chapter 92: intensity

chapter 76: quest for fire

A small group of us headed out on the moist and foggy roads today to a very nice ride: a donut ride.













Dan the man knew that Diane and I had been dieting pretty hard, and the donut ride was something I started looking forward to mid week.








We had a very nice group with Dan (the man), Michael (Jan), Diane (monkey), Ethan (e-town), Rob (ntntamfmb20), Jeff, Lisa (lisa), (Spot) Paul, Chuck (FIL) and I (fm). It was a DCCoD road ride if you will. Dan was on his single speed road bike, Rob, Jeff, Paul, and Lisa were on fixed gears. I considered it, but then thought about how I have been mentally brain dead this week, and went with the antique road bike. Fixed gear takes a lot of focus for my weak skills.









It was again very warm and foggy. we did our best to behave ourselves out on route 100. We always tightened up when cars would pass.














when we got to the Northbrook Orchard store Lisa was happy to show us around a bit.

















I had followed my diet religiously, on some days not eating enough so I rewarded myself with two of these really, awesome, outstanding, incredible donuts. They were really good.

















I'll admit I really wanted this awesome pecan pie. next week, mr. pie, I'm coming for you.










Then it was back on the road, headed for home.














Northbrook Donuts make me really happy. That was easily the best thing I have eaten this week

Diane and I were pretty bonked by the time we got back, we were both grateful for the support we got from the group to get home. Thanks guys.













E-town was pimping in his new road shoes.

The white foot of Saron? Have we gone too far?


respect
fm

chapter 30: I rule the mic like a fascist

"Can't settle for nothing less, trying to prove myself since I was born."

"If I could I'd stop caring, I don't like hearing I'm not good enough."


167 is what the scale read when I woke up this morning. That's 8 lbs since Monday for those of you scoring at home.Truth is I am not really all that hungry. I just don't feel good. I feel tired. I slipped into wrestling mode a bit yesterday, as with a super busy day at work, I didn't eat enough. Yeah read that again, I didn't eat enough and skipped 2 almonds, and half an apple by the end of the day. I felt kinda sick when I fell asleep on the couch last night.I stood up to get off the couch this morning and I fell over. I hoped Diane didn't hear my crashing into the shelf, but she did. I have been very prone to head rushes.

Did the Queen B today. It was a small group as the lance armstong effect guys don't ride if the conditions aren't perfect. That was okay with me, if some guy who wants this to be his weekly race stayed home, it made the pace better, and I could hang on then. It was a fine group today Rob (ntntamfmb20), Bianchi Mike, Fitzy, Dennisbike, Jaime, Nancy and Lauri (the said queen b's) We set a nice pace. Like I said everyone knew what they were doing and no one was trying to prove their manhood on this B ride. A good day I guess. I don't enjoy the road, but it was too wet to trail ride, and I don't have the gas to push the mtb I don't think. Oh well. All of this will pay off shortly. If you do what you have always done, you will get what you always get.

Watched 2 movies. First Black Dalhia which I was excited to see, which was pretty awful, I had such high expectations too. That was just depressing. Second was BeerFest, which was just a bad idea, I kept waiting for it to get funny and it never did. The supertrooper guys did this? Awful. Blockbuster should give me my money back for that one.

Tomorrow the donut/coffee ride with Dan the man and company. That will be fun. I will be substituting the donut for an apple, okay maybe one donut.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry folks for tomorrow we die. 100% everyday, that's what this is all about right? Never leave it unsaid, always do your best. love your family, your friends and your monkey, just not too close with my monkey.

So if you didn't eat for a little while, what would be the first thing that you ate, when you started eating again?

respect
fm

chapter 72: the skunk

I saw a skunk on the drive home last night.

skunks smell bad. no matter how thoughtful, or introspective, or well written a skunk may be, they still stink. Just because you know you're a skunk, doesn't mean it's okay to spray your stench all over people for no reason. That's just not very nice. Not that there is anything wrong with being a skunk at the core. Just don't use that as an excuse to spread your stench.

Spot Paul likes the smell of skunks. I do not. Maybe that's how you purify yourself. Me, I just don't eat for a week, and I make myself suffer.

engines need fuel to run. I have not had a whole lot of fuel this week. My tank was definitely on empty tonight. To make a bad situation worse, it was my first ride on a geared mountain bike in 4 years. Really, I couldn't figure out the shifters, that and the position on that bike is clearly not geared in yet.

E-town, Rob (ntntamfmb20), John (todd of bike line), Jaime (wfeorc), and TedLogic kept me moving along. That was pretty cool. Tedlogic was riding very well. Thankfully, E-town's freewheel froze or died about an hour in, and mercifully, I headed in with him.

respect
fm

chapter 61: there's no sentry at the gate

henry's bikes


katie gave me a little shout out on the old velonews website today. So yeah I got that going for me, and now every elite women's cross racer in the country hates me. The part of that story she missed is how TedLogic almost made her hurl in the back of my truck eating a microwave cheesesteak from 7-11 at 6:00 in the morning. I think Jeanie and Diane had something to do with Katies cross debut too, like they drove the process.

my email box started filling up quickly this morning. That was a nice surprise.

I pick up my new ride tomorrow. I pretty excited about that. You know how fat kid's love cake? well, I'm on a strict no cake diet for the next week or so. I am weak. I'm scared that I won't be able to pedal that new bike.

anyway, now that I've finally had my name on velonews I should just consider retirement.

Katie your a good person, that shout out was unnecessary but appreciated. I just hope Georgia and Lynn don't have a black belt in Karate or anything. Besty, and Erica we're still friends right?

I'm going to eat a almond now.

respect
fm

chapter 51: pecan pie

SPOT BRAND

Mayhay encouraging a bonking Rob (ntntasfmb20)

Wow what a pretty awesome and tiring weekend. Saturday it was too wet to mtb so a nice group of us headed out and rode the

Queen B loop, minus the queen b crowd. Buddy (the leg breaker), Spot Paul and I all on Fixies. We had a nice 2 hour ride. The rest of the group was: Jan, Chuck (FIL), Amy (FFA), Rob (NTNTAMFMB20), E-town, Diane (monkey) and Wes the conqueror. Ride was great, my legs were kinda beat down after 2 hours, but it was fun, I only almost threw myself over the bars once.

Saturday night we had few friends over to share some good food and good beverages. It was a really fun. I appreciated so many folks coming out to toast last season, and to share each other’s company.

Sunday we had a mighty fine group head over to Fairhill for a spell. We had a late start to allow for some extra hang over time, but still got out before 10:00. Once in the heart for the park we split into 2 smaller groups, but all ended up together again at the end of the ride. That was really cool.

I got to lead one group and had Todd (el presidente) breathing down my neck the entire ride. I’ll admit I pushed a little harder than I like to this time of year. Wes the conqueror said to me later, “yeah I was surprised you went as fast as you did.” To which I responded, “yeah, me too.”

the group today was:

Todd (el presidente), Mayhay, Wes the conqueror, Jan, Rob (ntntamfmb20), Bob, Green Trek John, E-town, Spot Paul, Amy (FFA), Kurtee, Jaime (world foremost expert on rip currents), Dan, Fort James, Diane (monkey), Fitzy, Alan the cleaner , Joe ,Fitzy, and yours truly Fatmarc.
Diane and Amy drank nothing but water Saturday Night.

On the ride we passed Tedlogic, Gwen, and Teague out for a hike.

We finished up and enjoyed some of the copious amounts of left over food and beer. It was pretty awesome. Mayhay brought h

Joe brought an amazing buffalo chicken dip.

is espresso machine from Pittsburgh and we all enjoyed express shots before and after the ride. That was super sweet. All in All a pretty great day. I’ll admit my legs hurt a lot right now. I’m bummed we didn’t make Elk Neck this weekend, but the riding was supreme.

respect

fm

chapter 43: connected

twinsix

I totally stress out links. The truth is that I click on my own links because those are the blogs that I enjoy reading. Now there are always a couple I keep in my favorites, but in reality the links I list are the one’s I read. Every now and then I change these up, and I add some new, and take down some old. If someone doesn’t update often I usually pull them down. This is not because I don’t like them, but because every time I excitedly click on their link I am disappointed to see the same old entry. Not that it’s not good, just that after seeing it 25 times, it’s a little disappointing. It doesn’t make the owner a bad person, just an infrequent blogger. That’s okay, I get it.

Now some blogs I remove because there was a time that I was into them, and now I am no longer into them. It doesn’t mean the bloggers are bad people or I don’t love them, it just that I’m tired of reading about bling bling or mile by mile accounts of a 70 mile base ride on a warm sunny day. My favorite break up line works here, “it’s not that I don’t love you, but I’m not in love with you” Blogs, like the movies I choose to see have to one of three things to hook me.

One: be totally unrealistic that it takes me away from my normal world for few hours

Two: be a story that some how I can relate to experiences in my life

Three: be a stupid comedy that makes me shoot milk out my nose

Now if the blog has worse grammar and spelling than me, that’s certainly a bonus. (why I like Ted Logics)

I totally get it if someone got tired of reading about a fatdude, old, never was, trying to be a bike racer. I get that, I know you don’t hate me, but maybe you’re tired of my routine, and you don’t want me on your frequently read list. I don’t take it personal. But believe me I totally stress out the links thing. Hopefully I won’t have to mess with again anytime soon. Hopefully I haven’t offened anyone.

BTW went to 6 paupers tonight with E-town, Megan, Monkey, Wes the Conqueror, and FFA. Dinner was solid, not fantastic; however dessert was over the top. I had apple pie cheesecake. It was to die for.

Tonight is the DCCoD/SPOT gig. We have some folks coming in from out of town. That should be awesome. Looking forward to more death uno.

Respect
fm

chapter 74: mouth full of blood

Henry's Bikes Twin Six Fort Frames Spot Brand Howard Brown

I went to the dentist today. I had a different hygentist than the cute, kind, sort of milf one I usually get. I think it was the mean bitch I bit when I was ten. I got grounded from my bike for 6 weeks for that. I think the mean bitch remembered me and was making me pay for my indiscretions as a youth. I should have bit her today, and let me tell you no one would be grounding me now.

She worked my mouth over like she was Rocky Balboa. I spit more blood in the sink than I have since I was wrestling and bit the end of my tongue off at practice. Worst of all I have a cavity. My first one in 10 years. I hate the dentist. I’m eating garlic and drinking strong coffee before I get my filling. With any luck I’ll have gas and can fart the joint up too.

Slick Rik and I went for a little ride a middle run tonight. I had to throw a different wheel on tonight and I ended up running a little steeper gear than I wanted to. The 32x16 was a
tiny bit straining on my legs and back. Still the ride was a lot of fun, and except for when I laid it down coming around a slow corner, I felt pretty good, feel like I’m starting to get the feel of the mountain bike back. Oh, Slick Rik could tell you, I’m not so smooth yet, But it felt fun. Fitness is only 200 hours away…

One of the bonuses of not riding a mountain bike since August is that your favorite parks which you have ridden for over 10 years, seems like an entirely new place with tons of new trail cut in. Either that or the DTS trail elves have been wicked busy and there really are lots of new trails in Middle Run Central. It may call for some weekend exploration. I’d kinda like to go to Elk Neck this weekend if possible. Being as it will be wet may be that will happen.

respect
fm

chapter 35: dirt on the floor

Sunday morning. 8:00am

I wake up a little late. Got to sleep in today, that was nice. I go down stairs and into the bathroom. I sit on the thrown and look at the floor: there was dirt on the floor. Not house dirt, but trail dirt. A smile instantly comes to my face. I instantly reflect to the previous day’s ride through Fairhill. I as so happy to have 15 friends out for a couple hour tour of the lovely Fairhill Nature Center.

this guy had a really good weekend:

rode super well.

Dallas lost.

Philly won.

The group was: The Rowdy Joey Thompson, Dan the Man, Ted Logic, Monkey, FFA, Josh from Cali, Kid Chris, Matt (run forest), Buddy the leg breaker, Les (international man of mystery), K-man, Kurtee, E-town, EPI and I.

After the ride a bunch of us sat around on the deck talking smack and polished off a case of Guinness (my goodness) in about 45 minutes. That was impressive.

After reflecting on the awesome ride, and how happy I was to have so many great folks over for a very fun ride, I finished up my business, cleaned up, flushed, washed my hands and excitedly got dressed for another day of spectacular mountain biking.

Diane (chunky monkey) and I met Josh and FFA over at Middle Run, and we quickly slipped into the white clay trail system. On the skills trail we played around for a little bit.

I totally froze up on the new stunt, and came to a screeching halt on the second teeter totter. Three mountain bike rides since August. My skills are pretty bad right now. Yeah, I’m gonna let that pass. Discretion in this case is the better part of valor. I’ll nail it down next week for sure. Later FFA would talk a lot shit to me about it, as she cleaned it blind folded. I think she called me a "biatch" Rat-bastard .

Somehow our group got intermingled with some of the Action Wheels riders and when the groups split we ended up with Barb and Larry in our group by mistake. They were great company. Monkey set nice pace, which was conversational, yet flowing. As we made our way pack toward middle run Les (international many of mystery) , Biddle (the tye domi of cross), and Jimmy Z came up on us and joined our group for a bit.

I hadn’t freshened up my Stan’s since I stop riding my Spot in August, I knew they were due, and when I caught a thorn in the rear today, my day was done a few minutes early. Luckily, Monkey got the car and picked me up.

I came home, and I cleaned up the dirt in the bathroom. I can’t wait for next weekend and
More dirt, as friends come again for another great ride.

New Year’s Eve in my opinion is usually the most overrated night of the year. In all seriousness, it usually sucks. The past 2 new years eve’s Diane and I were asleep long before mid night. In the spirit of not being too freakin’ old, a nice group of us converged upon my living room to have the Yatzee/Death Uno World Championships of Maryland.

The competitors were a crafty bunch: Spot Paul, Lisa Lisa, Les (international man of mystery), Kathleen (medicine woman), Amy (FFA), Diane (Chunky Monkey), the Rowdy Joey Thompson, Dan the man, me and Fitzy to make sure everything stayed fair.

In the Yatzee match, I blew off the top part of the card but scored a double yatzee to win easily. That’s cocky. I was a little nervous as everyone scored at least one Yatzee.

We then switched to Death Uno, because that’s how we roll. I won the first hand, as many were still learning the game. After that I talked some smack like, “I want to thank all of you for coming to my house, SO I COULD KICK YOUR ASS!”

it was a sweater vest kind of event.

Yeah, after that I never won again. Spot Paul used a different strategy going with the, “I never win” approach, as he kept piling on the wins. Death Uno is fast pace, everyone throwing card kinda game. And the loser gets killed, not really, but maybe. Special thanks to Joe Reynolds for making up the game, and to Kathleen (medicine woman) for so patiently teaching us both games. “never roll for a straight!”

All in all it was a fantastic night, and on a night which I kinda think always sucks, it was great to be surrounded by friends having a great laugh. My best new years by far.

Happy New Year.

respect
fm

Jean Girard