By far - One of the most beautiful days in my life. Clear, little breeze, in the low 70s, hardly any humidity. I knew it was true - when midway on my ride today, I was at an intersection waiting for the cars to clear and this SUV passes with a bunch of young women all yelling out the windows "WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!!!!!" It made me smile.

I slept in this morn, then went to get my hair cuts and other stupid errands, came home changed and got ready to head to my ride. THe most important errand I had was to Performance to cash in on my Performance Member's 20% discount day (and I also had a bunch of $10 certificates they sent me). I picked up a trainer (already on sale) for $120, a pair of summer bike gloves (they were originally $32...but between discount and member's discount...dirt cheap $7.99), a headlight for this fall and winter to bike in the dark after work. I saved $200 on the things I got today....real happy.

The bikeride was a really smoothe ride - Vienna to Hamilton (near Percellville), 30 miles out...and 30 miles back. I was a tiny bit worn out. But it was good. Will do a simple 40-50 miler tomorrow.

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blog # 150...(oh gee wiz)

I think I want to start painting again. I was just inspired in seeing John Currin's work - someone who I've vaguely followed for a few years. I had sort of forgotten about him until I got an email from an old friend of mine who just published her 2nd novel and the cover of the book was by John Currin. Not only was the painting itself completely accurate for the narrative of the book (as a cover) - he gave it to her. I was amazed. His paintings are wry blase deadpan satires of Suburbia mixed into cliche art historical contexts with an underbrooding of sexual tension and flirtatious stupidness. (gee, the old art critic in me does come out from time to time...i'll refer to that sullen voice as "Barbara Tucker" [Marsha Tucker's fictional republican right wing ultra-femme lesbian sister]).

In my best Vally Girl voice, I say "Like OMG, what a fabulous day today. Gag me with Kid Rock's smelly finger - it felt like Fall!" Then flutters my manly eyelashes. Oh barf. It was a nice crisp Fall-like day today. Almost jacket weather. The same kind of day that 9/11 was. Crisp and cloudless. Went on a short 42 mile bike ride tonight. It was a fun ride because the ride out was gusty towards me...so I knew the ride back would be a breeze (ha! punny). I stupidly got that song "Gonna ride like the wind" 1970s/1980s song by Christopher Cross stuck in my head...It almost cause a headache trying to consciously think of a different tune to drown it out. Oh the drama...

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Busy ass day at work, Blah blah blah. It was so busy, no time to address to the upper brass the thing I mentioned yesterday. Will let it lay low until Monday.

Darted out of work as quick as possible to meet up with the Reston Bike Club in Herndon (bout an 8 min bike ride) for the Thursday Night ride. It was perfect weather. In the 70s and little humidity. Very fast - averaging 19-20 mph with lots of drafting - we only did 45 miles, some hills. There were about 40 riders - divided into several speed ratings. It's an impressive and intimidating bunch of bikers...all speeding and tightbound...and colorful to boot. It's like an excersize in trying to wear the visually loudest bike outfit. Great fun - and it's given me an opportunity to meet new people that have similar interests.

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Typical work day - with the exception of a few of the people on my tiny little staff. It seems that they have worked there forever with their "seniority" bullcrap. Interesting dilemma - they are both from another country and have certain cultural ticks that go against typical North American workplace practices. Not to go into any detail, other than say that a cultural issue can sometimes be disruptive in the workplace. This will be discussed in great detail tomorrow with them and the owner of the company.

I suppose I got caught in the tail end of Hurricane Alex - because I sure got wet. I was turning around just after my 20 mile mark to head back and then just noticed the dark clouds that I suppose were chasing me. The sky was almost black - and here I was biking into the storm. To say the least, I got soaked to the bone within one minute as the huge drops began to hit - and didn't stop until I was finished with the 20 miles heading back. Heavy downpour and gusts. Difficult to see but refreshing as hell. The only drag is all the after effects - change clothes before getting in car, putting wet bike and gear in car....driving home. Taking bike back out of car at home - spraying the dirt saturated rain and road crap off bike with hose, then dilligently wiping clean and detailing, and re-lubing bike. Put bike back in car, then hand wash bike gear, hang to drip dry, pull out other dry bike gear - toss in bag, remove foam liners from helmet, dry them off with paper towels and put under fan, take shoe liners out, dry and place them with shoes under fan to dry overnight, hang wet bike gloves, fetch other dry gloves, then in morning, re-assemble helmet parts, shoes and put in car with bike gear bag....I feel like I'm taking care of a baby when it rains. (then again, my new bike IS my baby!)

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Long day at work. Long 42 mile bike ride after work. Great day. More tomorrow.

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Smoothe but busy day at work. All day it was threatening thunderstorms (reminents of Hurricane Alex), swift moving storms from the south east. I knew I'd get rained on during my bike ride, well, because I started biking while it was raining. This time, I was a little more prepared. I had on my rain parka - only problem, when it is 80+ degrees and you are wearing a semi-sealed rain parka shell - ya kinda sweat a little. Let me revise that - you sweat a LOT, especially if you are cycling at 20-24mph for a solid two hours without stopping. I got to Falls Church and holy crap, I was wetter inside my parka than outside. Regardless, it was a great ride - all 42 miles of it.

So as promised, I will give you my Salsa recipe (this is really easy to make):

Scott's Simple Salsa

6 medium vine ripened tomatos, blanched to remove skins, roughly chopped
1/2 vedalia or red onion, corsely chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, roasted and finely minced with seeds
3 cloves garlic, roasted and minced
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
pinch of corse salt
pinch of cracked pepper

In a food processor or a blender, combine all ingredients and "pulse" or lightly blend. Chill overnight and serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

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When I left the house this morning to run a few errands before my afternoon bike ride, I said to myself "what does 50% chance of severe thunderstorms mean?" (thinking of the weather report I heard in the morning). Well, got me a new rain jacket for biking in the rain, and a cyclometer. Got to Vienna - was getting ready to head towards Leesburg, another biker came up and said "ready for the rain?" I chirped back "absolutely". So, I head out - it was hot and humid as hell. About 90 degrees, minimal breeze. I finally got into my good funk and was cruizing like a banshee. Eventually made it to Leesburg without one drop of rain - it had been threatening. Heard distant thunder rumbles. At Leesburg was my 40 mile 1/2 way point (Vienna to Leesburg is 20 miles each way), I heard a thunderboom and the sky started to turn a wicked bruised color.

About a mile into the ride back - huge pancake sized rain drops were hitting the asphalt - it was about to dump hard core Rhinos and Elephants (not cats n dogs). I was prepared though (even if I wasn't wearing my fancy new rain jacket) - it was hot as hell, I was already drenched with sweat. The rain felt great - refreshing. My cell phone, keys, wallet were in a ziplock bag in my mini-tote. I was debating taking off my jersey and just get rained on - I couldn't figure where to put it so I decided to just wear it all sloppy heavy wet.

It was dumping rain hard. I could not see a damn thing. Worse thing was that my tiny thin tires were slippery as hell. I skidded/slipped 3 times (almost wiping completely out) while approaching an intersection. One time I was slipping so fast and what not..I unclipped my shoe out of my pedal..and had to manually stop my self via Fred Flinstone style tactics. I wonder if there were sparks coming from the steel cleat on the bottom of my shoe and the aslphalt.

The great thing about the ride back in this downpour was the smiles on all the hard core bikers' faces. I was smiling too. The lightning was a little intense - I was worried about getting struck. I was thinking, crap - did I update my will? I wish I cleaned out my car before it was found after I died from a lightningstrike. Then I got paranoid, my new bike frame is 1/2 carbon fiber and aluminum - a huge conductor. The rain was so heavy that there was minor flooding on some of the cross roads and low areas - this one intersection between Reston and Vienna, I biked through an intersection that had two feet of water.

Anyhoo, to sum it up - the last 20 miles of my bike trip back was in a total rain downpour. I get back to Vienna, put soaked bike & gear in car, change my clothes at the community center, begin to back out of parking lot - Rain stops. Typical.

Came home, made a Burrito with a sundried tomato and basil soft flour tortilla, black beans, scallions, left over grilled chicken, and soy cheddar "cheese" topped with some homemade salsa (recipe I will produce tomorrow). Overall, great weekend.

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