So today was the Fitchburg circuit race. It's a 3 mile loop with a pretty hard hill for the finish. I'd have to say the luck was a little better today. First off with the new start we actually only have to climb the hill 10 times. That's lucky. Second I got a sweet spot for the start. That's always good in this race because it's kind of like a big crit. Then I managed to avoid all the crashes which was very excellent because there are always crashes in this race. In the last one the girl was right next to me doing that wobbly bouncing off each girl next to her before she went down. All I could think is "I gotta get out of this bad area."
The last of the luck came at the finish. Although I lost my sweet spot in the last 300 m before the bottom of the hill I still ended up mid-pack and between those who got dropped and those who opened wheel gaps on the finish (which it's easy to do in this race) I moved up to 17th in GC. So a pretty good day.

In other news the Colavita team camped out in my super secret shady parking spot. I came back from warming up and they were all assembled in their chairs for the "team meeting". I felt a little conspicuous being right there as they were going over team strategy, but I'm pretty sure they weren't worried though.

Mom came to watch today. She likes this race because it's kind of like a cotillion. No, not a fancy dance, one of those downtown races. You know, criterium, cotillion, whatever... She likes those fast races where she can see us go round and round all day. Although, she does like the men's races a little better because "they go a lot faster."

ATTENTION: Palindromic race numbers may not be lucky. In fact they may be decidedly unlucky.

First my pump breaks when I was putting air in my tires today. Not a real trajedy because there's neutral support here at the race, but that does mean I'll be without a pump for the next 3 weeks. That was only slightly unlucky.

Then about 20 minutes before my start the storm blows in. It's raining with thunder and lightning all around. I'm trying to still warm up by hiding my trainer under the tail gate of my car, but I'm getting drenched anyway not to mention the fact that the trainer doesn't really work in the rain because the wheel slips with anything more than 120 watts. That was a little more unlucky.

So we start on time anyway. The biggest part of the storm has passed but it's still raining, it's still windy, and you can still hear the thunder. Oh well, everyone has to ride in it right? Well not really. Turns out only about the first 20 of us really got the rain, by the time I was done and riding back to the start the sun came back out, the streets were drying off, and the hurricane winds were gone too. So again, not lucky to start in the first half of the field in the TT.
Then I got to share my drive back to my mom's house with everyone who works in Boston. Again, unlucky that I got done with the race at 5pm. Perfect for rush-hour though.

So I think I finished 21st. 0.3 seconds out of the top 20. Again, not so lucky. Perhaps there will be more luck tomorrow, I just hope it is of the good type.

So I go down to the race today to register and pick up numbers. Would you look at that, another palindrome (thanks K.O.). What are the odds? Now that's gotta be lucky. The race starts tomorrow so we'll see.

So this is the top of Wachusette today. Normally you can see quite a bit of western Mass from up here, but today you could only see about 20 feet. I really hope that it doesn't look like this on Saturday when we have to climb it in the road race. I went to ride the TT course this afternoon (in the rain) and decided to drive up Wachusette. I don't think that was a good idea because I always remember Wachusette being easier than it actually is. Sometimes it's better that way, well you sleep better anyway.

Seacoast Criterium: Race Report.

What's that called when a word is the same backwards and forwards? I can't remember but I'm pretty sure it means I've got a lucky number. Not only was it the same backwards and forwards but you could also turn it upside down to make it 606. Unfortunately it wasn't that lucky. I only got 5th.

Tonight was the Exeter Criterium. I have been waiting for over 10 years to do this race. It's the classic pre-Fitchburg evening race in Exeter, NH, which also happens to be the place I was born. It's been going on for years but when I first started racing I wasn't good enough to race it, then for a few years it was men's only, and then I never came home early enough to do it before Fitch until now. So I was very excited to race tonight, and I think I raced really well, unfortunately I didn't finish it all that well. I didn't launch any dumb attacks, I made the break, my legs felt really good, I just blew the sprint. In a break of 6 I got 5th. That's real bad. Grace Fluery won which was actually a surprise because she's not known as a sprinter, but when you can put out 500 watts for the last 300m I guess you don't really need to "sprint". It must be something the tea...

Final destination: Hampstead, NH. Well not final, but I'll be here over a week so that about as settled as I'm going to get for the next 3 weeks.

This is the house where I grew up. I think it was built in the 1700's and so was the internet connection. I'm bringing it old school style this week with the dial up connection. It's so slow I feel like a cave man with my stone tablet and chisel. You also may see fewer photos the rest of the week seeing as how it takes about 20 minutes to load each one.

At least someone was happy to see me pull in to the driveway. Here Chester tries to leap in to the car and give me a big kiss, scratching all over the driver's side door of my new car... so sweet.

Columbus, Ohio: metropolis of central Ohio. Last year I came to this race and never realized that Ohio State was here. I guess I wasn't paying attention.
Kate and I have a long time to wait for our race this afternoon so we went for a ride this morning and found the bike path that goes from Grandview Heights to downtown Columbus. We don't race until 3pm which is kind of a drag because we have a 12-hour drive ahead of us to get to Massachusetts. We won't do it all tonight we'll probably just make it somewhere to the middle of Pennsyltucky before we have to stop.

Yesterday was Wynnona Judd day in Ashland, Kentucky. Literally, a local holiday. Ashland is the most Juddtastic town in all of the US, seeing as how all the Judds are from Ashland. Chris (my brother in law) went to high school with Ashley and reportedly they "dated". I'm sure by dating he means they sat next to eachother one day in study hall. ;-)

No, this is not a picture of the race today, this is the soap box derby just down the street from my sister's place. It's a tough call to follow up Wynnona Judd day, but they seemed to get a good turn out. Too bad there wasn't as big turn out for the race today in Grandview Heights.
I think everyone headed up to the race in Rochester instead, but you know what I say, more prize money for me. I landed on the extended podium today in 5th... not that impressive with the small field, but the first fan fare of the year for me. I even got flowers and a kiss from the podium boy. I think maybe he was hitting on me because I didn't see him give Catherine Powers or Brenda Lyons a smooch on the cheek.

Bye-Bye family. I miss them already. Me, my sister Lisa, Jordi, and baby Caroline.

Work really has me frazzled lately. So many emails to return, so many projects to work on...

Must have more food for the belly.

This belly bloat is not dried apricot induced
Aunt Renee look at my long arms and legs. I bet I'm going to be taller than you by the time I'm 7.

ha, ha, that's so funny. Aunt Renee, I bet I'll be taller than you by that time too.

So this is what happened on the drive from Colorado to Kentucky on Monday. It's been a few days in telling this story, but it's really Kate's story. So you can click on this link to get to her blog.

The good news is Kate walked away virtually unhurt from this. The lesson learned is hydroplaning is bad, real bad. I think I'll be driving a little slower or not at all in the rain from now on.

No mommy, I don't want to go down the big slide...
Wooaah! Good thing there's a big mud pit to break my fall at the bottom of this slide.

Wheeeeeeee!

You are here. ...Well I am here anyway.

How do you get to Ashland, Kentucky?
It's just a little down yonder over there by the river.
Today I went to the park with my neices. At least I was happy to be there, not so sure about Caroline.

I think Jordi was happy too. (do you remember the last time you just ran around and sang a song at the top of your lungs?)
Look what I can do!

Hang in there!

Updates from the road:
Didn't take any pictures through Kansas or Missouri because frankly there's nothing to see. It doesn't really get interesting until after St. Louis.
I had plenty of time to look at the gateway to the west though as because we got stuck in some helacious traffic jam in St. Louis. It literally took 1-hour to move 2.5 miles.

I did see a new home made bike condom. We actually saw these guys on day one of the trip too but I didn't get my camera out in time, so I'm glad I got to snap this one on Monday. Yah, that's saran wrap on their bikes...
Watch out for those rain storms in Kentucky. They're real bad, REAL BAD.

Sorry, no pics today. I've been so busy with camp all week, then finishing camp Saturday night and packing up the car Sunday morning to take off for Kentucky. Yup, that's about 1500 miles to drive in the next 48 hours. I've got 500 songs on my iPod, at about 3 minutes a piece, that should just get me there on random shuffle.

So I'm doingn camp with CTS this week and I haven't had a minute to stop and smell the roses. That is except when I had a few minutes while I was waiting for everyone to pass by as they climbed past Helen Hunt falls. (No, that's not the Helen Hunt who was in Twister)

We made them climb that same terrible climb I did last week. This week I rode it in a 27 and I felt like Basso climbing up... well maybe not Basso, maybe more like Ullrich when he's only 5 kilos overweight.
Here are the troops assembled before our ride in the afternoon. It's double days every day. We're going to get so fast.

I know many of the people reading this blog are in Colorado and I have a question. Why is it that in Colorado people think it's ok to drive in the passing lane going as slow or slower than the right lane? Do people not know they're not supposed to just hang out in the passing lane going 63 in a 75 when they aren't actually passing anyone? Every time I'm on the highway in Colorado this is enough to drive me insane. It's times like these when I wish I had an atomic ray gun mounted to the top of my car and I could just atomize these guys off the road.

In other news, I must say I have finally influenced the next generation. Perhaps not profound, but freedom of choice is important. Click on the following link for more details.
pullemfamilypage

I'm sure you're expecting a race report, but I'm not in a mood to talk racing, so instead I'll talk about the weather. Weather is always a good topic to discuss, it's pretty nuetral and can be a good ice-breaker in uncomfortable social situations.
So this is the weather I drove in to on the way home tonight.
Uh, oh! I think it's going to be a good storm!

And it was. This is what it looked like when I had to pull over. (by the way, that's sleet covering the windshield.)

Phew! I'm glad that's behind me.
One question, is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

Speaking of dumb things on your bike, at least I'm not this guy. Click on this link and see.

So I've done some dumb things on my bike over the years.
- I've ridden my bike on north Academy and south Academy.
- I've headed up track when I've had a mechanical.
- I've done 4 hour trainer rides.
- I done the Gila, more than once.

Today was right up there. I decided to ride Cheyene Canyon with a 23 cassette. I wanted to do some "strength" work on the bike so I thought not having the option of a 27 was a good idea. Somewhere around this corner when I was at 33 rpms with my knees about to burst out of my flesh I decided it was a bad idea. Granted, the Pate is rumored to do this climb in his big ring right up until this corner when on his way to crushing 16 mintues, but I am not the Pate. I felt like one of those poor people from the mid-west that we send up this climb their first day in Colorado, that is real slow. I almost didn't make it. I also think I might need some more strength work.

Ok, I know I was just complaining about how cold it was a couple of weeks ago, but I think I'm taking it back. It's too dang hot out now.

I was out riding today and the water in my bottles got so hot it was like drinking hot molten lava.

...I know, I know, all I do is complain.

Melissa, this one's for you!
Bfisk, THIS one's for you!