B-Day

Today was my birthday...

We got up at 6 to ride to breakfast. Andy and Tess and I rode to Lyons right by our office, the food could have been better, but the company was great.

Some of my co-workers took me out to lunch to this little hole-in-the wall Mexican place. The waitresses and some other random employees came out and sang happy birthday. Right afterward, this old Mexican guy came over with two shots of tequila and shoved one in my face and took the other for himself. What could I do, I had to take it. Needless to say, it was a very unproductive afternoon at the office.

Tonight I was surprized by many friends that came over wearing stylish vests. Tess had organized a vest party because she knows that I have an unhealthy love for denim vests. We had a nice pot luck barbq and bullshat for a couple hours (my favorite). This was a good photo op (notice all the reflective safety vests):

Road Rash

So, today I had to take my truck in for an oil change. So I dropped it off at the dealership and rode in to work.

I left work at 5 pm thinking that I would have more than enough time to take a good hard ride and get to the dealership before it closed at 7. So I took a detour on my way there. I went up a pretty good hill in Fair Oaks (its hard to find hills in Sacramento) and then I got back on the trail. I was getting close to the dealership when I passed a guy going the other way, he was riding a hand-bike and I thought I knew who he was so I flagged him down and talked with him for a while. He ended up not being the guy I thaught he was but he invited me to ride with him and a group of friends on October 15, they are going to do a metric century (approximately 62 miles) on hand-bikes (a trike but arm powered), so I am going to join them, you will hear about that afterward...

Anyway, back to the point of the story. It was about 6:38 and the dealership closed at 7 so I started hauling butt toward the Toyota dealership. I was about a half mile away on a flat stretch going about 21 mph and it was getting dark so I reached up to turn my headlight on (mistake). My hand hit the handle which turned my wheels sharp left, I tried to correct, but I lost it and flipped. I skidded about 15 feet and came to a hault. I was nice and scraped up but I had to keep truckin' so I could pick up my truck...I finally arrived at the dealership at 6:55, threw my trike in the back and took an uncomfortable ride home. I think I will rest tomorrow...but not for long because I have a metric century ride on the 15th.

Check out the sweet road rash...and my uvula...

Lots of Riding

I have been riding to work a lot lately. I have been doing about 70 miles or more per week. That is a piece of cake compared to the 60 miles a day that I will be riding during my trip, but its a start. Also I will not be working during the ride (obviously), so I think I will be able to manage 6o miles a day.

On friday, I rode with Tess and we met a few co-workers for breakfast. I ate way too much (huge omlet, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sooooooo good) and I was very unproductive at work for the rest of the day, but it was so good.

I have been riding with my friend (since first grade) Andy quite a bit lately. Here is a picture of us by the American River with the sunrise in the background. We asked a lone runner to take this pic, she was happy to break her stride and help us out:


It is rad to see the sunrise every morning, Tess says it is good for our soul.