I've had some good riding this week despite the rain. I stayed up late on Saturday watching ufc100 and need the extra sleep Sunday morning so I decided not to ride to work. Monday morning it was really foggy so I didn't ride to work that day either. So my mileage has slipped a bit but I still squeezed in some awesome solo road rides and a super fun and a super fast MTB Ride.

Yesterday I got up early and changed out my tires, on the Mooto X Slider, and Stans-ed them up. I've been running Crow's front and rear but after my N/S trail ride last week I ended up with a slight tear in the sidewall of my rear tire, not enough to leak air but enough to cause a bubble to form. I decided to move the Crow on the front to the rear and put a meatier tire on the front for better grip in the corners. I also dropped 2 teeth on the rear cog giving me 32x18 gearing which is perfect for Lock 4.

Yesterday I picked up Neighbor Dan and we headed for Lock 4 to meet up with Dustin (Super D) Greer and Kaylee. We started out riding together as a group ride with Kaylee leading us out with a awesome pace. After about 3/4 of a lap Dustin decided to cut back out to the trail head and run one race pace lap to get ready for the race this weekend. Didn't have time to do any more than that. We rode together down the road to where the race was to start and started the clock. He took off I was planning to follow, so as to not get in his way with my silly one gear bike. The pace was crushing. My heart rate was pegged from the get go, before we settled into a "just manageable" pace for me and a slow pace for dustin who wasn't feeling it. Dustin not feeling good allowed me to hang on and kept me pushing hard in the corners. I was grateful for the fresh knobby tire on the front. The Crow on the rear would occasionally slip on the hard corners. I've always considered myself to be pushing hard on through the turns but following Dustin really had me pushing just that much harder giving me some confidence. We finished well under 40 minutes (don't remember the actual time but it was high 30's) which is pretty fast....I think. It's funny cuz there is a sign at the trail head stating that if you rode the trail under 38 minutes(might have even said 40) that you missed part of the trail. Dustin and Kaylee headed out and I rode back into the trail to find Dan and ride with him a bit.

Thinking about riding to the group ride tonight, rumor has it the pace had been crazy fast.

Busy week so far. Got some cool new bike bits from Paragon Machine Works. Customer service was fantastic. I had stripped one of the slider bolts on the Moots. It was a softer steel and my 5mm hex wrench wallowed the hex head out leaving the bolt securely fastened to the dropout. I hit it with a hacksaw and turned the hex head into a big ol'flat head screw driver head and managed to get it out, though not without drawing blood first.
Anywho, my boy J5 had a similar issue and was telling me about some Ti replacements that he purchased that are not likely to strip. I called Paragon. The guy apologized for the problem and offered me free replacements. I paid extra for the upgrade to the Ti bolts and he even threw in some fancy new thumb screws and 2 day shipping for my trouble.

I've been racking up the miles this week. Rode to work Sunday and Monday. 45 minutes to work and 2 hours to get home, took the scenic route. Took Tuesday off. Wednesday i rode the the super cool Mooto X Slider from the north welcome station down the north/south trail at LBL and back. 62 miles total. 7 hours 48 minutes including about 30 minutes of trail work and a 10 minute break at the golden pond. Pretty tough ride with only the iPod for company. Also rode 30 miles on the road bike this morning bringing me to just over 15 hours saddle time for the week(if you include my trail work which was just hopping off the bike and throwing limbs).

Notes from the week:
-"The Chronic" will always be in the play list rotation when doing long solo rides.
-you appreciate a company more after you've had a problem and they take good care of you. It's like even though their part might have failed I'll be more likely to buy their product over another company who's product may have never failed. Strange.
-tick bites itch more than mosquito bites
- I'm not allergic to ALL bees.
- the more you ride the more you eat, and since food is human fuel are you saving any money riding a bike? I mean I'm eating thousands of calories a day.
-gummi bears rock!
-quesadilla is spelled with a "QU" and should never contain bologna.
- I need to stop wearing my wedding band cuz it keeps falling off and since it's Ti, much like the Mooto X, it cannot be sized.
-riding to work allows me lots of ride time without dipping into too much Wifey time, after all it's all about the balance.
- If pacing behind an Amish buggy don't be surprised when you get spackled with horse shit.
-66 Days until Metallica comes to Nashvegas. Lamb of God is opening up. Rock on.

That is all.