April showers bring May flowers. That is the old addage. So what do June showers bring? I'm sure at some elevation, B will enjoy another run of 12 consecutive months of sliding. For the rest of us, it will be time to weedwhack the yard (again), and scrub the pollen from our windows. 
Not sure what happened, but Summer has arrived and the temps are climbing. I must have been asleep, or in a medically induced fog, but I don't remember Spring. If this is the pattern going forward (enter your own theories on climate change here), what will become of our pasttimes and habits? When will we clean out the closets and our overly stuffed garages/shops/man caves? When will our beloved baseball heroes begin their pre-season training? What of the cycling classics leading up to the big events in Europe? When, for god's sake, am I supposed to plant my garden? 
Spring is a time of renewal/rebirth and a preparation for the long months of Summer and Fall. New critters crawl out from their winter dens, and get their first taste of a much larger world. Hope springs eternal in the Spring. For those who missed it, I've provided a few images as a reminder of what once was.However, even as we lament the loss of our good friend Spring, we all know it will only serve to harden the members of FT3. If Old Man Winter is a little longer in the tooth, it won't prevent Tuesdays, Sundays, and racing. In fact, a longer 'cross season will probably suit Team 1 just fine. If the Summer kicks in full blast, then we will shed our accoutrements, and brave the elements as always.
Tonight will be much warmer than usual. Perhaps, as the mercury soars, and the conditions become intolerable, we'll see the turn-out of old. What will we be tonight, 6, 7, 8 strong? Leave your arm warmers at home and bring some extra water. I'll see ya at Mosquito at 5:45.
1.
Well done C'Man. Thanks for taking up the job this week and getting up the call out. I am out. Traveling again.
ReplyDelete2 - I am cutting the sleeves off the jersey to go Pollywood style. Just back from a Tahoe getaway and there is still a lot of snow and as the NWS warns me daily, these high temps with large snow pack make for some pretty impressive hydrological action. Maybe the new spring is just a massive flood, ala the Mighty Mississippi, to wash away everything, literally everything!
ReplyDeleteImages of Lion's sniffing dandilions are just the sweetest thing. Is that an African Lion or a Pollywood Lion?
ReplyDeleteFOUR. Corrected count off adjusted for B's error.
I believe my 2 at 9:48 trumps your 2 at 9:51 Mr. B!
ReplyDeleteQuick report for those who are unaware; While several of you were sipping wine on Friday night, B and I embarked on an epic adventure to knock down the entire El Dorado Trail. I left Folsom around 6pm and B left Pville at the same time. In order to make this a legit outing, when I passed Costo in Folsom I jumped on the tracks, avoiding the perfectly good road adjacent to them. My desires to be a manly man resulted in a ride much longer than originally anticipated. I took the tracks all the way past white rock, then near latrobe there was something of a trail adjacent to the tracks. It was rough as all get out, but I stayed the course and avoided the road, FT3 manly man style. Needless to say, it was about 9:00pm when I met B about 1/3 of the way past Latrobe in route to Shingle. Three hours in each, were both a bit surprised about the legit-ness of our efforts on the local ED Trail. By the time we reached Shingle Springs at 10:30pm, PBR was much needed for both nourishment and attitude adjustment. We grabbed a couple big boy PBRs and some hot nuts and hobo'd out on the tracks. The ride back in to Pville, complete with a flat tire near Mo. Flat was much more enjoyable. Arrival time in downtown Pville was 12:30am, Saturday. In the end it was a good opportunity to see the challenges to building a trail out there given the corridor's current condition.
ReplyDeleteLars - by the looks of your foot fetish avatar, I am thinking you may be looking for a new handle?
ReplyDelete1) CX Hobo style on the El Dorado Trail is awesome stuff...well done.
ReplyDelete2) I felt the need to pay homage to last weeks HCF banter...I can still crash while running and often do! At least my avatar is relatively anatomically correct unlike NoTacoHandle's armless man! I have always wondered how that guys brakes?
FIVE!
ReplyDeleteGood call out C-Man and legit Rail Time ride boys.
So Cap'n did you bust out and break away from the Coffee Republic ride at o-bright thirty Saturday?
I may miss a Mosquito send off due to late work meeting but will make bus stop by if I'm on time.
Clarification for Foot Fetish Lars - We were on MTBikes
ReplyDeleteRock - I was back on the road by 9:00am, but I was not rolling from Folsom, I was riding to Folsom. Coffee Republic riders would have crushed me, as the crushed R/R ballast did the night before.
Other Riders - I will have my truck at the mosquito lot, ready for roll up at 5:45.
1) C'man, is your post a mix between Narnia and The Shire
ReplyDelete2) Lars: think fixie for brakes
3) Cappy/B - nice work getting the EDT done and publically documented.
4) Did anyone ride Sunday?
5) What is on tap for this Sunday. I'm feeling an adventure, after all it is the 24hr race weekend.
nice new icon for our resident podaphile.
ReplyDeleteJust keepin it real.
ReplyDeleteGreat write up again Councilman! Thanks to Captn for sharing his ED railroad trail adventure. Tonight I'm back on the leash but if I can get some coverage then Tacos it is! Can you guys get me on the back channel for the ride this Sunday? thanks
ReplyDeleteBy the way. The ED Trail is flourishing with wildlife. We saw several sidehill salmon, a skunk? One, maybe two oppossums. Both B and I were remarking how we not seen 'possum's for years then got an astonishing show from one as he flashed his teeth at my 29 inch front wheel. And the rabbits. Dozens of them. The area near Latrobe was crawling with them. Jacks and cottontales. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteNice work on the Rail Travail, Cap and B! I think Mike Kenison echoed similar sentiments in a recent email; the trail is ridable, but needs improvement. And yes, some of us were sipping Primitivo and sampling fine foods on Friday. A good time, fer sure.
ReplyDeleteAs for the kitty, Cappy, well you may think he is enjoying a leisurely sniff of a spring weed, but he's hunting for a scent; yours or mine maybe....? I seem to remember one crossing your path a few years back.
THTH, I thought I chose the pics randomly, but it's an interesting observation. Their respective authors were contemporaries, both believers, and writing under the backdrop of WW2. Perhaps I was dwelling on good vs evil, innocent vs guilty, and dirtbag biker vs cyclist...
This is such a good blog.
ReplyDeleteI mean really, who needs Facebook?
ReplyDelete"Bird-church" -- YOu should take your show on the road B.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of ornithology, props to Mrs. NoCar for her evaluation and identification of the wave file I sent her of a local song bird that has been greeting me every morning.
Speaking of wild life, there is a litle fawn so new it is on wobly legs and smaller than my cat, outside my office.
C-man, I'm a beliver; in something.
Linked-in -nope.
ReplyDeleteFB, never
Whose space. didn't think so.
I believe its Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteAmen to you NH, I too am reticent to be completely connected. I still enjoy getting off the grid, so to speak, every now and then. Like when I attend my soon-to-be-weekly service on Tuesdays. Brother B will expound on the virtues of living in harmony with nature, while we join hands in kumbaya and offer a ritual sacrifice to the forest gods (those would be the trees, if I'm keeping with the trilogy references).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of zealots,
ReplyDeleteThat back channel fodder was hilarious. I love it when the Placerville roundabout was referred to as a communist socialist EPA plot to ruin the nature of our community.
It is important to always call BS on our biggest BSers. THTH is a member of Linked In. He and I are 'connected.'
ReplyDeleteNoCar, I am glad you find that funny. Some might call that scary, others challenging.