Or so says I. “I write a wildly popular blog” was one of the phrases that I uttered last weekend at BRAG Spring Tune Up. Hey, it was almost true at one point. 😉
A-SS-HO-LE
Apparently another thing I uttered a lot on Friday night was that I was an asshole and I should not be invited back to a Spring Tune Up. For this I can thank the shots of Evan Williams that I consumed, in addition to all of the beer. To make matters worse (or better?) I have no recollection of any of this portion of the night; therefore I think ITP-Reader Barb made it all up just to fuck with me. 🙂 When Barb texted me on Saturday morning and told me that Allan said that I should never be invited back I feared that I had done something much worse, like broken something on their camper. Trying not to be overly-obnoxious is a lot cheaper to fix.
There really should be some sort of support group that does not allow shots of hard liquor to pass through my lips.
ITP Flickr Pic
This was one of two free-standing hearths that we passed on yesterday’s bike ride.
Unfortunately this is also the only one for which I took a photo because there was no place for me to pull off the side of the road as I was driving back to Atlanta, especially with an RV trailing me, in order to shoot the other one. Some day.
The “Home Was Where The Hearth Is” project has returned!
A Little Bit Of Riding, A Little More Sunshine, A Little Bit Of Sunburn, And Too Much To Eat And Drink
This year’s version of rain was wind, and windy it was especially on Friday and Saturday. The wind chill also made the weather feel colder than I believe that it really was. I was not overly-prepared for such conditions but was pleased to have remembered to bring a windbreaker for riding, and a skullcap to wear on the cooler nights.
On Friday we ambled about for approximately 30 miles, fifteen out, fifteen back, and since you may not have been there you can’t deny that we rode into a headwind the entire time.
On Saturday I stayed with the pack for most of the ride, including eating lunch at The Caboose in Rutledge, Georgia and stopping at the Oreo cow farm, where I abstained from alcohol because the thought of Evan Williams was still too fresh. At some point in the ride I splintered off from the pack and lengthened the ride to 42 miles. Something about the thought of all of the riding I’ll be doing this summer convincing me to put more miles on the legs.
On Sunday tiredness, nether-region soreness, and the desire to take it easy won out, and we all did the 28 -mile route.
An “Intimate” Crowd
I don’t understand the Atlanta music scene. Perhaps because it was a Sunday night the “crowd” at Smith’s Olde Bar was scant for the Corb Lund show. I’m admittedly a fan of all-things Canadian (except perhaps for their whiskeys), which is from where Lund and his band of Hurtin’ Albertans hale, but the room was no more than a quarter filled. I could tell that the small crowd disappointed Lund, who described it as an “intimate crowd” at one point. I thought that it was a great show, the last of this tour, well worth missing the other show I had initially planned on attending last night.
And, as an added bonus, I saw the most dissimilar couple I’ve seen since the movie Valley Girl.
He: Tall (over six feet I’d assume), decked in a country attire, with a hipster long beard and handle-bar mustache.
She: Shortish (somewhere in the neighborhood of five feet), decked in a cute black dress, black boots (not country boots), and had a very short haircut with the top dyed blue.
Being the constant singleton that I am I often observe the people around me, and I never would have put these two together in a couple. I hope it all continues to work for them.
The only downer of the evening was the meal I ate before the show. When serving something called “Nashville Hot Chicken” sliders, supposedly to rode the current wave of “hot” chicken popularity, the damn chicken should be spicy. You may rightly guess that mine were not, and no amount of additional hot sauce was going to salvage these.
And So It Begins In Ernest
Wait, where’s Ernest?
Today I officially start my 2016 weight-loss campaign. Long-time readers of this space can recollect my twelve previous years of weight-loss campaigns. My goal is to drop twenty-five (or more) pounds by the time my 51st birthday rolls around in late July (and I take off for RAGBRAI on the same day).
This morning’s weigh-in was 216.6 pounds, which given the amount of calories I ingested this weekend is not that disheartening.
I’ve packed the bike in order to get in a ride tonight. Though I expect repercussions for riding for a fourth day in a row I still need to get out there, turn the pedals, and start losing some weight.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Team name “Evan Willams is not my friend” will be stuck in my mind for a while. You were more funny that obnoxious. It just came out of no where, your statements that we weren’t inviting you back. Sharon was a good funny drunk as well. I learned long, long, long ago, shots are not my friend. I’ll stick with beer & wine.
And – since you aren’t on the FB BRAG page, I’ve had a lively discussion about the sounds cannon generator with lots of people I don’t know commenting. The guy actually responded, first with just 1 word – crybabies, & then his response, was that there was another generator right there that was loud too.
Weekend was a great time, I wish we had ridden a few more miles, but Friday & Saturday’s wind wore me out. JoAnna’s silly ice breaker games were actually really fun. We may go to Lake Hartwell for just the Saturday ride, I need to look up the details to see about getting there friday night.
I’ve been trying to locate the information about the Lake Hartwell ride, as well as the US Bike Route 21 ride on September 16-18 mentioned on the postcard that was put into our goody bag.
I think its called Challenge of the Century or Centuries….. I haven’t looked thru the ppwk that was in the bag yet.
I was in a “get this stuff put away” mode last night, which lasted until I got about half of the stuff put away. Then I read the documents in our bags.
Here’s what Google just provided — Challenge of the Centuries Bicycle Ride, which includes
“This 26th annual ride is presented by the Kiwanis Club of Hartwell and will be held on Saturday-Sunday, May 28–29, 2016. We offer two days of well-marked routes through beautiful countryside with very little traffic and three different routes to choose from each day. All routes on Saturday cross the Hartwell Dam, a once a year opportunity! Choose your Challenge: 35, 65 or 100 miles, one or both days.
Registration is now open on imATHLETE. Just search for Challenge of the Centuries”
So Paulie, were you just drunk, or an A-hole (or both) and in what way.
I delivered a load of cabers to Suwanee on Saturday and learned that the truck has an anti-sway system! The trailer was heavily weighted towards the back and with the wind, and other vehicles, it had a bad case of the wiggles at times. The first time the anti-sway came on, I didn’t know what it was and thought I had killed Debbie’s truck. I took off my sunglasses so I could read the warning light the next time it came on and relaxed a bit at that point.
Sunday was a day for lumberjacking, and a new rule- when felling trees against the prevailing wind or lean, strap and tension before cutting! I cut a tall sweet gum that didn’t initially go the direction I wanted. Fortunately, it got hung up in the crown and I was able to convince it to go the way I intended.
Finally got on my bike Sunday afternoon for 18 whole miles. I’ve torqued my right knee somehow- perhaps wrestling with 80 lbs of Great Dane, but it was sore getting up from the sofa after my ride. I hate getting old.
-FP
I suppose that I was just drunk, at least according to those who can recall the evening.
Speaking of injuries… Barb, Allan mentioned that his right shoulder hurt yesterday. It sure didn’t hamper his ability to out-sprint me to each and every goddamn county/city sign on our routes. The only one that I sprinted for (and won) turned out to be a green/white anti-littering sign; stupid old eyes…
If Allan’s shoulder hurt – he didn’t tell me about it.
And Steve -he was just drunk & annoyingly funny…….. so we sent him to bed.
I had fun watching the sprints from way behind.
For being a big guy, Allan is pretty quick.
I’m pretty sure we’ve all been there a time or two, Paulie. And it’s usually exactly how you mentioned: you’re trucking along just fine, having a few brewskies with friends….and then the shots come out. And you’re totally fine one minute and WHAM! instantly drunk the next. I’m sure you’re harder on yourself than is really warranted. I know *I* usually am just because I feel so embarrassed about it.
I thought of you guys and all that wind out there. That was nuts! I didn’t do anything on Friday — even worked from home so I never had to go outside — but the winds just outside my windows were crazy to hear! I could NEVER have managed to bike in it.
Saturday I went for a stomp around town (my usual M.O.; bloody mary included) and had every intention of meeting up with friends for dinner that night but then got all anti-social and canceled. I don’t regret it. Sunday found me at Ashlee (Au-Whatta-Pair) and Jim’s place for a scavenger hunt they planned for us around Atlanta. Was very much fun, not only doing the hunt but seeing some folks I haven’t seen in a while.
Stacy, I’m curious about the scavenger hunt. What sort of items? It sounds like fun.
It did sound like a fun time from what I heard for when it was scheduled for Easter.
There were a bunch of items you had to get and bring back and then there were other items you had to get your team to take pictures with. Everything had a point value.
We kinda missed out because we weren’t familiar with the Candler Park co-housing project and you could take a lot of photos there, and the Decatur groups knew to bust it that direction and get lots of pictures. We did a few pictures like 1) One with a duck – we found rubber duckies in the grocery store and 2) The whole team in a bathroom stall – I was aware that Cameli’s had a big single bathroom so got it there and a couple others.
We went mainly for the items to bring back — didn’t quite feel like asking a stranger to hold their baby or do “I’m a Little Teapot” on video. Unfortunately the items to bring back were only 5 pts. each, and the others got you more. I am by no way slamming on the game because Ashlee and Jim are awesome for throwing it all together. But if I had to do anything different, I’d make everything be the same # of points, or give extra points if you did something someone else didn’t, and maybe extend the time a little more (we had 2 hours; another one would have been nice). Hardly anyone else brought stuff back.
We managed to bring back 9/10 items on the list – things like:
1) A pizza menu (harder to find than you would think)
2) A bar of soap from a hotel
3) A teammate’s baby picture (had to be a physical copy)
4) A receipt for .33 worth of gas
5) A paper hat from The Varsity
6) Peeps (this was originally meant to be played on Easter – we still found some! Ewww)
7) A flyer for a band playing sometime in June 2016
8) A bottle or 6-pack of an Atlanta beer
And I cannot remember #9 to save my life right now….
We did not get a napkin from the Cheetah. We didn’t even bother.
too funny Stacy – sounds like an interesting time.
The 26th annual Challenge of the Centuries is May 28&29. It’s a well organized ride I’ve done on many occasions. The best bike ride by a dam site, because you get to ride across the dam.
Extra incentive for attending this year: I have two (2) bottles of Evan Williams that need to be consumed. You can have a few shots and float away in a pool of self-loathing.
I now see why you describe this blog as “wildly popular”.
We’re a little more chatty today than normally, Vern, given that we all had an interesting weekend. I quit Facebook about 4.5 years ago so this is my social network.
I LOVE YOU VERN!!!! Best comment of the year I think.
Oh, now I want to come! I don’t know how good I am at swimming in the Lake of Self Loathe, but I’d be so willing to give it a try!
I was looking at the website – there is an actual swimming pool that will be open……..
Paulie is actually the life guard at the Lake of Self Loathing.
It’s wildly popular, with at least 3 or 4 of us.