REI Rules!

I ended up at REI today and managed to snag a Hydrapak Overflow 3l camel pack on closeout for a steal. Since I’ve been riding the mountain bike a bit more and Texas summers get a little on the warm side it’ll be nice to carry some hydration around with me! Plus it’s going to get a good test when I ride up to Illinois in June.

If the shoe fits…

I finally got back to Bikes, Inc. and got the cleats attached to my shoes this morning. This is really going to be a learning curve, and I think I’m going to have to tweak the clips to release a little easier. I almost fell over trying to get my foot out during the test ride!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Well, I turned 31 today and spent the morning fighting with ALSA quirks in order to get the line-in jack on my sound card to work. It’s the next step in the hamshack rebuild, since I’m going to be moving away from Windows.

After that I headed out to Bicycles Inc. to pick up shoes and other stuff for the new bike. I ended up with shoes, gloves, a pair of bike socks, and a helmet.

After that I had to go to PetSmart to pick up some more food for the girls, which I really should have done at some other time because the mall traffic mall traffic was really crappy.

Then I tracked down a friend and we went over to Boi Na Braza, a Brazilian churrascaria, to satisfy the carnivore in me.

Finally, I kicked back and watched Hero, the Chinese film that Quentin Tarantino was promoting in the US this past year. It was absolutely wonderful. It and Crouching Tiger have really made me want to find some more films in the same genre.

LSJC Christmas Party

Tonight was the LSJC christmas party, and it was a blast. I watched some pretty cool wheeling videos of a trip to Moab, UT. The gift exchange was fun, and I ended up with three rolls of duct tape and a Chili’s gift certificate. Unfortunately, I didn’t win the winch the club was raffling off, but there’s always next time… I also picked up the trailer hitch bike rack, so the days of stuffing the bike in the back of the Jeep are coming to an end!

I’ve got a new toy!

I just picked up a 2004 Specialized Rockhopper Pro from a friend. I’ve been itching to get back into mountain biking, and this is the perfect excuse. But it really is like starting over because so much has changed. This thing’s got disc brakes, indexed shifting, and a boatload more gears than my old bike. It’s also got clip-ons instead of platforms, so I’m going to have to pick up a set of shoes and learn how to use them. I had toe clips on my last bike, but these are completely different animals. It’s going to be fun!