I went out for our weekly shop ride this morning on the Daruma Cycles Mark II frame. It's approximately my size and is set up as a cyclocross/touring commuter. I put it together last week with all of the parts from my cyclocross bike in order to do a test run before sending it off to its eventual home. My impressions are overall quite positive. The bike rides great, looks good and attracts stares. My friend Cliff put it as, "Like riding a bicycle made of puppies," in that everyone wants to stop and talk to you about it. I even got a double take from this woman in business attire, stilletto heels, and legs that went all the way to the ground. Had she been looking at me, it would have been a first, but lots of people have asked me about the bike, so I chose not to be too flattered.

Last Friday I had people over for a birthday pizza bash. Great fun and great food was had by all. I bought enough dough for about 25 pizzas and we ate probably 22 all told. The pizza stone is one of my kitchen favorites: nothing tastes better than pizza popped straight out of the oven, except for maybe pizza that has been pulled straight from the oven 4 minutes ago, after the cheese loses its ability to peel the skin off your mouth.

I was also happy to debut my first ever home-made sausage. The picture should say it all, but 8 pounds of sausage is a lot! I need to tweak the recipe or my technique a bit, I have not quite mastered the interior texture, these were a bit too grainy and not quite as unified as I'd like.

Just in time for racing season: a benediction for the fleet of wheel!

http://www.theblessingofthebikes.com/

Due to the regrettably inexorable march of time, I am rapidly approaching my 30th birthday. Heck of a deal.

No new news on the job front, but that's to be expected, I think. I have however purchased all the necessaries for making my first batch of home-made sausages. A nice fat pork butt, some casings, some spices and away we go! This will hopefully complement the home-made bacon, homebrewed beer and some nice home-fired pizza that we're going to be making this Friday. Thirty shouldn't be so bad afterall.