Time to Burn

I've been adhering to Dirk's advice...no big ring. Hopefully that shifter works come April...well, I suppose that specific one doesn't need to work until 'cross season.

It is most definitely time to drop that winter weight that I put on every year. I must have the Jan Ullrich syndrome...I just can't avoid gaining some excess weight during the colder part of the year. No matter how much I ski or hit the gym, it comes back every year. Two months until the races include any real climbs...so there's still hope to burn off some of the excess.

Road riding provides a real random sampling of events. I love riding past some place an getting a 10-20 second snapshot of what is happening. This morning, at around 7:15, I rode past a house that had two burning barrels in the driveway. It was light, but I don't think the sun was up yet and both barrels were full and spitting flames out the top. I saw the (presumed) owner walking away from the barrels with a garbage can. I thought that it was a little strange that this guy was up before sunrise to burn his garbage, but didn't pay to much attention. On the way home, I took a few different roads and past a different house with a burning barrel in front of it. This one was about done with it's work. What are the odds?! Two separate burning barrel spottings in one day. Maybe it's me, but that's what I call random.