Hard Work

So this not racing thing is harder than I thought it would be. Sure, I have more time for doing things I don't normally do. Reading more books, drinking more beer, and sitting my ass on the couch more, but this past weekend was pretty rough.

After work on Friday, I headed down to the Great Divide Tap Room to give their special Belgian Barley Wine a try. MMMMMMMM tasty. It's their Old Ruffian brewed with a Belgian yeast strain. When it comes to beer, barley wines and beers brewed with Belgian yeast are two of my favorite things. After that we headed over to Wynkoop for dinner and a cask conditioned ESB.

Saturday involved a little mountain biking and some more beer tasting at Golden City Brewery. They don't have a website, but it is Golden, Colorado's second largest brewery. They had a nice Belgian Strong Pale Ale on tap. Think Duvel.

Sunday was a first for me. I got some SEVERE peer(beer?) pressure to got to a Widespread Panic show at Red Rocks. If you have kept up with this blog in the past (all 5 of you), you know I'm not a big jam band fan. I wasn't sure how I was going to react to this show, so I was going for the scene as much as anything.

The folks I went with wanted to head out pretty early. We rolled up to the gates at around 12:00 only to be told they weren't letting people up to the parking lots until 2:00. Our eyes darted to the only trees and shade in a 5 mile radius. We unpacked our shit, and started drinking beers of all things. Imagine that. Thanks to my friend Jess, I had a nice Subway sandwich to gnaw on with my refreshing Blue Paddle Pilsener.

The park people ended up opening the gates a little. I'm guessing it was due to the pressure from all the hippies yelling at them. We were in one of the first cars in, so we got a primo spot at the very top lot. The car was unpacked again, and more beer was drank.

Eventually we got into the venue, and the music started shortly thereafter. I must admit. I was pretty impressed. Those guys put on a good show, and the followers really like the music. It was a good time. Lots of smoke floating around. I think I may have gotten a little second hand buzz.

My goal was to remain somewhat tame due to an impending busy Monday, and I have to say, the mission was accomplished. Until, that is, I was beer pressured again. It was off to the Candle Light for a night cap. So a possible 10 PM bed time turned into a 12:30 AM bed time. All and all, I felt pretty good the next day. Just a touch tired.

So the lesson learned is: Retirement can be tougher than work. It took me through the end of today to get back to normal. My legs are a little sore from dancing like a hippy, but I managed to get on the bike for a little while today.

All and all good times. Tomorrow is Espresso Wednesday!! I'm off to do some reading since I'm not exhausted.

PS I've got a 2006 Yeti ASR slc for sale. I thought I had a picture on the ol' blog, but I can't find it. If you have any interest, leave a comment or e-mail me mtbingfool@aol.com

The Office Quote of the Week

"Wow, you look very exotic. Was your dad a GI or something?"

I've been lame with the posts lately. No thought to this one. Maybe more posts soon.

Hairy Legs

My how times change. I have ridden once since Memorial Day. That was this past weekend with some friends in Golden. It didn't go to well. I was rusty as hell, but I still managed to have a touch of fun. We all headed to Golden City afterwards for some tasty beer.

I don't see myself racing anymore. It's time to focus on other things. I'm sure I'll miss it, but I'm just too competitive to not try to get as fast (less slow) as possible. I'm thinking of changing the ASR-slc order to a 575 order. It's time to get back in touch with riding for the sake of riding.

I never thought this decision would come in correlation with the events of the last few weeks. In fact, I thought it would come about for reasons quite the opposite of these events. I was thinking it would be at the end of this season.

Things change. Often times without a good explanation. One piece of advice, don't ever hesitate to be honest with others. Honesty can save a lot of grief, and you may find out that things aren't quite the way they appeared.

What am I on?

Well, it's not my bike. I haven't ridden all week. Too much shit to work through.