Summer Rides

I've been hitting it consistently this summer on my bicycle. Getting out almost every Sunday morning with a new group of cycling friends and occasionally my old crew too. We get rolling early to beat the heat and get back to our families with our afternoons intact. Shedding just over 40 pounds since April has been the biggest catalyst for this resurgence on two wheels. I am faster, stronger and healthier than ever. The weight loss has lead to more cycling and more cycling has lead to more weight loss.

After years of shifting away from road cycling trends (spandex, light bikes and HBMs) I am slowly coming back. Not to say I don't love rando and touring style cycling still, but at 16/17 mph paces it is hard to justify some of it. I have donned my ancient mountain bike racing jersey (2011 to 1999) and need to hook up the computer I bought back in January. It feels good. I am in love with cycling all over again. The now twelve year journey continues.

Below is just a sampling of the rides I've been on this summer...

• Moonlight Ride from Sports Backers
• Fort Harrison from my place
• Ashland from Mike's place
• Hanover from Hanover Courthouse
• Goochland from West Creek

Total running/riding miles since June: 424 and counting!

Dark is the Sun - August Ed.

It has been many a moon since my game group visited the desolate waste of Athas. We rolled our dice against the old Gods in June and took off the month of July. So a return to our Dark Sun game was in order this past weekend. Not having played in so long I sent a quick refresher to the group the week before and tried to give my best summary before we got started.

Back in May the group was seeking out the fragments of ancient artifact (Crown of Dust), but had the two pieces they had acquired so far stolen from them. The Templar that pick pocked the artifacts serves a powerful sorcerer king who means to get even more powerful once he controls the crown. Now it is up to the group to stop him. They sought allies in that fight in May and thought they were going to be on the hunt for more on Saturday.

They thought wrong. I added a sixth player (Wayne) to the table for Cthulhu in June with the intention of him staying at the table once I took the DM reigns back. Enter Alek, rogue, explorer and grave robber treasure hunter. I knew it would not be a natural fit to shoehorn him into the faction politics from the last game. So I sought a more natural introduction.

An article by Robert Schwalb that was a supplement to the world of Dark Sun seemed like a perfect fit. Elaadrich, a city referenced on the map of Athas, but never mentioned in the book. Schwalb did a fantastic job of describing a mad king who shuttered his city 800 years ago and only recently opened it's doors. I loved the concept, but for my re-purposing it didn't need to be alive. So I added a plague to the timeline that killed or mutated most of the citizens. Those that were left alive were either docile, but intelligent creatures or feral beast.

After reading various articles on 3D terrain at Roving Band of Misfits last month, I tried my hand at it for Saturday night. The first being a cliff side ambush encounter on the way to the lost city (see the pic above). The second was a confrontation with the mad sorcerer king. Who took the party to be his thieving templars, come back for more of his power. The terrain was a hit and the encounters that took place on them were pretty fun too.

Hits: Getting back to 4E, adding a 6th player, 3D terrain, peach crumble bars

Misses: Forgetting creature powers, encounters that were too safe

The rest is in the pictures...

The Chair

A beach week post is forth coming, but today I thought I'd share this little snip it. Kaden in 2009 and 2011 on the same chair in Corolla, NC. He is getting big! In 2009 we had to hold him up right, in 2011 we had to ask him to stop dancing and sit down for the picture.

Family Bike Ride

On the same week that we bought Kaden his first bike I took him across the river to pick up a bike trailer from a friend. It is not the greatest picture in the world, but you can see him in tow above. Post first bike ride he was not immediately sold on riding in the trail. When we showed him were he could put snacks and a drink though he was all in.

When he got up from is nap that same day we pulled our bikes out to the street and hooked up the trail. It was awkward at first. Backing up my bike was a pain. Getting started on a hill was too. Both of which I tried to do from the start. For the first four miles I was super nervous. Feeling out how wide the trail was. Trying to avoid pot holes for two of us and keeping my cadence smooth.

Eventually I got it, but not without a few lingering complaints. My heel sticks back far enough to rub the connector where the trailer attaches to my frame. If I don't want to scuff it on every pass (hint: I don't), then I have to turn my left heel out slightly to avoid it. Which lead to a little bit of knee joint pain post ride. If I can get over the shoe rubbing I will still have to deal with the biggest flaw of the trailer though.

It is like pulling a giant Lego block. Scratch that a square parachute. It is an aerodynamic mess. What feels like the effort of a 16 mph pace ride, but we are really going 12 mph. I have to work my butt off to keep it going. Hills are the worst, clicking down to my middle ring for stuff I could power up at 18-20 normally. I don't think we will ever take it on a 30-40 mile trip, but it was still really fun.

We spun our way over to my parents house first. He got out and visited with them for a while and we were back on the road. Our next stop was Moe's for a light dinner. Kaden was tickled pink that we rode our bikes there and got to sit next to them outside while we ate. Following dinner we stopped a playground and let him get out and burn some energy. Our first ride ended up being a 13 mile out a back test run, that really was a ton of fun. I could use the exercise.

Fourth Cookout

Most every year we do something small for the fourth. Get together at a friends house. Go see fireworks downtown or just hang out at home. We even went to a movie one year, it was like a ghost town. This year at the last minute (read: 6 days before the 4th) we decided to invite 35 friends and family over. We knew that the turnout would not be that big, but we counted 21 come Monday afternoon.

We cooked up a grill full of barbecue chicken and hot dogs for our guest and had our family and friends bring their favorite dishes. The spread ended up being pretty comprehensive. From coleslaw to pecan bars we had it all. For entertainment Gabriel brought over the Cornhole set he and I built (a post for another day). In total I think there were five games played before the rain came. One of which was a high stakes three car wash bet between my dad and brother. My dad, who had never played before, ended up crushing him.

We skipped fireworks because of the rain and how late they start, but we had already seen them on Friday anyway. Next year we will see about doing our own fireworks for another cookout at our house. We are really enjoying creating traditions and events at our home. Hosting parties is a ton of work, but always worth the effort. Expect more from us in the future.

Kaden's New Bike

What started two weeks ago as a helmet purchase for his push motorcycle, turned into a full on bike purchase last week. We talk about bikes a lot in our house. Two to four bicycles have been present in his playroom since he was born. He knows not to touch to chains. He likes to see me ride out in the street and he has been talking about getting his own for a month. So on a whim Crystal picked up his first bike on Wednesday last week.

It was late by the time it got to the house and also unassembled. So we sent him off to bed and I attempted to put it together. At minute ten I realized that the fork was bent so badly that no man power was going to set it straight. So I boxed it back up and went to bed. Crystal returned the next day with an assembled bike and a story about the manufacturer packing their bikes poorly.

That evening we went on a bike ride in the neighborhood. I on my bike, Kaden on his and Crystal keeping him straight and offering the occasional push. He pedals surprisingly well. He lacks the leg strength to push through if he stops at an odd angle, but he can string together 5-6 good strokes with regularity. After his first 1/4 mile lap we stopped at the house to raise his seat. That involved pliers and a wrench. He watched vigilantly as I adjust the post to his little height and we were on our way for another quarter.

The next morning Crystal came down stairs to find him in our sun room (his playroom) with his Fisher Price tool set splayed out on the floor. Pliers and wrench in hand, mock adjusting his seat post height.

Dice Cast

A man's connection to his dice, after any significant time at the game table, is strong. I know my dice like the back of my hand, but can also appreciate the tiny polyhedrons as a medium for art. Kim Hyun has created beautiful art and also some inspiration for a super meta D&D monster.

[Via: Colossal]

Riding with my Bride

June has been an exceptional month for Tabib cycling. Never before have I been on so many rides with my lovely wife. Prior to Kaden, riding was something Crystal enjoyed, but was not passionate about. We were both overweight too. So were I would push past my plump pounds to get on the road every weekend, she would simply pass. Post Kaden, even if she wanted to ride it was a matter of finding a babysitter.

Now that we are each 13% lighter, exercise has become enjoyable and routine. I am running 3-4 times a week. She is walking and Tae Bo-ing the same amount. So when we get a free weekend morning together, we go for a ride. In June we had the chance to do that three times. Putting in 68 miles for the month. Easily Crystal's most logged ever and also breaking her longest ride, at 32 miles this past Sunday. I was extremely  impressed by her the whole ride. I hope we get the chance to break her miles in a month record in July.

Cthulhu Returns - June Ed.

Following our last Dark Sun game in May I felt a break was in order. My group had been rolling hard on 4e for a year straight. Two of them were brand new to table top gaming and 4e was all they had ever known. It was time for something different. So I asked my GM sensei to step in for a night and run Cthulhu for us. He was kind enough to accept and I spent the next month hyping up the game system to the group.

I loved the last two times I played Call of Cthulhu and have been wanting to go back to it ever since. It is heavy on story and role playing and light on mechanics. Where we all appreciate 5-6 page character sheets and loads of technical rules in 4e it is nice to take a break. One page and a character background given out by the GM means you can really dig in to owning your characters motivations.

I won't go into the details, but our group was a 1920's Boston based gang sent to the Pennsylvania Appalachians to broker a deal for cheap moonshine. What ensued was a journey into madness. Jumping in and out of each other nightmares. Confronting a village bent on sacrificing us to an ancient evil and an escape by the skin of our teeth. It was a kicking good time. Next month we will be back to Dark Sun, but this breather is just what everyone needed. It also worked to inspire me as a GM again. Doubling down on my planning to run the best game I can in July.

Return to the Zoo

The rest of the zoo pics

Last year when we hit the Richmond Zoo it was wicked hot and Kaden was too young to walk around on his own. For our return trip in 2011 he is a walking, talking, ball of unending energy. He wanted to see every animal, shout a hello to them, attempt to replicate their call, bark or squawk and run to the next pen. The weather was great and the animals were out in force.

He enjoyed the giraffe feeding the most (as seen above), kept wanting to go back the crocodiles "Chomp!" and danced for and with the penguins. The low or high point of the day, depending on what kind of human being you are, was when a camel stole his cup. He instantly broke in to uncontrollable sobs. Out of fear or anger I don't know, but I found myself laughing. I know, I am horrible person. A trip to the crocodiles and loop on the train got him back in a happy mood though.

Pizza and subs, post zoo was in order. Our party of 7 filled up on meats and marinara and then broke up to drive home and nap. It was another successful and enjoyable expedition to our local zoo. Until he does not require a mid day nap we will be skipping the national zoo and I'm just fine with that.