Polar Opposite of Bloody Knee

My mom commented the other day that she cringes each time coming across the picture of my knee cap more or less dangling in blood from the recent Arkansas bike trip.  As any good son would do, you try to help out the greatest person in life, the one who created you. With that, to offset the bloody knee, I give you pictures of puppies. They are NOT my puppies. They are just pictures of puppies. 

Enjoy

Trail Head

Razorback Ride - sometimes we fall...on very sharp rocks

The bike tour ventured south this past week with a fall count of three; fault blamed mostly on said A.D.D. rider seeing shiny objects in the peripherals and catching an errant rock bringing said rider down. No broken bones to report but I seem to find a new bruise each hour since I returned home. 

Whining rider report aside, what a mountain bike paradise the Bentonville, Arkansas area is.

In the attached video, you get to see fall number three at the beginning.  Then a view of The Ledges trail which was literally a ride on a ledge and if you veered off the ledge you had some serious ghost riding going on down about 20 feet onto rock. I didn't bite it in The Ledges but somehow found a rocky ravine to fall into just before.

The city of Bentonville is small town America with a monster company within it so heads up for a Walmart reference quite a bit in town. My lodging was A-1 with the some great local flavor at the hotel bar trying to get their Razorback baseball game on the television. They love their college baseball in the south and I couldn't tell you one current Spartan or Wolverine baseball player if my life depended on it.  

It was St. Patrick's day over the weekend and wasn't sure if the Razorback faithful were into the green tradition but they were; so much that I've never seen so many babies (i.e. infants) in the bar in my life Saturday afternoon. Crazy, but not really. 

In addition to the utopia ride, I got to visit my Aunt Pat and cousin Mike who live a little over an hour east of Bentonville. I hadn't seen Mike in some time. He looks like my Uncle Joe and I look like my Dad as we both joked that we hoped there would be no repeat in certain aspects of both lives.

To the Arkansas faithful.....Pig Sooie!!!!!

Trail Head

Redneck version of the bike rack (couldn't resist taking this picture)

best trail name ever

tourist mode

Book Report before Spring Break

A tribute today to those college years when you furiously studied that week before Spring Break to get ready for that mid-term or final exam. A big difference between the two before vacation. Having went to two different colleges, one with two semesters, the other on trimesters, I got to experience both the mid-term and the final exam before break and the break is MUCH better with the latter as the last thing I want to do on Spring Break is worry about a class that still has seven weeks remaining. 

With that, here is my book report before Spring Break:

Grant (biography)

A great read on the life of U.S. Grant. I had read his memoirs awhile back but those were a bit long-winded so this was a nice, concise (yet still over 1,000 pages) tribute to one of the great ones. I can't get enough of reading about the Civil War and the shi* our forefathers went through to create this great country of ours, flaws and all. People assume the war ended and the south just jumped in line to what the north was telling them how it was going to be. The south may have lost the war but uneducated people will act like uneducated people do and as like today, nothing good happens in those scenarios. 

I had forgotten Grant was supposed to join Lincoln at Ford's Theatre that fateful night when Wilkes Booth did a bad thing but Mrs. Grant wanted to get out of town (presumably to avoid Mrs. Lincoln as she was a b-word according to the book) so history might have been different had things went differently. Would Lincoln survive had Grant been with him? I would like to think yes but if security was crap to allow someone to get to the President, I doubt the same crap security would have been different. Who knows. I do know that the only north general with any balls was Grant with William Tecumseh Sherman as a close second.  

As Grant was known to love his whiskey and cigars, the book gives both perspectives on assumed drunkenness during slow times during the war. "The General was tired that evening" were some of the sympathizer views with the other side advising the general can't hold his booze and was falling all over hurling. 

Unconditionally good read. 

Football for a Buck - The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

One of my favorite reads as I was in high school during the USFL years. Michigan's last pro football champion and I couldn't get enough of it. Michigan Panthers. Best uniforms, bar none. 

An outstanding collection of stories behind the individuals who played in the league back in the 80's. Stories about the Michigan Panther defensive end who had a large 'johnson' and liked to flaunt it to anyone and everyone in the locker room; press and all. A story about a coach having to hire a security firm to guard for his life as a steroid-raged (lot of steroid stories) defensive lineman was not too happy being cut. 

It was all great until our current Prez got greedy, tried to compete with the NFL and down went the league.  

Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death and John Madden's Oakland Raiders

If I could do it all over again I would be an Oakland Raider in the '70's. Curfew Smurfew for the Raiders in the 1970's. Just be ready on Sunday was more or less what Madden told them. And they were. They OWNED the area. Stabler is a hall a famer for being the player he was outside of the football arena. He was a play-uhh. 

Great read.

Basketball: A Love Story

A compilation of stories/narratives from everyone involved in the sport, high school, college, pro, men and women. A good book to put by the crapper because you can open it up at any point and the blurb will be just long enough for you to finish business and not have elbow marks on your thighs from sitting too long.

The Yucks: Two Years in Tampa with the Losingest Team in NFL History

Misery loves company and as a Lion fan, an enjoyable read on the things that can go wrong when the wrong people are in charge. Tampa and Seattle were the expansion teams in '76 and both tried to build different ways. Tampa lost 26 in a row so I don't think their method worked. Thankfully for the people in Tampa, they eventually got new ownership and....wait for it.... they won a Super Bowl! Hint, hint Ford family. It's time. 

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

As I am a little bit 'outside the box' as I have my oddities (everyone does), I enjoy reading books on others speaking up on their oddities and laughing about it. Enjoy the body you are dealt with.  

Winter Pedal Review

The winter mountain biking season for those looking to ride in the metropolitan Detroit area this season was a disappointment to say the least. I think its the curse of the local riding chapter's purchase of a trail grooming machine this season. Scared all the snow away. December lacked snow which allowed for moronic riders to destroy the trails during muddy time, January brought about rain/freezing rain/thaw/rain/snow/freezing rain which more or less put a layer of ice on every trail in the area. February brought about the 'polar vortex' allowing for extra freeze on the existing layer of ice. 

This past week, however, presented a nice base of snow so off to Highland Recreation Area Saturday and Sunday this large headed rider went as social media reviews said the trail was a go. It did not disappoint. For friends who have asked about the winter riding experience, I've tried to capture it in the attached. The creative world of film editing allows for the removal of my gasping for air and snail speed climbs. A beautiful morning on a beautiful trail, however.

Trail Head

Ode to the Neighborhood Association

For anyone out there that has ever lived in a neighborhood with an association, by-laws and all that stuff (read: crap), this entry goes out to you. The thankless of all thankless jobs for those on the association board. There are 100+ homes in my sub so that is a lot a people to try and keep in line. Most keep up but there are always a handful of Taylor transplants to stir the pot (a shout out to Taylor-tucky today). 

I stay away from all board meetings as I made the mistake of attending one in my old neighborhood. Unbeknownst to me, my neighbor at the time decided to nominate me for a board position; which quicker than you can say 'jam and marmalade', I declined said nomination. That was my first and last board meeting.  

I won't name the specific neighborhood but friends in Highland live in a subdivision where the locals know their by-laws by heart and aren't afraid to throw a can of whoop ass on you if said by-laws are broken. I saw a woman there one time with vengeance that I've never seen before in another individual going off on another individual and their dog. I can't remember the exact infraction the dog made but just remember hearing "IT'S IN THE BY-LAWS!!!!" by the woman multiple times.

With the social media world we live in, every association these days has a group set up for residents to say whatever is on their mind. The posts are priceless.

The first entry below is a good one to start with as who doesn't like talking shi*? I have no dog Steven so can't claim dibs on the present someone left in your garbage can.

More poop venting but this time the guilty party was caught on camera! Come forward pink retractable leash owner and clean up that poop!

I haven't had a mailbox smashing incident since the 80's Michelle so hope whomever took out your mailbox fessed up.

In the "sucks to be you" category, we have poor Jennifer who not once, but twice over a span of five months had to tell the neighborhood that her basement was not doing too well these days. 

Heads up if you come to visit as apparently we have a coyote and a very friendly fox.

Never mind about the coyote and the fox if you visit, heads up for the crazy dog biting kids as they walk to the bus stop!

After escaping the coyote, the fox and the rabid dog, avoid Apple Crest as it sounds like its going to blow up soon.

Poor Meagan has bug issues and one person is giving her a thumbs up for having bug issues.

And two thumbs up to Jenni for having drywall damage!!!

Every neighborhood has a speed racer as if you have enough residents, there will always be one. I think Chris should utilize the "throwing of the rake at the car/motorcycle" process that my dad made popular in the 80's in his attempts to slow traffic on our street as I doubt the noted Mercury Milan is checking the association's site. 

Yes Grazia, I have a 'no solicitors' sticker on the door as well but am guessing the employee turnover on the people coming through the neighborhoods is quite rampant so just don't answer the door.

Wall of Ride

The winter project for this large headed mountain biker was completed Saturday as my den became the shrine to the many, many mountain bike rides over the past 25 or so years. Shown is one wall with maps ranging from as far north as the top of the U.P., Pennsylvania to the east, Arizona to the west, Arkansas to the south is coming next month and a whole shi*load of Michigan in between. What a long, strange trip its been. Many beautiful forest rides, a few hospital visits, a few hundred falls and loved every minute of it. Each map conjures some memory, whether it be looking at the Pontiac Lake map and seeing Mark C. getting taken away in an ambulance with a broken ankle (walk it off Frenchie) or the Pinckney Rec Area map bringing about the time when a group of five or so of us rode 'the Poto' for the first time (mid-late 90's I want to say). We thought we were in shape; we were not. A lesson learned.     

Trail Head

Walking on Water

From the looks of the attached pictures, one would think we were in fact walking on water this morning on Dunham Lake for the annual Super Bowl ice fish. The ice was about 6 inches deep so no worries on falling in but there was close to that in top water in some areas so it made for a surreal visual; and some VERY careful walking from Point A to Point B as the ice was quite slick. I am happy to report there were no casualties in the ice trip report but had a few 'wo wo's' myself. Eric Von Catchem again took honors with the early pike as that was the only conquest for the morning although I'll put money on it that Jake S., who was still there when we left, probably took in some form of trophy fish; that family can fish. The lake she is a finicky one. 

Trail Head