rides, seats, Nascar, & peppers

I've had a pretty good week this week. I've ridden almost everyday some days twice if you count commuting. I plan on being at the TNR ride this evening as long as it doesn't rain. I'm excited about this one. I haven't ridden this ride since I hurt my back and it's a hard one to make it on regular basis with my work schedule.

Yesterday I took 3 beginners out to Warriors for their first mountain bike ride. Two of them were guys I work with and I was kinda surprised when they expressed interest in going. They did pretty good for their first time out especially since it had just rained and half the bikes were Wal-Mart bikes.

Since Mary has joined the group I've been playing around with different seat combinations. I got this nice carbon seat for Christmas last year that I keep moving around to different bikes to see where I like it best. It originally started out on my CX bike which worked well during races but as a commuter I wanted something with a little more cush. I've got this sweet WTB Rocket V with yellow highlights that matches it perfectly.

When I got Mary it also had a rocket V mounted up but I took it off in an effort to reduce some weight but the carbon seat just wasn't the right mix for a mountain bike that sees alot of saddle time. So after a few rides I decided to put the Rocket V back on, I'll just have to try and find other ways to lower her weight, not that that was very significant anyway.

This seat is more suitable as a road seat but I've already got a great Fi'zi:k on my roadie that fits me great. That's not a misspelling folks that's how they do it and I'm not sure why.

So the other day I had an idea I decided to try the carbon seat on the Monkey since I'm usually standing up on the pedals anyway and the seat I had on it looked kinda goofy anyway. I tried it out yesterday and it seemed to work out nicely but the ride was short so we'll see how it goes.

When I first built built the Monkey I did it all up in black and after I realized how much faster I was on it I realized it was only right to adorn it with a number "3" sticker in honor of the "man".

The monkey is actually so fast that the sticker started peeling off last year so I had to fix it with some clear tape but now it looks as if I need to replace it.

When I was at Wal-Mart the other day snapping pics of Jr's car I picked up a #88 sticker and with a little fancy scissor work it seemed to fit nicely on Mary.

I know the color scheme is not correct but it will have to do until I can paint her. Nah she looks good in Tangerine.

I keep forgetting to post up this pic

Mother nature has finally decided to send us some much needed rain and I think I might just have a decent pepper garden this year.

Later