Three Day Weekend!!!

Yaaaay for three day weekends!  The unfortunate part will of course be coming back to some angry shop guys.  They seem to have a hard time understanding that we are not a bike shop and our hours are not the same as a bike shop.  Anyway, I should not think of that as the time is ripe for sweetness and having a maximal amount of fun.

The NAC Ride is tomorrow.  Please consider joining in the festivities.  I realize that a $50 entry for a 50 mile ride is steep to some, but it is a 100% charitable contribution!  Also, you are probably riding on a minimum $2k bike.  More likely $4k or more.  Plus, free concert, lunch, rest stop feeds, bounce house, climbing wall, sporty hi-tech shirt (not some crappy tee, friends) and non-raffle raffle!  Win Reynolds Attack full carbon wheelset!

I don’t know what’s on tap the rest of the weekend, but I am pretty sure it will be good times!  If this post seems oddly upbeat, I can explain.  About a week and half ago, I had an epiphany.  I had been pretty down in the dumps for awhile and I really don’t know why.  I gave myself a swift kick to the groin and realized how forking good I have it. 

Life is what you make.

And Just Like That…

My biking season may be over.

I was thinking the circuit race Monday, Interbike Crit, and maybe Harvest Moon.  With Monday out, that means training for three weeks with no racing.  The idea of not racing at Interbike sounds kinda nice for a few reasons:

1) Interbike is really hard.  Trying to find the time to spin the crap out of the legs every day on top of everything else is rough.  Last year I was getting up at 6 every morning to ride for an hour before going to work.  Work generally goes to about 10, as you pretty well have to dinner and schmooze it up every night.  It might be more fun not to be preoccupied with racing.

2) The likelihood of turfing it is pretty good.

On the other hand, I hate watching bike races.

Making Harvest Moon was always going to be  a challenge.  It is the day that I drive the truck home from Interbike after (again) a pretty taxing week.  Max speed ~65.  On the downhills.  It’s probably a seven hour drive in a normal car.

If anyone knows of races that I could realistically make, I am all ears.

On the other hand, if San Pete was it, at least I went out with a bang~!

EDIT: Just in case anyone has missed this… It is really worth clicking: MANLY BIKE FOR SALE

Nothing Really…

going on.  I just figured it was time to get the link to the picture of Julie’s badonkadonk off the top of the page. 

This week is flying by and I am looking forward to the three day weekend!

I was looking for the link, and the online registration for the circuit race on Monday has been taken down… Does this mean it’s cancelled?  It definitely had the appearance of a road event being put on by tri promoters, but whatever.  Cancelling=lame!!

My bike pedalling opportunities for the year are dwindling…

Nice Julie!

http://pezcyclingnews.com/cgi/gallerypicget.asp?pic=http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/babes/babes08/utah08-miss3.jpg

I didn’t think they allowed that kind of stuff in Utah.

This Saturday

http://discovernac.org/summitchallenge.htm

Just in case my dear readers have forgotten, fun ride for a good cause.

Weak-End Wrap-Up

So, I did some figuring in my head (carry the two, divide by four…) and it looks like I am done road racing for the year.  Meaning, it’s all crits from here, not like, done done.  Anyway, I have been eating like a morbidly obese pig to celebrate.  Not that it’s anything to celebrate.  Or that I typically eat much better.  And, of course, the sched. is subject to change.  So what is my point?  I don’t know.

Sunday we had the family group ride up the Provo River trail and back.  Kelly’s dad and brother were with, and I was pulling the rikshaw making our group six strong. 

Otherwise, it was pretty much a day of rest, which was necessary. 

Took the girls swimming in the river to cool off in the afternoon as our air conditioner busted and we were closing in on 90 degrees.  Inside.  Hopefully that is fixed pronto.

Big family dinner after that and now it’s back to the madness…

A Little Bit of Redemption…

Yeah, it is definitely easier when you take a hundred full-time bikers out of the mix, but I am still pumped to have won the San Pete Road Race.  And not to make too big a fuss over my amateur biking “career” (this is what I say right before I do just that), it strikes me as a metaphor for life in general.  Last week sucked.  And not just that I basically quit Tour of Utah 5 miles into the 2nd stage, or the dog almost being put down for what amounted to a 24 hour bug, but lots of other crap happened too.  Then, yesterday I just felt like a weight lifted off my back and I was back to my normal sunny self.

Anyway, 98 mile road race, deceptively hard.  Sleevie and Ira who have both been out all year with knee injuries were my only teammies.  A break went and Sleevie went across just like old times.  He was out there for maybe 35 miles, but then his knee started to take a left, so he bailed.  Good call, by the way.  A couple miles later, I saw a chance and jumped across to Billy Demong (American RADDDDDnesssses).  Google that guy if you don’t know what an incredibly awesome athlete he is, and he doesn’t suck at racing bikes either!  We caught the chase group, which was completely incohesive.  Flash forward a bunch of details and onto the final climb, Billy dropped everyone else and came pretty damn close to dumping me as well.  Then, he realized that his teammate Luis was in the break now only 300 meters up on us.  He immediately stopped working.  I pulled the remainder and managed to catch the break inside the last K.  Had time for 3 deep breaths and Tony from FFKR hit out with maybe 350 meters to go.  I got on his wheel, and was struggling to get around.  With maybe 100 meters to go, I managed to pull one last bit o juice out and got the big V.

So yeah, good day.

Courtesy of Sandy

 

This Just In

Haley is offically a pre-schooler. 

Kelly has all the details and then some.

No Gojo Mojo

So I pretty much feel like I did Tour of Utah, even though I didn’t.  I pride myself on pretty much always wanting to ride, but this week the idea of doing the same lunchtime loops is not doing it for me.  I’ve gotten out a couple times, but the motivation just ain’t happening.  We’ll see how San Pete goes. 

The idea of hopping on the dirt canal trails is tempting, but as I am test driving tubies for the moment and I really don’t want to flat a tubie, maybe I’ll wait ’til I change wheels or get the cross bike going.

Outside of Cassidy’s miraculous recovery, Kelly’s folks and her brother arrived Tuesday night.  It’s weird to think he’ll be living with us, but I am excited about it.  

Kelly just rang- she got a ticket.  Total speed trap right on the line for a school zone.  31 in a 25, but ’cause she passed the school zone, it was a 20.  They cut her no slack, so there goes $200.  I told her she should have cried or shown some skin.  Anyway, first ticket ever, not such a bad record.  I’m sure she’ll have better details.  Oh yeah, lest someone give me a hard time… Yes, it is a law and no, we probably shouldn’t expect “slack” esp. in a school zone.

Alright, lots to do…