Joy

So this weekend, while, of course, dampened by the rain, was pretty stellar when it comes to quality. While I didn't do much of anything, the quality of what I did do trumped a lot of other "didn't do much this weekend" weekends.

Friday, I opted for a nice quiet eve at the house. The last few days/weeks have been getting progressively more hectic as we get more and more requests for showings on the house. Recently, they've been more in the afternoon & evenings, so, we have to essentially be scarce for certain hours, when we might be eating dinner, or, just chillin on the couch. Amy went out to catch 2 of our friends bands that were sharing the bill, while I opted to just sit at home on the couch. It was nice and quiet, although, without her there, it was too quiet. I did all of the laundry since we were both outta clothes that mattered...our cycling stuff!

The forecast for the weekend was generally rainy, so, I had no expectations of really doing much riding on Saturday. Thus, I slept in until 8am (wow...that's about 2hrs later than usual...even on the weekends), and, slowly enjoyed a nice cup of joe with my breakfast. I eventually suited up and headed out for what was a total of about 1hr of a ride, but, 30 minutes of adjusting stem/bars/etc. It's a delciate thing with my back being on the mend, and, from what I've noticed, even 1cm extra of drop can really bug it. I flipped the stem to get more rise, and changed the stack of the spacers, and, found a nice point to start taking measurements. Amy headed off to the gym for a quick workout, as, our first showing was to arrive around noon. My car is unfortunately in the shop (needed a new center diff), and, she needed to come back and get me prior to the arrival of the potential buyers. I came home to finalize the sprucing up, and, put away the rest of the laundry from the night before, and, locked myself out of the friggin house from the back. ugh. The only way to the front is either over the fence into the neighbors yard, or, over the fence into the front of the house. The neighbors fence is fine, only it pops me out in front of their bedroom, and, they were home, while the other side is extremely wobbely and, does not have sufficient support. So, of course, I opted for the other side instead of the neighbors. I was tied up like a pretzel as I attempted to balance myself coming over, and, ultimately walked through the front door pretty much unscathed. It was a delicate balancing act though, as, the fence is 6ft, is secured poorly, and, like I said before, has only one fence post. Very sketchy! Amy arrived to pick me up, and, we rolled over to the Cherry Creek Farmer's market. It was really one of my first times here, and, I gotta tell ya, it was awesome. The food and samples was enough to quell my appetite for a while, but, we eventually got a fish taco that was so delicious I wanted 5 more. YUM! We bought some gifts for mom's day, and, got ourselves some cookies to snack on. Dayuuumm!!!

That evening, we picked up a quick dinner at Racine's, and then rolled to the Starz film center to catch The Song of Sparrows by Majid Majidi. We'd first encountered his work in "Children of Heaven", back at the Starz film fest and aboslutely loved it. I was excited to see this film simply because his other one was soooo good. The movie exceeded expectations. It was funny, sad, heartwarming, and also just a wonderful film all around. The acting, scenery, and story were great. I highly recommend this movie. Just amazing! HOWEVER, there are very very very few things that I find so utterly annoying (and rude) in this world, and, one of them is talking in during a movie (especially in a theater). The guy sitting next to me would NOT SHUT THE FUCK UP the entire time. I kept giving him the evil eye, and kinda passively shushing him, but, I realized this called for more drasitc measures. I imagined myself turning to him and saying "DUDE, SHUT UP!!", but, luckily his girlfriend/wife whatever said something and he at least whispered. Oh my was it annyoing. He laughed at EVERYTHING even if it was said...he'd comment "Oh there's an ostrich!! There's an ostrich!!" when there was an ostrich on the screen. Please, don't be that guy...EVER.

This morning I rolled out with a few of the Westside guys for a nice jaunt up Lookout. Myself, Darren, Stefan, and Rick (who uncannily looks like Ken Coomer from Wilco), met up with another of their teammates named Justin out in Golden. D-dog was pimping his gorgeous new ride...the 09 Onix. The bottom bracket on this thing is ridiculous. We had a "Who's Bottom Bracket is the beefiest" competition, and, Darren slightly eclipsed Justin's System Six. It was kind of a draw...too hard to call!

The ride out was kinda civil on the way out, with the pace being tolerable, and, challenging as each guy took a turn. Each of these guys can do damage in their own little way. Stefan is like an Ullrich...he's german, has a big ass, and has lots of power to do any form of riding (climbing, sprints, tt's). Darren is like the skinny no ankled or wristed Italian of the group with Pozzatto like preferences on his hair, but, jesus can that little bastard climb. Rick was like me...there for the flat stages :-). Justin is like another Darren, but, a younger version. He has all sortsa energy for shit talking and what not on the climbs...he IS 26...what do you expect. Anyway, as we headed out, we picked the Mini-Ghisallo as our route, and, I actually felt pretty good going up it. It was a great opener, and, definitely a lot harder than I've been riding in the last few months. Once we hit Golden, we started to climb. It was tough, and, I haven't been doing ANY climbing in the off season. The weather in March was pretty good a few days, and, maybe I was able to hit the hills once or twice, but, that's it. Lucky for me I felt pretty good those times. Anyway, Darren, Stefan & Justin all attacked each other and lit the climb up. Rick & I took the sprinters bus up to the top, and, the temperature got warmer and warmer as we climbed which was a nice change of pace. On the way up, we ran in to the woman of my dreams, who, was descending. A Moots never looked so good! Rawr. We chatted, kissed, and she went on her merry way.

I realized today the best part of a group ride is not the training, the flaunting of the new gear, or, who can kick the most ass...but rather, the comraderie that comes along with it. The shit talking, the suffering and waiting, and just plain bein' out with the peeps that have the love of cycling. It's a beautiful thing!!