Not the stopper finger!

My poor stopper finger.

If i'm feeling old...

If i'm feeling old...think how old the old people must be feeling! So...I made it all the way to 28 yesterday. Funny how life works. When I was 5 years old all I wanted to do was ride my bike. One of my first memories is of me getting grounded from riding around the block after dinner. I have no memory of why...but i'm sure I probably did something very worthy of the punishment. Now, 23 years later little has changed and i'd have to say that given my track record i'll probably be addicted to this stuff called Dirt the rest of my life.Twenty three years later and still the only think I can seem to think about when i'm not on my rig is my next ride.

I had a pretty sweet birthday considering I don't usually even acknowledge that I have one. Birthdays are in between Valentines Day and Halloween on my list of fake holidays...but i'll leave that list for another post.

To tee my birthday off we woke up at the crack of dawn and headed north to a run Chelsea was in, and we got to see some pretty beautiful vistas along the way. In a couple of the little towns we drove through we negotiated some pretty insane traffic patterns. One was sort of a pentagonal traffic circle, with a stop sign within it on the inside lane of it. The reason that description seems to make no sense is because it indeed made no sense at all. Had I not been so focused on not dying i'd have taken a pic of it.

It was fun to watch Chelsea run and the weather wasn't too bad although overcast, windy and gray. The venue, a field house/fitness center complex in Shelburne was pretty nice. The best part was when the guy who took 2nd place in the 5k overall crossed the finish line, fell to his knees and hurled repeatedly. Almost like he knew it was my birthday lol. Have to admit though, he laid down a solid effort chasing the guy that won. It was an interesting event and other then the top 5 guys it was much more relaxed and less competitive then what i'm used to at the bike races. Chelsea had a blast and did really well. 

Later on I feasted on some birthday grub and an incredible Cheese cake the wifenheimer made me. Finished it off with a birthday spin and some more cheese cake. Then birthday beer and more cheese cake. I could get used to this.

My dad won the card contest...although my sister's has not arrived yet so I guess she may still be in contention. My family is somewhat competitive when it comes to cards and lately it's been getting harder and harder to stay ahead of my sis in the rankings.

Tried this saddle for the first time...Selle Itilia XO. I think I may need a doughnut after another session on the thing. Does not fit well at all.  Probably why it's a good 60-70% cheaper then anything else in the Selle line up. Probably going to track down another Shadow V because for some reason, out of all the saddles i've tried, that's the only one that's ever not left me walking like a cowboy, and it just so happens to be dirt cheap. Getting harder and harder to track down though as it's a pretty old skule choice.Time for some gravel in the rain. At least it's not dusty anymore!