You've Got Nothing on Jon Krakauer

I’m ashamed to say I don’t read much, but on a whim, Denise bought me Into Thin Air as a Christmas gift. I immediately got hooked & finished it quick. Many people I know have already read it (the book is almost 10 years old), but if you haven’t picked it up, I strongly recommend it. It will make a lot of your life problems seem petty – I guarantee it. I only had to read half the book before I removed “Climb Mt. Everest” from my list of life-long goals, which probably just should have said something like, “Make Denise a widow,” or “Die a slow, cold, painful death.” Suffering has a whole new meaning to me now.

Back on the Bike
The doctor said, “Ride, but take it easy,” so on Saturday I took it easy. Until a group went up the road & I proceeded to bridge to it. From there on out it was full throttle, on the front, taking pulls, burning one antibiotic laced match after another. I finally ran out of matches on Victoria about 2 K’s from the finish so I “took it easy” & sat up. Despite my efforts, the sum of it all is that I felt sluggish & slow. Needless to say, I didn’t race on Sunday even though the peer pressure factor was high. I figured why go sit in or put in half-ass efforts for Padilla, Turner, Norm, Zack & the likes, when I should still be taking it easy. Instead I put in a solid 4 hours of lonesome riding trying to sort out my head, gain back a little strength & endurance. I think I made the right choice.

I’m probably making the wrong choice today by riding in the midst of mist & on-coming rain storm…

I'm Sick. Again.

Here's the deal; my last post mysteriously disappeared. What the hell? Oh, well. Someone told me it was too long & wordy anyway. I'll dumb this post down as much as possible with pictures & simple sentences.

And as the title of this post states, I am sick again. It's a nose, ear & throat deal that I got while in Woodstock, IL. - 7 degree temps & late night press checks didn't help out any. And neither did the ride in the rain that Trevor, Templeman & I did on Sunday morning before I departed for Chi-town. Sunday was the last time I rode my bike. I was smart enough however to drive to urgent care as soon as I got home. The doctor hooked me up with some antibiotics, so I'm planning to be back on the bike by Saturday.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my dumbed-down photo blog...

Since I recently ordered the demolition of the Energy Drink/Santo De Vitamin B/Chris Roberts Shrine at work, I figured I’d snap a few photos of it first, to commerate its existance. Though magical, it was time to make room for a new radio.

The back story: There are a few people at work who actually beleive that they're getting some sort of nutritional value (specifically vitamin B) out of consuming mass quantities of energy drinks. They worship this crap, so we started an energy drink shrine for them to worship. Santo De Vitamin B was/is the shrine's mascot, if you will. I'm over it now.

On Saturday afternoon, Josh & I were able to get out & ride Crafton in between rain storms. The snow level was very low & Yikes (the single track seen above) was moist & in good shape. We made it back to my place just as the sky was opening up again.


In the last 6 weeks, I've spent a fair amount of time in Woodstock, IL on business. I hate business travel because it takes me out of my routine. My normal routine doesn't include scraping ice off windshields or driving fruity cars like the Chevy HHR. That's why I refused to drive the rental car & made Dave Coronado scrape the windshield. He was pretty good at it for a guy from Colton, CA. If I lived in place where the temps dropped below 0, I think I'd be a professional drinker or sleeper instead of a bicycle racer. It was wicked cold.


Finally our schedule let up enough that we were able to see some of Chicago before checking in at O'Hare. Coronado, Friztencarter & I toured the Field Museum a stone throw away from Soldier's Field & Lake Michigan. Our little field trip (no pun intended) wasn't exactly Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but it beat killing time eating biscuts & gravy at the Cracker Barrel

They don't have buildings this tall back home in Mentone. Thank God.

Sweet(ness). Sure, it's not Lambeau Field, but the way I see it - it's the next best thing. Later we cruised by Wrigley Field, but by that time, my batteries were dead. Oh well. Baseball sucks anyway.


Back at the Field Museum, I found this mobile Nifty Thrifty Honda 50 attached to a giant audio cassette storage case & radio. It was some sort of mobile boom box used in Africa.


The Lake Michigan side of Soldier's Field. No wonder it's so damn cold on that field. If a Bears kicker shanked a field goal hard enough, the ball could land in shallow end of Lake Michigan. The lake is that close.


Lake Michigan & the Chicago skyline. Impressive, yes, but I prefer the San Bernardino Mountains skyline.

That's that.

I can't wait to ride my bike...

I've Been Snowed In

This is what the last 3 weeks have been like.

Snow at O'Hare Airport

More snow at O'Hare.

Rock star. The guy at the printer was busy with another customer so he sent a limo.

Yeah, it was a limo, but it was the Loma Linda of limos. Dry as dirt.

Snow at the hotel.

Snow at the printer.

This guy has a Blackberry, but still uses an old-fashioned telephone.

I (second wheel to Amon Peace) sucked at Nelson's Landing Stage Race. I also sucked at Boulevard Road Race. Turns out, Pro1/2 is hard.