all hallows' eve, eve.

Not much going on in Lap's land. Running mostly, as the leaves here in VT are falling like Halliburton stock (badum-ching) On my run last night I ran into a friend who is charge of local trails and lot of trail equipment. He had just dropped a gas powered leaf blower at another friends house, and that second friend blew the local trails like a.......guy with a gas powered leaf blower. So, Marc, Timber and I set out for a quick spin on the buff fall trails.

Marc likes the trails without leaves on them. Even when he is hung over.
Timber likes trails no matter what.
You can see the happiness on Marc's face. His winter hat only lasted five minutes before it was taking up space in his jersey pocket. The ride was good, only one catastrophic bike handling failure, in which I ended up hurting the top of my foot. This is a first for me. I don't know how I hurt the top of my foot in a bike crash, but it is still a bit sore. Weather here is iffy, maybe some skiing tomorrow!

Early season

Yup, I am done with biking. At least until the snow melts. Quick skin and ski with Marc and the dogs. Good times, lots of different muscles than biking, but that same endorphin fueled, singletrack rippin' rush.

Bike packing

Good weather last weekend, loaded up the bike and heading out with Marc. We rode some tar, a lot of single track, and some dirt roads. Loaded up with my new OR drybags and liked having the weight on the bike, rather than on my back.

Took us about two and a half hours to get to the campsite, but only after I had a great, slow motion, endo right onto my messed up hand. Not good. The best part was when the bike frame scissored down onto my leg and head. Even better. We rode on and set up camp in the dark (lots of fun) We gathered fire wood, cooked dinner and got ready for the cold. Slept well, woke up kind of early, and enjoyed the view.

Good night for my second overnight on a bike. The whole experience makes me wonder if the Tour Divide is a possibility.......

Dog days.

Timber is a horrible backseat driver.

Timber is my dog. Not just in the hip, Randy from American Idol way, he is also the domestic animal that resides at my house with me and my wife. It is odd that I call him "mine" because he is definitely his own being. I think if he had his druthers (he doesn't anymore, he was neutered) he would live on his own in the swamp of the golf course near our house. He would feast on muskrats and rabbits (he has caught both) and would harass golfers by biting their legs and running off with their titleists.

Fortunately for us, he thinks we are cool and he lets us feed him and occasionally pet him, but only when he feels it is appropriate. He is very independent, and likes to survey his kingdom from interesting vantage points.

Timber, asleep on the very desk I am typing this from.

Timber is 6 now, and thankfully out of the puppy stage, but he still has quite a bit of energy. He likes to run, and whines incessantly if he does not get his typical 4-5 mile allotment per day. If he is really hard up for a run, he scratches the walls. Or the couch. Or your face. He doesn't care which.

He gets crazy when he gets the Syrup in him.

Thankfully, today we went for a long run. After an hour or so of terrorizing every squirrel in the town, Timber can rest peacefully in the back of the snot rocket.

Now all is well in Laps land..............until tomorrow.

Into the now

We did it. Bit the bullet, gritted our teeth, and joined the 21st century. We are hooked up. Onto the crazy, internets super highway and even some cable channels. I can do without the TV. A nice distraction, but I really didn't miss it all that much. The interwebs is a different story. It is hard to go without the ability to waste hours looking at nothing, reading little and glazing your eyes over. Oh yeah, blogging stuff that no one reads and putting up gratuitous bum shots is fun, but not essential.

Lot to think about in the coming days. What to do this winter? What to do next summer?

At least yesterday's ride was good. No rush, Terrible Timber came with us, and the trails were in good-ish shape. Looking forward to some cold weather, lights on, wool wearing rides.

No wool yet, but the leaves are falling fast.

Marc and Jay getting close. Or communing with nature. You decide.

Timber, the deer colored dog, sneaks in a ride before hunting season.

That is all for now, hopefully more riding and more posting soon!

2010 season, DONE.

It has been a long year. Not from the blogging standpoint, as I think this makes 5 posts for the season. My bike racing season is done. It should have been done in August, but I tried to squeeze a bit more out of my legs and I paid for it.

August was rather busy; Dark Horse 40, Great Glen, and then Pittsfield. The 40 was fun, so was Great Glen. I felt good and was happy that I fell one short of my lap goal (23 total, I wanted 24 but didn't realize they extended the loop from the past two years, so I guess it evens out) I had a great crew person, and thoroughly enjoyed not having to drive home (Thanks Marc!)

Pittsfield was a fun race, although a bit of a stretch a week after Great Glen. Lots of climbing, lots of descending, and a killer pig roast at the end.

Vermont 50 was not as much fun. Since school started I have not ridden as much as I should have. I felt lots of pain during the 50, and didn't enjoy it, even though it was some of the best weather in recent memory for this event. At least the barbecue at the end and watching my wife finish was well worth it. Hopefully next year I remember to train for this race, and enjoy it.

This weekend, the ABSOLUTE last race for me this year (unless something fun comes up) was the ECCC race near my house ( a mile away, how could I pass that up?) The course was fun, the atmosphere was very low key (college kids don't worry about much, and everyone just wanted to ride bikes) and some of my younger, fast friend were there to help keep things in perspective.

Finished near the top overall, and almost unscathed. About .5 seconds after the above picture was taken, I hit something that stopped my front wheel dead, and I did a slow motion endo onto my wrist. The swelling is pretty good right now, but I think I will be able to pull through.

Now I just want to ride when I can, do some night riding, and wait for the snow to start falling. Hopefully that isn't too far away.