it has been a good day

it has been a good day
as a matter of fact it has been a good two days
today I turned forty
on the eve of my birthday I was able to get out of work early enough to sneak in a post work ride

with the shenandoah mountain rapidly approaching
it is time for me to get dialed in on my bike
it is important for me to feel comfortable on the surly karate monkey with gears
there was no new bike for my birthday
there has not been a call from kona
so I am facing the facts
I am racing the monkey
I love the monkey
I love the way the monkey rides
but the monkey is not a race bike

so I got out of work early and stepped onto the karate monkey for some post work miles
the dcmtb kit was on
the correct shoes were on
an accelerade was cold and read for consumption
so I threw my leg over my bike and did some miles

went out on the capital crescent trail out and back
then went for the hills in rock creek
tried doing the hills
not hill repeats
not attackes on the hill
but just pedaling the bike up the hill

it had been an hour and a half on the bike when I reached the base of ross drive
I estimated three loops
three slightly different loops through ross drive and grant road up to or around the nature center
then head for home
my watch was not on my wrist
but I had checked my cell for the time
still had to walk the dogs then meet some friends for dinner
actually... as it was the eve of my birthday I had an inkling that it may be more than just dinner and drinks with friends

I did not try to play dective
I did not try to solve the mystery
I waited in anticipation
and I did not have to fake being surprised
sure I had thought that maybe a few friends more than the couple we had planned to meet
but instead there were people from all over the place
friends from all over my life
friends from all over my past

then behind the legs of some old friends ran my kids
an even bigger surprise
who would think that you could miss your kids after just a few hours
it was great to share the surprise with my kids

there was red wine
but I soon switched over to mojitos
early in the evening my buddy rob had to step out to go play a gig at the eigtheenth street lounge
his wife vida went home to free the babysitter
while rob played the roll of the pid piper and lead a mass of us to the next location
I had been wanting to catch the wednesday night session of See I at the 18th Street Lounge
but had not made it happen
last night was as good as any
and we were not let down

rob and the boys rocked the house
the crowd there is there to have fun
there was lots of dancing
there was lots of energy
I did not get home till well after three am
but my trajectory was slowed as I rolled through adams morgan for a slice of pepperoni from pizza mart

woke this morning and replayed the night back in my head
thanked lisa again and we discussed the wonderful collection of friends and the level of surprise
we had a great time
lisa really threw together a great party
it was a great way to celebrate my 40th birthday

was slow all day
but no worries
it was my birthday
and well.... I scheduled the day off some time ago
stayed off the bike
but felt fine with that because I had a solid two and a half hours the night prior

happy birthday to me!

oh
there is talk of me getting a dual suspension bike from a friend of mine
he is tall
it is a 26er
but he is tall... I am going to try and nail him down on this prospect early next week