I will attempt to re-type this again, for the 3rd time - Fuck you blogger for not being stable, I should know better to type up my blog first in a regular text editing application and saving it before I bring it to your website with it's fancy text editing/publishing shit...which is what it is, it freezes up almost every other time.

So, I will be brief - after spending over an hour writing shit on blogger and to lose it all.

Longass day, lotta productivity, helped the parents do all sorts of stuff - automating things on their computer (slides), lawn mowing, taking grandfather clock to repair shop, babysitting the repair/service, apartment hunting, then a solid 58n mile training ride in the mountains from Percellville to West virginia, up in the appalachean mountains and back....

Came home, cleaned bike (again) - even repacked the freewheel bearings...throrough.

Welp, I'm tired...more of the same tomorrow.

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Where to begin, screw introductions - they are about as useless as tits on a nun. Pardon me, that was crass, and politically incorrect, obviously men can become nuns - which is redundant.

Today was one wild day, at work (won't go into details), but it was a super dooper excited day, with much drama and stupidity. It's Friday, I'm trying to ignore how wild the day was.

So, I will focus on the training ride I did tonight, and the shit I have to focus on over the weekend...which is a-plenty. The set of pictures above (click on each pic, they will open up a new window, detail shot, uncropped) are from my training ride tonight....just really shitty misty cold weather. There was no one out on the trail... I saw maybe 4 people out there on a 38 mile ride.

Then again, it was Friday eve, who would elect to do this? Well, I strangely got a little "high" out of the masochistic nature of the stupidity. I was having fun, enjoying myself - all rain spray and sweat - just a fricken Nike ad. I was literally sweating Gatorade.

Finished up, I was soaked to the bone. Took me a while to change before I got into my car to head home.

I was totally relaxed when I got home, a nice dinner, a few beers - then I was to spend some time cleaning my bike. Boring as it is, I enjoyed it - spent 2 hours dancing and jamming to the new Foo Fighters while taking apart my entire bike, cleaning, lubing, et al. I need to get a new freewheel bearing extractor tomorrow...note to self.

I'm exhausted...tomorrow and the entire weekend will be busy (including time in the office)...And it's supposed to rain all weekend...shitty.

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What a busy day. Work was, well - just a wild mess of problem solving and stress. Good thing on the horizon, so keeping my fingers crossed. The weather completely changed, went from high of 87 degrees yesterday, to high of 54 degrees today - I was soo unsure what to wear while biking, teemed with the fact it was supposed to have 50% rain showers.

I was anxious all day about my training ride with my bike club, especially after last week's fiasco. So I made double sure that I was in full attention to where my group was at - the ride proved to be a lot of fun, was a great workout - this time new route - out towards Ashburn and into some hills. When I join up with the club, I bike 2.5 miles to the meetup spot, a nice little warmup, but not too far - I wish it was a solid 5 or 7 miles. I milled around then did another mile lap before we were ready to shoot off. We did our standard milage, which was just over 34 miles. On the home stretch, there was this woman triathlete who joined the group, we paced for a while, then slowed down to cool down - I got to talking with her. I find out later that she is on the national Iron Man/Woman circuit, when we continue to ride another 10 miles (I passed the starting point and continued on to Reston which was her quitting point). Very interesting woman - She suggested we train together, meeting up on Wednesdays and Fridays (she is also doing the Mountains of Misery). I'm sooo psyched.

I was completely wiped out afterwards, 46 miles in all - 30 miles of it at a fast paceline time trial. I feel good, just relaxed - as the picture suggests (not, that picture makes me look like a mean mo fo... I used my new digital camera to take that photo, with the remote control...but it was almost twilight when I took it - horrible picture, click to see larger file).

Came home, new jerseys came in the mail. I tried them on, they seem a little tight for medium, but they supposed to fit snug. Perfect incentive to bike a few extra miles at the end of a ride.

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Ever have one of those days when you wake up, whether superstitious or not, and say to yourself "this is going to be one of those days where something bad may happen...like getting into a car accident" - knowing well that it will not happen. But that thought sticks in your head all day. Similar is true with the opposite thoughts - of something positive happening.

Well, neighter happened - but something almost did happen. I was with one of my co-workers during lunch heading out to a quick errand in her really cool mustang convertable - wicked ass car, we were within a block of the office as we were heading out and were about to make a left hand turn onto another road, horrible visibility with the traffic...to make a long story short, I am glad my co-worker has really quick reflexes to a almost fatal thing that happened. On that left hand turn, there was a truck who was going to turn in front of us, and was trying to be courteous by waving us ahead to go - unbeknownst to us, he didn't see the car we couldn't see barrelling down the road who jumped a red light. That car would have T-Boned us dead on going about 50mph if my co-worker and friend didn't slam on her breaks. We were about 1" from being clipped. That would have been a horrible accident, especially in a convertable mustang from the late 80s. I was a little frazzled, but was thankful that I have confidence in my friend's driving.

Anyhoo - it was a beautiful, and HOT day...went up to 87 degrees. Felt like summer. Work was unbearable - from two points, ABBA was being a total dick, seeming like he was off his meds again teemed with a problem with one of the things we were working on, a "bug" resulted in something and farked up the finishing of development time of something, which put a delay on something...to make a long story short - I couldn't get out of the office until 6:30.

High resolution or low resolution

Which was ok, except that by the time I suited up, went on my training ride, got back to my car, un-geared, drove home, had dinner, it's already 10:30. It was a really nice training ride though, met up with a few buds and we high tailed it out to Hamilton and back - very fast sweaty ride, chock full of stupid stories, pacelining, plans for the cycling season - 2 of which are doing the Mountains of Misery. 42 miles in all.

The highlight of my day was getting my new digital camera (showcased from yesterday) - it's really nice - so far. What I like best about it is that it's tiny, weatherproof. If I become a zealot, I may finish charging the battery and take a quick pic of something and post it. But it's getting late.

UPDATE: Damn!..I love my new camera...just very quick shots, plug n play..then quick export to photoshop..some quick manipulation(s)...then wallah!..a very zesty photo-illustration within 10-15 minutes. I love it. Click on high or low rez version above the pictured thumbnail to see results.

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I feel spoiled by having such great weather seemingly 10 days in a row. It soon will end, rain is in sight. It was a gorgeous day, in the low to mid 70s - nice spring breeze to keep the tree and grass sperm a flowin' up my nose. Oh joy.

Work was a crazy phrenetic quiet before the storm, then the storm hit, and the storm hit hard, then storm over, then calm seas. Then it was about time to leave to go training. I looked out - see real meteorological storm clouds, but unsure what was going to happen. The hour to hour forecast on weather.com for the 2 counties and 8 zip codes that I was about to bike through (and back) indicated chance of showers and thunderstorms. SO I geared up, wallet and cell phone in ziplock, put in my back pocket pouches, with my pump, spare tire, and my lightweight clear rain jacket...and I was off.

45 miles later (total ride), I wondered when the rain was ever going to happen. It did, just not where I rode. It rained back where I started, and musta been a huge storm, downed trees, puddles of stuff, and almost floodlike indicators. I had nothing but a verge of a shower - lightning in the distance. I love watching that. Tomorrow will be a lot of rain, but it will be warm...will be a fun thunderstorm ride in hot rain.

I am getting a new digital camera tomorrow (picking it up, pictured above + linked to website with specs)..I have been looking for almost a year, finally decided on the Olympus Stylus 410, 4+ megapixels. Granted, the camera has been out for about a year old - but it is perfect for what I need. It is tiny, all weather (I can put it in my rear jersey pouch when I bike), lightweight, packed full of great options. And I love Olympus cameras. I cannot wait to charge it up and go wild.

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Wow. Just Wow. What a beautiful day. I thought yesterday was amazing - today was a repeat, but much nicer. Unfortunately I had to work, but I got off on time to enjoy a really nice training ride out to Purcellville and back. I did 44 miles of it with a couple that I know that does the stretch - was great to have company, even if half the ride they were drafting off me. Later they admitted that I bike too fast for them - how ironic, they are fit, both triatheletes and in their late 20s. They gonna train with me 2 days a week, mondays and fridays - they want to improve their pace.

Finished up, came home, had dinner - I am wiped out and a little sunburned. Time to remember to put on the SPF spray before I head out biking. ANd time to start making lists of things to pack, all the details of making a move.

Milecount so far this year to date: 3,857 miles.

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Where to begin. Well, it was by far the most beautiful Spring day to date. It was a glorious 70+ degree weather all day. A steady stream of loveliness - photo describes the kind of day it was, those are the flowering fruit trees in part of the backyard.

I had a full agenda, which I got all done. Had the car washed, the damn Jetta was looking sad - now she all shiny n silver - with tough armor-alled features to make her look like a bitch. Headed to Reston and Herndon and looked at 2 apartments, one was a little out of my league in terms of payments, the other was a nasty old place, I saw a cockroach. I was out of there.

Drove to Performance and picked up the tools i need to change my crankset/bottom bracket...which I may be doing ofter this season, switching from a double to a triple chainring crankset setup. So I got those tools, including the overtly specialized tools for disassembling my rear gear cluster and sprockets. I felt like a total bike dork asking the mechanic about why Ultegra switched to optilink mid 2003, i need more precision...I thought for a moment he was going to offer me a job.

Then I headed to Vienna, for a glorious ride. Twas a little windy, but the breeze was great. Only problem - too many weekend warriors on the trail, with kids....was great they were there enjoying everything, and being outdoors, getting some exersize rather than shovelling potato chips into their face and staring at the tv or computer. I had to get off the route. I did part of the Algonkian trail up to maryland then cut over to Leesburg then came back, only 58 miles overall. I knew it was going to be a short ride, because I didn't start til late from after apartment hunting.

I also had to finish up so that I could cook my parents a feast - a classic recipe I cook for them - Linguini with White Clam Sauce (made obviously from scratch - it's in my silly cookblog). They thorougly enjoyed the meal, with salad and wine.

I finished making preparations for the week, including doing laundry...oh blah blah blah, and finally shaving off my goatee, pictured above. Click on animated pic to see larger. What a fugly mug.

Extra credit points to enterpret what's on my t-shirt.

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