Then: it was a trip down under to repair a 50 year old plumbing problem in the crawl space of a client’s home. One of the rules of plumbing is that shit flows down hill,
Then on to London for a few days. We’ll be heading there soon for a summer visit or maybe spend New Years in Piccadilly. 
After London it was on to Warsaw where she got to see some examples of Soviet architecture. WWII and communism really did a number on this place. Between the Nazis fighting their way in and the Russians beating them back the place was turned to rubble.
An otherwise handsome man I’m sure, not many people can pull off the parka/stocking cap combo and make it look good but Peter gives it his best shot. 
The space is ready to load in the bike shop. Now I have to build the tool shed which is what this was intended for as I was reminded of today by Julie. But I'm way ahead of her and as soon as the weather breaks it'll go up. Nothing fancy this time just lockable storage. Right...
I got in a couple hours and then returned in time to set up tomorrows work just in time for the rain/ice/snow mix that’s heading our way.
One thing I’ll get done is the floor install in the “Bike Shed.” Then it’ll be ready to move the shop and bikes in and with lots of room to set up a workout space. Cool pumpkin color vinyl composite tile.
I’m going to reintroduce rattlesnakes to “Rattlesnake Creek” and need your help. As you might know rattlesnakes aren’t cheep, so I’m hoping that you’ll find it in your heart to sponsor an orphan rattlesnake. For just pennies a day you can help bring a displaced Eastern Diamondback Rattler home. You can make your donations here at http://www.cqchammer@paypal.com/
Then I’ll send you a photo of your sponsored rattler as it’s released into its long lost home.
There’s a bunch of folks that give countless hours to the downtown trail system but no one that gives more than Jimmy Mac and Nathan the city trail manager. I run into these guys during the weekdays building crib walls, tamping clay, setting armor pavers all to build sustainable trails. It's all about building it once to last and they know how to do it. With just 4 people and some great equipment we built today what an army of volunteers would have spent a weekend on.
We had a good day of riding the “one fing gear” bikes and I was happy that I had as much fun as I did. I wasn’t sure I’d like my Surly 1x1 but it’s a blast to ride and I’m really looking forward to Napa and the SSWCO8
The first dab was here, looking back down at the little climb and one that I can usually do. Not looking ahead again but at my tire and not carrying enough speed, lazy dab, and no excuse.
This rocky little hill gets me, and most riders I talk to, everytime. I think I’ve made it once in fifty attempts. It’s loose gravel with baby heads scattered about and a blind approach out of the tunnel with limited speed. I hope it never gets changed, it’s something to conquer.
I own the wall hop. The trail crosses the park road then a 16 inch rock wall that you pop the front wheel up on then hop the rear wheel and up the short climb…easy. But this time my chain slapped down the cassette and jammed. Mechanical dab…that like a half a dab.
Trail maintenance dab…This is my favorite city employee, Nathan. He’s the Down Town trail boss and liaison between Richmond MORE and the city parks and recreation. I’ll see him this Tuesday at 9am to pay it forward on some volunteer trail work.My friend; to insure his anonymity lets call him Robert and I were talking music tonight after poaching some mountain biking trails after dark and he told me to check out these girls which I obviously did and I’d like to offer up a review. These girls are not very good. I’m sure their parents are very proud and all the boys at their school really like them and all the girls at their school are really jealous of them but to put them on the TV or sign them to tour with Pearl Jam is an “awe aren’t they cute” kind of thing that should be saved for the school auditorium or a talent show at the mall. I have always respected my friends, I’ll call him Rob, taste in music but I’m concerned that since he’s turned 40 in an attempt to stay edgy and up on youthful culture he’s over compensated and instead of hitting the under 25 hipster mark has landed in a pubescent pool of perky. So my advice to my friend, let’s just call him Professor X, is to recalibrate his music sensors for musicians born before 1988 for the next 5 years then check in on the Smoosh girls. Maybe then he can say I told you so, but I doubt it.
Its not news that I don’t believe in god or the here after but that doesn’t mean I have to alienate every person that does. Take for instance my friend Gera; He’s a good friend and a Christian of the highest order. He accepts me for who I am and doesn’t judge me on what I believe, but on my actions. So when he wants me to climb up with him to the monument of “The Virgin” in his home town of Minas to light some candles for our families and friends I’m honored. It’s not the first time I’ve lit a candle for friends while on a cycling trip, hell, I lit one for Gera while in Italy in October at a chapel over looking the Mediterranean Sea…see, Gera had a tough summer in the US this past year what with crashes on the bike and in the van on I95 just outside DC so I thought it’d be nice, and damn if he didn’t have a great end of year in Argentina racing. To me it’s not that god had anything to do with it but that I kept my friend in my thoughts and if I had a place to symbolize that for a moment by lighting a candle then that’s cool. 
