Pointy Little Elbows

    It was beautiful weather today. Blue skies, a little bit of wind with touch of cool air in the breeze and the sun was shining and it felt warm. You all know, this was all happening, when most of us, was in work but I escaped at lunch time and sat in the suv with the windows open and sneaked in a nap.

    My original plan was to come home, change and grab my bike and head to the canal path for a spin. I planned it to be an easy ride because I have been super lazy over the winter and I'm taking an advantage of this cool weather to get some of the outside chores done. So I have been neglecting my bikes and riding. I had to make a pit stop, before I got home and get gas because the dam gas light came on, while sitting in traffic and stopping for gas in the morning is ridiculous. When I got home, pizza was waiting for me and oh it looked delicious so I ate a few slices, maybe more than I should have and definitely more than I needed to before a ride. The boys' beg me to play Legos and it's tough for me to refuse them, so we played and I of course laid on top of them. If you think stepping on a Lego, feels bad, there is nothing like laying down on one. Then the boys' wrestled me, 2 against 1 and they repeatedly drove their pointy little elbows into my pudgy side and I had to tap out. Now at this point, it was dark outside, I'm feeling even more sluggish and tired and I still have to do some freelance work before it gets too late. It's Pj time (them, not me), brush teeth, read some books and say pray's & lights out and so goes another chance to ride.

    So what's the moral to my long winded story, bring the bike to work with my gear, change at work and drive to the riding spot. DO NOT GO HOME FIRST!! Hopefully next time, I can do this but more importantly, feel motivated enough to get my $hit together the night before.

    So I like to pretend that, I got money to spend and still look at the "Newest Products" on Universal Cycles website. Some stuff is appealing, if and when I do eventually ride, I may need new jerseys or tech shirts to wear for mountain biking. Dakine Charger Camo shirt, caught my eye and so did the price of $45. It has a mesh back and underarm panels for ventilation and that is key for me because I sweat like a pig, in any season and a extended back hem, to prevent plumbers crack. Then I stumbled upon, Enve Composites Carbon Mountain Stem that is priced at $265!! I mean, that is a lot of cash to drop, on a mtn bike stem! Ok, it says it weighs, 85g –104g but that depends on what length you get. I also know that ALL Enve products, cost a lot of money. I think, the only Enve product, that I could afford or even want to buy is their Enve Black on Black 3D hat for $25. Even spending $25 for a hat, seems a bit ridiculous, to me. I guess if you can drop, $800 to $900 for 1 rim or $2800 for a wheelset, the rest of your bike has to cost at least 8k.

   

I'm a big fan of Skratch Labs. I like their products a lot and so far everything is delicious and settles really well on my stomach. I just saw, they are releasing Fruit Drops. They're made with glucose and fructose as the carbohydrate sources, with sodium, pectin and real fruit as the primary contributing ingredients. They added more water than usual to make them softer and less sticky than other gel chews. Each pouch has 10 drops for 40g of carbs and 160 calories, which they say is the upper limit of what the fittest athletes (which I'm not) can ingest in an hour when combined with their sports hydration drink. Technically, each pouch is more like two servings and it retails $2.45 per pouch. Read more about it here.

    Be Safe Out There & Happy Trails.