Friday............

What a busy Friday, world wide anyway. We are slow here at work but world wide there is a lot of stuff going on. Of course we had the royal wedding today. I am not much of a romantic (just ask my wife) but they do it right in Britain. How could you not enjoy seeing that it is incredible all the pageantry. I am just glad it went down without any mishaps. In this day and time you never know what could have happened. One of these days I want to go to Europe just to see all the old buildings and all. I want to see the Tour De France and I want to go to Britain and see Westminster Abbey church Big Ben and all the other neat stuff.

one bad buggy it's a hundred years old

what a crowd!!!!!!

try to top this

You know what surprised me today was the amount of negativity I have heard here at work about the wedding. We Americans tend to think we are better than the rest of the world and we could do it better. Bullshit, Those countries have been around for 7-8 hundred years. We have only been here for a few hundred years and still don't know what the hell we are doing. But that is another blog altogether. I liked seeing the wedding and will probably watch it again with the wife. She recorded it on the dvr, that's the bomb now we don't half to watch the commercials.

Now on our side of the pond the space shuttle Endeavor was due to launch today BUT didn't, some lame ass heater won't work so they delayed it for 3 days. After this one we have one more shuttle launch before we junk all the space shuttles. Why I haven't figured out yet but our wonder lame ass president has decided we don't need to go to space anymore. The one thing we seem to do right (the space program) he feels we don't need anymore. I don't know how you feel about that but I think it sucks. We went to Kennedy space center last year and had a ball. The one fact I learned while I was there, thru patents, for every dollar the space program spends they get back 7 dollars in return. So why would you cancel that. It pays for its self!! Now we are going to rely on the Russians for flights to space. So lame..................Have a good weekend...........

Oh Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It just keeps getting better! Last week was the first race of the summer series and my boys did great. Made me a proud dad, this week we went and they did better! Oh yea, guess what, I am a proud papa!! Heard that before haven't ya.

So anyhow Chase has really taken a liking to his bike this year. Outta the blue, I really didn't see this coming. He hasn't ridin hardly at all this winter and hasn't really seemed interested. Then out of nowhere he decides he wants to race the summer series and damn, 2 weeks in a row he has a medal around his neck!

Yep, he went out, and came up the hill in 3rd place and by the end of the race he was sitting in 2nd place!! Now Chase has never been that competitive, he raced before but he just road around more than he raced then. For him to overtake another rider and push himself hard enough to make it stick is a big improvement for him! Now he is saying we have to make all the races and he needs to ride a little more.

That is one big smile right there. You are looking at one proud kid, and that makes me proud. I should have taken a picture of him with his other buddies. They where all talking about the race afterword.

Next we have Cody, now he is about the same as his brother. Hasn't raced in forever and not much training, then last week he shows up and gets 2nd place. This week he trained a little bit and then went racing. The results where 1st place. That's my boy, with Cody this is the usual. He has been racing for 4 years now and is more than capable of racing up front. He knows the deal and how to make it happen. As you can see in the photo he was in 2nd here at the start. He and the other guy had already gaped the rest of the field by 25 yards at the top of the start climb. He had about 25 guys in his race. Cody sat on the back wheel of this guy for the majority of the race and then made his move toward the end of the race. That's called strategy, he knows how to use it. Chase is learning and will catch on. It's all part of growing up at the bike races. I can think of worse places to grow up.

They had a good crowd last night. You wouldn't think you would have a 100 people show up for a race series in the middle of the week. This shot is of the sign up area right after everybody had when down the hill for the start. Neil (the promoter) does a good job of setting up a professional race venue. Every week he goes all out..............

Race Day..........

Yep it's Wednesday, race day again. Got the truck loaded up and ready to go. All the bicycles are serviced and ready to ride, the kids are ready and so am I. Last night I spent the evening loading the truck and getting all that crap together. For 3 people it takes a lot of stuff.

Tomorrow I will have a full report for ya, I hope to have the same results or better to post about. We are at Renaissance Park in Charlotte. I do not like this place, no flow to it and last year I managed to crash into a hornets nest. Yes into, hard to believe but hornets build their nest in the ground and of all places to crash I hit the ground right on top of a nest. They tore my ass up, and chased my down the trail!! It was not fun. That got them fired up and they bit a few other people also.

wilkesboro nc

colorado

Check out these photos the top one is a trail up in the NC mountains that I have never ridden. The bottom one is of a trail in Colorado that I probably never will ride. I like both shots though, fantastic single track. Trails like these are what mountain bikers live to ride, flowing and fast.

How about these from California you go off the side of this trail your screwed!! I am going to get my helmet camera out and shoot a video of some of our local trails. Believe me they ain't nothing like these shots! They are nice but not "epic", that's the word we cyclist use when we want to impress other cyclist with a story about our ride!

I have a redneck buddy of mine who fly's airplanes. He gets to go ride "epic" trails out west whenever he is out west. The closest I ever get to riding these trails is when he sends me the pictures. Yea the pictures of himself riding these "epic" trails........What a friend!!!!!!!!!LOL.............

Catching Up............................

Ok, now it's Tuesday and time for me to catch up! The weekend went by at the usual pace, over before you know it. It took me all day Monday and a good nights sleep to get back my energy. Allergies are kicking my butt this year. I didn't ride at all this weekend but Cody did, he went out Saturday afternoon and put in about 25 miles by himself. Now he is starting to get back into riding. All because of his little brother!

Sunday came around and we went to mom's for breakfast. Easter Sunday. Then we headed to Carowinds Theme Park. Had a great time, the kids really enjoyed it. I went and had fun, but that ain't my favorite place to play. I can't take the roller coasters anymore all that flipping and flopping makes me sick.

They have really made it a nice place though. I have been going there for 20 years and it is neat to see the changes over time. What is old is new again, that type of thing.

bumper cars

brothers being brothers

candy store

Here are some shots from around the park. The biggest change is the Intimidator roller coaster. That thing is brand new and huge, also it broke down and we didn't get to ride it.

I shot these pictures from the needle thing you ride up to 320 feet. They are the Intimidator..... That didn't work.LOL. Maybe next time.

Of course you have to have a Dale Earnhardt car in front of it. Still a sharp car!

Now this thing was called the Nighthawk. I will never ride it again! You lay on your back and go backwards that sucked! I swear it made me sick!!!

Here are a few shots of Charlotte from the top of the Needle.

Good Friday...................

And I am at work, something just ain't right about that! Oh well is what it is. Raining here now, supposed to stop after while and be beautiful the rest of the weekend. I hope so! Haven't got any big plans for the weekend. Mom is keeping Chase tonight, and Cody is going to Wilmington with his girlfriend and her parents.

I am planning on riding a good bit, trying to get up to speed for the summer races. The ones I had no intention of riding. That now I plan on riding. Oh well, I can change my mind.

Now to change the subject, checkout this house. It is a famous house that I don't remember much else about I just like it. It is in upstate NY somewhere. The "glass house" is what they call it. The only privacy is the bathroom. Kinda neat and unusual.

I haven't had any of my grain tower shots on here lately so I decided to end with that. Have a nice Easter and a good weekend..............

Proud Papa...................

Yep, I am a proud papa! The Charlotte mountain bike summer series kicked off last night at Francis Beatty Park. Chase has been saying for awhile now he wanted to race and Cody hasn't said much about it. It started and they raced.

the finish area and signups

Yesterday a.m. I woke Cody up to see if he was even gonna come and he said yes. So I loaded up all of our stuff and grandma brought them to work at 4oclock. On the way Cody decides he is gonna race, Chase was the reason we were going and I guess that's what it took to get Cody motivated again!

at the finish thats my boy

I went and rode, but didn't race. It did give me the fever, I think I am gonna hit it next week. It was great being back at the races. I helped mark the course and just hung around and took pictures. Of course I was cheering and having a good time!

cody blue and yellow

chase blue and yellow

entrance for woods

This was the start of both of their races. You come across the dam and head into the woods, I was at the entrance to the woods.Chase was in 3rd at start and stayed there the whole race, he had about 10 kids in his class. Cody started in 2nd and droped back to a strong 3rd. He had about 25 in his class.

chase

chase

cody

Couple of action shots of the kids during the race. Various locations in the woods. One of these days I am going to get a good camera and learn how to use it! Until then this is what you get!

The fruits of their hard labor!!!! That's my boys......................................... 

Good Advice........................

I found this the other day. Can't really remember where I came across it, but it really made since to me. The title was: You Learn Everything You Need To Know In Kindergarten!!!

Four facts that will get you through life:

1-Share everything.

2-Play fair.

3-Don't hit people.

4-Say you are sorry when you hurt someone.

All of the above are courtesy of Robert Fulghum..................



That's about all I am gonna post today. Hard for me to improve on that...............

Helmets............

I need a new bicycle helmet. That might not sound like much to most folks but have you ever priced them. Yea you can get them at Wal-Mart for 30 bucks, but that ain't the kind a real cyclist will wear!

This one right here will sell for 200! I like it but it doesn't fit my head right. I have a funny shaped head!

These sell for around a 100 bucks and I haven't tried one on yet. The last thing you want to do is buy a helmet that hurts your head. If you are on the bike for 3-4 hours at a time you don't want a helmet that is gonna give you a headache! Plus this is a mountain bike helmet, not a road bike helmet.

I want a road bike helmet. Now for the bicycle education tip of the day. Do you know the difference between the 2 helmets? Yes the visor is the difference. Mountain bike helmets have a visor and road bike helmets don't.

Does that make since, not to me. The purpose of a visor is to keep the sun out of your eyes. Now according to my little pea brain, if I am on my road bike and riding down the road the sun is usually shinning and hence the need for a visor. If I am in the woods with trees over my head would I really need a visor! No you don't, but you are not cool with a visor on the road. You lose cool points.

You see the road crowd, they worry about stupid shit like that. Mountain bikers could care less! Kinda funny ain't it. More and more mtn. bikers are wearing road helmets in the woods and nobody cares. Roadies aren't making a big push for the visor either. You see most roadies really believe they are stronger than the mountain bikers. They think because they can ride for 50 miles at a shot they are stronger than the average rider. Guess what they are not. One of the funniest things you will ever see is a roadie trying to go mtn biking. No skill set what so ever! Scared to death of crashing, so funny to watch.

Oh well hope that made you think a little bit and laugh a lot...............................I still need a helmet!!!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Chase.........

My last post saturday. I said as soon as this storm is outta here, so am I. man I was wrong we had a funnel cloud touch down a mile from my house! We had a hell of a mess. Not much rain but real heavy winds, the Lowe's store in Monroe had about 4 buildings out front that were distroyed and than a Lowe's store in Sanford NC was completely knocked down!

This is the Lowe's in Sanford. What a mess, they got it even worse than we did out in the eastern part of the state. 

I am glad we got of as easy as we did. So that ruined Saturday for us, but Sunday was real nice. Chase rode both of his dirtbikes and had a ball. he likes to ride the little KTM in the woods, it has an automatic transmision so he is more comfortable on it. The Suzuki is a real motorcycle with a 6 speed transmision. He is still learning how to work the clutch and all.

He was about as tired as a ten year old could be last night. Cody went to the beach for a few days with Austin so he is out of the picture. Chase and I are having fun, we are going mountian biking after work today. Got everything loaded up and ready to go.  

Saturday.......................

The weather sucks, that's why I am sitting here writing this blog instead of outside playing like you are supposed to do on a Saturday. One minute the sun is out the next it is raining for like 2 minutes at a time. We are under a severe thunder storm watch and tornado watch until 2.

If it did this during the week I could care less but it is ruining my weekend. Bad enough I had to go to a wedding last night. But now I am losing time out of my weekend!

Just so I don't hurt anybody's feeling I had a good time at the wedding. I met everybody my wife works with and I like them. We went and had a few beers after the wedding, that was a good time. My wife is a nurse and you never know what you are going to hear when you get a group of nurses together. A lot of what you are going to hear you probably don't want to hear! Take my word for it!

Then throw in the alcohol and it is on! People at other tables will stop eating and just stare at you. It happened last night......LOL.....

Oh well, as soon as this storm is outta here I will be too. Have a nice weekend and I will be back Monday.....................

Yesterday & Friday................

I went riding last night too. Yesterday I was talking about my little truck again. I like that truck by the way. But anyhow this morning, on the way to take Chase to school this car went flying by!!

I got to have me one of these! Think back a few years and you remember the Honda CRX ? Well it's back, we went from CRX to CRZ, it's zzzzzz time for me to get one. I love little cars, easy to park and get around. They are just cool, and the gas mileage. The only draw back is the 2 seats.

Of course mine will be red. My favorite color on a vehicle period. You got to admit that is a cool car. I could drive it on a full tank of gas for like a month.

You remember the insight, I don't think they really ever sold a lot of these. The timing was wrong, Now gas is damn near 4 dollars a gallon and it ain't coming back down. This time I bet they will sell a bunch of the CRZ's.

Now let's get to the fact it's Friday. The best day of the week, when I get outta here I get to go to a wedding tonight. Yippee!!!!!!!!!...You do believe that right?...LOL.. That's about all I have to say about Friday, it's here and I have a wedding to suffer through. At least it's not on Saturday. That would ruin a whole day.

Now to the ride! That was the highlight of yesterday. Got home and got ready was about to hit the door for a well deserved road ride by myself. By myself because I wanted to be lazy and just pedal. Then Sonny called, and I answered. I figured if it was just him I could whine enough he would ride at my pace.

But no, we always leave at the same time and meet halfway between his house and my house. As I was coming over the hill I see 2 riders coming. Yep, he brought Austin with him. I like Austin, he's a good kid. But he can kick my ass on a bike. So can my kid, Tuesday night he was kicking my ass.

Right then I started cussing , I knew my nice easy ride had vanished. Sure enough we hauled ass, pushed it up every hill and they basically tried to kill me. Damn that was a good ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Conservation......................

If you read this blog very often you know I have a full sized F150 truck that I never drive. Gas cost to much, and I have a little Chevy S-10 that I drive all the time. I can afford the gas for it. You have probably heard me talk about the fact it only has a little 4-cylinder engine. Sometimes I have to turn the air condition off if I want to climb a big hill. Don't even think about passing somebody other than a moped, it just ain't going to happen.

Here's where I am going with this, Yesterday I pulled up to a stop light and had to wait a few minutes. As I was setting there I noticed I was like the only person sitting there with my windows rolled down? Why I asked myself. It was about 70 degrees outside and a beautiful day. Not only do you save gas by not running the air condition but you get to enjoy the beautiful day.

Instead all these people ride around in their enclosed capsules and never even smell the fresh cut grass. They are probably the same people who park as close to the front door of the store as they can get. Then they wonder why they need all the medicine for there clogged heart. I could go on and on about fat ass America but I will let you ponder why we are the fattest people on the planet.

Ever notice you never see any fat Mexicans in pictures of Mexico, they only get fat once they come here and become Americanized................LOL..........

Hope this post made you smile anyway, that was about the only goal I had with this bit of knowledge. Or observation what ever you want to call it......

Ridin'''''''''''''''''''''''

Finally, I had a few partners for the ride last night. Chase had said he wanted to ride last, night but I wasn't gonna hold him to it if he decided he didn't want to go. So I got home and asked and he still wanted to go. As we where getting ready Cody started getting his stuff together. That kinda surprised me, he hasn't wanted to ride in awhile.

So we loaded up and went to Beatty park. Had a great time, I ride with Chase when it is just us and Cody takes off. We see him at the truck when we are done. The trail was in great shape, the best I have seen it in a while. The temperature was great and we had fun. The picture above was in the parking lot. We were just about to head out, I was trying to get both in a picture together. That didn't work Cody would be on one side of the truck and Chase on the other. No matter when I tried to get the shot.

These shots are of Chase coming down the trail and then going by, don't worry I caught him! We had a good time, the kids seemed to have fun and we spent an evening in the park. Don't get much better than that.

So tonight it's back to reality, the yard needs mowed. I am the lucky one. Hopefully I can get done early enough I can at least ride to town for the hell of it.

I leave you with this shot today. The other night I had this flock of guinea's come down the driveway. You would not believe how loud they are, when I tried to get them on camera they went through the woods. I went up in the woods and got a shot of them in my neighbors back yard. That was as close as I could get before they ran up the hill. I like living in the country..............