February 26, 2006
Real American Jazz
Last night I did a quartet gig with Mack on organ, Keith on drums and Eric on sax (Dan on guitar). Keith brought his miniature MP3 recorder and captured some of the sounds. Click on the link below to listen to some jazz blues played by Southern musicians.
Bag's Groove 320kbps-MP3, 13 megs
February 25, 2006
Rainy Day Photo
The GTC racing team was scheduled to meet for a ride and team photo Saturday AM, but the weather was cloudy, cold and raining so very few showed up. I had to be there because I was also distributing new uniforms to members, but I was also prepared to ride if anyone wanted to. Marshall was ready to ride also, in spite of the rain, but I canceled the ride since there was going to be a good day tomorrow and a big ride was already on the schedule.
Curtis, Jim, Alex, Marshall, Wojtek (w/dog) and Dan
February 19, 2006
Ruth's 26th Birthday
present opening video 2.4MB Windows Media Video
February 18, 2006
4th Annual Tundra Time Trial
It's safe to say that I was not particularly stoked about doing this event this year. The first clue was yesterday when I was packing up my bike and decided not to use my special time trial disc rear wheel because... well, I would have to pump it up. Next clue is I was last person to arrive at the meeting which I had arranged for this morning. While leading a caravan of 6 or 7 vehicles half-way across the state, I missed a couple of turns. Another big clue; I missed my start time by a handful of seconds (I was ready, I just didn't hear them calling my number).
Finally, out on the course I was cursing myself and doubting my abilities after the botched start. Eventually, after a mile or two, I got into the moment and the racing mode kicked in, but so did the cold winds and rain! I think it's safe to assume that the 150+ racers who started before me had more favorable conditions.
Final result was 9.5 miles covered in 22 minutes and 50 seconds (25 mph avg) - UNoffically, however including the missed start time, my OFFICIAL result was 23 minutes flat.
On the bright side, I placed 1st in the Masters 45+ category and felt good sportin' the new GTC threads.
February 17, 2006
February 10, 2006
Pardon The Profiling
It was an uncharacteristic scene, almost a role reversal.
I was riding my Time Trial bicycle along my normal TT route, the mostly flat and straight Cedars road. This was not an all-out effort, in fact I was concentrating on being narrow smooth and straight while riding with my wheels on the white line. (Anyone who has ridden with me can testify that I am not a swerving and unpredictable rider - especially when I'm focusing on just the opposite!)
There was little-to-no traffic on this stretch of road when a car pulled up behind me and laid on the horn. I looked back and the passenger side of the car was on the white line almost hitting my rear wheel. What the...?! I stopped my bike and looked at the driver, a young well-dressed African-American woman. She started yelling out of her window that I needed to "get off the road!". Behind her car was an older red pickup truck with a construction worker, kind of redneck looking guy driving.
Amazingly I had stopped right in front of a "Share The Road" sign, so instead of saying anything I just stood there and pointed up toward the sign. The man in the truck got out and I thought, "Oh no...", but he started telling the woman that he had seen the whole thing and that he was going to call the cops on her, and that she needed to learn how to drive and read the sign and so on. She drove off and the guy gave me the thumbs up and got back in his truck.
That was weird. I rode home and called it a day. Riding around here on Friday afternoons is always an adventure.
February 05, 2006
Andrews NC Training Weekend
"...gorgeous weather. Sunny and sixty on Friday. Rain, snow, sleet and about 40 on Saturday. Sunny and cool Sunday. We had three days of great riding. Paceline, echelon and crit cornering camps"
Sweet crib, no TV at all, fireplace always had a warm fire, fantastic scenery, good food, good bed, good company, nice guitar to play, every possible cycling need taken care of...
Photo Gallery
Video clip 7.3MB windows media video