Crack Cocaine

That's what I'm calling the new downhill, all single track, section of trail they just finished at Suncrest.   I rode it for the first time on Wed and my body is craving more.   One hit is all it took.  I need it.  Can't seem to stop thinking about it.

I have 4 days off work, a brand new set of brake pads, and this new trail is within a few blocks of my driveway.  But it's rained the past 2 days and it's late November which means things aren't improving any time soon. 

I find myself peeking out the window every 30 minutes to see if the streets are dry.  Telling myself maybe, just maybe, the trail won't be too sloppy.  

If you need me, you'll know where to find me. 

Blood

Last week I went to the local church to participate in the Blood Drive. I was pretty excited about it. First time in 36 years that I would be donating blood. And let's be honest here, my blood is pretty damn good.

When I got there. I saw Dug sitting on a table donating.

I signed in, and was handed a questionnaire to complete. The questions quickly got into the specifics such as:

• Have you ever spent more than 3 months in Tobago or Curacao?
• Did you receive injections of human growth hormone for short stature or human pituitary hormones for infertility between 1968 and 1999?
• Is it possible that any member of your family has suffered from any form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?

And then a bunch of questions about sexual activity etc..

After completing the form, I was asked to sit and wait for 30 minutes.

I was then pulled back into a room to get my finger pricked and some testing before the actual donation.

The first thing I was asked after being pulled into this room was :

• "Have you recently had a Cold?"
• "Yep" I replied.
• "How many days since your last cold symptom?".
• "Well, I still have a little Cold"
• "Oh, I'm sorry, you need to wait 7 days AFTER your most recent Cold symptom before donating blood"

Are you kidding me? Isn't that one of the first questions you should have asked me when I showed up? Isn't the common Cold a much more frequent occurrence than someone who spent 3 months in Tobago?

Weird.

And then there is Sam who refused to donate blood because he didn't want to experience a decline in his hematocrit level. Had a big race on Saturday.

I'm not sure if I was more upset for being rejected or that fact that Sam didn't show up. A $10 bill would have bought some of Sam's blood and I would have walked outta there a much stronger cyclist.

The Project

www.saltcycling.com

Thursday Night Ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6KdMWWyk6A

Mars even showed up with his stick.

The Patch

I ordered some of these for Dug to serve as a reminder of his shepherd like skills. Dug has many sheep in the cycling community and an impressive track record.

It should look good with the plaid shorts and school girl socks.

60 Minutes of Dirt

My boss must wonder why I come back from lunch with a big fat smile on my face.   From my cubical at work, I can be on some really good dirt trails in about 3 minutes.  60 minutes on dirt is like a reset button.  Makes it all good again.

I'm getting pretty good about changing in the parking lot.  It's only a matter of time before some coworker sees me with just my bibs and no shirt on.  It's a great look.

(sorry about the lame footage.  The trails are too steep to film while riding.  I only captured the boring stuff but enjoy the music.  Can you name the band and song?)

Back To My Roots

I can't fool my body any more. It knows that whenever I try to feed it shot bloks, energy drinks, or gels that I'm about to ask it to do something really hard and the gag reflexes kick in. I've gone back to my roots and pretty much eat two things on long rides:

• The original PowerBar (peanut butter)
  
• King size Salted Nut Roll

At $1.89 a pop, the PowerBar is not ideal. The Nut Roll is always on sale at the price of 2 for $1. Seriously, have you ever seen these things at normal price? Every grocery store or gas station has the same promo...2 for a $1.

Plain water to wash it down or some of Brad's CarboRocket. It's pretty much the only energy drink I can stomach.

Soup or V8 work well but only if you have someone crewing for you. Otherwise, too hard to pack around.

Some day my body will reject the Nut Roll too and THAT will be a very say day.

Saturday Bike Practice

Just another November morning in Utah.  A great time for bike practice with the boys.

Fun Facts

If I spent $13 today on lunch for 3 "Sliders", fries and a coke at the Harley Davidson dealership, how long must I hold onto the sliders before, um, letting them go in order to break even?

THAT is my question.

Cuz I've gotta tell you, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. It's only been 1 hour 40 min. but I'm about to cave.

I guess I should be grateful I don't work where Dug works.

XMAS Wish List

http://www.velogear.com/prodinfo.asp?number=A+BTS

These are indoor socks only.

(thanks Kris for finding these)

Fall Moab Fiscal Year 2009

Fall Moab FY2009 (Days 1 & 2) as seen through my Flip Video.

I'll leave the write-up to Dug. For now, enjoy some of the scene by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsFhbgWvom8

Elden- You were missed.

New Arrival

The goods arrived today. If you ordered one and I don't know where you live, please leave a comment or email me with your address and I'll ship it to you. (r.sunderlage@comcast.net)

Only 1 jersey left (XL). If you want one, let me know. (But more can be ordered).

My Inbox

I've been waiting for this email for many months now and yesterday it finally arrived in my inbox.

Ben: As of 10AM there was 2 feet at Alta and still snowing hard. I’m predicting 3ft by morning.
We should meet at the mouth of LCC at 5AM.
Any takers?

Me: I’m very interested in that. I can’t be out too long but could at least get a lap or two in.

Ben: I just remembered I can’t make it out tomorrow. I’m supposed to give a presentation at a Junior High in American Fork for their career day and need to be there by 8AM. Lame.

Me: I hate you.

It was a sick joke. Sick and wrong. Nobody should have to go through that kind of abuse.

Canadian Maple

Brad Pilling sent this pic to me all the way from Canada. I'm not gonna lie. The Canadian maple bars look much better than what we have here in the US "and" A.

One of these days there will be a bike shop connected to a donut shop and there you will find me.