SOLD!!!

With a tear in my eye, and a wad of what i hope is real 100 dollar bills in my pocket the Audi has a new owner. I got a call saturday at 2 from a guy in Birmingham, AL interested in the car. They drove the 2+ hours to look at a few cars in GA and picked mine. Of course, because my car was awesome and in good shape. It will be missed....I sure wish we had gotten a turbo outback. Oh-well, i'll just go out in the truck and hook a chain around something and pull it out of the ground to make myself feel better. No more 1.8 litre turbo, now just the 6.4 liter twin turbo...darn.

BLUE STEEL

I like to Tinker. I can't help it. I like take things apart and put them back together. Try out different set ups on the bike. Sometimes i will put the stuff together and never even ride the bike before i take it apart again. This is my latest creation. I had my Giant NRS built up as a SS before, but i decided to sell the frame. So i put all the parts on this beautiful Steel Nashbar frame. 49.99....you like? I also put my Geax Blade 2.25s on the front an back for that Monster truck look. I plan on riding this at least once. i'm thinking about rebuilding my White Ind. ENO eccentric hub to 26" so i can ditch the tensioner...we'll see.

Has it Been a week already

Time just flies by, one week I'm skiing in Aspen, the next i'm back at work.

The good news from the ski trip is that my dad was able to get back out the last two days and ski. He is still hobbling around a bit, but that might just be old age. The last two days on the mountain were cold and dreary. The light was very flat and the skiing wasn't as much fun...but it was skiing so it was better than working. Thursday night we went down to Carbondale and hung out with Taz at her work. Very nice place, lots of fancy bikes. She seems to be enjoying the CO lifestyle.

The only downside of the trip was that our flight was canceled on Sat due to the threat of snow....IN ATLANTA!!! I didn't see that coming. We were scheduled on a 1:30 pm flight and they re-scheduled us on a 12:45 am flight. We didn't find out until we were already up and dressed Saturday morning. We decided we would head into boulder to check it out. I called Jim and he invited us over to his house. Jim gave us the grand tour of boulder, we hung out with Trisha and the kids in the afternoon, then we hit the local mall for a little shopping and a movie.

Big thumbs up for JUNO.

Sorry, no more pics from the ski trip, the camera got too cold to take any.

Day 3 - Dad gets a new boot after half a day of skiing.

3"+ of fresh powder fell last night. Dad and I headed out at 8:30 to hit the runs. It seemed like a lot more than three inches, and it took a lot of getting used to, Bring back the corduroy. After Sara was done with her conference we headed over to Sara's favorite run...Green Cabin. Green cabin had a lot of fresh snow on the trails and we were some of the first people on this trail. The fresh snow turned out to be dificult for Dad, after several falls, he finally fell and twisted his ankle. I headed down to an emergency phone to call for help, Dad got to ride down in the sled (he said it was not a pleasant ride) We are hoping that the sprain is not too bad and maybe he can ski again, after all, theses boots are really stiff right.

Snowmass day two

Weather was great again today...but it looks like it will end tomorrow. The high tomorrow is either 12 or 7 F depending on whose forcast you believe. My dad arrived today, he is coming out to ski for 3 days with us. This is a tradition that was started back in 2005. When Sara and I go on a ski trip we invite my dad along to ski for a few days. He likes to ski, and we are his opportunity to hit the slopes. (he usually takes us out for a nice dinner when he stays with us...that is the real reason we invite him) Hopefully the day isn't too miserable tomorrow, i'll probably head down to Taz's work tomorrow to say hello.

I hope everyone is having fun working this week.

here are some pics from day two....more blue skies, snow covered mountains, sara's beautiful face and my ugly cheesy smiling mug:

Skiing Day 1

The weather today was perfect. Sunny, clear, high of 25. I hit the slopes right when the lifts opened, and i was happy to find out that i remembered how to ski. My quads started burning on the first run, but after that everything seemed to work fine. Lots of fun.

Here are a few pics

Snowmass 2008

We made it!!! It's been a fun weekend of travel and visiting friends and now i am up early, eagerly anticipating the first day of skiing. Sara is already off to her conference. I'll head out at 8:30 when some of the lifts open and ski until about 10 and meet up with Sara.

Before we got here we visited with some friends near Boulder. Sara has two friends out here that she has known since she was young. We visited with their families and had lunch, then we headed over to visit with my Friends Jim, Trisha, and their 3 kids. We saw Jim's family in July of 2006 when they were heading out here from PA. After hours in a car and in a strange place kids tend to be shy. On their own turf the kids were a blast. Plus the twin boys are still light enough to throw around without hurting this old mans back. Jim and Trisha's house is very nice and has an incredible view of the mountains.
Sunday was spent driving out to Snowmass, getting groceries, and checking in. I've got my skis, lift ticket and i am ready to go.
Taz from H'burg moved out here a while back, she works at a bike and ski shop in Carbondale. Sara and i checked out the shop yesterday, we knew Taz wasn't working, but since Sara actually has a conference to attend we figured it was her only chance to check it out. Taz and maybe her boyfriend might make it out to ski on Friday, but i will probably head over to the shop one afternoon for some bike shop therapy after a hard day of skiing.

Here are a few pics of the condo...small...but it will get smaller when my dad gets here tomorrow.

ASSAULT = TO THREATEN VIOLENCE

The locals here are so much fun. Today i went for a ride on the cross bike. I was trying out a new route with some long dirt road sections. The dirt road was very smooth, and as a bonus, not a whole lot of traffic. Ellijay seems to be a hotbed of pain in the ass drivers that all seem to hate bikes. I'm not really sure why it is, could be because they are UGA fans, could be that they don't like all the new people moving into there little inbred backwoods world...who knows.
My ride included 1 mile each way on old hwy 5 which can be busy and 1 mile each way on progress road that has less traffic. My ride was almost over, i was about 75 yards from the entrance to my work, I looked over my shoulder and saw a white car starting his super fast pass (because i just can't get stuck behind one of those damn bikes!!!) After the car passes, i stick my arm out to signal for a left turn. I looked over my shoulder and there was a F350 dually getting ready to fly by on the left. As the truck passed, i turned my left turn signal into another hand gesture to let this guy know i thought he was number one. I yelled at him wondering why he was in such a hurry and asking how he was able to drive with his head up his ass. Apparently he wasn't in as much of a hurry as he thought because after i turned off the road i saw him hit the brakes and turn into a parking lot up the road. I thought, hey...maybe he is coming back to apologize for almost hitting me.
I pull into the parking lot at my building, I lean my bike up against the truck and i am about to go inside and I see this guy come through our gate. He pulls right up to me and gets out of his truck and says "you a big man to flip me the bird". That set me off, i was shaking with anger. I started to explain to this portly redneck fella, how he almost hit me and i realize that he was in such a hurry that it didn't matter if he hit somebody. After he told me i shouldn't ride on the road, i asked why not? I pay taxes, i follow the rules, the law says that i can. I told him he was on private property and that i was calling the police. I called 911 and started to walk around to the back of his truck, he jumped back in an backed out so that i couldn't see it. I talked to 911 but since i didn't have a plate number it wouldn't do any good.
Ellijay is a small town, after work i went to the bike shop, when i was leaving i pulled up to the traffic circle i saw across the way, a Black dually with silver lower trim, push bars and a HD front plate...well what do ya know, I didn't have a pen, but the passenger side silver trim had De Foor's grading and paving....it pays to advertise. So i called the police when i got home. I wanted to know if i should file a report just in case something were to happen with this guy in the future, i wanted a record of this instance. I didn't want this guy to be arrested after the fact, if the police had come when he was at my work, that is a different story.
Here is where the story get's a little funny. An ellijay policeman calls me back, I tell him what happened and point out that it is assault. The officer said did he hit you, i said no, he said then it is not assault. I said, well i understood it that assault was the threat, and battery was actual contact, sara looked up a definition online and i read it to him. I told him, i'm not trying to teach you anything, I try to stay up on my rights as a cyclist. I think he was looking up laws while we were on the phone since towards the end of the phone call he said, well we could charge him with simple assault, and possible road rage (but he needed to read up on that). Well...now i know. I hope i don't see this guy again, it almost sounded like the cop may know who he is, he said if he has a reason to stop him, he will get his side of the story and tell him what he did is against the law.
whatever good that will do. I'm going to mountain bike tomorrow. Take a day off the roads.

Oh the Places I'll Go in 2008

Sara and I spent the last weekend of 2007 in VA checking on the empty homestead. It was a fun visit, Baja with friends, Mtn biking with Mark, Video games with Curt, Mill Street, and working on the house. Good Times.

Now i'm getting ready for several trips this spring. First on the list is a trip out to Snowmass, CO. Sara has a conference so i'm going along for moral support. We are planning on visiting Jim and his family outside of Boulder, a couple of Sara's friends from her youth that live there now, and maybe even get to see Taz who lives not too far from Snowmass. It should be a fun trip and we are hoping it is much warmer there than it was in Tremblant.

Second on the list is Las Vegas. The anual trade show for the award industry. Four fun filled days of setting up displays, talking to customers, and losing money. Before i head back east i'm heading out to LA. Jayson and Jenn just had a baby girl, Jayson's brother is engaged (TO A GIRL!!!) and another friend's wife is due around the same time.

Third is the Trip we've all been waiting for: RVV with SAMBO!!! Departing on April 2 and returning April 8th, 5 full days in the most likely cold, rainy, windy and nasty land of Flanders. A little 256km bike ride on the 5th, watch a little pro bike racing on the 6th. Check out Timmy's new house and Neleke's new apartment. Drink lot's of fresh Belgian Beer, eat lots of Frites, and ride my bike. Should be lot's of fun. I've got my plane ticket and i've registered for the Tourist version of the RVV. Hopefully Russell can make it too, we can take a trip north. 50 euro...what a deal.

See...it's trick photography....sure it is... now you know the truth about Timmy and me.

Nele can fly!!!


I'll post pics from Snowmass. At least we know there is snow this year.