Anvil'd

This is a weekend of cyclo cross in Ottawa. Ride with Rendall is hosting two days of racing with their Hammer and Anvil race, and the OBC is chugging along with their series despite the City of Ottawa cancelling their park permits. Three cross races this weekend, and I'm not doing a single one. What?!?!?!?! Blasphemy!!!! Well, I've got my excuses lined up, so take that.

1. Pain. This has nothing to do with the "god I'm suffering" that cross is all about, no. This is more of a "god I'm getting old and falling apart" type of pain. After each cross race, my right wrist is sore, and it hurts to move it. The crunchy noises that it produces with movement aren't very reassuring, either. I ice for a few days, it gets better, then I undo all good by racing again. So that's it. A break this weekend so that I don't speed up arthritis in my wrist.

2. Motivation. A lack of it. I can't get excited about racing, or even just riding. Case in point: I had last Thursday morning off work for Remembrance day. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and I thought for about 2 seconds about going for a ride, and instead, I just ended up slumming around the house in my pajamas.

3. Alcohol. I was in a, shall we say, dehydrated state this morning. NOT conducive to racing. 'Nuff said.

Now, I'm gonna rewind to Friday night, which relates to the "movin' 'n groovin" at the top of my blog (as well as my dehydrated state). I checked out some friends who were in town to play a gig at the Mercury Lounge. Their act is called Bonjay, and basically consists of a DJ/producer (Pho) and a vocalist (Alanna). The vibe is very much on the dancehall reggae tip, but is influenced by other genres, from hip hop to jazzy broken beats. Check out some tracks on their Myspace page.