A week of riding and a weekend of not

I took a few days off the bike at the beginning of last week, but by Wednesday the pull was too strong to resist. I actually rode into work for the first time this year which was pretty damn nice if I do say so. I chased the gorgeous weather out the door in time to join Maria from PRC for a few hot laps doing hill repeats at McRea Park. She had to bail after just a lap or two so I stayed around for a couple more before heading off to the shop. I joined in on the Papa John's ride as the Paragon was still sitting broken. While I think my off road skills have been doing well, it seems to have come at a cost of my top end on the road. One lap of the route had me on the verge of hurling by the time we hit the top of the soccer hill so naturally, I opted to hit one more lap just to make it fun. Actually, lap #2 wasn't quite as bad as the lead group backed it down a few notches. We headed back to the shop for some free pizza! Woohoo. I took a slice and then hit the road to join the guys for a taco and beer at Gif's before winding my way home enjoying a perfect evening and a little after dark riding. I wound up with a bit over 65 miles on the day.


Thursday was the return of the "Race like a girl" series at Union Park. I headed over early to help with setup and get a few warmup laps in as well. I felt decent during the warmup and thought the racing would be pretty fun. The racing was fun even though I really didn't do much for results other than act as a good lead out guy only to get dropped as soon as the real roadies turned up the volume to 11. I think there's just a combination of things that I need to work on that are keeping me from having that top end snap. I need some more work on sprinting and high end interval training for sure, but having relatively heavy equipment and wheels doesn't do a whole lot for me either. I was really excited to have Miranda and Corley come out to watch the races as it gave me a chance to share more of what I do with them. We also had a nice group of other spectators which was great to see.


I enjoyed Wednesday's ride in so much, I repeated for Friday. I hopped on the cross bike this time and was even pondering a long route home with a detour through Denmans. I haven't had the chance to ride the dirt on anything other than my fat tires, so I was looking forward to the excursion. Fast forward and the plans changed as we got late notice the zoo was having an event that night. Not one to pass up too many opportunities to hang with my girls, it was a no brainer that we were headed to the zoo. We got to watch the trainers put the sea lions and seals through their paces, do a few activities, and wander around a bit before they kicked us out and we went in search of frozen custard to top off the evening.

And that my friends kicked off the weekend of not riding. Oh sure, I had great intentions of riding, but they never materialized. Saturday morning I woke up to threatening skies and decided to give into to snoozing and lounging around for a while longer. I finally made my way out to the garage and got a few things done on the motor I've been tinkering along with. I can't say really that I've been working on it as its taking me forever so I think tinkering is much more apropos.

Miranda was working Saturday night so it was Corley and I hanging for the evening. We ventured off to a friend's wedding to watch them share in the nuptials. It was a really laid back affair and more of a formality than anything else so we just kicked back, enjoyed some free food and cake, bid our best wishes and headed out. We capped off the evening with a trot our Jordan Creek including (to the horror of my wife) a trip into the germ pen of destruction aka the mall play area. Corley had a blast and as figured I had to peel her away from the play area when it came time to depart. I've been in search of a winter coat to replace the trusty yellow steed that has served me the past 4 or so years. I'm about a month late catching the end of season sales and now I can't find a damn thing so I'm thinking I'll have to resort to online clearance houses such as REI and Sierra Trading Post. Anyone got a link to a favorite winter coat they want to share? Preferably, I'd like to find something with a zip out liner so I can use it multi-season.

Sunday dawned overcast and wet. Though it wasn't raining, I didn't feel like taking the risk of getting soaked by going for a ride so I pitched that out the window again. I opted for a bit more time working in the garage and tinkered a bit further along. Miranda had a gift show that seemed to be a bit of a flop (per most of our excursions) and Corley and I loaded up to do dinner with friends. Miranda joined up with us after her show and me made quite the evening getting together with friends to create a fancy meal with new flavors. All in all, quite an evening. Yup welcome to my life.

Eating around

One of my more indulgent activities is to try new restaurants around town or when I'm out of town. Last night found Miranda and I with grandma watching the kidlet and ourselves with an open night so we opted for a walk on the wild side. OK, so maybe wild, is a bit of a stretch, but we did venture into the wilds of Beaverdale to check out a cozy little restaurant that had been recommended by a few different people. Chef's Kitchen was the name of the game for our evening meal.

It's a cozy little place tucked in along Beaver Ave. The dining room is pretty decently sized when considering the size of the building the restaurant is tucked into. There were a few diners all ready seated and enjoying their meals and we were able to snag the last booth. Considering it was a Tuesday night and relatively early for dinner, I can imagine they do a pretty fair business during the weekend rush. The menu had a wide variety of choices from pasta, chicken, steak, barbecue, etc. Considering I had been rallying to go out for barbecue, I was pretty happy to see that on the menu. I chose the ribs with a hot watermelon bbq sauce while Miranda chose a little more daintily and opted for the chicken special.

I ordered a beer with dinner and was pleasantly surprised by drafts being $2.50 a pop. Considering the costs some places are getting for drafts at $4+ now, it's always nice to see prices on beer a little more palatable. My salad and her soup were both quite tasty and we were looking forward to the rest of the meal. We weren't disappointed. A massive full slab of ribs soon graced the table in front of me and a nicely presented chicken breast was sitting opposite. We also opted for a side of their hash brown's which have to be seen (and tried) to be believed. The hash browns come in a patty about 8" in diameter and close to 2" thick perfectly golden on all sides. Amazingly it was cooked to perfection through and not the least bit greasy. Next time I'm sure we'll opt to add some additional toppings to spice things up a bit, but definitely was worth the order.

My dinner of ribs was definitely up there on quality of taste and portion size. The watermelon bbq sauce was a definite treat as well adding a bit of novelty plus actual great taste to the ribs which were served dry. I definitely overate and felt pretty stuffed by the end of the meal having washed it all down with a couple Sam Adams Winter Lager. Miranda said her meal was pretty tasty as well, though I was too busy enjoying mine to sample hers.

Pricing was excellent with us walking out for under $50 for dinner for two. Add in that they have a jar of homemade chocolate chip cookies free for the patrons sitting on the bar as you enter or leave and it topped off a great meal. We'll definitely put this one on our list of places to get back to.