Thanksgiving Results.

I hope everyone had a good holiday break.  Here's a few pics (totally non-bikey) from my experience.

Beer at the brewery in Santa Fe at the 2nd St. brewery.

BBQ at the Cowgirl....complete with bike corral.  Unfortunately, we were walking not biking.

Touring the Art district....only $34,000 for Rock, Paper, Scissors....what a deal!

Turkey...the bird (not my brother), mashed potatoes, and a mandatory mid-west jello and fruit dish.

Kristen, the gal who did most of the work!

The results!

Be Inspired....It a Bike...Just Ride it!

Growing old is mandatory....growing up is optional.

I had another friend join me today on the plus side of 40....



This is what 40 year old guys do!

Things that pass you by....

I don't have a picture to go with the start of this post, so I guess it will have to be a written account.  I was merrily headed in on my commute today, kind of picking my route as I went (because going the same way every day gets boring).  Then just as I had settled on riding down Mill St.....a rider turned a corner in front of me and headed for the river path.

I debated for a second and decided I hadn't had a good game of chase in a while.  The rider probably had a 1/4 mile on me and looked to be on a road bike....perhaps clad in spandex?  The reason for the sketchy details is that while there was chase given, there was no catching.  The rider (male?/female?) was no slouch and I never gained (or lost for the record) an inch on him/her.

I'm not used to that dynamic....so I will present excuses.  1) The Fargo is a tank.  2)  I have the tires aired down for the ice road conditions.  3)  I've been a little sick lately.  4) ....Um....um....yeah, I got nothing here.

So apparently, I'm getting slower, is the only conclusion I can draw from this.  And it's probably true.  I missed the whole Cyclocross season due to the shoulder thing, so I didn't have any excuses to push myself on the bike.  The result is probably that the legs aren't quite what they were some years.

So with that in mind....I found a video of the Bend Cross Crusades race that I really intended to go to this year but didn't.  Please notice while there a ton of fast riders in this event....there are also some not taking themselves to seriously.  I believe I will have to take a lesson from this!

 **Please note...this video contains a wookie, a giraffe, a dominatrix, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and way more spandex than is socially acceptable....please view at your own digression!***

Early Evenings....not Bad!

Not a great picture....but boy was it a great sunset on the ride home the other day.  Can't beat that!

Oh....So that's what we're doing wrong!

How can you ride a bike in this weather!?

This is a question I get asked a lot this time of year.  The temperatures are dropping (22 when I left the house), snow is flying, and people waste gas warming up their cars.  The short answer is it doesn't even take that much.  This is what I wore this morning:

Wool t-shirt, patagonia cap2, wind stopper vest, wool hat, light wind stopper gloves, jeans.

Yep, no long johns or wind pants....and no shell jacket (although I carry both just in case).  The reality is once you're pedaling you generate quite a bit of heat.  And yeah, it's a bit chilly at the beginning but it just reminds you that you're alive!  So don't let the cold weather stop you from getting on the bike and enjoying an absolutely beautiful morning ride!