This is Shae from Target posing in between 2 bullocks that were upset with his orange shirt and flashy bike.

This is a very typical sight on Sunday mornings in the Bangalore country side.

Preston and I decided it was high time we had a mans day. So Preston’s choice was to go to horseback riding school then stop at “The Only Place” on the way home for great BIG burger.

Preston’s idea of a great treat is a cold Coke:

Since I don’t have burgers very often I decided to go for the “Whopper”. This thing had everything including egg… but of course no bacon.

It was disgustingly huge and it took me all day to eat it. Literally. I ate half at the restaurant and snacked on leftovers rest for the rest of the day. I plan to submit the “Whopper” to www.thisiswhyyourefat.com
Preston loved the horse’s, the lunch, and the Coca-cola.

We will have another mans day soon.

Although this was a crazy busy vacation at times it was the best time we’ve all had in a long time. It was great to see friends and family that we haven’t seen in a year. Preston got to see his neighbor buddies, Jarret and Ben. He hasn’t stopped talking about them since we got back. Elise got to see her freinds Grace and Clare along with her cousin Grace. Elise cried for a few days when she realized she wouldn’t be seeing her buddy again for along time.

You can see Preston and his buddies playing in the background:

But the cabin was perfect as usual. Great food and great friends. It was nice to see our northern weekend neighbors again. It was nice to have a few days with the Carwardines too. It was also nice to be able to see the Scotts and Skai again:

After our 4th of July get away we returned home and had a little get together to share a little bit of India with freinds and family. Alot of people pitched in including an Bangalore buddy, Amber, who was more than willing to spend the day slaving away in the kitchen. Thanks Amber and to everyone else who helped.

We also go to see our new nephew/cousin, Mason. He’s a cute little guy and Im a lucky uncle. I promise to babysit when I get home:

Elise and Grace in their Sari’s:

In July we took a trip back to the US. But on the way home from Bangalore, India we flew through Dubai, UAE. We figured we should stop by for a few days to see what the fuss was about. The is justified. This place is all about cars, hotels, hotel and skyscraper construction, malls, and did I say cars? From the airport to the hotel we got to see what turned out to be the main portion of Dubai. Of course there are huge shipping yards and oil refineries but those aren’t really part of the pretty picture that you need to see. And that acknowledgment seemed evident everywhere on this main strip. It was as if the whole city was planned based on this one road huge hotels and sky scrapers, resorts, malls, car dealerships (mostly exotic) were all there laid out in a neat little row. The skyline at this point is dominated by the http://www.burjdubai.com/. I failed to get a picture as I was in total awe. All manner of automobile cruises the Dubai strip. A new Honda Accord seemed to be about the plainest car with Lexus, Mercedes, BMW’s and Range Rovers being the norm.

This snap I managed to get at an intersection just before we turned into the beach strip. This pic is very symbolic of Dubai. Construction. Prince (whom you can see pictured on an office building in the far background… and this is not the only building with a likeness of the prince spread across multiple floors) Range Rover:

We stayed at a nice Hilton on the beach. Here was the view from our suite:

Camel rides on the beach:

Humidity:

The 1000 dollar per night Burj Al Arab:

The Atlantis (which you may be able to just barely make out):

Elises 4th birthday (she loves her cake):

Go to the set on Flickr for the car show photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28495614@N06/sets/72157621761803680/

The water at the beach was like a hot tub. I have used that analogy bfore when desrbing warm water but this time I’m not exaggerating. It was not even refreshing in the least. Clear and aqua marine yes but refreshing? NO. The pool on the other hand was awesome and much needed since it must have been 100 degrees and humid as all get out.

The mall was insane. It was huge. And yes of course we have a ski slope in our mall:

The MOA will have one of these soon Im sure:

And who could forget the cars….

If you made it this far you must love cars. And if you love cars then you love crispy cream donuts. That was the other highlight of the stop over in Dubai. Crispy Cream. Sad but true. We were excited to have a great donut.

But Dubai also had a sweet water park with a lazy river, a wave pool, some of those surfing thingy’s where the water jets out and make a stationary wave that you can body board on, and some AWESOME water slides that shot you up and down and through a labyrinth of tubes that ran all over the park. Preston and Elise had a blast. Then we headed to the US for some real R&R.

100K!! So on Sunday’s I, Alex, have been going for pretty regular bike rides with a group of others that enjoy cycling. In the past most rides have been around the 35K mark. They have gone as high as 50 - 60K when we get lost. They have gone on one or two rides that have been longer and everyone survived. I was not on those longer rides. So when the idea popped up to ride to Tamil Nadu for breakfast (65K one way) I though “what the hey!” I ride a single speed bike. One Gear. For those of you that don’t remember what a one gear bike feels or what the point would be for such madness what with the invention of these “gears” and all Ill try to explain. Having one gear means peddle harder to go faster. No shifting or fumbling around trying to decide what works best. Just put your head down and go. Its fun…. on flat 50k bike rides in the dirt. Whats not fun is 130K on the road in a hillier region of the south of India. The first 65K was actually easy and very fun. I was racing around zig-zagin bunny hopping and generally goofing off. My ipod was loaded with some motivational tunes and I was full of energy.

This is Arun being chased by a truck:

On bike rides there are frequently ad-hoc joiners to the adventure. Some want to race adn some just want to ride along. Here are two ride alongs happy to be a part of things:

Here is the “reliever” Karthik. There are 3 things I like about this photo. 1)The full truck coming up behind him. 2)You can see the distortion caused by the heat from the road (yes it was hot) 3) He’s still smiling.

Siva and Adarsh getting some R&R:

Some of the guys on the ride were new and less experienced so I was a little overconfident as well. We hit the roadside breakfast stop and enjoyed a traditional Tamil breakfast of Idly, sambar, chutney, and pongal.
All of it was excellent. Now Siva, the ride coordinator, did mention that the way back was a little up hill with one particularly challenging climb but I was NOT prepared for what was in store. After we hoped back on the bikes and set off back towards home I encountered the “challenging hill”.

First climb after breakfast:

The “challenging hill turned out to be grueling. Long but not too steep. And never ending. The thing just seemed to keep going and going and going around every corner there was more hill. And some slow going trucks would crawl past because they too were struggling to make it up. Well, I finally made it. I felt pretty good having accomplished that with one gear. Then as we continued our trip I hit the wall.

I tried not to get caught off my bike but the car snuck a quick snap of me running away when I realized he was there:

The rest of the way back was a series up uphill battles. One after another. Climb after climb. Little rises started to feel like Mt. Everest. My iPod ran out of battery and I ran out of caffeine power that I think was getting me as far as I had gotten. After a while I couldn’t even push a peddle down. I cramped up so bad I couldn’t even walk. Every time I lifted a knee my inner thigh would tighten up into an excruciating ball.This was all between the 80-90K mark. They sent the support car back for me. I declined.

This is me bonking right before they asked me if I needed help:

This is Adarsh goofing around:

I got back on and pressed to 100K. After our 100K break I felt pretty good.

This is me at 100K:

I hopped back in the saddle and “OOOOWWWW!” almost immediately cramped back up. By that time the support car was long gone and I began to walk. Then relief. The support car returned. I couldn’t say no. Partially because I knew everyone was waiting on me. And partially because the thought of a free ride home was waaay to tempting. In the end I did about 101K. I walked two small stretches and I feel pretty good about it. But I have serious training to do before the next long ride. Prep meals the days before, not beer and tandoori food. Gatorade and energy replenishing drinks instead of coffee the whole way. So I think I can do 100K with one speed without walking. The question is why? Why on earth would I want to. The answer: because I think I can.