Hairpy Berhfday

I need to stop and take a short break from the Tour de Burg coverage to acknowledge the one year old birthday... of my hair.

One year ago today, I shaved my head entirely bald for Watts Dixon's/Revolution Cycles 113 mile road "century," Erect. Why Not? Climax Ride for Nothing.

That was the ride that really pushed me into (re)discovering how much I hate road biking (and how much I miss hair).  Hoping to pull a little Pantani inspiration into the mix and to deal with the extreme heat, I shaved my head totally bald the day before the ride.

And then I let my hair grow ever since.

I used to say that hair is a vane extravagance in endurance mountain biking.  The hotter you are, the more you sweat.  The more you sweat, the more liquid you need to drink.  The more you need to drink, the more (heavy) liquid you have to carry.  Math and science and stuff.

I think it's a foregone conclusion that "racing" and "performance" isn't quite as important to me as it used to be.  I still enjoy it to some degree, but not enough to make certain sacrifices.  So, yeah.  Beer, hair, burritos.  So much more fun than racing.

The Pie has reminded me a lot lately that we are getting older, and now is the time to do the stupid things in life that you won't be able to do when you get too old.

She wasn't talking about growing hair, but that's what I heard... so why not?  Maybe she was telling me to buy a full suspension mountain bike.  Prolly that.  And the hair thing.

Tonight I will celebrate with the the blowing out of candles or something, this milestone that means absolutely nothing.

And then I'll get back to the final day of the Tour de Burg tomorrow.