A sad ending.

Just got the news my uncle died at the age of 82. My uncle by marriage, he was married to my father's sister(who died almost 37 years ago) He'd been in a veteran's nursing home for the past few years, it'd been quite some time since I'd seen him. He was an odd sort of guy, a true eccentric and pretty much a loner. His house burned down about 7 or 8 years ago and he really started slipping badly, my father took total responsibility for his care and managing his finances but after my dad died a couple of years ago my aunts took the torch as best as they could. He's being buried Monday AM in Brooklyn, the only people in attendance will be my three aunts, my only surviving uncle and my brother. The damn family's spread all over the place, myself included. I was gonna make the drive up but my brother counseled against it, basically the entire service will be about five minutes of talk at the gravesite by some priest. A sad ending indeed.

Take it easy Uncle Willie.

A road bike!!!

Recently acquired my first road bike since the Pierce Arrow Tour de France my parents bought me when I was 12. First, a disclaimer...the new ride is a SS, fattish/knobby-ish (are those real words?) tired, track spaced number that'll probably see as much time off-road as it will on. That said, I couldn't resist pulling the trigger on a Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno. $400 bucks complete, shipping included, how the hell could I pass that up? Swapped the stock bars, pedals, levers and saddle for some Nitto Dirt Drops, Suntour Superbe Pro trackies, Shimano 105 and SDG something or other I had in the parts bin and away I went. Not too crazy about the Avid Shorty cantis so I'll be replacing them with some classic looking Tektros I grabbed on fleaBay. I'm thinking a higher rise stem and some Ritchey Speedmax rubber and I'll be good to go.

Alright, the techie shit is out of the way, how's it ride? Pretty damn nice! I don't ride anything but steel and this frame dosen't disappoint, I don't know how they afford to deliver a bike this nice at such a low pricepoint but I'd glad I bought it. Yeah, I put some bucks into immediatly but even with that, it's still damn cheap. Not gonna bullshit here, if this was my main ride, I'd have gone for something like a CrossCheck but for what I'm using it for this will be fine.

Post turkey day blues.

In general, I hate working the day after Thanksgiving. Today was doubly miserable, I had to tell 26 people that due to the current state of our economy(thanks Bush) they were going to lose anywhere between 8 and 16 hours of work each week, effective immediately. The decision came down from above, I had held it off for the past 6 weeks or so hoping things might turn around enough so that the cuts wouldn't be necessary but that wasn't to be. As bad as I feel having delivered the news, my people(and every one of the other 300 or so hourly employees where I work) are feeling it where it hurts most, their pockets. Great timing, right in the middle of the holiday season.

Taking the family to Hawk Mountain to watch the migration in the AM and trying to get in a ride in the PM to take my mind off this shit.

Saturday AM ride

The wife and I got out today for a ride minus the kiddies today, can't begin to recall the last time that happened. Short and sweet (just like her) but we had a good time, my wife couldn't stop raving about how much fun she had and how we need to do this more often. God, I love that woman!!!

The road back...

Been relatively pain free the past few weeks so I've been trying to get in some rides whenever possible, as work and the bathroom remodel allow. Excited to say I pulled the trigger on a Pugsley fork and Endo/Large Marge wheel build to rock the "fat front" Just waiting for my wheel to arrive from my favorite wheel builder(Mean Todd at Webcyclery) to throw it together and experience the joy of being fat. Well, the bike gets to experience it, I've personally experienced the mirth of girth for quite a few years now. Pics to follow...of the bike, not me!

Fun, fun, fun...

Well, my doctor tells me I'm probably aggravating my condition by pushing too hard to get back to work and normal activities. Probably. Spent a Friday night and all day Saturday cooped up in the camper while the skies emptied all over Jim Thorpe. Sunday dawned, sunny and mild while we packed up and headed for home. Oh well, we'll be back up there in two weeks, hopefully with a clean bill of health. There's plenty of good riding time left and we'll probably be able to sneak in one or two canoe/kayak trips as well. I know I sound like I'm whining(I guess I am) but it's been a frustrating season. Ah, better days are around the corner...

Heredity is a bitch...

Born with a predisposition to produce excessive amounts of uric acid, I've enjoyed visits from my old friends, The Kidney Stones over the years. This Summer, their close relative, Mr. Gout has come by three times in a month and a half, always using the left ankle/foot guest room. Consequently, my riding/kayaking/hiking time has been seriously curtailed as I hobble about. I have a very active and often physical job, I've been pushing myself to get to work and beat the crap out of myself (gotta put food on the table) with no energy for the fun stuff. All this down time has me reading and rereading old issues of Dirt Rag, logging onto mtbr.com almost fanatically and buying gear online that I'm not getting much of a chance to use. The treatment so far has been medication, that dosen't seem to be working, tomorrow I'm off to see my doctor(again) with a list of demands. We'll see what happens...

Since our "team" was named for our Black Lab, the blog isn't complete without a picture of the fellow we call Shane. In the interest of fairness, there should be a pic of The Brown Dog as well, Murphy.

The (new) Inbred

Here's my newest toy. Swapped over the parts from my old Inbred. Yeah, there's a lot of red on this bike!

The road to hell...

...is paved with good intentions. When I started this blog in August '07 I did so with the best intentions of updating it regularly. Here we are, a friggin' year later and a whopping two posts, it's embarassing. Anyway, I'm gonna try this again, hopefully with better luck...