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I worked for the City of Arcata from about 1964 to 1981. Most of those years I worked at  City Hall across from Flynn's Inn which was myArcata home bar. One year I was the inspector for a contractor doing TV inspection of the sewer lines. The crew was "old guys" probably about thirty years old. One time we went to Flynn's after work to drink and play shuffleboard. We finished a game and went to the bar so the losers could buy a round. When we went back to the shuffleboard table someone had taken it. An argument ensued and all of a sudden it was the four of us at one end of the bar and everybody else at the other end. A college kid stepped forward and one of my "old guys "stepped up. My "old guy" took off his shirt and he looked like Popeye, tattoos and muscles. The college kid went "Oh my god". No fight occurred.

Rambling Thoughts

I'm sitting on the deck, in the Sweet Spot, with the propane fire pit going and a glass of wine. I have some rambling thoughts going and was going to share them on Facebook. This is a better space to share rambling thoughts although they may not be read by anyone.

For some reason I am remembering Oregon Ducks sports, probably because Susan just posted photos of masks she has just sewn and some were Ducks fabric. We became Ducks fans because my buddy Jeff Boyer went there to grad school and Eugene, with big time college sports, is just four hours drive away. Our interest was mostly football but some basketball. We went to a couple games at McArthur Court, the old brick arena. One game was a Ducks game and our seats were near the ceiling. It felt like we were looking straight down onto the court. The fans would all stomp on the floor in unison and the whole building would shake. They had to pause the game because the backboards were swaying too much. Another game we attended was an NBA exhibition game between the Trailblazers  and the Pacers. Our seats for that game were about four rows off the floor but behind one of the goals. Not the best but Paul Allen was sitting right behind us.

I'm Back, I Think

I think that I want to start writing to my blog again. This post is a test to see if it is still available to me.

New Saddle

I rode Spring Thaw a couple of weekends ago. Notice "I rode" not "I raced". I've decided I'm not a mountain bike racer. I just ride the Cat 3 course and enjoy myself. My stock answer when asked how my race went was "Uneventful". One high point of the day was that I won a new saddle in the raffle. Check out how good it looks on my cross bike. It's perfect. Thank you Amy, and whoever donated it.
Last weekend I rode a loosely organized ride in the Illinois Valley near Cave Junction. The people who own the local bike shop in Crescent City have a cabin near O'Brien and invite friends to come ride and have a barbecue afterward. We had a good time but my young Chinese friend crashed on a downhill about five miles into the ride. He was pretty banged up and got taken to the hospital in Grants Pass. He did a face plant into the gravel shoulder at about 45 mph. He's okay but his face is pretty scraped up.
Next weekend is Return on the Jedi. I'm taking my trailer again and spending the weekend. I'm racing short track on Saturday with my single speed and "riding" cross country on Sunday. I again opted not to race the Super D Saturday afternoon. I'll just kick back with a glass of wine to prepare for Sunday morning.

Pork BBQ

I cooked some pork barbecue yesterday, and took pictures.
I injected the meat with a mixture of apple juice, brown sugar and salt at about 6:00 a.m.






Started the coals at about 7:00 a.m.







Applied a mustard moisturizer,







a seasoning rub,







and placed into the cooker at about 8:00 a.m.







Initial temperatures, 248° in the cooker, 41° meat internal temp.







It's going to be a long day. I need to be comfortable. The coffee cup later became a bottle of beer and eventually, a glass of wine.






The final product at 7:00 p.m.







There were some intermediate steps that I didn't photograph. After about 3 hours, internal temp 130°, I sprayed the meat with apple juice and continued to cook. After about another 3 hours, internal temp 160° I double wrapped the meat in foil after pouring on a wrapping mixture of butter, honey, brown sugar, yellow mustard and water. Then back into the cooker for another 2 1/2 hours to internal temp 192°. Then wrapped in plastic wrap, insulated with beach towels and placed in a cooler to rest for about an hour. Then unwrapped, lightly coated with the seasoning rub and back into the cooker for about 30 minutes. Then drizzled with bbq sauce and into the cooker for another 20 minutes. This is from my favorite cookbook, Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang.

Oh, it was delicious.

I'm Back

I decided that, since I get irritated when other people don't post to their blogs, I need to post to mine. I doubt that anybody cares. Does anybody read this?
My last post was after the nationals in December. Since then I raced a road race, Cherry Pie, and a TT series, three races in Medford. I got dropped about a third of the way through the road race, way better than last time, and Vern kicked my ass in the TT. Both were fun though.
The big news is that I built a new cross bike. Most of it is used stuff off ebay. The shifters and derailleurs are off my road bike. I upgraded it to 10 speed. I haven't ridden the new bike on any kind of cross terrain but it feels really good on the gravel roads I ride on. BB30 really feels solid. Old Blue will now become my B bike in the pits.






Dura Ace 7900 on the road bike.


















I'm having trouble getting motivated to race mountain bikes. I didn't do Horning's and I'm not doing Mudslinger this weekend. I signed up for Spring Thaw and I'm doing Return on the Jedi for sure. Those may be my only races until STXC starts.

Cyclocross National Championships 2009

I haven't posted anything for quite a while. I didn't have anything to post about until now. I raced the National Championships in Bend this week.








Here I am with Jeff Boyer before the race. I stayed with Jeff and Tracy at their house between Bend and Redmond.



As you can probably guess from the photos, it was cold. Actually it was warm...compared to what it had been. The night before I got to Bend it was 10 degrees below zero. When we got up the morning of my race it was 1 degree above zero and by my race time it was almost up to freezing.
This is what most of the course looked like. It was very slick. I started slowly and after the first lap gained some confidence and picked up my pace somewhat. I was moving up in the standings when I went down twice in the same lap and decided to revert to survival mode. I stayed upright for the rest of the race but didn't pass anybody else. On the last lap a guy in my age group caught me. We got to the run-up at the same time but he stumbled a little. I beat him to the big drop and didn't look back. I sprinted the last couple hundred yards on pavement and almost puked at the finish. When I looked back after the finish line he was nowhere to be seen. He must have fallen on the drop.

There was a set of stairs to negotiate.












I felt pretty good after the finish. Glad to be done.


















On day two I was a spectator, eating some frites.

It was a fun experience. I finished eighth in my age group and didn't get hurt. I'm looking forward to next year.