Been a long ass day. Went on a 54 mile bike ride this morning - it was nice albeit overcast. Ride went well. Finished in 3 hours (approx 18mph). Not bad for being on a mountain bike. Came home, mowed the front lawn - ran to the grocery store to get a few extras for the homemade Pesto I made this evening. Key to this was having a bountiful amount of fresh basil in the garden, and some fresh jalepeno peppers. I have not posted a recipe in a while - so I present my Homemade fresh pesto:

4 cups fresh basil
1.5 cup fresh Italian parsley/cilantro
1 cup Romano or Pecorino cheese, grated
1 cup pine nuts, toasted
4 garlic cloves, roasted and roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jalepeno pepper, roasted and minced
1 cup olive oil
3 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Puree until the mixture forms a smooth, thick paste. Chill to keep fresh. Best served in a pasta dish, spread on a pizza with fresh mozzerella cheese, or as a dip, or as a spread for bruchetta. Enjoy!

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I was all ready to go biking and damn if another summer storm hits. It poured and poured - thunderboomers. I am hardcore - but not crazy. If it's raining - I will bike. But if it's a heavy constant downpour with lightning and high winds, heck no. SO I ran a few errands. I needed to go to Performance to pick up the basics for my new bike (which has not arrived yet :( ) - a pump, tubes, flat kit, patches, all-in-one tool, under saddle minipack for the stuff, water bottle cage, and finally shoes. I couldn't beleive it - I got all of it - and it was all on sale in addition to the 10% discount I get as a Performance member. The shoes were especially a deal - they are ordinarilly $94 - but I got them for $29. So total, I walked away with about $200 worth of stuff for about $60. Came home, unpacked all my stuff and put cleats on my new shoes....I am ready! Hurry up and get here damnit!

I will be relaxing this evening, stilll working on my new flash front page, et al. Tomorrow - I'm gonna try to bike 60 miles. All this is in preparation for the Metric Criterium (100 kilometers=63 miles) I'm planning on doing at the end of August in Reston - hence all the training and new bike. If I'm bold - I may do the full Criterium (161 kilometers=100 miles)

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Ok. Now I'm officially going to hell. I ran over a baby rabbit on my bike ride. Not on purpose. This cute lil bunny wabbit was in the bike trail just kinda lookin down the road. I made a sound to catch it's attention - it turned and looked. This waskilly wabbit just stood there. I was moving at a really fast clip and as I got within 5 -10 feet of it...it started to run...not to one side or the other...but straight forward - sorta zig zagging. I could not tell which way it was gonna hop off the trail. It abruptly turned left as I thought it was gonna turn right...then the mushy florp sound of fur and broken bones underneath my tires. I didn't stop. I felt horrible. In light of it, I suppose it's Life in the food chain - something will eat it - I provided a meal. It was a tough bike ride too - it was pouring rain, dumped the entire 34 mile ride. I came back drenched - but exilerated. The rain keeps things cool, washes off the sweat - and the trail is empty with the exception of us freaky hard core bikers. I'm still moist with enticipation of the new bike...

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Busy day at work - sorta ho hum excitedness. Fo Shizzle. Great long 36 mile bike ride after work - was hot as heck. Came home - had dinner and spent some time on a collaborative 40th Wedding Anniversary gift for my parents (this weekend). They will be out of town in West virginia to celebrate - so I had to speed up the preparations. My brothers and their families were all in the planning of this - I had to carry out the research, procurement and details. I hope they enjoy it. I'm still moist thinking about the arrival of my new bike.... anyday now.

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The damage is done. Ordered the bike :) I cannot wait. 5 days. I will be like a kid who cannot hold in his pee. Checking to see if has arrived. In the meantime - time to get some new road bike shoes, some spare tires, new presta mini-pump, water bottle cage... what fun....

Biked a schweet smoothe rollin 36 miles tonight - the weather was perfect. Barely any animals - it was the Sterling to Alexandria loop - 1/2 suburban...half ghetto.

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I'm gonna do it tomorrow - will order my new bike (click on bike pic for larger image). The Windsor Trent Road Bike. I'm really excited. And it's a great deal - ordinarilly it goes for $2500 but I've found it for just $1095 (includes shipping and no tax). This baby is schweeeet. It has full Ultegra and Richey components - it's lightweight (17lbs). Drools.

Went on a medium 34 mile bike ride tonight. Threatened to rain the entire time. But it was nice and cool. There was even fog. Saw 3 deer, 10 groundhogs, 16 rabbits, 2 snakes - and many birds...including the one who flew into the spokes on my front tire. It got caught and was squaking like crazy until it partially became free and basically got decapitated by the fork. Poor thang.

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I have a few new pics, click on them to enlarge (each pic opens up in new window):

Here I am in one of my biking outfits - my Mom thinks I look like a bumblebee...so she got me to pose with her bumblebee antanae

Can anyone say biking tan?


My Nephew Max and I at the pool (back in June):


On the boat at Smith Mt. Lake:



Was a pleasant day. Slept in til 10am - then ran a few minor errands on my way to Alexandria to do the Mt Vernon Trail and Annondale loop - 43 miles. It was nice out - not too hot, pleasant breeze. Then rushed home to mow the 3/3rd of the lawn - the biggest part. Between biking and mowing the lawn - I think I sweated 2 gallons today. I took a shower and grilled Filet Mignon with Marsala infused mushrooms/vedallia onions, asparagus and black beans/aborio rice. Nice dinner. Now sunday night anxiety has set in.

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