Compression socks

I was against them as cyclist Hokum.... but I'm starting to warm up to them

Hello Blog

I'm not sure what I'm going to write. A little insomnia, I'm completely worked. Sore legs... the whole bit. I took a few more Ibuprofen hopefully that will help. Either that or there is an impending Crap. Sure, there is always an impending crap... I just mean one in the next hour.

I wish I knew what was keeping me up. There were thoughts about old jobs... Old projects. Usually there is some thread some "Unresolved thing". This was about turkeys. It was thanksgiving and they gave us frozen turkeys. They had them in the Break room in the refrigerator or freezer. I didn't grab mine because... well if it was sitting in my car it wouldn't be refrigerated. I left it and some schumuck grabbed it(Probably the Supervisor). So they ordered some more, and said "Well if we don't eat them, we will donate them to the shelter."... When the new ones showed up I said "Ya, I'm good with mine going to a shelter." At thanksgiving the grocery stores just about give away turkeys. $3 for a whole bird. Well some schumuck grabbed all of them again(Probably the supervisor). Suddenly they wanted to get more(probably the supervisor). So I'm sure he had 12 of them in his trunk. I hope they made him sick, not being refrigerated for the rest of the shift.

And that was keeping me awake...... There were some other things.. but just about as lame.

Umn... I made a comment about how I wanted my life to be different. I guess all the blog readers know this. It's certainly more than having a Great Girlfriend... Which I have BTW... and I'm not just sucking up because she reads this.... I promise.

I don't.... WANT.... I gave that up years ago. I know that what ever we get... is going to be different than what we want. So why bother.... I don't know... seems like at one point... at this point I gave up... just a bit. It seems like that "Wanting" is what drives most people. I just think it's pointless.

Well, I'm going to try and go back to bed... or take that crap I was talking about. The Gardie Jackson thing was super funny... Great that it was so important for him to keep saying "This is all a Joke"... I mean seriously... we( or someone else) show him all that love... and he thinks it's a joke... (see, now this is a joke). And seriously Sandy... Put some conditioner in your hair, get some Color in there... and you could be brothers.

The Blog

Here I am... no sleep at 1:30am. It's something I ate. I fell asleep at 10 and woke up at 11:30. That didn't help. With the indigestion, it's some of the old worries. Like I say, "No matter where you go, there you are.".

My Girlfriend is nice.... I keep calling her The Girlfriend, that is kind of disconnected and fucked up but appropriate for the blog not for Real life.

I'm not sure where the blog is going, I'm not psyched about Killing it or anything. I'm not sure I've said it but I still want to try and write something and get it published. My Girlfriend Knows about the blog... so it's hard to write anything.... I can't write my personal feelings, she wouldn't appreciate my writing my/our Intimate stuff down and sharing it with you people. Worse, if I write something I'll get an early morning phone call.

I know I am not comfortable with it. Point being, i'm not sure where the blog is going... It's going somewhere, Just not sure where.

It's still a good place to write my flights of fancy, when I have them.... about Meeting porn stars riding up Big Cottonwood.... If it truly did happen or not.... or maybe I just remembered some dude from College or High School... and decided to suspect the reason I was familiar with them... was because they were a porn star and not someone who sat across the room in math class....

I've been playing with blip.fm Wow... you think Twitter or facebook are messed up.... imagine people trying to socially network using music... it's madness.

But You know.....

Well, I have a big morning...

I need to lay down and ....

pretend I can sleep..

Maybe this time

ho hum

long time no see blog.

Not sure I can do this..... hmmmm.

I woke up early and sucked down a ton of pancakes and rode suncrest. 2:30 from here and back that is good time. it's roughly 2 hours to butterfield and back with no climbing. 4 hours from here to Millcreek or Big Cottonwood...

So... some good riding...

well... I think that is all I want to report right now..... Wish it was more interesting.....

fuck...

Need to

try and hold 600+ watts for longer than 30 seconds.

Descents and the lane

Many years ago.... I learned that "Sometimes you have to take the lane". There are times where you don't have a shoulder, or that the lanes are thin or that the last thing you want is for a car to try and pass you at 40MPH with you on the shoulder, since there might also be some big pot hole in the road that you have to swerve around, and you don't want to get nailed at 40 MPH....

So... what do you do..... You aggressively take the lane. At the speed limit hopefully or damn near.... You take the lane.... Aggressively... you OWN IT!.... say to any cars that want to pass.... NO!!! I am here and you will only pass in the passing lane. I am a Bike and I deserve RESPECT... I'm at or near the speed limit..... YOU WILL NOT SQUEEZE ME, INTO THE SHOULDER. You will not push me INTO THE DIRT..... I obey the Laws of the Road... I deserve to ride in the road.

The thing I hate..... is being Stalked by a car.... So sure if a car gets behind me and wants to pass... I wait for the right time..... the right time FOR ME! and I Yield...

Worse is to be Stalked by cars for 3 miles on a descent..... I'll even pull off if I that happens. I do not trust having cars behind me..... and they are dangerous and crazy but ... there is nothing like being swooshed at 45 mph... with 6 inches of shoulder.

There is this descent, and for the longest time I could pull the speed limit 35MPH if I pushed it. and I would ride the shoulder, and at the right turn lane I'd have cars try and hit me... or squeeze me with 3 inches of shoulder. I'd have cars pass me at 45mph just to prove that they were better than a bike in their stink mobile. All of this ended, when I started to "TAKE THE LANE"... I didn't give them an option... that and I started doing the descent at 40mph and taking the whole lane.... sure enough... it all stopped.... and things were safe... and the world was good.....

because instead of being timid.... I took the lane and put an end to the Shitmobile horseshit... Seriously.... Take the lane!!!

hmmm lets see how this goes

There was an argument tonight.

We went to the Jazz fest, and were talking and .... some Light Petting... I SAID LIGHT!! Laying on a blanket. There was a woman in her 80's, escorted by her son. She was headed to the bathroom. I waved at this elderly woman, "Hi"

Woman said the the GF, "Dear, That one is Dangerous"

Now the argument was...

Did the woman say, "Dear, That is dangerous"?

or what I wanted to hear:

"Dear, That one is dangerous"... Referring to me.... because... it feeds my wild and crazy self image...

Another one... I'm into scheduling right now. I told her that I was going to do this weeks schedule of when we would hang out, on Sunday... Because it's both True... and a joke...

This is how funny she is...

She said, "Oh... that is good. The days that you don't schedule us together, I hang out with my other Boyfriends from the social networks."

We have this ongoing joke about cyber sex.

me.... "Sweet.... it's good to hear you are staying busy..."

Her.... "Well, I just call up one of the other Nebulous Cyber Super Hero's from Twitter, when you aren't around"

......

Moppery

Had Coffee with Greg Steele today. It was cool.

The odd thing is that.... I can't blog about it... The Big dummy is very cool.

In other news....

Strange day.... I ordered some new road shoes from performance... some how they were the wrong size... I called 2 min after the order was placed.... NOPE... "We can't change the order...." WTF!!!!! Horse Shit that order won't go out until MONDAY at BEST but they can't change the 42 shoe to a 44.... FuckHeads! Seems like I must have made the mistake.... but shit.... talk about unforgiving customer interface....

So now I'm locked into... sending them back... Then getting a new pair... I'll have my new road shoes in about a Month.... Thanks Performance Bike.... THAT JUST ROCKES! I pay for something, and will get it in the next 30 days.... If I play my cards right...

Ya... Doubt I'll order from them again. I've had it with that nonsense... That is just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.... and all the extra shipping.... Sweet...

Then... Well.... Meeting Greg... this whole mop thing gets strange to me... People talk about it... and I'm like "The Mop!!! who is that!.....oh... That is me, they are talking about."... So it sends me into a little bit of a dis-association...

Then, The car had a fucked up Battery....

It was seriously, one of those days that was trying to de-rail..... Here is the good part....

For all the shit that didn't go well... and at many points I should have turned around and hid under the covers.... Called the GF and called the evening off... I worked through it....

Leap into Uncertainty!!! and sometimes it works out.... Maybe a little sideways but it still works out..

Well what is up.....

I was wondering... I keep trying to blog. things are so busy...

Family party tonight... with one of my pain in the ass cousins. He is an Ok guy, just always trying to prove to me, how cool he is.... which is no way to prove to "The Mop" that you are cool......

seriously... if you want to prove that you are cool.... show me what a fucking nerd you are.... tell me stupid stories about how pathetic you are..... now that is COOL!!!!

Eat a 50 eggs for no fucking reason.. that is cool.

I have been eating everything on the planet... not good. Start pushing Clyde again... I'll be ready for the cobbles....

I was reflecting today.... I haven't mentioned it to the blog. I suspect I think I'll curse it. Maybe I won't mention it again, for this reason. I have this very great Girlfriend. She is amazing, no freaking out. Lots of reasonable conversations. She calls me on my shit. She rode up Alpine loop with me. Ya.... I'm Effing Crazy about her. She even busted me about riding a smooth peddle stroke. I'm still strong, but but this chick can Roll...... I'm a Lucky Lucky guy!!! Honestly, there are times when she has my number...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

So my life is very full right now..... It's hard to blog about it....

Just post something

I'm tired.... too much fun.... too much stuff to do....

my body is worked... I need to start hitting 300 miles per week. It's been difficult.

I have every pain and creek... in the world right now....

and I'm loving every moment of it.

and the tour has started.......

ok bed time...

hmmm

I haven't posted in a while. I have a few minutes... Everything is good right now. Very busy.

shit... that is all I have....

Topping Basil

My basil plants were ready to top.

Here it is before
Here it is After(below)

This will help them not go to seed, and it will also make them bushy. You can cut or 'pinch' the top leaves off. You do this for each of the rising stems of the plant. This one only had maybe 2 significant stems to pinch off, could have been three. These both really were the same plant.

Borders.....

I go up to the counter.

The guy says "Did you find everything ok?"

Me, "I would like a book on utah wild plants"

Counter guy Shrugs.

I guess he was just taking a Poll!

7 people didn't find everything OK. 30 were too gracious to say anything.

Seems like we have a bit of a game Afoot!

Before I mess around, I want to say... Y'all are my friends, Loose friends, I'll say that, but the oddest thing in the world, is when I have a conversation with people. I say, "I know Burke Swindlehurst" "I know Ryan Barrett" "I know Sandy." "Julie and I are Friends" "Art is Awesome!".... I have shaken hands with many of you. But it's strange! I find it Odd! Much of this...

One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't call Burke, and say... "Hey, lets take some salsa over to T-mac." That hurts to this day. As Catharsis I should say "Sorry, T-mac! I very much wanted to sit down and have some nice home grown salsa with you. It was my bad!"

I find all of this kind of ridiculous. I find it kind of silly some times.

Truth is, there is a Sanctuary in my blog. I love that I can wake up in the middle of the night and just bang on the keys, and get out what I want to say. There is something Cathartic about it. I want to be able to keep doing this. I want to be able to Share some of my own Very personal thoughts and struggles with My readers as well as my love of Local Cycling, and local Athletes.

Sometimes there is a sense in the air, that I don't have real friends, or that I only interact with the world though the computer or through the blog. For the Man behind the mop, It's not true. I have many great friends And I tend to date some very charming exceptional woman.

In January I said, "Shit is going to change, or shit is going to get broke!". It's very much what I'm doing.....

Once more INTO the BREACH Gentleman!

Leap Into the Void of Uncertainty!

It's very much "Worlds Colliding for me".... But fuck it, I can hang! Honestly, I have no idea what is happening. That is why it is Uncertainty! I do have some games I want to play, I hope they go well, and this should mark the beginning.

But there doesn't seem to be a Great Reason, why "The Mop" can't manifest himself Physically. If I want to be a SuperHero... Seems like you have to take Physical Presence.

Nancy, was asking me about Sandy.... I said... "YES! This is what Mop's are for!"

What Ryan didn't tell anyone, was that he rolled up on me, and I freaked out and rolled off the shoulder into the dirt... I felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland, and I had drunk the potion to make me little! I'm 6'

oh... and I did try and kill Ryan in the west desert!... or not.

Allons-y!!!!

On my wheel

I didn't realize how strong I am. The other day, some guy caught my wheel, not anyone serious. But I was like, Ok Catch my wheel. slowed it down to 17... and he stalled... and hung back 20 feet. Then I waited.... got sick of dogging it, and then just jacked it up to 20+ and he just folded.

Last night I was on a small descent, doing a quick ride. Somebody was stalking me again. I waved them up to my wheel, and they didn't take it. I dogged it, waiting for them. I knew there was a 60 foot climb coming up. I dug in, and pushed it, into the red up the little climb. They didn't even know what hit them. At the top of that little hill, I looked back and they just had nothing. Over the hill and down the road... I didn't even see them again...

I'm not talking myself up but there is some sauce in my legs.

Jamie Lee Curtis.

Jamie Lee Curtis.... Hermaphrodite?????
What seems like a new debate about the sexuality of Jamie Lee Curtis, has sprung up.

Let me just say.... The above Picture does speak for itself(-1 for the Rumor)...

But ok... Legwarmers.. She could pass herself off as a very gay man... if it's true. (+1 for the Rumor.Total=0)...

On the other hand, Look at those hips(-1 for the Rumor.Total=-1). This is also pre photoshop.(-1 for the Rumor.Total=-2)

Ok.... She is the Daughter of Tony Curtis.... (+1 for the Rumor.Total=-1)
and Janet Leigh (+1 for the Rumor.Total=0)

What would be more interesting is if she was intersex-hermaphrodite, And that what they tend to do... is chop off the Male organ, and the doctor decrees them a woman. Then they struggle with identity the rest of their lives.

Of course when I did the search and typed "Jamie Lee Curtis". Google search then added 'Hermaphrodite' as the second automatic(auto-Fill) search was 'jamie lee Curtis hermaphrodite' .(+1 for the Rumor.Total=1)

It's hard to argue against the Google Auto-fill.

But... how dare someone challenge the sexuality of the star of 'Trading Places' (-1 for the Rumor.Total=0). I think those were my first real living color Boobs!!! That would have meant some very early and excellent plastic surgery.(-1 for the Rumor.Total=-1)

This one may seal it... she is married to Christopher Guest!(+1 for rumor, Total=0)

At first I doubted this was blog fodder.... but sure enough...

To be honest.... I doubt it, this is a true rumor..... But its fun to talk about...

Friday again

I'm not sure the dude Abides anymore.

I'm not sure how I feel about this...

(this also feels like a non-sequitur)

If I had a Heart Rate Monitor ... Only it was "Mop Nonsense Monitor"... It hit 90% today. It's probably not just "mop nonsense" it's all my nonsense....

Hard day... Not on the bike..

I had a very nice evening....

but it feels like a friday... I need to shake the darkness.... Com'on Mop... kick it in the Balls...

Epic Tease!

It's the chase.... Not the destination.

The Journey, Not the Arrival.
I'm tearing this roof off. Don't worry in 2 weeks I'll be in full melt down.

"WHY DID I START THIS!"

"WTF AM I DOING!"

Then I will nut up and get it done.

It would be nice if this didn't happen.

I have some fun little games I want to play... I hope some other people want to play too. I'm not sure how to go about them. But I'll get there...

I was reflecting today on ... As Nancy was teasing! Being a one man storm!

I love woman! You have no idea.... Love Love Love.

Every once in a while.... there is some pain... on both sides. I don't like the pain, it's no fun... It's still the same thing, just the other side of the coin. One of my huge fears, and one of the things that Tears me up inside... Is causing it... That isn't what I want. But it's real...

No matter what, there is always love, for everybody.

Word is..... "Life is a Great Opera"...

You can sit and watch.... or you can take part!

I like to amend that phrase, "Life is a Great Melodrama!"

I mean... You have seen it? Exaggerated plot and characters... Super hero's and Super villains... Damsels in distress.

Ya... Epic Tease... Because in Life things are messy.... things are Hard...

Life is a Journey... A Quest... It's the Work.... The Travails that we suffer in the Journey... they make us what we are; The Joys, The Tears, The Laughter, The Friendships. Not the destination.... Not Where we are... But how we got there.

The Journey tell us more about who we are, than the destination ever will. Sure.... you are the CEO of British Petroleum.... but Who are you?

Because... No matter where you go! There you are!

Yep.... I have this roof to pull off!

Sideways

today had a promising start....

Then like a bottle-rocket... it suddenly went off sideways.

I just can't even......

Too Much.....

More sleep....

More love...

The demise of Hardware stores

Me, "I need an AC motor"
Them, "What is that?"
Me, "Alternating Current, it's for a Fan!"
Them, "Huh!"
Me, "You arn't familiar with 'Alternating Current'? you work in electronics? or was it 'Motor' that has you Confused?"
(I got a very hateful look after that)
Them, "We don't have that!"
Me, "in all of lowes you don't have an AC Motor?"

The better one was a few years ago when I asked for a 3"x3" copper plate.

Them, "what do you want that for... What are you trying to do?"
Me, "I'm building a water cooled Heat Sink"
Them"HuH!"
Me, "I think I can improve the cooling properties of this system I built, if I can get a Solid State Water Cooled Heat Sink on it. But I need some copper plate."