Weekends in Hell IV: RP

so far, so surprisingly awesome. ask me again on 8-15 how I feel…

May 31 – June 1
picked kids up from school on bikes for shenanigans in the golf course sprinklers, water fountains, golf course lake. ghetto is fine with us if its wet.

Saturday: more keepin it realz at Wet & Wild, stared at lots of boltons and tats. 
Sunday: paddle Lower Salt with Sam Schoch, the Phx lowclass summer trifecta!

June 7-9
Friday: When was the last time you ran under sprinklers? Whatever your answer, its been too long. it doesnt take a child to show them the light, it takes a father who wants their kids to not complain about the heat to trip into facilitation genius. Saturday: Scottsdale Might Mud Mania. Sunday: Pool at the gym and hot tub.

June 14-16
Wet and Wild after school, 3…count them…3 swim\parties, then we all slept late hid inside and cooked on father’s day.

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June 21 – last-time-til-soccer-season-ends beachtrip

weather

2 powder days in the estuary

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G gets a turn with the SLR
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high tide after the solstice
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little blond shovelers
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ducks
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Los caballeros parked their horses in a copse of trees behind our house.

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I’ve never seen him do that before. Fortunately we had a pile of carrots we’d been hauling up and down the beach all weekend trying to feed them.   Some backstory – the kids were out in the water both days the horses came by, and lamented their lonely horses, after missing them last trip as well. Such wpp, 3 whole months without duddy and mummy buying them pony rides. A black kitten with white mittens 2 days in a row appeared in our kitchen, G spoilt it with milk dubbed it Mittens the Kitten. Struck she was with prepuvettant hormones.

Our last night i came a’flying down the beach, exploding my calves in my toe-shoes after 2 days of running and climbing dunes and paddling with flippers, upon rendering myself hobbled for 3 days i cried thusly ‘the british are coming!‘   i had 6 minutes to find that line, and i thought – on the whole – it killed. I even fake-panted while i croaked it out a final time.

Beckie cracked the tiniest hint of a smile, at least my devastated reaction to her reaction led to a 15 minute civics lesson for the kids.   The horses still weren’t there. They got so busy with their other colonies, the sun did set on the British Empire, we were out of beer, and had a lot of seafood and salsa back at the house.

good irony

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It hurts to admit you are willing to compromise your bike morality

Imagine me, pumped and flexing like a Spartacus Season 1, foaming at the mouth, breathing fire, tearing limbs off the awful evil empire Big Red S. Blood in the street, quality triumphs over price-point, marketing driven back in holy war against engineering.

but

*yawn*

That is really played. Especially for $21 shipped to store, next to the gym. I challenge anyone to find a better 20″ 2.1 mildly-directional dry-conditions mtb tire. The dipshits in Specialized’s marketing dept probably built it thinking parents think it looks cool. They don’t know what they got. Slicks or bmx tread are 95% of the available inventory, the rest is too knobby. Its the closest thing I’ve found in 20″ to a WTB Exiwolf, Bronson, Weirwolf, a Nevegal or a High Roller or Ignitor.

The Hotrock is about $75 too much, but is still my favorite kids bike. Even if I had to replace the crankset cause the plastic chainguard sheared off the steel rings, leaving it dangerous to do otherwise. They warrantied it, of course.   Multiply that ratio of 75\325 by about…14, the amount Specialized rips your off for a real bike, and you can quantify how much   disgust and discount i will tolerate to ride with my tinyShredder.