Happy Anniversary Pooper

We've been married 2 yrs today. And we are still married. Hurrah.

Can't believe it's been 2 years, it has really flown by. It's been the happiest two years though. I can safely say I love my wife more than ever. Obviously there are moments when we want to throw large objects at each other, like Chewy, but we have had a great 2 years and so hopefully we will have many more to come. I love you Bean.

What's changed in two years here?

• I've had 2 new jobs
• We've bought a house
• Got another cat. Gatsby rules, I love him.
• We've bought 2 cars - black betty (the Subaru) and green gerty (the Envoy).
• My brother knocked his bird up and they now have little Charlie.
• I can't get my bird knocked up!! She's not having it.
• I've bought and sold a motorcross bike
• I've had 3 new bikes - Proper Proclaimer; S&M .38 Special and Masi Road Bike
• I'm growing hair where I don't want it and losing it where I need it.
• I've developed a fetish for beer.

Surely I've achieved more than this in the last 2 years, but then again maybe not. When I came here I thought life would be different, new culture, new things to do, fact is it might well offer that but you have to live. So you do exactly what you did before which is work 40-50hours a week, spend time with the family, ride the bike. Same shit, different country. Although now I do have my wife to share all the mundane with as well as all the fun, and for that I am truly grateful. She is pretty wonderful to me and I wouldn't change any of it.. well apart from trying to get her knocked up. ;)

Woodward Camp

This Friday, after a pretty hectic work week, I headed up into Pennsylvania to Camp Woodward for the first round of the 2008/09 NBL National Series. Firstly it is situated in Bald Eagle State Forest, it is stunning scenery. A mountain bike and a few days to explore would be better, but the drive alone was worth the trip. Plenty of Amish in their buggies, antique stores and a town named Liverpool. Named for Liverpool, England - their words! No mention of the 'fab four' but it did look like the 'bizzies' (cops) had been chased out of town. Damn was it run down. It's just part of US11 Highway now, a super busy trucking route full of Adult novelty shops - i didn't find anything novel - and a sad, dilapidated town by the river.

So Woodward. Jumping Jehoshaphat, this place is unreal. It was like being 14 again. Big Dirt, Little Dirt, Cloud 9, Lot 8, all the places you see in the video games and I am there. Only get this, between $20-35 to ride each one, separately. Feck off! Dirt is free for a start. I , along with a bunch of others, paid $750 for 2 nights in a log cabin with one shower, one toilet and no heating! Damned if I am going to give them more money, that was disgusting. However, the place is unreal. On my list of riders watched, Bestwick, Steve McCann, Kagy, Dhers and some young Aussie called Andrew. This kid will be the real deal, 12 ft high backflips over the spine? He hits the same the same speed as Day does down the first straight in Beijing! Kid was super cool, and I spent a while talking to him and reminding him of rugby scores. He called me a 'whinging pom' - all good stuff indeed. Also some young shredder on a 12" pulling double whips out of the half pipe. He needed a bigger bike and had a super pushy dad, story of the weekend that. But another time. Well now actually. The 35x (read that how you will) who was about 100lb overweight, stiff as feck shouting at his 5yr old twins for not winning because they had gates 1 and 2 in the final. Piss off you fat bastard. I don't want to name and shame him, but he was bang out of order and making my blood boil! Lose some weight lard arse and set an example your kids can follow!

First comment on Woodward weekend has to be the awesome people from Hagerstown BMX who put me, or put up with me, all weekend. Diane Hullinger totally spoiled me and I got to meet some fantastic people, who really made the weekend for me. Hagerstown BMX has a great family vibe to it, 'roots' as Uncle B would say, wonderful people and I was very fortunate to spend time with them. I'm looking forward to going back next week and doing a clinic for their riders, least I can do after all they did for me this weekend.

So my weekend went very well. I rode flats for the first time in a while and felt so much better. I was disappointed with only a few riders in 30-34 cruiser, but good quality including Nat # 1, John Paul Pfeifer and Mike Hummel. We had some great racing and John was clearly fastest on saturday. He had a great first straight and it was enough to keep him clear of Mike and I. I pulled hard on the last straight but it was not near enough, 2nd place.

Sunday, I was determined to do a little better, and I was fortunate enough to do that. I got a great gate next to John, and managed to get my wheel in front in the tight first corner. I knew i had the track speed after that but I could hear the commentators comments all the time, so I knew it was going to be close. Third straight and I ballsed up the last jump and John came through on the inside, a little bit of bar banging and we dragged raced the last straight and somehow I came out on top. Great race, and not often I beat JP. On another note Mike Hummell and his wife had a little boy, Garrett, just after the Grands, congratulations to them both. Mike is a cool guy, only rides chromoly and flats..

All that's left of the Supercross track at Woodward...

quicky

First, love to fellow blogger DC, he was also feeling left out on the love front - love to my fellow flat peddler, sometime clipper, always player..

So quick update.
Great weekend just gone, scorching hot, very sun burnt, made pro-am final including beating a couple of A pro's in my semi at Woodbridge. Didnt have a good final though, 9 laps in 2 hours was too much. Loved racing the cruiser again, and looking forward to hitting first national this weekend on it.

Saturday night we met up with a bunch of C's old school friends. Dinner at Sonoma, always a treat, and then back to their hotel to chill out. Great evening, really enjoyed myself if a little tired. C loved it and was really excited to see all her friends again.

Sunday, stupidly hot, so we hit up the movies and saw "Burn After Reading" - Brad Pitt, Clooney, Frances Dormund, John Malcovich, excellent movie, along the lines of Fargo.

Crazy crazy at work for both of us, a little stressed I think. Just got shit loads to do and so has C. She is working later and later and I miss her being at home. What are you going to do!

We have Jacey and Amit staying with us whilst their house is being completed. It's cool I have to admit. Amit is loving the cats, even though he is allergic to them.

Hoping I might hit gate practice tonight and bed in the new Profile wheels courtesy of http://www.powersbikeshop.com/ Chad made me some nice wheels with a titanium driver! bling! Not actually lighter than my old worn out SINZ wheels tho.

oh, get your hands on Meantime London Porter. An excellent ale, or porter I guess, great stuff indeed.

cheers

It's a baby Smurf

Well I have to say this bought a tear to my eye this morning. My oldest and one of my closest buds had a little baby boy, Joel Ellis, with his wife on Tuesday. They sent some pics today. It made my day. Smurf will be a great dad. I know he has always wanted a family. I am really really pleased for them both. Great people, little Joel will be in great hands for sure.

Apparently my darling wife, and now my best bud NMKY, are feeling unloved and left out as I have not mentioned them recently.

Wife, I love you always and in so many ways both legally and illegally..

NMKY, I love you in as many ways a metrosexual man can...

Is that good enough for the both of you?

Had my anuual review yesterday, I am still in a job which is great news. I also had a healthy little pay increase and stock options added to my package. I am extremely grateful, especially in the tough economic climate here right now, I didn't really expect anything. I work for some good people who look after their staff very well. I am quite lucky I guess and shan't take this for granted.

Still leaning towards the Clayborn cruiser. Rebuilt bottom bracket again last night, one last effort, otherwise I'll be buying some DXR's to go with the Clayborn as well... muchos $, but what are you going to do..?

Wet and Windy

..and that's just my bottom! Actually I have had a bad case of flatulence the last few days, don't know what's been wrong with my arse but I've been trumping like a good 'un.

So Friday night, I left work a little early and headed up to Winchester to ride with my buddie Jason. It was a gorgeous late summer evening, warm enough for shorts and a t still. I got there super early for sum reason so had plenty of time to warm up and fix the bike again. The One is tired, the wheels are in their death throws, or the bottom bracket but that's brand new, either way something sounds like a bag of bolts in a washing machine. A rebuild again tonight. It was a cruiser evening for sure, about 7 of us on cruisers all riding and getting some good gates in. I have to say mine were on point. I've not been on a random gate with a cruiser, but apparently they work ok. I had a good first straight going and made myself work. Only bad point of the night was Chad 'sublime' Powers half link snapping on about his 4th gate. He made a bit of a mess of himself sliding on the tarmac. Shame, cos we normally have fun riding together, he is smooth for sure. Bruce was looking good once we had his gates sorted. Sad point of the evening, newbie, novice, idiot, whatever you want to call him Ryan has decided to clip-in. Yes, after 3 months of racing he feels he needs! get the feck out of here. He's not slow, but has little skill yet and is totally out of control. He's also turned into a gobby little shite which he wasn't last time I was up there a few months back. Sad, I quite liked the kid. Still, I was a gobby little shite at 15, and am still at 34 so what do I know.

Saturday, it rained, and rained and rained some more. It actually started on my way back from Winchester Friday night, which reminds me of the two fat kids complaining about getting medium fries when they ordered large. I wanted to shout order a lettuce instead, but apparently a couple of other kids in the queue thought the same as me, to which said chubby kids scurried out of Wendies rather embarrassed. So, with all the rain we decided doing 'bugger all' was an excellent plan. We napped, we went out for lunch, walked around a terrible mall, and then went home for another nap. Quality. After the nap, we had a sandwich and went for Ice Cream. Apparently when you buy Ice Cream in the States you also come home with another pair of Vans shoes. Well that's what happened to me. On sale for $32! Rude not too sir! I know we watched a movie but I can't for the life of me remember what it was, but it was funny..

Sunday we tidied the house a little and played with the cats a lot. Gatsby is starting to settle down and leave Chewy alone. He has his moments still, normally on a work night, but he is soo cool, I love him. He does sleep on my back which is slightly odd and has a habit of biting my chin, equally odd and somewhat annoying too. In the afternoon I rode Severn again on the safety cycle. It was riding awesome after all the rain. I manualled from corner to corner the third straight, never done that on a cruiser before. I love that bike, I wish I could get another one, maybe I'll have to get Mum and Dad to bring me one over in November. If not I'll be ordering the Clayborn, or maybe a GHP Cruiser as that looks really nice. Chad just rang and has my wheels on the way, Profile sent a titanium driver by mistake and only charged me a couple of $'s extra, compared to the $50 it should be. Black hubs, chrome rims, should be sweet and go with anything I buy. Maybe the wife will want them for her anniversary present, she could do with some new cruiser wheels...

36th!

What the feck? I dropped from 12th going into the Grands to 36th overall, bloody crap. The worst thing is, my points are actually high enough to take me to 18th I think even without Grands points, but because I didn't do the grands I get nothing. So the guy who is 35th actually has about 600 points and I have 1530! No Grands, no national ranking. So a whole host of guys slower than me, are ranked higher becuase they turned up. Bollox. Of course that's the way it's always been, so i knew it was coming and is the same for everyone, but still a little depressing..

Off to ride the safety cylce with my buds in Winchester, VA and maybe have a sherbet or two.

Storms hitting this weekend, so I'm holing up in the sack and resting..

Congrats Bill Young 26-34x #1

Not too much has happened since my last post I do believe. Well, things have changed in the BMX world. Stumpy took the Elite Men Title with a win at the Grands, after winning the Pro Spectacular Friday night. Becerine took second and J-Rich 3rd. I heard the Top5 are all over 30, no imagine if they went Vet Pro? Dale Holmes looked good for the vet pro title but I heard he crashed or something in the main. Kenth Fallen took the overall, he's about 4 yrs younger than Dale too. Looks like I missed a good Grands, my mate Jason Morgan grabbed 2nd in 41+ Novice overall and Chad 'sublime' Powers took a great 3rd in 25-29 Cruiser, good on yer mate.

My class was won by Bill Young, congrats to the man, from an inside gate, with Pat Parker taking second. Pat was on it all weekend, but got gate 8 in the final and held high in the first corner. http://www.go211.com/videos/9036/ Still those 2 are in a class of their own in 26-34x. Wonder if Pat will go Vet Pro, although not sure he is 30 yet? I'm dieing to know where I ended up overall. Be great if I could have stayed in the Top 20, but I think with 104 riders and nearly 40 riders at the Grands in my class and all their points double, not likely. Check out www.go211.com for Grands coverage.

I rode sunday and monday on the safety cycle. I am really enjoying riding the cruiser and after I ride I don't get any problems with my wrist, which I am still getting on the 20". Got a bad case of throttle grip on the 20" too, I think it's the humidity but the new S&M grips I have put on will not stick to the bars, waste of $10 and $15 for nice ali end caps too! I will get some more ODI Ruffian Lock-Ons like on my cruiser, they are lovely. Tonight I need to hit the weights, not done upper body for about 5 days and my legs are aching from all the riding this weekend. Weights tonight and maybe ABA gates tomorrow night. Still having problems with the headset coming loose, it will not squash down. I am sure it's the stem. I have tried every combination of parts I have, the old stuff works fine, but I want the new, shorter stem on and it won't lock down. I guess new forks with a built in headlock will be the next purchase.

Last week was pretty quiet at work, I really don't like it like that, nor the fact I am in the office on my own. Still tomorrow I am interviewing somebody for an Office Admin/Jnr Bus Dev role and Josh will be back shortly from secondment so things should liven up. It's difficult to be motivated working on your own, and I need to be constantly enthused to get the best from myself. Things are starting to pick up again now though, which is good. I have been at IGI a Yr this week, tempest fugit and all that, but for the most part it has been great, and I have to say I do work for a good bunch of people, that I respect and are respectful. That's no bad thing in the money grabbing society we live in.

down the hatch..