Written on New Year's Eve

This is it. This is the last installation in 2006. In less than four hours, we’ll reach 2007.

How. Exciting.

More importantly, let me tell you about the steak I broiled for dinner about two hours ago. After a short nap, I dragged myself out of bed (I can’t stand falling asleep when the sun’s still up and then waking when it’s dark--has a tendency to make me feel like a lazy bum) and held a short, internal debate as to whether I should go out for an early dinner alone to celebrate the coming new year or if I should spend the cash on groceries and make my own dinner.

Rather than drop the money on a few rolls of sushi, I walked across the street to Key Food and spent $21.74 on chicken cutlets, Hebrew National hot dogs, hot dog rolls, a block of mozzarella cheese, and a juicy steak. The plan was to cook the steak as my New Year’s Eve dinner along with a baked potato topped with olive oil and melted cheddar cheese.

Nice, right? As I stated in an earlier blog, one of the benefits of cycling is that the occasional splurge on a rich meal is well deserved after a long morning on the bike.

While setting the dining table for one (utterly depressing), I popped in a copy of Sex and Lucia on DVD. With the medium-rare steak and a delectable baked potato on my plate next to a tall glass of Coke (I’m not much of a wine or beer drinker), I hit PLAY on the remote control and dug in. Despite how wonderfully the steak and potato satisfied both my mouth and stomach, I had a hard time concentrating on the movie and my dinner at the same time. This, in turn, led to a second internal debate--should I switch off the movie until I finished eating? Keeping up with the subtitles (it’s a Spanish movie with Paz Vega) and carving a steak at the same time was becoming a major pain in my ass.

Rather than do anything about it, I forged ahead, eating, cutting, and watching the movie at the same time. I pride myself on my multitasking skills. More importantly, the steak was too good to step away from it for even a few seconds. It was too good to even consider dropping the fork so I might grab the remote control and simply hit PAUSE. Instead, I simply cut, speared, chewed, and watched all at the same time. As people always say, it’s hard work, but somebody has to do it.

When the steak disappeared, I then helped myself to a bowl of Hagen Daaz chocolate-chocolate fudge ice cream. A large bowl, I might add, all the while still taking in Sex and Lucia.

It’s a fantastic movie, by the way, although certainly not for kids’ eyes (in case anyone reading this has underage kids, and no, Picco, you can’t borrow it until I get back all my other stuff).

With dinner and dessert over, I settled into the sofa and took the movie all the way to its wonderful end. Then I got up, cleared the table, finished the Pepsi, and sat down at my desk to write all the magnificently boring words you see above. With all that said the question now becomes, why bother? Why bother writing about a single dinner? A single piece of red meat? Why bother telling you about Sex and Lucia? Of all the above, what the f#ck does any of it have to do with cycling?

Why have I wasted your precious time?

For starters, steak is the kind of dish that not only tastes fantastic when you’re chomping on a piece of filet, it’s also enjoyable to read about steak. Come on. Every pair of eyes that hits this page loves the sight of a nice, thick slab of T-bone, rib eye, or prime rib (choose your poison), so I figured writing about a slab of meat might finally do this blog some justice.

Second, it’s the last day of 2006, and as a result, I get to write about anything I want. With the exception of finding cycling when I invested the $600 in my bike, I can’t wait to put this year in the history books and get on with 2007. 2006 was filled with potholes and I can only hope the next year, starting tomorrow, will be a much smoother ride.

Finally, while there’s a lot to be said and written when it comes to cycling, what am I really going to write about which you haven’t heard already? Yes, there is the professional cycling angle, and we will discuss all that good stuff in 2007 rather than bore you with my personal anecdotes, but it’s New Year’s Eve and I had a steak. That counts for something, doesn’t it?

Before I wrap this up, I did want to make mention of something Dr. Rob said this morning toward the end of our ride. The group had pared itself down to only a few riders including Ed Dalton, Vito, Dr. Rob, and myself. Making the right through Gateway, we each took our respective turns pulling at the front, which was a pleasure. From my point of view, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of rotation at the front of the line during our group rides. That’s just me, though.

Anyway, once we hit the end of the paved road near the back half of the park, Dr. Rob pulled up next to me and said, “That’s the kind of riding I like the best: when it hurts but you know you can ride that pace for a while if you had to ride it, when the sun’s out and it’s not too windy, when it’s a nice day and you’re with friends and everything’s just right.”

[DISCLAIMER: Of course, I paraphrased the above. If I had had either (a) a personal secretary with me at the time, or (b) a voice recorder, I would have asked Dr. Rob to repeat himself so I could have quoted him directly. Alas, I had neither (a) nor (b) so the above is the best I can do. Regardless, I did want to give credit where credit is due and source Dr. Rob with such a wonderful quote.]

“That was poetry,” I said. “Sheer poetry. I’m going to put that on the blog.”

“Make sure I get credit,” Dr. Rob said, laughing.

Please see the DISCLAIMER above.