5 DAYS OF NOSTALGIA IN FLORIDA....

Upon wrapping up 5 days visiting my 89 year old mom in Florida, I had some time to roll through some of the piles of very old photos that are in boxes around her condo. I've seen pretty much all of these photos over the years, but this was one I do not ever remember seeing in the past. It was in a big box of miscellaneous photos piled high and deep. This was our back porch in New Jersey when I was just a young kid, along with our Beagle whose name was "Giant". Looks like I've got a mouth and handful of Oreo cookie here and our dog is in some type of box.....this may have been our milk box because in those days we had fresh milk delivered to the house via milk truck. It really wasn't that long ago. Giant looks bummed about the photo op. I'm sure he was fed graciously for his efforts, he always was, he was a really fat dog as I recall. He was a cool dog.

A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING....

Wait till the Wilderness kooks get their hands on this one....what a fuck up.

NOW THAT I'M HOME AND HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT.....

This was the best damn snow I've skied in 33 years on the East Wall at Arapahoe Basin. Huge shout out to Ski Patrol for getting this open WHILE I WAS THERE AND STILL ALIVE TO SKI IT! Bottomless, blower POW. 

ANOTHER VAIL PASS DICKBAG

STOP FUCKING SNOWING IN MY YARD...

And breaking our trees, god damn it.

However, keep fucking dumping snow in the mountains...tis the season for SHRED.

THIS IS BASEBALL

 Since I've been living in Lakewood, I've always wanted to ride my bike to Coors Field and watch the Rockies play and hopefully win. Today, with good friend and bike builder Dave Mires who made the trip down from Minturn, we did it. About an 8 mile ride each way, relatively flat, and upon arrival to Coors field we found a bike valet area fenced in and supervised for the entire game that is absolutely free! It is manned by a gentleman in a wheel chair who you can slip a couple of bucks when you check out at the end of the game. It is absolutely wonderfully awesome.

 We got there early and hung out in the bleachers...

 Dave got the finger test upon arrival and had to give up the goods.

No Matter, the Rockies bombed the Giants 11-6 and we all rode our bikes home smiling.

2016 PARIS-ROUBAIX

You may want to watch this recap of Sunday's Paris-Roubaix a couple of times, this is just pure joy and a celebration of our sport.

I DON'T RACE MY BIKES VERY OFTEN ANYMORE....

But when I do I usually have a pretty good time despite my age and level of suffering. I also like to "race" my bike regardless of what is going on. A solo attack on the technical dirt section at the end of lap 3 of 4 busted up our field, and though it did not stick, it was to be in the mix for a while. I ran out of bullets on the last short incline to the finish line and watched a dozen or so riders blow by me. It was a lot of fun...a lot. 

On a much more serious and broken hearted note, good friend and fellow age group racer Lauren (Larry) Mclaughlin passed away yesterday after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Pardon my English, but this has been one fucked up couple of years with regards to the loss of friends and significant illness all of who were very young and healthy. I'm not sure what is going on, nor do I want to know, but these things do not seem to make much sense at all. All lived healthy lifestyles, all fell too soon or became ill and are sick. The number of friends I've lost in my old mountain digs is to be honest quite astonishing, from a bunch of bizarre stuff. Tell those you love that you do and do things you enjoy, take some time away from your busy life and breath, do something fun, tomorrow is no guarantee. Most importantly remember this.....

Hugs not handshakes.

JUST IN CASE YOU ARE HAVING A SHIT WEEKEND....

#NOBODYGIVESASHIT

Really

IF I HAPPEN TO SEE YOU OUT RIDING WHILE I HAPPEN TO BE OUT RIDING....

And you are riding in a kit I recognize or I happen to recognize you and you do not wave back at me or say "hey" or something cordial....you will automatically be entered into the A2B Bag of Dicks, no exceptions. You may even get a call out at the next race I announce as being the biggest dick in the bag.

BIGGEST BALLZ OF ALL....

Who's got the biggest balls of them all? This guy does. These balls couldn't even fit in a gunny sack.

IF YOU HAVE 6 MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE TO WASTE....HERE YOU GO.

GOLF

Golf is a great game, I used to play a lot, a whole lot. I was pretty good at golf, now I suck and I'm going to try and get pretty good at it again if I can help it. Golf is inexpensive here in Denver. It was very expensive and over priced where I used to live. Let's play golf.

I played today with the guys from Christy Sports. We had a lot of fun. I hit a bunch of crappy golf shots, and some really good golf shots. I was +4 on the back nine, and +44 on the front nine, such a great game.

SAGAN FLANDERS

In case you missed the beast beat up on the former beast....here you go A2B followers. Enjoy this monumental effort.

And of course the race highlights...

WE WENT TO A PARTY AT THE PEPSI CENTER LAST NIGHT, AND A BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CONCERT BROKE OUT

The Boss spent a lot of time in the crowd last night...what a show.

Last night was a bit of a  renaissance for myself and Anna as we got on board the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band train and went for a 4 hour non-stop ride to glory of years past. It was a pretty special eve with THE BOSS, they all are if you have ever had the chance to see him perform live.

The day started with a ski at Winter Park, I get free passes to ski the place and had never been there before to ski, ever. In 33 years of skiing hard in Colorado I'd never visited the place. It was a powder day. Great snow but the mountain is laid out super funky and there is only one chair there worth skiing in my mind and that was not that super spectacular. Getting around the place is a bit of a nightmare on the hill and I'm not sure how a beginner to intermediate skier would fare there what with all the poling required to get around, it's substantial and a snowboarder's nightmare..but we had some fun and some good turns.

We then buckled up our seat-belts for THE BOSS and he did not disappoint. I wept shamelessly all the way through "Thunder Road" as the nostalgia took over the best of me and the 34 song eve wrapped up with a super high energy set of Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, Rosalita, Tenth Avenue Freeze-out, Shout and wrapped up the eve with Bobby Jean. It was spectacular.