Animal Farm

Went out for a ride last night and I have to admit I saw something odd. Most days I see wildlife: moose, deer, upland birds etc. On some days I might even have to avoid some free-range chickens that are too close to the road, but last night was by-far the oddest encounter. I was riding along on a quiet rode, hay fields on both sides of the road and not a house or building in sight for a mile and I see what appears to be two large yellow labs up the road. As I get closer, they look pretty fat and finally about 50 meters away, I realize they are pot-belly pigs! Just out grazing or more likely escapees on the run! It was the funniest shit. I rode by and the squeeled running the opposite way. Bet no one else saw free-roaming pigs last night.

I skipped Exeter last night in hopes of being rested for Fitch. Looking at the results it is a GOOD thing I did. Holy stacked field. I would have had to burn some matches to even stay in the race!

Fitch starts tomorrow. Should be awesome to race with a full squad with one goal.

Some of the goods:

You ever notice how much I talk about the weather? Sun, good. Rain, bad. Snow, good. Ice, bad. You get the idea. Yesterday was an absolute 10 on the summer weather scale. Totally insane. It also didn’t hurt that I played hookie and spent the entire day on the ocean.

A few stats:
Best Fish of the day: thirty-one inch, 11 pound Striped Bass
Number of Haddock Keepers (21” or bigger): 2
Number of Cod Keepers (24” or bigger): 2
Number of Bluefish caught on a Fly-Rod: 4
Number of Stiper “Schoolies” caught on a Fly-Rod: 4
Number of fish, any species, I caught on a Fly-Rod: 0
Number of times I almost killed someone while fly casting in the wind: 2
Number of times I lathered up with 30 spf so I wouldn’t get busted today for playing hookie:3
Number of Times I thought about racing my bike: 0

Okay, enough non-biking stuff. Group ride tonight. Hopefully the legs will start feeling good. The form has to come around right? The next 10 days (Cox, Exeter, Fitchburg, Noho) have the possibility to either crack me or help me find some form. I am hoping for the latter. Imagine that.

Finally, I am adding a link to Isoglossia. I have no idea why haven’t put up a link to JDs blog before. WARNING, it is not a bike related blog. However, it is very cool. I met JD many years ago when we both were living downeast on the coast of Maine. We enjoyed many pithers of gin and tonic, cold beers, swimming holes, blueberry pies, sailing, etc. during that time. Martha and I have the best memories from our time spent on the Blue Hill peninsula and much of that time involved JD. Anyway he went from Maine to Montana to Argentina to Slovenia (and I am sure I missed a stop or two), where he currently resides with his lovely wife Magda and their son Adam. Cool reading. Enjoy.

non biking blog

I hate to start another blog with “I haven’t updated in a while”, but . . . .I haven’t updated in a while. Summer weather has set in and I have admit it feels nice. I usually get sick of summer after July, (and start doing my snow dance come October) but right now I am loving it. I dig the crazy thunderstorms that roll in during the afternoon and cool things off. I love feeling the steamy weather seep back in. We just had a good one roll thru. It is stormy out to the east and sunny out to the west. Should be dry by the time I get out my cell, I mean work.

Heading out Striper fishing tomorrow with a few of the north country boys. I can’t freaking wait! Should be a spectacular day and hopefully we will get into some fish. These boys take there fishing serious and we should have pretty good timing for solid striper fishing. I am playing hookie from work, so mums the word!

Rode to work this morning for the first time in a long time. It was a pretty sweet morning, but still pretty cold (47 degrees!) for June. I saw a moose, three coyotes and a dead cat. Freaking wild kingdom.

No photos as promised of the new IF. Maybe tonight. I am getting my position dialed, but the bike is truly amazing. Super smooth and VERY stiff in the bottom bracket and rear triangle. In all honesty the bike is significantly stiffer and lighter than expected. With race wheels the bike should hit 17.2 pounds.

I enjoyed some “delicious wine, good for easy drinking” last night. You have to love a label that has a slogan about swilling. Martha thought it was cool that the vineyard was on Ventoux. I don’t think either of us would be mistaken for a sommelier so we might as well pick wines from cool climbs.

Random ReCap

Here is a recap from Saturday.
It rained.
I missed a break with all the major teams represented.
We chased.
I cracked and went to the back.
Proceeded to crash myself out.
The boys chased some more.
IF/Channel brought the break back.
Tom had a good finish.

Summary from Sunday:
Hilly Crit.
Only one teammate
Goal was to follow wheels and finish in the bunch.
Accomplished.

I guess bitching about the heat in NJ last weekend was not the best idea. We had a windy, rainy 50 degree day on Saturday and only slightly better on Sunday.

Martha flatted again! Damn those Tufo tyres. Going back to the Vittoria’s.

Got my new bike! Totally sick. Building it tonight, so I will post some photos tomorrow. I am telling you, the bike is hot.

My favorite part of yesterday was walking into the bar on the course after my race to see Eric Pearson belly-up, still in his kit, pounding a pint for craft ale. Eric was in the winning break, and rode straight to the bar for a refresher. Good on you Eric.