What's It All About?

I've been trying to put together another 'hardware' post, but damnit if I can't get the stupid fucking camera to stop taking blurry pictures. Am I that tweaked from not being able to ride extensively that I can't even hold a camera? This is how the bikes came out:

..................Tsunami road..............................Bontrager Cx...........................Cube TT................................

I have a better camera that I use at work for taking tech. pictures. I'll bring that home and get some better shots.

I'm having problems justifying the amount of cycling garbage in my basement lately. Now that I really don't have a team to ride for, and I won't be able to tell how extensive the damage to my achilles is for another few months, and face it, I'm not going to be winning anything unless I keep riding 'till I'm 70 and I'm the only guy entered in the 70+ category. I have 9 bikes that are completely set up and ready to ride. I have two spare sets of good MTB wheels and three good sets of spare road wheels on top of the wheels _on_ the bikes. I have two 12 foot long shelves of bike parts, plus a few medium size moving boxes of other parts laying around. I even have _complete_ Mavic Mektronic component group in anit-static packaging.

Why?

Some promise of latent cycling glory?

Not.

Right now it's about fitness. I enjoy keeping my weight down and being able to still fit into my old concert t-shirts. I have a 20 year old leather jacket that only fits slightly more snugly than when I first got it.

And then there's the 'Zen'.

I simply enjoy getting out on the bike. Riding along on some of the quiet back roads that I work into my commute, all I can hear is the whir of the cassette and the dull roar of the deep section Rolfs on the smooth pavement, save the occasional chorus of birds. I _am_ in love with cycling.












Yesterday I was stopped at Lafayette Square in Haverhill waiting for the light to change, and the din of the city - sub woofers, car/truck/Mcycle motors, acted almost as an aphrodisiac - I _am_ in love with cycling.








Once I get back out on the MTB, I will feel the peace and oneness with the dirt, mud, rocks, and roots. The loudest sounds coming from the chain slapping the drive-side stay. I enjoy coursing along a smooth twisty piece of single track more than most anything - pausing to take in the bucolic vista of a lake or rocky stream. I _am_ in love with cycling.





In order to attain these two not-so-disparate nirvanas I really only need one bike - my old handmade steel Bontrager CX would work just fine, though an additional set of light wheels for road riding would be nice.

But I have 9. What a waste.

Dial it back

The message was made clear:

"Stop now or you'll regret it"

After a nearly perfect week , then two good days of riding and running, I was prepared to take it up a notch. After thursdays run, I had my reservations. Friday, I had a 'wait and see attitude', but the confluence of events convinced me to scrap the whole idea.

Both calves sore from running wednesday and thursday.

Rain and cold on both saturday and sunday.

Worked for most of the day saturday in manch-vegas.

The wife had a 'jewelry party' on sunday, an I was invited to an Irish Seissun at Mr. Dooleys in Boston with my friend and Fiddler Extrordinaire Eamon Coyne, who was working there with Patsy Whalen, another irish immigrant/internationally famous seissun musician.

So, with all that stacked up, I pretty much resigned myself to drinking and eating this weekend. There were more reasons _not_ to try and stress it with a competitive run in the rain.

My right ankle is still slightly sore today, so I think I will lay off it for another week in terms of running. I rode into work this morning and had a disconcerting slight burn after I got out of the shower. I'll have to see what it feels like tonight after I get home.

I found it interesting that the bar was advertising The Dave Foley Band for next saturday, I wonder if he's as ugly as the one _I_ know?