Musings in Regards to Mountain Biking

Yes, this is me going through a section called "The Stairs" on the Chubb Trail, just west of St. Louis. After not biking at all last summer, due to a little project called "building my own house," I'm back on the bike again. I've probably been out about 15 times or so this year, mostly at Jubilee State Park. Here are some thoughts.

1. No matter what the PAMBA people say, Jubilee is NOT Indepedence or Dirksen. There are only three things I miss about living in Pekin -- they have a good city park for my boys, and they have the BEST mountain biking in the area. Mad props to the guys from Little Ades (they're the third thing I miss about living in Pekin).
2. Never, ever, ever eat pancakes at 8am and then go for an intense ride at 9am, no matter how good the pancakes are. Pancakes tend to sit in your gut like a brick that weighs at least 10 times more than when it went in...also, when you have a big climb you tend to throw- up pancakes.
3. I'm really out of shape...I'm pretty sure I'd be a wicked rider if I was carrying about 20lbs. less -- enough said!
4. My bike has been performing well considering that it is a $300 entry-level bike that I've upgraded wheelsets, bottom bracket, cranks, tires, sprockets, and seat. However, every day I think and dream about a new bike someday...specifically the Kona Hoss Dee-Lux.
5. There's still nobody I'd rather ride with than my brother-in-law Josh. We have a blast pushing each other and laughing our butts off when somebody wipes (like when I went hard over the handlebars at Indy on Memorial Day while trying to negotiate a log pile).

WARNING: If you don't like getting sweaty and muddy while you workout with a decided element of danger, don't waste your time and/or money...instead, you can donate to my new bike fund!

A word about the pancakes...I took some chopped pecans, lightly toasted them in a skillet and then added some sugar, so that I now had candied pecans. I put about half the pecans in the pancake mixture and then used the rest as a topping...crunchy and delicious...although beware of note #2!