Lost my quads somewhere between Zachary's and Siobhan Magnus

Our Sunday sufferfest started at Jeff's house in Centerville.
Me, Jeff, Tim, and fully-winter-bearded Brian.

Plan of keeping on the pedals through a mix of singletrack, dirt roads, pavement.
And we're off!
Pavement to singletrack through Trail of Tears.
Dodged dogs on fireroads through Sandwich side.
Dodged ATVs and motos on the sand and gravel under the powerlines.
Dodged cars crossing 130.
We definitely did not ride through the base, because that would be illegal.
When we got through the base we rode Otis.
Then Crane. Then the Mashpee dump. Then a bit of Crane again. Kept running into the base, saw an F-14, rode around a pond.
Crap, we were lost.
My phone's GPS gave us some idea and we rode some fast dirt roads that Tim knew and we came out across from the Mashpee Ballet (aka Zachary's).
Tim drove a hard pace on roads through Mashpee and Sandwich and into Centerville.  I started drifting off the back of the pack as fatigue set into the legs.
Passed a band of gypsys on Asa Meigs Rd and I swear one of them was Siobhan Magnus. Pretty young lady.
Brian, who knows Siobhan, confirmed the sighting.  She didn't recognize him because of his AmishIslamoIRA beard, or because it was getting dark and we went by at about 20mph in full gear.
We turned onto Race Lane and I officially went off the back on the first hill.
I chased with everything I had, but watched them inch away as Tim's heroic "I'm going to Hawaii in two days" pace sapped every ounce of power from my thighs.
I swerved through the Barnstable airport rotary and dialed it down.
Light pedaled the 5 more minutes to Jeff's.

About 3 hours,40 minutes and around 42 miles of mixed surface.

Drank my recovery drink and massaged my legs on drive home from Jeff's.
Then had two bananas, a spinach omelet, a Magic Hat, 2 Ibuprofen, 2 electrolyte pills, and about a 1/2 gallon of water and I actually recovered pretty darn well.

I'm back in the saddle again...I'm BAAACK!

After 8 days with some godforsaken cold or sinus something, I'm back in the saddle again!

The audio's a little off, but was there anything cooler than Aerosmith back before they got goofy?

Old (good) Aerosmith always reminds me of riding to school in Frank Carini's green Malibu with the crew...cruising along with Aerosmith cranking...quick stop at the Little Store for provisions...come back out and then Frank's car wouldn't start. So one of us (we took turns) would have to get under the hood and remove the air filter and stick a finger into the manifold to unstick it as Frank cranked her over. Then we'd be cruising again, with Aerosmith cranking.

That's kind of how my training's been going. Cruising, feeling good...screech to a halt with this cold...get the motor going again...and now I'm Back in the Saddle and hope to continue cruising right along.

(and in case you forgot that Steven Tyler started out as Aerosmith's drummer...here he is ripping Wipeout with another amazing-rocker-turned-goofball Dave Navarro)

A Sunday sans Perspective...

Sunday was a great day. Our Sea Sports weekly group ride joined forces with a Corner Cycle group ride. Great to ride with Jon Bold -- such an accomplished rider. Unfortunately, he blew his derailleur off after a few miles and he was done, but his Corner Cycle mates Gray and Dave stayed on and we (them+Jeff, Tim, Bryan, me) covered just about every inch of Trail of Tears, ending the ride with about 25 miles at a 10.5 clip. I felt pretty strong today, and recovered well.

Went home, had cereal with Julian, and then he and I hit Bonkerz with Jude's bf Alex and his mom Carrie. Julian had a BLAST! He is now able to climb up to the slides himself, which, in true Jude fashion, he did over and over and over and over. OCD? lol.

We left there and got ice cream on the way home and arrived at Mt Maguire to the combined scents of a homemade feast of chili and corn muffins and a delicious apple pie that looked as good as it tasted. Not sure how K does it with a 6-month-old strapped to her chest, but I'll just assume it's sweat and motherly magic.

The kids cooperated with the Super Bowl by going to bed on time and without drama, then K and I ate and watched and ate and watched. I was pretty disappointed with the result of the game, but it doesn't diminish what was a pretty awesome day.

I read a story this morning about a guy in Washington that was under investigation for killing his wife two years ago. The other day a social worker had arrived at his house with his two young boys for a supervised visit. The guy let his boys in, but locked the social worker out of the house...and then blew his house up. I can't help but picture the scene inside, a father burning his own little boys to death. There is no eternal torture adequate to punish such an evil and selfish act.

I've had my share of frustrating moments with my kids, and I struggle to keep perspective sometimes. But I think the best way to put things in perspective is to have no perspective at all - to simply be present and honest and approach life openly and positively. That was my Sunday. And no horrible news story or disappointing loss can take that joy away.