Your Friendly Neighborhood Restaurant Reviewer...

Yesterdays ride was, well it was pathetic. Matt even made the comment, "Buddy, this is the slowest ride we have ever done together". It was OK because neither one of us felt good. I still managed 2 hours but not a whole lot of miles. I am not too concerned because it was extremely humid and hot. Even with the lack luster pace we still had a bit of fun.

Tonight Rachael and I headed to The Whip Tavern. A new restaurant right around the corner. It is modeled after an old style British Pub, and done quite well. It has a nice atmosphere, along with good beer and authentic British cuisine. I started the evening with a Sam Smith's nut brown ale and Rachael went for a Tetley's. The food was very good we had some mushrooms stuffed with boar sausage for an appetizer, a couple of salads. Then for the entree, Rachael had the traditional fish and chips (which was very good and close to home) I had the steamed mussels and and sausage, which was also very good. We will be going back. The only down fall is parking is a litlle limited, but there was plenty of room on the grass across the street.

Well thanks for reading,
Buddy

Life is GOOD!!!

Yesterday after my morning ride I headed home. Rachael and I were planning to go see Star Wars (I know I am a huge fan and I haven't seen it yet) The movie started at 4:15 and we were going to dinner after. I was really looking forward to dinner because we were going to VICTORY. There is just something about being that close to where some of the finest beer is brewed and bottled. We got to the theater a little early, like 45 minutes early. I looked at some of the start times and realized Batman Begins started at 4:00. Batman it was, and let me tell you I was not disappointed. The cast was phenomanal, Christian Bael is the best Batman yet, Michael Caine was a great Alfred, others were Morgan Freeman,and Liam Neeson. The story was very well written, the movie is very dark but if you ever read the early Batman comics you would know that is how it should have been. I highly recomend this movie, it is one of the best comic book movies yet. Right there with Spiderman.

Next was dinner. Victory has OK food but I really don't go there for the food. I started my visit off with a nice 22oz glass of Dark Devil. This is a combonation of Hop Devil and Storm King Stout, an awesome beer, Rachael who now has the cold I just got over went for the always good Victory Lager. For dinner we both chose personnal pizzas. I went for the Heartland which is buffalo chicken, blue cheese and scallions, very good. Rachael chose the Victory White with grilled chicken also very good. Sunday was a good day.

Today I quit my job. I also got a new job, this happens a lot when your in a Union. I was working in a shit hole chemical plant. Now I am working in a nice air conditioned bank. Like I said Life Is GOOD.

Thanks for reading,
Buddy

Hot Weather and Hot Rides...

Saturday was the annual Delaware Trail Spinners Poker Run. It is always a good ride and a chance to preview the race course. In the past we already had an idea about the course because Todd was the guy who laid it out. This year he didn't even know the course. We headed out with a good sized group, Todd, fatmarc, Keith G (fresh off his first cycle of chemo) Matty T, Jay, John C, James(team Fort rider) and Fitzy, sorry if I forgot anybody. Marc took the lead and was setting a good pace fast but steady. After about 45 min. Todd jumped to the front and the pace crept up a little. Then Keith (did I mention fresh off of a chemo cycle) jumped in front of Todd, next thin I know I am hanging on for dear life and our nice big group is whittled down to 4, Keith, Todd, John C and myself. The course was the hardest Fair Hill course I have ever done. It is going to be a tough race. About 19 miles into a 22 mile race there is a new semi skills trail. I have a feeling this is going to buckle a few people, especially the long hot field climb after. Don't get me wrong I am totally excited about this race and can't wait for it to happen. When we finally made it back to the end I looked at my watch a noticed we did it in 2:15 and that was counting the 8 minute ride in from Marc's house. One of the trail spinners was surprised he didn't expect anyone to finish in under 2:30. Definitely a good ride and felt surprisingly good.

Brent (mister smooth) Biddle showing off his sweet new Salsa hard tail
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Mike K with his longggggg anticipated Dean soft tail single speed
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Todays ride seemed to be the opposite for me. It was really hot and yesterday took a toll on me. We had another good group; fatmarc, Brent (mr. smooth), Slick Rick, Matty T on his new Rig, Mike K, Keith G, Todd, and later we picked up John C. Matt was the leader today and he was obviously feeling a lot better. We were flying from the get go and it never slowed down. I wasn't feeling as good today but I was hanging in pretty good. As we headed through White Clay I heard Marc yell "Todd's off", Matt seemed excited by this. I guess that ride yesterday hurt some others as well. We continued to hammer the trails, which are super dry and super fast right now. We hit the boundary trail and Matt was setting a good pace, so good no one could attack, we changed things up a bit for the down hill. We took the illegal trail, it is a really fun down hill I was having a blast going down. We continued through White Clay and made our way to Middle run. I was starting to hurt pretty bad but continued to hang in there. Matt really through down on the last section before we called it quits, and for the first time in a while I found myself getting dropped. I put my head down and pushed, I was determined to stay on. I managed to get back on but it hurt like hell and thank god we were done. It was a great weekend of riding. I love it when we get big groups of really fast people together. It doesn't get any better than this.

Thanks for reading,
Buddy