Fun Friday (Vacation Edition)

Since I took a ton of photos during our trip, I figured I’d have a few that I could use for a lazy day Fun Friday post.  I took a lot of the standard D.C. shots, but I found a few things that make me chuckle.

Like Dicky’s side business:

It's spelled wrong.  Whatever.

You never know what kind of weird shit you’ll see up there in Washington.  Some things I just couldn’t figure out:

Or this fella that I didn’t even want to know about:

Some drunk dude staring at the street.  We came back by there about an hour later, and he was still there:

I dunno.

Or this van that looked awful suspicious parked near the White House:

Notice the American flag used to hide the contents of the van. There was also an odd security system in place.

Maybe that’s why these guys were repairing the barriers on Pennsylvania Avenue:

Funny? Maybe.  Fun to see?  I guess.  We did ride some bikes in D.C., which was really fun (and I’ll get into it more next week.)  I’ll tease by saying that I got all Enduro™ in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Our 16^th President would be proud.

I’m out.  Not fun enough for a Friday post?  Go out and have your own fun.  That’s what I’m gonna do.

Remember Me?

I took a much needed vacation.  From work, daily responsibilities, and even this blog.  I needed to get away from all of that.  Now I’m back at work, the lawn needs mowing, and this blog ain’t gonna write itself.

It couldn’t be worse than me writing it, right? 

Anyway, like I usually do on vacations, I crammed a ton of shit into a short amount of time.  Just the driving was more than enough.  Charlotte to Manassas, VA on Friday.  Leave Manassas really late Friday night, drive to Richmond to check into the hotel.  Stayed in Richmond all day Saturday, but left for Washington, D.C. early Sunday morning, back to Richmond late that night.  Up early, and luckily stayed in Richmond all day Monday.  Tuesday, drive back to Washington early in the morning, leave there during rush hour and drive back to Charlotte.

Whew.

I’m sure I’ll get into the bulk of it next week, but I’ll do a short recap now.  Lunchbox and I visited with several family members Friday night in Manassas, and all of Saturday was spent watching training camp for the Washington Redskins.  With VIP passes in our possession, we were close to the action.

And we had all the food and drink we wanted.

A ride was planned for that day since we brought our bikes.  But after spending over six hours at the practice facility watching and talking to players, we chilled out in the hotel.  Our bikes would have to wait.

The next day we spent some time in D.C.  I took lots of photos (again, which I’ll get into next week), but we did visit the National Zoo.

Monday consisted of more football practice (two to be exact), and we finally managed to get in a mountain bike ride.

Then it was back to D.C. the next morning to sight see in the rain.

I’m still tired, and still collecting my thoughts.  Maybe tomorrow will be a Fun Friday post, or maybe it will be the next part of our trip recap.

I know you’re excited.

Outta Here

This is it for me here for a while because I’m off for a few days.  At the beginning of the year I made plans to take a road trip way up to Michigan with a whole bunch of Charlotte folks for Single Speed USA.  Almost everyone backed out (except for Eastwood, who’s currently on the way there with Zac.)  With everything else I had going on, there was no way I could fit in a trip with so much driving.  I hope those fuckers have a good time up there drinking and riding one-geared bikes.  I know I would if I was there.

And there’s this other thing.  Every year, Lunchbox and I make a summer pilgrimage to Virginia to partake in training camp for our favorite foosball team, family visits, sightseeing, and even a little mountain biking.  It just so happens that this trip takes place the same exact weekend as SSUSA.  So while people will be riding some fun trails in a far away land, the kid and I will be in the city of do-nothing politicians and historic buildings.

Our annual summer vacation couldn’t come fast enough this year.  I need a break, and time on the road with my son is something I look forward to every year.  We have some mountain bike adventures planned, as well as some sightseeing and all that jazz.

So, no Fun Friday tomorrow.  No Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday either. 

In the meantime, go out and get yourself the new DrunkCyclist calendar.  I got mine.

Available here:  DrunkCyclist Calendar

See y’all Thursday if I’m not too tired.

Stress Relief

I’ve talked about our social ride before.  I normally look forward to Tuesdays, since a lot of the time it’s the only day during the week that I get to ride.  Good people, good pace, and good food afterwards will make you forget about whatever you had going on during the day.  Yesterday though, I just didn’t feel like riding.  I had my bike with me at work, but when it came time to hit the road I briefly thought about skipping the ride and heading straight home.  Something told me to go anyway.

I’m glad I did.  Once I got out on the trail with the group, I felt pretty awesome.  We had a big bunch of folks, and riding a trail that I hadn’t been to in a while made me feel like I was there for the very first time.  It was sorta like being a kid again.

Photo sequence credit:  TomTom

I guess the lesson of the day is:  When you get a chance to ride, go ride.  Work has been extra sucky lately, and being out in the woods on my bike is one of the few things that helps me forget.  Sure, I have my guitar, but I have to work so hard at it that it’s hard to relax and it enjoy sometimes.  On the bike I can mentally check out, and just focus on the little strip of trail in front of my wheel.

That helps make things right.  Well, that and beer.

Only one day left for me this week.  I'm going on a much needed vacation.  More on that tomorrow...

No Bikes

Saturday was supposed to be an “out of town ride” kinda day.  With rain shitting on that, the little lady and I kept the rest of the day’s plans.  We slept in a little, then headed westward.  We took great care to avoid all major highways, and eventually ended up at a local landmark across the river.

The Claremont Café, known to locals as a grand place to fill your belly, and made known to those of us that don’t live near it by a song of the same name by local musician Jonathan Birchfield.  They even sell his CD there.

It sorta reminded me of a small hamburger joint back home in Florida, full of locals hanging out and shooting the shit.  The food was pretty good, especially if you like big, greasy cheeseburgers.

I was stuffed after that and didn’t feel like doing anything else.  We couldn’t stay there all day though, because Little Miss Sunshine had other plans.  We took off down some more country roads in search of a few wineries that we hadn’t been to yet.  We weren’t having much luck with the first one, although after a trip down a muddy country road it looked like we were on to something.

The Internets said it existed, and there was even a sign off the main road that said the same.  All we found was some grapes and an old, abandoned building that maybe used to be a tasting room.  We looked around and saw no one.  Off to the next one I guess.

Further down the road, the little lady had me driving down who knows where to find another one that The Internets told us about.  Just as I was about to give up and fire her from being the navigator, we found this:

Twisted Vine Winery near Lenoir, NC was right off the side of the road in a residential area.  The little lady loves wine (and I like all kinds of alcohol), so we stopped in for a tasting.  It was pretty nice.

We sat there for a while, sampling pretty much all they had to offer.  We walked out of there with a case of assorted wines, and I actually found some stuff I really liked.  We didn’t get to ride bikes that day, but going out on an adventure was just as fun. 

Taking back roads made it more interesting too. 

I should’ve brought a fixie.

I should’ve brought Dicky.

You never know what you’ll see if you venture off the beaten path. 

Good Times, Bad Luck

A bit of rain ruined my scheduled ride for Saturday, so I ended up doing something else (more about that tomorrow perhaps.)  So when Sunday came around I had to figure out something to do.  I didn’t really feel like driving somewhere to go ride my mountain bike so the only other option was a road ride.  Yuck.  I figured I could make an adventure out of it though, and the plan was to head into the city to keep things interesting.  First, I had to get out of the house.

It had been many moons since my last road ride, and when I went to grab the bike I noticed that the front tire was flat.  I inflated it and all the air came back out in a matter of minutes.  “No big deal” I thought, and grabbed a brand new tube.  I checked the tire and rim for anything that may have caused a flat, and satisfied that there was nothing I put the new tube in.  Lunchbox and I were standing there talking, and a minute or so later we heard a loud BOOM.

Shit.  I grabbed another tube, and right away noticed that it had a hole in it.  I discarded it and grabbed the last one I had.  Happy that everything was good, I put the front wheel back on and rolled out.

Since it was Sunday, the roads were pretty clear.  I took the back way into Uptown Charlotte, avoiding any major roads.

It was a pretty nice ride.  I rolled through the city, enjoying the near-empty roads and beautiful views.  Unsure where my ride would take me next, I headed south.  Suddenly, I spotted a brewery that beckoned me to pull over.

So I did.

The Unknown Brewing Company, near Uptown, is one of our newest breweries here in Charlotte.  I hadn’t tried anything from there yet, so fifteen miles into my bike ride seemed like the perfect time.

It was a single hop IPA, which was way on the Belgian side.  It was pretty good, but I couldn’t leave there without trying their flagship IPA, Over The Edge.

Much better. Bitter, hoppy, and delicious.  I will be back.

I decided that I should get back to my ride, but when I walked out to my bike I saw that the front tire was flat again.  Out of tubes, luckily I had some CO2.  I inflated the tired and hoped for the best.  Instead of doing the smart thing and going to a bike shop to get some spare tubes, I rolled back through the city to meet up with Eastwood.

Just across town, Eastwood and I met up at another local beer place.  Sure I had more beer, but I had to eat too.

We hung out for a while, but I had to drag my ass back home.  I topped off my tire with air again and rolled out.  Instead of hammering out some serious miles, I was out to have fun.  I mean damn, I even wore baggies on the road bike.

Anyway, with only thirteen or so miles to get back home I hoped that my tire situation would be okay.  I made it about eight miles when I noticed that my front wheel felt sluggish.  I stopped and put some more air in it.

I took off again, but a minute later it was flat again.  This was it. No more tubes and barely any CO2 left, I started hoofing it home.

I texted the little lady to let her know what happened, and moments later she called.

“Where are you?  I’m coming to get you.”

I tried to fight it, but she wasn’t having it. I’d walked over two miles already, and with only about a mile and a half left I wanted to keep going.  It didn’t matter what I wanted though, and moments later she rolled up.  Even though I tried to be stubborn and finish my “ride” she was there to rescue me. 

It was a pretty awesome ride though, even if it was on the road and I flatted a million times.  I see more of these adventures in my future.

Especially if there are beer stops along the way.

Fun Friday

I wasn’t here yesterday.  Mostly because work is stressing me out.  It sucked my will to blog on a day that I would normally be here.  Life in the corporate world is pretty damn tough.

So yeah, I’m really glad it’s Friday.  Time for some beer.

Mustache rides optional.

A weather system has descended upon us here in Charlotte, which means any type of mountain bike riding I had planned will probably not happen.  Looks like I’ll be hanging around the house.

After a long week at work, that’s definitely not what I need.  Hopefully I’ll get out and have some fun.  There are dangerous things in the house that I need to escape.

Anyone have some tequila?