Team Alchemist Blog

Saw a lady yesterday who had claimed to have swallowed half a pencil.

“Did you swallow the eraser end or the sharp end?”
“I don’t know”
“Your doctor told me you also swallowed something else.”
“I did.”
“What was it?”
“I’m not telling.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“I’m not telling.”

I couldn’t muster the energy to feign interest, so I just turned around and headed towards the door.

“Wait! Don’t you want to know what else I swallowed?”

It took a monumental effort to halt my momentum that, in spirit, had already left the room.

“Okay. Sure. What else did you swallow.”
“Half a toothbrush.”

I didn’t bother to ask which end this time. Her x-ray looked fine, so I washed my hands of her and sent her back to the psych facility from whence she had come.

Before coming into work, I had gone on a ride up Flagstaff. For you non-Boulderites, Flagstaff is a popular local test piece that winds up along the Flatirons from town. I started at around 5200 feet (my house) and topped out at around 7800 feet. I’ve done this ride dozens of times, but yesterday was different. Yesterday, I hooked up the kids’ trailer to the bike and brought Snoop with me. Snoop has been my trusty companion for 12 years. I picked him out from the San Antonio SPCA. He’s the best dog to ever live. He was diagnosed with Lymphoma a couple weeks ago and his days are few. We used to ride all over the trails of San Antonio and Charlottesville. But Boulder is full of over-regulating tight-asses, so most of the trails around here either don’t allow bikes, or don’t allow dogs. So for his last hoorah, I’m going to take him on as many of the Boulder Classics as I can. Flagstaff, Jamestown, Sunshine, Ward. In all, the trailer weighs around 80-90 pounds, so I’m still trying to decide if I can get up Magnolia, which is crazy steep. I’ll post video of the Flagstaff ride in the next post.

For the folks who are going to Interbike, look out for the renegade I*M*B*A shirt that the IMBA staff will be flaunting there.