I’ve been laying low this past week trying to catch up on stuff and doing odd projects.  I’ve been doing some car work, assembling a new dual suspension bike and riding some.

I have no idea, once again, of my form.  Yesterday, on the club ride, we did a little effort at the end and I felt pretty good, but just when we were winding it up, a car pull out in front of us and was creeping along at 30, so we had to easy up.  I hate it when that happens.

I’ve been meaning to go jog some, but haven’t really tried it.  I think I’m worry about the outcome.  My left leg, broken hip side, is iffy at best.  It’s the muscles, not the bone.  At least that is my diagnosis.   Maybe after the ride today I’ll try a short stint.

Last night we rode to downtown Topeka and listened to some live music and ate dinner from mobile trailer dinners.  Keith and Catherine got a little behind shampooing Catherine’s mother’s carpet, so we didn’t get there to close to 9.  I was hungry.  There were a lot of people, all had brought their own folding chairs to watch.  We just sat on the concrete, a little away from the music, ate and had a beer.  It was a super night, in the mid 60’s, no bugs, so it was great.

I’m hoping to get this dual suspension bike together soon.  I’m only missing a rear brake.  The XTR one on my hardtail hydraulic line is too short or I’d just take that one off and use it.  I hate taking bikes apart to assemble other bikes.  It seems like that is my life though.  I think I might have to raid my prize box and put on an Avid brake I won at Leadville.  I’m not sure if the rear XTR brakes were back ordered or what, but I doubt one is going to show up soon enough for my liking.

Okay, today is going to be another Indian summer day, even though we haven’t had a killing frost yet.  And that doesn’t seem to be in the forecast anytime soon.  It is supposed to be nearly 90 today.

I think I’ll carry a bottle of itsthenerve with me today.   A couple days ago, when it was close to this hot, I was feeling a little crampy.  Today might be the perfect day for on-the-bike testing.  I’ll make sure I have something to chase it will.  The product is cinammon, ginger and capisum. It is very hot and somewhat upsetting to my stomach.  But, it is something I hope to be able to get used to.  I see that they are advertising at Velonews.com.  I guess they are already targeting the cycling crowd.

Okay, I’ve made an executive decision and am going to put that brake on this morning.  I like Sunday mornings.  We not riding until noon, so it should be hot.

Sitting around at 9th and Kansas last night.

Riding back.

This is a photo that a friend, Jeff Jacobsen, took a couple weeks ago of the blood moon. I think it is great.

I made an emergency detour to drive the 300 miles up to Ames Iowa and patch the roof of Michael’s (Fatka) house.   He called and told me that his roof was leaking pretty badly, but now that I’m up here I think he was exaggerating somewhat.  Not really compared to regular people’s roofs, but it is better than what I had expected. It is raining right now and it is hardly dripping.

I haven’t been up to Ames for a while, but can only stay here a few days.  I’m heading back out to California on Sunday again, so need to get back to Kansas by Friday at the latest.  There is a lot of stuff to be done here, so it is going to be sort of a temporary bandage.

It rained all day yesterday, the whole drive, and I got up here in time to spend an hour on the roof cleaning leaves and checking out the problem.  It is bigger than a couple days of work, thus the bandage fix.

Michael is doing pretty good.  He had hip surgery five weeks ago and then had pulmonary embolism a couple weeks after that, so it hasn’t been the easiest month.  He obviously doesn’t have any business climbing ladders and carrying heavy stuff, so won’t be much use, other than entertainment.

I need to come up here more anyway, so I don’t mind just getting it water tight and then come back and do it right later.

I used to spend weeks/months up here when I started racing.  Michael was the team director of the team I rode for from 19 years old to 27.  He ran the Levis/Raleigh team, then we were sponsored later by Isuzu.   I could write weeks of posts on Michael.  Very eclectic guy.  Super interesting.

Michael lives outside of Ames about 8 miles, so hardly gets any TV channels.  But he did get Fox, which is broadcasting the World Series.  Go Royals.

Okay, today should be a long day.  Gonna be cool out and windy, like 40 mph windy.  I don’t plan to be moving big sheets of rubber around, so the wind shouldn’t  be an issue.   Hopefully I’m not opening a can of worms here.

Michael’s house from the driveway.

Pretty eclectic, right?

This is Pete.

Need any pine tar? I know where you can get some.

This is just the tip of the stuff.

Remember Steve Bauer’s Roubaix bike from the 80’s.

Michael has a production Bauer frame laying here. He wants to sell it. It’s from 1988. NOS.

The only problem, or maybe not, is that it is a 64-65, depending on how you measure it. If you’re interested, email me an offer.

The roof was actually in better shape than I had anticipated. The insulation under the rubber is really the issue.

Michael with his Popeil Pocket Fisherman.  Notice the water stain on the celing?