The Fire Story

I had an email in draft after I posted "Fire!" but I had to let the matter cool down. Then work got crazy and I have not posted or had quality riding in weeks.

Back to the fire story; basically, my spatially challenged buddy started a fire at a host house. Thank goodness, nothing major happened as it could of been worse.

At the last minute, we got floor space with the Harley guys outside of Somerville. While the guys were out for breakfast with the host, our goal was to heat water for the french press coffee that makes our brains function. The regular pots were dirty so a tea pot was grabbed from behind a bunch of stuff. Because it was dark, an electric tea pot was set on fire atop of a beautiful Dacor range.

As I was packing the car, "fire starter" screamed my name and it did not sound good. I looked down at the house and saw a huge flame in the kitchen. By the time I got down to the house, the fire was out but there was burnt plastic all over the stove. We aired out the house and scraped off as much of the plastic as we could. The financial damage could have been outrageous so were lucky. I think Hestia, the fire goddess was looking over us. Especially when we had a sleeping teammate oblivious to the smoke, fire alarm and screaming.

Fire!

Tiger Woods is the Greatest

I am always doing something silly. Our pee stop at Sheetz before the Mt. Joy Race. He just about pulled it off playing terribly.

Day on the Hill

I am tired so I am going to defer to the press release from our title sponsor, Altarum. I had a blast running around DC like a little lobbyist. I have faith again.

Press Conference Silliness

I can smile and wave but that is about it. We got called up and asked about how we got into cycling. Well, actually, we were probably asked how we got into racing bikes but I was so nervous I froze like a deer in headlights.

Dave Chauner, the president of the Pro Cycling Tour had our biographies from our web pages and I basically babbled about the wrong biography. I have been racing for fifteen years and riding forever so I have different stories about getting into biking, riding and racing.

Initially, I looked down at the podium to see which biography he was referencing but my eye sight is getting worse. I talked about how I stopped driving in my early twenties to clean up my driving record and I bought a mountain to get around. Since I was nervous and had different biographies running through my head, I did not speak in complete sentences, either, so the audience did not get the complete version of that biography. For all they know, I could have lost my license because of DUI. Ugh!! Well, I did not lose my license and my points were to inanimate objects getting getting in my way like porches and telephones. As Dave Chauner looked at me like I was on drugs, he eventually helped me out and prompted me on the proper biography. And the people in the "audience", they probably did not want to be there anyways or they were probably with PCT so they got a good laugh for the day.

After the circus was over, the Mayor of Reading and a radio reporter wanted me to explain my story further. Ugh. At least I did much better one on one.

Bikes Are Sooo Cool!

Go Specialized!! My team bike hasn't arrived yet so I borrowed this bike from Green Mountain Cyclery in Ephrata, PA, for a press conference I attended today in Reading, PA, for the Commerce Bank Triple Crown series.



I am a geek as I picked out a fixie. At least I didn't take a mountain bike with me. That would have been really silly!! I loved the British flag on the top tube, Underground map on the down tube (so did my kitty Smeagol!) and the chainstay - "God Save the Queen".

Raw Talent Ranch - Training Camp Movie

Four and a half hours of riding compressed into 6 minutes of video. My body took at least a week to recover as it was first in shock from the crash the week before then all the climbing at training camp. The first aid kit at the ranch had Dermoplast (red can). I think I am addicted as I had to buy it when I got home and I use it on my knee almost every day.

You had to be there moment: After riding four plus hours, we had to ride another 7 miles up to the Lost River Barn. This was before I knew my rib was broken yet I knew something was wrong as I could not breath normally. Of course , I just brushed it off to the climbing. Even though I had a 27, I struggled. I wanted to cry because the roads and climbs were awesome and I could not ride them well. I sucked it up as "home" was up the mountain. Jdub stayed with me so I didn't ride off the mountain. Half way up, we rounded a switchback and a cow (Bessie) hung out watching us ride slowing. On went the helmet cam. She made me smile and laugh at a time when I cracked 10 times already. It was so steep I spooked Bessie as I about crashed into brush debris on the road trying to video her. But she just stood there and stared. We were baffled how she got there. Crazy cow. Next switchback, I had to stop because I had laughed so much and the climbing went on forever that I could not catch my breath; just an amazing climb.

Turkey Hill Dairy's Country Classic

The usual suspects on the 40+ podium for Spinners Cycling Team.

What is so cool about this race is that it is a family affair with running, biking and baby crawler races.

Turkey Hill Dairy donated ice cream, teas, games and and other local organizations and businesses donated chips and hot dogs. Even if you had a bad race, there was plenty of ice cream to make you feel all better.