Journal Archive from August

August 29, 2001

HAPPY B-DAY TO ME!!!

August 18-20, 2001

Well what do you know another mass update. I have been so busy again going here, performing there, riding this and that. As you know it was Mt. Snow weekend. It turned out kind of a flop for me because I couldn't get there in time to register....Not that I was really interested in giving the money hungry norba giant any more money in the first place. But rules were rules and the deadline was 6pm on Friday. I missed it. It all worked out because there were so many other things I rode. Saturday turned out into a river workout. It was a warm day so riding in the West River seemed to fit perfectly. I rode hard, in fact I'm still aching from it. On Sunday I woke up really excited to ride. I geared up and headed outside. I was warming up on some small stuff and just didn't feel right. It was one of those days where if you keep riding you are going to hurt yourself. So I messed around for a little while and called it a day.

August 12, 2001

Today was a bit rainy but Wendy and I headed to visit our friends Gary and Anita for a little shopping and cross country ride in their back yard. Well overall the shopping seemed to take up most of the day. It was fun and we got some pretty cool stuff. We did get in a short ride at least. It was still raining lightly so we didn't go out for too long. Just a little loop. Everything was so slippery and wet, that it made for a tough ride anyway. It's nice to be home warm and dry.

August 11, 2001

Today Pete and I hit a local park named Bigelow Hollow State Park. Pretty nice place, good amount of natural sections with your usual picnic table sprinkled in here and there. Yesterday I finished building up a new Megamo mod to replace my broken x-lite....how surprising x-lite and broken in the same sentence. I was so surprised on how nice this bike rode. It was amazing in fact! I'm not the type of person who needs a new bike every 6 months, heck I rode my Ted Wojcik built mod for three years. I actually contemplated building it back up but after the three years of beating I gave it I didn't have the heart to resurrect it. But back to my point, if it works for me, i'll ride it. I was so surprised on how stable this bike was. On the rear wheel it stayed up almost by itself. On bunnyhops, it was effortless. The only difference between the x-lite and megamo was a few degree headtube angle difference, I wouldn't have thought they would feel and ride completely different. I like it so much more. Well it's off to practicing.

August 7, 2001

I'm currently sitting in Baltimore airport waiting for my delayed plane. Bummer, it's always nice to get home, especially it's Nero's birthday today! I'll get some pictures up of his little party. I picked him up a little Cleveland Indians beanie to tear apart. No, I don't have anything against the Indians, just wanted to get him something from there. It was a great trip this week but it just added a bunch extra to my work load. Not a bad thing thats for sure. It's going to be pretty exciting in fact. So tomorrow should be a busy day. I think I'm going to sleep in a bit though, I'm pretty tired. Well instead of typing away on this thing, I'm going to grab a bite to eat and something to drink. The rest of the night is hop on my last flight, drive home, see my family and go to bed! See ya' for now.

August 6, 2001

It was a long day of travelling. I'm in my hotel now out here in Cleveland, Ohio. I was going to let you guys know earlier to maybe hook up with a group ride, but I was going to be real busy. Oh well it part of the job. It's definitly a fun time being on the road though. Especially when travelling and all goes very smooth. I'm going to finish watching Big Daddy on HBO now and then go to bed.

August 3-5, 2001

Ahhhh, what a nice weekend in Vermont. I love that place! It seems when I pass from Massachusetts into Vermont every part of me relaxes. I guess you can call it Vermont-mode. Wendy and I went up for the weekend to pretty much do nothing. We had to run a few errands of course but mainly we hit the river. The West river passes right on the side of our house, a nice trials playground I might add, but it is very relaxing on hot days. Kind of like a cool jacuzzi. You find a spot where the water is turbulent and just jump in, being careful not to get swept away though. Usually the rocks provide some kind of seat and foot hold. Not only that, there are many swim holes around. On Sunday I was wondering around the area of the river outside our house and found an overhanging rock which shadowed a school of salmon. The size of these fish ranged from 8 inches to 16 inches! I couldn't believe it. The river is fairly shallow and that was the first time I saw fish in it more than 2 inches long. That was about the extent of the weekend. It's always too bad having to head back to reality. Tonight I still need to pack for a trip tomorrow. So I'm off to pack.

August 2, 2001

August 1, 2001

To start off, oh yes, this morning was cold! Half way through the night, I woke up and around the same time Andy woke up and we were both freezing. After letting our brains register how cold it was we decided to sleep in the truck. I called the back seat! I'm short anyway, and Andy slept up front. I was out cold until the sun hit me in the morning. It was around 8:30 and I kicked Andy to get up. It was breakfast time. I needed a shower first. On my way to the shower the rumors of waffle day was among the kids. As I was heading over Cliffs dog, a black lab had other ideas. He came up to me, I petted him, and he grabbed my wrist with his mouth and started to pull me around heading to the house! Yup, it was weird, everyone thought the same. I saved myself by picking up a nearby stick and giving it a good throw. I was back on plan and took my shower. It's the only way I wake up in the morning. After the showers Andy and I headed up for breakfast, with some blueberry waffles waiting for us. Couldn't beat that, they were so good. After we ate, we headed out to complete the setup and get ready for our first show. It was somewhat informal, we just wanted to show the group the potential skills they may learn from riding trials. After the show we went through a question and answer session and held a skills clinic. We took a little break and started off on a X-C ride. This didn't turn out too well for me. I ended up tweaking my knee a bit and had to head back early. After the ride was over, we had lunch. After lunch we set up two trials courses for the lids to try and had a little competition. We had prizes from Kryptonite for the top three finishers. Everyone did very well through the courses and it gave them an idea of what it was all about. After the competition we packed up and had a chance to look at a few of the other trails that Cliff and his crew had created. Cool BC/North Shore type terrain. We said our good-bye's and headed home.