may day

hello from the horsetooth nebula. we are experiencing EXCEPTIONAL weather here in the upper forty. sunny. mmm hmmm.

yeseterday was a rist kind of day. stiff wind from the south. overcast. a little chilly. i listened to madonna's newish album on the mp3 ... confessions from the dance floor or something. good stuff to climb to, i tell ya what.

on the way up i caught this guy who is kind of a legend around here (or he should be). he rides his mtb on the stover prairie loop most every weekend. dressed in a white t-shirt, cut off jeans, running shoes on platforms, and aviator sunglasses. he uses a big gear always - he grinds up steep sections at a cadence more appropriate for a stair master. he's gotta be at least a little, ummm, excentric. funny thing is, he goes pretty fast uphill ... i've seen him ride through groups of folks on road bikes. he always has a goofy smile on his face. anyway ... one of these days i swear i'll get a picture of him. i know just where to find him.

so i crested the top of rist and dropped into stove prairie. it immediately started raining. it was chilly and damp for awhile but all told not too bad really. plus i had been reading about dub and endurosnob's experience at transiowa so wasn't about to complain. the worst of it was not being able to rail the corners because of the damp pavement. i big ringed it into the wind all the way down to masonville. my legs got covered in road muck and the residue of the embrocation i had applied before the ride. that stuff works, i swear. it felt like i had tights on. wore the rain jacket for twenty minutes but then said eff it. i took it off, shifted up two cogs, and proceeded to work hard enough to stay warm. all was well until i noticed the back tire getting soft. slow leak. i'm so effing lazy when it comes to that crap. it had about 80 psi in it still when i arrived back in town.

when i got home it was a hot shower, some hot cocoa, and a two hour nap with my dog on the couch. purdy good.








coal miners long johns