Riding Stealth Mode

I've tried every sort of tactic. The cough, the sniff, the whistle, but nothing seems to work. I have yet to find a good way to alert another rider that I am about to catch and pass them on the trail. (There are a lot of begginer riders in Draper. It's a common place to catch and pass).

Whenever I try to say (in my still small voice), "On your left" or "when you get a chance, I'm coming around" the rider usually experiences a violent, full body shake, followed immediately by a hot flash and almost crashes. It happens all the time. The rider has no clue I am coming up behind them and no matter how much noise I try to make to alert them of my presence, they never hear it. It's not until I actually say something that they hear me.

Is it my voice? Do I sound like a serial killer?

The thing is. I kind of look forward to seeing the reaction. It's funny as hell. It's like watching someone who thinks they are about to die.

Bikes and Pillows

In the Sunderlage home (not our real home), we have a lot of bikes and a lot of pillows. I like bikes. My wife likes bikes but she likes pillows more. I'd estimate that we have about 35 pillows in our house at the moment. That works out to be 7 pillows per person in our home. (Dug, Rob, Eric, back me up here).

I don't really care for pillows. I once spent 2 years on an island in the carribean and for the first six months, I used my towel as a pillow. You get my point.

I like to mix it up and get a different bike every couple of years. Keep it fresh. I'm in the process of selling my geared mtn bike and my Rig so I can take the proceeds and get a nice new single speed (Note to bike MFG's: I am currently accepting offers). If I've done my math, I should have enough to put into the new bike and walk away with some change.

Here's the thing. When I buy a bike, it requires me to sell a bike (in this case, two bikes) to pay for it.

When we (and by we I mean my wife) decides we need new pillows, we go get new pillows without selling the old ones. We probably have a few hundred dollars worth of pillows that we don't use. That's a nice wheel set.

Things are about to change. Ebay is about to get some new listings for some really nice, gently used pillows.

My Friday At Work

The Challenge:
We dared a guy from work to try and eat 2 "Take 10" cheeseburgers (that's 10 patties w/ cheese each for a total of 20 patties) and drink a gallon of milk in an hour and keep it down for an hour.


The Payoff:
$1,200

Does he make it?

Dirt Bag

At work, we have a training room where customers can come from all over the World to Orem Utah and be trained on our software. Just outside of that training room sits a table. 4 out of 5 days a week, this table is loaded with all kinds of food. Muffin tops from Kneaders, fruit, croissants, etc...And just above the table is a sign that reads "Food is for Customers Only". That's the rule.

I like that rule. It's a good rule. I usually respect that rule. But on the days when I commute in by bike, that rule seems a little silly.

This morning, the blueberry muffin tops looked too good to pass up. So I took one and ate in while hunched over in my cube. I disposed of the wrapper by placing it in the trash can in the empty cube next to mine.

One more reason I really do like my job. I can be a dirt bag cyclist and eat free food.

Story Problem

A cyclist has already climbed the North side of Suncrest and has then dropped the South side and has climbed half way to the top. If the wife of said cyclist drives by in her car and wants to "watch" said cyclist climb the rest of the mountain, how many minutes can said cyclist climb in his big ring up the mountain before his engine totally explodes?

Notes: The wife is on her way to the gym and is wearing her work out top which looks really really good. The daughter is only 2 but already understands the significance of cycling.

FC at Leadville

I'd say FC was well represented at Leadville this year.  If you did the Leadville race, go check out the pictures at Rob O'Dea Photography's site

Post Ride Goodness

It's been 5 days since Leadville and ,before today, I hadn't been back on my bike. The extra sleep, and junk food as been way too good.

But all things must come to an end. This morning I met Tony, Jon, Dave, Scott and Ryan for a ride up the Alpine Loop and into work. I was the only one wearing a pack. To make things as light as possible, I packed flip flops and a small hand towel instead of shoes and a normal size towel. It didn't seem to help. I almost pulled over to see if Seth (my 6 year old) had crawled into my pack before I left the house. It felt very heavy.

My legs must still be in Leadville somewhere cuz they aren't with me. I felt like I was riding with both front and back brakes on.

After a shower and a few sent emails, Dave and I borrowed a car and hit the local Kneaders for some all you can eat French Toast and a Diet Coke. Their French Toast comes with amazing syrup AND real whipped cream and strawberries. Highly recommended but you might want to ride 40 miles and climb 3,500 vertical before you eat it.

I'm feeling much better but still have the ride home to worry about.