A very Chili Weekend!

Saturday was the annual Chili cookoff at the dealership. While I didn't cook, I did taste and sample. There were 6 (I think) different chili's all of them were quite good, some better than others. My personal favorite was Renegade Roadkill Chili. Real meat as opposed to hamburg, but the overall taste and consistency was quite good as well. The festivities were fun and the presentation of the chilis was guite good and fun as well. But you know I think the leadup was a big part of it. There was a huge posting on the message board with lots of banter back and forth. Additionally there was lots of "private" banter in email and phone calls apparently between some of the contestants.

The ride home was an interesting one. There was a bit of rain overnight and when we left to go to the dealership it was quite nice. Of course while we were there, a cold front blew in. Reports of rain/hail were coming in. We booked it as soon as the festivities and awards were over. About halfway home on 380 rode right into the rain. It was windy, a good crosswind, cold, very wet and a bit of hail/sleet. We made it home ok, but it was a slow go. Ryan said it hailed about 5 minutes before we pulled into the house.

Sunday Darlene went to her Rider's Edge Advanced class at TMS. She left about 6:45 am, it was about 27F when she left. By 10 it was still only about 30. I think it warmed up to about 44. She did well, got her certification and made it home by 4. Long cold day, with lots of hard riding. She's pretty sore today.

This ain't my first rodeo...

Yesterday we were treated to the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo, courtesy of Robert (Cowboy) and his wife. We went with Larry and Holly as well. It was the afternoon show and was a lot of fun. This is one of the big rodeos. The seats we had were box seats, right beside the bucking chutes. I took a ton of pictures, several of which turned out pretty well I think. It was indoors so I shot at ISO 1600, unfortunately even at that speed the shutter speed was relatively low, hand hold in most cases, but there was a lot of motion on the arena floor. I'll post some pics after I process them a bit.

We were right against the arena, and although we kept relatively dirt free, one bucking bull did know Darlene's beer all over her as it smashed into the wall directly in front of us!

Winter Storm!

Well as typical, our latest winter storm was a bit of a bust. Actually thankfully we are in DFW, not Austin, who seems to have made out much worse. Austin never gets this kind of weather and they are not faring well. All in all we had a lot of rain, and by the time if froze, a lot had dried up. On Monday, MLK day so kids were home as were several businesses, it was a bit hazordous in the morning, but by mid day it was sunny, albeit still cold, and windy so the roads pretty well cleared. I worked from home and in the morning when I had a chance I went out and took a couple of pictures.

El Nino

Well no riding this weekend. The weather guys have been talking about an El Nino, courtesy of global warming and the effect it will have on Texas weather until about March of this year. We are supposed to get above normal rainfall. Which is a good thing since we have been below normal for some time. However one would think that global warming means warm....

This weekend we had the rain, quite a bit of it, but it is also cold, but fortunately not so cold that everything is frozen. Close, about 34 degrees. I think tonight may be worse though. Yesterday it stopped raining long enough the streets were able to dry somewhat, but today I think we will get rain longer, and its been cold for a couple of days. Likely that the roads will start to lose some of that retained heat they have had.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day but most people are working, myself included. Will be an interesting travel day no doubt!

Ride planning...

We had our first chapter meeting yesterday and earlier this week the rides started appearing on the calendars.

Lone Star Challenge, I've already mapped out, interesting locations, including Terlingua, TX. So most definitely a Big Bend run, perhaps turn that into an Iron Butt?

Wildflower run is my birthday weekend. TX State is to Amarillo, AR State is in Hot Springs. Maybe do one of the national HOG runs. I guess there are other things that will help determine that trip.

Oh yeah, can't forget Nascar weekend this year, Dale and Peter will be coming down, we rented an RV to set up at the racetrack. Hopefully we can get next to Brenda's rig! That will be fun.

Lots of other rides, some day trips some overnight. Should be a great year.

Resolutions?

Its actually been a busy week. Work is going well, we went live on Tueday with no major problems. A new year is of course a time of new plans, goals and ambitions. No major resolutions this time around, just the usual. However I guess I have a couple I can list out.

Focus a bit more on my health, I need to exercise on a more regular basis. 1 hockey game a week just doesn't cut it anymore. Include in this one a bit healthier eating, mainly more salads, I would like to lose about 15 lbs, post holiday weight.

For a riding goal I'd like to put on 15,000 miles. I guess the best way to measure that is against the long flyer program. Considering that, I'm off to a good start, with about 1500 miles logged already, and its winter!

Like I said, nothing major, include the ususal which I won't bother listing here.

2007

Well, here I am again, a bit late in my posting. Big day on Jan 1 with the Brass Monkey Ride. We left the house about 9:30 am with the temperature at 37F. Its about 34 miles to the dealership and most of it highway. Fortunately we were well dressed and even more so, there was little wind! That Hwy 380 can be a bear in the wind. It was a beautiful sunny day though. Apparently the coldest Brass Monkey in the short history, and certainly quite a contrast to 2006 where it was in the low 80's. I heard the bike count was 70 bikes, all the regulars were there of course and a few folks I didn't recognize, but for the most part all relatively active members. We rode to Lake Park in Lewisville for smoked brisket that Choker had cooked, it was delicious. After that we went to Mike and Carols for dessert. It was a beautiful site in front of their house with all the shiny bikes parked in front of their house. A great ride and I got my inagural Brass Monkey patch.