Share the Road, People!

Bad idea.  Not only did I ride to Angeles Oaks, but I did so on a holiday weekend.  It was bad enough that I nearly choked from the exhaust of the passing cars.  If it weren't for the fact that my mother may read this, I'd use stronger descriptions for the drivers on the road.  Contrary to to what road ragers may think, the one foot "shoulder" littered with gravel, rocks, glass, and other [stuff], is not a good place to ride.  Sure, if you want me to hit a rock and bite it right in front of your passanger wheel, or flat and get thrown across your hood, it would be no problem; but there's a reason I ride the white line (or next to it), you arses.  And sharing the road does not mean driving 2 inches from my shoulder.  Not only does it scare the living bejesus out of me, but the draft may well push me into places you don't want me to be.  Between the "Nancy boys" in Jeeps, as Matt would put it (don't get him started on Jeeps and Harleys) and the crazies driving motorhomes, I think I used my nine lives.  Apparently, no one learned a lesson from Dr. Christopher Thompson who earned 5 years in prison for "assaulting" 2 cyclists by slamming on his brakes (purposefully) after passing them, or from Jeffrey Woods who earned 10 years in prison after running down and killing a cyclist while driving drunk .  You too may have cyclists around the world raising a toast to your imprisonment if you drive stupid.  Think about it next time you see a bike while driving.  I don't think it's worth it.

(Picture coutsesy of Wikimedia)

Going Postal: Part 1

 A teenager went a little postal this weekend and decided to take some of his teenage angst out on my mailbox.  I'd hate to see the havoc that my mailbox wreaked on his car.  Unfortunately, in the end, my mailbox suffered it's demise.  Here is the crime scene...

My poor mailbox.  It was almost an antique.  I lovingly buffed it last spring with steel wool, but the rust color returned.  It is probably for the best that the end came rather quickly, as it probably would have suffered replacement soon anyway.  Here are some possible candidates:

Anyone want to weigh in?

I feel like I'm in Michigan

Sunny, warm, and gloriously sweat-producing heat one day.  Suddenly, cloudy, rainy, and finger-numbing chill the next.  Is this Michigan?   Okay, so it isn't as bad as Michigan: 70 and shorts weather one week, and snowy, mitten weather the next.  But still, this weather is kind of schizophrenic lately.  Don't get me wrong.  I've enjoyed the cool winter weather with it's green hills and smogless crisp fresh air.  But, about this point I'm wishing it would chose one or the other.  I shouldn't complain.  We know what's coming: oven-like temperatures and brown mountains (oh wait, mountains?  what mountains? you can't see them through the smog).  So nevermind, I'll enjoy our rain today, knowing there's a brighter tomorrow around the corner.  This was last week:

Intelligent Conversation

We're solving very important questions on call today.  Have you ever wondered what the plural of a computer mouse is?  Is it mice?  Mouses? Or mouse devices?  Apparently all are acceptable to use because there's no consensus.  But, did you know that a computer mouse is actually a computer M.O.U.S.E.? An acronym for Manually Operated User Select Equipment.  But wait, that's not right either, because the creator, Douglas Englebart, really named it a mouse, not a m.o.u.s.e., because he thought it looked like a cute mouse with a really long tail, the acronym was coined later.  Now wasn't all of this enlightening?  Between this deep discussion and the picture of the fat man in the thong (from behind) which appeared on my desktop screen, we're getting some valuable work done...

Single Track

Matt beat me to the punch to blog about our mountain bike ride on Saturday.  He dragged me (quite willingly) to ride some "new to me" trails.  I've decided that I just might be able to conquer this mountain bike thing afterall.  Well, eventually that is.

We first rode through the Mentone Wash on some flat single track.  I'm finding that my control on the mountain bike is lacking, just a bit... Per Matt, I guess I can ride a straight line.  It's riding a not so straight line, that I need to practice.  Getting around the rocks quickly, and not putting on the brakes to skid to a stop when something looks especially challenging is what I need to work on.

Once we reached Greenspot Road, we headed up to Lower Workout Trail which is at the base of the mountains.  I huffed my way up a washed out road (huffing partly out of some kind of mild fear of biting it).  Lower Workout is a rolling climb along the side of the mountains.  I only freaked out a couple of times.  And although it was pretty overgrown in some places, it was beautiful with wild flowers.  Matt took some cheesy pics of me on the trail (which will remain unpublished) and I took some less cheesy pics of him. He, of course, accused me of taking multiple to get flowers in the picture, but I claim innocence.

We headed down to the wash, only to find out that the melting mountian has created a raging river there.  After several attempts to cross the river (which I unfortunately did not document on film) involving taking our shoes off (neither of us like riding in wet shoes) and attempting to wade through what we thought would be shallower spots (not the case), we finally gave up and rode toward Crafton along the levy.  Matt tricked me into riding up a "easy" single track to Zanja Peak.  After several near death experiences, I made it to the top.  By this time, my nerves were shot and after momentary consideration of riding down another single track, I opted to take the main WIDE trail to Crafton College.

I survived!  And, I must say, I rode the mountain bike three times last week, and the road bike only once.  I think I'm being converted.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom

I have an amazing mom.  She's been there for me every step of the way.  She's held my hand through the worst and the best.  She's taught me about love and life.  So don't forget your mom this weekend.  A call, a hug, a card, a gift... Love you, Mom!

You to, my mother, read my rhymes

For the love of unforgotten times,

And you may chance to hear once more

The little feet along the floor.

Robert Louis Stevenson

May Day

Apparently today is May Day.  I'd never really heard about May Day until this year.  These days, May Day is associated with an International Worker's Day or a Labor Day.  Boring.  Demonstrations too.  No offense to those who do care, but I could really care less about the demonstrations.  Do people really think that is going to make a difference?  Really.  The government does what it wants, when it wants, and only does stuff for alterior motives.

Anyway, the traditional May Day is way more exciting.  The earliest May Day was the Festival of Flora who was the Roman goddess of flowers.  I'm down with that since I like flowers.  Then there's the tradition of dancing around the Maypole and the crowning of the Queen of May.  I could dance around a Maypole and you can crown me Queen of May too.  What do I get to do if I'm Queen of May?  But if I dance around the Maypole, is that kind of like pole dancing?  Hummm.  I've never tried that before. The May Pole in England was known for mixed gender dancing, drunkenness, and merry-making. Whoo hooo!  In Scotland, at dawn on May Day, there's a run into the sea, occasionally naked.  Ha!  This gets more fun as I go!  Avoid Crete though where May is considered the month of the dead, and getting married in May is unlucky, note to self. 

So Happy May Day to all!  May it involve much (May) pole dancing, drunkenness, and naked swimming; and avoid the demonstrations and getting married...

(Info courtesy of Wikipedia)