Four Flat Fingers and a Camel

Above: Jo, Roly, Katie, and Nigel on the South Downs, enjoying the view.

Welp...It's been almost a week already. Where has the time gone? Oh that's right, I've been having loads of fun catching up with friends and riding bikes.

I've done some really long rides since I've been here. Much longer than anything I do at home on my own (at least on the mountain bike). Other than some er, 'discomfort in the saddle region', I've hardly felt any sort of suffering in that debilitating, 'I've just bonked' way. I attribute this to being in great company. What a difference riding with friends makes. I'm reminded how much I miss it.

So thanks to Jenn for slowing down to my snails pace and at least pretending to be cheerful throughout the ride (although I know there was no faking involved), Nigel and Katie for being great new friends who don't mind me stopping along the way to pick blackberries, Tim for letting me crash his party, Biff, Ruth and the boys for being the great humans that they are, and of course Jo for, well, just being Jo (there are far too many things to thank you for in the space of a blog post). Sorry about my carbon footprint.

My gratitude extends to the ever lovely Fisk's. Anyone who has the good fortune of knowing them understands why a visit to theirs is a special treat.

The best is that there's more to come! More bike riding, more time spent with friends, more enjoying everything I love about the UK.

And let's not forget, more of these (which are great):

Mysteries of the Human Body

This post is a work in progress...I'm trying to sort out how to display the map details from my ride.

Ok so that's not going to happen. Oh well.

The point was to show that the 40 mile climby ride I did yesterday, during which I felt great even though I did about 15 miles of climbing, left me feeling quite tired. On today's ride I felt like poo, and I went out easy on 30 miles of flat to rolling.

Now, I know a bit more than the average person about how the body works, but it never ceases to amaze me that I can feel so strong one day, and like a boneless mass of flesh the next.

I think I'm the slowest person in Boulder on a bike.

Oh, Canada

Well...British Columbia is ace. By all accounts, I should have a very bad taste in my mouth from my trip to the Northwest. I had two rocks hit the windshield, one of which left a big, traversing crack in the glass while the other left a flare-like ding. I had a piece of trim fall off the trailer (that miraculously stayed perched on the trailer tongue) which led me to buy a torx set, none of which fit the bolts that hold the side of the trailer together. Then the coup de grace came in Whistler when a phone call at 7:15 in the morning woke me with the news that my trailer had been broken into. Dan's bike got nicked, which makes me feel horrible. Good times.

Oh, I forgot to mention that two days after getting over the break in, I discovered that a mouse had taken up residence in the trailer. Never a dull moment.

Still, Whistler or all of the BC coast really, is such a beautiful place. I tried downhilling for the first time and had an absolute blast. I spent a couple of days with Dan and Laura in North Van catching up on some R&R and generally didn't want to leave.

The not-so-short list of places I'd like to live now includes B.C. It's yet another places that leaves me feeling like coming home to Boulder is anti-climactic.

I didn't see any Canadian sheep, but I did see several black bears.

Soul Sucking

Some bike shops have no soul. I've been to two that are part of a 5-store chain in the last 4 days. The whole thing has this 'corporate' feel to it, and it's obvious when talking to the staffers that the owners and buyer have lost the plot. It all makes my job much, much harder. To make matters worse, chatting after my event tonight meant I didn't make it home until 10, which is when I was hoping to be in bed in order to get up early and do a 'beat the heat' ride. Now I'm tired and want to go to bed, but need to wait just a bit for my very late dinner to digest some.

I managed to get out on the bike today, although it was a later start than I wanted and because of the heat, an embarassingly short 25 miles with one big climb. Oh well, the worst day riding is still better than the best day working, right?

The summary post

Oy. May 23 was my last post. I'm so very slack. It's not for lack of things to write about. It's been a very busy couple of months for me, as is usually the case when summer rolls around. So, here's a little summary of what I've been up to:

-I spent some time around LA in early June. Really not a big fan of that place. I did some riding, though.
-Got to hang out in Santa Cruz for a couple of days of R&R. Did some riding there.
-Worked my way up to Bend, Oregon. Fantastic place with great mountain biking. I did a long mtb ride there.
-Spent a couple of days in Park City visiting my friend Thane and having him drag me around the great trails and roads there. That was a workout. Four rides in two days. Then my right IT band in my knee blew up. I blame Thane for making me have so much fun riding.
-Worked the week-long Ride the Rockies road tour and got to spend some more quality time with my ace pal Q from Shimano. I did no riding because of said knee.
-Flew to Manchester, NH to visit with my sister and her kids for a couple of days before we all headed down to my parents' house in New Jersey. Did no riding because of the knee, but did get it massaged a few times.
-Got a tattoo
-Flew back to Colorado on the 4th of July and drove to Winter Park to set up for Crankworks. No ride that day.
-Finally got back on the bike on July 5th.
-Went to Steamboat for an event and have wound up staying here despite a plan to go home on Tuesday.

I've now ridden 6 days in a row with no real issues with the knee. Woop!

That's the long and short. Regular programming (slackness) will now resume.

Tall Blondes

So I got to make a trip to the San Diego Zoo today. It's world famoose, don'tcha know. My friend Kathy works there, so I got to do some behind the scenes stuff, like pet a giraffe and visit the koala barn.

After my trip to the zoo (no, they didn't try to keep me) I went to a little guitar shop and got to look at a 1958 Fender Esquire. It's worth somewhere around 50 large. Whoa.

No riding for the last couple of days, but I did a nice long ride the other day. Not sure what my distance was, but I was in the saddle for 5 hours. I rode to the coast and back. Maybe 50 miles. I was really more in it for the time than distance.

I'm off to Paso Robles tomorrow for a weekend event. I should get some riding done around wine country.

Chamied Up Like A Pro

How do you spell that, anyway? Chamoised? Chammy'd? Chammied?

Regardless of the spelling, I approached tri-geek levels the other day by staying in my riding clothes for more hours than I care to admit. Only about 20 minutes of it was actual bike time. Gross!

I'm back in Utah again. It's time to be back on the road for another long trip for work. It's the SoCal leg, so that means stopping in Fruita and St. George for rides. I may have discovered the best kept secret in Fruita: Rustler's Loop is more fun when ridden backwards. I was so excited to get on my bike today and the laps I took felt great. I could have ridden for another hour if it weren't for the constant pressure to be back behind the wheel and passing the miles. 'Course I only went as far as Green River in the end, which is only about 70 miles from Fruita.

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I saw Keane on Monday night. It was an absolutely fantastic show. It partially made up for the now FOUR concerts I'm going to miss this summer as a result of being on the road. The list is now Bloc Party, Snow Patrol at FREAKIN' RED ROCKS!, Daft Punk, and Matisyahu. Stoopid job...

Recent rides:
Friday-Allison's recovery ride/my pegged heartrate ride for an hour and a half. Followed by a mountain bike ride up the canyon and back. I was amped to be on the bike that day. Despite the pain of the road ride, I couldn't resist doing some more.

Sunday-Ride to the Sport's Garage demo. One way is all of about 10 minutes. That was the all-day in the chamois. I got so disgusted with myself that I took some turns on the dirt demo loop. Then I rode home and went straight into the shower.

Monday-Road ride with Thane. His computer logged 33.2 miles. It's essential to include the .2. Fun ride. Nice to have Thane along for company. We rode to Longmont airport and watched planes take off and land for a bit.

Yesterday consisted of riding the bike path to shuttle old Touaregs to the dealership.

St. George tomorrow!