Original Big Ring World Headquarters

World headquarters are moving today, tomorrow, and the rest of this week.  Expect no posts and you won't be disappointed.  And if you're interested in helping lift heavy boxes, please don't hesitate to get in contact with me. Cheers.

My Dwags

Got out early Wednesday morning before the staggering heat hit.  The Gats were quiet and I had the trails all to myself.  I felt the best I've felt on a bike in a long while.  The long miles last week and two hard interval/hill rides I did earlier in the week must have kicked me in the arse and got my legs finally feeling good.

Not long into the ride I dabbed, went to clip in and my shoe slipped off the side and got caught up.  Couldn't figure out what was happening at first.

WTF?

My pedal is caught inside my shoe!  WTF?!?!

My Shimano MO86's tore near the outside of the ball of my left foot and back along the sole past the middle of the shoe.  At first I thought it was where the leather upper met with the rubber lower, however, it was right in the rubber sole that broke and split away. 

Un-freak-in-believable

My first pair of Shimanos and the MO86's - which are my second pair of Shimano mtn bike shoes and have thus far been my favourite of the many cycling shoes I have ever owned.   Looks like I'll have to use my heavier, older Shimanos.  I love the Shimanos - they're stiff, light and fit great.  The rubber is soft enough to offer lots of grip on rocks (which may have been their downfall). 

Lacking Shelf Life & the F*cking "F" Bomb

This blog is coming close to the end of it's shelf life.  You might say it's well past it's best before date.

Milk beyond it's due date tastes bad - the same holds true for blogs.  We buy our milk in bags and it's the first time I've ever noticed that there is a mtn biker on it.

With lack of racing, lack of reviews, lack of readership and followers, lack of commentators/insulters, lack of sponsorship, lack of entertainment, and so on . . . . it goes without saying that this blog is lacking.  With less time than ever before and less energy and enthusiasm for writing I've decided to pull the plug on the life-support (one or two posts a week) that the original big ring blog has been kept alive on the past number of months.  I'm saying fuck it.

Recent attempts at making this blog more appealing have failed, ie. videos.  I haven't had a follower in months.  No one comments anymore.  My stats (which I hardly ever look at) are down.  All signs point to 'what's the point'?  This has turned more in to a riding diary, not there is anything wrong with that, but for all intents and purposes that's not what I set out to do.  My intent was to get free stuff and have people tell me how great I am.  That's not happening anymore, so phooey - I'm taking my blog and going home.  Fuck it.

So, my 'pull the plug' date is the end of October.  That will afford me time to do one more review of the diSSent ALC, document two more races, and share with you my trip to Colorado riding with Goat, Curvy Butt and a cameo by a superstar (yet to be named for secrecy purposes).  Still lots of mediocre blogging, uninteresting photos, and some video to come over the next few months.  Drink it all in my friends, drink it all in - cause when it's done, it's done.  Fuck it all.

Oh, comment moderation is "off", so have at it - I don't fucking care what anyone says anymore.  Even that re-tard Rainman (a.k.a. Jeff) can type whatever he wants . . . and so can you.  Whoot.  Fuck. It. All. To. Hell.

P.s.  something has been bugging me . . . not one fucking comment on my last video!?! WTF?  Did you see that shit?  I totally rocked it out and dressed up and shit and edited the fuck out of it!  And not one fucking comment!?!?!  Fuck. 

Anger

 This past couple months, especially the past week or so have been very stressful.  And I've been angry . . . very angry.  Restraint of tongue, pen and fists have kept me out of jail and the insane asylum.  Situations, circumstances, people, places and things out of my control have pushed me to the brink of setting up the Dragunov on top of the old bell tower and start picking people off one at a time.  I jest of course.  Of course.   I've been angry, but mostly at myself.  Serenity now!

Yesterday I got home and was steaming at nothing but at everything.  I didn't know what to do, so I got on the bike.  A day earlier I had ridden in plus 39 degree heat doing a loop of the park and ended up with a case of heat exhaustion.  I didn't think it was possible to even consider riding a day later, but I brain was telling me to go anyway.

Away I went, letting my pent up anger guide the bike over into the park.  I didn't have time to ride long, but I needed to ride.  I had to ride.  I was going to implode if I didn't do something.  I found myself a hill and began doing hill repeats as hard as I could.  I did them until my legs screamed and burned and my lungs felt like they were going to pop.  I stood, I mashed, I sat and spun out.  I did them until I wasn't angry anymore.  The Manx Missile couldn't have beaten me yesterday afternoon. . . . okay, he might but I would have gotten off the bike and pounded the snot out of him afterwards.  I was driven by anger and thank Jebus I had a place to leave it.  I left it on the hill.

Long miles

I haven't gotten in any kind of long road miles since early May.  Excuses and good reasons and lack of interest have kept me from searching out new roads, gravel and scenic routes.  As a result, my longer trail rides have begun to suffer with my endurance beginning to fade later in the ride.  Only one cure, hit the road for some long slow distances.  Tuesday was the day just for that. 

Big washout over in Cantley.

Quebecois are a funny bunch and love their cement lawn ornaments.  Someone gave this one too many purple nurples. 

Lillies were in abundance along the sides of the roads.  LSD rides are great for stopping and smelling the flowers.

Gatineau River

So nice to get some long miles in, but nicer to come home to The Peanut.  We've been spending lots of time in "Daddy's workshop working" - she now knows how to put the pump head on the valve (can't lock it yet) and begins to pump the tire.

Long rides make me tired

'Somewhere' in Gatineau Park

Curvy taking a pee off the chair lift at Fortune.

Rocked out on Vimeo.

Cross Loop Rd

Is this working?

Healy Cabin

Meech Lake

Crack

At a recent B4H Bike Prep evening I did my best circus clown on a wee bike impersonator.

I'm on crack.  Whiggity whiggity whiggity whack.

Exploratory

Saturday Curvy Butt and I got out for a 'connect-the-dots' ride.  We spent time riding semi-familiar trails, ones we've ridden only once or twice and trying to find new ones.  Success!

Swinger

Culvert under highway.

Poor dirty tired legs.

Part of our loop took us up the CBC climb at Fortune.  By this point in the ride my legs were fried.  I was already behind the eight ball from the start of the ride after being outdoors for 10.5 hours straight in the blistering sun the day before working and sweating my balls off.  If you squint real hard you can see Curvy waaaaaay at the top, while I . . . .

. . . . was waaaaaay at the bottom saying, "Fugg that."

Both filthy and smelly.

With the exploratory riding we've been doing it's ignited a new excitement for getting out to ride.  I'm looking forward to linking a bunch of new trails together and hopefully mapping them out.