I hate the cold! I hate the rain! I love to ride my bike!

So yesterday the rain gods decided to let loos on us and destroy our Thursday nite Crit! This was particularly bad because I so needed to ride my bike. Sure it was a road bike but it is a necessary evil in order to be fast on the dirt! I decided to just suck it up and park it on the couch. I thought for a second, wait I can ride my trainer! Then I remembered that for some reason it had spontaneously exploded last weekend at Firestone! Damn it, what a pisser! Then I thought, hey I will do a killer leg workout on my huge Blue ball. Nope, last time I did that it felt was to easy so I worked hard at it. I payed for that one for the next 4 days. My quads were SHOT! So yes once again the couch looked like a good idea.




The weather was pretty bad, rain, wind, hail and yes even in May, snow! I couldn't believe it either. Hell, we are in California man!!! When I woke up the next morning(today) I got the word from down the hill that yes it was cold but the trails should be nice. So armed with this information I loaded up the Super Honda and off I went. I needed to do a workout that tested my power, like I was with the Crit. I decided to do a dirt time trial using the Crafton Hills College fire road. I spun to the the fire road from Redlands at an easy pace. I got to the dirt and an overwhelming sense of joy came over me. I love to ride my bike!!!!!! It was cold and a bit drizzly. You know that I love something if I'm willing to step out in the cold to do it. I freaking hate the rain, the cold and winter all together!!But if it meant riding my bike then today, I love those things too. At the top of the long climb it was super windy and raining very hard! I had to remove my clear lensed glasses and squint my eyes to keep the mud out. The rain was so thick I couldn't keep my glasses clean. I pushed on because I was in my happy place, on my bike! I got to the top faster than I ever had before. Old fastest time 22 Min's new fastest time 20 Min's.

After my ride another good thing happened. I took a new comer to Mountain Biking for a ride. I don't exactly have a good track record in town when it comes time to show the ropes to the new guys. I took a guy out last year and he fell about 20' off a rocky cliff. He was ok but shortly after he stopped talking to me. Another friend of mine gets hurt almost every time we ride together. It's never my fault but when the story gets out it's always the same thing, you shouldn't have gone riding with Adam. Well my friends, the curse is broken! Today I took John for his first ride. Upon contacting the local Trek Rep I was able to get John an 08 Fisher Paragon 29er. John is 6'4" and the bike he was on fit him like a glove. At 21" it's the biggest 29er he could get. He did great. I was still full of mud from the TT and now we were getting rained on, a lot. We shoved on and I felt like I was being given a free shower. We were at Hulda Crooks and the mud there is like melted marsh mellows. It sticks to everything!

See here, before and after. He's still in one piece!

After my rides I was happy to get out of my soaking wet cycling clothes and put on some cotton! I dropped John off, who by the way had a great time, and wet to get some fuel for my tummy. I went to Kool Catus Cafe and had my usual. Chicken burrito, beans and rice. This really hit the spot for sure. In this picture I am standing next to Carol and in the background is Jerry. These two ladies have been feeding me for years. One time when I check my bank account online it showed that 40% of my checkcard purchases were made right here. Now that's a lot of beans POOF!

I could eat here all day long!