Knick Knacks And Paddy Whacks



C is for Cookie.



Sorry it's been so long since I've posted something.

A lot has happened...

The Monster Cookie was a couple weekends ago. The weather was great and a lot of people did the ride (About 2100 people). Those things are great. The bad part is that a couple of my good friend's went down in a crash.

Tom, while banged up, got away with just superficial wounds. Although he still manged to break his bicycle. Unfortunately, Martin didn't do any favors to his body or his bike.



Martin's knee... (Photo:Martin)



Martin signing his bike over to the rest stop mechanic to be dropped off at the start. That's Tom on the right with the black and orange. (Photo:Martin)

 When I found out about the accident I was gutted.  Martin just got back on the bike from another serious accident that involved shoulder surgery. I was instantly worried that he had re-injured his bad shoulder. And of all the shit luck, that's exactly what happened (Get well soon Martin. The group just isn't the same without you.)

In other news, my SSHW and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this last weekend by running away to Sunriver/Bend. It was a lot of fun. We ate, drank and slept to much. But also got a chance to enjoy a tandem ride from Sunriver up to Mt Bachelor. It was an out and back trip with the first 17 miles being all up hill and the later being the opposite.  It was challenging for our legs and lungs being valley dwellers. But still a fun ride.  We also saw a herd of elk asses since they couldn't be bothered to look up at us while they were grazing and we flew back down the mountain.



The road was really nice. Smooth and almost no cars.

There is nothing better than having a beautiful ride on a beautiful day, with my beautiful wife. Nothing gets better than that.

The other thing that has started since last we spoke is the Giro.

I love the Giro d'Italia. Easily my favorite race of the year. Couple that with the fact that Taylor Phinney won the opening time trial and is wearing pink just adds to the awesomeness.

 

The un-awesomeness is that the douche bag Ferrari just about ended Taylor's race after stage three. Although I must admit I'm still not sure why Phinney was up that close to the front. He wasn't contesting the sprint and there for not getting any of the time bonuses. He'd have been far better off just making sure no real splits happened and hanging back. I'm sure that's all 20/20 hind sight now...






That sort of maneuver has no place in sprinting to the line with the entire peloton behind you. It's just ridiculous. Then to cap it off with the fact that he didn't think he did anything wrong just makes me want to freak out! I was amazed at how lightly they came down on him. I've seen guys get ejected from races for less. But I guess since it's an Italian race and he's Italian they kept him in with just a time penalty and a small (200 Swiss francs) fine. He got off really easy in my opinion. I'd would have loved to see Cavendish with his busted bike still on his shoulder, walk up to Ferrari and punch him square in the neck. That would have been awesome.

There is more to talk about. But I'll save that for tomorrow (I don't want to blow it all in one sitting...). Until then, have fun, be safe and make good choices (Just kidding, what fun would that be!?)!

Rubber side down,

Big E