5 Bavarian sausages & 5 flats..no turtle doves

Was a great ride today, lots of sausage, lots of laughs, lots of flats...

No rain please!!!

I'll be at Cafe Sienna at 8:30, rain may cancel the ride. Thinking about the same old route. Its a burner that get easier everytime.

Whoo ville. all is safe.

So Tracey says a few months ago she likes owls, well thanks to xmas we now have an owl box hanging up in our back yard. That was pretty interesting putting that bugger 15 ft off the ground. I even had the girl on the chainsaw which was a first and a last. I'm not sure who was more afraid. I must be getting older, not wiser, just older -because I was thinking that someone was going to get hurt. We both had a chuckle post owl box mounting, phew.

Then it was time for xmas dinner. Crab, crab and Champagne. yum

Merry Christmas

Salud!

Eureka treats.

Well the cold weather made for some shrinkage on the ride this am. Only the three musketeers went the distance, we were all looking forward to the Bella treats in the mailbox. Great day!

Can't wait to find whats in store for next week.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Michael & Tracey

I'm a cookie monster...

So I go and drop off a couple of jugs of vino to our neighbors to say Thanks for looking after the house....they give me a plate full of cookies...I think I ate the whole plate.

Its tough when your skinny, everyone wants you to eat, I eat plenty, I swear!

I just can't stop eating these things, sweet tasty cookies, all shapes, all sizes, all yummy! I had to leave the house today, just run, run away.

I just can't resist.

Lets ride! Cafe Sienna 8:30am Sat

After 10 days in Mexico, the legs are looking to catch up on the long rides. Thanks to K Curi and Reaney yesterday for helping me thru a tough patch up West Alpine. We did have Jane on the ride, she was riding 100 yards off the front all day and being unsocial...wtf. She was annoying everyone, I mean why come out on a group ride??? I don't get it.

Wohlberg shows up in the biggest station wagon I've ever seen, bringing a homemade batch of eggnog and it was a nice way for everyone to have a toast. I wonder if thats what made me go so slow up West Alpine.

You always apprecate things more when your a bit uncomfortable, this time shall to pass in two weeks. Been here before, and I know what to do to get the body back in shape.


Any how....

Ride Sat am.
I'm going to stick to the normal route this week. I hope you can make it!

Kennedy, Uvas, Madonna, Corrolitos (Sin Sauasge), Eureka, LG via creek trail. ETA LG 1:30

Madonna should be great on Sat.

I"ll be easy to spot, I'll be in the Captn America duds. I'll spare you the skinsuit, but thats my favorite! Can someone have a TT please????

Rain, Rain, Rain.

I like the sound of rain in the middle of the night hitting the roof.

Its OK to have some during the day too. It feeds the roots of the flowers that will be blooming in the spring.

It also keeps me in the Santas workshop rather then riding in the Santa Cruz mountians. But I may take a break and get dirty later today after all the gifts have been on the Fedex sleigh.

USA Cycling---Masters Road Nationals???

WTF?

Where are the Masters Nationals going to be for 2008??? Seems like they are splitting up the Old farts and the Jr's.

One more reason for me to focus on the Track this year.

I get to sleep in my own bed.

Don't have to travel to Shittsville USA for a week.

Years I remember
Somerset 2 years, I've had enough of that place.
Park City 2 years. OK courses, not tough and the fear of heights kept the field sizes down
Louisville, KY sucked.
Bakersville in August, who was the frickin rocket scientist that approved that one, sending masters in Aug to race in Death Valley. Charming....
Spokane, WA( Thats fine)

I've been doing this way to long.

National champ ..Coats takes it.

Congrats to my team mate James Alan Coats on wining the 40-44 Mens master cyclocross championships in chilly conditions after getting a crapy starting position.


Chris D had a killer ride too.

Mexico esta muy bueno!

Ok after a bottle of champagne and three margaritas the first night I decided to taper..

The next night was only two.

The third night it was zero

Today has been two so far.

Warning, the margaritas down here are about 10x more potent.

We were in Punta Mita for the first few days, now we've been in Guadalajara just kicking back.

Not much for cycling, roads are pretty narrow.

Spanish Vino....this is the dope!

So all of you by now know I do something in the wine industry. I know most of you buy wine...great!





Sometimes I spend days with wineries discussing vineyards, barrels, farming practices, etc. Other days I'm talking to retail and restaurants about Spain and how cool the wines are and why they should buy them...

Here is the kicker....

Lunch break..

It was a three hour tour around the hills, mtns, wandering trails I've never seen before.

Then some punk throws a Pepsi cup full of soda at me. Got me good, I flipped it in hot pursuit, but I can only pursuit so fast on a Mtn bike. Then he runs two stop lights...

Is this the week for jackasses in cars????

wtf?

Get me out o here!!!!!

I've sent out a bundle of emails, cleaned the office, finished a box of cheese crackers, been into the garage, did a ton of work and its not even 11:00. Working from home sometimes has its perks, on rainy days like this I start going a little crazy.

Maybe a ride into the woods on Stumpy will do the trick.

SJ TTT and Fred

So Tracey just made a artsy purchase from some tribe in South Africa. I'm getting used to Fred.



and dusted off the Transition this weekend and did a TTT with some super cool guys from the SJ cycling team. They have a winter series down here and it was really a fun event! The SJ Team has a ton of low key events for everyone, they just need a beer sponsor for the parking lot, I'd be at more of the events...

One crazy day...

So I was getting ready and the phone rang. Phipps my teamate was running a bit late for the ride. I decided to drive to the ride with the bike. Thank god! I was riding and saw Tracey and a Mtn biker riding thru what we call "Death Valley" on Blossom Hill rd. We know its a little narrow there and just try to get thru it as quickly as possible in order to avoid cars.

I see Tracey and can tell something is wrong, she was waving like she was on the Titanic ...or like there was a crash or something. I rolled down the window and she said two guys almost pushed them off the road and over the gaurdrail. The passanger rolled down the window (38 degrees) and yelled and hung out the window to his waist and made a effort to push her and Mr Mtn biker off the road.
She told me what type of car (Toyota) and said it was only 6 cars or so ahead of us....well, I didn't think much, just went off in hot pursuit. Two of them and one of me.. I get out the iphone. Luckly they pulled up to a stop sign and I got out and went click! Took the picture of the liscense (wish I took one of the driver) he rolled down the window and I told him he was (f...ked).
Then he takes off, Tracey rolls up and no sooner do I see a Los Gatos police officer coming our way getting ready for some uneventful traffic detail at the xmas Los Gatos parade, Tracey waves him down.
He stopped and Tracey started giving the cop some info, I gave him the plate above of the what I'm assuming was driver of the car and her friend on the Mtn bike shows up...he is a San Jose, police Sargent and they start talking cop talk.

We head out for our ride, made a mistake and went up HWY 9, when we weren't playing dodge ball with cars with xmas trees, we were getting chilled to the bone in the part hail part rain that we never saw coming.

Sorry that we didn't stick to the route that was posted. Next time route requests will have to be made by thursday, once its posted on Friday, it will be in ink.
Thanks everyone for being flexiable and coming, it was just one wierd day. Glad its 1/2 over!