Now, I love riding my bike, but

Found this on velosnooz, Man admits to sex with bikeEdinburgh, Scotland

A man who admitted having sex with a bicycle in a Scottish hotel has been placed on the sex offenders' register for breach of the peace.
Robert Stewart admitted to the crime Friday in Ayr Sheriff Court and is to be sentenced next month, Britain's Telegraph reported Saturday.
Stewart was discovered last October by two maids who entered to clean his room during a stay at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr, Scotland.
The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex, a sheriff's spokesman told the court. The shocked witnesses told the hotel manager who told the police.

Hoarse Whisperer

I was hit hard by the biowarfare weapon that is the siblings' kids last weekend at the Oesterling Thanksgiving Feast and have been a walking wounded since Sunday night. There are few things that frustrate me as much as being sick. It just plain pisses me off. Add to the frustration of zero time at work to do work and I'm not a happy pup since I'm going to have to spend a ridiculous amount of non-work time working on work. The upside for everyone else here in Center Valley is that I literally can't talk so I'm not yelling at anyone or at the cats.

Did the MABRA Champs last weekend and did okay. Felt awful especially during the early part of the race - like I was going to vomit - and had no snap at all, but looking back it is obvious I was on my way to sicksville so its great that I got the chance to race. That followed a couple days of solid fun riding in the old stomping grounds where I found a lot of stuff that's a bit out of bounds to be just fine; a bit more that wouldn't take much to bring back - if you knew where to look; and something sort of new and interesting. So it was a good couple days of riding that I've not been able to build on, but at least got to do 'em.

I should probably take a note from Boo's playbook and go sleep so that I can recover from sleeping and to rest up before the next round of sleep...or at least shake this thing.

Going Down

Its time for some poaching. We're headed back to the metropolis of Marysville for the holiday and I can't wait for a few days off and a few days of some of the best riding anywhere on and off road. I'm planning Perry Tours while I'm home and maybe a bit of the beautiful trails in the Marysville valley in and around the farm and hopefully a ride with the local boys on the Saturday morning group gig. Should be excellent. Of course, Kris probably has plans for me that I don't know about yet and it'll put the kibosh to all the riding I've in mind. At least I'll eat well.

For anyone besides me that thinks this is actually interesting, I didn't get completely destroyed this past weekend in 'cross at the USGP races, but I did get my downgrade!! Yes, congrats to me!! In USACycling's original awarding of cross categories I was given a Cat 1 license. At the time this wasn't even appropriate as I'd already not raced cross for several years and my road and mtb racing was on the decline as well, but whatever I didn't change it cause hey, I'm a cat 1.

When I started doing some cross racing this season I questioned an official along the lines of, "Is this Cat 1 thing going to be a problem?" I was told not to worry about it. Well, on the start line of the B race last Saturday where I'm assigned the 14th start position (this is huge, its a good spot to be in what with 80ish riders in the race) and where I'm already getting some good natured grief for sandbagging from my buds who remember a day when I was actually fast (I remember that day too) I get a little special call up from the staging folks. There seems to be an issue with my Cat 1 notation since this is a Cat 2/3 race.

I plead my case - "I'm old, fat, don't ride much, and haven't raced cross in forever!" It doesn't look good, I may not get to race... "All I want is a workout, I'm happy to start at the back." Still doesn't look good... Finally with some reluctance I get a "Okay, you have to start at the back and we better not see you on the podium." Yea right, like there is any chance of that.

I start at the back...somehow I make it into the top 20 and finish in 17th or so and was that ever fun. I really didn't think I'd move that far forward in the group but it seems that both my fitness and skillz are coming back a bit... Started about 45th on Sunday and hit 10th. Like Colin said the guys at the front are like the big bosses in video games and I'm too blown to pick up the special weapons on my way through the course or remember the secret codes. I new I was on a good day when I caught SlimmerMark who has been rockin' it all season. Now if only that little 14 year old punk would slow his ass down.


It's poachin' time!!



Here are some shots of my actually fast buds playing in the sand box and one off to a wicked fast start...




Hebe, Ferg, Yoz, and Leech, respectively

yourPhone, myPhone, ourPhone, iPhone

iKeep asking myself, "Hey make a frickin decision, do iGet one of these things or not?"

iVe been him-hawing around about getting a phone with email capabilities for a while and of course all the fancypants stuff on the iPhone sure looks nice. That's the problem though isn't it? All this stuff looks "nice" and then you get it home and start to use it and find out its as big a piece of crap as the last widget you bought only it comes in a newer package with good marketing. It does seem that the few people iKnow who own one like it, and say it works as advertised.

All these questions keep running around my head though...Will iEver actually use all the functions? iS this thing going to stand up to living in my back pocket on road and mtb rides all year long? Am iAnywhere near cool enough to own an iPhone? Will it make me a better person? Smarter? Faster? Better looking? Do chicks dig it? Shouldn't iBe working on some race promo stuff, team sponsorship, or coaching instead of writing this? Why is my computer so damn slow - as in why is it that iTyped this 30 seconds ago and it is only now showing on the screen? Where the hell does "him-hawing" come from and why?

With my fancy new shoes though iThink an iPhone may be the best possible accessory...


iVe never owned an article of clothing iCould see my reflection in...until now.

Thank you Northwave and your sexy European style sensibilities.

iGotta go and my apologies to the good doctor.

HSC 2008

I'm starting to put a few things together for next season. The HSC events are shaping up as follows:
April 5 - Intergalatic MTB Team Relay Championship - Oesterling Farm, Marysville
May 17 - Rocktober Challenge MTB Marathon - RB Winter State Park, Mifflinburg
Oct 11-12 - Iron Cross and IC Lite, Carlisle

The VisitPA.com MTB Stage Race weekend will likely run July 4-5-6 and we're going to add some new twists like a Scot Trials event and a few other fun things this time around.

50 Rattling Miles is up in the air. I definitely bit off too much this year and I have to figure out if I can make it work because I would like to promote a cross race again after having done a few this season. I will probably either revisit the farm or Marysville Lions Club or perhaps a new super secret possibility in Center Valley.

A Thief Among Us

I've been missing the cap from a flash drive since mid-summer. I've not been too concerned about the cap, had my suspicions the cat might have batted it off the table, but it was the cap, who cares. I've been missing a flash drive since Iron Cross weekend. I figured it was my normal stellar powers of organization that led to it's disappearance. After I looked in every bag that I take with me to work; in the car; at work; around the house in all the normal places, I started to think that maybe the cat got it too. Of course this is a normal reaction when I lose/misplace something - someone or something else must have taken it so I wasn't really convinced and I figured it was actually gone.

I mentioned the cat thief hypothesis to a friend a week ago and he said, 'Yea right, have you seen your car/workshop/desk/etc.? Its not the cat.' Kris says I'm sort of like Pigpen only it's more mess less dirt.

I finally went on a determined hunt under the refrigerator, stove, radiators, furniture and anything close to cat play level to follow up on my suspicions.

I found:

17 small toy mice of assorted colors

2 large toy mice

1 spring toy

1 puff ball toy

1 catnip pillow

1 pen

1 pretzel

2 hair bands

1 beer cap

2 foil balls

1 Gu

1 moldy pistachio

1 screw on battery cover for a mini mag light

1 USB receiver for the remote computer mouse

1 rubber bumber from something

3 I have no idea

1 rock

1 USB drive cap

and

1 USB flash drive

A very pround Boo is pictured above with his haul minus the shit he already took back out it while I was completing my sweep of the house.

Now where'd I put my keys...

Welcome back to that same old place

No, not the blog. The cyclocross race scene. Its been a while. Three years since I raced one I think - well not counting Iron Cross, but that doesn't really count, its just not the same. Did two of 'em last weekend and got killed big time. Destroyed. But had a blast. Then spent one day helping to re-sod last week's course and another helping design and set up this weekened's.

Did two this past weekend and flatted three times in two races which had the upside of letting me ride a lap on Gunnar's bike while my tube was being cut out of my cassette.

Things got better this week. The placings certainly don't show it, but I definitely felt better on the course and in more control on the bike.

The season has about six weeks left. I'm sure I'll have it figured out in eight.

The best thing about this is that I'm remembering why I race which sometimes seems to get lost for me. Makes me think about bringing back the Rockville Classic at the Lions Club Park in Marysville too. Better yet would be if Kyle and Zach would get on that.