Monday, May 25, 2009

Louisville Crit

I woke up Saturday morning still not sure if I wanted to race. As I sat eating my breakfast, contemplating my day, I got an email from a friend - "Are you racing this morning." Eventually we convinced each other that the rain was going to hold off and that we should race.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Springtime in the Rockies

What's been going on this spring? Where do I start...

Riding at this time of year is nice. The weather is generally good and it's always fun to see the different baby animals. I've seen baby geese, baby cows, baby pelicans, baby horses, and more. In the full-sized department, I rode by a huge raptor yesterday that was picking at some roadkill. The downside of riding this time of year is all the bugs. You learn really quick to ride with your mouth closed.

Christine has been out of town with her new job a lot over the past month. That's why she hasn't posted much. She's really busy coming up to speed, and posting on LJ would eat up the time that she could be using to talk to me. It's a real drag for her to be gone, but the job is really cool and soon she'll be working from Colorado more. Last weekend I hung with her in Austin. News flash: Austin is hot. I rented a bike there and had a great time riding their rolling hills. Oxygen is a fantastic drug.

We have a fox (at least one) in our neighborhood and I've been seeing him a lot. I've been getting up around 5:30 most mornings and that must be a good time for foxes to wander. A couple times, I've just seen the fox wandering around the park. Last week I saw him on my way to work, and he was carrying a juicy rabbit. A couple times this week he ran down the side walk behind my house and Kuzca had a great time barking at him. Today was really cool, because I saw him chase down and catch a rabbit.

Things around the house are blooming just in time for Christine to come home for a long weekend. I have a small orange tree inside and its blooms smell fantastic. At the same time, the lilacs outside our front window are in full bloom. It's unreal how great that smells. I should plant more of them. The garden is planted. A lot of the same stuff as last year, plus some new things. Last year I missed the boat on planting spinach and radishes early, but this year they're looking good. I think we may eat some of the radishes this weekend. I really wanted more tomatoes last year, so now we have 5 plants worth. I planted one of them in a pot to see how it'd work out.

Racing has been minimal so far this year. The weather caused problems with the early races I wanted to do, and now with Christine gone all week the last thing I want to do is disappear for a day to race. I may do a crit tomorrow, or I may just ride around Fort Collins.

So that's what's happening. This weekend is Christine's birthday and we're going out to celebrate tomorrow with friends. We'll start easy with a little wine and dinner, but then it's no holds barred. Should be fun. Next weekend we head to Ohio to see family and friends. I haven't been back there in a long time.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Lookout Mountain Hill Climb

Yesterday I raced in the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb. It's only 4.5 miles, but the 1200 feet of climbing makes for a tough little climb. My main goal for this race was to beat my best time from a couple years ago of 22:04.