First race of the year!

Well, tomorrow will be my first race of the year. Usually I use the first races of the year to get my butt kicked so I know what I have to be looking to do in my training. Last year, my first race did not follow that game plan. I wound up dragging one rider from the Olympus Homes team for almost 25 miles. If it had just been him, I knew I was able to drop him as even moderate efforts out of the few turns on the course had him working hard to bring me back. In the end, one of his teammates caught up after mixing with some riders from another category, a definite classless move, and they proceeded to work me over in the finale. If I had followed the same game plan, there was a Cat2 rider I could've ridden away with that was sitting behind us after I'd caught him and there would've been no contest. Still a 3rd place to start the year off wasn't bad. Plus, I confirmed that the new heat rub I am using now in the nasty cold weather was working quite well as I only needed knee warmers while everyone else was bundled up like they were heading off on some epic ride in a blizzard.

It's sunny in California

howdy from California. It was a pretty good day. It looks like we'll be busy this year. Lots of cool things to do. I have to admit, I'm a bit stunned as to how things went on Tuesday. It almost seems too good. One of my partners and I in this little venture, we driving back towards the airport after the meeting and we were both thinking, did it go that well? We were both in a bit of a state of shock. The offices where we met were a beehive of activity and the people we met definitely showed an amazing amount of zeal towards what they were doing. It is going to be great to work in this sort of environment. It will definitely be a challenge, but we're going to do are absolute best to see a return is made on the trust we are being given.

I'm now back in Pittsburgh after more than 13 hours in airports and planes. I had a bit more than an hour drive back home from there. In a few short days, it looks as my job will change quite a bit. I will still do the techno geek thing, but also be able to apply my talents in other areas that will be alot more fun. Somehow, things like 'Dual core processor and a Gig of RAM' just don't carry the same amount of excitement anymore. I was looking at doing a bit of change in my professional life and boy am I going to be getting it. It's like getting my first job all over again. The only thing that is less than appealing is that I went from eating breakfast in 70+ degree and sunny weather by the pool, to scraping 5 inches of snow and ice off the car at the airport. I do have to admit, my planning for the trip, however rushed, worked pretty much to perfection with zero hiccups. Things just don't normally go that well and I'm almost scared to see what happens when the other shoe drops. Probably just a pessimistic response that I'm sometimes prone to after the type of week I've just had. Well, I've got to go dust off the drawing table now and be thinking about the layers of clothing I'm going to have to be wearing when I hit out on the bike today.

LA

Well, I made it. I'm in LA in a Travellodge hotel right across the street from a Carl's Jr and a strip club. What a wonderful family type place. I'm about 12 hours away from probably one of the biggest meetings I've been in since I've started in business almost 20 years ago. Things look good at the moment, but I'm keeping myself grounded til we actually get a signed contract. My stay here will be too short a stay to bring the bike so I'll be going thru withdrawls by the time I get back Wednesday night. If things work out, I'll have to leave a bike on the west coast to make my life easier. Luckily I have an extra bike hanging around. I've got a new Fort ready to put together so the ol' Guinness Fort can go to Portland. The racing is fun out there. I had a couple decent races there last year. I must've created enough of an impression since I got swept out on a corner but a couple guys from Team Oregon in the last few laps. That bumped me out of the top 10 riders in the pack leading up to the final and after getting caught behind a crash on the final lap, left me back in something like 26th. The PIR race on Monday was much better. I was in every break and very aggressive in the face of the Fred Meyers team and a couple others even though I was on my own there. I was in every break except the last one. That was the one that finally got away. I hesitated for one moment and it was like 'thanks for coming folks'. If I'd known who was in the break of 5 riders, I would've made sure I made it. I was saving myself because I was thinking, there'd be another counter and I'd use that. Oh, well. I still pulled off a ninth place and a mid race sprint so it was a good day. This year, I should be able to hit the race more and once I learn who is who, I'll go alot better.

Anyway, back to LA. I'll be meeting one of the guys from i-generator from Portland, Oregon in the morning and then we're off to a meeting that will have big implications for both of us. This will be a good feather in my cap if we pull this off.

Pack pack pack!

Let me see, shirts, pants, socks, toothpaste and brush, comb, shoes, Thinkpad, iPod, camera, notepad and pen, license, money, credit card, sunny hopes and dreams. Dammit, I know I'm forgetting something.

Faster than a speeding .....

Well, I was always told things can be fast in the corporate world. I just got a nice demo on that one. I was looking at popping in on the Amgen for a few days and be meeting with some new prospective clients instead of the initial mentioned March meeting and the next thing I know, we're on for next Tuesday. I do like it when potential clients are decisive. I did get a bit light in the head making all the arrangements to get in there, but this job looks like it could be a very exciting one. The trip will be a bit abbreviated, but hopefully, it will bring what looks to be an interesting and challenging project(s).

Yaba Daba Doo!

I'm slipping into my Fred Flintstone mantra here. Things went very well at work today and I'll be hangin out at the Amgen tour because of it. Hopefully it'll be a sunny time out there. I'll have to load up the bike for this one unless I can borrow one out there. It's a particularly sunny day out today.

Emerging from Slugdom

This is my first week of real training for the year. Through January, I road, did some lifting at the gym, a couple spinning rides, some time on the trainer, but it was mainly just low level stuff and nothing to really base any serious fitness on. This week though, I bonked for the first time of the year. There is nothing like the feeling of 'Gawd, what did I do to myself here' when still out on the bike. It was another good mountain bike ride, the first hour and a half was a steady ride til I finally linked up with the rest of the group. The final hour of the ride, I was seeing colors that I probably shouldn't have been and when the ride was done, I was finished. Too tired to hang out in Mo'town to watch the superbowl. Too tired to go get something to eat. Too tired to do anything but sit there and be tired. And that was tiring. Later that night, I found out what the real issue was as the flu hit. Monday was a write off, but I can tell my body is working well when something like a nasty hit of the flu is gone in just 1 day.

Through the week, I was actually able to begin ramping up the efforts and doing 2 workout days. I'm feeling it now and I think I better lay off today and only do a single, but the legs are responding. I'll know how well on Sunday at the ride. On my Wednesday morning spinning ride, I got a nice suprise there. It seems that one of the soigneurs of the Toyota-United team was there. She had on a pair of Coor's Light shorts. After my remark of 'there's some old school shorts, she said that she used to work for them. She apparently has worked with several of the top pro amercian teams over the last 20 years. Wow, a local doing this and I never knew it.

Wednesday for work, I was supposed to have a conference call for work. This was a big one as it could decide if I'll be doing some work directly in the bike industry. Unfortunately it got held off til Friday. If all goes well today, I'll be hopping on a plane for the Amgen tour for a few days. Maybe I can bump into the Toyota-United girl again. If it goes better there, I might well achieve my goal in life of getting paid to play with toys. I'll stay on with the computer consulting business (it's still pretty lucrative. to the layman, it looks alot like goofing off). I'm raising the caffeine levels to just the right point now and got the phone all ready and warm. I'm hoping for a good one.