Why ride a mountain bike?

I had to explain to my roadie friends why I talk about the pleasures of mountain biking so much. So in order to convey the message to all, there is no better way to melt off the stress than to hit the woods.

I'm riding to enjoy riding. All the road competition does is take away the joy of riding a bike. I do not have lofty goals of dominating any races, training threshold, or such, I like to ride simply to ride. See some bear, turkeys, birds in the woods & enjoy it for what it is.




I think that is a major reason why the road is getting to me. Way too much Type A shit going on, & it is burning me out.

You really need to experience camping & mountain biking. It is very soothing with the right group of people. You wake up whenever, make a big greasy breakfast. Tell stories about who was drunk & puked the night before. Get your gear on & then ride at whatever pace you feel like for 2-6 hours. Get back to the camp, crack open a beer, jump in the creek to wash-up, put on warm clothes, eat dinner, make a campfire, & then drink beer all night long till you pass out by the warmth of the fire.

Wake up the next morning & repeat.



What could be more relaxing than that?

I Can Ride My Bike With No Handlebars...

Summer Olympics.
Invasion of Georgia.
A Marine Stands Trial in a Civilian Court for doing what he is trained to do.
President of Pakistan steps down.
US American Election mudslinging.
Bigfoot is a hoax.
The everyday deaths in Iraq, all based on false pretenses.

At least I can ride my bike with no handlebars. Fitting in days like these.

T minus 6 days to Burkes Garden

Less than 6 days to the 100 mile ride hammerfest that is Burkes Garden Century. Every year the goal is to complete the 100 mile ride in under 4 hours, for a leg burning, eye vomitting pace of 25mph, for 100 freaking miles.

So I spent this past weekend training real hard for the upcoming ride. My friend came to visit & we drank lots of beer, tubed down the river while drinking more beer, and slept a lot. Plus she introduced me to the melodic sounds of "Dirt Nasty"

Monkey-Stompin the Cat 2 Wanna-be

Wow, what a fun Wednesday Worlds race ride. I laid my plan down & it worked out ok. 5th on the way out, 2nd at the mid-line sprint, and I still monkey-stomped Tim "Cockstainski" at the top of Harding on his feeble attempt at a sprint. The last two occurred after avoiding a nice one rider crash at close to 28mph in the rain soaked roads. Take note Matt P., Harne, & Cora, that's how you keep a bike upright, even in the rain. I'll give lessons at $85 an hour. Better yet, get a mountain bike & I'll teach you for free.

Ok that's enough talk. I don't want to be know as Cockstainski and talk the talk but not walk the walk.

Tim, here's my monkey-stomper for you. Better put that downgrade request in for Cat 4.

Tim C. & All the Trash Talk

So lately in the Burg there has been way too much trash talk going down on the weekly rides.

"I'm going to be a Cat 2 before you,"

"You're bike is dirty like your momma, better clean it,"

"I dominate the local roads, oh never mind what happened in Belgium"

Etc.Etc Etc.

Well finally it has been resolved why there is so much hostility on the rides. No, its not your typical testosterone or male Roadie ego. Oh no, it goes deeper than that. It goes right to the heart of male insecurity. What we have here is a local racers taped confession of why he feels he needs to be a Cat 2.