Throwin' a Tranquility Tantrum

After a hearty breakfast of baked potatoes, 3 eggs, 3 pieces of toast, and a tomato; I headed out for a noon race out at Tranquility. Three laps started at noon for me. Seeing how I did 2.5 laps yesterday and have not been on my MTN bike since I don't know when, getting 3rd in the Sport category wasn't too bad. About a lap in, I started to get a really sore back, and by the time two laps were complete, I could no longer push, I could only try and ride as efficient as possible. I am in need of a new frame and some better fitting. Third did almost equal my entry fee for the race so I almost broke even.

Mr. Eric Brunt cleaned up the trails in the 3 hour (Endurance, marathon, whatever.) category. He did 7 laps which equaled about 42 miles -- On a rigid single speed. What a son-of-a-beech. He also delivered that night for JJ again on his bike. 

I wake up in the morning to do another 3 hours of TRI training out at Manawa -- but we'll see how my back feels. If it does not feel too great, I will take 'er easy. What shall the morning bring.

-- Eric and I got some beers from Beertopia and came back and watch Mike Phelps win his  8th gold in the 'lympics. You will soon see him sponsored by 1-800-GOLDFORCASH taking the secure mailing packet and taking all his gold metals and turning them into cash! Now I must go... the 'fastest man in the world' is soon to be decided! woot.

Sunday and Wednesday

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Last Sunday was a particularly wild evening at Rick's house of fun. We did the pool thing, the beer thing, and had a great dinner thing. Not too much more needs to be said does it? Check the photos.

Wednesday night Eric B. and I made dinner after our slugfest on the Trek group ride. Eric almost killed a guy and then that guy almost ate Eric. Luckily he didn't because we then would not have had such a great dinner. We stopped at Wolners and picked up some brats and dressing and beer. They had Red Stripes marked 2 for 5 bucks, so we couldn't go wrong! It became interesting when we had to still get home with no bags, and just our jersey pockets. Let it be known that you can fit a rather large bottle of beer in a bike jersey pocket. 

So we had fresh cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano, and a bell pepper (All from father's garden) over angel hair pasta. It was topped off with fresh grated parmesan and brats. Why have ground beef when you can have brats or sausage instead?? With Dinner made, we retreated to the Cafe to eat, drink Red Stripe, and be merry. I promptly crashed on my bed afterwards with no need to even pull back the sheets.  

Ride of Utility and A Holy Matrimony

I feel like I've been running around with my head cut off lately, uber busy with a pinch of grumble. I lay here in bed (aww yeah!) as I am about to partake on another short night of sleep. 

Finished up another wedding tonight, Preston and Libby's, and it was another amazing wedding. Good peeps, great day, long day... about 14 hours of me playing photographer. It's tough work... beautiful people, free food, open bar. Life is cruel. But seriously, it's tough. Seriously, tho. I felt super lucky to shoot it for such a good group of people. But seriously, I do it for the buffet. But seriously. I am not wearing any pants.

As my delirious state continues, I wonder why I packed all my stuff to wake up at 0615 to go do a little bit of swim, bike, run training with some friends... and how could you consider your training partners friends if all you do is sweat and want to puke and cry when you are around them. But seriously, it's a great group of peeps. I will be back home by 11 tho, so that's nice. -- Probably go climbing later in the day too. None of my pants or shorts fit. I need suspenders.

Reflecting on earlier this week, I was up late on Thursday night working on another F-Stop Newsletter and then woke up early, like 0530 and met up with Mr. Eric B. for a ride from 35th and Dodge to Wahoo, Ne. It was a great ride! Amazing road quality once we got out of Omaha. I had to go there to turn in a traffic ticket that I could not mail in. So we rode.

46 miles, 79 bucks to the Saunders County Whatevers, 2 Liters of Powerade, a banana, a bag of yogurt covered pretzels and rubbing sunscreen on my melon while standing beside a yellow scooter and having the 'locals' google eye our lycra --- we rode back another 46 miles. I think out total milage ended being like 95 or so. It was too hot to make it a full century. We averaged 20 mph which was pretty good too. We topped it off with some pizza from Don Carmelos next to the 'Moon. Yum. Oh, there was road construction that sent us on a detour that added about 16 miles to our journey, but the roads were stellar. That almost made it worth it. But seriously, it was worth it. I got the tan lines to prove it.

I then rushed to wedding rehearsal after only being home for what seemed like minutes and came home and polished off the newsletter before getting to bed late.

So yeah! My eyes hurt and I am done. Weee! Another 4 hours to sleep! -- My mom once noted that I should perhaps watch what I say on my blog because potential employers might read it, shit, as if they'd hire me anyway. They could only be so lucky! But seriously, hire me. 

Upon making dinner consisting of sauteed summer squash, a rosemary marinated steak, and baked potatoes seasoned with curry, brown sugar and cinnamon, I decided to reflect on my weekend. -- I ended up eating about 6 potatoes tonight. I could have eaten more!

It started out on Friday with a evening 7 miler followed by dinner with the legendary Eric B. He brought beer, I made dinner: Italian sausage brats, sauteed onions, and fresh, home made marinara over pasta. Props to daddooo for the veggies. I managed to get to bed around 2 to get up at 6. Nice work. -- Justin didn't leave the studio until 3. He was up finishing the wedding video and boy was it worth it. 

Justin, Matt and I drove to Kearney Saturday morning to shoot Phil and Leigh's, good friends of ours, wedding. It was wicked hot but a really nice day. The wedding was in a church by the town of Axtell and the reception was back in Kearney. The ceremony was packed and the reception was double that! It was a pretty exceptional wedding -- quite an amazing couple. 

We guinea pigged them with a new 'product' that we are going to offer. The wedding day video complete with slideshows and interviews. It was a huge hit and I plan on posting it here in the future.

The nice thing about knowing the bride and groom is that we were up partying with them and the other guests until about 0330 in the morning. 

I woke up just before 1000 in one of the darkest and coldest hotel rooms I have ever stayed in. Imagine that, the window in our room was a window into a maintenance hall -- not much light coming in. -- On an interesting note, Justin and I woke up with bites on our ankles while Matt did not. Matt passed out on the floor. Justin and I were in the beds. Bed bugs bite?-- We got up, packed up and loaded the car. We then caught up with the majority of the wedding party for brunch at the hotel. Their in-house restaurant had a buffet that was actually really good. I had a plate of salad, then two trips thru the buffet and then two large waffles. I wanted to eat more, but Justin and Matt cut me off. 

We drove back to Omaha and chilled at the studio while downloading photos from the wedding. I think it was the standard 20+ gigs of photos. I dropped of Matt and had no choice to but come and take a nap. 

The weekend finished off amazingly with a late night catch of Predator on the boob tube.  

Taco ride-Packed like sardines in a fish taco.

I can't recall the last time I got out on a Taco Ride down the Wabash Trace Trail, but I made it out for one last night. It turned out an alright time. Mr. Brunt bailed on the venture just minutes before launch to deliver sandwiches to needy doctors and white trash in the area. Really casual riding, which felt strange from the suffering I put myself thru the previous evening with the Trek Store ride. The crowd wasn't that bad -- until the mid-point where everyone stops at a place I guess is known as Margaritaville. It was an absolute zoo. I was fortunate enough to not stop. 

Upon reaching Mineola, there was about 4.3 million people spewing out the door of the steakhouse, and clogging up the sidewalk. It was amazing to see how popular this thing had become. I've never saw such a site for the ride. It made me want to turn right around and pedal home. But alas, I stayed put and ended up having a pretty good time. The tacos were, well, tacos. And the pitcher of margarita was pretty tasty. I topped off my water bottle for some sippy action on the way home. Unfortunately, I was wrong about the price of the evening's entertainment and only had 82 cents to tip the waitress. I felt bad. I guess I will have to make the ride again so I can properly tip her, if you know what I mean. "honk honk"

I cruised on the single speed without a hitch. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way after feeling how hard-packed the limestone trail way. No need for nobbies or gears there. Pretty perfect. Riding back in the blackness of night with only lights illuminating the trail under the tree's canopy, all of the crazy that was brought on by such large crowds melted away in the night's inky goodness. 

I propose an all day thursday event of riding the entire Wabash and making it back to Mineola in time for the Taco ride festivities. It would seem to be around 126 miles round trip. Totally attainable! Any takers? Spin on my brothers and sisters.