TrentonMakes

Usually the weekend after Epiphany (Jan 6), through the "twelve days".

"It's spelled just like it sounds!"

Growing up we had a gravel driveway to a 55-mph road with no shoulders.... neither was good for skateboarding so I never learned. Looks like a lot of fun though. For someone really comfortable on a board, flying down a hill like that must be amazing. Actually I grew up riding my bike on that same road..... I almost feel like I'd be a little uncomfortable on it today.

That's a really nice room - the floor, the lighting on the wall, windows - beautiful! We have almost everything up, except for the tree. The kids are very anxious to get decorations up and luckily for them their dad pretty much feels the same way starting the weekend after Thanksgiving.

I thought that's what the prostitute was for.

yay DH!

This just leads to so many questions....... I was hoping to see this guy.

"Grandma Got Run Over..." will send me "running over" to turn down the volume/change channel/etc. As will "Wonderful Christmastime" (McCartney) "Dominick the Donkey" (Lou Monte) "Christmas Rapping" (Waitresses) "Santa Baby" by anyone (but especially Madonna)

Goldie! Helen! awesome.

Based on that photo of Christie I might believe you if you told me she was in her 40s. But a 60-year old woman doesn't need to look 10-20 years younger to be beautiful.

I'd much rather Burt Bacharach come in and play our piano while we're there. I would prefer he be clothed, but if he insisted on playing au naturel that'd be a small price to pay for the honor. Dionne can even sing too as long as they promise not to do "San Jose". Doubtful he would touch our console though.... needs a tuning badly.

"We have met the enemy..." was my first thought too.

I presume you get an elevated heart rate during a white knuckle drive - so I think that counts as a workout. Be careful out there.

I enjoy putting these together. I've ridden most of these enough that I can picture in my head how steep they are (so it's hard for me to objectively judge how well the photos convey it). Of the roads pictured, I think the steepest climb is the one in the green-blue-red-yellow farm photo. The last 500 feet of that approach is about 11%. There's another long gradual descent approaching this and it quickly and efficiently sucks up any momentum I carry in. I won't tell Pennsylvania if you don't.

This goes in the "CONS" column under Capitalism. This four-day weekend included visiting with family and a phenomenal Thanksgiving dinner, a great (bonus) late-season ride in nice weather, a quiet evening at home with my wife (we read on the couch for an hour!), and a really fun time with the kids yesterday, shopping and putting up Christmas decorations. It gets harder and harder to come back to work after time away. But that's only going to be the case for the next..... 25 or 30 years.

I didn't really feel like it but I pushed myself to ride the trainer for half an hour. Later I was up and down the ladder a bunch of times putting up Christmas lights.

The Monday morning weigh-in is 253.5, down 1/2 lb from a week ago. Given that I enjoyed a hell of a Thanksgiving dinner, I'll take it.

so for once I talked about doing something, and then I went out and did it. Ended up with 46 miles - at a sub-14mph pace, but I kept stopping to take pictures. The 2600+ climbing feet put me over 50K for the year which was nice. It was chilly enough to start that I went with long sleeves and a windbreaker, and eventually it warmed up enough (low 60s) that I could have taken a layer off, but I didn't bother. It was a great day to be out regardless and if this was the last long ride of the year then I ended on a good note. And I took some late fall photos. Some of these areas look completely different to me without the dense green canopy overhead, especially up on the mountain. Mount Airy, NJ Farm field near Ringoes, NJ. Apparently in Revolutionary War times, Ringoes was the largest settlement in this area, being at the junction of the Old York Road between NYC and Philadelphia (today's US 202 parallels the alignment) and the road to Trenton (now Route 31). Rainbow Hill Road, looking south. This road has always reminded me a little of Europe (uh - which I've seen in pictures, and on TV - YMMV). The pavement is probably less than 18 feet wide. Almost December but the fields are still very green. And there's a little kicker about a mile down that's a lot longer and steeper than I thought - I'd only driven this in the car, never on a bike. My trusty steed. We had a great year! My destination is a road that crosses the ridge near the towers which are just barely visible on the horizon underneath my right brake lever. Long Hill Road in Montgomery, NJ - just about to enter that section I love, and a mile or so beyond the aforementioned towers. I liked how the sun lit up the pavement through the trees. My enjoyment of this stretch was unfortunately diminished a little by a headwind (or maybe that was just my tired legs). In the summer this area is lush and green and well-shaded, a stark contrast to the bleakness of late November. I am pretty much standing on the county line, with Hunterdon County to the left (west) and Somerset County to the right (east). The county line bisects the structure, which at one time housed a post office (on the left side). If I remember correctly, the residence portion had a different zip code than the post office in the same building. This is known as "Knitting Betty Rock".... supposedly a young woman named Betty sat here knitting and waiting for her fiance to return from fighting in the Revolution. Did he ever return? "No he never returned!" Legend has it she stayed here, knitting and waiting for him, and her spirit supposedly continues to haunt the area. I don't know about that, but either way it's a pretty cool couple of slabs of volcanic rock grinding against each other. I should have parked the bike in front of it for scale. Looking back east from KB Rock - it looks like a fun little twisty downhill; I guess it is but I only rode it once in that direction. This is at least the third ride on which I've photographed this view. It always captivates me - the blue sky, red buildings, green grass and the yellow road stripes. This is looking north, back up the hill toward the site of the last two photos. And heading back south, at the beautiful Hopewell Valley. My route will cross the ridge a ways to the west, where it's not as steep as it is here. I wish they hadn't built that giant Spanish-looking residence - completely out of place here. "Honey, this is why I was late getting home..." I'm not sure this has ever happened to me while out on a ride. Thanks for looking at my photos and reading my babble.

I agree, but the injuries to the receiving corps could be tough to overcome in January. Any news on Gronk? I wasn't even clear on what happened to Amendola. I did enjoy watching a snow game.

I've made enough progress of late that I decided I'd treat myself to one big dinner, so for a couple hours I set the diet aside. It was a phenomenal meal. Hopefully a ride today will cancel out some of yesterday's indulgence.

Probably stuffing his face.

I've heard the story a few times, of a guy pretty high up at a major State agency, who wrote such a letter, just to blow off steam - but then he inadvertently left it somewhere where his secretary found it. She mailed it.

hang in there, Maxx. Hope this doesn't happen again, and she proceeds uneventfully to recovery.

I am hopeful that I can continue to get out for occasional rides through the off-season - but I think most of them will be pretty short. I just don't handle cold temps well, and the trainer is a decent enough substitute. But Friday, the forecast is for partly sunny and low 60s - hoping to get out for what could be my last multi-hour ride of the season. This one mountain road makes me smile every time - after a steady 1-mile climb and then some rollers there's maybe a 1-mile false flat, slightly downhill, through the woods, and I end up flying in a high gear. Only thing is, to get up there and back (on safe roads) is pretty much a minimum of 40 miles. I think (hope?) my body's still OK with a ride that long - but what the hell, I think I will go for it. I even have a new phone, with a battery that will last long enough to get some photos. Anyone else with riding plans for the holiday or long weekend?

Very happy to read this. You've been through far too much to let this continue to drag you down. I'm convinced a positive outlook will let you heal faster. We will continue to cheer you on.