I Went To Vermont And All I Got Was This Stupid New Name

 Saturday afternoon I was feeling a little lost. I haven't talked a lot about it here, but I basically can't ride a bike to save my life right now. Can't train in any kind of serious way anyway. I'm a mess. So I was driving around, doing work-related things (we'll talk about the new work, i.e.: "my good excuse for not blogging" later this week). I was thinking about how the Ronde De Rosey was the next day, and how, if I rode it, I would destroy my knee for the entire season and how that would suck more than the big suck I am experiencing currently. I thought about how the Gravel Grinder charity ride was going down in Waterbury, VT the next day as well, and how I was really sad that I wouldn't be riding bikes and drinking beer up there. But then I got a call from Gravel Grinder organizer George W. Bike29 and he was like "Aah! Come up and drink beer and hang out, you don't need to ride bikes to have fun!" And I said
"Eh, let me think about th—YES!" I scrambled to get ready, left an hour late, but, after 2.5 hours of above and beyond the speed limit driving, I arrived in Waterbury, VT just forty minutes later than originally planned.

When I showed up, the lights from within Five Hills Bikes were like a beacon in the night, beckoning me toward them.

This is just one photo amongst the many photos I took of people drinking whiskey at the Gravel Grinder aid station. Maybe two people out of 150 were bummed that there was no water at the aid station, just three types of fine whiskey. 

Wow, it sounded like I was actually going to write a proper post for a second there, PSYCHE! I have to roll away to work, but let's treat this as a preview, a trailer of what's to come. I do have bike-related things to talk about this week, and it looks like I will have further bike-related things to talk about over the coming weeks. Exciting!

That's funny, I didn't even come close to getting to the part of the story where I talk about my new name, my new associates (I don't have sponsors this year, maybe we can talk about that some time too), or anything important really. I will say that I have been informed that I will be riding the Single Speed-A-Polooza race (note the use of the verb "riding" in place of "racing") next Sunday down in New York. I will be riding a single-speeded out Niner Jet 9 from George W's personal fleet, which will provide me with something cool to babble about. 

That is, when I hack out a chunk of time to babble.