smells like

Pants on fire

Looks like the VisitPA.com MTB Team had a pretty dominant weekend down in Merryland. Ray, Ry, and SSWes go 1-2-4 in the semi-pro field. The Nancy took 4th in Expert women. Dare I say, The Legend makes his official return to XC a stellar one. 3rd place. Nice racing.

The Legend

Even KHam had a good race against some pros that showed up. Freakin NateD hammered the maraton field. Nice job Nate. I think if Holmes Cyclery ever put together an employee (full & part-timers) team I'm sure no one would come close.

So, yesterday The Wifey, The Little Woman, and I met Aunt Shannon, Uncle Greg, and Cousin D.J. at The CrapperBarrel for some breakfast. Haley was well behaved. Good times.

In the afternoon I got out for another nice 2hr ride. Then we took Haley over to Lower Allen for a walk around the park. The Little Woman really enjoyed it when we walked down by the Breeches. Erin drove the stroller through a giant pile of pure dog shit.

The Sopranos is doing enough to hold my attention. It's interesting to see, with only five episodes left, how the writers have started to weave some potential foreshadowing events into the story. I was a little pissed that we only got 50 minutes last night.

Enjoy the day.

Cultivate

Spring is finally here to stay it seems. No sight of anything cold in the forecast. So, in honor of the season when all things blossom and develop, I hereby state my intention to grow some hockey hair. Yep, a Tennessee top-hat. A soccer rocker. A Kentucky mudflap. A shorty-longback if you will. Aaahhh, The Mullet. I have a long way to go and a short time to get there. I’m notoriously finicky about my hair. Not in a homo-it-needs-to-be-perfect sorta way but more like a it’s-really-bad-no-matter-what-the-hell-I-do-with-it kinda way. We’ll see.

I've got some work to do

The Little Woman is doing very well. Now she wants to hold the bottle herself when me or her grandparents try to feed her. It’s pretty funny because she tries to hold it but is so geeked that she’s eating that she gets all flingy and hyper and it just doesn’t work out yet.

Stop bugging me! I'm trying to eat.

I rolled out on the fixie for two hours Sunday and got in a solid two hours today on my road sled.

Todays ride

Monday I started my other Spring project. I’m ripping the front sidewalk out and putting something new in. I haven’t decided just yet but the hard work is done. I think we’ll put a small little wooden deck over the front porch so it doesn’t look like ass anymore.

Before

After

That’s all.

And So It Begins.....

After a couple weeks of "almosts" Little Haley has finally mastered the art of The Roll. Mobility shouldn't be to far away. I also assembled a new toy Saturday night for The Little Woman. It's a bit large for her right now but I think she digs it.

2 pics

Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? Here are two that I saw tonight while surfing that evoked the most emotion.

This is total bullcrap

WOW!

Todays ride

Granite Quarry Rd
Max - 19.9%
Avg. – 9.9%
Length - .81 miles
Gain – 423 feet

Old York Rd
Max – 16.5%
Avg. – 7%
Length – 1 mile
Gain – 342 feet

Evergreen
Pt 1
Max – 14.5%
Avg. – 9.5%
Length - .725 miles
Gain – 360 feet
Pt 2 (Pleasant View)
Max – 12.5%
Avg. – 6.8%
Length - .65 miles
Gain – 235 feet
Total
Max – 14.5%
Avg. – 6.4%
Length – 1.63 miles
Gain – 595 feet

Fishing Creek Rd
Max – 14.3%
Avg. – 10.4%
Length - .433 miles
Gain – 238 feet

Ironstone Rd
Max – 16.0%
Avg. – 11.6%
Length - .325 miles Gain – 200 feet

I just wanted to put some numbers to a few climbs just outside my front door. I climbed a total of 2770 feet in 19 miles. All of the above I climbed with the exeption of Old York Rd which I descended due to logistics of the ride. I swear there are a few very small exeptions where I felt the grade was a bit steeper than recorded but none-the-less, there you are. BTW, I sure didn't climb today like I would expect to in say July or August but, holy shit, I climbed way better than I should have been for early April. I don't even have 100 miles on my roadie yet. Further fueling my desire to at least in some measure stay on the fixie for training rides this summer. Hoo Hah!

Got yourself a gun

I hope everyone had a nice day spent chowing good food and loads of chocolate. I rode down to Lake Meade to meet Erin and Haley at Carolyn’s (Mother Legend) for a top-notch lunch with the Hebe clan. Mike, Eric & Julie were chillin’ when I got there. Before I go any further, I must say, you will never find a finer family than Carolyn and the Hebe boys, Mike and Eric. You too Julie! Thanks for a fantastic meal and downright good company. Haley loves her Easter gifts.

The ride down to LM was a bit colder than I’d hoped for and much windier than I expected. Mostly a solid cross-wind all the way with a smattering of full-on in-your-face headwind to boot. Good times. My balls still haven’t assumed their proper position.

After we left LM we cruised over to my sister's for a few hours. Haley got to see her Grammy and Aunt Shannon/Uncle Greg & Cousin D.J. and met O.G. (the Original Gus, my bro) for the first time. They had hoped that we would stay for dinner but Haley was getting grumpy and, quite frankly, I ate so much quality grub earlier that I just wasn’t hungry.

Once we got home I put the call in to Comcast to add HBO to my cable services for The Big Night. Cool thing was I got a little flyer/brochure from Comcast in the mail earlier this week claiming I could get HBO AND Cinemax FREE for 60 days. Even the fine print didn’t seem to have any catches in it. So, I mentioned it upon ordering and wouldn’t you know, there is no scam. It’s legit. For 60 days I get HBO and Cinemax gratis. I’ll believe it when I get my next billing statement. Stay tuned.

The Sopranos begin the final 9 episodes tonight. I was so thoroughly disappointed at last seasons episodes that I have a large amount of skepticism moving forward. We’ll see.

Auntie Em sent an Easter goodie box from Maui for The Little Woman. Haley got her first pair of Vans. They’re pretty sweet. For now they’re a touch big but this summer Haley will be the coolest little 6 month old in town. Oh yeah, Em also sent some candy bars, which I can only assume were meant for Haley’s parents, loaded with macadamia nuts and chocolate. Yum.


I almost nailed it. VisitPA.com goes 1st and 3rd. WTF Kylie??

Easter Bunny and Haley

Easter Bunny, Haley, and Easter Bunny

Haley and a picture of Cousin D.J. at the same age. Uncanny. Kessel genes kick ass!

Cousins hangin' out

Easter = chocolate!

Not much new to report. Easter is here but it seems more like dead-of-winter with the temps and all.

The Little Woman is growing daily. She’s getting chubby. Now that The Wifey is back to work full-time I have to watch her for a couple hours every morning before taking her over to Erin’s parents. So far that’s been working out well. Haley has had a couple meltdowns resisting the change but for the most part she’s been a little angel. She’s so much fun. I can’t get enough.

I worked my day off this week so that I could get an extra day off next week while The Wifey is off on her Easter break. Holmes Cyclery is busy as hell. Makes the day go fast.

Big MASS relay MTB opener Saturday. Question of the day; Does VisitPA.com sweep the podium? I see there are some strong teams but holy shit!, VisitPA is LOADED! Nate D and Kyle Buttwrecker guest riding to fill out the teams ain’t too shabby either. Now, about that 40 degrees and snow shower forecast….


Enjoy the chocolate easter bunnies this weekend.

Watching TV from the bed. Never too early to teach good habits!

Getting ready to go for a drive to the Grandparents.