.

this evening was well spent
my pregnant wife hung with Dean
work held me back a little late
and to shake that feeling of work I headed the opposite direction of home on the Karate Monkey
rode the wave of traffic downtown
caught a good rhythm
held good speed
but really
how fast can I spin the 32X17
passed the monuments and crossed the 14th Street Bridge
checked for penguins as the ice floated down the Potomac river below me
got onto the Mt Vernon trail and headed towards the Key Bridge into Georgetown
a short loop
but a healthy spin considering the gearing I am pusthing
over the bridge after a stellar view of the city from the other side of the river
back into traffice
buses, cabs, and potholes
plenty of obstacles to test the senses of this still somewhat forgein machine
dropped into the park to cross under some very epic arched bridges
Q far more spectacular than P
but Q's size no rival for Mass Ave then Conn then Calvert
the ability to breath in the views was broken up by the need to concentrate on remaining patches of ice
some sections barely navigatable on foot
arrived home
grabbed roscoe and brutus and headed for a quick march through the woods
it was either ice, mud, or wet leaves
in the dark shadows I must have looked like a 90 year old man
as I tensed up with each baby step fearing falling on my ass

checked in with lisa and dean
we all giggled and played
it was short and sweet as I was off to a local pub
for some bar food with my brother and an old high school buddy jason
we laughed
we covered a lot of years
and a good deal of the same old stories
it was a good time
our little reunions should happen more often
so we can talk in the present instead of the past
it is tough to alwas catch up or reminise

on the trip through downtown
passed an old old friend, scott
he is a lifer, riding an old british style 3 speed
and not in a retro or cool way
got his number and am going to try to put one of my old lead sleds into his hands
a fully built low end mountainbike from the mid 80's with thumb shifters and bear traps will be a step forward
not need for me to cling to these low end retro parts
it is an old Nashbar bike that one of my wife's coworker had
he let me grab it
I figured I could donate it to Chain Reaction
but this is a more immediate donation passing it on to Scott
had thought of handing it over to Crackhead Tommy
as I spotted him in Malcom X Park the other day as I manovered the terraced stairs on the 29inch wheels
he had a good road bike that he just found in an alley

that site is really bad
information based sites are great
but they do not have to be ugly with dead links
wish I had the time to figure out a tad more web stuff to spruce it up
but with two dogs, a wife, a 2 year old son, another son on the way, and a serious BLOG habit I clearly do not have the time