Playing Catch-Up

The ride we (JJ, A1 and I) did on Sunday was great and it made me realize I'm way behind in fitness, so despite this Nor'easter I descided I need to get out and start playing catch up. Usually I commute to work at least two or three days a week starting in March and this year that just didn't happen for a host of reasons- and I wasn't making up that lost hour of saddle time a day- so needless to say I wasn't doing much.

Yesterday I got home from work, did a quick round of dumping buckets around the house (my redneck version of gutters) and applied for a quick hall pass. Part of the plan was to ride to JJ's house to pick up a DVD of PRB that he had so kindly burned for me. I snagged the Cross-Check from the basement that has been doubling as a pool as of late, geared up in my best snivel gear and headed out the door. Into the second song on my shuffle the battery died (reminded me of A1 only charging his light once every six months) oh well no tunes, but plenty of rain and roaring brooks to listen to. Actually I was sort of glad as the sound of all the running water was pretty wild.

Headed out to the Maine line on Mill Street and was surprised by how much damage had been done by the run off. Large sections of Mill street were in danger of falling into the abyss and had me riding at times damn close to the yellow line. I got to the Maine line and the road looked real nasty so I spun around and headed for the backside of Davis hill to see what that looked like.

As A1 had mentioned the town had dropped some large scale gravel on the parts of the road- I was glad I was on cross tires but was still waiting to feel a soft wheel. It never came but the climb did and up I went. I was surprised how firm the road felt, maybe because all the fines had washed away and I was riding on bedrock. It wasn't quite that bad but there were sections that were pretty gnarly.

I got to the top and began rolling down the dirt towards JJ's house and a truck rolled up behind me. I wasn't too anxious to get right on the side of the road but I pulled over to give him plenty of room but he wouldn't come by, I waved him to come by and still nothing. I wasn't sure what to think and the road was rough enough that I was keeping my eyes on where I was going. Finally he came up next to me and started by just as a big gap in the road appeared. I jumped for all I was worth (about 2 cents) and cleared the first three inches of the hole- but managed to land completely in it. I thought about how much fun it was going to be to hit the ground but amazingly I managed to roll out unscaythed (spelling?). I will chalk that up to pure luck as skill was sadly missing.

I got to JJ's and dripped on his floor while I talked to he and his wife while his kids looked at me like I was some sort of freak. I then realized I was getting warm and had better head out or else I'd be pretty misrable getting cold again. I snagged the DVD and headed out the door. I got home and the girls had already eaten so I snagged the leftovers. I got cleaned up, put the girls to bed and sat down with the sole beer left in the fridge (poor planning on my part) and put in the newly minted DVD of the 2007 PRB with CSC taking the win yet again. The anticipation built, the surround sound was cranked, and the player wouldn't read the disc. Damn. Try again, nothing. Ok that player is a piece of crap- it might be because Emma thought that a fruit rollup would work well as a DVD. So upstairs I went, hell it's kinda like porn so why not watch it in the bedroom! But again- no go. So over to the computer- nope. Damn!!!! So I still haven't seen the footage. Looks like JJ is going to have an uninvited houseguest soon.

So that was my afternoon. This morning I rode into work, fairly dry. A1 tried to hit me with a snowball as I pedaled by and JJ drove by and didn't give me a good draft- but at least I got in some saddle time today.

that's it from here.

later,

DEA