Xmas Spirit in Full Flip...I meant Swing
dhblog readers, how are you doing? it's the time of year to share in the spirit of giving. this weekend was just that...as i have decided to call it, Full Flip. out on the road yesterday the group got 3 different Jeep 1-finger salutes. i know we were all initially thinking, "that's right, i am number 1" until we realized the overly aggressive nastiness that was occuring. pardon me! i thinkT-bird just might be looking for another brand of vehicle to drive as we began to warn each other of upcoming Jeeps on the road. the xmas spirit is making everyone happy and civilized.
now i'm not going to get totally down on the upcoming series of holidays. no way. the kids would never let me do that. we have been having the countdown for weeks and the excitement is reaching peak levels. speaking of the kids, we took some pictures of them with the dogs for the holidays. here's Jade and Javan with Bella and Rocco:
i thought they all look great! it's tough trying to get the attention of the dogs when there are two cats running around and presents under the tree that they could be eating. fortunately, Dona kept the photo shoot from turning into a blood/presentshredding-bath and the photos came out great.
so back to the weekend of riding...just a warning. you've got to keep the city sign radar going when Mike "the pip-master" Busch is around or else he is going to sneak it, or else Miatcheslav will pick it up when noone is looking. on another note, the S-Works Tarmac SL is one bad bicycle. i think everyone was having a difficult time riding along side Glen because they were too busy eyeing his bike. it's rough when your winter trainer is the same model Levi uses in the Tour. to be serious...wow, super cool bike! still, on another note, i have developed a new strategy on increasing mental toughness for racing. step 1: look at weather.com to find one of the colder days on the calendar. step 2: schedule a really long ride on one of the colder days you have found at weather.com. step 3: ride with a group so you can't extract yourself from the ride, barring severe conditions. step 4: make sure to stop for nasty gas station coffee. step 5: make sure the group goes past your house within a 1/4 mile 3 to 4 times on the ride route. step 6: imagine rolling up to your house and realizing there is a fresh pot of hot coffee brewing and warming up your frozen hands and toes each and every time you pass by. this is a tried and tested method as of this past saturday. trust me.
fortunately on sunday, the extraction was in order. we headed north to farmington and things were looking ok. the roads were a bit wet, but not too bad. on the return, it began to snow and i immediately remembered the day on the same roads a little over a year ago that put me on the slippery slope towards pneumonia. this time, though, i was better prepared with a waterproof rain jacket. as we rode through downtown SLC, the flakes were coming down hard. reminded me of skiing on a snowy day with the big puff-ball flakes. everyones faces looked like we had just done a cyclocross race. i was hoping that Dona maybe had the kids downtown shopping and that she could quickly mobilize for an extraction. i gave a call and no answer. bummer. we'll just have to ride this one out. with about 2 blocks to J-Low's house, i got a flat. now this is really going to suck. i've got to go all the way to Porcupine Grill parking lot and i need to change a tire. the snow isn't letting up and i don't have the guts to bag it and fortunately J-Low offers to give us a ride. you can't feel too bad about an offered extraction. i'm just glad it was offered, and it didn't take any arm-twisting whatsoever. thank goodness!
ok, dhblog viewers, here is the interview announcement of the week: legendary mountain biker, product manager/developer, 1991 World Championship Downhill 3rd place finisher Glen Adams. the format on this interview is still up in the air. one suggestion has been to attempt an on-the-bike-in-sub-30-degree-weather interview. i am trying to think of how i would do this without a recording device and somehow be able to remember the details. we'll get some questions to you soon Glen.
happy holidays...and if you want to let someone know they are number one, send them a greeting card. also, if you're feeling aggro, don't drive your Jeep.
i wonder what #1 is doing right now...