Monday is Monday
Tuesday is Tuesday
Wednesday is Hump Day
Thursday is Friday
And Friday I don’t get any work done.
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This blog is dedicated to the fact that I cannot focus on getting anything done. Know what I’ve got to do today? I’ve got to cross-reference our massive database of discount codes with our other database of trade shows we send people to, and make sure the discount code matches the trade show.
This will take days. Weeks, even. But even so, it’s easier than coming up with original words some days.
Work schmerk. It pays the bills, it kills the soul.
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Life Update
What have I been doing lately? Cyclocross practice!
Big ups to Brian Bressler and the Bellingham cyclocross community for keeping the good times rolling with regular weeknight races, practices, and competitive weekend races. I’m happy to contribute a bit of cash to keep the scene alive, and even peer pressure Crystal into getting her own cyclocross bike so I can bastardize mine and ruin a perfectly functional bike that can shift gears. Full-time single-speed here we come…
A quick recap of last weekend’s events before I dive into warmer topics. Brent & I were going to race state champs at Ft. Steilacoom, which, to be fair, had cemented the idea that I hated cross mere months ago. However, due to the single-speed event being non-championship, we decided not to show up and instead stayed home on Saturday for Halloween festivities.
Halloween - I dressed as a big bottle of ‘hot ketchup’. Crystal dressed up as a hot dog. The silliness and cringe of a couple’s costume were only slightly outdone by the mild sexual tone of Crystal including a strand of ketchup “condiment” on her hot dog costume. My costume, hastily thrown together about 45 minutes before departing for the ride, consisted of red ti-
ghts, a red shirt, and a 3ftx3ft piece of cardboard with some paint and words on it that I expertly safely pinned to the red shirt. This netted me second place in the annual Halloween Ride’s costume contest. I think it’s a “most inconvenient costume to bike in” award more than anything else, as first place went to a girl who built a large alligator head and attached it to her helmet.
Fully sick of wearing the “costume”, I threw it away as soon as we got home. However, Crystal and I had an evening party to get to, so back on it went. I would strongly advise against wearing a ketchup costume as shoddy as mine for 8 hours, so consider yourself warned. Crystal’s costume seemed plenty comfy, if not overly warm.
Bike Racin – With a big day in the legs on Saturday, I wasn’t fully confident in how Sunday’s racing would go. I’ve been feeling fit lately, with good numbers and fitness to tap into when I need it, but after a day of festivities and drinking the body rarely responds well. Brent, Crystal, and I rolled up 30 minutes before the start and after some frantic registration and warm-ups, Brent and I lined up for the start of the Single-Speed race. I raced with 38-17 gearing, or slightly lower (harder) than the traditional 2:1 set-up most single-speeders swear by. The course was phenomenal, the racing was fun and eventful, and after 45 minutes of lung and leg-busting pain, I came away in 2nd place about 1 minute behind one of the local fast kids. Brent got 3rd and said he would beat me if not for his gosh-danged tubular coming unglued in a corner during the early stages of the race. Crystal’s race was a couple of hours later, and she slotted into the women’s ½ field for the first time! She did get last, but she really wasn’t that far behind and got to learn a ton for future events. Now that the rain is here and the courses are getting muddy and miserable, I’ve drawn a line in the sand, and won’t be sharing a bike (probably) for future events. It was lovely while it lasted.
Lukewarm Take of the Week
Those gosh darn kids. Darn ‘em.
Specifically darn’ em while I’m on a bike regardless of whether I’m commuting or riding for fitness. Here’s the thing, if the kid makes an effort to have an objectively funny chirp, something like “WhoOoOo Bike Nerds!” then I’m pretty stoked. That’s just a fun little thing, and I fully admit to being a bike nerd. But, if the kid’s chirp is as lame as they are, like a piercing scream or “losers!”, then I don’t get stoked. It’s right in that boundary of being annoying (screaming) and mean (loser comments), but speaks more to their character.
On Halloween day we had a funny, very Bellingham altercation between some trick-or-treaters and the group of 5 of us coming down from the mountain bike trails. One kid yelled, “Bikes?! Laaame.” And the next second a different kid in the group yelled, “Sorry about my friend! She doesn’t mean it!”
Peak Bellingham. Are kids yelling at bikers and calling them lame just kids being kids, or is it cars and society’s new norms ruining kids? I think it’s a bit of both, with heavy nuances between the lines. People, and specifically parents, are more aggressive behind the wheel than ever, openly saying outlandish things in their “safe space” (aka car bubble) while their kids are around. Things that, if they heard in the 3rd person, they’d be appalled at being said while kids are in the car. On the flip side, when or if I even have kids, I will almost certainly bring out the middle finger if a vehicle cuts me off while I have kids in tow or on the bike. I already do the same thing with Bella (dog).
Regardless, the kids are (mostly) alright. It’s been fun watching the cultural shift take place between a person at the end of the millennial generation (me) and one right in the middle of genZ (my sister). Gone are the jocks, nerds, and greaser stereotypes, and in are the outliers. Bless ‘em.
Chat later.
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