sorry

the week leading up to and coming back from are always insane for me. When you are THE one person and you go away, even for a day or two, things back up. My boss can sometimes step in and help with some stuff but there is a lot that just waits for me to return.

And man did I get ambushed when I came back. Monday morning rolled along great in the office. I got caught up (or so I thought) while watching a bit of the tour, it was great. I thought things were different. The email looked pretty clean.

Then on unread message in the middle of listserver emails and daily work emails and the like of stuff I kinda of skim over had me take a double check. And shit wouldn't you know it, there's a whole mess of critical to deal with.

Still working on sorting most of that out, but it is lunch time and I'm still hungry, no food left and well maybe this will distract me enough until the next problem comes up and I get busy again.

Didn't get to finish that thought. Never ending. And of course give it three weeks and it will be quiet and manageable again.

When I've had a moment to watch the tour while dealing with stuff here at the desk i've been lucky enough to get a Eurosport feed. English commentary that doesn't suck. Dudes who know who ever rider is and who don't pander to the whims of VS and their ratings. Commentary that is worth listening to and no stupid filler "interviews" or "insider" crap. I guess I've been watching the tour for too long. I just want to see the racing and get some good solid commentary. thanks to Cyclingfans.com I can. And it is pretty cool.

I know i'm all backed up on stories. The new car, the old car, vacation, the driving... Just not feeling it or finding the time to do it. Crazy tired since getting back.

After driving home i was too wired to fall asleep for a while and I've just been behind the sleep ball since.

Tuesday though I managed to get out for the smack down ride.

And wow it was amazing. Keith Kelly rolls up and everyone sort of went "oh shit" at the same time.

Total brutal pace setting. But fortunately I didn't have total shit legs. Got gapped on Austin, but not by much compared to my normal standards. Got gapped a bit bigger on the next one but was able to keep everyone in visual range. Tourletot also same thing, gapped when Keith set a brutal pace following Turdowski's attack at the bottom. But after that I was attacking the crap out of the pace. freaking fun.

And brutally hard. Maybe all that riding down there did something.

So how do you have a successful vacation and get faster?
Start drinking beer at about 4pm or so, get to bed around 10-11pm wake up at 4:45. Get on the bike after drinking some iced coffee for 3 hours in the heat and humidity famous down in the south. Making sure that the last 10 miles are easy but borderline bonkish. Rinse off, swim in the pool for 15 minutes until the core temp goes down, make a bit scallop, shrimp, avocado, mushroom egg scramble. Watch the tour with your feet elevated for an hour, head to the beach and body surf and float around in the water for 2 hours, eat a big lunch, hang out, start drinking beer again and repeat 3 days in a row.

Monday after a couple days off my legs felt awesome on the commute. Tuesday not as good but still good enough to develop some power and have fun on the ride.

Yesterday? Legs were f'n HOSED. didn't help that I didn't sleep much tuesday night after the ride. Too cranked up. But could have been worse, could have been like Turdowski and had my legs cramp solid enough to cause damage that night.

Working Mans is going on now. I'd love to go again, the year I went they canceled the points race, but not after I drove all the way there in the deluge.

Bikeworks TT is tonight, one of the last ones too. And this is the first year in a LONG time that I haven't been out to one. Kind of crazy.

Schedules are just different this summer.

rumor has it that MILF is web logging again.

Rosey's still kicking out great posts.

Maybe big news coming soon about the cx season.

I finally had a chance to crack the plastic on my Cyclocross Magazine. Can't wait to get a bit more into it. I kind of like the idea of using the Rapid Rise der for CX, almost kind of makes sense. If i wasn't so freaking old and used to the way things work I might try it out. But then my bike gear is all probably way too close to the end of the bathtub. Won't be too long before everything falls apart at once. I just hope I can get the car back into being ready for draggin me and my shit to CX races this fall before it all comes apart.

Just before we went on vacation the girls and I were all measuring up to see how much they've grown in the last couple months (alot) and I decided maybe I should see how tall I really am. In other words: "How much have I shrunk?"

How much? Well lets just say I'm not 6'6" anymore. Barely 6'5" and just that by a slim margin. With someone else measuring they might find me just under 6'5"...

Oh yeah - after tuesday's crazy power ride? Attacking left and right. Well we get to the base of the climb over 6/10 on Atwells heading home. Turdowski and Kirk are up ahead a bit so I jump to bridge the gap with Nelson on my wheel:

BANG clink clink clink clink

fuuuuuuuuuuhk.

Busted spoke on my "race" rear wheel. Awesome. But it isn't rubbing on the chain stay so I ride it home no problem.

But another broken spoke. Seriously? I guess it makes sense - and it does indicate i'm hitting the end of the bathtub. At least I've got spokes for this wheel. Although I'm probably going to disassemble it to see how the rim looks w/o tension. Just not sure when. I've got the Bontrager Race that needs to be converted to a CX machine for my oldest. The rest of the stuff needs to be put together from the trip over vacation. And the car is still not drivable. Too much stuff to do. Need a vacation day just to spend time at home working on stuff.

Can't really start working on the car until my finger heals up from being opened on the chainrings of my wife's bike on monday when the over tightened crank bolt loosened suddenly and the extra short crankbolt wrench send my finger into the teeth. pretty solidly lacerated. Held together with proxi-strips.

vacation was nice - totally didn't think about trying to get the car working again or the state of the bike room and the various bike bits of stuff that need attention.

that and Alan went and opened registration for Catamount CX weekend already. SERIOUSLY? It is F'N JULY!!!! No i haven't registered yet.

I don't even know when I'm racing on the road next, or if I am, much less thought about starting the CX program yet. Ugh. But I guess I should. Carl Crash Ring has started running already, and well, I can't count on him crashing every race so I might have to finish in front of him on legs alone.

I wonder if this has been rambling enough to throw off anyone other than G-ride...