A cat-shaped hole in our hearts

The sweet lil' putty-tat, Beast for which this blog derives its name has passed on to the giant catnip-filled field beyond. She was 18 people years and 79 cat years old. The picture above is from a few years ago when she would nightly sleep/hang out on my neck and shoulders whilst I goofed on my computer. Beast was the runt of a litter that my girlfirend's cat had just before I went off to dental school. She was probably about six weeks old when I took her off to school with me. I will never forget our first bonding experience. She fit into the palm of my hand and as I headed up to Richmond in the sweltering August heat she was panting like crazy as my car had no AC. I pulled over and filled a bottle cap with water which she lapped up and then promptly fell asleep in my lap. Another cool thing she would do was to crawl onto my knee when I would play my acoustic guitar wrapping her front paws around my knee to hold on as I created various rackets over the years. We moved all over the place to different states, cities and homes. She took a few sabaticals over the years but always came back. Beast seemed to have a good sense about people too. Those that she did not care for I ended up eventually feeling the same about. Beast lived w/ my Mom who treated her like a queen for the last couple years of her life. We all will miss her. Rest in peace sweet kitty.

Jungle Hop

Boy oh boy I sure had fun assembling the accoutrements for our lil' boy's room this weekend. Its seems like forever ago since we picked out the theme and the furniture finally arrived this weekend. Often you wonder when you buy something if you made a good choice. I now know that we did after seeing it all together in his future bedroom. Its nice stuff, super-cute and I hope that someday that if he ever reads this he'll be embarrassed-hahaha! I originally wanted to go with an outer space theme, however we were not able to readily find bedding and all the hoo-haa in that style. My wife was amused but not crazy about the idea of a wall mural that I would paint that would have among other images a UFO abducting our dogs. That did not fly (pun-intended). In the end the jungle theme Zoofari won out. I love it as I had a jungle themed room when I was a toddler and I turned out ok. I love and respect animals often more than most people. I hope our little guy will learn to love and respect animals too and deserving people.

I had a swell AM ride up at Freedom Park today. I ran into a patient and his friends and we all hit it together. I ride alone alot so this was a nice change of pace. Another thing that was great was that they were into big bikes (hell, one of 'em was on a Demo 7 with the crazy paint job like in the photo) and milking all of the technical features that the trail has to offer. Yeah man, bring it on! No offense to any of the more tame XC riders, but I just like throwing down more. Now we rode everything not just the places with jumps (although we did each of those a few times). Call it what you want; all-mountain/trail/freeriding whatever. Its just mountain biking to me and its fun. Jungle Hop as covered by my heros The Cramps. Lots of garabge, man.

Lay it on me

Assorted tales/tails. Despite having many days here of temperatures in the 90's I have done a lot of riding. Mostly commutes to and from work. In fact I have not drove to work in over two weeks. I kind of feel guilty when I drive because my commutes to either office are brief (less than five miles). Sure there are times when I have to schlep something that I would rather not stuff into my messenger bag, but its only a minor inconvenience. Previously I relegated all of my commuting duties to my speedy cyclocross bike. This is a logical choice as I have slicks on it so its basically a heavy duty roadie and I can get to any destination faster aboard it than any of my other rides. However my instinct to play never seems to go away so I rebuilt my old Surly Instigator (old picture above/new and improved below) into an urban assault vehicle. I went with a 1x9 gearing, Maxxis Holy Roller tires, a Gravity Dropper, flat pedals and a nice beefy Z1 fork. Its perfect for riding down stairs, jumping curbs/planters, riding through ragged industrial yards and general urban mayhem. It may not be as fast as the 'cross bike, but like I always say "It makes the commute an adventure". I find myself scouting lines all the time now when I am in car not unlike when I was kid with my skateboard where I would see some embankment and think how I could ride it. Now I have to use broader strokes and a larger palate. Its fun.

Heres some more fun. Recently our local paper reported on a proposed "cycling loop" in Virginia Beach. I am very happy that that any effort is being made for the benefit of cyclists in this area, however I think this proposal is a poor choice. It will not be sustainable because at its core it will be boring. It will take even the most novice rider only a brief period of time to circle a 2.4 km paved path. Then what? Keep going around like a hamster in a treadmill? If thats the effect you want go spin at the multitude of gyms around. Paved path? How about the boardwalk? Its longer and far more interesting. No serious rider is going to go there for training because a. It will not provide any challenge and b. Aforementioned novices will be in the way. What really kills me is the cost to taxpayers of $3.9 million. I will not sit here and badmouth without a solution. I say take the 25 acres of land (or find another park or two) and allow a series of multi-use trails to be built for cyclists (mountain bikers), hikers and possibly equestrians. Does this seem self-serving? You bet it is, as there is a single city park on the south side of the bay that has legal mountain bike trails (First Landing does not count; the trails are too wide). However, there are amazing successful examples of this throughout the nation. Heres the black and white: It can be done at a fraction of the proposed sum. It will bring interest to the area, revenue to local vendors and provide a project that can be sustained for years by local groups (civic, cycling clubs, scouts, etc.) Amazing examples of these kind of projects be found in Fort Lauderdale (similarly flat), New York City, Seattle and Woodstock, Georgia (Atlanta suburb). The last one I have personally rode many times and help maintain at some their work parties. It is incredible that a community would come together to make something like this happen. It has drawn people to the area increased the local business revenues and given the area national recognition. Picnic Areas, Frisbee golf, dog parks, nature paths all could be included. Bottom line is that it could be fun.