L.a.m.b.

Oh to live on sugar mountain,
with the barkers and the colored balloons,
You cant be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon,
You're leaving there too soon. -Neil Young

The view from Appalachian Gap. Neil said it best "your leaving there too soon".

Saturday, a small train of seven riders left Roxbury VT in search of exhaustive satisfaction and found it 6 hours and 13 minutes later on Brandon Gap. Concentration on overtime, breathing pipes wide eff'in open. Proud Mary keep on burn'in, keep that 12-25 turn'in.

Atop our first challenge, Lincoln gap.
Soaking wet bodies
and smiles all around.

I enjoy the people I meet because of this sport, they are like no other people on earth. Not only strong, but strangely appreciative of huge doses of pain. Thanks to Sean for the trip north, a mellow guy with cycling in his soul.

The wheel is turning and you can't slow down

You can't let go and you can't hold on
You can't go back and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will

Won't you try just a little bit harder
Couldn't you try just a little bit more
Won't you try just a little bit harder
Couldn't you try just a little bit more

Round, round, Robin run around
Gotta get back where you belong
Little bit harder, just a little bit more
Little bit further than you gone before

The Wheel, Gerry Garcia

Scott, a Bliss rider from Burlington.
This seventeen year old climber pushed me to try + catch him on all four gaps.
Thanks for the workout Scott. The experience would not have been the same with out you there, if this was a race I would have lost four times.

Just fool'in, kinda.
Mile 99 of 114, on our way to a four mile decent off the last gap.
The numbers for the ride;

9400 vert feet of climbing
17.6 moving average

4 cliff bars
8 bottles
1 loaf banana bread (yes, the loaf in my jersey pocket)
2 paks fig newtons
1 banana
1 orange
1 v8
1 half bag of potato chips
2 gallons of stinging sweat in the eyes
4 convenience stores stops
14 worn out legs.

July is soap opera month

I have friends that live and breathe nascar..and don't understand the fascination. But is probably similar to me (and others) following our daily dose of the tour. Nothing less than the greatest soap opera unfolding minute by minute, day by day. There's no predicting what will happen around each corner or atop the next climb, who will suffer, who will fall, who will be the next doping fool. One thing that can be predicted with certainty is which of the three tv commercials will come on next;

Run flat Bridgestone tires,

"take it all off" blue painters tape

or my personal least favorite...
That damn fool Smiling Bob with his annoying whistling jingle and advertisement for penis pills.

Last evening's edition of the national news, no mention of team astana or the disgraced Vinokourov but instead Lindsay lohan latest drunk driving offense.
As the tour rolls on, so does our kitchen project! This place is finally looking like a kitchen again. After 25 days, another two or three weeks before the counter tops are installed.

The W101 is less than two weeks! feeling ready..should be a blast. Lots of us rolling down to PA for that ride..might need to rent a bus. Better yet ask Jared to fly us all down! Bill can you set that up??

This weekend, a L.A.M.B. ride with CCB up in Whittingham country. A one hundred seventeen mile road loop over four gaps in norther VT. Rolling with Sean and a bunch of others on roady bikes. Wish Jeff could roll..other plans for a NY trip for that dude. Sucks you won't be with us Jeffery...
Been a while since I've swung a leg over the road bike, all training and rides lately have been atop my freakish three speed 69'er. I'll explain... A month ago, expecting my single speed I wanted to go gearless and prepare my riding style to abandon the need for shifting. The removal of a rear derailleur resulted in a temporary case of phantom right thumb shifter syndrome. With Igleheart's help (loaning me a Rolhoff chain tensioner) I kept the front derailleur on for commuting to work. The three gears, 22-17, 32-17, 42-17 have been perfect for all around hardtailing.Last weekend's 7 hour technical trail adventure with Kerry and Igleheart was a good test for the three speed. 29 inch wheel up front aided the rigid fork and helped roll over logs and obstacles. The 29 thing is here to stay!

Elvis lives!

Pleasant surprise on a Monday Commute.
Glad I took the coastal route to work.

My personal favorite.How'd they do it? No Idea...
A passion for sand sculpture for certain.
Rain tonight, what a shame.Some advice on Patience..
Wait the extra two minutes
for gravity to have its effect
on the last two shots of hammer gel.
It does not like the microwave.
Just an FYI.Kitchen update; day seventeen.
Like a jig saw puzzle but you can cheat with a chop saw.
Walls are smooth and white thanks to some talented Italian fellows. I hesitated on hiring a crew to plaster but now feel it was money well spent. Mom and Dad stopped over to give a lesson in pneumatic floor hammer operation...Lesli has a new favorite tool. We were on our way to completion when my ten year old air compressor went up in smoke.

Day thirteen...Help!

Keep telling myself, it gets worse before it gets better.

Looking, and feeling like we're taking two steps back in order to take one step forward but we're fairly comfortable with progress thus far. I must admit I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie The Money Pit as Lesli and I layed a new sub floor last evening. In a small victory, I didn't fall through the joists to the basement.
I thought for the walls were going to come crumbing down and we'd be forced to take a match to our humble ranch house. "No lieutenant, I have no clue what started the blaze??" "What happened to our kitchen floor...?" "Ahh.. My dog Gus chews wood sir..?"
Thanks Daren for your construction expertise. I made a tech support call to him yesterday from the lumber isle at Home Depot with some ridiculous plywood question. Brad has also been a source of key information but I liked George's advise from yesterday, "go heavy on the construction adhesive!"

Gravity sucks sometimes, my bike room is a mess.

The girl sure can work a saw! Norm Abrums wouldn't be so happy with no eye protection and flip-flops on the job site though.. Blue board next. Update tomorrow.
found a 1957 penny face up in the wall..considering this good luck!
Lesli thought it would be appropriate to leave two 2007 pennies (one Canadian, one U.S.) in the wall alongside our found lucky jewel.

the good, the bad, and the bloody

The kitchen project continues...slowly. Last night I washed and dried paper plates in the bathroom sink after dinner and returned them to the pile of clean plates. I ask myself, do we need a kitchen? We have been experimenting on what exactly can be cooked on the BBQ grill. Last night Lesli managed to cook rice for our chicken fajitas, Next up we'll try pizza.
We've got some great neighbors here in the hood. Jean and Harvey invited us to dinner and served Jean's specialty..baked scallops. Thanks guys. They sent us packing with the leftovers that served as my breakfast Friday morning :)

Thom P and Chris rolled up from Summ'aville on the fourth of July and met up with Glenn and his bro Tim and myself for something of an old school ride. We were all on hardtails, something that doesn't happen too often anymore. That's Thom rolling in on his 29'er.With the plumber and electrician in my house all last week left me a great excuse to roll on some epic road miles up to Newburyport and Portsmouth NH. Feeling the bonk coming on I pulled over at a fruit stand to hydrate and get some calories and maybe witness this guy catch a fish. My attention span wasn't long enough to wait though.

Newburyport looking to Plumb island.
Thursday was a store to convenience store epic. I think that's the best part of road riding. All you need is a direction and ten bucks for an all day adventure. Made the mistake of reaching for the HOT V8..didn't realize till I got the first gulp down the hatch.6:30 am on Sunday. Funny who you bump into on rt 93 heading north in Vermont.
I waved to Skip through my window and mouthed the words.."where are you going?"
Met up w JW for an epic to bag some gaps.
Got two out of four then JW ran into some bad luck
at the top of Lincoln gap. I'll let him tell that tale (it's a bloody tale of his bloody tail).he's a quick healer.Got to go for now and remember how to do my job.
been a while since I've been there last.

Project; day three

There's many reasons for attempting to complete an epic task, but basically only one answer..because I like pain and stress. I am a Capricorn. Stubborn and unyielding, now knee deep in what was our 1950's built-in kitchen now splintered in my driveway. I love this shit.