So one quick photo from the wedding and I should probably note my beautiful date is my sister! Her boyfriend canceled or didn't want to go whatever the case she asked me to come along so she would have someone fun to hangout with. I don't mean to come out and say but American beer is very weak compared to the finer Belgian ales. Someone is used to drinking a Duvel will easily drink all night and just receive a light buzz. My sister made the mistake of giving her camera to me for the night, as she was part of the wedding party and asked me to take photos. I can't recall exactly how many photos I took but I took photos of everything! People's feet, the wedding photographer, empty plates on the tafel, and whatever else I could find. I can't wait to see all the photos because I did snag a food good ones.


The next day I did some cycling with my parents. They have this program here in the U.S. called "rails to trails." They take old railroad tracks that are no longer in use and turn them into bike paths. The rail is not popular here in the states as most people tend to drive or for whatever reason it just don't use it. It is inefficient, expensive, and not very accessible. So the rail gets turned into a bike path. We did a nice 16 miles (about 26km) on the path.











And this is the picture you've all been waiting for, my new bike fully built and ready to roll. I did about 3 1/2 hours today and I must say it is lovely. We are not old friends (yet) but the way in which this frame rides as compared to the last frame has left me feeling very positive. In some ways it didn't feel as lively when you start to sprint on it but it felt consistently better in more places than my other bike. I had to make some changes because the geometry is a bit different. My seat is 3.5 centimeters higher and it feels like I could use a longer stem but I'm going to give it a week or two before I make any significant changes. Actually I take that back because I've already slid my seat back about 1.5 centimeters and it feels much better. I can stay seated longer on climbs and I feel much stronger on the flats. My spin doesn't feel quite the same at higher rpm but I think it just a muscular thing until they re-train themselves.

Tomorrow I'm off to return my old frame, meet some friends for coffee, and then some more training. I also took care of mowing all the grass and trimming around the house today. I actually had fun riding around on the mower. I used to mow grass for extra money as a kid and I could feel myself becoming 15 again!

tot morgen!