Bike Fasting

Six days off the bike is simply too long, even with a million other things to keep my mind off of riding. I'm not supposed to touch the bike until Oct 1. Aaaaaccckkkk... (yes, looking for sympathy.) The first CX race of the season is this weekend. Shall I go and be tempted?

Because I don't want to spam you

Three days into the off-season, three days off the bike. Tomorrow I fully expect to be going through withdrawal. I've kept busy, though, and that's key to not missing the bike too much. Cleaning up the loft is a very high priority right now. Here's something I found that I want to share, then I'll throw out the paper it's written on.

A Little Sage Advice... I'll add more as I find them lying around (amazing what you find when cleaning out).

• Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
• A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
• Happiness often comes through door you didn't even know you left open.
• Accept the fact that on some days you're the pigeon, and on other days you're the statue.
• The early worm gets eaten by the bird, so sleep late.
• Never buy a car you can't push.
• Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
• Birthdays are good for you; the more you have, the longer you live.
• You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
• Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened.

End of the Season

The racing season is officially over. I think I'm happy about that, right now...but my legs are still tired from the season...as soon as that wears off, my tune will change. The last race was yesterday so the off-season has only just begun. The bike is hanging on the wall (it won't be touched for two weeks) and it's time to do everything I didn't have time for during the past 6 1/2 months (when racing began).

Yeah, so this is a look in my modified closet--bikes take precedence over the clothes. It is possible to have 4 bikes in a tiny loft that has no storage space.

Cruising Saratoga

Steph and I met up Friday morning to ride. Here we are at the Saratoga Battlefield. It was a fun ride and nice chance to catch up!

Friday afternoon, I met up with another friend, Keirsa, and we also had a fun ride. It was great to spend the day on the bike with friends.

Saturday morning was a century bike ride...once again, a perfect day to be on the bike & it was a good group of people. A stomach bug got me, though, so I couldn't do 100 miles. Still, it was a good ride and the best way to spend the last day in town.

Sitting high atop Saratoga

My apologies, I haven't hit this pic with photoshop yet. Tonight I met up with Greg, Eric & Katia for drinks and dinner. I used to work with Greg and Katia, Eric used to work with Greg's wife. It was awesome to see them (it's been 3 years) and hear stories of what's happening at the Lab. Not much has changed. That isn't surprising, knowing the culture of the place, but that's also one of the best parts about it. Funny, I didn't appreciate that as much as I should have when I was working there.

Back to Saratoga

The entire drive from Montreal to Saratoga is just about this beautiful. Between being happy with the scenery and jamming to music, the time passed quite easily.

With shopping out of the way...

...there was plenty of quality time this moring to ride the bike. I got out just after 8 am, had a Cliff Bar breakfast, tooled along on the bike path (see pic), and then came back through Old Montreal, stopped for a mocha and crossaint, then continued up to Mt. Royal (where I am in this picture). It was a perfect day for a ride.

You think American tv is bad

Who knows what was happening in this cartoon since it was all in french, but it couldn't have been rated "G."

Watching the Simpsons dubbed over was an experience. Homer's voice was much too deep, it changes the character!

Vive le Montreal Fashion

Montreal is the best place to shop for clothes. It's worth the trip, trust me. The jeans actually fit. This is where I was blogging from last night. It's an interesting town. The second floor of most of the shops are seedy. Walking up the stairs to use the internet, I'm feeling a bit self-conscious since it appears that I could very well be walking to a peep show.

I didn't learn any new french words on this trip, but I did try to pick up on their accented English.

Burlington Crit

And, finally, the Burlington crit, to top off the weekend. The course was tight and fairly technical, with some brick tossed in just to make it more interesting. There was a fair amount of climbing. Downtown Burlington is nearly the same as Pearl St in Boulder, to get an idea of what it's like. There were thousands of spectators (I think) lining the course.

I finished the race 15th GC, which was fine. This was such a good vacation, placement just didn't concern me much. Also, hopefully this experience will carry over for the Parker Omnium coming up soon!