In the hood. As I took the bins to the curb, I found that some 'artist' had their way w/our cars, both of which were parked in the driveway, as well as the neighbor's garage.
Damn kids!
This day also was scheduled for the removal of the pain-in-the-ass silver maple that's plagued our sewer line since moving in.
Good riddance, ya bastard!
Gas + rag + elbow grease
In the Springs I participated in The Captain 2013 enduro, which took place on the edge of Colorado Springs. Had a great time hanging w/the Inflexible crew & riding some excellent CS trails. Didn't finish DFL, nor break myself, so it was a great success.
To the top, James.
Plans change...
I finished in 1 piece.
...but the bike didn't
In the East Had to make an very unhappy, unscheduled trip to NJ.
1962
Donald Paul Lubic, 4/2/44-6/14/13
Spent the following week hitting all the old haunts down at the beach: Wawa's, Angeloni's II, White House, Jo Jo's, Romanelli's, as well as seeing lots of the places I worked with dad over the years.
Kathy & Iron Mike's back porch
...and some of his fermented grapes.
Back in CO Got high w/goat & slow. I tried to connect Crystal cabin to McClellan last year, but went up from the cabin. This time, we went up the jeep road, then crossed the tundra to get to the cabin. Seems I was on target last year, only about 100yds from the road. (all pix by MtGoatEpics)
4,000' of downhill from here!
Thanks Frank!
Back East, Again 1st was a long weekend work trip to HQ, in Princeton
Over one of the Great Lakes?
Came back home for 3 days of work, then jumped on a plane to go back east again, but this time for beach fun with all the family units.
Bikes have happened on occasion. While waiting on leftovers of a visit from old man winter to go away, Bobby & I hit up GBP after work.
Air Bobby
Bobby rides the skyline
Had a long weekender back east for an in-law reunion. Arrived in DC Thursday evening & hung out w/the Shaw clan and my ma, who popped down for the night. Headed out the next morning to re-visit Bluemont Vineyard.
951'
The reunion was in Crystal City, so off to the hellhole of the DC area. I could see how people get road-raged out - I was so glad to get out the car the few times I drove around there, the worst day in Denver is like a walk in the park round there. Friday evening took us to Legal Seafoods for an immediate family get-together: Mally's folks, brothers and their families. Grub there was pretty good, and even felt a bit full after fressin'.
Washington Monument through the not-yet blooming sakura
The warm weather was just starting, so we headed to the tidal basin to stroll around & see the state of the cherry blossoms - close, but no cigar. Probably 10-15 trees had opened up, and with the temps in 80s for the following week, I bet the place was rocking about 5 days later. Passed by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, then the FDR Memorial - full of cool sculptures, waterfalls & choice quotes.
Times have changed since those words were spoken
To finish off the basin walk, we ended up at the MLK Memorial, which I thought was Mao Tse Tung from across the basin.
MLK
We then made a quick stop at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History before heading back across the river. Oh yeah, out of all the metros I've taken world-wide, DC's was the most pain-in-the-ass to use. A quick stop by our room, then off to Peking Gourmet for the big dinner. This joint was chosen b/c it is one of very few restaurants in the states that makes a traditional, and (what I heard) tasty peking duck dish. We gorged on plate after plate of hand-picked chinese delights, and had a quiet laugh when the duck was served. This place is adored by the Chinese for its plates - but who prepped the duck? 2 Mexican ladies! Final morning was breakfast at a local diner, then to the Honey Pig for Korean BBQ on the way back to the parental pad. Looked like a cool place, but when we glanced at the menu, I only had two choices. Any plate comes chock full of animal parts, but seafood was few & far between. Rolled outta dodge Monday afternoon in 82f weather and stopped by Golden King, which was where Tony set up a family-style chinese dinner on our 1st night, for some dim sum on the way to Dulles. Checked conditions back home, and found that a big snowstorm was arriving right around our touchdown, great! Make it back w/no delays, but to crappy weather & a high in the teens the following day, and Mally ended up pulling an unwelcome over-nighter for her return to work.....welcome home! Back on the homefront: Report from PBRMe! was that Ridgeline was good to go, the T.I.T.S. crew headed south. Five of us pedaled around for a lap & a half, which was broken up by 3 separate beer stops, not including pre- & post-sessioning. I had a quick day of work Friday, so got to take out the new cheater bike on a shakedown run. That was tough, shifting takes a lot of thinking! It'll take another ride or 2 to get the hang of all the moving parts under me.
Very unexpected purchase, but couldn't pass the deal on it. Sold out!
Got in some good pedaling this week, along with some more finishing touches in the basement. Last Saturday got a bit warm, but we escaped the LoB before the trails got muddy.
Showed the Honzo a little love on Wednesday by shooting for a quick RR-MW-DR loop before the rain hit. Almost didn't make it, as my old chain finally gave out on me at the top of DR. Had to run it pretty much chain-less back to the car. Even with that incident, I just beat the weather as raindrops started to fall as I loaded the car.
Thursday eve brought around a different take on GM, as led by Bobby. A bit of chaos ensued, & the group got split up a few times, but all was well in the end.
The following day, I finished early, so felt a need to head out to CC since I hadn't ridden there recently - possibly over a year. Perfect trails from Mayhem, all the way out Travois all the way to top of the descent to Elk Creek. Sun was getting low, I was feeling tired, so This was the perfect time to head back to the car.....then finally visit Cannonball Creek Brewery on the way home.
Sunday brought us back once again to another glorious Single-track Sunday Service, this week at at 3Sis.
Had 2 days of work after the towing episode, and Wednesday was canceled, so aimed to do some re-wiring in the forecast sunny & warm 60f weather. When I began the job, I had a strange feeling that the clouds overhead were keeping it a bit on the chilly side, and found it was not even 40f at 11am.
11 of 12 wires were completely snapped
My body was felling achy and weak, so I powered through the slicing, splicing, soldering & jamming all the wires back into place and once again had a working car.
Good enough for gubmint work
Me, on the other hand, I was hurting, so I headed straight to the hot shower, then off to bed....where I stayed until Saturday afternoon. Major chest/head cough roughed me up good, and had to cancel 2 days of work in that time. Monday rolled around, and felt almost back to normal after a full day of work, so rolled up to J.Paks HQ to grab my newly-finished framebag. Love Joe's handiwork, this thing rocks!
I knew the Monkey needed some TLC as winter puts a beating on bikes (plus I don't think I've done any maintenance on it since summer) so I pulled the cranks to find the non-drive BB cup was seized, d'oh! No Surly Mr. Whirly BB cups available anywhere, looks like production can't keep up with demand, so I decided to go with an XT instead. Slapped it in & the KM is ready to roll, sporting some fine J.Paks equipment.
Ready for TITS tomorrow night, hope I am
Psyched to get back on the bike after a 2-week furlough....hope I survive.
Took up GBS's offer to pedal a FatBike today. Squeezed myself onto a L Pugsley that had some strange levers beside the grips, and when I pressed them with my thumbs, it made it easier to climb, what a novel idea! Great fun, despite the 60° weather & dusty trails.
What would Bob Mould say?
Things took a turn for the worse when loading up to head home. My marvel of Teutonic engineering refused to move from 'P', so had to get it loaded up & deposited in the driveway.
1st time tow, as the shipping plugs were still intact.
Quick research at home showed it to be something I had recently looked at repairing, but put off in hopes of more time/better weather. Warm weather this week will be a blessing. For the other old folks out there that get it.
Back on the home-front: finally moved into the 90s by picking up a fancy Droid4, so time to play my part in being a Stravasshole! The holiday times are usually a bit slow at work, so I finally got some long-awaited home projects. First on the list was a minor job of re-painting the upstairs bathrooms, in order to cover up the salmon/peach walls. Hall toilet went smoothly, but the main bath ended up turning into a bit more work, involving new paint, vanity, sink, faucet, mirror & wall cabinet. I am now IKEA-experienced. Godmorgon!
Must stay hydrated during house repairs.
Next up was the basement project. It only took 4yrs, 3months & 12 days, but the house finally became 100% carpet-free. (Except for 2 small spots where some previous workers built 2 closet walls on top of the carpet in one of the basement BRs!) Re-painted most ceilings, all the walls, replaced all light fixtures/outlets/switches/plates, then laid bamboo looking resilient flooring in all the rooms. I now have a garage again, as we were finally able to bring thin the couch Mally picked up earlier in the fall. An acceptable room/place to zone out, finally!
Finished it up just in time to head back to an all-day everyday work schedule for the past 10 days. Hoping to get out this weekend for a little pedal - plan on putting my fat ass on one of those fatbikes for a lil' spin on Sunday out of GBS.
