Another Rainy Day Off

The rain is falling pretty hard outside now. This has been the pattern on my days off this winter! Things are looking up each week though with better weather. Had some nice early morning off road rides this week and am looking forward to another one tomorrow. My general sickness and/or beating myself half to death on the bike for the last 3 weeks has been letting up as I feel recovered now. I haven't felt "normal" in a month but feel pretty good now and am looking forward to training hard. Training for what I'm not sure as my "A" priority race this year was cancelled. No 24 hr Nationals in WV. They are moved back to Moab, UT. Too far away and too crummy a course to entice me to race. I think I'll race more XC now and focus on the Pisgah Stage Race in Sept. I should have done that one last year and as a bonus it is now 5 days long!

Anyways- I couldn't bear to get on the trainer again so I kept busy around the house today- or should I say the garage. Liza got me a model railroad starter set for christmas after a visit to the hobby shop and some reminiscing of my childhood. I need something to take my mind off of riding bikes so this worked out great. Not one to do things in a small way, I have been adding on to my trains since the day I got them. I finally got the layout built up and running the way I want today. Here's some pictures of the results. Still needs some landscaping and buildings, I'll get there in due time.

Well- got to go- I probably should get on the trainer after all! DH

The St. Francisville Fiasco

Nathan, Joachim, and I drove to Louisiana this past weekend to race in the Rouge Roubaix road race. It is suppose to be a really hard 102 mile road race with steep climbs, bad roads, and miles of dirt and gravel. I continue to find ways to mentally and physically beat myself into the ground so of course I was in! We left on friday and after 14 hrs. in the car we arrived in the middle of nowhere north of Baton Rouge known as St. Francisville.

In order to save time and spare you the whole story, here are some observations from the weekend:

1. Alligator tastes pretty good.

2. 30% of the roads in Louisiana and Mississippi are dirt, 50% are crap, and 20% are nice. By 20% I mean I-20 and I-10. I don't know what the tax dollars in these states pay for- it's not the roads. With tough competition from SC for worst state educations, I don't think taxes pay for the schools there either!

3. There is very beautiful countryside there.

4. LSU's cycling club has the worst, most horrible cycling kit in existence in the history of cycling. On that note, I'm glad I don't have to see anymore purple outfits worn by the fans of LSU either. Had enough of that. The whole state is purple and yellow.

5. If a Shimano Di2 electronic drivetrain equipped bike is packed in a car driving for 14 hrs with something touching the shift lever, the battery will go dead.

6. You can ghetto charge a Di2 battery by stripping the wires on a cellphone charger, inserting them into the battery, and plugging it into the wall.

7. Rouge Roubaix is the hardest road race I've ever done.

8. It feels weird and just a little creepy when someone tries to buy drugs from you at 11pm at a gas station in Pensacola, FL.

9. Nathan and Joachim did very well, and none of us flatted or crashed.

10. We drove straight home through the night after the race, arriving at 6:30 AM. The sunrise from the connecter was beautiful.

11.McDonalds will sell you a Mc Flurry at 2 AM.

Later-DH