Assing Around in A-town

So I spent last weekend Assing around in A-town. I was really just looking for a reason to kick it in some other town and to get in some good trail riding. Lucky for me it was like an OVEN on Broil. I did not check the weather reports for the previous few days to see what the weather had been like. However, I asked a buddy o mine whom had just returned how hot it was and his description was rather morbid. When I passed through my most favoritsist town in the whole wide world HOUSTON (all caps cause this is one place that could stand to shrink not grow) it was raining and a cool 82 degrees. This was not look'n so bad but ~ 60 miles East of Austin the rain decreased and the temp increased to a mild 104 deg. Wait did I just say 104 that is outrageous. As I was sitting in the A-C cooled vehicle, I thought the thermometer must be broken. Sure enough I lower the window and it took ~ .25 seconds for the interior of my Vehicle to get to well in excess of any house hold temp. It became so hot so fast that I think I started to sweat in anticipation of the heat. This really did throw a monkey wrench into my plans.

So 7:00 pm comes around and I head to The Emma Long Trail just outside the 360 loop. I read the descriptions and they basically said lots of small drops but I was really thinking (Heck how bad can it be?) I mean really how bad could it be right? WRONG. Austin has been experiencing a drought. That means POWDER and not nose candy or the stuff you pray for when Snow Boarding. It was this fine dust that was of the consistency of really chunky baby powder. Fast and The Furious 3 aint got Shit on me. I drifted as much of the trail as I could before the sun started to head into hiding for the night. Not much fun. So I proceeded to participate in my other pastime that night. Drinking.

As unsuccessful as I was at riding the MTB that day, I was more than twice as successful at drinking that night with one of my buds. 6th street was packed on Saturday night. I have to admit it was a blast or at least the bits I can remember.

Sunday heading back to BR and to what, MORE 103 deg weather yeah I chose to pass on Smithville on my way home and then pass on Memorial Park (due to Rain the Previous Day).

So now I am back in BR doin my thing.

Well Till Next Time,
Keep the Rubber Side Down.

JR

More Travel Time.

So I found out that I get to go back to Cali probably in Dec or whenever I feel like going. This time I am bringing the MTB again. My last trip to the left side which was fun was plagued with this stuff called racing or in my case a very high paced bicycle tour.


One of the coolest things that I forgot to mention was that whilst at Lake Tahoe I rode with Ned Overend. Ned though he is ole enough to be my pops is one of the coolest and fastest Mountain Bikers (period.) I was checking on www.cyclingnews.com my home page and I noticed that Super Ned finished 2nd overall at the Mount Washington Hillclimb. Damn Ned when are you going to let us young bucks have a chance?

Well at lake Tahoe we were tearing up the single at the North Star Ranch and sure enough who does Ned name drop to me, knowing of my southern roots, (?). Jason Sager, of all the people to mention I was a little surprised by that. So we are tearing it up on the descent then the climb back up to the top of the XC trail starts. I felt like I had a parachute on. 6000 feet above sea level and no avocet in site this climbing was starting to suck. Then the altitude headache started and it all just went down the gutter from there. I may not be a Cajun but us bottom dwellers need a little help when we get any higher than the roof of our house. BTW, check out Ned's results in the link earlier. Not bad for a 50 year old man or should I say Mutant.

LAE,

J

80 miles 10 water bottles 2 1 liter bottles.

Today was Africa HOTTTT.

10 water bottles. (24 oz each)
2 Nalgene bottles (1 Liter each)

80 miles.

It was damn hot. Actually it was too hot for me to be out training but I guess you have to look for God when you are training in this heat. Well actually you look for houses of God. Churches are always going to have a running faucet outside here in the south. So I hit up every Church in site. At every stop I would top off the tank and fill up two bottles. With as much fluid as I lost today and replenished I think I can actually say I am a new person.

Well I a beat and already rambling LAE, JR

So I still don't have a six pack but I am skinny again. Yay.

Crunches and leg lifts every morning and every night will make you belly go away. I am but a couple weeks away from being really skinny again.

So I am heading back to Cali shortly. Santa Cruz here I come again. I just need to figure out when and for how long I am going to stay pre and post SBCU.

So my truck hates me. I love american cars. If you look to some of my old post you know just how much I LOVE my peice of shit truck. Now the idle is all fucked and there is a short somewhere in the wiring. I think it is time to just throw this fucker in the trash. Good news is that I have been bike commuting and it is awesome. I get to haul ass and do intervals every afternoon while riding the 12+ miles home on my daily route. Also, I am loging an extra 35 miles a day between my afternoon ride and commuting. I think this was one of the missing links from my training before. Constantly being on the bike allows me to get good fitness without stressing and working out hard every time I am on the bike which reduces injuries and ailments.

I think I may rent a car and head down to Orange County and maybe Huntington Beach to do some surfing (learning to surf);-) hell how hard can it be right? I know I am going to eat those words. Hey if anyone has any experience racing in Europe and want to give me any pointers for Italy please help me. I am planning a 3 week long trip to Italy to race bicycles and ass around in someone else's hood. I really need to get some pointers so if you can offer any advice other than train a lot please help me. LAE, JR

So I think I am Fat.

So I have been on this minor weight loss kick lately. I am basically trying to salvage what is left of this race season. That said, I have been doing crunches and a lot of them every morning and every night. I learned one important lesson today do not do crunches immediately following a hard effort or workout.

So I cruise home drenched in sweat (yeah sexxxy right? NOT!!!!) grab a towel and hop on the floor to do my afternoon 300 crunches and sure enough I cramp. I was a gymnast for 7.5 years I used to do this all the time but today was different. I started to cramp in my abs and I wish I had a camera but I would not torture you all with my fat pics. I looked down and it appeared like a scene from Alien when the alien is about to break out of someone's torso. The right side was all clenched and the left loose when I released so it just looked all fuck'd up. Damn it looked funny but it hurt to much to laugh. Also, if I had laughed I am willing to bet that something else would have cramped up also. What a quagmire. So I have given myself 2.5 weeks to get skinny again. Lets see if it happens.

JR
(Cause Jr implies Junior)

Relocate?

So I was checking out Craig's List looking for a place to stay in the Bay Area. Well not really in the Bay Area but in San Fran. Check out this listing that I cut and paste:

WARNINGS OF "BELLAROSA" Before I address the so-called features there Realtors try use to distract you from it's flaws: It has electrical problems and poor storage and cabinet space!
1. dining and living room combo: "tiny, very small"

2. breakfast bar and granite countertops: "Pain in the ass to clean" people who built it, to cheap to put a sealer!

3. stainless steel appliances: Same problem even more so! Was told they had soft water, not true, must be the hardest in this area!

4. refrigerator: Works avg, same problem with cleaning being black and stainless!

5. garbage disposal: is on the wrong side of the sink, the sink is in 2 sections,"different sizes" the disposal is on the smaller side which you can't place large dishes on up to rinse off or soak. so typically your big dishes and pans go in the bigger side, which does not have the disposal on, leaving you to wipe out your sink to dispose of left over food scraps.

6. gas range with single oven: avg, Bad vent system for the stove area, it sucks the air out behind the microwave, and blows it out over the top of it, "RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD" , NICE GREASE BUILD UP! but it's black, you know what that means.

7. dishwasher: hAS GOT TO BE THE WORST i HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!
8. built in microwave: good, just make sure you read the book!

9. washer and dryer (closet): Funny, kinda like the the hidden surprises after they get you to move in! Oh, below avg. and if you get the unit with the stack able kind, What a JOKE, takes forever, and these adjitater's will twist your clothes up even with a small load and filling the water level high, "GO FIGURE"

10. dual pane windows: they do there job, "BETTER THAN THE WALLS DO", but the sliding ones are very hard to push, and have a very small handle to do it with, GIRLS, watch your nails!"

11. beige carpet: let see here, lets say all look and NO ACTION, has got to be one of the CHEAPEST, ok looking carpet, again, to CHEAP to Scotch guard it!

12. 2-space Carport: WHAT???? ONLY ONE SPACE!!!! Not covered, you cant' use it for any storage purposes

13. forced air gas heater central A/C: Louder than HELL, and when you close the vents, it's a louder hissing sound!

14. patio and fenced yard: which all the other units can look into, so don't run in and out with the chance of being seen in something you normally wouldn't take a chance in!

15. water and garbage paid: That's the least that they can do, considering all the COCKROACHES roaming the evening,
Now I can see why they have built these units up like they did, you see the area in back of the units located behind the units on the LENZEN side have an elevated veranda patio like terrace, so they are not on the ground floor like there parking garage area, but the LENZEN side has there backyard on the ground floor, of course, with a bunch of lil' or should say med- to large critters to keep you company, be careful of were you walk, including the side walk area where you would place your garbage container, in fact that whole side of lenzen including the STREET, to the SCHOOL DISTRICT BUILDING!!!! it is really terrible, i can't believe that the school district has not even done something about it, because it is that obvious!

The Main thing is, you have a VERY LAZY LANDLORD, whoever you can pin that too! With a combination of a very pretentious HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, who is obviously new at this cause they figure out things as they happen, leaving them to have an attitude and communicate things in an improper way...It's Kinda like the difference between, "OLD MONEY vs. new money" you know OLD MONEY HAS MORE EXPERIENCE SO THEY USUALLY MANAGE THINGS BETTER BECAUSE OF THAT, and new money usually has that uptight, stick up there ass, well usually because it's new, and they have not had this experience yet, or enough to know how to manage, usually they are easy to spot, no class, or lack of it, and no culture!!!


808 Lenzen Ave. Alameda at Alameda

This is near where I crashed in Santa Clara. I love California.

Jr