Cycling and Other Things.

Beginning in December 2009, my training for the Tour of the Battenkill became an excuse to let other things go.  I would say Jill carried much of that burden by eating dinner solo a few times per week, and (somehow) surviving 3-4 hours of Saturday morning quiet time while I hauled myself all over the western Piedmont of NC.  I eschewed beer, needless physical labor, yardwork (which I do not consider needless), and sugar sodas (most of the time). 

Now that we're back, I've got some reorganizing, relaxing and catching-up to do.  For example, last night we had a few good friends over and I drank plenty of beer.  Not that I couldn't drink beer 3 weeks ago, but I would have thought about it.  Lame as that might be, it was real.  Today, we slept in, fixed a big southern breakfast and instead of strapping on the bike shoes, I put on some gloves, grabbed the shovel and got to work in the yard.  I am way behind in our plans to bring the front yard back to life, so carving out 6 hours for that today was 'make or break' in terms of getting grass seed down.  And I drank two cans of Pepsi while I did it. 

So now what?  Well, that gets me to another point:  It's time to practice something else - the guitar.  My old band is converging on Athens, GA next weekend for a show.  Not only that, we planned it such that we could play, wrap/pack-up, and get over to the Pro crit at Twilight without missing much of the action.  Why?  Our buddy Mark, who races for TMK/Jittery Joes is going to be there.  He won this race in 2007 and finished second in 2009.  Twilight likes Mark and Mark likes Twilight.  Argus likes Athens and Athens likes Argus.  Why not?

After that, I plan to keep the iron hot by hitting up Mule Hell - Roubaix in southwestern Virginia.  Not a race per say, but I know how these rides go...

After that, it's more training in June before the Piedmont Triad Omnium in July.  This is a signature Piedmont event and I'm happy to be a part of the medical team covering it.  I also plan to ride the road race, which has been kind to me in the past. 

So, we'll see how this change in priorities and eating habits effects my riding.  I think Jill might be just a little sad about losing her Saturday morning quiet time, however...