yeah! I'm still here you PUNK!!!!!!

Wow I just realized it's been three whole weeks since my last post. I think it's been almost that long since I got to ride my bike and I'm getting cranky. I have a whole slew of excuses as to why I've been M.I.A. - work, sickness, nasty weather, work, the holidays, work, more sickness, more work and well not riding lately just doesn't give me much in the way of inspiration. I worked every holiday during the month of December and then some and I had a nasty head cold on top of that but once I saw my most recent paycheck that reflects all that overtime and holiday pay, it made it hurt just a little bit less. I think things at work are beginning to slow down and my head cold has finally left the building so I'm hoping to get out on the trails with something other than my hiking shoes. It doesn't appear that the weather is going to give us much in the way of relief anytime soon so I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and suffer through it. I was born and raised in Texas where we really didn't have much in they way of freezing winters so I'm a bit of a wuss when it drops into the teens and single digits.

Something else I've been slacking on is finishing up putting the new bling I got for Christmas on my bikes. I did install a new crankset on the JET but I slapped it on as fast as I could and haven't looked at it since so there are no cool pics. I've still got two new cassettes for the Niners to put on, I finally got a 36 tooth cassette for the JET and I'm anxious to see how that works out.

Probably one of the coolest things we got for Christmas is the dog's new collars from my family. Jackson and Moonshine both got collars from a cool little company called Cycle Dog.

Talk about a cool collar! They are actually made from recycled bike tubes which doesn't get all stanky when wet. Just touching their old collars would leave your hands smelling rank. The clasp is a latch lock system like an old school seat belt. The coolest thing about these collars in my opinion are the leash rings which are also a bottle opener. Never again will we be without a bottle opener on a camping trip. If you have a dog, ride bikes and enjoy refreshing beverages from time to time these are a must. Bikes, dogs and brew, what a winning combination.

Over the holidays my Dad asked me how to go about creating a blog. I was kinda surprised that he was interested so I pointed him in the right direction and now he's a full on blogger two posts into his journey. Check him out here, if you're into stocks and such.

Since I've been off the bike for what seems like an eternity I have been running and hiking to try and maintain my fitness. Not all of my running has been on the treadmill but alot of it has. I have snuck outside for runs here and there and it's amazing how much I struggle with a 40 minute run on the treadmill inside but I can run for an hour outside and the time just flies by. As much as I hate to admit it I'm glad we have the treadmill, it's kept me sane this month. I've also been throwing down some time on the spin bike whenever I get a chance and while it's much more comfortable than the trainer it's still an indoor workout than goes no where.

This morning I met up with Fat Tony, Richard, AC, and Ben at Steele Creek Park in Bristol to scout out a trail that is much need of some attention. We've been asked by the park to help fix another trail and of course we're excited about doing anything that will make those trails more rider friendly and hopefully get our foot in the door to building some new stuff. I woke up around 7:30 this morning and checked the temps in Bristol to find it was a whopping 6 degrees with a high that barely hit 30. We were supposed to ride the trails after our scouting trip but I decided to skip the ride rather torture myself with frozen digits. I did snap a few pics of our hike with my phone but it's really not much of a camera.

Tomorrow night will be my first meeting leading the charge as prez. of the mountain bike club. Fat Tony had enough and for some reason several people thought I would do good as his replacement. I'm not too sure about this and I'm kinda nervous about the first meeting but I guess I'll give it a shot. We've got alot of cool stuff on tap for this year. Our first board meeting had me feeling a bit scatter brained mainly because it was a bit of a brainstorming session for the events we would like to do this year, that and I was hopped up on cold meds that sometimes make me feel spacey.

If your in the area and have nothing to do tomorrow night around 7:30 come out to Beef O'Brady's in Gray just off the Boones Creek exit for a beer and some singletrack talk. We're always looking for new faces and people to ride with.

Enough of this I'm due for another mind bending indoor workout, see you tomorrow night fool.