WIPEOUT!

I had originally titled this post TGIF..because well I'm very thankful its Friday. However after I had originally started this post I went for a bike ride. After this bike ride I can know say that I have advanced to a new degree of "Roadie-ness". Yes, I Matthew Curbeau took my first spill this morning. Before you start to worry...the road bike is OK save your tears for another day! I don't know how it managed to not get beat up...but from the looks if it nothing bad happened to it, I am extremely grateful. I think the slick surfaces that caused the spill also acted as a buffer. And I'm alright as well...just going to have a nice little bruise on my left hip bone or whatever that bone is that is about bum level. Anyways..I'll wear it like a badge of honor. I am trying to ice it as much as possible today in the hopes that it won't be to much of a bother during the 5k tomorrow..I really wanna run fast...so I'll be extra good to it today.

SO let me take a moment to explain to you how this spill took place (because I'm guessing that this is the most interested you've been in my blog to date). I was motoring along at about the 50 minute mark of my 1hr ride this morning. The ride started out fine but about 15 minutes in rain started to come down. No worries though a little sogginess never stopped me..it just makes my apartment smell bad bc of the wet clothes but that's beside the point. I pushed on, and it was a nice ride, nothing to fast or hard because I have a good tough weekend ahead. However the last straight away down Winton towards the 12 corners I decided to hold about a 26mph pace. I accomplished my goal, however upon slowing up at the stop light I realized that these nice cars at the stop light had decided to not give me any shoulder room, using my quick thinking skills (which I know must question) I decided to veer into a gas station to stop and turn around. STUPID MOVE..as I look back this was so dumb on various levels. 1. A gas station is not a good place for a bike...there's oil and crap all over the ground 2. I should have slowed down much earlier, I guess we all learn some lessons the hard way...now when I ride in the rain I'll be a lot more knowledgeable, luckily this time there was no real damage done (I think one part of the crank might have slightly bent in because the chain seems to be catching a piece of it in the highest gear...but I'll stop by Towpath Bike Shop to check it out and make sure my baby is all good. 3. People in cars are not to considerate..but that's beside the point and 4. An intersection like the 12 corners is not a good place to wipe out...there are many people that will see the occurence

Although my pride was severely wounded since about 100 people (maybe more) saw this occur, I still feel like I have moved up in the world of cycling. I now can honestly say that I have crashed, my bike can now talk to other bikes and tell them about how it got its first battle scars (not many that I could find..I cleaned the hell out of it too!) but there is a nice scrape on the seat..glad it was there and not anywhere else! And I myself can now converse with fellow roadies and tell them about my first spill...THERE'S ALWAYS A BRIGHT SIDE TO THINGS!

BUT...the best thing about this whole ordeal was that right as I crashed some old guy pumping gas who saw the whole thing yells to me (as I am literally sliding 15 feet across pavement on my hip)"Slow Down!" with hand gestures and everything. So as I am sliding across the pavement looking at this old fart...I'm like what the hell! obviously I should have slowed down...a little late to be yelling this at me..plus he's not even remotely thinking about..geez I wonder if that crazed maniac is alright. As I stand up and inspect my situation the dude continues to give me the slow down hand motion, still not asking me if I am alright. At this point I just gave a quick wave to everyone in attendance, the man at the pump, the gas station clerk, the dude outside of the bagel shop looking at me in amazement that I was on my feet, the many people stopped at the stop light in their warm automobiles, and the school bus that was going down the road(I can only imagine how many kids were laughing their butts off...just to let them all know I was good to go. Needless to say I scurried off in the opposite direction of people onto a side road and inspected every inch of my bike...WHAT A GREAT WAY TO START OF THE DAY!! HAHA

...and this is what I had originally wrote this morning before I went out for the ride:

Well I can honestly said that this morning was the hardest morning for me to wake up in a while. Before I went to bed I decided I would catch up on some sleep with another hour of shut eye. So I got up at 5:30 today. Why was I so tired? Well I guess everything finally caught up to me, being sick last week, and then starting back up this week. Wednesday went well, I rode my bike outside for about 2 hrs (1 in the am and the 1 after work till dark)and then yesterday I was up early again to run which went well...but after the run my legs were pretty sore and then at masters swim last night I just felt flat. Didn't feel like I was moving to fast in the water (not that I really move fast on a good day) and it was really tiring..so overall the calves are sore today and I'm struggling to get my eyes open...but thankfully I have my trusty buddy COFFEE warming up and that should get things going on various levels....lol! Thankfully today is just an easy bike ride....gotta get ready for the 5K tomorrow!

Good news though, just walking around the Apartment this morning my legs are feeling better every minute, this is nice!

Well yesterday I decided I need to find some new music to listen to. Not workout music or pump up music but something nice and mellow..so what did I do..I looked to see what Lance Armstrong was listening to. I found some bands called Bon Iver, Band of Horses, Fleet of Foxes, The National, and a couple more...couldn't be happier..really chill music and the stuff that LA chills out to (I know this because the Internet told me and the Internet would not lie...and also I will be referring to Lance Armstrong as "LA" quite frequently as it saves precious typing time..and BC I will refer to him often as he is awesome..if you would like to argue with me save your breath...1. I don't like to argue and 2. LA is a cool dude, so lets just leave that subject alone). So if you haven't heard of these bands, check them out. (But you probably have heard of them..I'm just way behind!....figures)

On another note I made an executive decision last night that instead of going to WATCH Lance on the Big Screen in "Race Across the Sky", I would try to BE like Lance and get my pool workout in so that I can improve myself and make myself faster! I had intended on leaving early to go to the showing in Tinseltown, but I pretty much lost track of time and when I looked to see if it was 7:30, it was already 7:45 and I had a little bit of a drive to the theater and thus would not make it in time...so oh well...I'm pretty bummed since it was only playing last night at 8pm, hopefully it will be out on DVD soon, it looked awesome! Let me know if it was indeed every bit as good as the trailer but do not spoil anything if their are things that could be spoiled...I wouldn't do that to you and I expect the same respect...(how's that for laying down the law :)..jk I wouldn't be THAT mad. One this the trailer for this movie has done is that it has definitely made me wanna get some mountain biking in ASAP. I just happen to know a good guy named Scott who owns a the best bike shop in the world (Towpath Bike Shop in downtown Pittsford, NY) and another good guy name Josh who likes to mtn bike and has extras...some I'm guessing I had feed this craving pretty quickly..and who knows if I stumble across a few grand laying on the ground I might just be able to get one!...but I'm not really counting on that...but if anyone is reading this and wants to get me a Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL..I would love you forever!


As a side note:
Does anyone have any suggestions for must read books? Like if your were being tortured by Mr. XYZ and you had to suggest one book that Mr. XYZ would for sure enjoy in order to stop him from torturing you and save your imprisoned mother from a gruesome death by way of a shark tank that has sharks who haven't been fed in 2 days....I'm interested!..not in the torture but the books.