Lost Weekend

Every so often a weekend comes along that can only be described as a "lost weekend." Motions were gone through, things happened, good times were had, but at the end of the day there was no real riding so therefore it may as well never happened. Life Rule 003-A a ride (good or bad) defines the worth of a day. It's a fact. PERIOD.

I had the best intentions this weekend: maybe go XC skiing with some friends, maybe get out for a ride on the road/dirt roads, maybe go for a winter hike. In the end I rode for 1:25 on the trainer while watching 4 episodes of Portlandia on Netflix. Fun...big fucking fun. Booo!!

The ride never really materialized due to the hunks of rutted ice all over the place. Some of the paved roads may have been OK, but to tell you the truth I just didn't have the mental fortitude this weekend to deal. Yeah, I suck the big lame hairy one sometimes. Blah!

Skiing never really happened because basically I really don't like it. Sure I have some fun once I'm out there doing it, but for the most part I think of it the same way I think about walking, hiking, running, driving, scooting, skipping, thinking, showering, defecating and crawling; "This would be cool if I was on my bike." This is why I think it's inevitable that a fat bike will be mine. I'm not oppose to snow, I'm oppose to not being able to ride my bike.

"You know what I do, I flip my boner up into my waistband.
It hides it and it feels awesome" - Seth, from the movie Superbad

A fat bike might work but I remain on the fence wondering how much I would get to use it and more importantly put off by not having the money to buy one. I will say I walked Jake The Dog today and found myself at the window of Motorless Motion with my nose pressed up against the glass looking at the Surly Pugsley in the window. Damn I had a serious bikeon right on Main St. It was sort of embarrassing. But it felt good.

Another highlight to this lost and crap weekend was the amount of work I got done on XXC #15. I am REALLY stoked for this on. A couple of great interviews, some cool features and some cool pics. I remember when I used to bitch about having to work overtime on weekends and what not many years ago, now with XXC it's pretty much a 24/7/365 type job. There are no real days off. But it's pretty cool. If I could JUST get a real paycheck I'd be stoked! Ha!

Saturday night we met up with a group of friends at The Bird. Great pizza, great beer, and good peeps, all within 4 blocks of our crib. THAT is cool. Not to mention they had Hop Slam on tap- COOLER!!!

Napper from Terry's called last week to let me know that my TRP CX9 brakes are FINALLY in. Now I can finally ditch the ball suck cantilever brakes on the Jake and not have to wonder if I will stop or not.
Of course until the fucking snow melts I will be on my disc braked El Mariachi for the most part so it's like pissing off the back porch (I made that phrase up, I think by definition it will just be doesn't really fucking matter). Anyhoo, I've heard good things about these brakes and I'm anxious to get them on. Hitting the brakes and stopping is cool. Hitting the brakes and finding yourself in the middle of an intersection is not. Just ask the kids.

OK, that should do it for a couple days or until I grow a set and get outside for a ride. I gotta go piss off the back porch (for real).

Later.

Yikes, This Is Disturbing

All I'm saying is that I am way more disturbed by the pic of Hoogerland with the neon shades, wife beater base layer, farmer tan and Euro clubbing tattoo than I am by the pic of his ripped up bloody ass and chamois bits.

Later.

The Madness

This is about the time of year that I start to crack. January is getting CLOSE to being in the bag, so all I need to do is get through February and then things will start moving again bike wise. Much of the ground here is like one frozen glazed doughnut. In the past 1.5 weeks we have had rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, -0 degree temps, 45 degree temps, rain, then temps back into the teens at night. Shit, it's hard to even stay upright walking in my back yard for f's sake.

Serenity now.... halllmmmmm..... hallllmmmmmm..... Did I mention that Bell's Hop Slam is due out VERY soon? Did I also mention that my local beer store is holding a case for me when it does arrive? Now THAT will make February go by faster for sure!

Work continues to be a blur of podcasts, reading, layouts and continued learning of InDesign (I'm STILL loving that freaking program!!). Some day's I am in awe of the amount of stuff I have done with the mag: getting better at writing (not that it shoes, here, but I don't really give a shit about this blog), better at design work, learning web stuff, doing podcasts, etc., etc., Thank God I am so busy, because if I pause for too long (or look at my accounting records) I start to regret not going to those open interviews at the new Rally Burger on Mission. Those kids must rake in some serious jing. WHY DID I GO TO ART SCHOOL??? WHY??? Oh yeah,... dim bulb.

Later.

Doing It Proper

Since I lamed out on posts most of the week and did an XXC "double post" yesterday, I figured I would do something more proper on yesterday's cold weather ride.

Mmmm... sun, snow and not a trainer in sight.

I spent all week on the trainer this week. That was due to a shit storm of trying to learn a new layout program (InDesign) at work and a series of cold, wet snow and ice storms we had here mid-mitten. But as the week progressed, the snow increased, became dryer (better) and the temp dropped like a bullet making the dirt roads more ride-able. But that temperature! Zero?? For realz??

There was no way I was riding on the trainer because as cold as it was outside, the sun was shining full on and I needed to soak up some vitamin D (even if my eyebrows and nose were the only visible parts of my body being exposed to the sun).

I figured with a few ghetto mods to my normal cool weather riding attire I could make the 9 degree ride time temperature feel a tad better.

Have the feeling this pic just went into some sort of file at the F.B.I.

In order of appearance....

1. Thin wicking socks.
2. Swiftwick wool socks.
3. Thin fake Under Armour type base layer.
4. Craft Windstopper base layer on top.
5. Bibs & fleece lined leg warmers.
6. Balaclava & XXC fleece beanie.
7. Endura cool weather jacket.
8. old Lake winter shoes
9. Giordana winter cycling gloves.
10. Lazer lid.
11. Under Armour wind pants.
12. Not on me, but on the bike Moose Mitts. (see XXC post for more).

I think it took me 35 minutes to get dressed. I think I lost 5 pounds in sweat before I made it out the door!! BUT, I made it out the door and that was a big step for me 'cause A. I hate being cold and B. I hate being cold.

As I rode the snow covered streets Ehm Pee heading out of town to the snow covered dirt roads I could not have been happier. My hands were warm, my legs were warm, I was geeked for a nice ride.

I sort of had an "oh shit" moment as I headed out Crawford and saw a GIANT snowplow coming at me. The plow down, snow exiting the side, GRRRRRRRPPPPPFFFFFLLLLLOOGGRRRRRRRRRPFFFFF!!!! I thanked Baby-J that it was on the OTHER side of the road and it was not coming up behind me. Me thinks I would have been turned into 200 pounds of 60% Fat Ground Mahokey.


Once on the farm roads the conditions were perfect! The snow was packed pretty well and the ruts weren't too bad. I am 72% certain that a Mukluk, Bully or Fatback would have rolled a bit better on the snow and given me just a tad more confidence, but I gotz to sell a LOT more XXC shit before a new bike is in the stable. Really, I was just happy to be outside in the sun, even if it was cold as tits.

"Climbs" were just a tad harder (better!) on the snow.

For the first hour+ I could not have been happier. My hands were warm, my feet were OK, and I was having fun in the snow on my bike.

Then it happened.

My warm fingers started sweating and while shielded from the wind and cold there was not getting around the fact it was COLD outside. Thus the fingers started to get cold REAL cold. Like can't let go of the bar 'cause it hurts, grit you teeth cold. Frig!! I KNEW I should have started back about 20 minutes ago. Now I'm stuck finishing out the loop!

Oh and then there's my feet. UG! The vintage Lakes are OK, but seem like anything longer than an hour in super cold temps and my feet are miserable. I kept trying to wiggle my toes, but there just isn't that much room in the toe box. Damn!


Oh well, I did what I could to ignore the pain and my inability to stay warm and just tried to enjoy the day; the sun, the warm intoxicating smell of cow manure, the site and sounds of snowmobiles passing me at roughly 110 mph and the joy of being on my bike instead of the trainer.

On a positive note I did use a small stainless steel insulated thermos on the bike and it allowed my sports drink to stay unfrozen. I also stashed a bottle in my jersey pocket under my jacket just in case. That worked well too. I was nice to be able to stay hydrated for a change on a cold ride.

The ride was not all that "epic" or hard as it was only just about 2:50 or so, but the conditions made me work all that harder and I noticed that my HR was averaging about 10 bpm more than usual. I also found that I burned a TON more calories than my usual CX loop on dry roads.

I can't say I'm anxious to be that cold again and I'm taking today off to lay around in a den of sloth (actually work on XXC) but I'm sure I will return to the snow covered roads soon. Each time I learn a little more. Then next project is my feet!!

I continue to be amazed at the folks who do the cold weather races and tours. I just do NOT know how they stay warm?? Balls... BIG balls.

Later.

It's Come To This

It's come to this... cross posting lady dogs, cross posting. Sorry.

http://xxcmag.com/archives/5077

Later.

More Ketchup Please...

Wow, this week fllllllew by. Sadly this was the view that I saw before each ride this week...

Other than the view above of the descent into hell and an hour each day on the trainer as it pissed down snow and ice, the rest of the week was me looking straight on at the computer screen and saying "what the fuck?" out loud. I have finally took on the challenge of learning InDesign (although be it a much older version than what is currently available) for laying out XXC Magazine. Its been a slow week of mistakes and learning but the new challenge was nice. I figure the whole XXC ride can't last forever before I have to turn with my tail betweenst my legs and try to find a design job in a landscape (MP) void of all design jobs, so I better learn the industry standard for page layout if I want to get back to being "rhythmic slapped" by "the man" and waste time looking for a soulless job with a steady paycheck.

The rest of the week was filled with securing stories (unsuccessfully) for XXC #15 and getting all ready to record the next XXC Podcast.

Wifey gave me shit for not updating by blog this week. She finds it "soothing" to find out what I'm up to. I find it irritating to type the dross that is my so called cycling life. I've read better shit on walls of pre race porta potties.

Time to go.

Later.

Time Suck

Still alive, not dead... yet. SUPER busy lately with the mag. Got the first XXC Podcast done and also went to Grand Rapids to shoot pics and video of the Farmer's 3 Hour Fat Bike Race. It was a hoot! Check the site for both of those.

Forced to the trainer today as the MP area is awash in melting snow and ice. Might be able to get out tomorrow.

Later.

Given, Gave, Gove?

WOW! What a f*cking week!!! Just all over the place with work, riding, and continued planet earth existence (which is harder than folks dare to think about).

I had given up beer for the month of January, but today I said "fuck it!!" You must have heard, 'cause I said it pretty loud. In my opinion life is too short to pass up the tastiness that is a Victory Storm King. Beer belly be damned. I'll ride longer, harder, faster this spring if I have to. 13 days is a LONNNNNG time!! Well, in dog days...

Winter came to Michigan today. FINALLY! We rocked the snowless gig as long as we could but finally had to submit like a crack addict to "Fall Rock" sign. 4 or 5 inches fell overnight, which is OK by me as I just got the snow tires on the xB and I'm heading to Grand Rapids to report on a 3 hour fat bike race tomorrow. What's a fat bike race without snow???

I gotta pee. AND make dinner. AND crack a beer.... Later.

One Last Hit

Yesterday the weather was amazing. I didn't ride. OK, I rode, but I rode inside. Boooo! Just had too much to do. Putting together some podcast stuff for XXC Magazine and sort of got balls deep in it. Plus I had my normal shit to do. So an hour on the trainer with iPodious had to be good enough. It was.

Onto today...

Looking ahead at the weather forecast on the news it was clear that the party that has been 40 to 45 degree January days in Michigan is about to come to an end Thursday. It was also clear that the thick bodied weather chick (I mean that in good way, I like meaty) was wearing Spanx under her form fitting attire. Holy "high pressure system in the south!!" Yet again, I've said too much... Anyway, I was not going to let a ride slip through my chubby fingers today. So I devised a nice road/gravel ride that would be about a 30/70 blend of pavement vs. dirt. More pavement than usual, but I just wanted the legs moving and calories burning.

I've mentioned a few times, that since moving to Mount-Pee I have been pretty stoked on the riding that I can do out my front door and since my ride with Mike on Saturday and my "lost" adventure on Sunday, I am even more stoked. I have found new to me dirt roads and pavement that can be added to my old routes and have also found some new way to get to those roads.

The furriest cows I've ever seen. I thought it was a Yak!

One road that I have recently discovered the joys of riding has been Baseline Road. Nice wide shoulder, good road surface, low traffic and it sort of looks like a giant grey carpet that has just been laid out and has yet to be tacked down. It would make a great road to do an ITT on or some fitness testing. Me, I just like riding it 'cause it's fun.

Baseline-a-go-go

After about 12 or so miles of pavement the road finally turned to dirt. Some of the dirt was newer, so was in my old standby route. In any event, it added in with the pavement made for 1 ride with 2 very distinct feels. The first part was smooth pavement with easy rollers to power up, the second part was dirt with surfaces that varied from ice (I still don't how the ice hangs on after like a week of sun and 45 degree temps???) to smooth, packed dirt, to soft mud to rutted, bumpy roads that appeared to have been the victim of some sort of tractor race or something. Eeessh! Some of the roads were real nut slappers today!!


Sometimes a slap in the nuts is good. Makes you feel alive! Actually that's bull shit, it just hurts. I'll still take it though, it was nice to continue to be able to get nice rides at this point in the winter. Winter is returning starting tomorrow, so I will have to reacquaint myself winter shoes and re-install the Moose Mitts and once again move back to the mountain bike.

Later.

Get Lost

Wow, what a week of saddle time. Not sure I have ever had this much weekly saddle time in January in all my years of riding. I ended the week with just over 13 hours of riding. Well, to be honest 4:25 of that was done inside but still, for a slacker like me that is pretty darn impressive. For real "competitive" cyclists, it's not much, but to ME it takes some doing.

Yesterday's ride was awesome and gave me some idea on how to add some pavement to my rides. As you well know I'm not a huge fan road riding but when the dirt roads are in the crap condition they're in now I don't mind so much. So today I took full advantage of sunny skies and moderately chilly temps to explore. I sort of got more than I bargained for.

It started out well enough, I hit some nice roads, with some nice wide shoulders that let me just sort of open things up for a while and spin the shit out of my legs. There were just enough rollers to make it interesting and keep the heart rate up, but not too high. Perfect for a recovery ride of sorts.

I really had no idea where I was going, I just kept going, figuring that I could turn around anytime I got lost. Well, a forgotten turn here and there and a lousy sense of direction had me several miles north west of town and not sure which way to go! Ha!

First I flagged down a walker who was out on North Whiteville Rd., which for the record is VERY much NOT the South Whiteville Rd. that I often ride. She told me where to go, but it didn't make much sense (I'm sort of a dim bulb). It was also about this time that I lost my tail wind and had a VERY chilly, ice cream headache inducing head and cross wind coming at me off some snow and ice covered dirt roads. Brrrrrrr - grrrrrrrrr!!!

"Can I get some glazed ice with that ride please?"

Finally I came to Winn Rd. "Hey, I know where that is" I thought. But which way? Hmm..... Rather than risk getting even further away I used my cell to call Wifey to look up some directions. No answer. So I called my friend Mike. He pointed me in the right direction, but to be honest I was just ready to guess and go the direction where the road was clear of snow. Then as it by some sort of weird fate, I stuffed the phone in my jacket, turned around and there was a car at the intersection across the road with a road bike on the back. He looked at me, waved and pointed the direction I was to go, then gave me thumbs up as if to say "got it?" I returned the thumbs up and continued on. THAT was freaky.

I was very thankful that I took a bar along (not sure why I did, I guess I know my pension for getting lost) with me 'cause I was feeling the effects of the cold, the unplanned detour and the beginnings of what might be a bonk. Finally I met back up with Baseline Rd. and pedaled back in the direction I THOUGHT was correct. A few miles passed by, a few farms passed by and I started to doubt if I was heading the right way. Then I saw my tire tracks on the opposite shoulder's thin layer of snow and knew I was heading the right way. Whooosh!

Finally I was heading back into town and back to my crib. Damn, it felt good to get home. I hoped for 30 mile or so spin, I ended up with 53.5 miles on the day and over 130 miles in the past 3 days. YIKES! A long hot shower, a pizza ordered and couch time with Jake The Dog was on tap for a few hours before I got the energy to come get my blog on. After 7 days straight of "doing stuff" I might take a full day off tomorrow or just do an easy indoor spin and listen to some newly acquired tunes.

BTW, me thinks I need a GPS! Ha!

Later.

Now THAT Was A Ride

January continues to rock some great weather here in Michigan. By "great" I of course mean it's not snowing that much and the temps are hovering between 32 and 45 instead of -10 and 30 with snow blowing out of every orifice Jack Frost has. Until the deep snow comes, rides will happen and today was a damn fine one.


I hooked up with my friend Mike for a 3 hour road ride on cross bikes that was a road ride pretty much in name only. In reality it was a sweet Ultra CX type ride: pavement, muddy dirt roads, ice covered dirt roads, abandoned roads, a short hike-a-bike, some doubletrack and even a small section of singletrack. It had it all!


Mike has lived in Mt. P. a long time, so I let him pick the route and he came up with a damn fine one. Out of town we went and onto some dirt roads, then some nice paved roads. Then onto a muddy doubletrack ATV type trail that would lead us to more pavement and a quick detour through Deerfield Park on wide trails to M-20.

Many of the dirt roads SOMEHOW continue to be covered in thick layer of snow packed ice. No pictures of them today, since I was too busy holding on for dear life and trying to unclench my anus that was puckered up like I just had a lemon juice enema (2nd enema reference this week if you're keeping score at home).

For the life of me I can't understand how some of the roads are snow and ice packed?? We haven't had more than and inch or two of snow here! I guess the folks out on those roads get it shipped in from somewhere else and dumped on their roads to keep stupid cyclists like me on their toes.

The first hour or so we enjoyed some nice sunshine, then the sun sort of went away and the clouds rolled in. It made for some chilly riding, sort of like riding in an open meat locker with an industrial sized fan blowing on you. The best thing about a strong headwind is that sooner or later you get a strong tailwind that makes riding along at 23 mph an easy spin. I just wish there would have been more of it.

We hit some nice hills and rollers and I think I had my heart rate up higher than its been since the race season ended. Even the smaller hills on the dirt roads felt hard with the head wind, soft dirt and occasional stretches of ice. All of that helped me to burn off 2,000+ calories and that surely helped burn some of the 10 pieces of Hungry Howie's Pizza I ate last night (review of that to come, ha!).

Not sure how much longer Ma Nature will let us suckle at here teet of moderate winter temps, but I plan to keep suckling as long as I can, for sooner or later Mr. Frost is gonna blow out his pipes on us and I fear that it's gonna suck ass.

5 hours of outdoor riding in two days... in JANUARY. Hope I can get out for more tomorrow.

Later.

P.S. An alternate title for this post could have been "Mike's Back," or "Photos of Mike's Ass." NOT to be confused with the former posts "The Back of D-Pow" or "D-POW's Ass."

That Felt Good. Not Great... But Good.

I installed the Moose Mitts on the El Mariachi yesterday morning. Today I took them off. Freaking 45+ degrees in January... in Central-ephing-Michigan?? NOT that I am complaining, except that the warm temps turned the road to a quagmire. This time I at least had my fenders on. Not that they helped that much.

Shit was pretty bad. The first dirt road I take is sort of a paved road that the state have apparently just decided to give back to the dirt. It's usually not too muddy, just riddled with man head sized pot holes. Today though it was covered in a tacky mud and some snow patches, not too bad but unusual. I kept rolling.

Then it was on to the real dirt roads. YIKES! They were a gooey mess. I found myself LOOKING for the snow covered parts of the road to get me to the paved roads I know.

But there were many miles of soggy road to roll first...

Then some slush...

Then some packed snow that was actually a blessing to ride on...

Then finally about 10 miles of pavement to get me home...

After months of riding the cX bike on the dirt road, riding a HT 29er felt like I was trying to pedal a tank. I was shocked at how much higher my heart rate was on the mountain bike. A stiff cross wind and head wind for most of the ride didn't help that either. It was sort of like getting DOUBLE the benefits though. And right now I am after calorie burn and burn I did today.

Not sure what was going on with this pic. It somehow managed to make my legs looks skinny, conceal my muffin top AND my turkey gobbler all in one pic. Strange, but I'll take it.

Cold weather is back tomorrow, but not crazy cold. Should be another good day to ride and another good day to burn some calories. About 11 weeks and 23 more pounds to go before my first race of 2012.

Later.

This Could Be Worse

I'd like to complain about this annoying head cold that Wifey shared with me (she's so awesome), that's just the way I am, but even though I am not feeling 100% (more like 68.2% with the occasional shot to 74.1% when a generous amount of caffeine is injected to all the right areas) I am still getting workouts in. Granted the workouts are inside and only a bit over an hour long, but sweaty, calorie burning workouts nonetheless.

The Michigan winter continues to be lame and tame (NOT complaining). A coating of snow here and there, but this time last year we were already ballz deep in the white stuff. Now there's no real snow on the ground and I sort of feel like a stinky used wash rag. The 10 day forecast looks pretty darn not bad, so hopefully I can get out in the coming days.

I headed down to beautiful downtown Alma (A.K.A. Scotland, USA) today to pick up my newly rebuilt wheel from Napper at Terry's. While I was there I picked up a front/rear fender package for my El Mariachi. I have some sweet fenders my bud Y-Nizzle back in PA gave me for the cross bike, but had nothing for the El-M. With the dirt roads now in their icy war like winter condition, I tend to want to ride the El-M. 29 x 2.1s attached to a ti frame feels way better than 700 x 40s attached to an aluminum one. But hey, that's just me, some folks like that P.M.I.T.A. prison type stuff, I tend to shy away from it whenever possible... and it be possible. Especially since I really need a drink before that sort of stuff. I kid of course.

Another bonus to my trip to Terry's was that Napper had his copy of Lemmy The Movie there for me to borrow. YES!! Very geeked. Should be some nice time wasting this weekend.

The winter weight shed and my attempt to lose the super sexy muffin top look I'm cultivating is going semi-well. I must have been bloated with all sorts of water retaining meats, cheeses and drinks 'cause I've dropped like 4 pounds in 3 days. Strange, but I'll take any good news I can get in that department. Only 26 more pounds of muffin top to go bitches.

I gotta go launch a snot rocket. Later.

Calories Burned, Bad Luck & Blue Balls

We got snow last night, not much and I probably could have taken the mountain bike out on the dirt roads, but in my time frame the paved roads were still pretty slick. Had I been able to wait until afternoon they would have been clear enough to get to the snowy dirt roads for a ride. In any event a nice 1:25 calorie burn ride was done on the trainer. There was lots of sweat and lots of bad singing to the tune of Peace Sells, But Who's Buying? amongst others. Whatever it takes. At leas my pubix zit is only about the size of a small orange now. Who says lancing a zit in the crotchial area is bad?

Later on we went bowling with B-Man. I almost lost to him. I suck. Wifey kicked our asses. I took some photos and in the process my S95's flash got broke. It got jammed when Wifey took a pic and didn't realize that the flash wanted to pop up and it got jammed. I really never use the flash (I hate the way flash pics look) and in a pinch I can get it going manually, but it still sucks to have something break on an expensive camera. Stupid place to put a flash. Stupid, stupid stupid. Worse thing was that I ended up deleting the pic anyway. The lighting was bad and my head looked like the ass of a beached whale with a too short hair cut. Don't ask.

B-Man pensively studying the score board.
I narrowly beat him by like 3 pins. I suck.

I also successfully obtained Wifey's head cold today. Yay! I should have known bad luck was my way when I had a blue ball with the No. 13 on it. No one likes blue balls.

Later.

Rewards: No. 1

The trainer ride never happened today. I was feeling all sorts of coffee fueled mojo and even went so far as to concoct a new metal mix for the hour (Motorhead, Metallica, Slayer and Megadeath). In the end I opted not to. The coffee high wore off, the mojo left and the painful pubix* crotch zit let me know that he was unhappy at the prospect of being aggravated for an hour. I knew I shouldn't have worn the same shorts every ride this week. I kid, not sure what it came from. Christ, I hope I didn't pick up some disease from a public toilet or something. Yikes.

By the way I can't believe I typed that I put together a metal mix for the trainer. I used to be into those metal back in high school, but then just sort of outgrew it and moved on to other types of music. While not my favorite genre by any means, I have grown to dig riding the trainer to it lately.

Now to non bike related silliness...

Rewards: Replacing Old Bad Habits With New Bad Habits

In 2012 I plan to make some adjustments to my life. Not to get too into it, but let's just say in the past few years, to be honest since I started XXC Magazine, I have developed some bad eating and drinking habits to cope with the stress. So I am doing some cold turkey type adjustments for the month of January (yep, the longest, coldest, most boring month there is) to jump start some normality. am the type that needs a reward at the end of the day, week, month, etc., to focus on. So I have decided that my reward at the end of each week of this cold turkey ass shit will be attempting to taste pizza from different joint in Mount Pleasant. Yum!

I figured I'd get the the mozzarella ball rolling today and order up a pie from Jet's Pizza.

J-E-T-S... JETS! JETS! JETS!

I am a sucker for a goofy logo. Now I am NOT implying that a cartoon of an Italian man (I assume, that's not profiling, is it?) wearing a jet pack and carrying a pizza is goofy, but it's not NOT goofy either. The JET'S type in Italian flag colors was a bonus too. Ha!

Went with a large 10 cut, square pan pizza for $12.18 (+tax and tip), half pepperoni, half plain. I'm not usually a fan of pan pizza, seems I burned out on the Pizza Hut grease sponge version of pan pizza ages ago, but this one was aces. It had no grease soaked bottom and had a super tasty outer edge as you can see in the photo below....

The pieces weren't huge, but not TOO small. The crust wasn't too heavy either. The crispness of the edges made the pizza and there was a nice amount of sauce. Nothing chaps my thighs like a dry pizza. I MIGHT like this pie better if it were round, but that's just me. This was the first time I ever had JET'S and I have to say I was happy, everything seemed fresh, the crust was good, and best of all it tasted great. The delivery time as a bit slow at about 45 minutes, but it saved me from going out in the wet slush and snow today. 45 just seemed a bit long for a town as long as a couple of football fields. Plus I assumed the delivery person would be an Italian man with a jet pack. Score: 8/10.

Next up Cabin Pizza, Pisanellos, Pizza King, Hungry Howie's...

So there you go, the first ever (?) pizza review on a bike blog.

Why is it that New Year's always reminds me of this scene from Trainspotting? Issues...

*Pubix (pew-bicks) the manscapable crotchial area above the chamoised man gear area.

Day 365/1

My post holiday week was a busy one filled with travel, dad duties with the off from school B-Man and of course Jake The Dog. Three days this week I found time for an hour on the trainer which felt real good. Saturday (New Year's Eve) I was given a blessed snow free winter day in Michigan so I too full advantage of it with a ride.

We had some rain, sleet and light wet snow through the week so I knew the gravel roads would be in horrific condition. The plan was to avoid all but the couple that would get me to some of the pavement I wanted to ride. I should have taken the time to install the fenders on the Cx bike, but instead I just looked them on the floor of the sun porch as I exited the house. IDIOT!

On my short cut through the park I found the walking path a solid hunk of snow and ice. I'm not real sure how I kept the bike upright. Luckily the actual roads were pretty good. Wet, and fender worthy, but better than the dirt and gravel roads. They were indeed horrific. The ride was basically a big square with short section of bombed out gravel road in one or two parts.

When I was 1/3 finished I still felt good and wanted to keep riding, so I did an out and back on one nice rolling section of pavement. Glad I did, 'cause that got me to just under 40 miles on the day and put a grin on my face to end 2011.

We had plans to go to The Bird (a local college bar) for some beers and pizza to celebrate the New Year, BUT we found out that they were closed for the night and most of the other places in town were booked or only open till 10. Hmmm.....

Time for Plan B. We decided on walking to the brewery (how awesome is having a brewery just a 10 minute walk from the house??) for food and beers, then meeting back at our crib for some ball dropping and hanging out. Plan B. turned out great. In fact I was sort of happy to NOT be out on New Year's Eve. Even though we wouldn't have had to worry about driving (everything would have been in walking distance), I still hate being out, seeing a bunch of morons, when I could be in my own home with friends being a moron. I could have gone for some Bird pizza though, it's pretty dee-lish.

Day One of 2012 has greeted me with cold drizzling rain and snow on the way, so it looks like it will be more time on the trainer. I am anxious to get this year started, I want to make some changes (mentally, physically and work wise) and I am stoked to get them all started. NOT resolutions, just some life changes for the better. Some things will not be easy but I need to test myself and see.

Later.