Bike Night...

Thursday night, bike night, noche del motos, Guys night out, noche de los hombres... Whatever you want to call it, in my opinion it is the BEST night of the week. It is the time when myself and all my friends get to go out and laugh, tell stories, joke around and in general have a great time enjoying each others company. Last night was no exception, I headed up to one of our local watering holes to meet the boys and when I took the exit off the highway the sky's opened up and I got soaked for the last mile of my ride. I am usually not the first person that show's up so it was very surprising to me that I got there before everyone else. I figured they chickened out cause of the rain and when I pulled up and noticed no one else was there I yelled some profanity to myself which caught the attention of everyone on the patio... whoops....
I went in and ordered a drink and visited with some of the regulars there at the bar and waited for everyone to show.
Everyone showed up and there were shots, drinks, wings, good lies and great stories. Once the last call happened it was time to be moving on. A smaller group of more rambunctious individuals decided to head south into Austin to hit another bar. When we got there one of my brothers ROBERT CONTRERAS :) had the unfortunate luck of dropping his bike and of course us being the great friends we are took pictures so we can tease him about from now until he dies. Note: I can do this cause I dropped my bike and told on myself when we took our trip to Arkansas see here
Anyway, the bike was fine and more importantly Robert was fine.
We hung out at this bar for like an hour or so watching the locals interact with each other. It is so much fun to people watch. After a while we started getting pretty board so it was time to leave. We all decided that after the holiday's we will be going to downtown Austin for the after party cause it is way more interesting. Apparently last time when I missed the after party there were fights, arrests and public intoxication downtown...what a great time!
Next was breakfast at I-hop and then it was time to head home. I ended up riding the last 15 miles of my trip home in the rain... But I wouldn't have change a thing.
I love bike night... I love my friends, they are my rock.
There are more pics here.
Till next time, keep the rubbers on the road.

My Mom....

For the past three years my family has participated in the Susan G. Komen 3 day breast cancer walk. This is the first year I have had the privileged to attend and witness this event first hand. Let me start off by saying it was AWESOME and one of the most emotional events I have attended in my life, mainly cause of my Mom. To know all that she went through and how hard she fought and to now see her walk 60 miles to bring inspiration to others... she absolutely inspires me. The sheer magnitude of this event and the amount of work that goes into this is phenomenal. I was able to get up to Dallas on Friday and my sister and I found them on the route and cheered them on!
After seeing them for a few minutes Erin (my sister) and I headed over to grab some food for them and then met them at the camp to help them get settled in and say good night. The next day me and my older sister (kelly) headed over to the walk to find my parents and again cheer on all the walkers. This time we took my bike (bacon) and drove along the route playing music and cheering everyone on. We found my parents and visited with them for a few minutes and then headed over to the lunch station to meet them for lunch.
When we got to the lunch station the first 30 or so miles were starting to take a tole on my parents. Dad had to get his ankle tapped and my Mom had to have the chiropractor pop her ribs back into place, go ahead ask why.
Cancer is a horrible disease, not just breast cancer but all types of cancer. If cancer doesn't kill you, the treatment will come close. When she was getting chemo and radiation it caused her bones and joints to become brittle and now every once in a while her ribs just pop out of place if she moves wrong.
After a brief visit to the medical tent and getting everything popped and tapped they grabbed their lunch and we found a nice spot in the shade and they enjoyed a much deserved break from the walk.
Next day was the closing ceremony which in my opinion was the best part of the whole event. All the survivors are honored by the walkers with a shoe ceremony where all the walkers raise their shoes and pay tribute to the survivors, even now as I write this the emotion starts to well up inside...
My Mom is the strongest person I know and I am so proud and inspired by her courage and determination.
Pics from the 3day

Dinosaur Valley

It has been a long time since I have been able to get outta town and go for a decent ride. Main contributing factor to this was the fact that I just got divorced and have been dealing with that but that is another topic all together. This past weekend was too PERFECT! It all started on Friday when I went by my friend Mike's house to visit and found out that he and his ol' lady canceled their trip to the coast due to heavy rain fall, so we made plans to head out in the morning to make a run up to Glen Rose and see Dinosaur Valley state park. We all met around 8:00 and by 8:30 or so we were on the road. Our plan was to take the direct route straight up to the park and then in the afternoon take the twisty back roads home. When we met the temperature gauge was reading 42 degree's so needless to say it was a tad bit chilly when we hit the road. We got on the road and headed north about 20 miles into the trip I pulled up to Tanya and basically was distracting her telling her it was coooold which caused her to drift over to the shoulder of the road and almost lose control. I was FREAKING out but being the good rider that she is, she was able to save it. It was defiantly a pucker moment for everyone. After that the rest of the trip was uneventful and went smoothly all the way to the park. When we got to the park we found out that the tracks were not visible due to the recent rain that we've been having. A little disappointed we went into the park got a ride patch took a few photo's and when hiking on some of the trails. About this time we were all starting to get a little hungry so we found a place in Glen Rose to eat. After that Mike took us down some of the twisty back roads on the way home. The weather was absolutely perfect for a ride, it warmed up to mid 70's and sunshine. What a great day to be riding...