This month's relative lack of inactivity may finally have been catching up with me. Up until today I had still ridden well on my excursions. This past week's indulgences though had me feeling crappy for at least the first hour of today's ride. After that, I rode a bit better. Fifty-seven miles

With my month of rest over, I feel refreshed enough to look forward to some steady training and the start of next year's racing.

Flipping through the channels this evening I came across King of Queens. Apparently Leah Rimini is back to having a rockin' body after her pregnancy last year.

Even though I announced well over a week ago that serious training would begin, I continue on my more slothful ways and will likely continue until the new year. Still, I went to Spinning last night. Good Lord it was hot in that room. Crack the doors open, please!

It was my birthday yesterday and I darn near blew off the Spinning class but decided to go at the last minute. After the class, Giuseppe asked if I had eaten. I had and he suggested I just come along and watch him eat. "Whatever" I thought. I will go for a while.

Giuseppe walked outside a little before me. When I left the building he was engaged in a "conversation" on the parking lot with someone who's name I will not mention here because sometimes I can be a nice guy. Person X was giving him an earful about how snotty and rude we/the team/some people were to them all year and how hurt they were and how they are switching teams because of it. I had a big urge to interrupt and tell Person X where to go but wasn't sure it was my place to butt in.

Did Giuseppe or I have ill feelings toward this person? Of course not.
Did Person X go out of their way in the last year or so to make themselves known to us? Of course not.
Did we hardly ever see this person aside from Spinning? Of course not.
After Tuesday night's display do I care if I ever see the person again? Of course not. And if they think they were ignored before, just wait. They won't have to worry about even getting a glance of the eyes in their direction.

Enough of that unpleasantness. We headed over to Kayak's in Brentwood for a bite to eat. I walked in and Amy sitting in a corner and waved. I waved back and didn't really notice who else was there. I walked over toward her and slowly I began to notice Patrice and Justin and Gina and balloons and cake and other general party stuff. Obviously I had walked into a surprise birthday party for me and, as it turned out, Marco. It was quite a surprise although my reaction was more of a stunned confusion.

I truly was touched, however, that folks thought enough to gather of group of friends together for the occasion. On top of that were presents. Hot dang! A big bottle of Duvel Belgian beer, orangish replacement lenses for my new Oakley's and some gold Deda handlebar tape so I can roll in style just like my stylistic hero, "Il Pagliaccio" Bettini. It was a very good day. Thanks guys!

With the fanfare of a lone kazoo I begin presenting my 2nd Annual year-end awards. I start with some local awards.

Best Pace Car: My decision might be prejudiced because I drove the vehicle, but I give the award to the Tour of St. Louis' Volkswagen Touareg. That baby was sweet. A smooth, quiet ride with just about any creature comfort you could have wanted.

Oddest pace car: Nothing represented St. Louis' slightly tacky side better than the 4-wheel ATV that the Clubbers let loose at Edwardsville and Soulard.

Most Oppressive Weather: MO State RR. The temperature felt manageable when we arrived in Columbia but the mercury seemed to shoot upward from that point on. Adding to the pleasure was the 20 minutes we stood on hot blacktop while waiting for Buddy to show up for the official start. My incredible level of suck that weekend only added to the misery.

Best criterium: It's been several years since I had a chance to do this race, so I give the nod to the Tour of Soulard.

Best atmosphere: For the second year in a row Lafayette Square and its big, bustling, nighttime crowds earn the award.

to be continued...

X marks the spot

If all else fails, steal. (video)

Interesting ride on Saturday. The first 1/4 was typical Ronde before turning onto Country Club Ln and eventually through Waterloo. We took Gall and D back to our starting area and then hit the flats for Patrice's new route crossing over 255, turning north and crossing over again to get east of 255. This was all to get reasonably close to Patrice's new road.

After some flat riding, we turned left onto a real kick in the ass named Mule Rd. A steep road to start, it continued go up more gradually, then steep again, then more gradually. That road seemed to go on much longer than it probably did. The remainder of the ride was many of the northern roads used on the route I designed a few weeks ago.

I don't know if it was the recent lack of riding or the rolling terrain but my legs were pretty tired.

The morning was only the precursor to the evenings Sharkmas activities at the shop. An evening of race photography, buddy bikes, meatballs, stiletto heels, shark wrestling, beer, kosher hotdogs and late hours. I walked in at 3:30am, slept about an hour before getting up to do my usual Sunday morning routine. Needless to say, I was in no condition to do the Bugman ride.

Somehow, I have made it through the day without feeling all that bad. I did get out at noon for about for about an hour of leisurely riding.

Going back to work tomorrow after 3 weeks off is going to suck.

My old Bolle glasses have been falling apart for several months. Between scratched frames, deteriorating rubber ear pieces and nose pieces falling off I decided it was time for some new glasses.

While in the grips of last weekends ice storm the new sunglasses arrived at the shop. Yesterday, I picked them up and snapped some glamour shots of the new spectacles last night.

This news is a couple days old but appparently Kate Winslet's body was the inspiration for Jaguar's latest car. Thank goodness they didn't use her ugly face for inspiration.

I find myself really taking it easy this week. It has been a long year and this time of year is a necessary period of relaxation for me. After a week or so right now I will have a couple weeks of moderate work before my brother and his family hit town around Christmas time. That will be another week off the bike.

That brings in the new year and leaves us only about 8 weeks until we start racing again. By then it's time to start getting serious.

In other news: The Heisman finalists were announced today. Do I care? Not really. Troy Smith will win. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Darren McFadden was among the top 3 finalists. Mark my word, he will be the best pro... by far.

Okay, now I am pissed. After writing the last sentence of a review of my weekend the power went off for half a second and I lost everything.

So, in review...
Power went out 11pm Thursday
Listened to radio about horror stories on I-70
Cancelled trip to KC
Spent two nights in Affton Community Center to stay warm
Power back on at 10:53am Sunday
Outage time - 59hrs 53min.

Many thanks to a work crew from Decatur, AL for restoring power to the neighborhood.