Title by my fiancee
Gotta love Memorial Day… the day off, the cook-outs, the trees jumping out in front of you… wait, maybe that’s just us.  Today began with more bike riding. It began with four of us attempting to tackle the same trail from last week. Its started off well… then we started riding. My friend who had steering issues last week make it about 200 yards farther than he did last week before his handle bars became loose again. I dont think his bike likes that trail. He decided to turn around because he decided he actually wanted to control where his bike went… good for him, because even with functional steering, our bikes still went places they were not supposed to go. And then there were three.

The three of us decided were were gonna try to ride with the big boys… mistake number one. Those up hill climbs showed us who was boss. Thank goodness I added that water bottle holder. I obviously didn’t learn from last week when I had my encounter with the tree. That’s what led to mistake nimber two… the trees just jump out in front of you. You cant trust them for a minute. The second you take your eyes off of them, they move. That’s obviously what happened, because otherwise why would I have had an “encounter” with a tree again?

Unfortunately, one of us, now known as Tree Hugger, didn’t learn from my mistake last week either. He underestimated the trees. we were headed down a new path, and it was pretty fast. Fun, but fast. I almost had a second encounter with a tree on this segment, but fortunately, I saw it move, so I was able to avoid it. Tree Hugger was not so lucky. I had just crossed a creek and stopped to wait for the other two. I turned around to see where everyone was just in time to hear tree hugger coming around the bend and see him headed straight for a tree. I heard a yell, crash, and then silence.

I ran over to see if he was alright, but of course, he was. After all, last week he won he tough guy award for his resilience after his spill. He was no less brave today. He quickly rebounded, brushed himself off, and got ready to continue riding. His bike has other plans. It was not as tough as its rider. He noticed the rear wheel was not spinning as freely as it should. We noticed it was slightly bent. We adjusted the brake a bit to allow it to spin only to run into another problem. His front tire. That one was not slightly bent, but severely bent. It had obviously lost the battle with the sneaky tree. It kinda looked like a tortilla chip.

The only option was to either toss the bike in the woods and cut his losses, or carry it back. He decided to carry it. The other two of us rode back to the cars and picked him at at a crossing mid way in the trail. Once we met back up with him, I think he wished he had chosen the first option.

In the words of Ice Cube, “Today was a good day.” I went mountain biking, and my fiancee joined… she even jumped a few logs and crossed a few creeks. I had my mom over for a small cookout (I love grilling). And I spoke to both my dad and my sister. Food, family, and fun… doesn’t get better than that.

I decided that one of my friends gets the tough guy award for today. The biking started out a bit shaky. First, the trail was difficult to find… we ended up going the wrong way. But that did allow is to go down a monster hill. Then when we found the trail, the first hill was down hill, and it was all rocks. I don’t mean pebbles, not even stones… ROCKS! The smallest ones were the size of baseballs and softballs. I was the first to take the hill, and it was great. It was steep and bumpy. When I started, I thought, “Oh, I can handle this.” Then I got about a quarter the way down and thought, “Maybe I should have thought this through more… I am going kinda fast.” Then about halfway I thought “Ah well, I am halfway down, if I try to brake, I will probably lock the wheels up, do a superman over the handle bars and die, so I might as well go for it. No sense in trying to dodge the rocks, they are everywhere. Just try to go as straight as possible. Wow, this is so bumpy, I cant even focus… its like I am in Star Trek, and I am going warp 8.” Then I made it to the bottom. I was safe, I didnt die, I didn’t eat it, and I didn’t crap myself, so I did well.

Unfortunately, one of us was not as lucky with the hill. The warp 8 bumps knocked his handlebars loose, and his wheel started turning when he wasn’t. He decided he was done for the day, and cut his losses. Smart move. No sense in anyone risking their safety any more than we already were be being out there.

The tough guy award… Another friend was leading the now trio down a path. I was talking to my fiancee, and heard a yell and then a crash. I looked up to see my friend’s bike laying on the ground, and he a bit passed it. He was kinda laid out with arms and legs outstretched when I saw him. He then got up, brushed himself off, and was ready to go. I thought that was the end of our day, hell, after that, I know I would have been ready to go home, but he insisted we go on. His hands were a bit bloody, and I am sure his pride may have been a bit bruised, but he took it like a champ.

We ended up riding out until we didn’t know where to go anymore, and then headed back. It was a great ride, and a great ride followed by grilled food makes for a great day. i hope your Sunday was as enjoyable, but I doubt it was… mine is pretty hard to beat. :-)

I have discovered a new recreational activity… you guessed it, mountain biking. Its great, and until I get my motorcycle (no, I have not given up on my dream of owning a motorcycle), this will have to be my outlet for two-wheeled adventure. My fiance and I recently got mountain bikes, and its great. its great exercise, and its a great way for us to spend time together. While she has no desire to venture off of the safer trails to the “fun” stuff, this is fine. We live in the suburbs, and there are plenty of bike trails in and around our neighborhood. There are also many trails in the area that are either paved, or have some kind of rock or stone ground cover that would be fun for a relaxing ride.

Today I went riding with two friends, and had a blast. It was like the other side of biking. While most of the ride was on a dirt and stone trail, we also ventured off into the woods and had some fun. We found a trail that had lots of turns a few dips, and plenty of tree roots and logs to climb over. That section made the day completely worth it. It also gave me an opportunity to get my bike dirty and get some street cred… lol.

Now, doubt I will become some kind of obsessed biker, nor am I about to run out and spend thousands of dollars on a bike, but I am going to look for more places for me to have fun on my little Schwinn. Its great rediscovering something you enjoyed as a kid… but still acceptable for adults to enjoy. Hopefully the next trail we take on had some creek crossings… I have already found a few that do.

Until then, I will enjoy the gentler trails with my fiance. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to get her out there to jump a log one day… maybe.

I am back from my cruise, and it was pretty fun. There are a few things I would have changed, like not having it when all of the 10 year olds were on spring break. No, I am exaggerating the age of some immature college students, there were really 10 year olds on the boat. It was family central… so almost everyone was either 15 and under, or 40 and over. Not many in the 25-35 year old crowd. Once we got past that fact, we were able to have a pretty good time.

When we were in Cozumel, I was able to go jet skiing for the first time. It was SO much FUN! While I felt paying $60 US was a bit much for 30 min of jet skiing in Mexico, it was worth every penny. Even when I was flying through the air after being thrown from the machine like a bucking bull, I was having fun.

I was taking a turn too sharply, and hit a bad wave. I knew that when taking sharp turns, the machine kind of skips on the water. What I didn’t know was that  if you hit a high wave, the ski will do its best to send you flying. It succeeded. Fortunately, I didn’t panic when i was in the air, nor did I panic as I hit the water and realized I was in the ocean and could not touch the bottom.

I was, however, glad that my friend did not try to come over to help. He had just told me that the last time he went jet skiing, someone fell off, and he went over to help. It was then he realized that jet skis do not have brakes and hit the guy in the head… true story.

After not being hit in the head, I surfaced and found my jet ski. Let me tell you, getting on a jet ski floating the the ocean is no easy task. I thought I could just boost myself up like one would as they get out of a pool where there is no ladder. After two unsuccessful attempts, I took the advice of my head hunting friend who was yelling for me to try to put my leg up. It was comforting to hear his voice from a distance because that meant he was far enough away that my head was safe.

So I got my leg up, and now I am dangling from the ski by a leg and an arm. I somehow managed to get my arm over the seat of the ski and pull myself on the ski.  I reattached the kill switch, and made good use of the remainder of my 30 min. It may have been the most fun all cruise.

As we know, I love HD, so when I realized my HD channels were gone earlier today, I was deeply hurt. My local cable provider recently changed, and I thought maybe they stopped broadcasting them for free. Right now, My TV will decode certain channels, so it picks up the local HD channels w/o the need for a set-top box.

I just looked on a forum for that is hosted by my community association and learned that I am not the only one without HD. It appears that the cable provider is having problems with their HD programming, so even those who subscribe to the service are without their HD channels. We all lost them just in time to not be able to see the football games in HD… great timing… where is FiOS when you need it?

Have you ever hit a golfball so hard, you knocked the head off of the club? Well, me neiter… I attribute my mishap to an old, cheap, second-hand club combined with a mediocre (on my best day) player. I was at the driving range playing Tiger when I broke out my 5-wood. I took a few practice swings… felt good. I place a ball on the putting mat, line up the swing, and PONG! (not PING, I never get that sound, I am not that good)

As the club comes over my head during the back swing, I think, “gee, the club feels light.” As I look up, I see a white spec dart out of my peripheral view. “Damn, I thought I thought I hit that pretty straight,” I think. Then I see a dark object bouncing down the range.

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“Damn, I just broke my club!” I look at the shaft to see the head broke off at the neck. Imagine that, there really is graphite in there.

Moral of the story, if you man-handle your shaft, you’ll break the head off.