Breakfast after Mohican...

this monkey's gone to heaven...

This weekend, while riding some of the sweetest singletrack the Shenandoah Mountains have to offer, there were several times where I thought to myself: "If I ever do anything in this life to get into heaven, I want to be sent back right here." Great times were had with Todd, Buddy, Peaches, Rich, Kurt, as well as the Bike Line crew down at the Virginia IMBA Mountain Bike Festival. This video says it all, sadly without any footage of the descents. They were just too fun to stop and take video...

The Very Best of the 2009 Shenandoah IMBA Mountain Bike Festival from robert on Vimeo.

sunday...

After spending the better part of the last week indoors, I hit the streets today on the road bike. Buddy was leading a nice loop around Chester County, so I decided to ride the 20 miles from home to meet him - with full intention of getting 100 miles on the road today. Joining us were two Guy's guys, John and Jay.

It was awesome to have some sun, 70 degrees, blue sky. But the wind was f*%&ing brutal. Steady 20 - 25 mph out of the northwest. Given the loop I ended up riding, it was never a full tailwind. So that, combined with the hills Buddy linked up shortened the ride to 80 miles. Either way, a great day.

Highlights included watching Buddy take out a squirrel - the little bastard paid the price for darting under the front wheel of the fastest fat guy around - and the descent down Penn Green. Granted my bike was making all kinds of noise, but look how sweet these roads are:



Thanks to Jan for helping me diagnose the weird noise coming from the bike as a loose freehub body. All is now well.

to do list...

I saw this sitting on the counter at home. I'm not saying whose it was, but I'll just say it's not mine. Seemed like a reasonable amount to try and accomplish some rainy afternoon.

this is getting old...

"new" bike...

As I laid out all of the crap I've accumulated over the years (seen here), I realized that I had enough stuff to put gears on Ghetto Prom. The former fixed gear is now dressed for use as an all-weather commuter.


I forgot how nice Ultegra 10 feels when it's fresh. So different from SRAM, but I like them both.