It's not always "All about the ride."

It turned out that Kirk and I had a couple days off from work. We decided to pack up and get outta town for the weekend. After much dreaming of a trip to New England, we settled on the hot vacation spot of Pottstown, PA, actually French Creek State Park.

The trip started on Thursday. I went to pick K up, and as we were loading up his stuff, I realized I forgot my camelback. Thankfully, Kirk lives about 5 miles away. So back to my place to get my camelback.

The plan was to hit up Jacobsburg State Park for a nice ride, and then head to French Creek. We got to J-burg and as we were getting ready to ride, asshat (Kirk) forgot his helmet. Soooooooo back to Kirks to get his helmet. After getting asshats helmet, we decide to head to Jordan to do a little ride. Was a nice morning and asshat had never been there.

After a quick tour, we began our trip to French Creek. However we needed to make a quick stop at South Mountain Cycles to pick up my sweet new Fizik saddle for the Bullit.

We continued down Rt 100 in PA, and stopped at Longacre's Dairy Bar. I had a chocolate milkshake and Kirk had two scoops of ice cream. We were then back on the road!


After about another 20 mins we finally arrived at French Creek. We get our camp set up and went out for another ride though. I am in the green tent, yes its huge, and I have and Aerobed air mattress as well. I have paid my dues backpacking all these years, so when I can, I go all out for comfort.

So for the ride, we were able to pick up the Green trail right near our campsite. We we able to hook up to the Blue trail and then the Yellow trail. True to French Creek, the Green and Blue trails were a rock filled fest. Poor Kirk, kinda new to the sport and I lead his down this stuff. He said he was getting thrown around a bit, but overall he had a great time.

After the ride, we cleaned up and headed to Red Lobster for the Unlimited Shrimp. The first batch they give you has about 15-20 shrimp. Each addition has 10. On a busy night I would think this would take forever, but being it was Thursday night, we got our refills quite fast.


After Red Lobster, we hung out at the mall for a bit like a couple high school kids. While there I was able to get my hands on the Optimus Prime Christmas Ornament.

The next morning was going to be a fun filled day of riding........or it was to be. We hit breakfast at McDonalds for some hotcake goodness. Coming back to camp, I decided I wanted to let breakfast settle, so I was going to read for a little. Two hours later as I awoke from my nap, i found that Kirk had taken a little nap in his tent too.

After getting ready, we headed in the car with no particular destination. After being led astray by the GPS, we finally found ourselves at the Sly Fox Brew Pub. Interesting Place. It was 3:00pm, but the pub was dead, with the exception of the really, really short chain smoker girl. We each had one beer, and in that time, this girl had to have smoked at least six cigarettes. The beer was ok at best, nothing to write home about.

It was now onto Zerns Farmers/Flea Market. It was your typical Framers Market. Lots of food and others peoples junk. However this would be the spot of the most entertaining people watching event I have been to in a while. Every Friday night there is Auto Auction. This first car that was up for auction was a 94 Accra. It went for about $900.00. However the guy who was in charge was the true entertainment. No matter what the going price was, he was always screaming "COME ON! IT'S A NICE CAR! RUNS GREAT!" He seemed to be insulted that these donated junkers were not fetching top dollar. Never the less he gave us some vocab that we will be using for a long long time.

After Zerns, we headed to Applebees for some food and drink. Kirk and I decided to split a trio special they had. I was going to make a comment to the bartending about Kirk and I coming out of the closet, and splitting a meal, but I didn't, which was a good thing, turning out the bartender was gay. I would have never saw that coming.

K and I actually had a blast at Applebees. Turns we sat right between two groups of regulars. Some good conversation was had, we got a couple free shots, and when the bartender found out I was a married man, he shifted his attention to Kirk, all in good fun of course!

We started to head home, but first we made a stop at wal-mart for a little Guitar Hero competition. Needless to say, Kirk whipped my ass. He is a video game geek.

Its funny, I surf the mt bike message boards, and I see all these post about great rides people go on. They are super stoked because the trail was great, or it was a nice day. They throw out the comment "This is why I ride." I found out this weekend why I ride. I ride because it gives me a chance to get away with people I care about. It takes me to new destinations, introduces me to new people, and new cultures. It took me a day of not riding my bike to realize why I ride. This is truly why I ride.

The Great Allentown Fair

Labor Day! The three day weekend that also brings about The Great Allentown Fair. Operating every year since 1852, The Great Allentown fair always brings the typical fair food, unbeatable games, rides you would never let your children ride, and creepy carnies!

For about 20 years, I have lived 5-7 blocks from the fair. It was my home over the labor day weekend. I can remember being an annoying teenager, hanging out in front of the Ritz with my friends.

So what did I think of this years installment of The Great Allentown Fair? Absolute nothing. I did not go. Instead, I went to central PA and spent the Saturday with 107,000 of my closest friends, when Penn State spanked Florida International University 59-0.

On a bike riding related note, Sunday I went to French Creek State Park. Now there is a race called, "On The Rocks at French Creek." We road the yellow trail and all I can say is, on the rocks my ass. I do understand why they call it the yellow trail though. This trail was like butter. So many fast flowing sections, it was a bast to ride. Dont get me wrong, there were plenty of rock filled sections, and I know "on the other side" its a rock field. Never the less I really enjoyed the yellow trail as did everyone in the group.

Looks like I will be traveling to one new trail a month from now on. The Lehigh Valley is a great spot to ride. With parks like Sals, Jordan, and South Mountain all in town, and Jacobsburg and others a stones throw away, we are spoiled. However, its nice to get out and see new things. Next month may be a Jim Thorpe tour of the switchback up to Summit Hill for some all you can eat church breakfast, followed by riding the ridge back down. We will see.

Till next time

Pedros!

Pedrosfest was this past weekend. Its a mountain bike gathering up in Hancock, Ma. But before I get to the festival itself, we need to review the adventure there.

I picked Liz up at 5:00am. I told her to be ready by 4:30am, because, well, Liz is always late. Seems that the moon was correctly in position, and a occurrence that happened only once every seven years happened, Liz was waiting for me at 4:30am.
So we packed up Liz's stuff and began our adventure to New England.

Our first stop was Burlington, VT. We drove up I-87 to Essex, NY where we took the ferry from NY to VT.

From here we took the short trip up route 7, where our first stop was the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. This was a very short stop, were I felt the need to call Chuck, who then made fun of me because I was at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. After about ten mins there, we decided to move on.

Our next stop was just 10 mins up the road, and is always a very special stop for me. We were now at the Magic Hat Brewery. Magic Hat is easily one of my top 3 beers, prob coming in at #2 next to Yuengling. We must have spent an hour at Magic Hat, and 55 mins of that hour I was chatting up the young snowboarder bartender from Jersey, while sampling every beer they had, at least twice. Liz, who doesn't drink, even had a couple samples. After remembering I still had a long way to drive, I grabbed two growlers, one Single Chair Ale, and a Wonder Beer, and a half of Thumbsucker, and we called it an afternoon at Magic Hat.

There is something to be said about leave the dark gift shop of Magic Hat, when it is 90 degrees and sunny outside. It hurt.

Our next stop was a drive down the highway to Ben and Jerry's. I have been to Ben and Jerry's many times in the depths of winter. This would be my first summer visit to the temple of ice cream. I was pissed. In winter, there are only ever 20 people there. On Thursday, July 12, i though I wondered into the norther extension of Disney. People everywhere, and I hate the general population.

Anyway, we did the tour, saw the movie, and tasted the free sample of Strawberry Cheesecake. We then visited the Flavor Graveyard, where Liz paid respects to Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, a flavor she misses dearly.


After paying our respects, we went over to get a cone of heaven, I mean ice cream. The line, which was at least 20 people long, seem to take forever. At last I made it and it was my turn. I decided on a cone of Chocolate Therapy.



It was at this moment I engaged in a very insightful conversation with a gentleman from New York, who was wearing a bluetooth on his head. The conversation when something like this:

As I was walking away from the service window with my ice cream

NY Bluetooth Guy: (Points at me and yells) "WHAT IS THAT?"

Me: "ummm, Chocolate Therapy"

NY Bluetooth Guy: "THAT WHAT I AM GETTING!!!"

Me: (Thinking to myself) "I love New York my ass."


We left Ben and Jerrys, grabbes some Cider Doughnuts, and made our way south to Pedrosfest, via the Harpoon Brewery. I did a little sample of 5 beer for about 5 bucks. They serve the samples on a frat boy paddle type thing. All in all, good brew.

We were now offically on the road to Pedros. No stops left. Stay tuned for the complete Pedros report later this week.

Let the Adventure Begin!!

I was never one to ease into things. I don't like taking lessons because I think that I can do anything and everything better then someone else. This weekend is a great example of that.

I am a great swimmer. My mother still tells stories of the little 2 year old going off the high dive and scaring all the parents. I have always liked the water, but was never fond of boats and the like. No real reason, I guess I just feared what I did not know.

To get to the point, my summer vacation begins this weekend. Aside from 2 days I have to head into work, I am off for the next two weeks. The first adventure will be a weekend of kayaking. I have never been kayaking before in my life. I am a pretty mean canoe paddler, for the whole two times I have been in a canoe.

On Saturday morning, a group of us will be dropped of near the New York/Pennsylvania boarder, and left to paddle down the river. There are no guides, no instructors, just us, two days on the river. Will I survive? Stay tuned to find out!!!

Veggies Have Feelings Too..

I am not a vegetarian. I tried it for 30 days, and did not eat any meat for 30 days. However that lifestyle is not for me, and I admire those who are.

This weekend I did learn that vegetables have feeling too. The feel the full range of emotions. Just like us human and the tasty animals we eat, vegetables also feel happiness, sadness, and most of all as I found out, vegetables feel pain. I came to this realization while cooking dinner this past Sunday for my father-in-law.

It was a simple meal, BBQ Chicken with an assortment of grilled veggies. The chicken was lathered up in BBQ sauce (because that is how I do it, i like burned BBQ sauce on my chicken) and in the fridge waiting to face the flames. All that was left was to slice and dice the veggies, prepping them for the grill.

I forgot to mention these veggies would be the first veggies to meet their fate via my brand new Pampered chef knife. "This 7 inch Santoku is the design favored by professional chefs! The Hollow recesses along the blade edge prevent foods from sticking, resulting in clean slicing, dicing, chopping, and mincing"



The asparagus were the first to meet their fate. Santoku went through the roots like they were melted butter. I was feeling unstoppable against the fearsome veggies that stood before me.

Six potatoes that needed to be wedged was the next task, if you can call it a "task" Santoku made quick work of the potatoes, as would a 5th grader taking on a kindergartner in tetherball.

The squash, zucchini, and onion went down in a similar fashion. Quick and silent. There was no pain, there was no suffering. Each came as a contender. All were sliced, diced, and there were even a julienned.

There was one veggie standing between the grill and I. The dreaded Green Pepper. They say "The First cut is the deepest." "THEY" might be right. As I cut with the precision of a trained surgeon, I took a split second to gaze upon my latest veggie victim.



At first I though the Pepper was pissed about being chopped in half, but at a closer look, the Pepper seemed to have sadistically enjoyed the feel of the super sharp Santoku as it passed through it green skin. Showing compassion to the brave Pepper, I quickly pit it out of its pain.

Dinner was wonderful!

Free Shit Rules!!!

So I was strolling through my local Barns and Noble when I came across a pretty cool magazine deal. You buy a pair of socks for 10 bucks, and you get a free mountain bike magazine. This is not just any plain old magazine, but it is Mountain Biking UK, "Britain's Best-Selling Bike Magazine"




They are pretty nice socks too.




All in all it is a great deal. The magazine itself it pretty damn good. Well written articles, top-notch reviews, and nice pics. It is a little heavy on the ads, but for free socks, erg, I mean a free magazine, I will let that slide.

Off to ride Salisbury tonight with the Valley Mountain Bikers. for my second time ever. The first time I rode there was over two years ago, right after I got back into riding. After climbing to the top of the place, I snapped my rear derailer right off. This was my intorduction to the wonderful world of single speed, and then, I hated it. Its amazing how things change.