Tour Talk 2

 Boy oh boy, the last several days have gone by in a BLUR! I've meant to come back and talk about the stages but somehow each day has swooped by without that happening. As I type Stage 18 has started and they are on their way to the Sprint point. They had announced back in the Pyrenees that big day was the Queen Stage...however that was apparently ONLY for the Pyrenees, as TODAY is THE Queen Stage...3HC climbs with almost 19,000' of climbing (over 42 miles!)...YIKES! But before we go into today's stage I must go back a few stages. So much has happened and now I've forgot a lot of what I wanted to talk about...darn it, I SHOULD have taken notes like in prior years. I will go back to the other day (the 1st in the Alps) which I think is the one they were saying was The Queen Stage...started off climbing the Tourmalet (HC), then the Col d' Aspin (a lowly Cat 2), the Col de Peryesourde (a more respectable Cat 1) and an HC finish atop the Luchon Superbagneres. No doubt this was a huge stage, and the day was won by Pogo who gapped Vingo at the top by 36 seconds, with Roglic taking 3rd surprisingly! Way to go Roglic! His teammate Lipowitz took 4th on the day. This day put Pogo up by over 4 minutes on Vingo, which I'd say is a pretty comfy lead, especially considering how well he has been racing. 

On to Stage 14...ended with a breakaway from the breakaway, and Arensman from Ineos held off the pack for the win, and the first for Ineos this year (boy have the mighty fallen, wasn't that long ago that Team Sky and then Ineos was THE dominant team in the peleton). Pogo and Vingo were 2nd and 3rd, with the young upstart Lipowitz taking 5th, over a minute ahead of his mentor Rigo back in 8th. Pogo picked up a few more seconds on Vingo (and a time bonus for 2nd) so is now 4:13 ahead of Vingo. Lipowitz is solidly in 3rd now at 7:53 back, with another yong'un Oscar Onley sitting a 9:18...so 1t and 2nd are pretty solid now as long as neither of them has bad luck or a bad day, but 3rd and 4th are still pretty up in the air as a LOT can happen. Ben Healy crept up 1 spot overall to 9th (way to go BEN!), and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos) sitting in 10th. And just to leap forward to today, Rodriguez has abandoned as he has a fractured pelvis! They didn't say but I'm guessing he was involved in the crash at the 1k banner yesterday...what a disaster for Ineos! Lipowitz has solidly took the White jersey, almost a minute and a half ahead of Onley, with Vauquelin not back in 3rd...and Ben Healy way back in 4th at almost 11 minutes.

Here I slipped in a shot of our sleeping beauty bulldog Sophie...she's in her typical Tour viewing mode for today's stage! She's doing very well, but turns 11 here in August...so like her daddy, she's no spring chicken!

  I don't have anything in my memory of Stage 15, so apparently it didn't happen (that's my story and I'm sticking with it!). So on to Stage 16, the Mountain-top finish on Col du Mont Ventoux! Another day that I was literally screaming at my TV Screen (and at/for Ben Healy to be specific)...he broke away from the breakaway and was climbing solo for the win, was caught by a young Frenchman who I certainly can't pronounce let-alone spell...(good thing I took a screen-shot of the TV!)...winning atop Ventoux is pretty huge, so here he is: Valentin Paret-Peintre, who gapped Ben by a few feet at the summit. Good for the French, they needed a winner (he's the first this year) but OMG, Ben was the Hero of the day in my book. Vingo and Pogo were not too far back as Vingo was giving it a go at unseating the indomitable Pogo...didn't happen but they did come back over 2 minutes on the leaders, finishing at 43 and 45 seconds in 5th and 6th. Roglic was amazing and finished 2 seconds ahead of his protege Lipowitz 9th and 10th. You have to love Ventoux, it's THE most iconic climb mostly due to the otherworldly treeless white granite summit with the tower. I can't think of any other finish to match it. Lipowitz added to his 3rd place GC and is now over 2 minutes ahead of Onley and is solidly in control of the White Jersey. Pogo has moved back into the Polka dot Jersey (ties with Lenny Martinez but the look-back has him ahead because he won an HC climb back in the Pyrenees). Milan is the owner of the Green Jersey but not by much, as Pogo is only 11 points back with a lot of points on the road that Pogo will likely get.

And just because, a screenshot picture of the summit of Mont Ventoux cuz I like it SO MUCH and can't even begin to tell you how much I want to climb it on my bike!

 Didn't take any screen-shots yesterday for Stage 17 as it was a sprinters stage (tho the big crash at the 1k banner took out several of the sprinters, notably Metlier who was hoping to challenger Milan). Milan and his team did good and he won the day, putting him far enough ahead of Pogo for some breathing room (now he has to finish in Paris, including the two remaining huge Alp stages 18 and 19). 

And that brings us to today, Stage 18, the BEAST! So I'm going to post this and either add to it or just comment on the results for today...I have to say how much I've been enjoying being able to watch EVERY STAGE from start to finish...ahh, being retired is AWESOME! (and I even slipped in a mt bike ride yesterday morning...you know, cuz it was a boring sprint-stage). Next week I begin my annual 'Post Tour comeback' where I try to regain my fitness that I had back in say April, which is the time I usually start my decline as the temperatures are up and my saddle-time starts to decline. OK, more coffee and re-gain MY Tour Position (very couch-potato-like). Game ON!

 OK, the leader (Ben O' Connor) is just over 6 mi from the summit of the final climb. Lipowitz has heroically come back from what was looking very bad for his 3rd place podium spot, as Roglic was a maniac on the first 2 climbs. That has turned around as Lipo rebounded and passed everybody except for the two leaders (Ben hadn't split from his Movistar compatriot yet). Just WOW for Lipo! 

And some thoughts as I listen to the Phil and Bobke banter...Sep Kuss...we just haven't seen that much of him this year. In prior years Visma was the Sep Kuss show on all the big climbs. This year not so much. And another familiar name we haven't heard doo-doo about is Nielson Powless...previous years he was in breaks all the time, this year I've barely heard his name mentioned. The American who HAS been killing it the entire Tour is Quinn Simmons on Trek...sheesh, he's been at the very front of the Peleton (or in the break) more than anybody I can think of, and I'm not just talking about this year. He was on the front yesterday and was called back to bring Milan back up, so he drops all the way back, does that, and with just a few K to go suddenly there he is at the VERY front yet again, setting the pace for the entire Sprinting-gang from all the teams! I mean (aka TJ, which btw he hasn't hardly used at all this year, bless his heart!) if he doesn't win the MOST COMBATIVE for the entire race I'll be pretty pissed...nobody else has done the work he has this year. It's seriously impressive, and I HOPE Trek is giving him a commensurate salary...NOBODY else on that team is even close to the workhorse Quinn is! HUGE KUDOS to him!

OK, back to the final climb...ooh...is Vingo going to attack? He's pretty isolated now, and Pogo had 2 of his guys go to the front and now UAE is setting the pace. What a race today!

OK, back to the final climb...ooh...is Vingo going to attack? He's pretty isolated now, and Pogo had 2 of his guys go to the front and now UAE is setting the pace. What a race today!

SO I intended to just comment on Stages 18, 19 and 20...but it got too long and wouldn't let me post it...so here it is in it's entirety:

Stage 20 is done. It was a real barn-burner for sure, and I can't even imagine how hard this one has been for the racers. It's like there weren't ANY kick-back stages for the majority of the racers to have somewhat of a slower-pace day. And there's been SO MUCH CLIMBING this Tour! In that respect it has been one of my favorites! (tho I must say that with my memory, EVERY TOUR that I'm watching is the best one, as I really only have fleeting memories of prior tours). So I left off taking about Stage 18 when Ben O'Connor won on a THREE HC day, the last being a Mountaintop finish! They climbed up the Glaindon, the Madeleine, and the Loze (which I heard the boyz in the booth say was THE longest climb in Tour history at 26.4k, which is just plain NUTS!) I know everybody was expecting Pogo to go for it, but he didn't and we don't really know why. IMO I think he's getting tired, surely his team is. He ended up finishing 2nd at 1:45 back, which is a pretty serious gap. Vingo was right with him until the final 500 yards or so when Pogo attacked and gained 7 seconds (he and he added another 2 with his 2nd place time bonus). Of note in Stage 18 wasn't the top 2 riders, but the 3rd and 4th...Onley had a GREAT day finishing 4th just behind Vingo, which moved HIM into 4th at only 22 seconds from Lipo! Suddenly the White Jersey is very much at stage with 2 stages to go (usually the last day isn't any shuffling of the GC deck, but this year it very much can/will be). Roglic is in 5th behind Onley, close enough to be scary to both Lipo and Onley I'd think.

And now Stage 19 (Friday). Another stage where both Pogo and Vingo didn't seem to 'have it' like in the first 2 weeks. I TOTALLY thought Pogo would want to win this one, but ended up losing it by only TWO SECONDS to Arensman from Ineo! That tells me that neither one of them had anything left to throw at the mountain and take the win like we expected. They BOTH lost that stage...I'd have thought Vingo would give his right leg AND arm to win a stage ahead of Pogo, just for the feeling that ONE DAY this year he beat him! But neither really tried...Pogo tried very short attacks a few times but after each he quickly dialed it back and the lead group caught back up...when has THAT ever happened to him? I can't recall any...from my meager memory, when Pogo attacks the top GC front group, he crushes them in his initial attack, and then continues to grind them under his boot all the way to the line. Not so again today. Losing by 1:45 yesterday is one thing, but losing by TWO SECONDS? He couldn't muster up enough go-juice to do THAT? He must be seriously tired is all I can think. But for Pogo and Vingo it was status quo...finished on the same time. But Lipo today stuck with them and only dropped off at the very end, when Onley had fallen off the pace a while back, so Lipo re-gained some of the time he lost yesterday, and now has a much more comfortable lead over Onley as he's now up just under a minute. Boy, I think both Lipo and Onley will both be names we here a LOT of in the years to come! And Ben Healy jumped himself into the top 10 and now sits in 9th, just ahead of O'Connor, way to go Ben! Boy, it sure seems Ben has only two rides: fantastic or meh...today was another fantastic!

And now today, Stage 20 had what, 4 climbs? (had to look)..yep, a 3, a 4, a 2 and another 4. Not a day for sprinters. Or WAS IT? That just goes to show that you can't always put a simple label on riders...Kaden Groves on Alpecin/Quick-Step was in the breakaway a good part of the day, and the 2 other riders he was with didn't want to pull thru so he finally left them and they BOTH watched him go. I guess they also thought 'sprinter, he won't get far, let him go' and BOY were they wrong! He held them both off and won the day, and now he joins the very elite club of riders who have won stages in all 3 Grand Tours! And also of note, Ben O'Connor lost his 10th place in the GC by one of the breakaway guys, easy come, easy go (ok, nothing about racing le Tour is 'easy'). 

So now it's all about the finish in Paris...it should be a doozie, as there won't be any circuits on the Champs as they are using the Olympic course. So there are FIVE cat-4 climbs tomorrow! And when they are done with that circuit (3 times over that last Cat 4) they go to and finish on the Champs. It's not likely to be the usual 'Paris finish' stage, but you never know. OK, I'm off to bed, as I'm getting up early ONE MORE TIME! 

And now, on to Stage 21. A first time (in the Tour) route for this finale in Paris. I have to hand it to the ASO organizers...this Tour was unique in many ways. Possibly the hardest Tour since the olden days when the riders were out into the night on ridiculous length stages. But this stage delivered to the viewers and fans in so many ways. And this finale delivered! In part because of the inclement weather, and in part because it was THE LAST CHANCE to get a stage win. Nobody had any idea how this stage would play out...would the riders have a cease-fire until they arrived on the Champs? It appeared so and the riders had their calm half-day to sip champagne and pose for pictures. For the first time in my memory many teams took turns going to the front doing what usually only the Yellow Jersey team does: line up and get a picture of the remaining team. On the one hand, that is a tradition only for the winning team, however all riders making it to Paris have earned this right (IMO). So I though it was pretty cool.

When they arrived in Paris the Yellow Jersey team led the peleton onto the Champs, for what usually is 8 wicked-fast laps where almost always a 'true' sprinter wins the day. Not so today...5 category 4 climbs, the last 3 of which are on the new circuit including the Champs, which used in last years Olympics (and won by Remco). The climb was only like 450' vertical, but for any kind of a sprint-centric finale this was a killer. Remco successfully used it to pull away from the breakaway, and yesterday was the same. Only WAY BETTER! The rain hit and the cobbles were wet and super slippery. The ASO had already decided that if it rained they would take the time for the entire Peleton before the rain, and they did. The word was put out to the teams that everybody is safe, the times are in the books and nobody will lose their positions (so long as you actually finish the day), so they had a choice: to race or to cruise. The Peleton quickly fragmented of course, as there were plenty who wanted a shot for final glory. And who of all people would step up to RACE to the end? Pogo! I think there were at least 3 or 4 groups and Pogo was in the VERY FRONT with the other small group of people who think they might have a shot. Wout was there, and only CVV picked him to win the day, everybody else was picking Pogo. Wout had a helper, the mighty Jorgenson, where-as Pogo was alone. And it was raining. Those 3 laps were fantastic viewing...exciting, crazy danger (had Pogo gone down on the slippery cobbles and was truly hurt and couldn't finish, his Tour win would go to Vingo). He was a man driven, to risk it all for a chance to win the final stage, even tho all he need to do was join Vingo (back in the 3rd group I think) and just cruise along, wave to the crowd and enjoy the day. Not Pogo, that isn't what Meryx would do, and Pogo is the new Meryx. A multi-Tour winner racing all the Spring Classics, winning or placing 2nd in all. A very unusual racer in this era. Jorgenson set the pace and made it crushing, to see if Pogo was human. He was, and when Wout gave his all-out attack, not even the Great Pogo could stay with him He was superhuman yesterday, and pushed his advantage to the line. Once Pogo realized his bluff was called (he pretty much knew he didn't have the "legs" for this)  he backed off and was eventually caught by the chasers, and he didn't even attack them and settled for 4th on the day. 

You have to hand it to Pogo...attacking for the win, in the rain...just wow! And in the end it all played out great...Visma got their Stage win which truly changed their dismal 'feel' (they wanted to WIN, and 2nd place AGAIN was really not doing it for them). If only Vingo had the panache to go with Pogo for no other reason that for a chance to win the day. Seeing Vingo come across the line after a rather leisurely ride when Pogo was out risking it all, well, it seemed (IMO) to diminish Vingo. Pogo isn't a 'new' style of Champion, he's a rebirth of the old school, aka Meryx (the Cannibal). He doesn't race like any recent Tour Champion. He's not afraid to put it all on the line for a chance to win. Vingo didn't even put it on the line to win back in Stage 19. Had he attacked even 20 yards further back, he would (might) have won the day. Instead he has to be satisfied with the 2 second gap (and another 2 seconds time bonus) that he got on Pogo. That's the ONLY TIME he took back on Pogo in the entire Tour! Didn't win a single stage, Pogo won 4. I have no idea if Vingo can step up his game to match the current Pogo, they say his numbers this year were his best yet, and still Pogo beat him by 4-1/2 minutes! So I guess the big question is: what does he do from here? Pogo is only 26 years old, how many years will Vingo come back to the Tour and take 2nd (or worse, what-with the new blood on the block Lipo and Onley, I'd say in another year or 2 there might very well be a challenge to that 2nd place). 

I have no idea what was going on with Remco this year, but I'm saddened that he just abandoned when he saw that he couldn't even take 3rd. That's not what a Champion does. Meryx must be ashamed at that attitude, it's certainly not how Pogo races. We'll never know what Remco MIGHT have done in Paris...he did win the Olympics on that same route. On the other hand, maybe his Olympic Gold was a gift from the Slovenian Olympics committee (who didn't include Pogos girlfriend on their team, even tho she was their current Champion). I love it that Pogo stabbed them in the eye by refusing to race for Slovenia due to that obvious sleight. I'd give odds (and we won't ever know) that Pogo would have won that gold. Remco just has no Panache (IMO). When the going got tough, he quit. Vingo at least came to the Tour last year knowing full well his condition was understandably nowhere NEAR where it would need to be, yet he raced all the way to Paris anyway. I give him huge kudos for that, and then this year when it was apparent after the ITT that he had zero chance to dethrone Pogo, he kept on racing. But as I said, I'd have WAY more respect for him had he gone with Pogo to try to win the day. That will forever be remembered, watching the Yellow Jersey leading the very small front group up the last 2 climbs, giving his all for a chance to win.

So now it's done. I think it was a fantastic race, maybe the best I've seen. The route was insanely hard. The sprinters are all mad (very few days for the 'true' sprinters, especially in Paris). Will the ASO continue with this new finale (knowing full well that their tradition of the last 48 years was to let the sprinters have their day in Paris)? We will see in a few months when they announce the route. They did share that next years Tour will start in Barcelona. That means Pyrenees sometime in the first week I'd wager. Will they change the route to somehow favor Vingo? Not sure how you do that...Pogo wins in Classics and Grand Tours...he's the most versatile Champion since Meryx. When Pogo wins his next Tour that will put him with Indurian as a 5 time winner (being as there is no 7 time winner 'officially', tho we all watched it happen). Maybe Pogo will be the one to win 7 (or more) before his reign is done. I'd say if he can stay healthy he has a VERY good chance to set a standard that may never be beat. He's the one athlete who comes along that is SO GOOD that the rest have to seriously up their game to catch-up. He's the new Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Wayne Gretzky...just to name just a few. Kaitlin Clark...there's a game-changer, maybe THE game-changer! NCAA ALL TIME SCORING CHAMPION! Since going to the Pros she has changed their game too! She's brought in money to the league like no other! And the damn ref's just continue to let the other players beat the shit out of her. I have so much respect for her, and it's pure jealousy on the bullies as they just can't match her. She's not big and strong, she just works her ass off on the court, and puts the ball thru the hoop from anywhere at anytime..she just can't be stopped so let's beat her up. Pogo is like that. Kaitlin Clark, the Cannibal of the Court! 

OK, I guess I'll end this rant. PTDS has already set-in. What do I do with myself now that I don't have 7 hours of Tour-broadcast to watch every day? Well, I guess I need to get my hiney off the couch and get back on the bikes. Tho I need to temper that with the ton of stuff to still do here on the house. It's Saturday (again....every day is Saturday now). Need to finish planning my Pacific Coast Bike Route ride that I had been planning for last May...maybe I can make it happen in mid to late August. As Larry the Cable Guy says....git er done! I need to take that advice. 

Later Gators! Git er done!

Tour Talk 1

 And so, the 2025 edition of le Tour is underway! As I type the Stage 5 ITT is happening (it's still pretty early in the day). The first week has been hard to watch all of each stage, as it's all been pretty much 'sprint' stages, mostly pretty boring until the last 15k or so.

 Obviously there have been crashes...most notably was when Alpecin lost their sprinter Jasper Philipsen (Stage 3 I think), who was taken out in the bunch sprint having done nothing wrong other than being next to guys that were doing the argy-bargy. Bobke said they were probably over 60kpm when it happened, all I know was that it was very sad, when he didn't get up and they finally took him on a stretcher you know it was bad...I think they said broken collarbone, the typical cycling damage other than road-rash (and he got a bunch of that too). He wasn't in Yellow that stage, his teammate Van der Poel (one of his primary leadout men) was, tho he had on Stage 2 having won the day on Stage 1.

 Today SHOULD be Remco's to lose... holding the current World AND Olympic ITT wins as well as the crushing he did on both Pogo and Vingo in the Dauphine a few weeks ago, and that it's nearly totally flat, means he SHOULD be on fire (and to gain back some of the 58 seconds he's down).

 As usual, the NBC/Peacock team is first rate...and exactly the same as last year from what I remember (it was a winning format, why change it?) Phil and Bobke in the trailer somewhere near the finish line doing the play by play, CVDV on the back of the Moto IN the race, Paul, TJ and Brent back in the Studio (in the US somewhere, NOT in France), and finally Steve Porino somewhere out on the days route giving us fun insights and info on people and places the race goes by. Bobke was at his usual hilarious this morning talking about how he was riding out on the TT route when Remco went by him (like he was standing still) and then Vingo...his sounds, antics and facial expressions is a huge part of what we love about him! 

 It's quite a race so far, with Van der Poel still in Yellow, but Pogo and Vingo are just seconds behind...I'd assume either Pogo or Vingo will be in Yellow tonight, tho if Remco has a beast of a ride today it's a real possibility HE could be in Yellow...wouldn't THAT be something! I will say that it's great to see Vingo uninjured and looking like he's at his best....hoping those 2 fight it out all the way to Paris nipping at each others heels!

Going to post this and go watch the ITT, the 'interesting guys are getting close to being out on the course. 

It's now Thursday morning as I type, coffee in hand, Stage 6 on the Telly, and I'm in my Happy Place! The ITT yesterday certainly didn't disappoint, holy moly! My takeaways: Remco didn't exactly torch the course like he did in the Dauphine (tho he was still FANTASTIC and rode a pretty flawless route!), Pogo rode a very inspired race, and Vingo just collapsed, you could see it mile after mile like his power was just weeping away (he lit out of the starting block like gangbusters, and it was just a slow motion train wreck from there). I actually felt terrible for him, he seemed so full of promise in the early stages, showing he was going to hang with Pogo and give him a race. In the GC he basically switched places with Remco who is now in 2nd. 

They are riding right thru Normandie this morning, and there are LOTS AND LOTS of graves in the memorial cemeteries for the WWII fallen soldiers...that brings lots of emotions to the surface, SO MANY guys didn't come home, and yet we live in the world they provided by their sacrifice (and the race literally rolling thru Normandie is a testament to that sacrifice). Nazi occupied France...it's still so hard to imagine that possible history had the allied forces not prevailed, Europe (and the world) would be a radically different place. 

OK, enough of that train of thought, it's depressing. Back to THE RACE! And WHAT A RACE!

So Ben Healy just finished the stage for the win (his FIRST Bob said? Is that possible?), and I think I was grinning like an idiot for the last 15 miles watching him continue to increase his gap against the entire breakaway all the way to the line, it was amazing! Quinn Simmons took 2nd on the day (USA, USA!) and hey, the newcomer American on Movistar Will Barta takes 6th in his FIRST Tour! Hole cats, what a great day! I loved this stage...6 categorized climbs (5 Cat 3's and a Cat 4 just before the line) really spread out the peleton leaving plenty of room for a breakaway to succeed, and it did! And can't take away anything from Vander Poel...he got in the break (which was NO EASY TASK today) and it seems he'd wiped himself out just doing that, but he wasn't in it for the stage win but to try to take back Yellow that he lost yesterday...and it seems like he did it! YES! They just posted the GC, he's in front of Pogo by ONE SECOND! OMG, what a race! I LOVE IT! Quite honestly, good for Pogo to let it slip away (he even mentioned it last night apparently in on of the interviews), very out of character for him in years past...he's maturing into the leader now, so tomorrow (another hard stage, but aren't they all?) he doesn't have to wipe out the team defending Yellow. There will be PLENTY of days ahead for that, as we all know he WILL take back the Jersey, maybe even tomorrow. Gosh what a day, loved watching it, and the commentary was fantastic (as usual!). Oh, and one final thought on that subject...have you noticed that somebody must have been working with TJ, because he hasn't been doing the "Uhm"s over and over again like every year back that I can recall (his post stage interviews when he was still racing just made me cringe!) Well done TJ!!! The fact that I JUST realized that I haven't been hearing the Uhms over and over hit me like a brick. Very well done TJ! That's not an easy thing to do (I went thru Instructor School OH SO LONG AGO in the Navy, and then taught a mainframe computer class for the next 4 years...and I know in that 1 month school they try to eliminate all the annoying things like that, but it's not easy). I'm so impressed, I know the banter between him, Brent and Paul is always interesting, and his new insight by being management for Team EF gives him serious insider knowledge that's up a step from the rest of the rider/commentators (he even picked Neilsson Powless as his winner today, right team, wrong guy...but oh so close!) OK, on to my non-Tour pile of stuff to do. Boy it's GREAT not HAVING to really do anything during le Tour...I get to just sit and drink coffee and eat snacks and watch the stages...ahhh, life is great! 

It's almost THAT time again!

 Yep....le Tour starts in just ELEVEN DAYS! Woo HOO!

And for the first time, I will get to ENJOY every single stage without needing to fast forward (unless I want to)! 

 So...it's been almost FIVE MONTHS since I retired...how is that possible? Rae, I totally understand your comment about finding a talent in wasting time...I have found that also! All of February I was on a real bike riding tear...4 to 5 rides a week. Jeanne was working from home in her little office, and I had absolutely guilt-free riding... she was home with the monsters, and with me gone she had absolute quiet for work...it was perfect! March rolled around and I caught some bug...seemed like a typical cold, the first week was the usual head-cold symptoms...and THEN, whatever that little alien monster bug was it dropped down into my chest. And for almost the rest of March I was in misery. I had aches and pains like I don't remember having, and I tried to ride once and realized that wasn't going to happen. Took a Covid test (as did Jeannie, we were both worried) but no. It finally released it's grip near the end of the month...that was really something. Jeannie had been forced to work back in the office (even tho her Union Contract says she can work from home) and her 4-10's schedule was also revoked (even tho that was also in her Union contract)...so at least she didn't see me suffering most of March. I don't recall ever being sick that long in my life. Good thing I was retired, I'd have hated to burn that much sick-time being SICK! (I sold back over a months worth of sick-time and several months of vacation I'd been hanging onto).

April arrived and I started riding again, boy how quickly I lost my hard-won fitness! But the weather was good, not hot, not cold, and the spring WINDS were moderate and ridable. May arrived, I'm still avoiding any big house-projects...tho my LIST is getting longer by the day. I still had my Peacock subscription (got it last year on a special offer, something like $25 for a year which was quite a deal). So I was able to watch most of the Spring Classics, that was fun. And sheesh, can ANYBODY beat Pogacar?? Man oh man, he is something! Classics, Grand Tours, he's a rare rider for sure! 

May came and it got HOT. Not here in my little town, but go inland just a few miles and BAM...90's +. I did a few long rides on days that were forecast to ONLY be in the 80's, but the winds and heat were relentless in the interior. Then June came and same thing...so I looked into my house list of projects, and the one I decided to tackle was replacing Fascia boards (the 'storm-side' of the house 2x10 boards, the roof  'trim' if you will) were needing replacement. Thankfully we have a 1 story house, but it does have a vaulted ceiling. That goes up PRETTY HIGH. But I came up with a plan and I'm about 3/4 of the way done. I got the entire side of the house fascia off, did a bunch of stucco patch where a creeping vine had worked it's way onto the stucco not long after we moved here (we liked the look so let it go for a few years, turns out it really digs into the stucco and is a royal beast to remove...it did damage!) I got new 2x10's, made the angled cuts to put them together (all on the ground on my saw horses), painted them (front is our house trim 'white' and the back is the color of the house...a very light brown 'mocha' type color). I bought an airless sprayer and painted the entire side of the house just 2 days ago (had to wait a few days for the winds to lighten up a bit...we've had a week or so of high winds which is pretty abnormal for this time of year). So now I'm waiting to hang and install the new fascia boards...Jeannie doesn't want me doing high ladder work or going up on the roof if she isn't home...which I understand. 

So it looks like I won't finish the fascia until after I get back from two short trips. On Thursday morning I'm meeting up with my brother Greg and we are road-touring down to Santa Monica (on Sunday afternoon we take the train from Santa Monica to Union Station/downtown LA) and from there we catch the Surfliner that takes us both north and home. Then Tuesday morning I fly to Las Vegas to meet my other brother Dave and we get our rental Jeep and get OUT of LV, headed to the Grand Canyon North Rim this trip. Yep, it's going to be warm, but if we stay up high it will be tolerable (down in the canyon it would be horrible hot). I fly home from LV next Friday afternoon. So maybe next weekend I can install the fascia boards, put in new strips of tar-paper to cover over the boards an inch or so, and the re-install the cement roof edge tiles (they hang over the edge a few inches). I originally wasn't going to tackle this project cuz it's kind of dangerous...but I figured out ways to do this by myself with only minimal danger...I think the hardest part will be putting the new boards in place...I've developed a way to hoist the boards into position, set them on brackets I made and shim them firmly to the roof and use special screws to install them to the rafter boards, then my air nailer using stainless steel finishing nails to nail the roofs outer 'ship lap' boards to the 2x10's. It's the getting the 2x10s perfectly positioned that will likely be the hardest part...once I do that the screws and nails are a piece of cake. 

So the completion of my fascia project is on hold, and anyway I need to get the rest of my road touring gear out of the attic, along with my hiking gear for the Grand Canyon trip...so I'll do that today. I've been working the 2x10s for almost 2 weeks now...(roofers would have done it all in a day, but they wouldn't have been painted, and also I did cut out and replace a few sections of damaged ship lap roof boards along the way). We had some estimates to have a crew do all this, and it was pretty pricey indeed (the house across the street is a 2 story and their fascia is REALLY bad, their quote to replace it all was 20 grand! We only need 1 side done, about 40' worth, and that was still several thousand...yikes). 

My excitement for the upcoming Tour has led me to watch the Dauphine this year (suddenly I have TIME!). My 1 year Peacock subscription ended a week or so ago, and I held out...HOPING they would make me an offer I can't refuse, and they DID! So I got another year for the same price (I was going to have to go monthly for like $17.99 because the normal annual is like $79.99 I think) and just get July, so this is a WAY better option!) I really don't ever remember watching the Dauphine before. I know it's THE SPRINGBOARD for Tour GC hopefuls...Vingegaard and Remco are both there, so along w/ Baby Face, that would be my top 3 choices for the Tour, assuming all are/stay healthy and unhurt. I just watched Stage 6 (in the background while I was typing here)...had to leave the computer when Baby Face just RODE AWAY from Vingo and Remco like he had an electric motor (ala Spartacus in his famed attack in the cobblestones...the attack where non-believers actually claimed he had a motor in his bike...remember that? It was when the electric bikes were not here yet, and conspiracy theories had a few select pro's having prototypes in their bikes, Cancellara was one of them). And wow, in Pogo's 7.2 kilometer solo ride today (I reference past races I'm just now watching like they JUST happened, cuz to me it did) he put a minute on Vingo and almost a minute and a half on Remco (who WAS wearing Yellow since his ITT win on Stage 4...he put over 40 seconds on Pogo). Vingo HAD 21 seconds on Pogo going into today...so now the GC status is Pogo all by his lonesome, Vingo back at 40 seconds or so, and Remco down by like 1:20. That's just nuts! And the next 2 stages are mountains! Baby Face is more like Baby KILLER! Man, he is something...they went thru the laundry list of BK's season so far and it was crazy with podiums and wins! Back in Stage 1 the Peacock crew of Bobke and CVV did the announcing, and then on the rest of stages it's been the other Euro guy (Todd?)...I'm getting use to him...but nobody replaces the Peacock Tour Crew! Anyway, Bobke and CVV were talking after Stage 1 that it's impossible to compare any athletes from different generations head to head, but they both agreed that IF it's possible to be as good or better than Eddy Meryx, Pogo is it. That's some pretty heady-stuff! 

Oh, and I failed to discuss MY new found talent for wasting time...well, to be honest, I've ALWAYS had it, but I kept it in check somewhat. Now that I don't have to go to work, I get up when I want and do what I want...yea, not really. Jeannie gets up before 4am most days, and me being a light sleeper, yep...I'm awake. Every now and then I can shake it off and go back to sleep, get up around 6. But not very often...most days I lie there till 4 to 4:30 and finally get up, get some coffee, and put on the news (we got rid of our satellite TV and got us a Tablo and 2 Firesticks...works well for us! The Tablo is wireless to both TV's, and the Firesticks have any streaming Apps we use). We have wall over 100 channels on the Tablo for FREE, including all the local channels and many movie channels. Jeannie wheels and deals and gets us constant streaming services for cheap, bouncing around to whoever has a deal...(those are usually for 30 to 90 days). We always have Amazon Prime, and now I have Peacock again for a year, and I think we have Netflix, HBO and Starz right now...so THERE is how I can waste WAY TOO MUCH time...all those channels! I sit down at 4:15 to 4:30 with the monsters Sophie and Abbey, and before I know it, it's 9am and I've done nothing but watch the TV! I haven't ridden a bike in over 2 weeks now...(the fascia project took over my life, that and the early morning TV). Oh, in my  defense of not riding for 2 weeks, my neck has REALLY been bothering me again...got hurt LONG LONG LONG ago (I was 19 I think?) and the last ride I did was just miserable. Usually this sort of thing will mostly go away as suddenly as it showed up...right now I'm taking a ton of ibuprofen every day...that's got to slow down/stop soon I hope. 

Oh, and one other fun item...I just applied for Medicare Part B... I turn 65 in September (how very fast THAT is coming up!) and that's going to hurt. I never took the rather pricey company insurance because I have Tricare (gov insurance) due to being retired military (Jeannie is on my plan too). When I turn 65 Tricare for me becomes free for the rest of my life, but becomes backup to Medicare which I have to pay for. And how much will that be? Don't know yet, but its going to hurt...because that price is based on OUR annual income...from LAST YEAR! Right now I'm not taking any of my 401k (now an IRA), or my other IRA's (a Roth and another one with our financial management company) and I won't take my SS until I hit 67. So MY income is down to just my Navy Retirement and my company pension...so lets say about half of what I WAS bringing in when I was working. Next year Jeannie can petition the Medicare cost based on our taxes for this year (which will be significantly lower due to my cut in gross income)...but for now it's gonna hurt I'm very afraid. But it is what it is, and WHEN I start taking my IRA's and SS I'll be in great shape! (for a while anyway...we'll see how inflation kills us once we are both fully retired). California isn't really a great place to live as they are KILLING us with taxes and fees, and just the cost of living...I heard recently that if you're making under 100k you are poor in most of CA...I get that. Single people are really living hard around here unless they have a fantastic salary.

OK..enough on that. Time for me to get up off my butt and do stuff. Attic, here I come!

Have a great week, talk more starting on the 5th for my annual "Tour Talk", it's gonna be a GREAT RACE!  

Later gators! 

I made it!

So today (Saturday) is my very first day of being TRULY retired! (I retired from the Navy long ago, but that doesn't really count as I still had to work a lot more years). Thursday was my LAST day going in to work, and yesterday was officially my last vacation day. So today, the 1st of February, is the FIRST day I'm well and truly retired (and drawing my pension, which should paying as of today). 

My mind is suitably blown, it just doesn't seem real, and likely won't for a while. I did have an epiphany in the wee-hours of Thursday morning, as I woke up ridiculously early (actually finally got out of bed at 1:15am when it was apparent that the brain woke up and was churning away on the reality of the day). So I got up, turned on the coffee, and sat on the couch. Our bulldog Sophie (always faithful and totally a daddies girl) sat on my lap while I was just thinking about the enormity of the coming day, and likely how hard it was actually going to be for me. It was then that it occurred to me that Monday was when it would really start to sink in...because Monday won't be Monday, it will be Saturday. So will Tuesday, and Wednesday, you get the picture. Also there will be no more Sunday evening 'get stuff ready for work and go to bed early', and needing to do laundry and all my other weekend chores so I have clothes for the week (without reaching down into the pile 'Navy Style' to find something suitably aged and can be flipped inside out where it's still good). I can now do laundry and any other chores whenever I want!

And I wasn't wrong about how huge Thursday was for me. I ended up going in WAY early (I was inside by about 5:15am), but had 'things to do'. The last 2 weeks was slowly ramping up for me in the 'must finish' certain things before I could in good conscious walk away (I'm not one to drop my work on others). I did however complete all the projects I had going, and then in the final few days it came down to 'holy crap do I have a LOT of stuff here'! That's what 21 years does...I'm an 'accumulator', collector, (hoarder?). I know Jeannie thinks I'm a hoarder, and that may be true in a VERY minuscule sense...true hoarders are something to behold. I consider myself 'frugal', as in I HATE to throw away something that I just KNOW I will need some day (I also HATE to have to go BUY something that I threw away, because that's just flushing away money!) So yeah, I had a lot of stuff. 

The Government (Air Force/Space Force) is our Customer, and owns pretty much everything where I work(ed). The buildings, vehicles, furniture, computers, refrigerators, microwaves, etc. Everything. Our gigantic tool boxes (Snap On, probably the finest and most expensive tools you can buy) are provided by the Gov. Due to the expense (and the possibility of a tool being left somewhere it shouldn't be) we need total and complete "Tool Accountability" (and we have several online training courses every year covering the topic). The medical field knows this as "Sponge-count", where surgeons need to account for literally every single thing that goes near/inside a patient (for obvious reasons). We actually call it the same thing, and only go full blown Sponge Count during our 'critical' times (which would be whenever we are prepping for and especially actually moving a spacecraft). If there's a missing tool, screw, zip-tie, piece of tape, whatever, that was taken anywhere in the vicinity of our container or a spacecraft, well, that's a really REALLY bad day. It MUST be found.

So anyway, we the working folk have these 'tool chits' (which are like mini credit-cards, each has our picture, name and employee ID # printed on it) that we take off our little ring 'O' chits and put them inside the tool-box in the spot where that tool was for each tool we take out (so if say a socket comes up missing at the end of shift they know exactly who to go to). In my final few days I hid almost all my tool chits (about 30 give or take) in various 'fun' places. My guys will be finding these in the coming days/weeks/years. I hope each time they find one it will bring smiles..."found another of Matt's chits today" and then everybody will want to know where it was (and hopefully NONE of the chits themselves become FOD which is "Foreign Object Debris", which can cause the other type FOD, which is "Foreign Object Damage". FOD is bad in my line of work. With our huge building and multitudes of large and supremely expensive equipment that we use for our Missions (each Spacecraft Transport is considered a unique Mission), I had a LOT of cool places to hide my chits.

So, going back just a bit, two weeks ago on Tues Jan 14th my people had a pot luck barbecue in my honor, and Jeannie was allowed into the building (escorted by my boss). Our Space Force Commander came over from the Headquarters building where she works and gave a very nice talk about me (she had been provided a copy of my bio beforehand from my boss it turns out). She then presented me with a beautiful wooden 'memento' box with 2 Coins (Challenge Coins they're called...in the last few decades they have become a REALLY big thing for the Military and there are zillions of different Coins out there). The first was a coin from the very first Launch I worked after I hired on (and it also happened to be the very LAST launch of an Air Force Titan IV rocket, which was carrying our Customers spacecraft to orbit). That launch was in October 2005, and my Mom, Dad, Jeannie and brother Greg came up to the base to watch. The other coin was my Commanders Unit coin. Lt. Colonel Ruth being our Commander, she and all her People ARE the NRO Vandenberg group, which makes all of us contractors that work for her part of that group too. And finally she pulled her NRO unit patch from her uniform shoulder and gave me that also. 

Then My people presented me with a beautiful "Flag Box" with a US Flag that was carried on our last transport mission (there are only 2 flags per Mission, one on each side of the Container, and we do anywhere from 0 to 3 Missions per year). So just know that these flags are pretty hard to come by. Also the box has two nice engraved plaques on it, the upper one saying it's being presented to me, and the lower one listing all the Transport Missions I worked over the last 9 years (when I came over from a different division to work in the PTS group, which stands for Payload Transportation Services). I was also presented a framed photo montage of a few launch pictures, a night-time shot of us going down the road in the middle of the night with our container, and also an aerial pic of SLC-6 (which is Space Launch Complex-6, the home of the Delta IV and Delta IV Heavy rockets). All of this really choked me up I have to say. It was pretty difficult not to 'lose it', but I hung in there. Then we had lunch and all was great! (our people REALLY know how to barbecue Tri Tip btw, you can even find it around the country where they call it "Santa Maria Style Barbecue", but NOBODY makes it better than my people!) I even had to give a little 'speech', and did pretty good by not breaking down.

The above picture shows the photo montage, the Commanders Memento Box and her NRO patch, the Flag Box and also my "yearbook" which the company gives to all departing people...got a bunch of pictures of launches and people doing work and company parties and such, and also everybody can sign it at the back. 

 

                And this shot is a closeup of my Flag Box.It's really beautiful, I was stunned!

After that day I still worked another 2 weeks (usually this would have happened on or very near my 'last day', but they bumped it up due to a co-worker who was retiring 2 days after and he really wanted to be at my 'party' (it was a huge surprise to me that he would be there, quite an honor as he was one of our Engineers I worked with long ago, and he was leaving after 41 years on our contract!)

On then finally, my last day of work (last Thursday the 30th of Jan). I brought in Cheesecakes (Jeannie's family recipe which I'm not allowed to give out, I can truly say it's probably the BEST Cheesecake I've ever had) and Jeannie also made me a big batch of her world-famous White Chocolate Macadamia cookies to bring in one last time...and they are also OH WOW! After our morning meeting (where the days work is discussed) I took off in a truck and made the rounds to our other buildings, saying my goodbyes to everybody. I made it back for "coffee break" and all my PTS folk along with a few select others showed up for Cheesecake, cookies and coffee. Then I had to give one last little speech, and this one I was on the very edge of losing it. 

After that it was time...I had an appointment with our Security Manager over at the HQ building at 10am. My boss showed up and came in with me, where I turned in all my badges and signed some forms (NDA stuff...mostly saying I need to forget a lot of stuff that I know which I'm never supposed to talk about, which is pretty easy when you consider that I only have 2 remaining functioning brain-cells). Then my boss took me over to the Command Center (where our Commander works) on our way out. Her Secretary let her know I was there, and she came out and we said our farewells (she is an AWESOME Commander, and I guarantee she will make Colonel on her first time up for it, probably only a few years form now). And that was that...I walked to my car and drove away (that part was actually pretty difficult). 

So this last picture is a selfie I took after leaving my building FOR THE VERY LAST TIME! Jeannie thought I looked happy, but I assured her I was on the verge of breaking down sobbing. The building you see behind me was originally built to be the OMF, (which stands for Orbiter Maintenance Facility). The giant rolling doors (they are closed here) behind and above my head run across nearly the entire lower width of the main hibay, and were made to open wide enough for a Space Shuttle to go in and out. This was where all the maintenance would have been done for all West Coast Space Shuttle launches. SLC-6 (which I mentioned earlier) had been retrofitted to launch Space Shuttles. The original "Enterprise" Orbiter (which never went to space) was flown out on it's 747 transporter jet and fit-checked to the pad, and there are even pictures of the Enterprise inside this very building, which is where I worked the last 9 years. Anyway, long ago after all the preps to do shuttle launches from both Cape Kennedy and Vandenberg, the Challenger disaster happened. After that the Air Force decided the Shuttles were too risky for their ludicrously expensive spacecraft, so they nixed shuttle launches from shuttles and started launching their biggest vehicles on Titan IIIB's and then Titan IV's which happened several miles away at SLC-4, which is where I worked my first 2 years here on base. After that SLC-6 was converted to be the Delta IV pad. So this building behind me ended up housing all our PTS equipment instead of actual shuttles (the Space Shuttles were called SCTS, which stands for "Space Cargo Transportation System", which is also exactly what our giant containers are called).

Anyway, that's pretty much my last 2 weeks. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I no longer go to work...EVER. That they pay me now to do pretty much anything BUT work. It just doesn't seem possible.

 OK, well, I made it. The light at the end of the tunnel is no longer at the end of the tunnel, it's BEHIND me. I'm out of the tunnel. Holy smokes, I'm done! I have SO much to do, and suddenly SO much time! (or not...I don't really want to go 'there', none of us know how much time we have here, making it so important to live every day to the fullest). Whatever time I do have left is MY time now. I plan to make the best of it! I hope to do at least ONE FUN thing every single day from here on out! Hopefully more than one, but at LEAST one.

And so, Aawaaaaaaaayyyyy I go! 

Game ON!