Cannondale Prevails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I made mention of it the other day, but maybe I didn't. I broke the derailleur hanger on the Flash 29. Not that big of a deal right? Wrong?

We ordered 2 different aftermarket hangers and neither would work! So we call Cannondale and they say "yea we are out of them and will have them sometime in March".

March.....Are you kidding me!!! A brand new bike and can't even ride it! Well they say "let us get ahold of your area rep and maybe he has one". OK, that sounds simple, NOT...

Come to find out, he's on vacation for 2 weeks! It's the holiday's.

So what do I do? I get mad and take one of the aftermarket hangers and a Drimmel tool and get to work! Twenty minutes and I have one that will work!

Only problem is if you remove the wheel the whole thing will come apart! That ain't good. If you flat you are screwed!

So then I call Cannondale myself and talk to a nice lady named Jodie! I whine and tell her how I am very disappointed with Cannondale for letting this happen! The whole time I am nice and never raise my voice.

I was using the old adage, "you can attract more flies with honey than with s..." IT WORKED!!!!!

My new best friend "Jodie", went down to the R and D department and found one! SCORE!!!!

She dropped it in the mail, and now I have the right hanger! Tonight I will change it and the world will be right!!!!!!!!

Moral of the story; PLAY NICE...................

Back To The Grind !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, it's back to the 9-5. The holidays are over and it's time to get back to normal. That sucks!

Don't worry, you still have to pony up for Valentines Day! The powers that be want to make sure they get you for every last dime they can! Just head to your local retail establishment and you will be greeted with all the Valentine junk already!

After I wrote the blog yesterday I went to the woods and did a short ride. Just to get out and enjoy the fresh air. It was fun, there where a bunch of people out and I just went for the air. Translation: air means it was an easy, easy ride!

I just had no motivation! I can't quite put my finger on the reason I was so lazy, maybe the holiday's! I just enjoyed a slow easy ride. Maybe it was all the beer on New years eve! I don't know.

Sometimes you are "on" sometimes you are "off".

Then sometimes "you just suck"..........See ya tomorrow....

New Year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wasn't gonna write today, but I have managed to come up with a few spare minutes this afternoon!

New Years was great, we had a bomb fire and fireworks! The kids had a great time shooting off all the noise makers. We had a party going on about a mile behind us and one right down the street.

Fireworks were every where! We even got the shotgun out at midnight! Chase had a ball shooting it, we had all the neighbors up! It's New Years , why not! We live in the country, you can get away with that out here!!

All you city folks are missing out!!! We know how to do it out here..

So besides that, the new year came and now we can get on with the new year! New Years eve I headed down to my favorite sand trail in Cheraw SC. I know every time I go down there I always heap the praise on the place. It's just a shame so few people ride down there.

The trails have had some maintenance recently and they were perfect! If you ever have the chance take the trip! It's worth it!!!

Solitude..............

Now that is cool as hell! As you have heard me talk about, one of the things I would really like to do is take a bike tour. That's why I have been taking my time building up my Rocky Mountain bicycle. The same one I have been taking to the store.

I think it would be cool as hell to take a trip and have several days to just ride a bike and not have a "plan".

Just take my time and roll down the road, stop when you want and eat when and where you want! I have a good start on equipment already, and for Christmas Karen got me a thermarest, stove and fuel!

I need a front rack and bigger bags. I have my eyes on the Ortlieb panniers, they are supposed to be the best you can get! That's right "nothing but the best for me!" First class all the way! When the weather gets a little better I plan on doing my first short tour!!

OK, back to the picture! I found this on one of the blogs on http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/ . A guy went to this cabin in the Rockies.

His friend, with the help of friends. Carried all the stuff needed to build this all the way to this site BY HAND.. It has heat but no power....

How cool is that!! I would love to spend the weekend up in the woods in my own private cabin! Thought I would share this with you!!!! Point is everybody needs a little down time once in awhile, reminds me of our Outer Banks trip last spring.........

Time To Go ................

For the last 2 nights I have been cleaning my garage. It's gotten to the point I can't even work on anything because of all the crap just laying around and in the way. If I have a 10 minute job to do it will take a half an hour just ta make space to do it!

That's a pain in the ass!

So my rule has been "if I haven't used it in the last year it's time to go". I have brought 2 loads to work already this week! Nothing worth a damn, but stuff I have accumulated. Tonight it continues, I already have a pile of stuff sitting at the door ready for the dump!

I hope they come and dump our dumpster today, I have it topped off now!

As far as bikes go, they have to go too! I have about 4 older bikes I have had around for years and haven't done anything with them yet. Truth is I probably never will do anything with them!

I called the bike shop in Statesville, "First Flight" they have a museum of classic bicycles. Guess what my junk is just junk! They are "nice older bikes", ready for this "but" no value. Figures!!!!!

What do you do with "nice older bikes"....Well they would service them and give them to the needy if I want to take them to Statesville. That's a good thing, but that's a long way from my house!



Steve's new ride




needy college boys new bike



So I found one "needy" college student, he gets the first bike to go. Now I "need" 2 more "needy" people and I will be rid of 4 worthless classic bikes...

My buddy Steve is getting the road bike, I was gonna sell it to him, but now I am just gonna give it to him so I can get rid of it!!!!       Time To Go.....................

Almost Forgot !!!!!!!!!!

We have been busy today here at work, and I almost forgot to write a post! As I said yesterday I would post pictures today. So, hear ya go! Christmas at the Markland family house!

At grandma's Christmas Eve

the wife with her new Nook

the tree with a cat

sunset at the house

Cody and Emma before church dinner for the kids

Believe me, I have about 70 more pictures of everything! I just didn't want to bore you with them. Every house has the same mess mine ended up with! We are still digging out....Merry Christmas....

I Can't Eat Anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food, food, food everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everywhere we went tables full of food! So what did I do? I ate and ate and ate!! To the point I swear, yesterday if I even saw food I had to turn my head! We ate at my mom's her mom's and our house. If I don't see ham until Thanksgiving I might be ready for it.

We had a great holiday! Got to see the family and little Wriston! He is a blast and keeps things lively when he is around. He had Chase to play with on Christmas day and they were wide open! The kids got about everything they were hoping for and I got Karen her Nook! She was really wanting one and I got it. On top of that she wanted  the new Twilight movie, New Moon. I found that with a bonus video of the location the series is based on. I am looking forward to seeing that.

Yes I took a bunch of pictures, then left my camera at home this morning. Tomorrow I might just post pictures for a blog post. As I said we had a good holiday!!

I did get a few rides in, Christmas Eve I went to Beatty park and got 2 laps in. The conditions weren't the best but it was nice to be out. Of course Christmas day was full so I waited till Monday and hit Poplar Tent. Once again the conditions where pretty bad at the start but once you got back in the woods it was really pretty good!

It was kinda weird, I saw about 10 cars in the parking lot and didn't see a single person in the woods! Where they were hiding, I have no clue!

Update: Yes, I have the Cannondale back on the trail! By no means has Cannondale made this an easy process. I don't really recall mentioning the problems I have had but too bring you up to speed.. I tore the derailleur hanger off the other week and nobody seems to have a replacement for it! Yes it is a brand new bike, 2012 model! You call Cannondale and they say; yea we have them on order. They will be here in March!!! March!!!

A brand new bicycle with a crappy design and they expect me to wait till March! What kinda company service is that! I never had problems like this with Specialized......

So after getting in 3 different hangers from aftermarket company's, none of them worked! I finally got the Dremel tool out and modified one of them to make it work! After getting it on the bike and readjusting the derailleur guess what! It works better than it ever has! The shifting is the best it's been yet!!

Thanks for NOTHING Cannonfail......................