Rollercoaster

Man what a week. White out rain conditions trying to thwart all of our ride plans at every step. I go down like a ton o' bricks at Root Bug, and turn my knee the cutest shade of green(Yep, you missed it again, Silk). Bikechain guys actually showed up at the Joe's Ride! And, I'm hitting a restaurant Grand Opening tonight. Lah Tee Dah! That's a first for me. Like I said, what a week.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of this El Rain Yo weather pattern we've been hanging with for awhile. More gullies have been whomped this summer, than I care to remember. The trails are a wet, steamy, mass of drag you down, jungle muck. However, I have been seen venturing out with knobbies again, though I swore them off about a month ago. And I've had fun. Well, right up until I did that gainer over the bars, into a Red Bug root tangle. Oh well, It entertained Stormingnormin, as he had front row seats to the air show. Check the weather pattern for next week. After Monday, it looks like our rain chances drop below 20% for the rest of the week, and the temperature plummets to the low 90's! I'll see ya out there!

Now, on a little heavier note. After Wrecking Ball found yet another way to get out of the Tom Brown race, I've fielded a million questions about WB's health. He keeps apologizing to me, as if having to answer these things stresses me out. Quite the contrary, my friend, quite the contrary. I'm actually glad to be part of this process, almost honored. You see, I expected the boys to to look out for our boy, but I was a little surprised at how many other people came to me. People I didn't even realize knew WB. All night on the Joe's Ride, "How's WB?", "When's he coming back?", "What's his next step?", "Is he alright?". This gives me faith in my fellow man, and I'm thankful to have had the chance to witness it firsthand. There's a whole lot of good people in this community, and I'm proud to be part of it. Big ups to the folks at Subaru, ground zero for Wrecking Ball's vascular brain check. Good looking out! Thanks to all the folks who asked about his health. Our boy is all choked up by the show of support.

Now, let's lighten this a little. It seems that Wrecking Ball's brother has opened another restaurant here in T-town, in the old Club Park Avenue space. The whole clan, of the Clan Wrecking Ball, is here, so I just can't miss an opportunity to see WB in his family element. He's the youngest of about a million siblings, so this should be good. Besides, I get to eat good food, observe WB in the wild, and imagine a day gone by, where Red Cotton Candy Dragon strutted his stuff, with no shirt, his pants pulled down, his thumbs tucked in his bikini brief waistline, while all the lights come on, the music stops, and the pa system calls for security to the dance floor. Good times!

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys...

Not really, but I have always had a soft spot for Josey Wales and Barbarosa.

This past week, Little Ball and Ice Berg enjoyed a road trip to West Virginia and Pennsylvania. They rode as much as possible, but not quite as much as they'd have liked. Apparently they joined one of the big road groups, and participated in the destruction of said group. I never got the whole story, but it seems that ride dwindled down to Berg, Ball, and a couple on a tandem. It seems these tandem pilots were national champs. When Little Ball recounts this story, he mentions the captain's name is Gunnar. That set the gears a' turning. I asked if this particular tandem pilot had little round glasses. He hesitantly tells me yes, but you can tell he's wondering how the hell I may have this little piece of info. After a quick Google image search, it's confirmed that the boys were riding with none other than Gunnar Shogren.

Now Gunnar may not be the most obvious icon of early 90's mountain bike racing, but he was in the show. He wrote a column for Dirt Rag called, Wazzupwiddat? While he may not have been a top of the podium, media darling, he was making his living racing bikes, and I always looked forward to reading of his cross country travels in his old van, telling the tales of a fiendracer.

I faded away from Dirt Rag, and big name racing in general, and Gunnar sort of slipped off my radar. A couple of years ago, Silk talked me into joining him in Dahlonega for the Fools Gold 100. Hanging out in the N. GA mountains, I stumble across a blast from the past. It seems that Gunnar has not dried up and blown away, but is still frequenting the bike race scene. He's taken to longer distances, doing the 100 mile races instead of the 2 hour suffer-fests of the past. The dude has to be close to 50, by now. The next day we're watching the race from our bikes, riding parts of the course. Gunnar comes by in the top 5-6 of the 100 mile class, and he's riding a singlespeed!

That may not qualify for hero status on the level of say, NYFD or NYPD, but that's still impressive in my book. I hope I have that kind of spring in my step, when I hit 50.

Out of Control

I was gonna ease up on borrowing videos, but this just needs to be out there.

The Death of the Easter Bunny

Imagine my surprise, when I perused the modern day flea market, commonly referred to as eBay, lookin' at the latest FM3's and cheap gold by the inch, when I tripped over this little gem.

And there it is. another let down in the long list of broken dreams and leaky water beds. The Red Cotton Candy Butcher Dragon is selling his latest bike. The bike that was turning the tide; brought him to the next level of P90X, is now on the chopping block in the name of air conditioning. I suppose the fresh breath of a cool breeze, blowing through his.....bald head, was not enough....air conditioning?!

I suppose it's his upbringing. The boy doesn't live anywhere near the Woodville Mall any longer, so he recreates it in his garage, and on his computer. Deep down, I think there is gypsy in that boy's blood!

Oh well, I suppose I'll go cry the cathartic lonely crying that accompanied the unveiling of the tooth fairy, and the death of the Easter Bunny.

For Lil' Ronnie

To hell with hardcore. This is the soundtrack I hear when I ride my 'cross bike.

cyclocross ride from Jed Zilla on Vimeo.

If that was little too soft, maybe this will toughen things up.

surly and spooky cyclocross bikes on mount elden, flagstaff, az from Rocky Chrysler on Vimeo.

Nightmares

A few nights back I awoke in a cold sweat. I'd had a nightmare that Juancho had kidnapped Big Jim Slade, Lil' Ronnie, and Cliffy, and forced them to join his boy band. My fears were allayed as I realized it was only a dream, and then I found this...



If I find out that Wrecking Ball is managing those guys, he may be stripped of his BC jersey!

Observations

Shralping from jake garrett on Vimeo.

Not sure what the hell schralping is, but best I can tell, it has something to do with a leprechaun, dressed as a fairy, chasing a lumber jack. Being that they are on bikes, though, I'm cool with that. Trail looks fun, but probably not passable for an old guy like me. Then again, that's probably why I'm clueless on schralping.



Palm trees! That's what they went with, palm trees?! Awhile back, I walked down memory lane, regarding an old Kmart, turned Albertson's, that was demolished to make way for a new Publix. They uprooted all of the oaks that had stood for years, and are repaving the lot to fit Publix standards. Today I roll up and see great big, giant palm trees. That's what they brought back?! What the hell? Are we to think of Publix as a relaxing island oasis, filled with cat litter, grape soda, and the latest in microwaveable, frozen, gourmet diet food? Or, did one more super brilliant VP of Parking Lots, over at Publix headquarters, decide that since we live in Florida, and since the entire state is a giant beach, and palm trees are the state bird, that clearly, palm trees will make the locals feel more at home? After all, isn't Publix just an extended member of the family?

Enough mockery, I'm moving the furniture around a little. Since WB had a mid-blog crisis, and erased all of the links I used on a 50 times daily basis, I had to add some more links up in here. Then I found that it was kinda nice seeing the titles, so I could tell who was talking, who was sleeping, and who was dead. Unfortunately, that's making things a little visually busy, and I'm not sure it will last. Whoever posted most recently will rise to the top, like sweet cream. The dead guys will sink to the bottom. Let me know what ya think. Or don't.