Nice long holiday

Last week I took Wednesday off to make it a nice long weekend .
Wednesday moning my wife an I met with our future son in law for breakfast because he wanted to ask permission to  marry our daughter. It was nice to see a young man asking the old fashion way. After I showed him my collectors edition Magnum 357 we said yes, you have permission to ask her. Well, I don't have a gun and he was already shaking. Saturday we met them and his parents for lunch and had a good time. His whole family loves her and we couldn't ask for a better person to marry her. We are happy.

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Wednesday afternoon rode a good 25 miles on the 29er SS with a 34/16 road gear and I think I'm going to keep that set-up for winter training.
Thursday rode with part of the "depends" gang on the bike and hike on the annual Turkey ride. Rode to Silver lake in Stow had a picnic and turned around with Ross and Jeff. Ended up with another good 31 miles for the day on the SS again. At times I was spinning my brains out but liking it.
Friday rode with The Ho which bought a nice entry level 29er for winter riding. I took him out on his maiden voyage and he enjoyed his first time on a mountain bike. (No pic here, next time)
Saturday was a ride to "H" hill to check out the new trail in the Metroparks. Found it was dry enough and rode half of it with minimal mud. This is going to be a great trail for beginners and hopeully attract more women to the sport. I raced in Michigan a few times this past summer and I noticed more women racing there than we get here for races.
All weekend long the wife and I worked on our Christmas Village and we think it turned out real good.
it grew from a 3x6 sheet of plywood to a 4x8 and 3 small tables.
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A long weekend in pictures.

 Picnic at Silver Lake

 Santa had a little too much eggnog

 The Toad king favorite shop

 How it all started

And finally from my friend Darren in Australia.
How to change a tire on a model T-Ford.
It took him most  of the day.

Notice the old license plates that his dad has collected over the years and of course, the "token" bike hanging in the garage.
Good job my friend, would love to take a ride in that T-Ford, take good care of it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I'm thankful for family and the food that we can put on our tables.
Donate to shelters.

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Had yesterday off and rode for a couple of hrs. on the SS.
I'll probably be riding the 29er SS more this off season than the 26er. Normally I like to ride the 26er for the fast cadence and I probably will sometimes but I'm going to spin my brains out on the 29er. Riding early today for a couple of hrs and then staying home and spend a nice quiet day with the wife.

Understanding Women

The Book, has finally arrived at your favorite bookstore. Get your copy, is never too late.

Sunny, windy, dry, warm. Global Intelligence

That's how the weekend went.
Friday all I did was upper body and some plyos in the early morning and then we had an early Thanksgiving dinner. We had company from PR and they were leaving on Saturday and we decided to have it early since everybody is going to be doing their own thing on Thanksgiving weekend.
Saturday it was off to Mohican which was dry and fast..for whoever wanted to go fast. 4 of us had planned to meet in the paking lot at 11am and 3 more showed up and we rode together for most of the first 11 miles and then we kind of split off and rode at our own pace. The stops were a little too long for me and my back gets stiff if I stop for too long, so I kept going. The last 3 miles were painful and I could feel it. Until my legs get used to all the weight lifting I'm doing it's going to be like that.  Sunday it was off to Findley to ride the single speed and the trail was dry and fast. The leaves were all blow off the trail by Nab and his crew which do a fantastic job maintaining this trail. Did a 48 minute first lap and then died a slow agonizing death on the second lap, 55 minutes, the legs finally said enough is enough.

What kind of winter is it going to be?

My friend in Australia sent me a pic of a vintage track bike he saw in a for sale add.

Never seen one like it.
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Global Intelligence:
Q: Victoria Falls, which lie on the border of Zimbawe and Zambia, were given their english name, honoring Queen Victoria, by a British explorer.
Who was this loyal Subject of the queen?
a) James Cook  b)David Livingstone  c)Cecil Rhode  d)Henry Stanley


Q: One of the highlights of the famous 17 mile drive, the Lone Cypress is a symbol of Carmel-by-the Sea, California, whose winning combination of beach, ocean and weathered trees have long drawn artists and the well to do. Which of this Hollywood celebrities once served as its mayor?
a)sonny Bono  b)Clint Eastwood  c)Ronald Reagan  c)Arnold Schwarzenegger


Have a great week.

Veterans Day

I think about my dad who's 93 years old and a korean War Veteran. He never really talked much about what when on there, that is war. Most veterans would like to forget...But we cannot forget them who fight for what we have. Salute a veteran today.

The week after and gadgets

It's been a week since the bike/car accident and we finally found how the person is doing. Monday evening we were able to pull the accident report off the Brecksville police web-site and his phone was listed. We called but nobody answer and no voicemail came on. Later that evening after the phone rings at it was the phone umber we called, I was in no mood to talk then and let it go to voice mail but no message was left. The next day our insurance advised us not to call again that they would handle it from there. We were glad he was "ok", broken cheek bone, broken hand, chipped tooth and other scrapes and lacerations. Here is a pic of the door jamb he hit with his cheekbone.

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On the other hand I convinced the wife to buy me my Christmas present now, so I got this:

Haven't had a chance to play with it but I'm planning to test it out during the "Red Flannel" ride on Sunday. The last organized ride of the year until the "first ride" of the year on January 1st.

Should be a great day for a ride with temps expected to rise into the mid 50's and sunny.  We have a good size group going. I'm hoping my back doesn't give up during the ride. A few years ago I had a herniated disk and that side has been really sore lately. It is so sore I was planning on riding in to work today with the weather as nice as it is right now and when the alarm went off this morning I had to say no after I had laid everything out last night.

If my back gets better I'm planning on doing this workout 3-4 times a week.

Yes I'm an insane fan. I tell you what, I did the fit test just to try it out and immediately after I  finished I went upstairs and gave my daughter a hug and told her I was very proud of her, she has lost 17lbs doing this workout. It is not easy and I only did 25 minutes.  Hummmm, maybe that's why my back hurts more today that two days ago. I think it'll fit in nicely with my regular workouts since I do a lt of plyometrics in the off season and this is all about plyos and cardio.
The weather is great, get out and ride. Have a great weekend.