What am I to do ..

What am I to do on a Sunday evening when I am jones-in for a long ride but don't have the time to get one in? Two things, eat to the point where Jenn starts calling me Phatty Phatty McMatty and write about riding of course. I can always tell when the miles are starting to rack up because I eat anything and everything I can get my hands on. Especially cookies, which is how I got the above nickname. Although, I do not think she says it with the "PH".

So Friday, I was able to sneak away for a couple of hours on the road and was able to squeeze in a quick 48 miles. I was in the mood to do some climbing so I planned to leave the house and do one of my favorite rides of all time, Cherokee to Old Gun. Once I got to Old Gun I decided to go up the steep side prior to turning around and going up the longer but not as steep side. I had the GPS on me which was cool since I now know how steep the climb really is. The steepest I saw was 20% near the top. Can you guess where on this profile the Old Gun climbs are?

And since this is officially the 101st post of nonsense, I think I am going to go celebrate by eating another handful of cookies. Shhh!!!! Too bad it is late and Jenn is sleeping or I would have one of these.

The other night Jenn and I got a chance to watch 24 solo. It is a documentary which chronicles what Chris Eatough and others goes through in order to not only complete a 24 hour solo mountain bike race but to do it at the pro level in the world championships.



The movie was well made and it actually made me want to get back out on the mountain bike. Just kidding, I don't really have the desire to ride the BUSS but I do want to get out and get some more miles in on the cross bike. That will come tomorrow as I have spent the majority of this morning finishing up the remodeling of our master bathroom.

Isn't she a beauty?! She is a far distance from being complete but I did finish taking down the last bit of the 1980's Marriott like wallpaper. Now we just have to touch up the walls with some spackling and it will be ready to paint. Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE to paint? I know Jenn is excited about it though, not the painting but the finishing.

Later today I am going to get in about 30-35 on the La Raazzaaa before meeting Jenn and the TnT crew out at WC for another 30. Tomorrow should bring a long day in the saddle as I plan to leave the house shortly after Jenn does for work and head over to PSP for some dirty looks as I get in some cross dress action.

Got in a ride yesterday evening with Jenn and a couple of her co-workers. On my way over there I was feeling really good. Legs felt like they were just floating on the pedals and tons of power were coming out of them. About 5 miles in I am came across a railroad crossing where I ended up sitting for about 15 minutes because the engineer can't read. A flo killa fo show!

Speaking of trains, I dropped a chain checker on the Salsa the other day and in case you don't know how to use one, if you use it and it slips into the chain and lays flush like this, it is not a good sign.


So I installed a new train this morning and am ready for the TnT ride this evening. I am also going to try and sneak in a cross ride over at PSP this afternoon as well. Especially since I have just acquired a new limited edition black spoked mavic wheel from back in the day. Eat your hearts out red spoke lovers!

What to do ...

What to do? Oh what to do when work gets in the way of riding? You think about riding thats what. I have once again started to work on some of the logistics for a couple of the UMCA records in which I want to attempt to break this summer. I have gotten as far as deciding which ones I wish to attempt. I certainly wish to break two of them and haven't made up my mind as to which direction I want to go or if I want to go for both directions at the same time in an out and back fashion.

The VA border to border record is still on the radar and I have also put the C&O canal record on the map as well. I have ridden the canal many a times and will be excited to make claim to an attempt there. The Blue Ridge Parkway record also looks like a fun local one to try. That was until I read this story. Now I am thinking twice about doing it out of respect for the record holder. I know records were meant to be broken but I also believe some things don't need to be improved upon. Maybe I'll do it in the opposite direction, who knows what the summer will bring. Until then I have a spoke to repair.