Wine, Beer versus water

No need to thank me for this useful information!

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine...

And those who don't and are always

seen with a bottle of water in their hand.



As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom,

In beer there is freedom,

In water there is bacteria.



In a number of carefully controlled trials,

Scientists have demonstrated that if we drink

one litre of water each day,

At the end of the year we would have absorbed

More than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria

found in feces.

In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poo..



However,

We do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer

(or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) ,

because alcohol has to go through a purification process

of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.



Remember:

Water = Poo,

Wine = Health.

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,

than to drink water and be full of shit.



There is no need to thank me for this valuable information:

I'm doing it as a public service!

Sunday

The "Depends" gang got together on Sunday for an easy ride on the Bike and Hike doing the Akron loop.
This is a great loop for an easy ride after a good week of training. The ride takes you through Silver lake in Stow which is a great area (sorry, no pictures, next time) and a few other neighborhoods. It is best done in the early morning because many sections get a lot of foot traffic later in the day.

What about that?

I knew mother nature wasn't finished. I just got done complaing about the dry cold weather and we get this almost snow storm. it came down fast and furious.
View walking out  of the office

View from the road

Down in the park

View from my family room

Earlier I said that if it was going to be this cold, I much rather the sky be gray and snowy, I got my wish and what's the first thing I did when I got home...I hit the trainer for 50 minutes and did core work. I did think about going out but...

Pushing my way out the door

Like I said in my last post, this time of the year I love sunny days but I have to push myself to go out and ride when is this cold. 19 down in the valley this morning on my way to work. I had thoughts of riding to work today until I saw what the low was going to be. I keep telling myself, 1 hr commute, I'll ride everyday to work in 20 degree temps. 2 hr commute...let me think about it. NO, I think I'll wait until at least the temps are over 25 in the morning to start riding to work. I love to see the faces of people at work when I walk in bundled up with lights blinking, half frozen with a smile on my face. Although, over the years (30 to be exact) they have gotten used to see me ride in that way.
Saturday I had a very good ride with Jeff on our MTB's for about 35 miles at a good pace. Sunny, windy and cold.

Beautiful Blue Herron looking for food next to the Towpath

 Sunday my legs were a little fried so I went out on the road SS for an easy ride on the bike path.

It was also very cold. I was loading the bike and a dad and his teenage son pulled their bikes out of the car and went for a ride. I wasn't even finished loading the bike, maybe 5 minutes and they were back, loaded the bikes in the minivan and left. Why yu may ask, very typical for this time of the year, The sun is out, it looks good, lets go out in a thin sweatshirt, no beanie cap, no gloves and ride. I'll leave it at that or I'm going to say something I'll regret later.

Yesterday I went out for a little over an hr and it turned out to be a disaster. When I came back from "La Vuelta" in PR I put the bike back together and went over it like a doctor. Well, I didn't tightened up the handlebar screws and seat post. Guess what, saddle went down the handlebars moved and it didn't happen until I was turning around. Had to ride in a "very" uncomfortable way on my way back.

Note to self, make sure the screws are tight after unpacking and putting together your bike. I'll blame it on the "wife" she probably call me upstairs and took me out of my mojo.

No ranting or nonsense today other that what I just wrote.

Have a great cold sunny day.

Sunny...COLD

I like the feel of the sun just as much as anyone this time of the year, but if it's going to be this cold I rather the skies be gray and snow on the ground. Why?? With gray skies and snow I go out and ride and I don't even have an issue going out in the cold and wet roads. When is this cold, more like artic cold and sunny, I get home and think about it twice, trice and so on. Sounds strange, darn right it is. I ride all winter long outside in wet, salty, snowy slippery roads and trails but there comes a time where we all get sick of the cold and I'm to that point. Especially after a weekend in Asheville where the temps hit 82 one day and 70's the next 2. This cold sucks the life out of you. I'll be happy with a couple of 40 degree days. On the other hand, I'm happy to be alive and riding in sunny 30 degree weather.
That's my rant for the day, what's yours?

Is 30 years a long time?

That's how long I've been where I work. Long 30 years, short 30 years? It depends how you look at it. Some years felt long others felt short. For the most part it has been a great 30 years and I'm very thankful to have this job when so many people are out of work. I've been able to provide for my family and my cycling vice. Before I started to work where I'm at I was laid off 5 times at  my previous job. A few times I thought about moving on but I had no reason to move on and I'm glad I stayed. I have the best co-workers anybody can wish (I'm not lying) and very uderstanding people above me. Not many people say this but, I enjoy what I do and enjoy going to work. Of course, there's the many times I catch myself just looking at the computer screen wishing I was riding somewhere or looking forwards to the weekend, but who doesn't.
Here's to the  Lord for giving me this job and to me help have the same attitude until I can retire and ride into the sunset.

More pics

I'm having problems posting pics in the previous post, so here's a new post with more pics.

Consulting the map

creek crossing over a mossy slab of rock, very difficult with the cold water and the rushing water

 

  

Don't turn your back, there's always someone willing to snap a pic when you are in a compromising position.

 Asheville is a very neat city with a lot of different things to see and a very diverse mix of people that you may not see anywhere else. Many people ride bikes because they don't own a car. You can find street performers at every corner of the city, from a saxophone player to a group playing at a street corner.

These guys and gal where fun to watch and listen to for a while. Ray didnt want to leave

Asheville, complete post

Had to cut short the Ash post last night due to insuficient storage for posting pics. I bought 20 gigs of storage for 5 bucks and I'll be set to store over 10,000 pics. The blog will probably die before I store that many pics but for 5 bucks it was worth it.
Anyhoo, the rides went real good, I found my fitness is a notch above of what it was last year when we went down. This time I didn't blow up in any of the rides and was able to push it and recover at the same time.

The Pisgah ride was epic, lots of climbing. The riding there is hard, you mostly go up or down with very little recovery in between. We did a few hike a bikes that really hurt since I haven't been running and a couple of the guys got real nasty blisters.

This picture shows exactly how we all felt and looked after Pisgah.

Last year we went to a latin food restaurant and the food was great so we decided to visit the place again and were very dissapointed with the food. It came out cold and those of us that ordered the same had different portions. You figure if you order something that says over a bed of veggies you'll get veggies, got one slice of bell pepper and that was it. Enough of that am still PO.

Saturday by far the best ride, we took the long drive out to Dupont state park and were not dissapointed.

Dupont has a lot of climbing but unlike Pisgah, there's always a pay off. The downhills are snake type where you can let it go and fly in and out of the woods. The best place is last in line where you can see the group flying down the mountain. There's also a few very rough and nasty downhills like Johanna road. This is basically a dry creek bed with rocks, let me refrase that, boulder size rocks. If you don't have a good line or tthe rider in front of you doesn't have a good line you are screwed. Just ask Frank, Greg slammed on the brakes in front of him and he almost lost his virginity when I slammed into him head first into his butt, I'm still having nightmares.

more pics and comments later today, I have to start working.

Later has arrived

Asheville weekend

We arrived in Asheville Thursday evening, picked up the keys to the house at the bike shop and drove a few miles on the Blue Ridge pkwy. to get to Bent Creek preserve where the house is located. No neighbors no light poles and you have to open a forest gate to get to it. Roll out of bed in the morning and you are on the trails.

I have never seen 7 guys change so fast and be ready to ride in my life. The Cleveland winter has really beat us up real good. 2 hrs later and a lot of climbing and we were back and ready for dinner. One thing about Bent Creek, you climb a lot but there's always a pay off.

We always eat good when we go to Asheville except Friday night, but that's another story.
Friday we picked up Bruce and headed to Pisgah to get beat up. Pisgah was an epic ride. This is where I blew up bad a couple years ago, this time the ride was better, longer and I felt good.

Asheville long wekend

Leaving early tomorrow morning for the annual March pilgrimage down to Asheville, NC. Short ride as soon as we get there, two full days Friday and Saturday and a short early morning ride before we head home Sunday morning. Rode the Jamis 29er Monday in Hinckley to finish setting up my position and it felt great. Now to feel it on the dirt. Great temps and weather is waiting for us. One thing I keep thinking about is I wish we had more room so I could take my single speed. I come to enjoy riding the SS more than anything, even my winter beater bike is a SS. Bought a pair of used specialized wheels with DT hubs and dropped a pound of my SS. Now comes the playing gane trying to find what tires I'm going to like more. The Geax that came with bike where way to tight on the rims and I don't want to cut a tire an have to walk out of the woods because I can't put a tube in it. This weekend I'm trying a Specialized Captain Control in the front and a Fastrack in the back. Let's see how that works, right now am leaning towards the schwalbe Ralph tires, less than 600 grams for a 2.25.
I'll report back on Monday with lots of pics.
Have a great weekend.