste of calories. I spent a decent part of the day looking at bike parts and day dreaming of how to pimp my ride.


Today was better, although the boredom continued more of my co-workers were in the same boat as me and we ended up killing time together.

I also got this text message from Rocky this morning
"I am not happy with the current way the house is being run. I feel it is a dictatorship and I move that we change it to a democracy. I want to propose a one vote per paw rule"


He then decided to take a nap. Damn lazy dog. Luckily I vetoed his proposal but it was nice way to start the day.

Other than that I went on a ride today at Shermans Branch again. I ended up getting really lazy and decided not to shift the bike. It worked out well for the most part. Put the chain in the big ring and just cruised. Got out of the seat a few times, spun like a hampster a few times, and it was just a relaxing ride.

On my way out I ended up seeing The Mutt who was thinking like I was and that a mid-week ride was in order. He stated he wasn't feeling well and that he hoped to sweat it out of him. I am glad I am not the only person who decides against better judgement that sweating your butt off is the best way to get healthy again.

Coming home I called the burrower who was running late and asked what was for dinner. She wasn't home yet but said she wanted to make some healthy veggie burger stuff. I really wasn't on board and decided to fend for myself. Porkchop sandwhich and waffles it was.

I know this may sound weird and I had this discussion with some friends on Saturday about how I don't enjoy food. I don't enjoy making it, I don't enjoy eating it. I eat to survive. But I do drink to enjoy. I will gladly take a burnt burger for dinner as long as I have a nice beer to drink. That is just my personality, I enjoy my beer.

I am probably done for the week, maybe a ride tomorrow somewhere, and a ride on Saturday as the burrower is putting in a little more time at Holy Angels so I will have the morning free. That means biking and football! Hopefully I will have some good stories from the weekend. Have a good one.

Err..

Yeah, not much happened this weekend. College football, beer. Went out to dinner to celebrate a friends birthday, came home, more beer. Sunday, went on a nice social pace ride at the branch of Sherman, easy 22 miles or so. About the highlight was hearing that the one, the only, Team Dicky aka Rich Dillen was on the trail as well. Apparently he got his "shifty parts" he needed to get his ride in order. Oh, and I didn't get his autograph, maybe next time.

I really have upgraditus (that a word?) but also have broke wallet so the two cancel each other out. Here is my Santa Claus wish list if anybody wants to donate free stuff to me. I promise I will think about thanking you, but probably not.

2 2x9 crankset, thinking truvativ or I might go with the slx. Need one for my hardtail and one for the full squish.
2 11-34 tooth rear cassette
1 XT rear derailer
1 set up lighter wheels
1 new front fork, air shock, 100MM
1 new rear shock, lockout option required
1 road bike. Dont care about components, as long as it rolls I am happy.

Please send all of these to me or just drop them off at the house.

Thanks,
Patrick

Are you ready for some football!!

Since the burrower worked all weekend it was open season for me doing what I do best. Absolutely nothing. I am going to try and stretch out an entire days blog about nothing and if you are reading this I am succeeding.

Saturday morning I ended up waking up early (like 6 am) to watch Jason and Casey compete in their first triathlon. I thought about signing up but just got lazy. You know how that goes. The first swim portion started at 7 and I was there moments before dive time. Because it was just a small one through the HOA in which Casey lives in it was not a mass start but a staggered time start. Good news I brought my camera to get pictures. Bad news I forgot the memory card in the computer. Fail. There were pictures taken of the guys as they were racing but they haven't been posted to the F-book yet for me to hijack.

Jason ended up getting the best time in the mens 19-29 age group, but Casey ended up winning the prize, a pair of socks. After we checked the unofficial results it was deemed that Jason actually won and they messed up the order. Casey still didn't give the socks back.

Since the race got started so early I was back at home by 9 to start and watch some college football.

In case you are wondering I am a Iowa Hawkeye fan for football and they just demolished the Iowa State Cyclones. Good, no one likes them anyway.

The only other pictures I took this weekend was this one of my weekend activities.


Yeah, thats an empty glass which held rum and cokes, beer cans, xbox 360 controllers, a ps3 controller, and a plate of table scrapes left over from the dinner the night before. It was a good Saturday of beer, football, video games and leftovers. Can't beat that.

Summer Series Finale

I apologize for not posting yesterday but I was a little pre-occupied during my normal blogging period. Its not easy working your butt off all day at a computer then coming home to write on the computer. Ok, it is easy, but very very boring.

Anyway the reason why I missed yesterdays post was simple, the season finale of the Charlotte Mountain Bike Summer Series.

I left work a few minutes early to get down to the WWC in time for the race and didnt have any issues with finding a parking spot. I even got a good view of the Southpark Cycles team van.


Also as I was getting ready I was greeted by Scott at Sun and Ski sports. I was informed that they were actually putting up some swag for some prizes. I love to hear that as right after Southpark, that is my next bike shop of choice. I always get treated good when I go there and they even fix my bike when I am there and don't have to wait. I guess that is what happens when you buy a few bikes from the place.

Also I was greeted by The Mutt who was kind enough not to take off my open door.


After getting ready and gear ready I made my way down and registered. In doing so Bart was ready to take the teams pictures. I didn't bring the camera for that. I will poach that picture when it gets posted.

I haven't done a lot of the Wednesday night races as I have been trying to save up for a wedding for me and the burrower. I felt the team needed me as we were only 4 points ahead of the Trek store in the team category. Well it turns out that everyone from the Southpark team was there and we had like 8 riders. I think that the Trek only had I believe one of them. Not fair odds for them but I will take it.

After the team pictures the races started up. There were 9 in my catagory and I went into the woods ahead of one rider. I kept up with the group until the first fireroad and then they left me. Stupid 14 mile sprint races. Not long enough for me to get my mojo going. Somewhere in the middle of the first lap the 9th place guy ended up passing me on an uphill (imagine that huh). Right about that time I ended up passing another rider in my class as well. Net gain/loss=0. All was going good until I got passed by the entire Southpark team (who is in an age group above me) right before the Toilet bowl.

The 9th place rider was following me closely throughout the toilet bowl and I ended up talking to him. Apparently he only had his granny gear. That really didn't make me feel any better that he was keeping up with me on his small ring. But right as we were going up a short climb on the toilet bowl my chain got stuck and his ended up breaking under the stress of the climb. At that point I knew I didn't have last as long as I finished the race. Thats usually how I get my points, finish the race ahead of the DNF's.

The rest of the race was pretty much without any real action as everyone finished before me and it was getting dark in the woods. The good news is that I made the finish in time to get to the awards ceremony.

Even though I didn't finish in the top 10 in my class this year to get some swag the Southpark team did end up taking 3rd place overall. What Bart didn't realize is that there was prize money associated with it. As soon as he heard that I saw the wheels turning in his head about how much beer that could buy. I don't blame him for thinking that at all. Also a few of the Southpark guys ended up finishing real well in their classes. I am unsure if there was any podium spots for them as it was loud inside the bar, but I know there were a lot of top 10 finishes for the team.

Shut up and ride

getting the swag

Doug getting his first prize bag in 3 seasons


It was a good racing season and I am going to miss just hanging out with a bunch of racers. We all know that the reason I race is for the friends I meet out there and not because I am expecting to win. Good season, good friends to race with, and looking forward to doing it again next year.

I may or may not post tomorrow depending on what the burrower has planned for me in terms of social responsibilities. Have a good weekend and the weather should be perfect, go ride.

Travelin' Man

Well it has been a little over a week since my semi-sweet victory (for me anyway) at the Rivers Edge Marathon and I haven't been on the bike since. In fact I have stayed away from it until taking this 3 day Labor Day weekend down in the original dirty south, Atlanta.

Before I left I did a little work around the garage to clear up some space for what I thought was going to be a new addition to the fleet, less on that probably tomorrow. Now I have a decicated shelf for my gear and a seperate area for the Culprit and the rest of the fleet. Also I like putting up the race plates of where I have been and some stickers. I am a sucker for stickers.



It works out well because I can just open the garage and get fresh air, open up the hitch rack on the Kia for a work stand, and watch a rerun of 2 and a half Men while working on it.

After leaving work on Friday, I loaded up the dogs, burrower and the Culprit and drove down 85 south. Dogs werent real happy with traffic but who could blame them. Got stopped outside of Greenville and outside of Atlanta due to accidents on the road. The trip and Saturday were pretty uneventful. Just some shopping and going out to dinner with the rents.

Sunday I was rewarded for good behavior with a trip to the Olympic site of the 1996 Mountain bike race. Well it is also where the Equaestion events were held.
this is an old TV stand


wrong way



slick rock


I think this trail would have been a little easier if I wasn't hung over. It was a litle over a year and a half since I was last there and I have learned a lot about biking since then and also gotten stronger and a better bike. I do remember walking a lot more last time than this time, even though I had less to drink. I also learned that granite is not forgiving, even on a full suspension.

Tomorrow is the last race for the Charlotte Mountain bike series and I think I will enter it just because. I didn't do a lot of races this year to save some money for the wedding but I do miss hanging out with the group of guys after the race. Also since I haven't done a sprint race in a while it could be interesting. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Some Final Thoughts from the Race

When you are out on the bike for 5 and a half hours your mind tends to wander between dodging trees, squirells, hikers, and the occasional turtle. Sometimes it is just how much fun you are having. Sometimes you wonder why you are choosing to spend your Saturday morning waking up early and deciding to ride 50 miles in the end of August. One good thing that everyone always has after a ride like this is a story.

The talking of the best part of the trail in which you rode smooth as butter through, or just commenting what a great place for a race the Whitewater Center is if you have never been there. Another thing that first time racers finally understand is the mountain bike community. There was no shortage of people offering up assistance to help in any way. A guy I did some Southern Classic series didn't have any support crew or a tent to rest up in. Without hesitating I offered him space in ours and even pimped out one of my own pit crew (Erin) to help him exchange water bottles. After all was said and done he helped me out by offering to carry some of the gear up to the car.

This sort of helping each other out community is what makes this sport great. Like the racers who helped the injured riders off the course even though they sacraficed their own time to do it.

Ok, enough with the gushy stuff, heres what people came to see. Great minds in action.



Yeah, this guy was his own doctor and prescribed some IV fluids for himself. The irony was that he was only doing the duo race. Really? IV for only 25 miles and you call yourself a mountain biker? Wuss. Man up and cramp up like a man. Thank you Burrower for those quality pictures.

So after the race I was dying for a beer. Ok, I was just thirsty but didn't want to drink so we at some early dinner at the Rivers Edge Cafe. I was hungry but didn't want to eat. Thirsty but didn't want to drink. The whole body shutting down thing came into play. Gross fact here. I wasn't able to go to the bathroom until 6 at night even though I kept downing fluids like a mad man. 9 hours total. Told you it was gross. So struggling through eating my burger even though I was hungry we made plans to head up to Birkdale at the Fox and Hound.

After salivating over the food in which I wanted but didn't have the stomach to eat I was able to down a few beers. That gave me a good buzz. I also was pounding down water like it was going out of style. Apprently the waitress got a little frustrated with Dan and I's constant request to refill water until the Burrower put her in her place and told her that we had a big day. As if she couldnt read the shirts.

Yeah, we were those guys with the matching shirts at the bar. If someone didn't like it, F*$% them, we deserved the shirts. Oh, and after that the waitress became a little more friendly. She must have just figured out we were studs.

Oh, and here is one with the Burrower wearing my John Casey (yeah thats right, the kicker) jersey.

Thats pretty much all I can think of at this point about the race. Not to bad considering it probably took me a few hours less to write this series than actually ride in the race. Of course next year I am hopeing to change that. I think I am done writing for the week as tomorrow is the start of the weekend and will be off drinking beer, and then a 3 day labor day weekend in which I am going down to the original dirty south, the ATL. Still debating on if I am taking the bike down there to ride. Let me know if I should take it, all votes that come in will count double against my better judgement.