Weird weekend. I didn’t ride on Sunday for the first time in I don’t even know how long. We had perfect weather too but I have been over tired and decided to stay in bed and get some cuddle time with my sweetie and didn’t get around until 11:00 am! It’s been a long time since I slept that late. I think I just needed some down time.
I spent the rest of the day working on your Adventure Monkey e-commerce store. That sucked. I am using WordPress with the e-commerce plug-in and a template on top of that. It is pretty slick, but some things are screwed up. Anyone reading good with WP and know the ins and outs? Seems like my permissions are all screwed up and things aren’t working right. If you want to help with the setup, email me HERE and I will buy you a new Adventure Monkey T-shirt, socks and the next issue of the magazine (and maybe a few bucks too). Only email if you can do this for real. I need this setup like yesterday.
Last Friday I borrowed a Felt Mountain bike tricked out with light components and front suspension to ride some single track. I was really wanting to feel the difference between the full suspension and a hardtail. Did I mention that I am not a skilled single track rider whatsoever? Riding the full suspension rig made me want to go buy a new mountain bike. I had a blast. I was climbing, jumping, hopping, pretty much just shredding it up. I didn’t fall, made it up almost every climb and felt like a hero.
Riding the hardtail was a little different. It made me remember why I left the world of technical singletrack. I got beat up. My hands were tired, I was sore, I made it up some climbs but got very tired and finally while trying to climb a short, steep, rocky hill, I bit it and fell into a bush with stems full of stickers. Luckily Bobby was behind me and he gave me a hand out of the sticker bush. I had bruised my elbow and scratched myself up pretty good. Also before I took a fall, I had to make it through a spot with two trees where I had to weave my way through the tree trunks. If you know me, I am a small guy with a lady-like shoulder width, but somehow I didn’t weave myself so well through the trees and banged my shoulder pretty good as I lodged myself between the two trees and was stopped in my tracks. That didn’t hurt until later.
That was the first lap. Bobby and I made it back to the starting point and I was beat and a little bloody.
“You want to do another lap or just ride a little gravel before we leave?” Bobby asked.
“Let’s do another lap man,” I said knowing I couldn’t give up that easy. I had to do another lap. As I said that I noticed just how bad I felt. “I gotta sit down,” I said to Bobby as a wave of nausea came over me. I think I had pushed a little too hard. I sat down on the cold concrete at Camp Alexander and started to feel better as Bobby and I caught up a little bit. Once I felt better, I did another lap, slowly and I was fine. But the verdict is in. I want a mountain bike that will be fun to ride. I am not a technically saavy cyclist and my balance is not good. I am thinking a bike like this or this will serve me well. I have no money for one, so this won’t be happening soon unless Salsa or Trek would make me a fantastic deal. The problem with being slow is that no one really wants you to ride for them. But c’mon, I am a really nice guy.
Here’s a shot of my boo boo when I got home.
Now on to some fantastic news. Here is a look at the prototype for the new Adventure Monkey sock. Yes, I guarantee you will be faster, better looking and admired by many if you wear this sock. OK, so I can only guarantee one out of three of those outstanding claims. I can also guarantee better decision making skills, a better work ethic, more eye rolling at corporate terminology and more sarcastic comments coming from you during meetings whenever you wear this sock to work. Well, 50% is not too bad. All bogus claims aside, I can’t wait to get my feet into these high quality cycling socks, designed to wear on the bike and on the runway.
Feed Your Monkey!
Eric
show hide 15 comments