As I get ready to leave today and go back to Colorado, just a few last notes from my Christmas visit.

Some things never change as I keep the tradition of sneaking in to my sister's bed in the morning after she gets up. It's so much more comfy and comes with a 100 lb snuggle buddy named Chester.

My mom, err Santa, also still stuffs fruit in our stockings and leaves them on our bed Christmas morning.
One last note. In case you were wondering when it all began:

The Stratus Citizen Bike Race. 1st Place 18 & Under. July 15, 1990.

That's it folks. I'm back to the land of blue skies, big mountains, and free range internet access tonight.

On Saturday, Donna and I went to Portsmouth. I love Portsmouth, it is one of the few places I have to go every time I go home. It reminds me of college because we used to go out there a lot since Durham is just down the road.

Donna and I walked around.

Got some coffee.

Performed a impromptu puppet show.

Then we ate lunch at the Gas Light. It was a good day.

On Friday my mom, sister Donna, and I went down to Boston.

We went to see the Nutcracker ballet at my sister's request.

Then we walked down to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market to get some chowdah.

From there we walked over to the North End to get canolis at Mike's Pastry.

Boston at twilight.

Even my mom had a good time walking around the city all afternoon.

Got beans?

Only in New England will you find a whole aisle dedicated to baked beans on your grocery store.
Also, don't forget you B&M brown bread in a can while you're out.

I came home for Christmas this year. It's great to see my sister and my mom.

Christmas morning started with delicious breakfast prepared by my sister Donna.

Then we set about to opening presents. Somehow I think the pets ended up with more presents to open than we did.
Chester was very excited about his new toy. Squirrels drive him crazy, even stuffed ones!

However, soon after he was pooped out from all the excitement of the new squeaky toy.

After Christmas at our house, we went to the Laufersweiler's for Yankee Swap.

Donna was very crafty in her strategy to snag the Snuggie. Me, I got some beer which I traded for a new Forman grill, which got stolen from away from me, but my mother ended up stealing back. So in the end, I still got the Forman. Woot! It's super deluxe, I am sure I will be hosting dinner parties now with my new fancy meat cooking device.

Hey Donna, how's that Snuggie?

Looks like 'ol one nut still has some swimmers.
click here to read more.

Phew

It wasn't Buddy getting scraped off the road. He was in the back yard today.

Woah!

Not even 5 min after the squirrel scraping, there's a 4 car pile up in front of the house.
Exciting day!
By the way this is exactly why I avoid turning left on Platte.

My tax dollars hard at work as thus guy scrapes a dead squirrel off the road in front of the house.

I hope it wasn't Buddy.

Project '96 Superbike

What a blast from the past. Last night at the SRM holiday party Steve Johnson presented to Uli a Project '96 Superbike as a gesture for all the work he did in the help of developing the technology to produce the bike leading up to the 1996 Olympics. The funny thing is now the bike is useless as the UCI made technological advancements like this illegal for competition. 12 years ago this was the fastest and most expensive bike in the world. Now it's just really pricy wall art.

I have a connection to the Superbike too. It's from the era when I worked at USA Cycling. In fact, Project '96 funded my salary. Project '96 spent several million dollars developing the Superbike. Estimated cost per bike - $30,000. My salary as a physiologist for Project '96 - $800/ month. Ha! ha! ha!

Micro-management.

I hate it when someone is looking over my shoulder all the time at work.

I guess it's about time to put up my tiny little Christmas tree and decorations. It's finally paid off that I left the Christmas lights hanging up since last year.

I have decided to use 20 lbs of cat(s) to stay warm in the sub-zero temps tonight.

Froggy says brrrr, it's flipping cold! Ribbit.
I leave for a few days and it's completley frigid when I get back. -5 this morning, -16 with the wind chill.

It's cold in CO

It's so cold in CO that Jess had to put socks on with her sandals

Austin airport

Guess who I ran in to in the Austin airport?

Jessica spent the weekend in Austin too and is on my flight!

The Official Measurement


After much controversy and dispute over the informal measurement on the side of the road, an official measurement was demanded. So with shoes off, floor level checked, and mechanical engineering tools used, Melanie is still officially the World's Worst Draft. Even if only taller by 1/8th of an inch, I will still revel in this victory.

And because it is fun to compare adult heights, we have found two of Annick and Melanie's teammates are exactly the same height.

Training Camp in Austin

We went on a big ride today, and guess what? It was windy. Well, it is Texas afterall.

But we had company with the girls inviting their teammates to join us. It was on the ride where I made a startling discovery...

I am not the worst draft in the world!!! By only a few millimeters Melanie is actually a worse draft that I am.

Is that what tall folk look like when they are trying to get a draft off me?

Yesterday I flew on a plane to Austin, TX. I never take the window seat, because I prefer a little more leg room on the aisle, but I did the other day on the flight to Denver. The view of Pikes Peak and Coloado Springs from the sky is quite nice. Every once and a while I find myself saying, "hey, I live there."
So, I've come to Austin to do a training camp with a couple of my very cheery coaching clients.

We had a really good first day of riding and went out to dinner downtown later. Still no Lance sightings yet, but we did see a full moon.

Fat cats

So I'm going to Austin for a few days. Do you think this enough food for 2 cats?
Perhaps I have figured out why they are gravitationally challenged.

This will certainly teach me not to forget my iPod when I go to the gym. This song was on the radio at the gym this morning, and now I can not get it out of my head. Damn you Lionel Richie and your catchy tunes!

This is how my birthday started out yesterday. It was actually quite pretty on my way to the gym in the morning. If you could see the clock on the Antlers building it would read 6:30 am.





This is how the birthday ended, at the Golden Bee. It was touch and go there for a while with the snow storm that rolled in during the evening, but the ladies still showed up.

It was me and Katie and Melissa who all have birthdays this week while Kate is celebrating finishing her treatments and Sarah who is just a barrel full of monkeys to have at any party. It was pretty slow since it was a Monday night and a little bit of snow.

Later on a convention of IT guys showed up, and because she wasn't drinking Katie tried using Melissa's glasses instead of beer goggles to make those guys a little more attractive. It didn't work.

We still had a great time.

Melissa, of course, gets to party all week because her big birthday isn't until Friday.

One question though, why is Sarah sniffing this piece of gum?

For more on the evening you can click here.