80% Gray Friday

"Black Friday" big Christmas shopping day for 90% of America. Wifey worked. I hung with B-Man and bought nothing. I did take the Soob for inspection at the BP down the street. Passed just fine. They fixed the rattling heat shield that has been driving me crazy for $15. The stupid Goodyear place in Monroeville wanted $80 labor plus $20 for parts to fix. HAAAAAAAATE!!

I also had them investigate the smell that I sometimes get from the Soob. They confirmed my fear- It's a small oil leak most likely from the freaking head gasket. F*CK!!!! Soobs are known for this. Mine is a 2003, with 79K. OUT of warranty. I have heard about extensions for the head gasket issue though. Plan to be in touch with Subaru USA ASAP. Figures. The car is paid off next month. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

B-Man and I did have a great day though. It was boss to hang with him all day and play, watch Ninja Turtles and Sponge Bob.

Once Wifey got home I hit the Stankment® for a spin and weights, since I didn't do my weights yesterday. It's only an hour work out, but it gets the job done and I sweat out some more of yesterday's bird.

Have you seen this Cycling News story about Björn Leukeman? Tested positive for synthetic testosterone and claims that his reading was high because when the doping officials came to his house he was in the middle of having sex. The doping officials scoff at the notion but say it was unusual and a tad uncomfortable for an athlete to greet them with a massive erection. OK I made up the part about the hard on, but the rest is true. Nice try Björn.

Also on Cycling News is a great story from Sue Haywood about La Ruta de Los Conquistadores.

I've always thought Sue Haywood was one of the most inspirational pros out there. I think my fave parts of the movie Solo 24 were the 2 minutes of sound bights from her. Call me crazy, but she was the only one not obsessing about winning and saw the best parts of 24 hour racing racing. I felt bad she couldn't have got more coverage in the movie or elsewhere. I mean she freaking won the race and it went virtually unnoticed. I guess that's the unfortunate price women pay in a sport that is too often a freaking sausage party. Plus she's is/was from Davis, WV. A nice little part of mountain bike heaven that I've been fortunate to ride and race in more than a few times. Ride on Sue!

Hope I can get some outdoor saddle time tomorrow. It's gonna be cold, but I think I can come up with some sort of layered ghetto outfit to get me through.

Now just to enjoy Friday, now that the Part One of the "Evil 3" that is Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's is complete.

Later.