Weekend family outing

On this hot, long weekend, I got out with the fam and put our latest bike accessory to use....a Burley D'Lite Trailer. It was time to initiate Lil' D into the world of biking.

Getting ready to go with the Burley D'Lite and Lil' D in tow.

It was the first time that I've ridden with a trailer, but it didn't take long to get use to it (the extra weight, that is!!). I could definitely feel the weight of trailer pushing me along or slowing me down. The other thing to get use to was spatial awareness of the trailer...it sits a little left of centre. I was pretty conscious of this while cruising along the bike paths, making sure that I stuck to the far right of the path. I used my Mendotta to haul the trailer, since it has a few components that makes it perfect for towing...it has a triple crank in case I hit some serious hills, and has cable pull disc brakes for a little extra oomph when slowing down. (After a few more outings I'll have a more detailed review of the trailer.)

A natural born cyclist...wanted Mom's water bottle instead of her sippy cup.

Chillin' at Kitchisippi Beach (even though it doesn't look like the beach from this pic, but trust me, it's there.)

Ride of the Damned

This is gonna be a relatively short post, not a lot of words, mostly pics. Mainly because if I don't do it now, it probably won't get up until next weekend. If you haven't already heard about the idea behind the Ride of the Damned, click here for a quick homework assignment.

When I rolled up to the start Sunday morning at Lac Leamy, I was told that I would be on a team with Jamie, Ariel, Thom and Steve. According to the results we were the Tall Tree Hung Squad. Not sure what "Hung" is referring to...I mean yeah, ok, we're all basically riding around in underwear, but come on, who's been checking out packages?!?!?!

Some brief highlights of the ride:

-sunny all day, not too hot

-gravel roads in great condition, with a good amount of climbing

-awesome spread of food at the checkpoint in Low

-Ariel suffered from some bad leg cramps. At one point he was forced off his bike and had to squat in the ditch. One team that rode by thought he was taking a dump.

-great post ride BBQ

A big thanks to Matt and the Tall Tree Crew for putting on a well organized, fun event.

After the neutralized start. Check out Ariel over on the left, looking to see if other teams are "Hung".

It's a Tall Tree Swarm!!!

Rodd cresting the climb before the Dam at Low.

 This little guy is at the start of Cross Loop Road.  He looks quite happy taking a dump.

Jamie on the last gravel bitch of the day.

Steve, making his way up the Cross Loop climb.

Purty view from Cross Loop Road.

Post ride BBQ action.

I won this pint glass as a door prize. Rodd suggested that I use it for my beer reviews....and that's what I'm gonna do. Thanks Rodd!

This is a good way to sum up the whole day.

Complaining about dirt??????

Today's stage in the Giro d'Italia turned into a muddy messy affair, when the route passed over dirt roads. Some riders were apparantly complaining about the stage (all quotes from cyclingnews.com)

Friday's stage winner Matt Lloyd was a rider who was not so happy. He made huge effort to win in Marina di Carrara and finished in the gruppetto, 24:10 behind fellow Australian Cadel Evans (BMC).
"I can understand that they want a spectacular stage, but something like what we've just done is ridicoulous if you ask me," he told Cyclingnews after pulling on the green climber's jersey again.

and

"The last 45km were worse than Paris-Roubaix,” Vinokourov said. “It was a terrible stage because we went hard right from the start.

Waaa, Waaa, WAAAAA! (That's supposed to somehow replicate the sound of whining, or crying, pick whichever one you want.) However, some enjoyed the conditions.

"It was a spectacular stage,” said stage winner Evans. “We'd prepared things in fine detail for the dirt roads."

David Millar said: "I actually enjoy it when it's like this. I think this is what racing is all about. In a way, the worse the conditions, the better I seem to go. In the end it was just mano-a-mano and it was actually a lot of fun."

Tomorrow's ride, Tall Tree's Ride of the Damned, will have plenty of dirt, and rain or shine (fortunately, it's gonna be sunny), I won't be complaining.

No time....

...to blog about bikes, because of this:

 If you've ever wondered what the inside of a washing machine looks like, here ya go. 

Back on Monday, our washing machine decided that the water wasn't going to drain out...lovely. After running 4 spin cycles, I finally drained the thing, but had to figure out the culprit was. I borrowed the Reader's Digest "Fix it yourself" from my Dad (with the help of this book, I fixed our dryer back in the fall), and tackled the washer.

 This is my new Bible. I probably saved myself a few hundred bucks by avoiding repairman calls and using this book.

Got in to check the water pump, and lo and behold, stuck inside, clogging the drain tube....:

For those of you who have been in a household where someone is breast feeding, you might be able to figure out what this is....pretty funny actually. Sonia was dumbstruck: "How did THAT get stuck in there?!?!?!?!?"

So now the washer is working, I have clean bike clothes, and more blogging to come.