a walk is a good ride spoiled

Went for a ride and ended up walking. No wrecks, no falls, no nothing; just climbing a hill and snap, crackle, and pop. One dead hub; I'm guessing the pawls sheared off but I'll know more tomorrow. You know, I don't mind shit breaking, but why can't it do it by the parking lot and not at the farthest point away? That's twice I've had to walk my bike out and both times it's been from the backside of Turkey. Oh well, two out of a probable 150 rides ain't too shabby.

On to the ride:
This just in...new favorite trail for flow. BONER northbound; wow do I feel like a dumbass. Been riding here for three years and just now thought hey, how about if I went DOWN the hill! What a fuckhead. Anyway, probably a mile and a half of semi-technical riding, lots of rock-to-rock sections, fast and flowy. Way cool.

Here's the opening salvo of the day:









Before you get there though you gotta ride this:









The climb at the end; well, here's where Showtime got to:









I actually made it a few feet past this, but I won't mention it here. (I don't want to hurt anybodys feelings. )

Why Showtime? 'Cause of things like this:










Believe it or not, that "rollercoaster" isn't nearly as rickety as the other shit these guys have built. However, what you don't see is their attempt to build a wall ride at the end. The Tulsa area orthopedic surgeons will be giddy like little fucking schoolgirls if they get an eye on that beauty. They better get ready for a slew of shoulder surgeries.

And finally, do you know what you get when you have a guy doing some cool shit, with perfect lighting, and a crappy camera?

Umm; Stretch Armstrong? Neanderthal man? Knuckle dragger? You decide.

To recap: One broke hub, several cruddy pic's; anything else? Of course, when I got home the wife says "How'd you rip your shorts?" WHAT, my new fucking Fox shorts?! God damnit! I've no clue how this could've happened.

It could've been worse though; David got a call from work after driving 50 miles and being within 1/2 mile of the lot to only hear that he needed to go back to work. Now that's mucho crappier than a little hub, photo, and short problem.

ahh, a good vacation :)

Took another 3 days off with much better results than last. I planned to do this since the last vacation ended up being such a whirlwind of activities; mostly revolving around the dog. (See last post.)

Wednesday:
Carla and I started the day with visiting the kids teachers during their fall break. Somehow, even after spawning kids from my loins, Carla's done a hell of a job with these kids; they're smart, funny, and without a doubt beautiful. I spent the rest of the day with my father re-visiting my old passion; golf. I had a good time with mi padre; and actually played pretty well. I shot an 84 while using two creative mullies. Golf’s still fun but I sure don’t view it like I did before I started cycling.

Thursday:
I squeezed in a two hour ride at Turkey; the trails were in really good shape and would be great if we could get an inch or so of rain to pack the sand down that occurs when we haven’t had rain in a few weeks. Millennium and Boner were divine and mine; I owned those two; however my nemesis Hi-Chi paid me back in spades, scrapes, and bruises. I’m getting there though; I finally cleared a few sections that have haunted me for awhile. One of these days, after sessioning this trail piece by piece, I’ll clean the entire thing. I may have to get a tattoo to remember that occasion by if I ever do clean it. When evening rolled around we were visited by a lady from P.A.W.S. who brought a dog by for us to visit. Carla had viewed this dog in the 'net and it seemed like she'd be a good fit for our family, and she was. This dog's had both of it's front legs broken and is still wearing a cast on one of them.

Friday:
We had decided during the visit Thursday to adopt Molly so she was spayed Friday and we picked her up that evening. After much deliberation by the girls a new name was finally chosen; say hello to Jessie:









Here's Jessie on her first sleepover:

I think you could say that she's melded with our family quite well.

Friday morning Carla and I painted Isabel's room a delightful shade of pink then visited the French importer of fine linens "Target" to do a complete makeover. As you can imagine upon arrival from a night at her grandparents with her new dog in tow, the new room was icing on the cake.

Saturday:
Whistler and I hooked up for a 3 1/2 hour ride at Turkey. Once again the trails were awesome and the weather was incredible. We rode in this order: climb to dildo, climb to top, first part of Boner to second half of Millinnium, second part of Boner to first part of Millinnium, snake run to Fairydust, back to spider then on to Hi-Chi. It was all pretty good clean riding up 'til that last trail. Hi-Chi extracted a little skin, a little pride, and a drop of blood or two. But, I don't think she knows who she's dealing with, I've got a date set with her for Monday and Tuesday evenings. I shall return! Here's the only pic from the ride that was worth a damn; it features David trying this short little tech climb I found.

I've yet to see anyone clean this; but my money's on that hip cat to do it first. After we finished riding the hard shit we meandered down to the south trail, to Larry, Mo, & Stacy. (Not Curly 'cause Stacy ate shit there hard once, and since him and Curly have the same hair style we exchanged the name) Then on to Lo-Chi, sure alot of people claim this is a beginner trail; but for pure fun, flowing trails at Turkey; it's tops.

Sunday:
Slept in, mowed the lawn, and fucked off!

In conclusion:
It would be hard to say which day was the best. Each day had benefits that were on a lot of different levels and all good.

On to other things:
First; some people just can't stand it when a guy is enjoying life; look at the shit I take from a so-called" friend":

"I hope that your exhausting week doesn’t get you to run down. Poor fella. You’re probably being forced into sex as well. Libbi and I will keep you in our prayers."

That just ain't right; and no I wasn't "forced", I did it willingly! You jealous fuck!

And last but not least; if you're in Oklahoma, and you pull up behind a car with cigarette smoke billowing out the window, with this license tag:







She's probably already spoken for; all the good one's are. But really; who the fuck still represents the "3" all over their rigs, the dude's been dead for four years now. So 3's been gone for 4 so let it go, especially if you're a chick. The guy you're impressing with that is probably your dad. All the other dudes who see you with this think one thing: "Po White Ho". So drop it snaggletooth and get one with daisies on it to represent the inner lady you're suppressing.

Oh, I almost forgot; I found this cool little deal too:

she had a good life

It's been a rollercoaster with the dog lately; but sadly it's over.



I took this pic the day before we took her to the vet for the last time. She kinda looks content, but this is all she could muster.




Here's how she'll be remembered by me and others:


Me and that old girl had a lot of fun together back in the day when birds and time were plentiful. The day she died everyone reflected on their favorite memories:

• Isabel: Reba rubbing her chin along the length of the couch and chair to dry it off after getting a drink of water
• Emma: Sleeping with her front end on the floor and her rear end on the hearth of the fireplace
• Carla: Every morning Carla let the dog out, fed her, and gave her dog biscuits. Upon re-entering the house, up until the very end, Reba would come in like a pup, running around with way too much enthusiasm for a 14 yr. old dog
• Calvin: The way her lip would hang up and she'd walk around looking like a doofus (Of course she didn't know and really didn't care.)

Those were the later in life memories; earlier memories include:

• Stuart: Picking her up when he bought her and seeing the mass hysteria of all the puppies
• Stuart: Her slashing across the course in Kansas on her way to winning the Derby stakes
• Calvin: Her being on point while standing in a pond
• Calvin: The "what the fuck" look she gave me when she pointed a covey of about 50 birds and I emptied my gun, reloaded, emptied again without a single dead bird! (My father in-law did the same thing. I think we both got a tad too excited!)
• Losing her in Sand Springs for about three hours only to find her on point, on her belly, with a bird about 3 inches in front of her face. (I of course missed that one too and got another "WTF" look from her.) Her and this bird must have had a serious détente. For a dog and quail to be eye to eye, with the dog on her belly, means that one: they'd been there awhile, and two: Reba moved very slowly and subtly to be able to go from standing to laying without the bird flushing.

She was obviously a special dog that meant more than just a good meal to a lot of people.

Your extended family will miss you honey.

I can still picture days like this:

wussy deluxe

"Freeriding" is the prince of mountain biking. Pick up any mtn. bike magazine; what's on the cover? Some dude, extremely talented, hucking off a huge rock. bridge, building, or skyscraper. (OK, they're not there yet but supposedly Josh Bender's gonna do a 100' drop soon.) Anyway, you get the idea. Me, like a lot of wannabe's see this side of the sport as cool and something they'd like to do if they had bigger testiclees twins. Sometimes I think I could do it, others, ummmmm no. (Sometimes I think I'm a hucker at heart, others a deelux wussy; wussy always wins, always, it's always less painful.)

Somebody who does, or did, and may again in the future is Jason Jump. He along with the world's tallest bike mechanic, and Steve Mullen are the only guys I've actually witnessed hitting the big drops and jumps at Turkey Mtn. I know others do, like Nate (Cooter Brown) but I've never seem them. I have however seen them working their asses off building stuff for them to shred.

Hold on, I'm getting to the point here. Monday I peruse to the local rippers' site, http://www.tulsafreeriders.com/ and read the following: 10/10/05: The Benefit ride for Jason will be this weekend 10/15 and 10/16. Some of us will be heading up friday night as well. The event will be held at Devils Den in Arkansas. There will be riding all day Saturday and party Saturday night and optional riding on Sunday. Food Saturday night will be provided. There will be a shuttle running all day Saturday and we are working on getting some swag to give away. A donation of $50 per rider is expected.. but not required. Please come out and enjoy a good time for a good cause!

OK, local guys bad off, but how bad; here's the reply from Steve (webmaster and serious huckaholic) as to the severity of the injury(s):"Hey, we will be holding it this weekend at Devils Den, you should come hang out and ride. Jason broke his femur (big leg bone) and crushed his wrist after the last race, we went up for a few more runs after the race, he wrecked on the first run, pretty nasty, he is doing pretty well now."

Pretty well...now? OK, I think I'll stay on the ground for...now! Remember, I've got a hot wife and two kids; I can't afford to go big, and go to the hospital, and go broke, and go find another wife 'cause after a bone twister like that this one would finally complete the puzzle that I AM A BIG DUMBASS. She's sniffing it out now and surely a stunt like that'd be the last proverbial straw. Here's a great pic of the trio at the Alamo.


BTW, wanna see Jason Jump jump? Go here:http://www.tulsafreeriders.com/Jasonvids.htm
Get well Rusty.

when life gives you lemons

Don't just make lemonade; squash the fuckers.

Man the luck is changing. Last week sucked but ended on a highnote and this week is off to a killer start; I had a good day at work yesterday; picked up my wagging tail dog from the vet; then kicked some serious ass last night winning not one but two poker tourneys! See Cha-Fucking-Ching!!!

Here's the dog and kiddo's before her weekend spa vacation.









She's looking pretty sad there.

Here she is back when she was feeling better:









Welcome home dog, hope all remains well. Want some lemonade?

Pros vs. Cons/26” Wheel vs. 25 lb. Rocks

What a weird four day weekend. The first day of vacation was spent cleaning the dog poo, and the second day was spent taking her to the vet. After a 3 day stay at the vet she’ll be coming home today. There has been no prognosis yet but hopefully her quality of life will improve with the medicines they’re prescribing her. I’ve got my fingers crossed; my family is really attached to this 14 year old dog.

A lot of activities this weekend; both good and bad; so here’s my pros and con’s of the four days:

PROS
Got to ride Saturday
Got to ride Sunday
Took youngest to the zoo
Good quality time with Hot Sauce ;)
Dealer rides again

CONS
Dog ruined the carpet
Spent Friday at the vet office
Little E was a no show at the trailhead
Moved a big rock, accidentally
No ride Thursday
No ride Friday
Dealer’s out of here
OU got killed

Day 1:
That’s the day of carpet cleaning and mass whining on my part. The term shitty day seems fitting and yet still comes up short.

Day 2:
Spent the morning at the vet office, but the afternoon was much better since I got to spend some quality time with my Hottie!

Day 3:
Finally got to ride for 2.5 hours Saturday morning. The trails were perfect, the weather a little chilly, and it was quiet because Little E pulled a “No-Show Jones” on me. Good morning equals crappy afternoon; my beloved Sooners got their ass handed to ‘em by the “Buns a flexin’ Texans”. Oh well, Mack’s still the coach, he’s 3-5 against OU. As long as he’s there OU should do well longterm.

Day 4:
Rode again and this time with Dealer. It was his first time on the dirt since our trip to Crested Butte back in July. Got to see a few nice SS’s having a blast, and one sick dude doing lip buster on a cyclo-cross bike; now that’s intense! Also, while cruising along a trail the rock gods paid me in full when a large rock tangled with the front wheel. How in the world a 26” wheel moving at 5 mph could dislodge a 25 lb. rock that’s buried 4” into the soil I don’t know. What I do know though is that when this happens all forward momentum ceases and the rider gets a soil sample, bruised thighs, sore knee, an aching calve, and a ripped yang. (See my high school terminology for that one.) That fucking rock moved a foot!

After the ride I spent the afternoon with my youngest girl Isabel at the zoo. This kid’s a zoo fanatic and at age six could give a professional tour guide the creeps when it comes to her knowledge of the local zoo. The weather was perfect and so was she. Of all the things I do with my kids taking them to the zoo is tops. My kids love to be outdoors, love animals, and are at their happiest at a zoo. The only negative I ever hear from my kids at the zoo is: “Do we have to go now”. Way to go Isabel, thanks for making what had been a cruddy vacation end on a high note.

Last thing; Friday's Dealers last day here at work; good luck hoser.

man what a crap filled day

With a high of 55 today and a little rain last night to pack the trails the day was looking like it was going to be a spectacular day to ride. However, sometimes life just happens. After sleeping in a little on the first of two days vacation I lounged around for awhile, ate breakfast, started to read the paper, and as usual the smell of newsprint got the old bowels excited so off the to loo I went. After exiting 30 minutes or so later I thought I'd really damaged the house 'cause I could smell poo everywhere I went. Upon entering the living room I realized why; my 14 year old dog had destroyed the place with runny poo, evidently she started in the hallway and eased her way toward the kitchen leaving quite a few piles of "high yeller" dog shit across the berber. So my morning was spent cleaning carpet for 2.5 hours! Now THAT's a vacation day well spent.

Needless to say, I didn't ride. My motivation had been robbed, maybe tomorrow I won't have anything holding me back.

Oh yeah, Mountain Mike got a new Trek. Hopefully I'll get to see it in person some day; though it won't be for long since he'll ride away from me due to he races and I just like to ride.