its hot here!

Landed in Tucson today at 99 degrees at 10am. Yikes. But its a dry heat. I got home to my house (which hasn't seen me in over 3 weeks). There were a couple of friends waiting for me (two wolf spiders, some other BIG bug - not sure what it was) and a few growies in the fridge. I washed clothes, packed them again. I'll get on my bike at 4:45am - climb Lemmon, come home, head to airport and land in San Francisco by noon. Gosh...this can't be good for you.

weekend with sissy

I love my sissy. We spent the weekend together. We watch "the office" episodes (4 to be exact). We drove all over town to get my new bike built. We ate at Whole Foods (surprise). We dined on Sushi. We cooked together. We laughed together. She's leaving for LA in a two more weeks after working up in Seattle for a couple of months. My sissy will be missed.

Taking a BIG Pull

Here is the shot that was on the race web page...I was taking a big pull for my team mate.
Cool, eh?

Pancakes Fuel All

This is Lawrence (he's working in my basement). He's the 77th street Homeless guy that is a gem. I feed him pancakes and he works on my house. He works HARD. Money burns a hole in his pocket...yet sees himself as the richest man in the world. Life is pretty simple for Lawrence. He wakes up. Walks the hood. Secures work for the day. We feed him (he loves pancakes and coffee). We pay him. He leaves. He spends every cent of it that night. He goes to bed. He does it all over again. Simple ain't it. Lawrence just celebrated year number 52 on earth. Amazing!

Hold Your Line

This evening I was biking home from a quick little spin to Seward Park (basically 35 miles from my house). As I climbed up the modest grade from Lake Washington Blvd (a 400 meter climb at about 4-5%) - some yahoo yelled at me as I veered ever so slightly around a pot hole to "hold my line." Now if the guy hadn't been so stealth and announced that he was tracking my wheel...I wouldn't have been so perturbed. I turned around (incredulous) saying "hold my line????"..."maybe if you announced yourself I could have told you about the pot hole!" He then proceeded to grumble something under his breath at me. Then I said to him..."hold THIS line!" - I then shifted up, danced on my pedals...heard him huff and puff for about a couple of pedal strokes...and never saw him again. Well, a cranky cyclist beats a cranky driver ANY DAY!

Mt Hood

This weekend was the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. I don't know if you've ever seen Mt Hood, but it is absolutely gorgeous...when you can see it sans clouds. I certainly didn't see it (much) this weekend, but had a blast at my 2nd ever stage race. I raced for my team and for more experience. It was the most rain I have ever seen. Certainly if I wasn’t racing I would have never mounted my saddle!

The first day was a big learning lesson. I didn’t know the course (except by reading the race bible) and I let myself pull my teammates a little too hard, too soon and too long…and did the second circuit solo (losing 16 minutes on the GC) on the 40 mile stage with 4,000 feet of climbing.

The second stage on day two was an 11 mile TT and it was a total blast. The only issue was that out of the gate my wheel slammed against my chain stay rendering my bike useless until...(I since learned my TT bike has limit screws to prevent this from happening when you slam down hard on your drive train), I was forced to dismount my bike 10 feet from the start ramp…open my wheel skewer, reset it – consuming 50 seconds before I could mount my bike and head off the road passing the woman who started behind me…THEN four other women in front of me! (think Lance passing Jan and Basso on his ride after being let out of the shoot on Alpe D'Huez)! YES! By the looks of it, I would have been around 16^th in the TT. I felt great and I FLEW on my Rocket Cervelo P3!

Stage 3, with my team mate Lea close to the GC lead (actually in 2^nd place and me sitting at around 30^th)…I asked how she’d wanted me to work for her. She said blister the monster descent of sharp turns with wet roads because the other GC riders near her in time were afraid and would need to work hard to catch us (expending tons of energy). That is what I did. My mountain biking skills slammed the pack and I lead the break on the flats making all the others suffer – including myself (probably opening up a 20 second gap and attack by just my lines and modest pedaling). I had just enough energy left to finish the race (sacrificial lamb that I was) and make the 200 meters of 15% slope at the finish. WHEW!

It was fun except for the crazy rain on the two (2) road race days that took much out of me. It was a rush! Now back to work…AND I’m now headed to bed!

im on the market

yes...
it is time. I am ready to engage in the relational marketplace.
I've been too busy, too into my self pursuits. I'm looking to expand myself...
funny, eh?

my sis is already on the prowel for me. She came home last night having introduced me to hurt cute chiropractor. Stay tunned.