The Annual Celebration of Womb Exodus

Maybe you noticed that I changed the header image.  Maybe you didn't.  It required some effort which is more than I wanted to give.  I'm not much for change, but the old one was quite dated.

That photo was taken back in 2008 by Bill Fehr for an article in Endurance Magazine... but they ended up using some studio shots instead.  It was too good of an image to let it sit unused, so in 2009 when I swapped over to blogspot, I went ahead and utilized it...

and continued to do so for perhaps too long.  I have long since lost the long sleeved shirt, retired the glasses and helmet, ditched the sawed and flipped bull horns, given that messenger bag to Dip n Spray, and flipped that frown upside-down.

The new header image was taken by Brice Shirbach at the TSEpic on Tussey Ridge, the day I won the stage.  He did a great job capturing a moment in time that I just don't get to enjoy very often.  I was in "the zone," or at least some kind of zone.  It's not a very great representation of the person I am most of the time, as I tend to be zoned out as opposed to in "the zone."  It serves as a reminder to me that I can, if given the right circumstances, find "the zone" and perhaps spend enough time there to do something that provides positive feels. 

Of course this new image does not let the reader know that I am one of "30 working bicycle messengers left in America" (a statistic compiled by Stevil).  If you do not know that by now, there's not much I can do about that.  I've mentioned it like at least ten times in the last eight and a half years.  It's just a job and not who I am as a person.  Who I am as a person is anyone's guess, as I am not quite done doing that yet.

So today is my 45th birthday.  If you woulda asked me a year ago if I thought I'd be a year older in 365 days, I woulda said "yes." 

If you woulda asked me if I wanted a burrito, the answer woulda been the same.

If you woulda asked me if I wanted this for my birthday:

I would tell you "no" because I bought it for myself, but if you wanna talk about that burrito some more, we could do that.

If you can't tell, I want a burrito for my birthday.   As a wise man once told me (or was it brouSSard), "Embrace low expectations."  If not a burrito, than a MOOTS Rogue 650b with a 160mm fjork and drooper post.  Slightly higher expectation, but if you don't ask...

Speaking of low expectations, Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride tonight (assuming it's not raining).  I will drink a beer or two in celebration of this day which will feel pretty much like all the others.