We are live

Ladies and Gentlemen. We have footage of the ride this morning that will most certainly be posted. The only thing is I have to link it to Youtube, and I also have to edit the video and put some catchy tunes to it. That sounds terrible, but in all actuality it might be fun for me. That also being said I am not an IT guy and I can barely get my blackberry to synch with my computer so you might even hear the curse words from your homes.

My assessment of todays ride. Lets start at Saturday. JP, Hardyplank and Vivion took me to Oak Cliff Saturday and wooped me good. I left that afternoon for a restfull two nights at the lakehouse with the kids only to have the kids wake up way to damn early. Monday I drove home at 6:30 in the AM to be at work on time. Monday night went off road, Tuesday morning grudge match, Tuesday night I went to Oak Cliff again for a mtb ride, Wednesday I went out early on the road and back to Oak Cliff for another round the trees adventure. Thursday morning saw me wake up a little foggy as should be expected with the amount of increased mileage. I sat at the back this morning and watched what looked like a rather uneventful ride with everyone on good behavior. The only item of interest is when Garry Africa swerved to catch The Counts wheel heading into the sprint and the guy on the Merlin (I don't know his name yet sorry), was about a half length off Fred this pushed the Merlin into the gravel on the side of the road and in a great display of bike riden he pulled it back on the road and off we went.

Items of noteworthyness, Parks and Recreation was said to have been riding with some girl and not with us for whatever reason. Also I think I am starting to get an idea of what kindof shoes Christian Rides. Sidi is my guess. Flyer Shirer took his bat and ball and went and played with himself.

AS MENTIONED ABOVE MY TECHY SKILLS ARE LACKING. I REFORMATED THE SD CARD AND IT IS THE WRONG FORMAT FOR THE CAMERA. THIS IS FIXED BUT NO VIDEO. STAY TUNED FOR TUESDAY.

SORRY.

Trading Shoulder Punches!!!!

I liken today's ride to the game we played when we were kids when we would trade shoulder punches. No one would ever get really hurt but we would all yell ouch and end up sore. That being said I am going to say the ride was quite fast with a lot of stops and starts because the Count is doing his job of encouraging us to play nicely in the sandbox better known as the lake. So we did wait on Thomas the train, even though Parks and Recreation was itching to go and off we went. Nothing blistering on the smooth side but we did pick up some traffic for the romper room back of the line. I loved watching this one guy basically squirming down the road in our pack and watching Flyer Shirer move to the front in a bold attempt to save skin when, not if but when that guy crashed. Anyhow we hit the back side and out of nowhere quadzilla Mirage shows up and moves to the front to ooze some testosterone on us. About that time The Tabinator also went to the front to push the meat wagon down the road. We got to the hill and Matt went up it like a helium balloon and off we went. I imagine this is when Flyer Shirers friend Scratch and Dent went bye bye. Anyway we also continued to flex some muscle until we hit the hills and I noticed that the count was calling out everything and I mean everything. It was much like riding with a caddy. So down the smooth side and nothing eventful happened then right before the bath house climb Tabinator takes a brief dig and Dodgeball counters as a good team rider and the throw down was on. I moved up the road with Matt on my wheel and we got to TtT and Dodgeball about the time they started looking at each other. I then went to the front hoping to encourage our 4some to Play though. Well when I looked back and realized Parks and Recreation was on as well as the host of others I decided to sit up before I started digging for an extra lung in my jersey pocket. The hills did not do much for the fun factor and back on the smooth side the sprint was looming; BUT another car was in our way. Fred and Tom were on the front and it looked as if it was time to start digging in the pockets for a coin or two for some late's and a post ride story or two when suddenly the truck made an abrupt turn and opened up our lane again!!!! Like in Wayne's World, "Game On" was quoted and Fred and Tom started riding like it was a jail break. Russ-tic hit the front to sprint and wound up giving me a good, all be it late, lead out and I came around him looking for Flyer Shirer. I could not come around him but something of noteworthiness. When Flyer Shire makes a Humping motion on his bike and looks as if He is cramping up he is probably just getting a better angle so he can look in his mirror.

Men of Noteworthyness. Shirer won without doing any work to chase anything down today. Soon he and Stein will be skipping the hills together. Also Parks and Recreation is healed up nicely and back to his cagey ways on the bike which is good to see. Finally Park Place Lexus should be thanked for paying the entry fees for Dodgeball and Tabinator.

Also Thursday the helmet cam will be in full force so we should have some video on this bad boy!! You guy coming out on Tuesdays and Thursdays seriously add to the quality of my life so thanks for that.

Lets go..... Home

Alright today's update is short. So was the ride at least for me. I was all sorts of ready for a good solid working over today but the weather had other plans. The ride was going quite nicely with Fred and Matt doing the lions share of the work today. Blur Baker was in there taking some pulls and the tempo was high and tight!! We hit the spillway and I noticed sky to ground lightening that appeared to be right on top of my house. I heard from the Koondoggy that the radar showed a strong line of storms heading right for us. Nice rear tire color by the way Koondoggy! Anyhow Blur and I had a quick discussion about how riding in a Thunderstorm in Texas is slightly lower on my desired activities than a root cannal, so we headed home at the top of westshore after at least a little pounding. Now on to a matter worth discussing. Blur informed us that last year he had a head on collision with a gentleman who appeared to be looking for a cash settlement, and might have secretly been one of Flyer Shirers clients. He graciously pointed out that gentlemen was out again today, after we had yielded the rightaway to him, and called us a dirty name (stick and stones dude). What I want to take issue with is what happened after Blurs incident last year. Apparently the gentleman went to the Bike Marty and started looking for someone who was involved in the ride, and Pat G-Money informed him of who Blur was. This in turn resulted in the gentleman showing up with a medical bill in hand the following Tuesday. Now as I see it Pat did the right thing. That being said let me try and encourage us to do the wrong thing. I would like to refer all unfortunate situations at the lake involving cylcist to Phill Kroll. Example, "You A%%hole, I cannot believe you knocked me off my bike", "Hi, My names Phill Kroll, how much do I owe you".

Honorable mention today. The weather. Robodobro for showing up after hip replacement surgery and completing the entire first lap with us. Tiger is starting to sound like a wimp right. Keep it rubber side down and have a good one ya here.

Throwing down the Gauntlet (with a french Pronunciation

So as many of you read I was actively challenging us all to attack and stir up some stuff on Tuesdays. I think I mentioned something about a throwing down of sorts. Then as Blur Baker pointed out I quickly threw up the gauntlet. Well I/We at the Mabus household are done yakking our brains out and are back to the good. So after not really riding much for 2 weeks I was a little concerned about the stones I have thrown heading into this morning. Here is the blow by blow as I saw it. Opening lap started a bit late. Freds polka band is taking some time off for the summer to explore independent projects so he was present. Christian the shoe cover was in, as was Flyer Shirer, Blur Baker, Clarko, Matt, Garry Africa, Thomas the train, and the Entire Junior Squad from any given race. Other Notable Mentions are Russ-tic, Greg the bike breaker, Ritchey New Bike and all the other usual cast of fools setting out to sail together. So the opening smooth side consisted of Russ-tic launching a "I'm not waiting on you" rolling start off the front. We had a rather relaxed smooth side and headed into the boathouse section rather gingerly. Through the barriers the tone was a little nervous as we all knew the hard stuff could still come. Well I moved up the inside of the climb from about 20th in an attempt to patrol the front and get ready for some hard stuff. about then I noticed the Count carving a Apollo OhNo line in the top corner so I decided to launch a move to Fred. I was running the tri spokes so lets wind them up and see how they roll right!! Well I got to Fred hit the front and took a hard pull when it looked as if Flyer Shirer was yanking the chain back to us. I was a little cooked so I sat up a bit and we rolled down the hill. At this time I had a chance to inform Ritchey that his hollow pin sram chain was crap!! (they really are). So we ran the back side with no real events to speak of then Yum Rader went ripping by us and took about three AARP members with him. I noticed as well that a bikes plus guy decided to throw out his anchor from the front and have a complete meltdown. About this point we started chasing a bit to shut down the gap only to run into the tour of dallas on the bridge and path. Also Vito the Belly was staring us down something fierce as he should. That belly could knock over any one of our skinny arses. So into the Hills. Yum hit the front and started to wind it up but then decided to unwind a bit. By this point I was building up a head of steam and decided to put that MTB practicing to work, give it a hard set of corners and stay on it on westshore. Well turning right at the top was a tough task as the dirt on the road mixed with stop signs, and other larger more metal objects than me, encouraged me to slow it down some. The second lap saw a settling in of sorts and we continued the grind around to the hills one more time. Well in earnest the kiddos decided to put in a dig, and head up loving like a couple of junior high girls running to a New Kids On the Block Concert. The effort was impressive however taxing. I hit my rev limiter and settled in for a chase. On westshore Rader was exploding something fierce but the other junior was on the gas still fighting. Well we obviously got a bit of a gap which was closed down quickly but we also thinned out the bunch some too. So on to the smooth side prepping for a sprint. Fred was grinding, then we came to the driving school class and basically we got shut down (the instructor was probably all over that jerk brake on the passenger side). Now for some irony. The kid driving the car was being caught and passed by younger kids on bikes........ Hmmmmmmm......

Honorable mention. Vito, you win that belly battle, so buy a bike and fight the war. Christian, we still want to know what type of shoes you wear. Fred, for finding the sunblock and doing a lot of work as usual. Thomas the Train, (See Fred but without the sunblock) The junior squadra. Keep showing up, It worked out pretty well for some other guy who grew up around here. Finally to Me for throwing up, and throwing down the gauntlet. But you have to say that with a french accent as that does a better job of having a lot of hype with very little action and very little ability to do anything about it, Just like the French!!

On a special note, I need some pics, as I only put the picture of myself on my MTB there to add some Pizzaze to this blog. If you have encriminating pics of anyone forward them to Rick_Mabus@hotmail.com.

So this is how it goes

Alright. Tuesday morning started like this for me. Monday afternoon my 1.5 year old came home and threw up twice. Did not appear to be anything terrible as he was not acting any different. Got the kids to sleep put out my cloths for the 5:48 alarm and got ready for bed. Fell asleep at 9:30 which is great. Got up at 12:30 on now Tuesday and my stomach was feeling a bit strange. This is the part that is so much fun. I got up again at 3:30 and had the runs. I did not have time to flush fast enough before I realized I was going to puke. That being said I did flush the toilet, spun around and started to hurl before the toilet had officially flushed with some not so fresh stuff swirling around the bowl. As you can imagine I was not real excited about sticking my face down in this environment so I simply aimed the best I could. When you are having a full on throw down there is no aim. I cleaned up my creation and went back to bed and turned off my alarm clock. My stomach is still sore from the violence of the night. See you Thursday. Hope the ride was good.

Wind Surfing / Or so I hear

Alright. Did not make it out this morning as I spent the night on the couch with my 1 year old who had a stomach bug while my wife was upstairs with my 3 year old who was pooping his brains out and throwing up as well. I did hear it was windy and I did here there was a special appearance by Jujitsu Howard. He finally saw how much fun we were having on the bike and realized running really is not that cool after all. Whats up with those sleeveless running shirts anyway. Since I have nothing to reflect on today lets dip into Tuesday for a second. I think we who are out there week in week out have gotten complacent and started simply sitting in and taking pulls. After speaking with Fast Fawley I was inspired by the fact that attacks and breaks should be happening on that Tuesday ride!! It is a Race/Ride, So I would like to throw down the gauntlet and say "GITRDUN".

Honorable mention today. Eileen Mabus passed away Tuesday night at 6 pm. She was 89 years old and died of congestive heart failure. She lived at the north end of the lake at CC. Young and was a huge sports fan. Most importantly she was my grandmother. She probably would have been a massive cycling fan if she had been with it enough to explain the greatness of the sport in her later years. That being said I will always think about here at the north end of the lake so you jokers better watch out when we get to ripping. Also Honorable mention today is Shirer Flyer's mom who is also at CC Young. Positive thoughts to her as well.

Tuesday June 3rd, 2008 OUCH.

So this morning June the third was a ride that registers way up there on the Ouch Meter. Also would someone turn off that hairdryer. It is way to hot. So... on with it. Flyer Shirer brought out Clayten Knievel, Jeff Brand brought a buddy and I Humbly brought myself. So we did our parade lap and took our places at the parking lot start. Shirer was calibrating his power output with his Mirror and finally realized it was 6:59:30 so we decided it best to get a move on. The first lap had a whole host of celebrities to catch up with. Brian firmly earned his invite to this falls BBQ shindig by showing up and working on the Tuesday ride for the second time in a few short weeks. His bike was spotless as usual. Eric Prim also brought out his bat and ball to give us all a look at what it is like to be a crit/dirt specialist. Freds Bar Mitzvah Band must be on the on the road to Royal and Central for a tea festival, as he was not there today. As the ride was showing its true spirit at a reasonably brisk pace, out of no where comes Brian (your hard ride is boring me) Fawley. As we entered the Hills/Lions den for the fist lap a group of rather cagey riders gathered at the front with a bit of purpose in the pedal stroke. This was also made more urgent as the second hill was skipped which basically rolls us into the new second hill at a full sprint. Thanks to Bill for that one today. Anyhow, thats about all I saw (except for Mirage guy who did a dive bomb into the ducks by the sailing clubs (who gave that guy the right to buy a bike) ) as the first set of hills put me on the defensive (close to puking) posture for the rest of the second lap......Until we hit the hills for the second lap. Brian (I am so Bored now) Fawley decided to really pin it and roll away on the run up to the hills. Richy, was chasing but not really gaining a lot of ground was heard muttering something about "I though this new bike would make me faster". It is definitely a pretty bike though. Anyhow I felt a since of urgency and started pedaling out of desperation at the front. At this point a ride of 40 turned into a ride of 11 with one of the 11 up the road. We did bring Flying Fawley back at the top of Loving but it was the beginnings of a break of 4. That break was brought back to a certain extent on Lakewood. I then went to the front to keep the pace high only to have Flying Fawley break my spirit on the roll into the sprint and "that was all folks thanks for coming tonight, we are doing two shows tomorrow".

For today's honorable mentions. The guy on the tractor on the blind corner at the end of the first lap. I would check to make sure he was not driving a car in Mexico Sunday. Jeff Brand for his new Shoes. I hope he remembered to pull the silca bag out before putting them on. To Dave Parks for replacing yet another spoke on a 10 year old wheel. The good things never die. Finally to Prim for wearing white after Memorial Day. Oh Who can leave out Mirage Boy, I might recommend a set of rollers and a new pair of prescription glasses for that cat. I am wearing elbow and knee pads if he keeps showing up. Thanks again for making the cycling community such a great group of guys to associate with.