May day! May day!

There are many things I could write about today, but time is short. Maybe later tonight. This little post will serve as a note to myself regarding what I might want to write.

This past weekend was the Palmer Road Race. This marked the two year anniversary of my return to the peloton after a six year hiatus, during which time I only raced in training events at Wompatuck (which gave me a reason to maintain my license) and one or two "real" races. April also ended yesterday, and with it the first third of this year's training. Stats to follow later.

Saturday I spent my day in the driveway building up bikes for my brother and his girlfriend. Their kids are getting older (9 and 11) so they wanted something to take them out of the neighborhood and down the rail trails along the Cape Cod canal. What a project this turned out to be. Neither one of them is fit, so just about anything will do, but I don't have any rise stems or wide seats. Dee-Muhn donated a sweet Kona MTB that didn't need any work, except the position was too stretched and low for my portly bro. The other bike was my 20 year old Rockhopper. This beast has been reincarnated so many times I have lost track. It has been an MTB, winter bike, cross bike, commuter bike, converted from drop bars to flat bars and back several times, had fenders, racks, lights, fixed gear, single speed, you name it. Where my similarly aged Allez has not a single original component, I noticed on Saturday the 'hopper still sported the original front wheel, a Specialized (Nitto, I think) original "sealed cartridge" front hub, Wheelsmith spokes (back when nobody had heard fo them) and a Saturae X28 rim. The back brake was also an original Deore canti, which I replaced because I had some new Nashbar Cantilevers that are not only cheap, but very easy to setup and work fine.

Several hours later (working with old parts makes any job an ordeal), my back stiff from stooping and bending over the bikes, I finally got out for a loosen up ride with JG. No time to deliver the goods to Wareham, I had to get ready for Palmer. This week it is supposed to rain a lot so that will give me something to do other than stretch and blog.

So, you can look forward to a training summary and a Palmer report, as well as maybe an outline of the races to come. Jiminy and Hollenbeck are next weekend. Dave L updated his blog too. He writes pretty well for a BOB bonehead. Those of you who are not privvy to our club email list don't know what I mean, and don't know what you are missing. Most of the posts require an interpreter, preferably a third grader or someone who has had several crashes without a helmet. Update later, I promise.