This is the tshirt that our hosts gave Joey.

He is so proud of it.

Tour of the Gila is a hard bike race. It's not any easier when you
have a horrible cold and cough which is what was going on with me. I
thought it was just the elevation at first but then I got worse
everyday. Ugh. I called it quits before the gila monster stage hoping
to recover by Thursday when Joe Martin starts.
The Gila is in this town called Silver City in New Mexico Whig is
essentially an abandoned mining town. It's pretty interesting and
desolate there. Our hosts were awesome and they set us up in a trailer
that someone had died in the previous week. No kidding. Never a dull
moment on the road. They were super gracious and it did work out quite
well.
We are driving to Arkansas right now. We should be there sometime
tomorrow.

Quick update

Quick update
I'm enroute to Albuquerque (that's hard to spell) right now. The tour
of Gila starts on Wednesday.
Athens was it's usually hectic and crazy race self. It was really dark
and really wet and I was too far back picking my nose when the winning
move went. Will tried super hard to get across but the gap was to big
so the whole team chased. And chased. And chased some more. It was to
no avail. In the final sprint bodies were flying everywhere and as
someone fell right in front of me, I decided to see what that felt
like and do it too. It didn't feel that sweet and now my swollen foot
continues to throb.
All in all Athens is always exciting and this year was no different.
Hopefully I'll be able to continue updating during the week but I
wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you.

This is just too much.

I didn't care much for the Tiger Woods story, but this part of it is just unexcusable, unbelievable, unforgivable and makes me sick. I didn't know Tiger was a white, middle age police officer.

Have I mentioned that Athens is this weekend? Oh yes it is. I am only doing Athens, not any of the rest of speedweek. Instead I am flying to NM to compete in the Tour of the Gila and unfortunately I saw that these guys were registered also...FML.

The Legend is rolling into town tonight, so I better start practicing my dart skills.

Battenkill

I just bought Super Mario Bros 3 and I had to force myself to put down the controller to update my blog. That is what I call dedication.
This past weekend Team Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joes went up to upstate NY to compete in the 120 mile half pavement/ half gravel all hilly road race. I don't even know what to say about this race other than my hands were really cold for a while.
166 racers started and I believe only 50 some finished. The race was super fast from the gun and stayed fast the entire time. We finished the race in 5 hours and considering how hilly the course was and how much dirt/mud there was that is a fast pace.
The weather started out about 40 and overcast, but at about mile 40, it started pouring and the dirt roads turned to mud and my hands became so numb that i could barely shift my gears. It rained for about an hour and during that hour I was near tears and wondering why the f I do stuff like this. Thankfully the rain stopped and once my hands were dry I found myself still wondering why I do stuff like this.
The race is a pure attrition race and Joey and myself managed to finish in the lead group for 22 and 26th. We were happy just to finish as a ton of people did not.

We have the Honda Insight up and running for the season now. Pretty neat car, and it still gets almost 30 miles to the gallon with 5 bikes on the roof.

On the way up to race we stayed at the Lea's house and they converted and old barn into a guest house/weight room. It was amazing there and they are awesome for letting us crash there.

I'm sad that I have to clean my bike now.

and my shoes...

Joey and me after the finish. I'm not goosing him, I promise.


This saturday is ATHENS TWILIGHT!!!!!

Off to the beach

Uh and I are off in a few hours to Hilton Head SC. Yes I know we aren't leaving until 9pm but my wonderful wife is taking a photography class and the first class was tonight. I didn't realize Hilton Head was an island until just last night. I'm wondering if I will be a candidate...
We are going there for a infectious disease conference. I am very excited for the conference as it will give me ample time to train. Hopefully I can get off the island by bicycle.
Things have been good for the week that I have been home. I did a landscaping project, caught up with some friends and did the Boone Roubaix which is a very cool bike race. You can read about it here.
Looking forward to Battenkill in a week and a half. Just going to make sure I bring an extra pair of shoes this year.

Awesomeness

This showed up this morning. Thank-you Quarq!!!!

Back Home

So The Redlands Bicycle Classic once again came and went. I am back home in North Carolina after taking the red eye home on Sunday after the race. All in all the race was good. We had 3 people crash out on the final day, including our GC guy, Matt. He had to get stitches, and fortunately we were staying at a Doctors house, so he stitched him up outside by the pool. Pretty handy. Will fell over mid conversation and hit the deck hard while Joey hit the wall, literally. There was a cement wall along the side of the road. He got diverted and ran right into it.
I managed to hang on until the final time up the climb where I proceded to come completely apart. I finished in the first chase group, which is quite better than last year, but I still have some work to do.
I am very happy though as this was more of a training trip to get us in shape for the rest of the season. The weather was awesome, we got a ton of hard miles in and no one got seriously injured.
Up next is the Boone Roubaix on Saturday.
I hope Jason gets back soon with my bike, if ever. Jason (our director) has the priveledge of driving back with all our equiptment. He was not entirely thrilled about driving back alone so he put an ad on Craigs List looking for a random person to help him drive back. Someone did respond and the person needed a ride to Asheville (go figure). I spoke with Jason this morning and he is still alive and it turns out his new bff is a modern day gypsy. Never a dull moment in Jason's life.