Home again

Live is good again. Well, mostly....I am back home after a LONG 5 weeks in a hotel up in Sunnyvale. The babies were almost as happy to see me as I was to see them! However, Jeannie flew out on Thursday morning, and I drove home Thursday night. She had her girls-vacation planned for over a year now...they are living it up in New Orleans as I type (and having a wonderful time...imagine that!).

But all is well...it sure is good to be home. Yesterday I went on the Saturday morning Main Street Cycles crew group ride...and it was good. I think there were about 12 or 13 at the start....a few ladies too. And to be quite honest, I'm near the very lower end of the cycling fitness in that crew (yes, including the ladies). However it's quite fun to ride with a group when I'm in over my head...I think it helps me get better fast when Typically after about 25 miles there is a break-stop, and then some of the crew turns around for home while the rest go on to whatever the final destination for the day is. THIS is when it gets fun. At this point the pace changes. It goes from a relaxing 'keep the group together' pace to a much zippier one when the strong guys and gals put some hammer down and keep it that way. This is when I slip quickly to the back and hang on for dear life.

Though I'm doing something right as I'm obviously getting stronger (as I didn't have too much trouble hanging on yesterday...but I was pretty whipped at the end of our 65miles). That said, keep in mind that I didn't take one single turn up front...not that it was needed. There were 3 guys who spent nearly the entire day up there...and as strong as they are it suits them...that's how they get a good ride with a weaker group. Boy are they strong. One of them is built JUST like He who must not be named...just dances on the pedals on the climbs with a high cadence...his name is Johnathon, and to look at him off the bike you'd have no idea. Then there is Doug...who looks like a sprinter...huge ripped legs...he can spend the entire day up front yakking with whoever is up there with him (and he did). Also there was Keith...he's not quite up there with Johnathon and Doug, but he takes a lot of pulls on the front, and that's a whole lot more than I can do. Not there this ride was Jeremy...he's active duty Army, but he rides a lot like Tom Boonen. POWER is his middle name I think. He descends like a DEMON, and wins any sprint points that come up. Then there is Doug's wife Patty. Wow is all I can say. She took 3rd in her division at the recent Sea Otter up in Monterrey (I'm pretty sure she's about my age)...I've seen her go up to the front and take full-turns with the guys during some prolonged high-speed pace-line work...she is a complete animal, yet nice as can be.

All in all it was a nice day on the roads, and we went on some ones that I've never been on before. Gee...all these last few years I've been doing all my weekend rides solo...what was I thinking? And today (being as I'm still a bachelor at the moment, as Jeannie doesn't come home until Thursday) I figured what the hay, and went Mt biking. My legs felt pretty tired, but I slipped in my usual full-ride of Montana de Oro State Park. Had a good day overall...some new personal bests (according to Strava)...and my overall time for the entire ride was only minutes off of my best. So I'm progressing nicely....and in less than 2 months I'll be up on Davis for the annual LIVESTRONG weekend. Greg is going to DESTROY me I'm afraid....today he did the final big century for the spring....Breathless Agony. He ended up with 122 miles with 12,195' of climbing, and his moving time was just under 8 hours. THAT is some serious riding, and he set oodles of personal records for the day. He is an animal for sure...I know I'll be working to hold his wheel up in Davis, that's for sure. I just would like to make it farther with the fast group than I did last year (which I will).

OK. Enough on that. Tomorrow starts the Giro! (and btw, thanks Cathy for the notice that it's televised daily on the BEIN network...SWEET! I've got the DVR set for it). Sheesh...I still haven't watched my 3 races I recorded while I was gone...not that I don't already know who the winners were (GO FABIAN!)...I will need to see when I can slip in some time for that. I know I've been somewhat busy since I got home. Lots of little things to do after being gone so long.

The babies are doing good...PG is doing GREAT on 3 legs...and the hair is mostly covering all the shaved areas and looks a whole lot better. Sweet Pea has an open spot thru the skin (looks rather nasty) where one of the tumors was removed...you can see pink muscle/stuff under it..however it's getting smaller by the day and the vet says to let her take care of it...she's doing a good job (she also gets an antibiotic twice a day to keep down any critters that would try to get inside). Hopefully inside of a week it will seal up entirely...until then I worry...infection would be bad.

And so...all is well at the homefront...I see by the news that there are still areas getting SNOW...that would really stink. I HATE WINTER! Boy was that groundhog WRONG WRONG WRONG! Must have been a rookie. But so it goes...that's what you get when you listen to a groundhog for weather predictions.

Have a GREAT week!

And VIVA le Giro!

Cheers!