nothin' new

Quiet weekend for the Hopkinson household. We, well by we I mean 'I', did very little. Saturday I cleaned the house in preparation for mum and dad coming tonight, whilst C was throwing a 'baby shower' for Mo. That went well and everybody had a good time by all accounts. Of course C was stressing about it all, what's new?, but it went off without a hitch. Saturday evening we headed over to Mo and James for a few beers with a bunch of their friends from NY and out of towners. We head a great evening, Kimi was thoroughly pissed and was funnier than ever, and as soon as the Champagne bottle opened my wife's louder, more belligerent, alter ego joined the party too. Thanks James! One sip of Champagne and it's like Jekyll and Hyde, still she did fall asleep in an instant when we got home.

Sunday we headed to the Irish pub for breakfast. In theory it was a great idea - a full Irish with all the trimmings - black and white pudding, tomatoes etc - but they let me down. The bacon was tasteless, only one banger and about 7 baked beans. We won't be going there again.

Sunday afternoon consisted of quality napping, watching the movie Sin City - great movie, I love the visual affects, and the fact that some incredibly hot women wear very little for about 2hours. Truly marvellous. Bean slept all afternoon with all 3 cats so she was perfectly happy. I could have made a purr-fect joke there but I restrained myself.

I hit the weights in the evening and got a bit carried away on the squats. I normally to 1 light warm up set, and then three heavy (for me) sets. I ended up doing 6 sets. I'm surprised my knees even move today. I've changed my squats a little, I put my bench behind my arse now, as my knees can't go past about 90 degrees with any significant weight on the bar. Good thing, is my leg curls are increasing in weight on my bad hamstring, but I still can't curl very much. Once they feel good again, I'll start doing dead-lifts once more. I ought to consider doing up body. I don't want to be fast and fat!!! Got to look buff for the wife.. or bmx moms! I only said consider, so I'll procrastinate for a few more months..

The new Clayborn cruiser frame should be here this afternoon, looking forward to that. Put the One up for sale, almost complete bike for about $300. It'll pay for the Clayborn and then some I guess.

My team idea is starting to take shape. I have made some good contacts and got some people interested in supporting me. I'd like to do something to help other kids out, get them to races, help with fees or kit or something. I love riding for Groove Merchants, Jamie is awesome, but I think so much more could be done, and I'd love to be able to get enough support that I can do something for those less fortunate than myself. We'll see, it may work out, it may not, but no harm in trying right..

Mum and dad here soon, very excited. Sod work this week.

$300. Tires also to go with wheels. Get in touch if interested.

new forks and bars..

Sex is on Fire

not my sex, but if you're a King from Leon (somewhere in France?) apparently your sex is! Still, bloody good record and I have purchased their new album from iTunes, as well as The Music's Strength in Numbers, their first album in 4 yrs. A great band. However, being new to KoL, I also realize how far behind my music collection is, and also my taste. There's me looking at Dire Straits and Genesis, and there are all these new bands to check out. Sutty, help me out here, recommend me some sounds please?

This past weekend, we were Boston bound for Crappo and Dave's wedding. It was an excellent time and I got to meet some of Beans friends from Uni as well including Megan Glaser, who had me in stitches the entire weekend! She was awesome. Also got to hang out with Jamie Nugget too which is always a treat. The wedding was great, went off without a hitch, although Crappo's younger brother decided to go for dinner with friends rather than attend her rehearsal dinner. Tosser. He also didn't want to come to the wedding cos she voted democrat. Complete tosser, and dumb ass wife too. I think he had to write L and R on her shoes so she could put them on properly. Sorry, Crappo. However, other than that, both Megan (Crappo) and Dave have a great family, although it's definitely a mine field trying to negotiate who has been married to who. However, Dave has a great brother, Josh - a teacher in Japan, who gave a great speech. He was a great guy and rides a Yamaha V-Max. You need big nuts to ride one of those. Also, Dave's dad owned several Vincents, and other classic English motorcycles. For the uneducated, a Vincent is about the equivalent of an E-Type Jag or Aston Martin DB5. Art on two wheels. My wonderful wife also gave an excellent speech. She never fails to amaze. I know I piss her off a good deal by being a muppet, but I am very lucky. She bought a tear to my eye and certainly had Crappo and Dave in tears. One other thing must mention Jenna's boobs. holy shite. how they stayed in her dress all night I'll never know. I think they were in a different State to the rest of her body. awesome.

Sunday we hooked up with Ross and Biz, had lunch and did a little walking and sight seeing, then headed home. A great weekend for sure.

Note to self. Don't try and use Jamie as an ally to buy a new car. She knows too much about cars and said the one I wanted was boring. I wasn't really onto a winner, but that blew my argument completely. damn.

Monday was work and more time at ManTech, I think they should be paying my salary at the moment. Tuesday was Veterans Day, so we unofficially had the day off. I did some work stuff in the morning, and seeing nobody was responding to emails, I headed to Severn and rode with the guys. Finally got a nice, consistent, line in the rhythm section. Pick up over the roller, jump little step, jump off backside roller to next roller, jump table, double, then manual onto the step up and bump jump the little double. Sweet.

Also got a nice pic of me in BMXToday, NBL's magazine, from Woodward National last month.

Got to hit the weights tonight, everybody seems to be stepping up and I seem to be doing nothing... again! Still last week, I hit 240lb (110kg) for 10 on the squats, after 3 sets of 20 at 190lb, so not too bad. I have been trying to avoid killing my knees and also working my weak hamstring too. As soon as the weather gets cold, my legs start to hurt. I need to move to Florida.

Mum and Dad are here on Monday, I can't wait. However, I have just been hit with several major proposals. Bollox.

Nice one my son, nice one

So we have an African-American President elect, bout fooking time too.

Am so happy he won. I really hope this will make a difference, that he won't just be a figurehead, but will be as important as Kennedy, Washington and the other great American presidents. And thank goodness we have got rid of Chief MonkeyBollox and Muppet 'Dubbya' Bush.. I can't find another way to describe the man.

I spent election night with C's company down in DC. It was wild. People were going mad, the streets were full of people running around, cars honking horns, people hugging, it was darn cool and I am very glad I was there thanks to the wife.

It will be interesting to see how the next 4 yrs plays out, it certainly can't be any worse for sure, and I think Obama is strong enough to be his own man and make the difference. I really am quite excited.

Now, if we can get him to endorse a bmx track in every major conurbation, built by Hudu, then it will be a right result..

Off to Boston tomorrow for a wedding. Should be fun. Am expecting at least one drunken fight or argument, and I am sharing a room with my wife and two other chicks. Boobs everywhere. Lovely jubbly.. :)

Call Norris, I've just set a world record!

According to my trip computer on my road bike during my 15m loop I hit a top speed of 79.2mph on Friday night! I'd like to believe that I am fast but that's pushing it. However, one point to note, the computer was spot on for my averages and for distance, so maybe I did really hit 79.2mph and maybe I am just fast as fook, so I am going to give Norris McWhirter a call and get my self on Record Breakers with Roy Castle and his trumpet..

Other things, hit ABA Severn after its rebuild. It's gone from being a fun play track, to "oops I've just left a nugget in my pants" crazy scary track. The first two straights are the same, but after the second corner a steep double, an even steeper and short table (like a spine almost) into a step, followed by a rhythm section that would be at home on most euro tracks, steep and deep! Scaring the poop out of people, which is perfect cos all the locals don't have a clue how to ride anything else. It consists of a steep roller, step up with roller on backside, roller, table, 3 three rollers, step up/step down. The last jump is shady, just not finished properly, but I guess it will settle in. It is mad. I've crashed in it a couple of times and I love it. This is the first time I have ridden a track since living here that made me really think and really pushed my ability. Needless to say local rippers had it dialled, Troy Farmer and Josh Grimes made it look easy. I am not so keen on the third straight, I can't hit it fast. The take off on the double was really shady and after a 'moment' I decided to play it easy and just float over it. Once it has wintered thought it will be awesome. At last Severn has stepped it up big time. I'd say tougher than most NBL tracks I've been to now. Great fun.

So as you can guess all I did was ride this weekend. Bean hit her bosses party on Saturday night. I didn't go which caused a minor war, but I wasn't feeling it. Sunday her allergies were really bad again and she spent most of the day in bed. Not sure what is causing this, but I think its being inside with the cats more on the weekend. It rarely happens during the week because she is not around them enough. We are going to have to start vacuuming the cats for their dander.

It's election day tomorrow if you didn't know. And if you had been trying to hide under a rock to avoid it all, don't worry McCain had a plan to get under that rock with you. He's a feckin geriatric and should be in a home under supervision, not running for presidency. Which leads me nicely to my conspiracy theory about the US anyway. How can a country so powerful allow people like George Dubbya and now potentially McCain run the country?? I want Obama to win desperately, but he's too much of his own man, how will 'they' control him. Call me Fox Mulder if you like..

a little cruiser action from Woodward..