Parisi Team Ride

Hit up the team ride today. 

For a change of pace we started at the Parisi Cafe down at Park Place. Have you been there. Out at about 119th and Nall? It's like a generic three year old Europe. 

After some chit chat and free coffee we rode around a while and tried to look cool. 

Plus Double Nickle is back! If you see the yellow Pinarello, pay homage.  

Drinking beer at Volker Bicycles and hanging out with Double Nickle... It's like the old days. 

This ride was a good reminder that I'm slow. At the moment I think my prowess on a bicycle directly effects my prowess as a dad. The faster I get the worse of a dad I become. 

I'm a pretty amazing dad right now. Planning on being a dead beat dad for about 3 months starting in October.

(This blog kinda stinks but I'm trying to get back in the flow. Thank you for your patience.) 

Lake Wilson Mountain Bike Trip

Took a one night trip to Lake Wilson, KS last weekend. We pedaled Mountain bikes on their awesome singletrack on Saturday and Sunday.

Do you like to ride singletrack?

Have you been to Lake Wilson, KS?

If you have the means, i highly suggest you go. The trails are sweet and unlike anything in KC. Plus theres about 23 miles worth! I did a full loop each day which totaled 5 hours of riding. 

It feels like Colorado or Arizona. Smells like it, too. 

If you do go, i also strongly suggest you bring Johnny Pot Pie with you. That boy cooks good.

Steak

Cheesy risotto

Shrimp cocktail

Cherizo, egg and bean breakfast burritos

Pringles (my contribution)

We gorged ourselves. 

You should also stop at Salina's Cozy Inn on the way home (also suggested to us by Johnny Pot Pie) for their amazing hamburgers. Certainly the absolute perfect meal after two days and five hours of hard ass mountain biking. If you can eat more than 10 sliders your a real man. I had 5. 

As to the performance of yours truely... thank god for electrolite pills and coasting. 

Our group was 7 and i was somewhere between the fastest and slowest. I'd been out there once before so that gave me a bit of an edge over some, plus my mountain bike is firing on all cylinders right now (thanks Volker Bicycles!) and my confidence was sky high. Plus this was akin to my World Championships. I had some major pain face on day one and was loving every second of it.

Free time is like gold when you have a kid.

So it was an awesome trip. 

Solo Road Bike

Went for a Sunday ride. 

Solo. (You feel faster that way). 

It was awesome. 

Keep on keeping on, everybody. 

Mountain bike ride yesterday, on mostly pavement.

As X and I get the baby thing down we're finding more time for our own activities. 

(Coffee helps).

Roller derby for her and bike riding for me. 

The time we do get is short but appreciated. Free time takes on a whole new meaning after baby comes, its like winning the lottery. This is more so for me than for X. She gets the lions share of the 'me' time. After her annoying pregnancy filled with bed rest and hospital visits I gladly told her I'd pick up some slack if she wanted to give derby another go. 

So I'm getting my dad on, big time. It's awesome. 

During my new 'compact' rides Ive found myself thinking about the past, my single days. I could ride whenever I wanted. Then I think about the married but pre baby days. I could still ride a whole hell of a lot. Then I find myself thinking about my current situation... Married with baby, riding time a fraction of what it was, finding time for that fraction more difficult than ever... and I couldn't be happier. 

Then I get back to thinking about nothing but the simple pleasure of pedaling a bicycle. 

(Then I start breathing very hard because I'm terribly out of shape). 

Life is good. 

I'm sure marriage and fatherhood are going to throw me for about 1,000 more loops and I'll go from thinking I've got it all figured out to realizing I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but I'm ready for that. And after the 'I want to pull my hair out' spell passes, and I remember how lucky I am, I'll get back to my life complete with finding any time possible to pedal. 

Ride on!

(By the way, the good folks at Volker Bicycles did some fine tuning on my mtb. Single chain ring up front and switched from grip to trigger shifter. Me likey.)

Commuting to work on a Bicycle.

I rode my bike to work on Tuesday. 

Hopefully I start doing this 3 days a week. 

I left later than planned and had to haul ass. My new "fatherhood" version of hauling ass is a lot slower than my pre fatherhood version of hauling ass, so I was a few minutes late. Turns out that the fatherhood stamina I've discovered applies only to functioning on little sleep and is no help when it comes to the stamina required to ride a bicycle. 

My routing will get refined over these next few weeks. 

My grand plan for cyclo cross domination   Is well on its way.