Fifty Plus (50+) - Mia

Haven't heard a peep from cyclezealot in ages, nor from CrossChain, either. Who else is MIA? Is it something we said???

It's funny you should mention that, I was thinking about CrossChain today. I bet he's out shopping for a new bike.

Cyclezealot lives in Fallbrook, and we haven't heard from him since the fires.

Haven't heard from the dog dude, my riding buddy Terrierman, for a while.

Cyclezealot lives in Fallbrook, and we haven't heard from him since the fires.

He has been posting in other forums. Fora? Maybe he's mad at us.

I haven't noticed MichiganMike for awhile. But I don't read half of the threads, so I could have missed any number of posts.

And where is The Grampster? Solveg?

Haven't heard from the dog dude, my riding buddy Terrierman, for a while.

His last post was about 5 days ago.

The volume is down from the sixties to the twenties and thirties on this forum. Could there be a relationship between a major reduction in my own posting and a decline in the overall volume?

Probably not.

I'm a bit bashful about posting, as I don't have any white bikes! :(

White bikes are over-rated. Crosschain and Cyclezealot have temporarily gotten real lives. But they'll be back.

CrossChain, that will-'o-the-wisp, checking in here.......thanks for the concern but things are kool with me and mine. Been lurking--I check in every day to keep up with you dudes. Jet is right about "real life": I volunteered (I should have learned in the Army) to teach a "clinic" class of hardheads, sad cases, and off-the-walls. Makes me feel young again but I do sleep well at night. Will come back on when things get more routine. Keep needling Gary for me.......he likes the affectionate attention...like scratching a cat's tummy.

George: Enjoy your new Roubaix for the both of us. No new ride for me till both kids clear college...and unless one of them figures out statistics, it could be a while :rolleyes:

Low posts numbers --> colder weather?

Keep needling Gary for me...

I believe a fair number of my post are holding up the tradition...thank you very much!

;)

The volume is down from the sixties to the twenties and thirties on this forum. Could there be a relationship between a major reduction in my own posting and a decline in the overall volume?

Probably not.


Low posts numbers --> colder weather?

Perhaps we should consider that like a million monkeys typing randomly on typewriters, everything possible has been asked and answered and commented upon, and there is absolutely nothing more to say?

Perhaps we should consider that like a million monkeys typing randomly on typewriters, everything possible has been asked and answered and commented upon, and there is absolutely nothing more to say?

You underestimate how many of us monkeys there are!! :D

Perhaps we should consider that like a million monkeys typing randomly on typewriters, everything possible has been asked and answered and commented upon, and there is absolutely nothing more to say?


I think you should take a poll.

I've been concentrating on dog related activities lately, it's that time of the year. Went to the National Trial in Havre De Grace MD, hosted the Heartland Trial last weekend and am trying to get as many days in groundhog hunting as possible before they go into hibernation for the winter. Still riding as much as I can, though it's not as much as I would like. Shorter days are taking their toll. But I'm having a great fall. I'm in better condition for the dog work than I have been for a long time, and riding the bike gets the credit.

I think you should take a poll.

I haven't even finished the poll yet, and already I am being criticized! Sheesh.

If it were up to me, I'd like to see more escapism-type posts, like the ones from Austria or the Great Northwest.

Vignettes in which the paragraphs are kept short, as to be easier to read on a computer.

Stories with lots of pictures, some of which are even bike related:
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x40/TWLBA/IMG_0905.jpg

Some of which are autobiographical (it helps to see a face connected with a name, unless you're really butt-ugly):
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x40/TWLBA/OCP1.jpg

Some of which are just cool looking:
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x40/TWLBA/IMG_0935.jpg

Make sure the pictures have been properly sized. Not that hard to do.

I realize that Austrian trips are a bit pricey. I'm just saying that they make great post material.

Specific training or injury questions are also of interest.

Endless ranting on Brooks saddles and white bikes is not very interesting, IMHO.

Hi! I haven't watched TV in a month, and I've barely been on the internet! I got to Kansas about a month ago, and apparently my house had been hit by lightning, so the electricity was gitchy and my furnace was out. There was 6 " of water in my new tornado shelter. Well, all this took 3 weeks to straighten out, and when I wasn't entertaining workmen, I was working. When I finished my last jobs last week, I got a puppy!

Her name is Faith, and she was enroute from some field trials to the owner of her father (sire) and then she was to be shipped to Florida to her new owner. I was painting my house, and she came over to the ladder and cried for me. I came down, put my hand out for her to smell, and she put her paw on it and looked at me. Followed me around the rest of the day, wouldn't leave my feet.

We had to jump through some hoops to make it happen, but I had no doubt that she would end up mine. She's a little Springer Spaniel named Faith.

Anyway, painting the house, playing with the puppy, seeing people I need to see before I go home, and a few bike rides. I'll be back in MN next week, and then I should be back online more.

When I'm down here, I seem to have a ton of projects to do in not much time, and when I'm not working, I'm reading! What a joy! I stocked my bookshelves down here with several dozen books waiting to be read. Reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson right now. Love it. Tom Bombadil would really* love it, I'll bet, because it has to do with breaking codes in WWII and it's totally fascinating in the same way statistics can be fascinating.

Bella, my Bernese Mountain Dog and Faith, my English Springer Spaniel:
http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Me/FaithBella.jpg

Note the lack of grass in KS. I have yet to see a yard in this town that actually has a lawn*, like we have up north. It's all non-grass. Plus, the bank closed down early last Saturday because of a football game. Which football game? I don't know...it was apparently so obvious they didn't need to say. Oh, and I recycled last saturday. You have to bring your stuff to the recycling place (which, since the town is only 1 square mile, isn't far away) between 10 and noon every other Saturday. It's run by churches. You can't wait until 11:45, though, or they fill up. This place is as exotic as Hawaii to a city girl.

I've been concentrating on dog related activities lately, it's that time of the year. Went to the National Trial in Havre De Grace MD, hosted the Heartland Trial last weekend and am trying to get as many days in groundhog hunting as possible before they go into hibernation for the winter. Still riding as much as I can, though it's not as much as I would like. Shorter days are taking their toll. But I'm having a great fall. I'm in better condition for the dog work than I have been for a long time, and riding the bike gets the credit.

Did you run in the National Trial? How did you do? And hosting a trial is a lot* of work... I'm amazed you had enough energy to post here instead of sleeping. When I come down to ride 70 mountainous miles with you, I'd love to see your dogs go to ground... I've never seen that in real life.

It's been a very busy month returning back to a full-time work schedule, and feeling tired much of the time. I've ridden 1-2 times a week the past few weeks. I did buy a new light that I can't wait to try out, plus new sunglasses with interchangeable lens (which I decided to get after a piece of something flew into my face one night just an inch from my eyeball -- so my new glasses include a clear set of lens), and...... trekking bars and tape. Now I just need my Ergon grips and I'll be all set..... until I buy the new bike.

Note the lack of grass in KS. I have yet to see a yard in this town that actually has a lawn*, like we have up north. It's all non-grass. Plus, the bank closed down early last Saturday because of a football game. Which football game? I don't know...it was apparently so obvious they didn't need to say. Oh, and I recycled last saturday. You have to bring your stuff to the recycling place (which, since the town is only 1 square mile, isn't far away) between 10 and noon every other Saturday. It's run by churches. You can't wait until 11:45, though, or they fill up. This place is as exotic as Hawaii to a city girl.

Oh, that sounds like my hometown in Nebraska, the place I'm going to retire! (I'm actually going there tomorrow to get my aunt's house ready to put on the market.)

The only difference is everyone in my hometown is yard-obsessed...the yards are gorgeous, with few exceptions, and they are noted. Sports is (are?) king. Everybody knows everybody else's business.

The upside is that I won't need a car because every thing is within walking or biking distance.

I hope I don't go nuts when I live there...

Oh, that sounds like my hometown in Nebraska..... I hope I don't go nuts when I live there...

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out if this is the kind of lifestyle I want when I retire. I suspect it will take a few years to decide. I think it would be impossible to be without a car here, because the grocery store closed down. They're building a new one, but it will be a year before it opens. But unless you eat at the lone restaurant or can buy what you need at the hardware store (which has a little of everything), you have to drive at least 25 miles. It's 40 miles to the computer store. My friends all live 20-60 miles away, except for the one next door. I'd die without a car.

Every time I come down here, there's a period of about a week when the place drives me crazy. I go to the post office and it's closed for an hour for lunch? I walk by the book store, and it's only open from 6 pm until 8 pm and on Saturdays? The library is open totally random hours that change constantly. The grocery store, which is 25 miles away, has none of my brands.

The postman made me very suspicious for a long time. It was this pick-up truck that would stop and open people's mail boxes. Just this guy in a black truck. Ends up they have a part-time mailman.

The policeman stopped by on Sunday with his wife. He wanted to show her my flooded storm shelter. He said, "We were looking for a kid with beer and since everyone knows you're not here most of the time, we checked your storm shelter and found it filled with water!"

Now, I'm not sure how many of my neighbors* up north know when I'm not there...

Yet, when the first week is over, I've adjusted and really like* the same things that aggravated me at first. The little newspaper is full of things like who received out of town guests and who is sick and would appreciate some cards. The road gets graded by a tractor every few days. The town is so quiet I can hear the Friday night football games on the other side of town from my back yard.

But sometimes I drive up to Wichita during rush hour just to experience traffic, so I don't know if I could actually retire here.

I haven't been on for a while. I put the bike up for the winter after the Apple Cider Century Sep 30, which by the way was a great time. I took up running again and am now working to get in shape for a marathon I am going to run in May in Traverse City MI. I am running 10 miles a night for three nights, then taking a night off.

The Bike will come out of moth balls this spring. I lurk once in a while. Still traveling, in fact going to Dallas next week.