Let it snow!

It didn't take long for the first snow to come this year. Our new snowman welcome sign may have had something to do with it.

Sage jumping for the Frisbee

Here I come mom!

Playing with Petra and Sage

Photo Op with Sage

New bigger grill on the left. Smaller older one on the right.

Might just use one of the above grills to cook up some snow crab!

Or maybe just some turkey and vegetable soup.

Plans go awry

I had plans to ride into work once again as Jenn had her strength training class at Endorphin again. Threats from the local weathermen made my decision to sleep in rather than ride pretty easy. When I woke up you could imagine my level of annoyed-ness as the sky was clear and the sun was out. All was good though as it didn't take long into the day before the sky turned cloudy and then Mother Nature didn't to open up on us once again.

With it raining, I spent the afternoon watching the Food Network. Seems that is my fall back this time of year when the weather turns nasty or I get too lazy to ride in the cold. So with an afternoon full of inspiration Jenn and I collaborated on dinner. I used the cast iron grill pan to do up some chicken breasts while she whipped up a batch of her homemade mac-n-cheese! Here are some pictures to get you thinking about dinner at 8 o'clock this morning ;-)

Almost looking too good to cover in sauce...

But when you are covering it with 100% pure Idaho love, now that is a different story. Thanks Becky for bringing so many bottles home last time. The mac-n-cheese was to die for. And is what is for lunch today!

I have a couple of rides planned for the next couple of days. Hell I may even ride an unprecedented four days in a row. But lets not get too ahead of ourselves.

Goo-i-ness

It has been a couple of weeks since my last update which is sad because I had some really good rides two weeks ago with Jenn and Nate. Then last week, I did nothing but hone my skill of being undisciplined. It was one reason after another of why I didn't want to ride. Blaaahhh! I didn't waste the time completely though. As many of you know, I have always eaten my weight and possibly more in food every day. But in the past, I have always relied on someone else to do the cooking for me. Not so anymore! I have discovered in the last couple of months, I love to cook. Especially grill!

On Sunday evening, I threw this blob of gooiness onto the grill. Somehow it magically turned into this delicious creation.

Monday I decided that instead of going back to bed after Jenn left at zero-dark-thirty for her weekly swim training with Endorphin Fitness, I would just get up and gather my stuff and ride into work. So I loaded up the weighted pack...

and then the ride can be summarized easily. First mile, "Oh this won't be bad, my legs feel ok." Second mile, "Nevermind this is going to suck, my legs now feel like the goo on the grill." At about mile 6 or 7, my legs started warming up and feeling better. For there on out I was just a big rolling pile of high-vis lazy.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go stuff my face before work.

Tis the Season

The holiday season is now among us! The only question left to answer is which holiday are we celebrating here in the 'Twan household. All things considered the weather outside, time of year, and shows such as "It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown" on the ole boob tube all really make me feel and get into the Halloween spirit. I even allowed Jenn to talk me into carving a pumpkin.


Or as Linus says to Lucy in the movie after she makes him carry her pumpkin all the way home from the patch, "You didn't tell me, you were going to kill it."

But then when boxes like this arrive from Pearl Izumi with my name on it and explode open leaving me to look at such horrific sights as this ...

it makes it feel a lot like Christmas. Happy Hallo-mas everyone!

Sunrise - Sunset

Late Saturday night, I decided I was going to ride into work on Sunday morning. It would be a good morning to do so, as leaving the house at 6:30am on a Sunday would provide minimal traffic. I wanted to lay everything out before I went to bed in order for me to just slip into it when I awoke because I knew I would be too tired and cranky at 5:30 to start to look for stuff I couldn't find such as a rear taillight. Where are those things?

The ride into the shop ended up going well. Just as planned, there was very little traffic the entire way there. Once I got to the shop I found out the most exciting news, wait for it, wait for it, Nick, Travis and I all rode into work and would be getting off at the same time. Whoooooaaaaa! This meant I wouldn't have to ride home completely alone for the first 7 miles or so.

Lance, if you can't change a flat maybe you should be a little more, Metro.

Nick and Travis rolling along.

The ride home was even better than the ride in. My legs felt much better but still not great. I even got to see one of the best sunsets take place from a few different angles as I passed by the different pumpkin farms and random fields. Regretfully, I didn't stop to take pictures as I didn't think the camera phone would do the colors justice and my legs where feeling just good enough which made me not want to stop.

Holy moly!

Holy moly, has anyone seen my fitness? The ride yesterday afternoon left me feeling like I was hit by a truck last night. Headache, knee and overall body pain just would not go away and I couldn't put my finger on why. I know just short of 40 miles shouldn't have whipped me that bad despite how long its been since I have been on the bike, right? Especially if I just took my time and didn't push myself which is what I did. Jenn even pointed out to me, I was gone for about 3 hours which baffled me even more as in my head that just proved the point that I didn't push hard. The other thing it did was really drive home just how slow and out of shape I am.

Then this morning, it came to me while hitting me like a sack of potatoes. I have the eff-in flu. I knew there had to be something to blame it on. I just wouldn't be an American if I didn't try to blame it on something other than my own lack of ability. Just kidding! No flu here, thank god! Actually, as I was updating my version of Topofusion I came across a gps track of the loop in which I did yesterday from back in May. The total distance was actually 48.23 miles not 37. I mean whats an extra 10 or so miles between as close of friends as Selle and my arse when they haven't met in over a month?

The time log from the track shows I did it in about 2 and half hours in May so I don't feel too too outta shape while I sit here, seeing how I spun easily and came in just a half hour behind. But in a minute I am going to be done typing and will get out of this chair and that is when my legs will remind me of just how tired they really are.

Short ride with Jenn when she gets off work and then hopefully lounging for the rest of the night with some sort of artery clogging takeout.

Now that the La Raza is once again a bicycle and not a unicycle, I jumped at the opportunity of getting in a ride this afternoon. I opted for one of my favorite loops which includes cruising down Riverside Dr and back up Old Gun before returning to the house. It proved to be as scenic as always.

First ride with the new hardware

Possible sighting of a Metro trouser snake? Nope, no metro snake would wear camo

Leaves are starting to turn down by the river

The question of dinner came up once Jenn got home. I told her I felt like an old turtle and was craving rabbit. Imagine the glare I got, ha! Now its off to meet Nate and Gair for the showing of Race Across the Sky.

Late night revelations

One often comes across eye opening revelations when they are least expecting it. For me this came last night as I was surfing the web trying to tire my eyelids out. Weird thing is, this time it didn't include any thoughts of running to the late night window South of the Border. However, at some point I came across the dictionary definition of the cyclist. It is defined as a person who rides or travels by bicycle, motorcycle, etc. Then it came to me, I have to actually ride my bike to be considered a cyclist.

With my front wheel still missing and me being too cheap to purchase a new one after buying all new winter clothing, I decided to turn the La Raza from this ...

to this...

The wheel came off of my cross bike. So it now hangs naked in the closet for the time being. That is until CK releases their Swift hubs which after speaking with the CK rep is still slated for "Holiday Season" release. Such teases they are! Is it tacky to wear silver with gold? I think not!

For the time being, that is ;-)

Wedding and Honeymoon Pics

I now have the pictures from the honeymoon uploaded. I suppose I will share the links to all of the albums in which I have links to. Rehearsal dinner, Wedding and our honeymoon to Jamaica. If anyone has any others to send our way please feel free to do so.

We can't go anywhere without getting a bike of some sort :)

Great minds ...

They say great minds think a like and this must prove it. I go a day without checking the what's happenings in the 757 and J to the B posted the same public service reminder in which I was going to post today. Follow the link to his blog to read all about it. My response to his post is simply this picture. I'll see everyone on Thursday night!

Dunn's River Falls - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

On October 3rd Jenn and I took the plunge and said "I do". After a fun filled reception, we were whisked away to our hotel room near the airport as we had a flight that left Richmond at 7:45am, bound for Miami then to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Once in Jamaica we enjoyed a nice 1 hour 45 minute tour bus ride to the Sandels Grande in Ocho Rios. That is when we were first frightened by a crazy Jamaican driver. The driver then notified the bus that we were now in Jamaica and in Jamaica they drive on the left side of the road. I believe his exact words were, "Left is right and Right is suicide."

I haven't gotten all of the pictures uploaded to the web album just yet. And by that I mean I haven't uploaded any at all. They will soon be up and link made available but until then I was able to rip some stills from the DVD we purchased of our walk up the Dunn's River Falls. Due to a communication problem between the English in which our Jamaican tour guide spoke and our ability to comprehend it without saying, "What?" a couple of times, we didn't take our camera with us. So I bought the full length film version and took a few captures.

It was an approximate 600 ft climb up the waterfall. The climb starts at the bottom where the falls empty into the Caribbean Sea. You then start making your way up the middle of the falls, straight through the gushing water. Along the way we were able to stop and play in the pools in which the cascading water formed. If you ever find your way to the Jamaican part of the woods I would highly recommend you taking an excursion to climb it yourself as it lived up to the hype. Only one word can describe it, IRIE!

2 days and counting...

With just a couple hours over 2 days left before Jenn walks down the aisle and makes me the luckiest man in the world, I had the plan of riding into work this morning as it is a short day at the office. Alas, I didn't set the alarm and I slept in to when my "in my head" alarm clock went off at 6. Still very excited to be seeing everyone who is coming back into town for our little shin-dig.

The hunt for the front wheel is still on going, and just like a parent who loses a kid, I'll never give up! I will never accept the idea that it is gone for good. I will find it. In the mean time, it looks like I will be robbing Jenn's front wheel when she isn't riding and when she is I'll borrow the front wheel off of the cross bike. Until that is .....................

These bad boys are released this holiday season!




The new swift hubs from Chris King. The set is due to weigh in less than 350 grams. Now the only question is what color to purchase. I think hard enough I just might be able to scratch the rest of the hair off my head.

And in other exciting news, my boy JB is back on the bike and loving to ride once again. Check out his newly rediscovered blog game.

Has anyone seen my front wheel? It looks like the one on the red Felt in the picture. Gold Chris King hub laced to a Mavic Open Pro rim. Cash reward if found!

Back from Boise Vol II

So Jenn and I got back from my little sister's wedding in Boise, Idaho. It was a great time. Every time I go out there it gets harder for me to return to the hustle and bustle that is suburban life. For those of you who have never been, Boise personifies everything that is "the outdoors." Throw in having all of the family in one place and you get a wonderful weekend! And since pictures are worth more words than I can type here are a few....

A creek we crossed getting up the mountain to the ranch

Our nephew Aiden

Brother James taking a photo of the 6000 ft drop

The beautiful bride, Becky and my Dad walking the aisle

More photos from the trip can be seen here .. enjoy!

Old friend, how I have missed thee! Well my legs and ass sure haven't. It's been so long since my cheeks got a chance to hang out with "Selle" they didn't even recognize each other yesterday. I think I even heard them ask, "You want me to sit on what?"

My dear friend "Selle"

PSA: Playing just the tip can result in a broken tip. Remember that kids.

I wasn't sure what to expect out of my legs yesterday on the ride home from work. Considering they hadn't pedaled a single stroke in about 29 days, but who is counting. I decided to take the ride easy so I could gently build both my strength and aerobic fitness back up to speed. And that is what I did. Slow and steady, never tried to really push hard yet somehow I still got home with an 18.5ish overall average. Not quite sure how it happened but it did.

Now that the wedding is getting closer and the around the house projects are getting very close to where I can take a break from them again, I am looking forward to making sure my cheeks don't ever go long enough without proper play time with their friend "Selle".

Now for the flip side!