Holy Crap

I am horrible at keeping this thing updated. I think I have SAD, and that definitely cuts into blogging time. There is a lot to recap, but I will give you some of the basics:

This evening, we hooked up with the Prozenbergers for some Mexicano. We haven't got to hang with them in quite some time, so it was nice to get back to our roots. Poots is doing great, growing, farting, and spitting up ever-so-often. Not really, he is incredibly cute! It is nearly disgusting. TJ, I am telling you, take Dill-weed to the mall or something and you are bound to come home with a chick.

Last evening, K and I headed over to our friends house for dinner. Wes and Anne go way back to junior high, just like K and I. They cooked us a fabulous meal: shrimp creole. It was good to relax and hang out with them. I think we may catch up with them back in R-town and roll around the rural roads.

Monday evening was the Walt's Holiday party. Most employees attended, and had a grand time. Seth schooled us all in pool, and we ate a bunch of food, and drank a few cocktails. At 9:30, I was ready for bed...which didn't come to me until shortly after 11.

The ride recap: Rollers. Plain and simple, I have been recovering from what I am about to explain.

This past weekend was Mercy's first training camp of the year. I packed up and headed down to Ft. Smith last Thursday evening. After a long stop at Denny's for breakfast, and a cracked out waitress who couldn't seem to get anything right, we arrived at the fitness center just in time to get kitted up and on the road. We were fortunate enough to have Brice Jones, a local Mercy Alumnus turned Jelly Belly Pro, lead our group rides each day. The weather is slightly warmer in Arkansas compared to BoCoMO, so our weekend outlook seemed great. Our first ride was pretty chill, over a rolling terrain; this ride absolutely killed me! Being that it was only my 3rd ride over 4 hrs, it definitely put me in the hurt box. Good thing the Olive Garden was near by our hotel.

Day two was said to be the big dog. With temps falling on Sunday to the upper 30's, we decided to get Gaylor out of the way. The group took a totally different route than Joe Martin does; Frankly, it is substantially harder. The ride was much more aggressive today, with tempo being launched at the base of Gaylor. Two flats, and two motor paced-efforts later, we had climbed over 8000 ft in the course of 90 miles. I cracked. It felt horribly good. I had not hit the wall that hard in quite some time. The funny thing was, consistent with how I feel during season, I still felt better than day one...Day 3 was looking up. Later in the evening, Brice's family hosted a party for the team. We had a great team meeting, a bunch of great Mexican food, and a pile of dessert. After our inhalation of treats, we limped back to the hotel and rested up for the final stage.

30's never came on Sunday. We rolled out and the temp was 50 and climbing. Secretly, the ride lengthend quite a bit, to nearly twice as long as I expected. The last day was absolutely beautiful. The roads were super rolly, with some crazy descents, and long grinders. We weaved throughout the river valley, and up over the adjacent ridges. I began going delirious at 4 hours. I had not had any food for the last hour, and my fluids were running low. Finally, after a little over 5 hrs, we stopped at a gas station where I pounded things I would never even think of eating on a normal day. My team mate Jason Martin saved my ass and hooked me up with the cash to make it home. The fitness center was in sight, at the 5:50 mark in our ride, with 108 miles stacked on for the day.

So, after the mix, I am really excited about the coming season. I just ordered a new vehicle, so expect pics soon. Other rides have included but not limited to rollers, trainer, CX, the good ol' road, and the carousel at the mall...