Trail buddy

Churchill and I got out for another trail ride this morning.  He loves it out there.  It was pretty muggy and hot at 11 AM.  Surprisingly the bugs weren't bad at all.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs in SMH.

Dog nose cam.

Was lucky to get out this morning.  Presently it's thunder & lightening, heavy rain and hail.  Hopefully the weather cooperates for this weekend as I am headed to Kingdom. 

Trail Dog

Churchill is turning out to be a very worthy riding buddy.  We're working on lengthening the time on the trail.  Yesterday we were out for a little more than an hour.

A swim in the swamp helped cool him down and rejuvenate him for the rest of the ride.  He is a water dog.  Finishing the ride we crossed one of the longer bridges over a stinky dirty swamp - instead of running the trestles he opted for the water crossing.  Ewww, he was so gross and smelly afterward . . . . it was pretty funny and now my car is funky for all the wrong reasons.

Four ride weekend (photo dump)

God save the queen . . . being part of the Empire (not to be associated with THE Empire) ain't a bad thing.  Victoria Day weekend was a beauty this year!

Only photo I took from Friday's SMH ride with Scott, Mark, John B., and King - a flat.  Exciting stuff.

Saturday's ride with Brian and Jason.  Check out those panty lines!  Is that a really wide thong Jason is wearing or Depends undergarment for being incontinent?  He did wet himself once during the ride.

Tower on top of Fortune.  I was the middle man - Brian was ahead of me on the climbs, Jason behind.  Perfect scenario for not having to try.

Camp Fortune Ski Hill - trails were in great shape and work had been done on them.

Brian

Depends Undergarment Man

Sunday was a 2 hr city tour with wifey and The Peanut in tow.

I think this is the only stretch that wasn't littered with walkers and runners who took two lanes.  Even with a 9 AM start the pathways were chock-a-blocked.

Lots of baby geese out. 

Rolling through Experimental Farm - here they grow two headed cows and tomaccos. 

A Sunday ride would be a waste without coffee and cookies.  The Peanut loves her chochy-chip cookies.

Sunday afternoon was spent taking a dip in King's newly aquired pool.  It was nirvana escaping the heat  minus the wee penis. 

The Peanut working on her doggy paddle.

Holiday Monday morning was spent knocking out a reverse loop of Fortune.  John B. all fuzzed out.

King draped over the handlebars like wet laundry riding up a particularly steep pitch on Fanny.

Matt's dog Chance chased.

Two ride Tuesday and Church

It was Churchill's first mtn bike/trail ride Tuesday morning.  Seven months old and full of beans this dog can keep up! 

Well, almost full of beans.  It was pretty warm at 9 AM (mosquitoes are preparing to be in full force very soon) and everytime we stopped he laid down in the middle of the trail and I gave him a drink.  I really didn't know what to expect with him on the trails as he is still young, full of piss & vinegar, and his re-call isn't the best yet.  However, he did amazing and was a natural.  He stayed behind me, always kept close enough (but not so close to run into me if I stopped quickly) and responded so well. 

New signs out in SMH look great.  Churchill christened a couple with  one legged salutes.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel after 140 + kms on Sunday and RoTD, but I was surprised how spunky I actually felt.

I was tempted to let him jump into the lake/swap but it was pretty dirty.  I'll be looking for better swimming spots.

I won a new pair of Giro gloves from a draw prize from RoTD on Sunday.  Whoot!  Not bad - comfy, grippy and light.  Best $20 I've ever spent on a bike event - registration, feed zone, free cookie, bbq and draw prize.  Whoot!  I feel like I owe them money for such a good time.

My only beef is that there is no velcro closure dealie.  Meh.  They're free so I ain't complaining.

Church liked them - good patting gloves.

To prove I was feeling good I went out, after dropping Church off, and did a 65 km loop of the Park.  Two ride Tuesdays!

Mr Sociable

90 % of the time I ride alone. I guess there are a number of reasons for this:

• I have a variable schedule and it's difficult to find folks to ride when I have time,
• people generally don't like me,
• riders don't like my slow pace and inability to keep up on the hills,
• my riding shorts have holes in the rear, which isn't a terribly pleasing sight to look at when riding behind me,
• body odour,
• personal hygiene issues,
• awkward to have conversations with me,
• I don't like people,
• I accept myself and and am happy enough to ride alone, cause gosh darn it . . .  I am good enough, smart enough and people like me (exception to point #2 above)

However, there are times when the stars and moons align and I am feeling a bit social.  Last week was one of those times with not one social ride, but two. 

First ride was the weekly OMBA ride.  I rode in Group B - which was rather large, but still fun to ride with folks for a change, see some old faces and meet some new.  On our return loop I ran into my good friend Fritz and his boy Riley.  I opted to stop and chat and finish the ride with these two.  In the end it turned out to be a faster ride than the B group.  Riley, just 11 years old is a freak'n ripper.  I'd bet that 90% of the folks who ride SMH couldn't keep up to his pace.  He's podium'ed twice now at the Ontario Cup races, winning his first. 

Social ride number two: hooked up with some of the old gang and some new folks to do a ride at Camp Fortune.  Flats, fats and losing each other made for a slow, stop and start ride, but it was still a fun ride.

A week's worth of stuff

We came across a trail gnome at work in the middle of the week.  There's some fantastic work being done out in SMH on the trails.  If you're interested in helping out, check out OMBA's trail day this coming Saturday.

My camera couldn't focus on all the bikes (nearly 400) at the Bicycles For Humanity bike prep last night.  In about two hours we were able to break down and prep nearly 120 bikes. 

As part of supporting and advertising what B4H is all about, this year ten of us will be racing at 24 Hrs of Summer Solstice on behalf of B4H to raise funds and awareness.  More info on that to come.

I've gained a few 'Followers' Down Under.  Robbie was supposed to get a photo of one of my Jebus stickers (which she'd agree to do if I sent her one) on a kangaroo but at the last minute chickened out.  Aussies . . . pffffft, I thought that they were supposed to be tough.  "Knife?  This is a knife!"  While out on a ride she snapped the above photo and reconsidered approaching.  I don't blame her.  Check out the size of the arms on that roo!

I worked some very long hours on the weekend and didn't have the motivation or energy to ride other than to and from work.  Each day I'd pretty much come home, crash on the couch and eat Bits & Bites (cause life is too short not to eat Bits & Bites) wearing only my boxer shorts.  I couldn't even muster up the energy to take a photo, hence the re-created drawing from memory.  Miss Pibbs (our illegitimate cat) looks at me in disgust.  Yes, even a cat can see that I am an overweight slugg-o. Apparently I've also turned Asian from all the long hours of work and laziness.  Me soooo huuuungry.