Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight.

Well, it's September, and for us desert dwellers that means it's cooling off a little. And for this desert dweller that means it's time to stop slacking off on the commuting as my only excuse to not do it is slipping through my fingers like that time I tried to pick up on a Cardinals cheer leader.
Also, it's a full moon tonight and that means night ride. I prefer the full moon ride to the artificial light night ride. I don't know, the bike just seems lighter (bad pun) and also it makes me feel like a ninja. And how often do you get to feel like ninja? Exactly.
Photo's to follow.
Also, I would like to wish my mother congratulations on here marathon. She sets a pretty high bar. I hope the blisters heal soon and sorry about the toe nails.
Good job Mom! I Love you!!!

I am the God Father.......of Rap.

I think I rode last night more out of obligation than desire. I guess sometimes it just strikes me that you've got to ride your bike as often as possible. Even if it's just to do wheelies in the street out side the house for a few minutes. Something is better than nothing right? And since I live pretty much just off trail, it's hard to find excuses to keep me off the bike. I still manage though.

But still, I've just been getting this urge to ride more lately. I guess now that the bug is running I feel less guilty about it....if that makes sence. Which of course is rediculous. I shouldn't feel guilty about fucking off in one way as opposed to fucking off in another. Either way I pretty much do what ever I want most of the time...........It's a good life.

"I can't believe you used to ride this in 12 minutes!"...."Yeah, well, that was winter."

So I've pulled the gears back off my mountain bike. One too many derailleur issues, broken chains, skipping chains, and general mechanical malfucktions proved to be a little too much. I'm using a 32 tooth front cog and a 20 tooth rear cog. It spins out a little on the flat sections, but I'm kind of weak still so it's good on the climbs. Eventually I'll tire of the 20tooth rear and put the 18tooth cog on. That's typically a perfect gear ratio for me, but I haven't been riding as much as I typically like to so....

It's kind of nice having the bike back into punishment mode. I mean to say that if I don't ride fairly consistently, this bike will kick my ass. It gets me on trail about 3-4 times a week, which is good for a guy working 50+ hours a week I think. And given the 3-day weekend, I think I should be able to get some good times in order. Yay me.

What is it about cycling that when I switch the bike to a more painful method I ride it more? Why is it that I didn't ride as much with gears? Why? What is it about the punishment that drives me to ride?

Anyway, see ya' all later! Have fun!

And Don't Think I Forgot

That's right! She's back in full force people!!!! And she's fast. Well, she's fast for a 1966 VW Beetle.

I'm very excited. I was sad to see the '55 go, but I had to what I had to do.

I'll get a better side view in the day light tomorrow...ish. In the mean time, notice the exhaust pipes? 'little large! I dig 'em.



But it's a very clean little car. There are some small dents in the LF fender, and it looks as the though the car was tapped in the front and rear at some time. They were put back together pretty well. Not too bad anyway. The previous owner was a hot rod guy with a shop around the corner (lost interest) and actually had the bug sitting in his brothers body shop when I found it covered in dust.




The 1300cc was running, and the car almost made it home the day I bought it. Electrical problems stopped me that time. A few days later the engine just took a great big 'ol crap on the way home from work. At which point I decided a tow hitch was in my immediate future.




Maybe I should have pulled the poster of Dale Earnhardt down before I took the picture.




Needs carpet and head liner. Possibly some new seats one day.




This is the engine that I finally got in the bug. Purty aint it? I need to clean up the fire wall but otherwise I'm very pleased.
1915cc
Full Flowed
Mahle lifters
Mahle pistons
Stock heads
Century 110 cam
Stock 32pic carb....still.

Come on party people. Wave your hands in the air. Come on party people. Waive them like you don't care.

Finally got a camera and finally got back up to lake Powell.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jadwy916/Powell1?authkey=baxYTSM0Mqk

As you will see from the pictures, the trip was awesome....flawless in fact. Even though I did forget a few small things.... nothing important really....
Just the sleeping bag, tooth brush, head light, Londas bikini, pillows (and that's not the worst, I left the pillow we did buy at the evil empire in the damn truck anyway!!!!). I was so pissed about that.
Let this be a public service announcement to all the kids.
Drugs are bad imkay.
And even that is not the worse. As I said before, we forgot the sleeping bag, what I didn't say, was that we figured that out before we left Jill's place. We went back to the house to get the bag and still!!! Still I forgot all that other shit. Take my drivers licence away now please.

Anyway, I can't tell you enough how grateful I am to The Big Monkey Man for hookin' it up. He showed us all some pretty cool geology last weekend. Thank you Homie.

gosh it's hot.

This cycling stuff is for the birds. I'm taking up kayaking....or maybe just drinking. Yeah...drinking is the way to go.

oops!

I'm sorry to all the people that got "replyall-ed" to. Really, it was just me and my family airing out some dirty laundry. But what the fuck right? There were so many damn emails that hotmail cut me off for the day. That's a lot of emails.

I almost feel kind of shitty, but really, if they didn't want to sign the petition they didn't have to and they could have moved on.

Hey family! Remember that time I sent out a petition to help the gays get married and everyone got upset???? Thorry.

Hey Friends! Remember that time that everyone in my family hit reply all for all the emails????? Thorry.

I suppose good blogs are ones that are updated from time to time. Oh well, fuck it.

The Bug is coming along at a dreadfully slow pace. But moving faster as of late than it had been. I am fully aware of the self induced pressures to get it done. I mean, I really want to drive that car. But the fact is that as much as I know about cars and as easy as this car is to work on, I find myself focusing on details and methods of operation a little too much. This makes progress very slow. However, it's my toy, I'll play any damn way I want. Second, I see no real problem in doing things the way I want (and when I want). Yet the impatience still weighs down on my shoulders with constant pressure. I want to drive it. I can't drive it...yet.
The thing is, it's really not that far away from being drivable. That's the beauty of it. At least that's what I tell myself. I suppose I'm hoping it's true and if I say enough perhaps it will be. But seriously, it's mostly just a matter of bolting it together. Sure I'm waiting for a part here, ordering a part there. But mostly it's all here and waiting. Especially for the style I'm going for. It's going to be one cool little car when it's all done.

Also, the beer belly is coming along nicely as well! This whole not riding, not working out thing is working great in the get fat and out of shape goals I seem to be setting. Yeah, if I keep this up I'll be fat and bald in no time!

Too bad ladies....I'm spoken for.

Well, today the Phoenix weather kept me from nothing. It's kind of hard not to ride/hike/explore when you're living in 60 degrees, mostly sunny with nice breeze all day. Maybe some scattered showers here and there just for fun...but strangely nowhere that I was at any particular time. Just sort of off in the distance. I suppose the weather did keep me from riding really hard. I was forced into a leisure pace which including such time consuming things as stopping (often) to smell flowers, and stopping (more often) to admire the scenery. Yeah, it was nice out today.

Though nothing like the weather in D.C. the other day. I must say that the trip was very nice. I had a blast. The only thing I would do differently is stay longer on the east coast. I would have liked to have a pizza experience, and they say that you haven't ridden a subway until you've ridden the NYC subway. I guess, in other words I'm saying that I'm going to New York and check out that scene pretty soon.

It was fun to play dress up in cold weather clothes as well. Most of what I wear usually consists of a t-shirt and shorts, or jeans if it's chilly out. Not in Lancaster though...not at all. But the scarf that Ms. Lola Marie made was crazy warm. At first I was a little apprehensive about sporting a scarf. I didn't want to look to "metro" if you know what I mean. But once you feel the warm hug under your coat you're hooked!! Plus the colors were cool and not feminine at all. So, basically we decided we like home made clothing because it comes custom, and everybody loves custom.

I had never been out east before. Unless you count Florida...and I don't. Florida is like California....but with more old people. And I know what California is about. No, I had never before seen the landscape of Pennsylvania. I had never seen the farms, the small towns. I had never seen the architecture of a small city such as Lancaster. I had never seen the way they stack building right next to one another. With the cycle of buildings broken only occasionally by a church that always seems more beautiful than the last. I'm talking cathedrals people! Very beautiful....indeed.

We went to Londas local hang out. A nice place called Yorgo's. We sat and had drinks, while people she went to school with showed up here and there. I think we stayed at the bar so long partly because of the cold air outside. It was very cold for this desert dweller, but otherwise I couldn't have asked for better weather. At one point our server/bartender/sister of a girl Londa went to school with came over to our table because, with us being the only customers, she had nothing better to do. She was a little drunk, which was good considering Londa and I had been tying one on for a while at this point. Anyway, she came over and just kind of joined the conversation for a bit. The place just added to the "home" style of everything I saw in PA.

It was just a nice trip all around. It was some much over due and much needed time alone with just the two of us. And it was an excellent chance to broaden my traveling horizon. We only get one trip on this carousel called life on the third tiny planet. Might as well check the place out....at least a little.

The Dream

I had a dream the other night that disturbed me. I’d like to share it with you all right now.
It started off with me in a car show. The weather was a cloudy gray, but it was like a California morning in the way that you could feel that the sun would burn it off eventually. I was looking at a very beautiful 1969 SS Camaro. The car was a bright yellow with white racing stripes going over the top of it. Next to it was an equally beautiful SS El Camino with the same color scheme. I felt that the cars were pretty, but I remember thinking that the owner must have been very proud of them as he had an asking price of about $100,000.00 for each.
I then turned and noticed that the show was being held at a racetrack and I decided I wanted to go for a drive on the course. I immediately found myself behind a Porsche. When I say behind I mean that it was in that elevated camera angle you get when you play racing games on a play station or x-box. It was like I was playing a video game and this is the car I am controlling. I was on the track and the weather was still a cloudy gray, the track was brand new asphalt black with green grass boarders for a bit then trees blocking any view but what was right in front of me.
As I was going down the track it dawned on me that I didn’t know if I was going the right direction. Just then I came around a corner and the racers on the track were coming straight at me on a pace lap. All of the cars quickly lined up single file on my left. I passed all of them, turned the car around (at this moment I find my Porsche is brown with a big number 8 on the side) and get in line behind them.
At this point the car looses its variable speed control and the only options I have are full throttle or no throttle. Also, my camera angle is falling and I’m going down to ground level. I start to loose track of the car as it starts passing other cars and I can’t see around them. Just as I start to think that this could be dangerous I see my Porsche leap in the air and land on a Honda Civic. I fly up to the seen only to find that just as in the video game all the cars are still functional, they’re just a little beat up.
Here’s where I’m disturbed. After I get to the seen, not only is my car functional, but it has taken control of itself and I am now only a spectator in my dream. I feel now as if I’m watching it all unfold on television. The car takes off, smashing into other cars, turning some of them over. It goes off track and spins the tires shooting sand and grass everywhere as it lines up to hit other cars. My Porsche has now turned into a Nitro Funny car and is heading for the pits (where the car show is).
The car jumps over the pit wall and lands on the El Camino. As it smashes the El Camino it flips over and lands on the ground leaning up against the Camaro. I can see the bottom of the car. I can see the different colors of the drive train and the engine. Gold and blue parts, red parts all beautiful in that chaotic beautiful machine way. The car is spinning its wheels forward and back trying to get free of the Camaro and trying to right itself with evil intent that I can feel.
At this point everything moves into slow motion, this lasts for the rest of the dream. I look over and see a kid running to get a closer look at the wreckage. When the kid gets close, too close, the funny car frees itself from the Camaro but lands upside down on top of the kid. The kid manages to get out from under the car and looks over at me. I can see that he’s been badly burned by the flames and the hot engine components. He looks over at me and mouths a “what the fuck?” as he runs away in slow motion.
I look back at the funny car now sitting upside down at full throttle. The driver climbs out of the car and crawls under the engine. The engine at this point is red from the heat. It’s about to blow up and parts are starting to melt. The driver positions himself under the engine and as parts start to melt off and land on him he starts rubbing the molten mettle all over himself like he’s in ecstasy.
The police show up with guns drawn and pointing at the driver of the car. We all start to back away and just then the car blows up. I can see the driver, he explodes with the car and his body parts start flying up against the pit wall. Blood begins to splatter everywhere.
And I wake up. I’m not scared. I’m not breathing heavy. I just lay in bed in wonder about my dream. I’m blown away by what my mind conjured up. This was last Friday, and I still remember the dream in that detail 3 days later.

Can you see anything?

Night rides...don'cha Love 'em?
Some are better than others, but some seem bad but are good later. Some are caught on cold rainy nights, fighting the wind and rain....miserable. But I was smiling then and I'm smiling now.
Some are done in a race conditions under pressure...well sort of. I mean...its an Epic event...how much pressure could you be under? But still, it's interesting. It always trips me out coming back into 24hour town. It just feels like I was alone for so long and then you come around the corner and there's people and lights and sometimes there's food cooking...delicious.
Some are done in the heat of summer, with some buddies and one of your buddies girl friends who is just about as rookie as you can get, but there she is, right behind you, and doing better than expected and having fun. It's her first time on Desert Classic AND her first night ride.
But sometime, they're done alone...with no lights...under a full moon. It's rides like this that always force me to stop at a few key locations for reflection...and medication.
It is by far one of the coolest things. I'll always remember riding Hawes at night and coming around a corner with the moon behind a saguaro. At first it scared the shit out of me because I thought it was a man off trail waving me down. I almost ate shit! But then I saw it for what it was.
It was a black sky lit up by the moon into an almost mid-night blue. No stars around the bright moon, but the silhouette of the saguaro was cradling the moon with one of it's arms. Behind that the silhouette of the mountains blacken everything else out until my immediate vicinity. Here everything is clear. Here is about as close to God as I get. Here is why I ride.

Pork chops with hard cider pan sauce

Here's the list.

8 bone-in pork loin or rib chops, about 1 inch think, trimmed of fat (I didn't trim shit!!!!)

Rub:
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. dry mustard
1.5 tsp. dry mustard
.25 tsp. cayenne (but I put a little more)

Sauce:
1 cup hard cider or apple juice (I used cider)
.25 cup Dijon or creole mustard
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. Tomato paste
1-2 dashes of hot sauce (I used about 4-5 heavy dashes of Tapatio)
.25 cup heave cream

Put the rub on the chops and let them sit for about 15-20 minutes then cook 'em in a skillet with some olive oil. Cook them until they're about a 145 deg. in the center then pull 'em off and let them sit on a some kind of grate or something to let the air pass underneath. You don't want them to get all soggy and nasty...it's just gross. After that you'll want to cook the sauce. It's easy, just put the cider in the pan that you cooked the chops in. Use a fork or something to get all the delicious bits off the pan that the chops left. Mmmmmm. Okay, after about 5 minutes or so mix in the rest of the crap on the list. Except the cream! Cook it like that for 2-3 minutes and then pull it off the heat and mix in the cream. I made the mistake of just blending everything together in a measuring cup before hand, but it came out fine. You could do it that way but, you know...whatever. I got this recipe out of a cook book my Granny gave me. Good stuff.

Cooking is good for you. I recomend it to everyone. I've developed it as a hobbie, and I find a zen like quality in it. It's a good way to develope friendships and heal the soul. Which reminds me...don't forget to ride your bike today!!!

Superfuckingrockstarexpealidotios

Someone told me "be great in '08". Sounded good.
Be great........in '08.
Be great.
Be great in everything. Not just this year, but in everything all the time.
Be great in school
Be great in work
Be great in home, in play, in riding, in hiking, in exploring. Be great in everything.
Why not? It sounds easy enough. It sounds like a good way to live anyway. But what is greatness? What does that mean? Does it mean the accomplishment of some goal? Does it mean being better than the guy next door? Having that shinny thing, or new part, or new bike? Is that great? Or, is it merely to be happy? Happy with what you've got now. Happy with the direction you've put yourself in.
I think to be great in the sense of how you're livin' is to be happy. To have a level of contentment with who you are.
But it's difficult to be great all the time. It can be done though.
I think it comes down to that first decision of a new goal. In every decision we must ask ourselves if this particular step is going to bring us closer to happiness. Is this decision, be it to turn left, or to turn right going take us that one step closer toward greatness? Toward accomplishing that goal of happiness? Will this small decision be in the correct direction for my happiness, or am I satisfying some other need (like greed, anger, or jealousy).
To be happy, truly happy, will require some small amount of personal sacrifice I'm sure. Anger, greed and jealousy are very real emotions that I can't take lightly. They affect my young mind, and have a profound effect on my decisions. We need to stop and take a look around and ask the simple question. "Does this take me in the direction of happiness?" Once the question is asked the decision can be made with a clarity that was not there before and perhaps then we can achieve the ultimate goal.
The goal of happiness.
Be great in '08 people.