Rub-a-dub-dub

Mi amigo Pete is always on the ball. He presented me with not one, but two Christmas gifts this past week. I wish I could say that I am as good a friend as he, but I fear I am much, much worse.

I will be reporting on both gifts as they are of such a nature that they absolutely scream "blog post".
He presented this handsomely marketed piece in a plastic bag with the explanation-- "my wife won't let me keep this in the house unless it's in a plastic bag."  Smart thinking I say as it is redolent of campfire and beef jerky, very manly.

I showed it to my gal and she was also repulsed by the exotic bouquet. She forbade me to use it, which of course meant that I had to do exactly that. I could not let such a thoughtful gift go to waste, so I struck out for the farthest, most ventilated bathroom in the house, the pool bath.
The bar itself is actually a deep brown color, I assume that is why grandpa felt the need to advertise that it lathers white. It foamed up well and is not totally unpleasant once you have grown accustomed to it's earthy essence.
I don't have, nor have ever had, psoriasis, scales, eczema, dandruff or any other skin conditions that the soap is purported to cure so I cannot comment on it's healing nature. I can report that I did feel clean, so it really is a soap.

I asked my wife and the two older daughters, whom lately seem to appreciate the way men smell, what they thought of the scent. Two out of three said it was disgusting, the third had no opinion.
I will keep who said what to myself.

I have returned the bar to it's plastic bag, and the bag now resides in my garage. If any of you readers find yourselves with any of the above mentioned skin maladies, give me a ring and I can let you borrow this all natural cure-all. Until then it will set just where I left it.

Holiday guest

My sister and brother in law made it down for Thanksgiving, he brought his road bike and we did ride it once. Steve expressed an interest in getting out on the dirt, I am always willing to try and make new converts so I wrangled up a single speed bike for him, he could be hooked.

Steve suffering up the Sidewinder climb in the early morning hours.

Back at the bottom.

Die Cold Miser

As you may know, you cannot measure cold. All you can do is measure a lack of heat.
Another thing you cannot measure is my disdain for the cold. I started my ride this morning at 6am, in the dark and 31 degrees. When I was done it had dropped to 28.

You would think I would be used to it by now but every year I have to reinstate an uneasy truce with mother nature. I will continue to badmouth her and she will continue to make me suffer.


Long live the Heat Miser. Why is he portrayed as the bad guy, I think he is getting a bad rap.

Pour some sugar on me

If I was a one armed drummer I would be all over this. I love that one of the requirements is a flame retardant kit, these Texas boys take their Def Leopard very seriously.

Spinning my way to happiness

I have found myself in the doldrums of blogdom, so I thought I would share my latest passion. During the winter months I have found a way to entertain myself and keep things in tip top form. Spinbike gymnastics.

Here is my routine from the International Spinning Championships, I worked really hard on this and I sewed my own costume. This routine was also dedicated to my Mom.

Man Crush

I ran across this clip about a local celeb, John Hanson.  He and I have enjoyed/suffered many an adventure together, they usually end with him being sick on the side of the trail.  I am beginning to think I am the cause.

I may be tipping my hand here but JRuss is probably the coolest cat I know. How many people do you know that can rock the gentlemen's hat? Not many.
In my wildest dreams of avarice I hire John to work part time for me, (the man is a licensed engineer with a degree from a school that rhymes with Striggum Dung) pay him an exorbitant salary so he can spend the rest of his time making bicycles. It's mostly a selfish endeavor, I just want a reason to hang out and partake in his mojo.

So if you are looking for a new custom ride, Sabrosa should be on the short list.  To paraphrase Ferris Bueller "I love riding it, it is so choice. If you have the means I highly suggest picking one up."

You will need to go here to see the vid, or go here to read what John has to say. 

Soapbox

I've had a few random thoughts kicking around my head that I have to get out.

First off, you may remember my feelings on the repair job done by the county road crews. That post was only a year ago and as per my prognostication the chip seal is not holding up. I rode up to Veyo this morning thru Gunlock, from now on I am going to refer to that ride as the Veyo-Roubaix. If you don't get the joke, go here to be enlightened.
This is part of the same track used by the St. George Iron Man, a world class event. I would think the county would be ashamed to show the world how good they are at ignoring road conditions. The Iron Man allegedly brings in millions of dollars to the local economy but they can't seem to spring for 30 miles of new tarmac.
Thumbs down to you Washington County Road Dept.
Feel free to send Wendell Gubler a piece of your mind, he already has had some from me. He is the man in charge of saying "we don't have any money."  Wendell.Gubler@washco.utah.gov  


Secondly, runners. This may offend a few of you but I don't care. Sometimes a little tough love is the only way. 
This time of year it seems as if 1/4 of the population in preparing for the St. George Marathon. They train by running down the course from Veyo to St.G via highway 18 or down Snow Canyon. 
Running to me looks like agony. Plodding, slow, jarring, joint destroying agony. Maybe that is why most of the folks I see are so zoned out of their minds that they can't seem to behave like we have rules in our society.  In Snow Canyon on Thursday I passed approx 35-40 people, It was dark and 50% of these fools were not using lights or reflectors of any kind. 
They was no rhyme or reason to where they were running either. Some were running against traffic (which is the recommended method) some were running with traffic but the majority were right in the middle of the road running 4 abreast. 30% of them were startled when I got to within 25ft of them, again so zoned out that they failed to see my bar lights baring down on them.


Now for my biggest complaint, litter. 





The runners are of course training for a long event and they don't want to carry all the necessities i.e. water, fuel, supplements etc. So they leave little stashes along the road way so they can pick it up as they need it. In theory I understand this and agree with the idea. However in the application of this plan they fail to do the necessary clean up after the fact. There are hundreds of used water bottles right now along the side of highway 18. Every runner that I confront about the problem says the same thing, "we always pick up our trash after the run." LIARS! If you all picked up your trash then there would be no trash.


Thanks for listening and please keep America beautiful.  




One more thing, congratulations for finishing a tough event ladies.