Labor Day Weekend

Was that really three days....?

 Nice way to start a Saturday ride...

JBristol and I went out Saturday morning for a little CX spin/exploration ride.  The sights were many, and quite random.  A gaggle (is this the correct term?) of hot/fit college girls running, a nice box turtle, a really scary single-wide in the woods that likely doubles as a meth production facility...it was a full 2.5 hours on the bike.

Sunday, we actually had a nice group.  7 of us rolled out into LexCo.  The seven got whittled down throughout the ride.  Il Prof had the wheels come off in Swansea.  Poor guy got a bit sick, and told us to leave him.  6 rolled on.  Shortly thereafter, Charlie sat up.  Hangovers on 100km rides are a bad thing!  Then there were 5.  Coming into Saxe Gotha, I started feeling bad, and automatically clicked into 'self-preservation' mode.  It was hot, I was out of fluid, AND the bolt (or as Rotor calls it, "the spindle retention bolt") ejected itself out of my left crankarm.  I heard it bounce across the road, so I stopped to look.  Nothing....
Dammit!  I limped home, worried that if I stood up, or pressed on the pedals at all, the crank would shear off, followed shortly thereafter by my tender flesh.
The Ridley is now sitting, slightly disabled, waiting for a $10 bolt to arrive from Colorado.  Super.  This one's getting lock-tite!

 The roads out there are just horrible...

 And the land?  So, so ugly...

I really did not want to ride Monday, but I dragged my tired and sore ass out of bed, and got on the Salsa.  It was a "two birds" sort of affair.  I needed to spin my legs around, and I could use the time to sort out a proper seat height for the new kicks.  The stack is much lower than the old Diadoras, so I'm forced to lower my saddle, which isn't exactly simple on the Ridley...damn seatmast!  The Salsa gave me the freedom to move the saddle around willy-nilly though, so road wheels went on, and the HoP commenced.

 Mmmm...new ProRacer 3s.  So fresh...so light...so stiff...

Oh, and it seemed there may have been a small fire at Williams Brice.  Fire trucks everywhere, and water just gushing out of the building.  Carolina's sporting facilities have a bad habit of burning right before the completion of construction.  Anyone remember the field house burning 20+ years ago? 
Anywho, it was a nice little spin in the sunshine...fatigue or not...

Upon my return to Service Course, we loaded up and headed to Charlotte.  No, NOT for the DNC!!  The plan was to take Junior Mgmt. to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  Traffic in Charlotte was nightmarish, at best.  We found a place to park (gotta love having a large truck with ground clearance), and walked a few blocks to the HoF.  Gotta say, it's a pretty cool place. 
A few hours were spent, and we rolled home, just beating the massive, toad-strangling deluge that hit Charlotte @ 5:30. 

#1 was the picture of concentration on the tire-changing rig.  Two grown-ass men went before him.  They got a 17 second time, and we slapping high-fives like they'd just won their fantasy football pool.  #1 followed...
First time?  22 seconds.  Second? 20.  Third? 17.85!!  He's SEVEN! The two dudes walked away, dejected.  Gotta say, he actually killed it.  He missed ONE lug, went back, and got it, and still finished quickly. 

It was evidently a rough day for #2!  He's got a future as a fly catcher...

Hope your weekend was as good as mine.  Remember, short week! 

Time to head out for a good Renicking...