Dyno-mite!

Saturday morning I went on my first HOG chapter ride in about two months. We took a mix of highway and back roads to get to Marble Falls for breakfast at the Bluebonnet Cafe. It was nice to visit with some old friends, and a new couple who moved to Austin from Alaska not that long ago. After I finished stuffing my face, we took some back roads I've ridden countless times back to the Harley shop, where they were having their monthly lot party, which was also a "post ROT party." I paid the bill on my Fat Boy, and while I was in the service area I got talked into entering the Night Train into the dyno shoot-out. It pulled just under 80 horsepower and just over 92 foot-pounds of torque, which ultimately was good enough to win second place in the softail division, against pretty meager competition. The only problem was that I had to stick around until 4 in order to claim my prize of a t-shirt and a printed certificate in a cheap plastic frame. I killed some of the time I was there by having the Coyote Ugly girls give the Night Train a quick cleaning. Also, I left for a little while to ride the Fat Boy home, where Jimmy gave me a ride back to the shop, by way of his house where I helped him fix something on his daughter's car. Once I finally received my fabulous certificate, I rode home and chilled out for a while, then went back over to Jimmy's and we had steak for dinner.

I slept pretty late on Sunday, until 9, and then still had trouble waking up and getting out of bed. I had a little bit of breakfast and headed off on my bicycle to Alamo Lamar at 10. I couldn't decided if I wanted to see District 9 or In The Loop, so I flipped a coin when I got to the theater. It came up heads for In The Loop, and when I got inside I was pretty glad that's the way it landed when I saw the line of people waiting for District 9. I really liked the movie, I thought it was very funny- a good political satire. From there, I decided that since I'd never actually been inside the Capitol, that's what I would do. I stopped in to Patagonia along the way, but didn't find anything on sale I wanted. I was kind of pissed off that I couldn't find a bicycle rack anywhere on the Capitol grounds, and had to lock my bike to a street sign just outside the fence. I wandered around and looked at stuff for a while, then started to make my way home. I was waylaid pretty quickly, however, when I decided while waiting for a light to go to the Gingerman. I had one beer, and when I couldn't think of where I wanted to stop on the way home for some food, I just got an empanada there and another beer or two. It was around 5 when I finally left and started home. My legs were starting to get tired, seeing as this was pretty much the first time I'd exercised since Rainier, so I stopped into a market for some Dr Pepper and Twizzlers. When I got home I watched TV for the rest of the evening.

I got a call from Jimmy Monday afternoon to let me know he'd finished working on my car. I called him later once I got home, expecting him to come over and give me a ride to his shop. When I heard a car pulling up to the house, it was definitely not his truck, but was instead my car. I drove over to his house and we hung out on the deck and ate the rest of the steaks from the other night.

It was good to finally drive to work Tuesday so I could finally take my backpack home, since it had been sitting in my cubicle for a week after getting it back from Sean.

Today I rode my bicycle in, since the shower room in the building is open now. The new place is about two miles closer to my house, and cuts out a big hill, but to avoid making a big loop under the highway, I have to ride head on into traffic with no shoulder. Fortunately there was nobody using the turn lane I was riding in, but I doubt that will always be the case.