Flying High

One thing is for sure,, and that is I have let my self go..

A lot of things have changed for this guy but one thing seems to stay 

consistent and that is as I constantly struggle with body pain,, I am 

just letting my self get larger. 

For the most part being almost two months out from my crash the majority of injuries have

healed. I do have this gimpy shoulder that came from a stupid step off my Sk8 toy, and this out of everything hurts the most.  It seems to get in the way of most of what I want to do.

And it has me not only skating and riding somewhat off the back ,, but is getting in the way of off season training.  This off the bike work that I started has been kicking my ass,, parts of my body that have not been used in sometime are not happy that I am trying to make them move,, hold weight,, or do both of those multiple times. 

It's a long road and I know that I have a lot of work to du and just need to remember that all good things in all good time.. 

I have been spending a lot of time with this kid.. 

He has been pushing his limits a good bit,, working on getting ready for our trip to Colorado. 

For me it feels weird that I am going out there and not going to be planing a bike ride but seeing as 

the Doctor still does not want me on the single track i'll have to move in different way.

The Rocket has a new Flip skateboard coming,, and he is pretty stoked to riding 

on the same board as the guys he watches in the videos.  

And then when we take a on line tour of the different parks that we'll get to ride I 

see the smile grow and wheels start to turn. 

So the takeaway from today is as follows..... I am getting larger as I still in more of an stagnant state of prolonged recovery. 

The mini me is having a blast riding and is stoked to go to the land from which he came. 

And trying to hold this guy in one place for long periods of  time, not something easy to du.. 

I need to Move..

Loss of Time

Spring forward and Fall back,,, I am not sure that I fully agree with the concept of moving time for man kinds benefit.  After living in Arizona where the time stays the same, unless you live on the Res, you kind of get used to the idea of time being more of a constant. 

Now is it nice when they say in the fall that you get an extra hour of sleep,, sure but now I have to convince my body that it really is not one hour later in the day. 

And now more than anything we have entered the dark part of the year.  On the news this morning they said that the sun will set just before five o'clock.  That is just depressing. 

With Halloween on Friday and the switch of time on Saturday I knew that it was going to be a busy weekend of trying to find enough daylight to get all things done. 

My doorbell did not ring very often which was fine, I don't like people panhandling at my door for candy. 

The boy was out with some of his school friends who all ended up back here for  candy gambling ,,, a game that allowed them to get what they wanted and get rid of what they didn't.

I went to bed to catch up on sleep.

I had planed on saturday to get out on my bike and ride in the sun,, but once again time got away from me and after me and boy searched for a new skateboard and took a trip up to Winona, to skate the mini ramp there.  And on that note,, let me say the park has potential, it just needs someone to come in and address the surface and all the broken glass.

I did find the time to pedal yesterday,, went out and rode for a good while,, even showed some 

people around the trails a bit,, I played tour guide and just enjoyed some time on the single speed. 

But the underlying theme all weekend was how tired I was due to the damn hour switch,, Seasonal jetlag. 

Now I need to get my ducks in a row and get ready for a whirlwind trip to the 303 to see my Family.  

All Five

Clearing out the cobwebs through sensory overload has been working for me.

Again in the world of bike riding my rides as of late have not been the epic all day types but nonetheless ones that get all my synapses firing.

Yesterday I had to convince my self to get into the super suit and ride after work.

Temps were in the low 50's and the wind was gusting, with off and on rain showers/sprinkles. 

Now riding in the rain is one thing getting motivated to ride in late October, is a whole different story.

After doing the scramble through the closet and bedroom trying to find coldish weather gear

I finally ended up with no knee warmers,, but a large gob of embro on each leg and settled for a rain style jacket for protection.  

Chilled at first, but just overwhelmed by the cool breeze and all the colors as the leaves that are left continue to float down from their homes of the last  seven months. 

The only true set back was that of a stopped train that had me having to make a decision on what route to take,, and being  I did not want to waste too much time I took the path less traveled.  

Once on the trail that heads to the top I was greeted with empty space just me, my bike, and late fall 

air. And with all the wind most of the leaves are off the tress  so now you can look through forest and see for what feels like miles. 

After popping out on top and heading down into the quarry the once warm body from climbing up the bluff was now pretty damn cold,, but the effort was not going to be too though for the pedal home,,being almost all down hill.

Darkness showed up shortly after pulling into the garage,, which again has me thinking that I need to get my light charged up,
Daylight savings time will be here this weekend, and we'll have to embrace the Darkness.. 

Felt soo Gooder

After being shutout for six weeks I went three for three getting to ride

the Blackbuck Friday through Sunday.

It took me a while to get the Single Steed all back to it's once

pristine race shape but after getting the front wheel back from Velocity their was nothing really holding me back other than me and the fear of what If?

Friday afternoon I had just enough time to spin the legs and feel the bike out, and after not pedaling one single stoke all week long I was not going to let fear hold me back. 

Heading south out of the garage I noticed clouds starting to develop and not a lot of clouds just one big one.. It covered the bluffs and shrouded Minnesota, which made me change my plans for this #dontcallitacomeback ride. 

The feeling of rolling again on this mean machine along with silent pedal strokes that were only interrupted by the sound of angry bees as I coasted though the thick layer of fog, were the 

grounds for my interpretation to  push the diffraction of single track.

I wanted to avoid cars and I wanted to avoid people so knowing that the Vista Trail was a good as paved I pointed my self that way. 

A bit scared riding on the fringe of my doctors orders I started up the trail remembering that I 

still had my Shitwamagon gearing on,, I worked my way up through the fallen leaves. 

Having to ditch the glasses due to the moist air I kept my eyes open for anything that my trip me up.

But with every turn of the 36x17 I gained more and more confidence. 

Once at the top my smile was so wide my face hurt,, I knew this meant that maybe just maybe I could get back to my old self. 

From here on out I was on top of the world and ready to go shake my ass off after a nice dinner with my lovely wife. 

Bar hopping before the show we were treated to a rare sighting of The Great Gazo, and the two of us managed to put Anna to sleep talking about bikes, riding bikes, looking at bikes ETC..

The show was kick ass,, the boys just keep getting better and better the crowd....well they did not know what to do with what I call dancing, but shit,,,, kids today are not really up on good fun anyway. 

Saturday and Sunday brought more of the same.. Me out on the Buck climbing the same hill riding around in the sun getting to explore some dirt like areas on a Bike that I am coming to really enjoy. 

Only question is what now? 

More of the same for sure or at least that is how I play it out in my mind. 

They say it is just like riding a bike,, And I have to agree that it is.. Especially when 

it is Just Like Riding A Bike. 

Old Number Sevn

Tomorrow will be six weeks since I ate the pavement like it was a gu shot.

This week has been a bummer of no cycling,, mainly due to the fact that I am not riding to work.

Crazy to think that my commute was such a major part of my cycling life.

The days are short and I know I said last Wednesday that I would get my lights charged up

but that has not happened quite yet. 

As the photos from the mind of the Dark Overload starting to pop up I had

to ask for one also. 

I think that it is pretty damn funny.. and with my fitness the way it is ,, I may end up racing the cross for tots race this style,, Now if I could get the sound of my hub buzzing to play on a loop.. 

it will complete the setup.. 

In other news my first born is off in North Carolina racing bikes this weekend 

for the Collegiate National Championships.

  

Last year the kids got one day of nice weather and then it snowed and made the short track

and xc race seem more like a Cross race.. 

So far so good on the weather front for all the racers,,, now it will be time to see what kind of

fitness everyone will bring to the start line. 

From all that i have seen the organizers are using every inch of the mountain there at Banner Elk.

The Pip goes off this morning at 9 eastern for the short track race, and is up against some 

heavy hitters...

Some of these schools are serious about their cycling programs and dump a lot of money in to their programs..       Good luck Ripon racers.. Go fast then go faster,,,, and if it does not hurt you are not going Hard enough..

I will leave you with the assshaking music from the north woods that 

me and the misses are going to go and party with this evening.

Yep..

Ollie North

It is already Wednesday and I have not ridden since Saturday. Days are 

short and nights are long and motivation is hard to come by when it is cold and frozen in the morning, and the afternoons disappear into night..  I keep telling my self to charge my lights and never get to doing it,, so maybe 

by typing it here I may have to do just that? I have to say that seeing 

as I am not supposed to be riding single track and am limited to where I can ride in the daylight

I'm not to sure how riding in the dark will go. 

Something needs to happen or I am going to have to start letting all of my pants out and 

but all new Tshirts this guy is getting hefty. And I am not about 

to start riding rollers yet,,, I stress yet because a day may come when this happens. 

Yesterday it was requested that we (the boy and I) go street skating. 

Now there are not a lot of great spots around the home, but I was willing to give it a shot. 

Our goal was to get to the VFW where they have the elusive yellow parking block.

He so badly wants to start doing some rail slides, but every ledge and rail at the park are a bit 

above his skill set at this time. 

So we did as we used to in the 80's we hopped on our 7 ply maple and rode some

sidewalks till we got to the spot. 

We was working it getting on and off front and backside,, not really sliding but getting some 

stalls and feeling the motion. 

From here we spent the rest of the afternoon sunlight surfing through the fallen leaves and riding every fresh section of new pavement that we could find. 

Their was even an after dinner session at the park where the Rocket was getting 

               Ollie tips from the local Pro skater kids,, The kid needs to learn this Ollie thing.

It is safe to say that it is holding him back,, the concept is there just not clicking..

So two things need to happen before we head off to the 303 in two weeks,,,

he needs to get this Ollie thing down so he can have more fun on the skate tour....

And I need to get this shoulder healed or at least feeling better so I can too have fun.

Feels like we are on  a constant search for eternal  fun,,, and glimpse have been seen but I know that more is out there,,, so until it is found I am not going to give up

my pursuit..  

THC*

Yesterday I did something that I have not done in a long long time. 

I sat on the sidelines and watched other people race bikes.

As stated last week the Red Wing race is one of my favorites for many reasons. 

Being only a hour and a half from the house it is nice not to have to spend the whole day driving. 

And as drives go this was one easy on the eyes. We get to follow the River the whole way up and leaving the house as the sun was coming up made for some great viewing. 

We had to get up by nine for the start of the Boys race, which greeted the kids with cool temps and

blustery winds.

James has a great take to bike racing.. he is just there to ride and have some fun. 

He likes to start up in the front two rows but as soon as the word go is yelled,, he drifts to the back,, not in it for fame and glory. 

As I stood by and took some picture I shuttered as I heard some of the parents instructing their kids

on race tactics,, most of which would not be good in the elite race. 

Pip's race was not until 1ish so we had a lot of time to kill, so I found a greasy spoon to feed the kids and proceeded to run in to the Woods.

As we do in all of our travels  the boy and I sniffed out the local skate park.. 

The park had a nice lay out with some neat features and good flow,, no half pipe but lots of rails and other things to slide on.   Me the gimp had to take it easy with the pain that I caused in my shoulder the day before. 

As we got back to the venue the sun started to come out and I got a chance to walk around and see old faces ones that I have not seen since before my crash. 

Lots of stories were told and great feeling of belonging to something bigger made the 

darkheart grow half a size. 

The field was a lot bigger than I thought for the elite race,,  lots of places still up for grabs with this

being the last change to gain point for the season.

The race of the day was going to be on the front with Jeff Hall and Jesse and the rest chasing them.

And know how and what these two guys like to ride I knew they were going to be fast on this 

course. 

Ali and I walked the single track getting different venues to watch and cheer. 

By the end of the day I was more tired from watching than from racing.. Lots of walking and cheering for all of our teammates. 

The Women were next and again a strong field for this time of year.

Jenna was off the front with WORS transplant Robin close behind.

Then came the train that included Pip and the other girls.

Through out the day a few of the gals had some bike issues, and Pip kept her head down and ended up having a strong third place finish. 

For the men Jeff took the win with Jesse not too far behind,, turns out that Jesse's rear tire had been leaking causing him to loose some speed through out the day.

The Brick Layer Mason followed in third to round out the Podium.

Team Hollywood Cycles showed up and in big numbers,, the all went to the line and threw down.

Very proud of every single one of them.

You all raced your faces off this year and you all put the T in THC*

Plans are already being made for next year..

Thanks for Partying ON!