Last Long Ride before MS

Rode 15 Friday night, had to work Saturday so I couldn't stay out late. Saturday worked till 3,

got home at 3:20 , changed, geared up, left the house about 4:10 Pm. Took the long levee ride to the other end of St Charles parish, came back to Audubon Park , it was dark by then.

No pictures , just riding , concentrated, steadfast, intense, endorphins bouncing around like laser beams, at about 50 miles it came over me like a chill, I was there, nirvana, life is good, life is high, nothing mattered but that moment, the moon was full , a line of clouds shadowed the front of it ,it reflected the lenght of the river, what a beautiful sight to be alive to see. Did I really see it really or did I see it but not really. What's real and imagined in my life melds with the music, the meds, the endorphin high, gives me a distorted, interesting, off beat, view of life, I usually conceal it from most people because of the difficulty making an empty coke bottle understand the Pythagorean theorem , I don't understand it myself , I just have to live it , It keeps me looking inward then outward. While riding down St Charles all the college students were lined up at the grills for their Saturday night dates, smelled good, the grills, about that time the Beatles were playing "A Day In The Life" part of the McCarthy is dead myth, it's well recorded, a little psychedelic long and deep. Every song reminds me of something, in 1970, living in a one room apartment with Marie off Post in Alaska with 10 other MP's, (we were all close), Marie was visiting one of the other wives for chit chat, friend Larry came over, we did a little Boones Farm Tickle Pink, enhanced, and decided to listen to some music. Larry got his Acoustic Research AR3A's I took my Pioneer 727 out the box and opened the Garrard turntable , we hooked it all up and like true music lovers sat the speakers (3ft tall) on kitchen chairs right in front of us,

we sat on the other 2 kitchen chairs, opposite the speakers, we started with some Jethro Tull, then a little Hendrix War Hero's , then it was Beatle time. we spun "A Day In the Life" , volume range 10, our hair was flying back , the front two legs on my chair were lifting off the ground,

we were there live and on the stage. Suddenly I tell Larry, Paul McCarthy''s spit is passing the mike and hitting me on the arm. Larry said that's impossible McCarthy plays on the left not the right, we swapped places , then Larry says to me , your right but it's not Paul ,it's John ,

I reached over the counter behind us and pulled off a paper towel , we wiped our arms dry and continued on. Things aren't always what they seem to be, sometimes their more.

You have to open up and give it a chance to reach you. Sometimes your in love and don't know it, sometimes you think your in love and your just infactuated, or as Hendrix says in his song "is this Love or Confusion". He also says "Manic Depression is a frustrating Mess", Here!,Here!

He doesn't say anything about OCD or AADD. Guess he died before those came out.

That's how the ride was, I could feel McCarthy''s spit it was so real. That's focus, that's intensity,

that's lunacy, that's a great feeling. I'm almost sixty years old, I"m gonna feel good every chance I get and by next Sunday evening I'm gonna feel like Lance Armstrong. Sure I won't win but that's not my goal, my goal is to finish without help , all the way. I don't concern myself with other riders, fast or slow, I row my own boat, ride my own race and I decide if I'm a winner or not. I'm ready , I'll have plenty pictures, and a blow by blow of the MS Tour 2010.......

Wound up doing 75 miles Sat night , got home at 11:30 pm.

later

Gary

PS - yes , I'll die trying if necessay.

Sometimes you just have to get up and dance.

Friday night did 35, Saturday did 70 and Sunday did 25, that's a 150 miles weekend, ready for the MS tour , actually I'm 2 weeks early, peaked too soon, have to keep riding.. Putting bike in shop next week for tune up , new brakes, tires, tubes, cleaning, lubing, and setting,.
Friday night was nice, cigar man was out, still the hordes of light bugs filled my nose mouth, ears, and any open orifice they could get to , one of those giant crickets hit me in the arm , I thought I was going over, it hurt, big black ugly thing, I could of lit a fire and fed a few people with him.
Put 18 new songs on my MP3 player, picked up come classic Delbert McClinton, Chaka Khan, Green Day, 3 Doors Down and one Johnny Ace, what a combination . The City was quiet , Ball game over, still a few Minnesota Fans in town, Saturday morning they were showing their kids Bourbon Street. Saturday was hot , took almost 7 hours to do the 70 miles, drank over a gallon of sport drink, and a snowball, (cherry), at about hour 5 I was like a machine, my mind was in a far away place, somewhere normal people probably shouldn't go to , my legs just pumped like robots, no pain , no tiring, no issues, a little door on the top of my helmet opened up and my soul climbed out , set up a tiny little lawn chair and sat there watching the world as I rode through . Fascinating . We had a few issues , on Friday evening as I rode down Canal St on the Streetcar track ,the side facing coming cars so I can see them and they can't sneak up behind me, I was clear , one was coming from way off, I was gazing around and heard that familiar clang, clang, clang, I looked up in time to see a one eyed disaster coming at me, my first thought was, its a head on crash, try to miss the headlight so I don't get cut, my second thought was hard right and hope no streetcar is in the right lane, that worked, a close call like that makes me pay closer attention for at least 15 minutes then back to my non chalant what the hell attitude. Found some new places to pee but I'll keep them secret. Made a pass down Rampart , I worked and played a little there , most places have changed over the years, bums still linger but hey everybody needs a place to hang. The New Orleans Athletic Club now accepts women, I wonder if they have to swim naked in the artisian pool like we did, but then they probably don't have the spectators we young boys had . Took a picture without my helmet so everyone can admire my bald head, plenty of stress, hard work, and few bad genes, but it's ok, no more Brylcream, hair spray, Vitalis, making sure I have a comb when I leave home, no touch ups when the wind blows, no 30 dollar California Concept hair cuts, it's a good thing.
I received an e-mail from the Security Department at Audubon Park, seems someone reported a bear escaped from the zoo and was dancing at Shelter 3 , they turned on their security cameras and caught me doing the Valium boogie, they found me through my bike shop, they have my e mail, the Park sent me the security video, they asked that I not do it again , Saturday morning they found 27 dead squirrels in the area, they think some saw me and lost their sight and fell to their death, and some just jumped in a suicide rage to end the misery. Damm, I don't remember if it was Mary Wells singing "Beat me to the Punch, Eminem rapping "Without Me" or Tab Benoit doing "I'm Guilty of Loving you", but sometimes you just have to get up and dance, grant you it is a sight that will teach kids not to take medication with out a doctors supervision, or risk flashbacks from 72.
Enjoy the Music, Enjoy life, don't be ashamed to live, if it feels good do it twice.
live on the edge and out the box. Its risky , its also an adrenalin high.
Later
gary.

click on the pics to enlarge, 2 videos at the end.