My Dreambike-Serotta CXII

I meant to write this the other day after a 1 hour ride on my old red road bike when I felt like I was being stabbed in the delt. In 4 and half hours on my custom Serotta CXII a couple of days before this pain was not there, but 1 hour on the wrong bike and yowzy! The truth is I love my Serotta! Love like you love the comfort and coziness of your bed after a long day of barking orders at high school kids, love. From the moment I laid my eyes on it, I knew it was my baby. I've ridden everything-aluminum, carbon, titanium-multiples of each material and the carbon/steel combo is dreamy. It's not that I don't think big carbon aerodynamic bikes aren't cool, but after a quick trip to Lake Placid the other day I was reminded that if your bike doesn't fit and you aren't fit there's no possible way to be aerodynmic on the bike. Tons of shims take that aero bike away from it's original state and original point. The fact that this bike was made precisely for me is also dreamy-nagging aches and pains no more, I can stay aero comfortably for hours! After being blown off of bike courses from crosswinds and nearly bucked off by crappy roads I'm a huge fan of keeping it simple. I'm not the most stable rider, I'm downright twitchy to be honest and on this bike wind, logging trucks, hills, and rough roads are not a problem because it's so stable and powerful. Which means I get to be stable and powerful to go really really fast! Perfect fit, perfect mix of materials, and perfect frame construction from Serotta are my CXII-simple!

Sometimes Dogs Just Know...

and sometimes they chew through your daughter's Smartcycle cord. But it's the times when they surprise me by being especially sweet or considerate that I think-wow that dog really gets it! When I started teaching Adaptive Physical Education I brought Quenton into school to play therapy dog, and except for that one time when he shredded that playground ball, he went from my crazed puppy to a calm cool collected gentleman as soon as he hit school grounds. After Ruby was born we sent home some of her clothes for the dogs to smell so they wouldn't eat her and when she came home Bandit was so gentle and treated her like her own little baby. When I moved to Jen's for a year Q knew that Ruby and I needed extra spooning and he would have get used to falling asleep in my death grip. Roxy, sweet baby Roxy must've known that it was time for an easy, quiet dog to make my heart burst with pride when people remark about how gentle and well behaved she is. She has also been the best little runner from the first day we hit the trail-she knew what I needed.

The other morning I was running with the whole pack when we happened upon someone meditating. I was startled but the pack just ran right by him and left him alone! They never leave people alone on the trail unless they've been out there for hours, I really felt like they knew it was best to leave him alone and let him meditate. Then on the way back Roxy decided he needed 2 tiny paws to the back and Bandit gave him a bark-I guess they didn't know!