An Unpublished Archive..Ouch! I'm sorry bike.

I'm sitting here and remnant episodes of The Odd Couple are playingin my head. I see Oscar sitting in his chaotic bedroom typing frantically for a deadline, dressed in a shirt and boxers. He gulps on a beer and locates an old sandwich, a slice of pizza, or piece of fruit hiding in the covers as pictures of famous sports figures hand along his wall.

It comes to me because my roommate and I are eating cold pizza, Chinese food, potato chips and drinking lots of water. Her appetite's off the chart. Then she plainly says, 'I'm still hungry.'

All because I made the decision that today's the day. I've had enough of comparing, researching, reading, questioning, and test riding. I know the LBS' probably are too, but I received the sweetest compliment. I guess? I'm told that when I come to the shop a crowd always follows. Is that a joke on my womanhood? My patience to let other customers that arrive after me recieve service first is strange to crew. Hey, I need undivided attention because I'm undecided. Of course I'll let them go. The only way is to let everyone leave first.

So my best friend wanted pizza for breakfast. That's right, Breakfast! Oh and onion rings from the local Pizza Hut. Go figure. So we sat in the parking lot at The Hut until they opened at 11 a.m. Actually, it was a great choice. The four piece sampler appetizer and the pie, half extra cheese/half super supreme (hold the pig) on a thin crust, magnificent!

Well I decided to purchase my precious ride. My decision, .

Catch-up Time..Cause I can't feel a thing

have you ever rode your steed and walked six hours in the heat til you twitched just to get your daily exercise? I did and hope to never do it again.

My bum's not getting any better. A pinch here, a pull there, a throb of pain for my sit bone. When will it end?

As kids, riding your bike meant freedom of exploration with rules. For adulthood, it's recapturing or recreating a un-/happy child, inducing pain upon ones self to continually surpass physical limitations, freedom, fun and exploration with rules.

I'm not a competitive person. Challenge me on my Felt and you will win every time. However, when alone and the challenge is me and a southwestern PA hill, then it's another story. I'll ride as much as possible, rest then continue or worse case scenario, walk.

My plan was to ride the Eliza Trail then through Oakland and my final destinantion, Squirrel Hill. I speond ten percent of this journey on my steed, and the rest on foot. Finally, arrived at the garage and peeled off my socks and shirt. Thank goodness for rubbing alcohol. I just love this stuff. Come to find I'm covered in Pitts special little particles during a road repavement on the border of Shadyside/Squirrel Hill. Shopping at Biketek, which is heavy on the A/C, felt good to my bones. A trip to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Parlor/Bagel Factory Deli, 5885 Forbes Ave., for a meatless BLT and sparkling mineral water, fabulous!

I will have to visit the newly remodeled Carnegie Library some other time, CVS' has lured me for a sports drink. However, the best sport drink is Accelorade! It does not contain corn syrup and you immediately feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Same as drinking an ice cold sparkling mineral water that's the all natural sports drink.

There are only three places I know you can get them - East End Food Co-op, The Bagel Factory, and a Shadyside gourmet food market near South Aiken.

After all this , the enjoyment of scraping off some of Pitt's particles is refreshing.

Now that's truly awful

As of my last post, l enjoyed a short ride on two different trails downtown until sporting my new road rash, slings and bandages for a week and a half.

This has landed my, once again, busted knee needing stitches. However, this time there's nothing to stitch!

Careful riding over train track covers. A roadies tire will chase them instead of listening to its driver!

Time to rest up and heal before the beach vacation.