McRib

Some things are better left to the memories. The Dukes of Hazard was one of my favorite childhood shows. I was pretty excited back in '96 when I heard TNN was going to bring it back. I may have even skipped a class to watch the first episode. Huge disappointment. Bo and Luke weren't as cool as I remembered...just a couple of hillbillies driving a redneck car that wasn't as badass as it was in my 7 year old mind.

Back in the late 80s, early 90s, a sign at McDonald's proclaiming "The McRib is Back" was pretty damn exciting. At my peak, I could throw down 2 McRibs, a large fry, wash it down with a 32oz coke, and still weighed a whopping 150 lbs.

My last McRib was in 1994 or so. Not sure why I haven't had one since...hardly eat at McDonald's. Taco Bell is the fast food of choice, or if I'm in Korea, KFC is the place to be. McDonald's also held the McRib in reserve, strategically deploying it at certain locations for a limited time. They never called the McRib up for active service across the entire franchise network. The last time was in '94. So, there was some hype surrounding the latest McRib deployment...heard about it on NPR, discovered a McRib locator website. So, with all the hype, I knew it was time to reintroduce myself to the McRib.

On the drive to McD's I was nervous, knowing that this might not go as planned.

It did not.

First bite: tasty, tangy, spicey, barbecuey. Good.

Seconds later: bland, cardboardy, unidentifiable meatish substance.

Minutes later: churning stomach, greasy feeling, lethargy.

Went home, ate some carrots to soak up the gut bomb. Followed up with some ice cream to mask the lingering mystery meat flavor.

I want to forget this McRib, yet at the same time know that I shall never try the McRib again. I want to preserve all the great McRib memories of years past. I want to look at "The McRib is Back!" signs again and conjure up the great memories of boneless pork goodness.

Keeping Fear Alive

Went to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

It brought out quite the crowd, lots of costumes.

Lots of signs. Mostly funny, some political.

The crowd was unlike any I've ever seen. It was difficult to move around, walk to the bathroom or anywhere. These sitters refused to move when the boys tried to make it back from the bathroom.

The woman with the large legs in the above picture continued to lay down. After snapping the picture I had to walk over and lift the boys over her.

I struggled to carry the 2 boys as seen in the above picture. I came close to dropping them over the large legged woman.

Show was a bit disappointing. Instead of playing some exciting hip hop you don't stop, wave your hands in the hair like you just don't care, everybody say ho, type of hip hop, the Roots went soft and played some crap with John Legend. That was followed by 2 "comedians" that were intent on making the crowd do the wave and laugh on cue. After Jon Stewart and Colbert came out, they had Father Guido Sarducci who hasn't been funny since 1978, give a drawn out "benediction" that was pretty stale. That's when we left to beat the crowd.

Hyattsville CX

Raced Hyattsville CX today. Finished, somewhere in the back half of the pack. Didn't check the results.

Standard race for me. Did ok on the first lap...painful laps 2 and 3. Got a 2nd wind in lap 4. Passed a dozen or so guys in the last 2 laps. Didn't crash, until after the race. I went looking for Sonya and the kids...needed water. Wasn't paying attention, front wheel to a curb, couldn't clip out. Massive endo. Big audience.

Good postrace beer and BBQ. Added another pint glass to the overflowing cupboard.

Took the boys out to ride and watch the Elite Masters race. They were mesmerized by the "spiral of death".



They were itching to ride the "grown up course", so we took a spin on it for awhile. Said they preferred singletrack, but the spiral of death was cool.

Both raced Lil Belgians. 4 year old race was tame, without too many kids in the event.

6-7 year old race was a cluster, with 8 kids lining up in the front row. Barrier 20 ft from the start. Told the organizer to expect a crash. It happened. Luckily we made it through safely up near the front 3 riders. But one girl was down crying, a couple others were on the ground. A few tried to ride through the carnage. Went in to help sort it out and stop a couple of over-competitive kids who weren't going to let a couple of crying kids on the ground get in the way of their 2nd lap. Eventually it sorts out, but is chaos with fast kids, some kid on a push bike. Some older-looking kids that must've been sandbagging. Hmm...sounds like some of the adult races I've been in.

America, F--k Yeah!

Launching pumpkins.

Gnats of the Potomac

For the most part, Fall is the best season for commuting by bike.

 

1) Nice cool mornings make the pre-work shower unnecessary

2) Fair weather Freds begin their hibernation...as the season goes on, the trail is less and less crowded

3) Not as much rain as the spring

 

There's one thing that sucks, especially on days where it's 40 degrees in the morning and 70 degrees in the evening.  Thos are the Gnats of the Potomac.  Along the Mt Vernon Trail, near the Pentagon I've been attacked by a swarm of these pests twice in the past week.  It's a coordinated attack with hundreds, maybe thousands landing all over my arms and legs.  I swallow a few, causing me to cough uncontrollably for a mile or so.  The gnats have a particular fondness for cyclists...yesterday, I ran in the same area and was ignored by all the gnats.  An hour later, I rode through and my arms were covered. 

 

Not sure why it happens in only one short section, nor why they don't attack me while running.  Did a couple of googles and couldn't find an answer, nor a mention of the Potomac River Gnats anywhere on the Interwebs.  Maybe there's a gnat expert out there that can give me an explanation.

 

 

Annabell Herring Strikes Again

Must've been another mass e-mailing from Annabell Herring. 85 people reached this blog last week looking for her, peaking on Wednesday with 41 lonely souls trying to find this Interweb whore.