Monday, July 21, 2008

GLAD THAT'S OVER WITH!

I don't mean that in a negative sense, at least not exactly. The last coupla weeks have been crazy busy even by my semi-twisted standards as the Holland Hundred approached, we had a JDRF fund-raiser attached to it, we had 3 band gigs and the shop was swamped w/ work while Ted and Matt were outta town. Lotsa meetings, lotsa details, lotsa e-mails and phone calls and running around.

Whew!

Somewhere in all that I managed to get the first-but-by-no-means-last "Dawn Patrol Century" off the ground too. 2-3 weeks ago I mentioned to Greg and Aaron that if we were willing to get outta bed before dawn we could try and get 75 miles in some Friday and then join the Bagel Ride to finish up a pre-workday century. Yeah...I gotta learn to just shut up once in awhile, y'know? But there we were - 6 morons lit up and rollin' south @ 4:45 am last Friday. Greg, Aaron, KP, Ross, Chad and myself w/ a full moon and lotsa deer as our only companions. We rode the 67 mile loop of the HH, then joined a big (by weekday morning ride standards) group back @ the shop for another 25 miles. I had 95 when we pulled back into town and not being a slave to the little black box on my handlebars I was perfectly content to be halfway through my first bagel when Greg and Aaron rolled up after riding around downtown making sure that they had both done their 1st ever century.

'Twas a hoot.

Saturday was the Holland Hundred, so little sleep for Mrs Clark's favorite son..........I was @ the park @ 5:40am and stayed there (w/ the exception of a quick SAG run) 'til about 4:30. The rain was a huge drag......but we still had 1200+ riders and that's prety dang cool. The comments about the ride, the route, the organization and the park were pretty good...at least as far as I know. I have lots of ideas for '09! After stopping by the JDRF Post Ride Bash @ New Holland it was home to change and load the band gear and then off to the Saugatuck Brewery to play 3 sets. The crowd was great, especially considering that Barry could use a little more climate control down there @ this point. (Translation - it was hot as hell in there!).

Hoot # 2.

After a little sleep I headed up to Montague Sunday mornin' w/ J2 and Ross for the JDRF Ride. We did 46 hilly miles on some way-cool roads up thataway and then hung out by the pool. I was the judge of the salsa contest (good work if you can get it!) and although no one else knew it...I considered myslef the judge of all the desserts as well, and proceeded accordingly. (Burp)

All in all................a helluva weekend!

Now it's Monday. The HH is in the rear-view, Ted's on his way home.....things might just mellow a tad. I'll be in Asheville in 3 weeks @ the next JDRF Ride, then Montana, then it's September and that means the Bike Show and then Death Valley. Good Lord, I better get to it!

Next time............."Rants per Week - what's a reasonable number?"

MC

1 comment:

ceningolmo said...

Great week...get some sleep!

As for your "rants per week" topic. I'd like to offer a couple things to consider prior to you locking up your opinion.

1. Your statement that you limit yourself to 1 per day on the weekend is a mistake, I think.

2. I think you need to factor in a certain level of seasonality to your number. Your "rants per week" budget should be higher in June/July than it should be in January/February.

3. YOu need to allow yourself a little "allowance" to go over or under your budget. ie, if you don't use all of your alotted rants for this week you should be allowed to save them for future use. This gives you a "just in case" allowance. You know...on the off chance that something particularly annoying happens. Or, if Maynard rants on a subject that gets you going.