Now THIS Is A Christmas Present!!

Not that I'm not stoked with the my new DVDs (Pure Sweet Hell & The Nine Ball Diaries). Not that I don't stand to thoroughly enjoy the new Anthony Bourdain book ("The Nasty Bits") that Wifey got me. Not that I didn't get a variety of other cool things, including the sharing of B-Man's Wii.... But TODAY I got one hell of a Christmas gift from the Ride Gods in the form of a road ride in December WITHOUT freezing to death. I owe them.

I ALMOST, I say ALMOST made a move to ride the trainer. I had taken some garbage out, and was sad that even though it LOOKED nice out, it was damn cold. Of course this was at 8 a.m.. At 10 a.m. I had a different thought and some serious tingling in the chamois area from the prospects of a real ride. So I said f*ck it, I'm kitting up! Cold air or no cold air. I strapped on some tights, gloves and various other types of winter shit in the attempt to stay warm out on the road.

Nothing big planned, just my normal 31 mile road loop. 1 mile into the loop I thought I might be overdressed. 5 miles in to the loop I KNEW I was overdressed!! Luckily I was able to stuff the Craft rain/wind jacket in my jersey pocket and get a bit more comfy. Temps would climb to the 50s with sun and I was dressed for the 30s. The hands were WAY overheated in my garish and logo heavy Hammer winter gloves. But hey, my fingers might have been getting too fat anyway. The gloves helped me sweat out any potential finger bloat that the Holiday brought.

The ride rocked. There were some minor set backs but nothing I couldn't ride through. My chain has quickly become stretched from trainer rides where I use a different rear wheel/cassette. Now things aren't "meshing" so well. I lost a gear or two today from that, but who cares?? I was riding and it was sunny and 50 in Western PA.... THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS!

I received a nice "Right On!/Fist Of Power" signal from a dude in an oncoming car. Nice to get a sign of encouragement from someone rather than the usual barrage of horn honks, middle fingers and screams of accused homosexuality. Thanks Mr. Fist of Power Dude. Much appreciate.

The more I thought about it, the more I started thinking that the dude was probably a freak. A freak in a good way. Judging from the rackless sedan he drove he didn't appear to be a cyclist. But I can almost guarantee you he was some sort of freak. In America it's pretty much the freaks that are drawn to our sport or are comfortable enough to at least "get" it. Yeah, I'm sure there are a few dick head types that squeeze through the cracks, but we're trying to weed them out as I type. Long live the freaks!

Real ride fitness is still come and go. I can just tell that I don't have it all going on right now. And that's fine. That's what the off season is for. Now if I feel like this in April... well then I'll have some issues. The weather looks to at least be warm tomorrow. Hopefully the rain that is pissing down right now moves out by the a.m.

I might have to finally wash the Eddy Cap. There was some serious sweaty stank being blown in the face. It was like having a dirty, sweaty fat guys ass in my face for 30 miles. In other words- time to wash the Eddy Cap!!

Time to make some dinner, watch some DVDs and then maybe do some more car research. Wifey and I are thinking about ditching the Soob. It has 95K on it, is not big enough to haul all of us AND my gear to the races, and has been giving off the sweet scent of 2nd burning head gasket. Want to ditch it before it blows. I have it sort of narrowed down to a Mazda 5, a Kia Rondo, or a Scion XB. I guess you can tell I don't care that much about looks with that line up. There are other vehicles I dig more, but are out of our price range. We shall see. I may end up with nothing.

Later.