Daily grind
OK - for those that don't already know I did get a new job. I was only out of work for just over 1 month. The best part was that I had 2 other verbal offers in the process of becoming hard offers when I took the one I did. So...if you're reading this and currently out of work - it can turn around.
All this means that poor ol psimet isn't riding the Tuesday and Thursday night world championships anymore - or at least not right now. As the sun stays out later I might have a chance. I figure I'll hit the Penny Rd Pub ride on tuesdays because it's closer.
Instead of racing this last weekend I did a BFNIC ride (Bike Forums Northern Illinois Chapter is you've forgotten). It was awesome to see some faces I haven't seen in a while. It was even better not having to organize the ride or to have promised anyone I would ride sweep. That meant I was free to show up and hammer.
I really did want to ride pretty easy for 10-15 miles getting a chance to talk to people, but alas....that was not to happen. We picked up a ringer in the parking lot. I should have known something was up when a rider with a Flatlandia jersey showed asking about our ride on the same day their club was putting on the Leland race.
We rolled out and soon after shider dropped the hammer. Later the Flatlandia rider turned the screws to us - pegging us at 27mph INTO the 30-40mph headwind. The suck.
The rest of the ride was more of the same. We turned in something like 70 miles. 35 or so at 21.1 mph the rest at 18.7 - there was some rain and some hill climbing.
So...Vernon Hills this weekend. I checked and we have like 7 riders in the 4/5. I feel good about that. I predict pain.
A little behind in my work
I have been trying to focus a little more on work, family, and of course...riding lately. As a result I have thoughts of tons of nice things to blog about but haven't gotten around to actually blogging.
First things first....Montrose wrap-up:
It was cold. this is what it looked like when we left that morning.
I did tear up my tights in on fo the wrecks I had. Didn't notice until later. I finally washed the cross bike yesterday. The season is now over for me. Poo.
In more exciting news we had a holiday BFNIC party that Colochange put on. He was nice enough to invite a bunch of us less desirables over to his house and feed up beer. I took him up on the offer...
Above L to R: Cycling Jester (thanks for the ride DD), Recursive trying to remember why he came, Cyclpsycho/Alien, Colorchange our host, Alien2, CyLowe97.
Recursive - that's how he rolls...
iab - the premise of the party was that you brough your bike and got your picture taken with it. Nice idea. Colochange got to work another one of his hobbies in. Check out the vintage steel that iab is spoting. I can pretty much assure that it is older than anyone actually reading this.
Alien - What Woulf Jens Do. I love this shirt. For those that don't get it google "Jens Voight". Throw a lot of German/Australian accented f bombs around and you might get close.
Above L to R: Voldemort, Recursive, Alien2, Scummer, SmokinMiles, iab and Alien Awesome as a noun.
Ever since Speedy McAwesome (http://speedymcawesome.blogspot.com/) made his debut on Bike Forums our small tribe of riders that is BFNIC has resorted to using the word awesome as a noun. Now you can tell I am not a student of English, but I think I know enough to feel the need to ponder why an adjective becomes so funny when you simply turn it into a noun.
Example:
- I am feeling the awesome today.
- The awesome has left me.
- How much is that awesome you bought? It must have been on sale.
Probably the worst is when it is used in conjunction with an adjective approximateing it original meaning:
- That was some amazing awesome you dished out.
Also why is it that we insist on using some sort of forceful verb (English majors will have some fancy name for it I'm sure. They dreamt it up while waiting for the fries to finish cooking) in conjunction with it?
We're always bringing, dropping, dishing out, releasing, basking in, or otherwise embracing the awesome.
My new favorite is the one I coined in a previous post (too lazy to link) - Hunting the awesome.
I now strive everyday to wake up wanting to hunt the awesome.