I'VE NEVER BEEN A REBEL BIKER TYPE: UNTIL TODAY

I got a late start on my day today. I've been cutting down trees and talking to insurance people for three days after the Monday storm, so I treated myself and slept in till 6:30. This got me to the park that I use for cross training around 7:10. In the back of my head, I knew this was pushing it. Yes it is a public park, No there are no signs that say "no bikes allowed". But we all know that this is a grey area. I'm a don't rock the boat kinda guy, and my cross training is a outa sight out of mind program.
Well today a custodian at the connecting school, decided that a bicycle on the city's green grass was a major felony, and called the police. As i'm revving up into my second interval of the day, there are 2 squad cars waiting for me by my truck. The custodian was an old grumpy ass! My goal was too keep my cool, smooth it out, not get a ticket "for what I don't know" and leave to ride another day. I tried to explain that I had been using this park for years and years for training, nobody had ever been the wiser. I stay to the outskirts of the park, and leave little or no track where anyone can see. Most days I have to move crack pipes and used syringes out of my path before starting. When I said this along with my thoughts that I was the only law abiding citizen using the park, the older officer got a tad angry. But before things got out of hand, I did what I always do and said "sorry, won't happen again, you'll never see me riding in the park again".
So this puts me in a major mess. All 3 parks I use are in the same jurisdiction of "officer friendly". Get caught again poaching city grass and he may lock me up. Cross season is fast approaching, and now i'm tasked to finding a new training grounds. I hate soap box standers, and Internet forums that bitch about this and that. But here is my rant and i'll leave it alone. We ride on the roads, and truckers try to push us into corn fields. Ride the bike path and soccer moms with double wide strollers will hip check you to the grass rather than give way a single inch. Now ride in your city park where my tax dollars go to maintain, and get a police escort to the exit. What I want to know after all of this is if I would have went crazy representing the crossers of the world, and went to jail, HOW MANY UPGRADE POINTS WOULD THAT BE GOOD FOR? Ty

GET YOUR TRAVEL PLANS IN ORDER

The fall cross schedules are starting to hit the web sites. I for one cannot be any more excited! Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois all have tentative schedules on there respective web sites. Many are showing Sat-Sun weekend's of racing, all within 3 hours of home. The first mad-cross uci weekend looks to be a huge road trip in the making. Add that to Jingle cross Thanksgiving weekend, and Mid West crossers have nothing to complain about. Chicago area has some races that fall on several open weekends so I hope to support there scene also. A big PLEASE and THANK YOU in advance to the DICE racing team of the Quad Cities. If you guys run and support all the races you have on the Iowa schedule, it will be one amazing cross season!!!!!! For a guy who has raced "0" times this year, I am jonzin to race and see my friends. From what I have calculated on paper, barring injury or bankruptcy, there could be 20+ races on my resume by season end. The new race bike is almost out of the shop, and the practice bike is being used weekly. Can you feel it? Cross is almost here!!!!! Ty

THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF "THE CYCLING CHEF"

My new skillet and grate. What a shame they had to get dirty.

First, add the sausage.

Remove the sausage, add your potatoes, on this occasion it was tater tots.

Re-introduce the sausage.

Add one dozen eggs!

Cover with copious amounts of cheese.

I make mine into a breakfast burrito.

Salsa to taste!

Clean up sucks! Just a warning.

For the past two years my family has been camping with a group of wonderful people. There is a ritual on these trips that one of the mornings, our friends John and Robin cook what is called "MESS"! The basic formula is in step by step photos above, but the concept behind it's invention is to clear out all the leftovers of the weekend in one giant gut filling feed! My apologies to all my vegan readers. Eggs, meat, cheese are the ingredients that pull this feast together. This weekend we were camping solo, and I did not want to go into caloric withdrawal. So while at Cabellas last weekend, purchased a 14" cast iron skillet! This skillet has "MAN" written all over it!!!! I also had my good friend Larry C from work ,help fabricate a grate to put over the fire. With the tools necessary, I was ready to try my first 'solo' run of the mess. Tasty as it was, it's not the same without good friends. One thing that is a fact about this recipe. The MESS makes a huge MESS to clean up after. Also, a 2 to 3 hour ride must follow. Burning off the 1000+ calories you just ate is a good idea! Ty