Happy Friday!

Wow..how great it is to not have a headache! I am able to concentrate now. So far I didn't have an cold or flu like symptons like I have had before when I kicked the caffeine habit. I have been drinking green tea this morning but I am afraid that there is a little caffeine in it though. I went to see a "friend" and her daughter last night and it felt kinda like family time. Funny how much paternal instincts I have. I have known that little girl since she was born.

It's also group ride today and I haven't ridden but once this week. Maybe I will be feeling good for it.

I got a picture up today of a place I don't know where. If anyone can tell me where it is I would appreciate it. I suspect it's in Spain, where on the plains in Spain, it always rains..or something.

Today's image..though it does seem airbrushed.

Karaoke Singers

They gotta be the happiest of people because they just get up and there and holler and it must be good therapy. Last night we celebrated my friend Kevin's birthday at BWW and it was also karaoke night there. I even got up once to sing with a group of guys but one guy had the mic shoved into his mouth, and I thought it was just gay to sit up sing with no mic so I sat down. I gotta cut my grass today because it's been 9 days since the last cutting and my tomatoes are about to play out with the heat. I may start some new ones for the fall.

The evil brew itself......mmmm.....No more.

The withdrawal continues.


It's not feeling good today. Muscles are tense. Headache. Empty feeling like I didn't eat breakfast or something. How do people who get addicted to heroin or crack or cryst meth beat their drug habit? If it's this bad with caffeine then it must be shear hell for them. It was bad yesterday afternoon so I made a cup of tea, which made everything better. So much for the cold turkey. Slept great but of course I was up at 6:15am. The guys at the coffee shop are probably wondering what happened to me.

ZZZZ's on the bike.

The sleep thing is crazy. During my ride yesterday, I closed my eyes and woke up riding thru the grass on the side of the road. I can't believe I dozed off for a second on the bike. Even though it was 95degrees I fell asleep! Then to make it worse, I couldn't even fall asleep until 4am in my nice comfortable bed.

Evil Dark Mistress


The bean is an evil and dark mistress. I am talking about the coffee bean. I wonder if the goat that discovered it felt the same way. I always have a cup of coffee in the morning, and week before last I was feeling a little sluggish and I asked for an espresso shot to be added. It was good. The high had me giddy for a couple of hours. Next day, since the other shot was good to me...why not? I got it...felt good but not as good as the day before. That afternoon, I was out on the road picking up docs and I stopped at a convenience store for a Sobe energy drink. Then the sleep starting getting affected. I was hooked on caffeine. Wow, it's that easy. Good thing I never smoked crack. On Sunday I laid around the house feeling like crap, because I didn't want drink any caffeine and around 5pm I succombed to making some tea. I felt better within 5 mins. Well yesterday I was feeling bad for lack of sleep. I have been averaging prob5-6hours of sleep a night because I can't sleep past 7am. Last night was the final straw, I could not get to sleep till 4am. Now I have seperated my life from the bean. No coffee shop this morning and I am feeling sluggish. I dread the withdrawal. I did this before and I literally had flu like symptoms after about 5 days.

Oh yeah....Back in my during and post college days I always used to dream of having a nice keg refrigerator dispenser. But as I have gotten older, my fantasy now is to have a soft serve icecream machine like my favorite local deli has. I asked the owner how I could get one and he said the company would let me have one for free if I could buy $150 worth of icecream mix a week. Hmmmmm....just maybe.....

Whew..it's Monday. I really need to get some work done which I am behind on. Tuesday is my first official competitive time trial. All part of preparation for October's Louisiana's State MTB competition. I am entering as a beginner but I think it's funny because there will be not be too many real beginners in it. The guys that I know who will be in it are by no means beginners as they have been serious MTB guys for years but since they haven't been riding competitively until this year they have been racing all year regionally as beginners. Also they are bunch of skinny guys. I wonder if I am still a clysedale. I stopped lifting weights totally to try to lose all excess bulk. I don't want to carry anything unneccessarily up a hill anymore. Two hill climbing repeats last week and my race pace on Thursday has my legs feeling stronger. I was good covering attacks on hills during Friday's group ride and also attacking the others. With these particular guys I let them make their move because I know they are gonna slow down.

Saturday I spent the day in class for required eduation, and went to Indian Fitness for their Saturday night TDF party. Good time, but I found it funny though on how many local "serious" bikers don't keep up with professional cycling. There was a couple there, Brian and Tina who do keep up with professional cycling and it was fun talking with them, there. I got a free pump for my front MTB shocks...sweeet! Sunday was way too hot for anything, 105 heat index. It was 94F at 5:30pm!

I gotta do something about forcing myself to go sleep earlier. I am feeling like crap for lack of sleep. It's like I am afraid of going to sleep because I will miss out on something? But with this heat I really need to be riding in the mornings to keep my mileage up because it has dropped in the last couple of weeks. Also I gotta watch my nutrition better to make sure I am recovering with this new preperation phase I am in.

I couldn't help but shed a tear or two during the final ceremony of the TDF yesterday. It happens to me while I watch a really tough competition. Maybe I can imagine and appreciate the price they have had to pay to get there.

Last week I officially proclaimed myself as neither conservative or liberal. I would rather take each issue on it's own merit.

The Latest

Not much literary content and I apologize but this is sorta of a cycling diary for me also.

Thursday afternoon I did the Deerfield loop at max speed for me. Mind you I have been at 70-75% up until this week. The loop with some hills averaged exactly 20mph until the final climb out of North Bay. I thought that was a great ride because my best was only 18.5mph. I won't get dropped again when I ride with those tri guys again in a few weeks. I also have a TT next Tuesday. I am hoping it will only be 19 minutes of pain.

Friday was "the" biking day. I got my buddy Scotty out on a borrowed MTB and did a easy ride for about an 1.5hours with him and had a good time. I have been trying to get him into cycling and he acted like he had a good time. Then I rushed home washed the mud off and rode my road bike down to the resevoir to catch the group ride that had left from Indian Fitness. When I saw the front riders I sorta freaked out because there were some fast guys on the front. The tempo was nice, and relaxing in the beginning. Ended up with some attacks on each other on the hills which I was very pleased with how well I climbed against the guys who have been racing. The climbing repeats I did on Monday worked great and paid off. I am about to go home and some more. It was a 25 mile route.

Sunday I was very happy for George Hincapie. My social life has gotta improve. All I do is work, ride, and watch cycling. Funny how simple things make me happy now...like picking tomatoes thatI grow in planters or poaching blueberries off my neighbor's bush that hangs over into my yard.

Got the molding put into my master bath and installed the new throne. I have come to the realization that I will now have to buy new sinks because the existing ones keep leaving rust rings on the counter. This week I will begin on the guest bathroom's floors and hopefully by Sunday I will be finished with the bathrooms and I will be starting on kitchen floors next.

This morning I stopped at the Bike Rack and saw a pink and grey Giant TCR and the pink part reminded me of a RBR girl.

What if I found a girl who liked cycling?

Ok...Update

Saturday morning I ended up riding with some fast tri guys and they took off without warmup at 22mph. When they got to hills they would only drop to 21.5mph. I knew it wasn't going to be long before I blew. I got dropped but before the 35 mile ride was over I caught them and passed them. I have been doing long slow foundation miles. I figured it's time to up the training into prep phase at high intensities since I will be doing some races this fall.

Monday, Kevin and I did climbing hill repeats, race up a hill and recover and repeat again, 10 times. Horse girl(She had horses) but I my phone was off. Don't know what to do about her. I honestly don't think I could trust her after her history with me.

Ok...I use nicknames so I can talk about my relationships without using real names.

Tuesday...woke up at 4:30am with no soreness so I went for a ride because I will have to mow grass when I get off from work. I rode in my biggest gears so I could start working on my strength also.

Lance had a great ride today in stage 10 of the TDF. Ride strong Lance.

It's Thursday and I have not ridden this week since Sunday. I should be riding early mornings. Hopefully I can get a group ride this evening. My bathroom floors are looking good. I have to find a piece of molding before I can install one of my new toilets. I have been battling the dallis and crabgrass in my yard, and the horn worms are eating my tomatoe plants and I can't find the little buggers. The TDF has been great but Disco let Vino take some time out of their lead today. I really need to get a grip on my time management. My fluid and flexible lifestyle isn't working too great now with all the stuff that I have to do. I am amazed at how busy I am even though I am single with few responsiblities.