Just another Thursday.

Yesterday was an action filled day, so just to keep things level in the universe, today was pretty freeking boring.

Scott and I headed over to Loveland around noon yesterday to see just how it felt to climb on Time Trial bikes. This seems pretty stupid I'm sure and I felt really stupid, but I wanted to get a good climbing day in before the Gila time trial. I hate riding that bike only because I feel like a silly triathlete on it, but I guess things could be worse, I could actually be a triathlete! Anyway, I Scott and I took turns feeling like garbage while the other one miraculously felt great. This went on for a couple hours, and I feel like if nothing else, I at least figured out some gearing questions for a climbing time trial.

After the dork bikes, we stopped by Mr. Mike Feighny's house, ate some junk, drank a beer, then headed out to ride the Backbone with our old roomate Danny Boy, and Mike (who had surgery on his belly last week and isn't supposed to exert himself for at least 6 weeks. Oh well, what's the worst that could happen? Maybe we'll learn just how long intestines are?). The Backbone was great as usual, although I stacked it up hard on this big rocky downhill thing that I've ridden like the last 5 times I was there, but I sure didn't yesterday. I endoed about 2 vertical feet from the bottom, and landed face first on the trail below. I cut my leg up pretty well, but I did push my bike back up the hill, get back on and rode the rocky downhill. I pretty much rode like a sack of crap for the next half hour with the post-crash jitters.

After riding the second time, we all went back to Mike's for some chicken and pasta. The food was amazing as always, and we had a good time talking about old times (I'm getting old enough that I get to talk about old times occaisionally). All in all it was an awesome day. Any day I get to ride my MTB is awesome in my books, but riding with a bunch of friends is always great.

Today I had class, then had to work all day. After work was a cycling club meeting. I'll be running for president next year, and hopefully I'll finally get elected. I've been sitting in the Pres/VicePres seat for some time now, but I've always officially been treasurer. On one hand I think being President would be awesome, but on the other hand, I love letting labels go to my head, so maybe it would be bad thing? Either way we have a lot of young guys so hopefully the club will live on, even if I graduate from this place someday.

I've created an album of a bunch of pictures from this weekend. If anyone has anymore, you should send them my way.

Promontory/Oval Crits

Sunday's Oval Crit

This picture was courtesy of Scott's parents. Thanks for coming up and cheering and also dinner afterwards!

I need a break.

This weekend, although being a total success, took it out of me. I'm definitely dragging today. Our home race on Saturday turned out really well. I was hoping to have a little bigger turnout in the open categories, but I guess it'll take a few years to get the word around about what a great course we have, and I think our organization showed that we can handle whatever might be thrown our way.

Kari Mello rocked the registration table all day, sacrificing her face to some nasty sunburn in the process, but I can honestly say I think it was one of the best run registration tables I've ever been around.

Scott was there all day too and helped out with everything from registration, to running wierd errands, and dialing in all the little details that make the day a success.

We had a good turnout as far as the team is concerned. All but one rider was there I think, and he had been traveling all week, so I'll give him the day off for that.

Sue Bjorland from the Breadboard gave us way to much awesome Lavazza coffee, some great pizza, and lunch for the officials.

Mike Feighny was kind enough to offer his van to me to haul everything around in. I still have it and I'm not so sure I'm gonna give it back. I could really get used to driving that beast full time.



The Roubaix Bicycle Company helped us out with a bunch of gift certificates for the winners.

We had plenty of volunteers that did their jobs to perfection. I was a little nervous with the freshman conduct students that were sentenced to course marshall all morning, but I didn't have one problem or complaint against them or from them. I actually think one of the highlights of the day was rolling up to turn 2 just as these two kids squared off and simultaneously drop kicked a stack of lawn chairs and fell into the grass, only to see me and get up and try to pretend like they were really business like and professional. I laughed and told them the kick was awesome, then they relaxed a little and one of them even bragged that his friend had 360'ed a stack of 3 chairs just a minute before I rolled up. Luckily corner 2 doesn't have much traffic, and it was no mistake that those guys got picked to work there.

The folks from USA Cycling were very helpful and gratitious. I lent them my apartment Friday night because we didn't want to get a hotel for them, and I think they liked it better than they would have liked a room at the Greeley Inn. They ranted and raved all day about my place, the course, and Kari.

Dave Towle capped things off better than anything I could have asked for. When we were organizing this race we weren't sure what we should do for an announcer, but in retrospect, I would never even consider hosting a race without Dave if it was at all possible to get him there. He really MAKES the race. He spent the day calling the race, spouting off random made up facts about Promontory Park, giving shouts to the GPD and several of our sponsors. Without his entertainment, we would basically have all just been standing around in a windy field watching riders go past every 4 minutes.

The racing turned out to be great to watch too. The mornings races stuck together pretty well as it was rather calm, but as the afternoon went on, things got fiestier, and the wind picked up a little. I sat out of the collegiate race, but hopped in with the Pro 1,2,3 race in the afternoon. Somehow, just a couple laps into it, I found myself in a move that contained some real horsepower, most of which wasn't mine, but I worked as hard as I could to prove that I deserved to be there. With 5 laps to go I heard we still had well over a minute on the field and we never let up. With two to go, things started slowing down and Stu Gillespie of TIAA-CREF started attacking every 30 seconds. None of his attacks stuck very well, and I even helped bring him back a couple times. He hit it hard on the last lap with about 600m to go, but got reeled in and he sat up. I ended up finishing out the race in 3rd place which was an awesome way to end the day. I know 3rd is a long way from 1st, but I also know I rode that race as hard as I could, and I haven't second guessed a bit of it, because I know I gave it everything.

Sunday was a rather miserable day. I got a full 8 hours of sleep, but felt like I'd gotten 2. My legs didn't have much snap in them for the morning collegiate race, although I jumped across to the break at one point only to see that the rest of the field crashed behind me and got stuck back in with the break I'd gotten across to. I did the open Cat 3 race in the afternoon and my legs felt a little better than the morning. I put in one really hard effort to bring a break back that Scott and I had missed. I didn't have much for the sprint, and was disappointed in my positioning on the last lap. I was hoping to at least be there for the leadout, but I had nothing. Live and learn I guess.

Last night was supposed to be an all-nighter to get that research paper done that I'd put off all week due to this race promoting thing. Well, that didn't exactly happen. I made it until midnight then decided I needed a nap, that ended up lasting until I had to take the rest of the barricades back at 7am. On a brighter note, I did manage to crank out 8 solid pages on "From Free Diving to the Aqualung: The Birth and Evolution of SCUBA." Maybe I was just too tired when I wrote it, but I actually think it might have been some pretty quality writing? I guess we'll see in a week or so. Tomorrow is class, return the tables and folding chairs, turn in all the money and paperwork from our race, finish my poster project, more class, and then I think I get to just hang out for a night. I've been looking forward to doing that for some time.

I've got more pictures of the race on Saturday, I think I might just make a Kodak Gallery album so I don't have to upload them all onto here. There are some decent shots from Saturday's race, and I think I heard a rumor that there was a race photographer from Aurora at the Oval on Sunday. We'll just have to see I guess. Thanks for reading, this was a long one, guess I'm still in the writing spirit from this morning.

The End

Today.

If a picture could sum up an entire day. 5:30 wake up call.

It actually turned out to be an awesome day, and somehow I pulled off a 3rd in the Pro 1,2,3 race this afternoon on 3 hours of sleep and a full day of working the race.

So many people helped out so much that I'm actually a little blown away. I'll write more later, but just to start things off, I'll be forever indebted to Kari Mello, Scott Wenzel, Mike Feighny, Sue Bjorland @ the Breadboard, Steve and Randy from Roubaix, Dave Towle (voted best race announcer in the world for the past 10 years running), all the USCF folks, and Jason Halsey at UNC Club Sports. If you know any of these folks, make sure and tell them what great people they are. That's all for now, I can't keep my eyes open and there are still races tomorrow to think about.

Stressing big time over this race.

Man, I think I've actually accomplished more in the past two weeks than the whole semester. I think I'm totally one of those people that function at whatever level I have to. If I don't have much to do, I don't do much of anything, but when I have a full plate of stuff to get done, I kick into a whole different gear. It's kind've a good feeling, but I look forward to taking it easy next week. It looks like the race will go off without a hitch, we're just waiting on one piece of paper from the Five-0, and hoping that Mother Nature will cooperate.

Everything else has been falling into place. I'm still looking for 15-20 hay bales, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know. Other than that, I think we're set to fly. We've been really lucky thus far with donations and discounts. Our only real expenses have been USCF (the sanctioning body), a race announcer (money well spent), bib numbers (crazy expensive!), and of course the crappers (we got a discounted rate). We've gotten all the cones and barricades donated, a generator, tables, chairs, caution tape, countless volunteer hours, and a venue including a city park, free of charge.

On a personal level, I have a research paper due on Monday, and an Author Illustrator Presentation due Tuesday. The author illustrator thing is almost done, but there is a lot of work to be done on the paper. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging away at it. I've been practically fighting for trainer time lately. I HATE riding indoors, but with all this other crap going on, I've actually been looking forward to getting on it, just to get away from everything else. I shouldn't say I'm totally getting away though, I've been reading a lot on the trainer on my new Time Trial bike that was definitely the highlight of my birthday. My parents got me the frame and fork from my good friend Mike, and I managed to build it with spare parts, not spending more than 20 bucks on new stuff for it, although I haven't paid Scott for the saddle yet, that'll send the cost through the roof. I'm loving the bike thus far. I think I've almost got it dialed in. It's super comfortable right now (which makes me wonder if I should go a little lower?), but I can sit in the aero position as long as I want, and I feel powerful there, so maybe I'll leave it alone.
Anyway, check it out.

Here is my aero reading set-up. I hit 60mph today on the rollers!

The book holder.

I used mouse traps to hold down the pages, I figured I haven't killed a mouse in the 7 months I've lived here, at least they'll get some use this way.

I got 5 chapters of a Judy Blume book read doing some tempo tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to ride an hour or so before work tomorrow, if not there is always after work, after the meeting, before I go to the library. Thanks for checking in. See, even when my life is hectic, it's still boring.

It's official.

I'm 22. So far it feels the same as 21 only a little more bloated. That might be due to the fact my good friends Scott and Kari baked me a cake and I just ate most of it?

Here are a couple things to mark on your calendar for this weekend. If anyone would like either of these flyers in a PDF, leave your email address in my comments and I'll be sure and send them to you. Sorry they are negatives, you get the idea though.

Let the racing begin, and Kari Mello ROCKS!

Yeah, that's me and Tyler. Thanks for the picture Kari.

Today was the first race of my 2006 season, and it went 100 times better than I thought it would. I had bad memories of this course, since I got absolutely throttled there last year. I managed not to get lapped this year, and pulled off a 2nd place finish in the process. That's a new collegiate high for me, and I think UNC as far as the men's side of things. I chased down a couple breaks, put in a few good hard efforts, and managed to recover in time to put in one last hard effort with half a lap to go, and ended up riding off the front with about 250m to go. One CU kid got my wheel as I went by and I gave him a perfect leadout. I guess he pulled something funny before he got my wheel or something, and a bunch of people were mad at him? Oh well. My good buddy Pat Kennedy happened to be in Boulder and made it by to watch my race. I think he's my new good luck charm. Pat, I'll be mailing you a plane ticket to come back out every weekend until June. Hope that's OK?

The other exciting event of my day is the picture above. I stuck around to watch my friend/teamate/training partner/coach? Scott Wenzel do his thing in the Men's Pro 1,2,3 race. Tyler Hamilton happened to stop by halfway through the race, and when I saw someone else get a picture with him, I decided I would do it too. Tyler has been my favorite rider, probably since I first started riding. even throughout everything he's gone through in the past couple years, I still like him a lot. I finally got to meet him today, although I was so nervous that I really didn't get to say much to him. I think I got out, "Hey Tyler, I'm Corey, can I get a picture?" I stood there, and Kari snapped a quick photo. Bottom line, I met him, and maybe I'll see him again and won't be so nervous.

Overall it was a pretty sweet day! I hope every weekend starts off like this one did.

P.S. The scruff will be gone soon, VERY soon. Also if you look closely you can see my favorite person in cycling, Mr. Dave Towle himself in the very lower right corner of the picture. I'm not sure, but I think I may have heard him say my name today?

P.P.S. Thank you so much for taking the picture Kari. You're awesome!

Galvanizing.

So, this morning/afternoon was the UNC crit practice. Things started off with a bang in the softball practice field over on west campus with a circle of cyclists riding around our very own Scott Wenzel. Scott would push us to one side or the other as we rode by, just to get the feel of getting pushed around. He decided once as I rode by that he needed to hit me "from underneath, like a lineman." I felt my wheels come off the grass momentarily then the next thing I knew, I was somersaulting. It was pretty funny, and crashing in the grass didn't hurt at all, so we kept going. Next to take the dive was Dana Curlee, a first year member of the team. He seemed a little shook up, but got back on the bike and kept at it. Soon enough Scott wanted in on the action so we switched places. I started pushing people, but didn't feel like I was really hitting them hard enough. I looked over my shoulder to ask someone if I'd pushed hard enough as I pushed Brian Amstutz, and I accidentally leveled him. He got up a little shaken, only to find he'd broken some adapter plate for his cleat. I felt like I real jerk, but everyone says I'm alright? Anyway, we rode in pairs in the grass for a while, pushing each other around, then moved on to cornering on the asphalt. Everything went well, although I missed a corner once and almost took out Scott. The last thing on our plate was doing a little sprint practice. I always hate the first crit of the year because I tend to bounce both wheels off the ground at least a couple times. We had a cool little lap set up, then a straight-away for the sprint. I got throttled most of the time, but at least I've got a few sprints in my legs. Nick Lobejko on the other hand, dumped it hard coming through a tight right handed corner and managed to shred his prized brand new jersey. There aren't many "new" jerseys around here, and now there may be none.

I moved on to put some new tires on my bike, and then stopped in for some pizza and one last free cup of coffee when I ran into my good friend Mike who went under the knife today. He was looking good, showed me his belly that looked great, and the way he was chugging espresso, he must have been feeling alright. I stayed and talked a while, then took off to ride home with my cup of coffee in hand. As I pulled out of the lot, I heard my phone ringing, but couldn't find it in my jersey. I thought I must have lost it because it wasn't where I usually ride with it and I got worried, then realized I could hear it ringing so I must still have it. I found it and answered it and it was my buddy Jeff that I hadn't heard from in a while. He was skiing and just seeing what I was up to. As I was riding along, cup of coffee and handlebar in my right hand, phone in my left, two police cars passed me with lights flashing, then one e-braked, and slid sideways, the passenger jumps out and runs behind a house. The other blows through a red light and meets up with at least 3 other cars, and I just hung up and got out of the way. I stood on the sidewalk while I watched some shady looking fellow run through yards, weaving from front to back, jumping over fences, and getting slower and slower. When I saw an unmarked Yukon slide into a driveway and Officer Perkins bailed out and I saw 3 other officers running into the backyard yelling, with guns drawn, I decided I'd better leave. It was interesting to say the least, and I called Jeff back to fill him in on what had just gone down in front of me.

For those of you who weren't aware, my birthday is upon us. Cards can be mailed to:

BIRTHDAY BOY
1312 9th Ave. #5
Greeley, CO 80631

Although it's too late to get here on time, I won't mind. It's the thought that counts, and the fact that you thought enough to send me a card or check means a lot to me. Thank you in advance. I got a letter from Joseph Gertsema and Roger Smith today, but I don't think it had to do with my birthday. I registered with the YHS Alumni Website, even though I didn't exactly graduate from there? Oh well. If you haven't registered yet, you should.

That's all for now, tomorrow night we may have a race report!

Entry Word: galvanizing
Pronunciation: 'gal-va-"nIz
Function: adjective
Text: 1 causing great emotional or mental stimulation "a galvanizing, come-from-behind victory for the underdogs in the last game of the World Series"

Word of the day.

This way even if I have nothing exciting to write about, you still get a new vocab word. I don't want carry on about wind or traffic, or even old ladies who honk and wave their arms at you for stopping at a red light, so I won't. Here is your new word.

"gauche"
Pronunciation: 'gOsh
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): sometimes gauch·er sometimes gauch·est
Etymology: French, literally, left
1 a : lacking social experience or grace; also : not tactful : CRUDE (it would be gauche to mention the subject)

I'm going to bed.

I'm exhausted. These first days after base always seem to drain me the most. I'm not used to working hard on the bike, and evidently I'm not estimating my caloric loss correctly, as I totally ran out of gas about an hour from home, and once again found myself at the BreadBoard raiding the day olds. I lucked out though, and got there just after they put all of todays stuff in the day olds, so I basically got new stuff, for yesterdays price. Anyway. I managed 3.5 hours on my rode bike today, with about 2 hours of cadence work and an hour or so of what I think is tempo. I really need to figure out this HRM situation so I'm not just guessing anymore. On top of that I did a lap of the Backbone with Mike. He was kind enough to lend me his Karate Monkey which was a blast. I like riding that thing a lot, enough that now I want one really bad, but I don't think I'd ever race it, so it kinda seems like a waste to get too used to riding one. Anyway, I dumped it a couple times, once pretty hard. I hate crashing because it usually throws my head out of the game, but I managed to ride fairly well post-dump. I came to a very grave realization as I rode from Loveland to Windsor, and never really reached the edge of a town. Not only are all these new housing development displacing native species, destroying the beauty of the land, and adding to the traffic problem of the Front Range, the worst thing they've done is taking away all of the cycling communities bathrooms. I reached what I thought was the edge of Loveland and realized I needed to "use the facilities." The facilities typically consist of the ditch of a less traveled road when you are on your bike. Well I rode and rode without seeing a viable "bathroom," and when I could see I-25 in the distance, I knew things were only going to get worse. I got to a new development, one of those POSH (Port Out Starboard Back) "lakeside" developments that appeared to have only one house built, so I took my chances. As I began to use their facilities, located next to a brand new light pole, I thought to myself, what are the chances that the people from that one house will leave while I'm out here, plus I'd have at least a few minutes of them getting into the car, starting it, etc. It was while I was thinking about this that I noticed the line of cars come over the hill, from where the rest of the development must be located, and one by one they drove by, each slowing to see what I was doing. I panicked, but didn't know what to do, anyone who has seen Dumb and Dumber knows you can't stop once you've started, it stings. So I decided to just roll with the punches. I looked over my shoulder and smiled and nodded as each car drove by. When I got home I finished the first of my new books. "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg. It's a pretty good story of a few unlikely friends that are in a trivia contest. Not the best book I read, but I can see why it got the Newberry.

I'm going to try and post a new vocab word that "defines" my day each time I update. I think today's word will be "adventure."

Main Entry: ad·ven·ture
Pronunciation: ad-'ven-chur
Function: noun
2 : an exciting or remarkable experience

Not that today was too exciting or remarkable, but I've decided to try and make every day an adventure of some sorts. I'm getting pretty tired of riding through Kersey, Milliken, Johnstown, etc... so I think I'm going to try my hardest to rack up some uncharted roads this coming week. If not uncharted, at least less traveled. I'd really like to do some climbing tomorrow. We'll see what the day brings.

P.S. How adventurous can dining get, even if it is "exotic"?

Mudbath.

I rode the Backbone and part of Coyote's ridge this afternoon. The Devil's Backbone was actually in pretty good shape. I was having some chain-suck issues, so I had to ride everything in my middle ring, which isn't a huge deal, because I typically ride everything in my 44x11 (sometimes I think I should put a road crank on my MTB, maybe a triathalon one, like a 42-54?), but I was in a little ring mood today. The back loop was a little too snowy to ride up a lot of the rocky sections, but going down them was alright, just a little less control than usual. I stopped by Feighny's and borrowed a file to see if I could fix the chainsuck problem. I think I did a little good, but after the mud bath at Coyote's even the middle ring kept wrapping the chain around my crank. Oh well. I think a little powerwashing is in order for this afternoon, as well as a little laundry. I've got some muddy stuff to wash.

There was a lot of snow at Coyote's on the long climb, and then the descent was like peanut butter. About 100 meters down the descent I realized I wouldn't be able to ride back out, so I stopped and looked at the rest of the trail across the meadow and it all looked pretty sloppy. I turned around and sure enough, my tire just spun and I didn't move. I started pushing my bike up the muddy trail, and soon the tires wouldn't turn. I pounded some of the mud off, then shouldered the bike and trudged my way back to the top. On a lighter note, I did ride the stairs coming down off the top for the first time! I think I hit my chainring on every landing as I rolled down it, but I made it without diving over the bars.

By the way, I've got 5 new books to read! I ordered a few books for class off of Amazon.com, and they weren't supposed to get here until the 18th, but I was treated to a surprise when I got home from my ride! I think I'll take a shower, powerwash, then ice my groin and read. I wonder if there is something wrong with me, my very inner thigh on the right side hurts pretty bad whenever I start pushing hard sitting in the saddle? I thought maybe a rest week would clear it up, but I guess it didn't? We'll see if a little more ice will do the trick? If there are any doctors or physical trainer types reading this, please let me know what you think. It's basically the tendon that you use to close your legs. Luckily I'm not a lady and I don't have to worry about using it while I'm sitting. Should I stretch it if it hurts? Should I ice it or heat it? Should I get it massaged? Is there anyone out there that really wants to massage my inner thigh for me?

Alright. Baseball. Cold Showers. I'm gonna go, thanks for reading this garbage. Hey, I hope you realize that I just stole another 5 minutes from your life. Don't be mad at me, you've probably donated more time to watching Vin Diesel or Harrison Ford movies than you'll ever spend reading this gobbledygook. I just used a Thesaurus to find that word, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did/am, ha. Thanks for reading. I just made plans for a road/mountain bike ride with a certain Mr. Mike Feighney tomorrow. I'll try and remember my camera so you have something interesting to look at.

When Hell Freeze's Over.

I rode the Devil's Backbone today.

It was pretty snowy.

Most of the trail was clear, but some of it was white.

There were Zebras everywhere, can you see them? Even a few deer in the center of the frame.

By the end of the ride I had this much travel.

Strange.

I just got home from the library. Sorry I should have made sure you were all sitting down before I threw that out there, but considering you're all on computers, chances are you're sitting. Yeah, I think this was the first or second time I've actually gone to the library to study this year. I didn't actually go there to study though you see, I needed to get some info for a project I'm doing, and I figured I'd just stay and get a little caught up. Good thinking eh? Well now I'm home, and I think I might try to keep the productivity streak alive. I've got dishes piling up, and my riding clothes aren't going to last to my next rest day so I better get some in the washing machine.

I got a couple decent rides in this weekend. Saturday was supposed to be to Estes, but my head wasn't really in it, and there was a little confusion and frustration coupled with a crappy headwind, so I flipped it a few miles past Drake, and Scott and I enjoyed a tailwind back to Greeley. Today I didn't want to get out of bed, actually off the couch as that is where I found myself this morning. I forced myself into getting onto the bike, but just for a few hours. Well, I went and got myself a little lost and started feeling better about things in general once I was riding, so a few hours turned into 4 and a half. Still not what I had previously wanted to accomplish this weekend, but I'll take what I get and roll with it. I've extended my base training by two days because of a little hiccup in it toward the end of last week. I didn't hit 30 hrs this week, it was actually only about 20, but two more days and I'll have done 30 hours from Monday through Tuesday. I think I'll call that good, take it easy a few days, then it's off to Moab for some mountain biking and tempo riding. I can't wait to get out of this town for a few days.

On a more exciting note, it looks like my good buddy Bob is coming to visit Tuesday night. Not sure what we'll do, but I'm sure we'll find something to keep busy. Wednesday is my rest day and I don't have class until 2:30 so I've got a free pass to do whatever my heart desires.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the lack of pictures, here, this will make everything better. Name this person, I guarantee at least 90% of you would recognize her name, see if you recognize her. I'll send out a pair of 30x32 American Eagle jeans with the ass torn out to the first person who gets it right.

I got dumped.

And it feels like shit.

Tired.

The long hours the past week have finally caught up to me. Yesterday I was supposed to do 5 hours, but called it after 4 because I was having trouble keeping the pedals turning over. I've also been having some issues with my saddle lately. I've always loved my SLR, but man, lately it's been tearing me up. If things don't start to turn around for the better soon I'm gonna have to hop on the bandwagon and go fi-z-ik like EVERYONE else seems to be doing. It wouldn't be all bad though, I hear I can get a red one? Anyway, I woke up at 8 this morning so I could be on the bike by 9, but I've since decided to cut things short today, so I won't be leaving until 10:30 or so. Now I just need to find something to keep me busy until then. I wish I hadn't done all my homework early.

For those of you who weren't aware, today is March 1st. That might not hold much significance to most of you, but to me it means we have now entered my birthday month. The past couple years I've begun to make a bigger and bigger deal about my birthday, so I think it's safe to honor my birthday as a month, rather than a day. Aimee didn't think that was such a great idea because she had a March birthday herself, so we made some sort of deal about "I get these days, you get those, etc." We made the deal a while ago, so I'm just banking on her forgetting and I'll take the whole month, I mean I had a March birthday almost an entire year before she did?

Well, this whole sitting around in the morning thing is nice. I'm looking forward to next week when I get to do this more often. The only problem is that I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee and I still have an hour until I ride. Maybe I should switch to water after this cup? One or two more couldn't hurt that bad, right?

Let's see, what else. In case you haven't noticed, this has turned into me just jabbering on about nothing, trying to kill some time. Maybe I'll go ride a little early? Yeah, that probably won't happen.

Oh, here is something important. I'm riding to Estes again on Saturday I think. I'd love to have someone ride along with me, or part way. It'll be about a 6 hour round trip, but if you wanted to meet me on the other side of Loveland and just get in on the exciting part of it, I'd still love the company. Last weekend Mike was going to do that for me, but he made other plans with a toilet instead. I hope you're feeling better Mike. You want to ride on Saturday? I should make it mandatory for the UNC team to ride at least part of it with me. It's not that I have a problem riding alone, but after 23 hours alone in the past 5 days, I just ready for a little company. I can't say I haven't had any company. Lately Scott and I have been getting together for about 30 minutes a day. Not sure why, but our rides aren't coinciding too well. I'm planning on doing 3 hours with him today, so that will be nice. For those of you who don't know, Scott "Why is my LT 160bpm? Maybe it was the 12 hours of tempo on my rest week?" Wenzel is in a little bit of trouble with his coach, so he has to ride with me today so I can keep an eye on him. If anyone can babysit tomorrow, I have class and work, but we need someone to keep an eye on him all day yesterday. I don't believe he can kill an entire day on that love sac. My bet is he'll be riding tempo by noon if we don't keep tabs on him. I threatened to take all of his pedals home with me, but after this past week, even my arms are tired and I'm not sure I could get 6 pedals off by myself, maybe I'll just take all his left pedals?

Alright, I'm done with this, I can't believe you actually read all that crap, what a waste of time! Oh well, your loss, not mine. If you want to kill more time, check out my link to Dave Towle under people I met once, but probably don't remember me. He's the announcer that does all the local Boulder races as well as a bunch of NRC stuff. He just did the EPO Tour of California. I like reading his blog because it's refreshing to hear from someone who seems to enjoy life and their job so much. It's a nice contrast to other people that just bitch and moan all the time about how tough their life is. Anyway, I hope you're all having productive days, mine can only get more productive as the day goes on.