TGIF - 6/27/08

Another week in the books - the first "official" week of summer at that. This morning the "park closes at sunset" sign at Patapsco State Park said that time was 8:30pm. Sunlight until almost 9pm ... I love this time of year ! I hear some cyclists complaining about the heat or the sun but I tell ya, I will take that over cold and dreary any day of the week. I like it hot, you see. Come on, that was too easy. Sigh.

I didn't do Greenbelt this week per the advice of the coach, aka Slavedriver, so I have no stories of sketch riders, random singing during the race or irrational outbursts after the race. I told the coach that after nationals, I'm thinking I could use a little break and The Slavedriver expressed pleasant surprise .... I then informed him that a break would probably entail a group ride or two during the week along with greenbelt, then racing on the weekend. He reiterated his thought that he'd have to steal all my bikes in order to enforce a week off the bike. I can't help it ... OCD is part of the sport.

I've been fielding inquiries all over the place about my scooter, scooters in general and exactly how much does it cost to fill up the tank ($7). A recent article in the Baltimore Sun covered scooter-mania ... also known as the-price-of-gas-is-killing-us-revolution. I'm seeing more and more scooters out on the road by the day ... its kinda funny 'cause its like this secret club. They usually beep their horns at each other or something equally amusing. Its kinda like the Jeep motto: You Wouldn't Understand. I'm personally excited about the new top case/box I just bought for mine - it attaches to the back of the scooter and can hold a bunch of stuff. A constant problem for me has been that my helmet doesn't fit in the under-seat compartment so this new box will get the job done. Awesome. (loved this pic - goes along with my penchant for acronyms. This is for you, Michelle!)

I have saved the best for last - we have ourselves a ROAD TRIP this weekend !! A couple CycleLife gals are headed to ... Kentucky. If you told me a year ago I'd be excited about a trip to Kentucky, I'd have laughed at you. Nothing negative meant toward Kentucky, its just ... not a destination of choice for me. Of course, you all know this is the location for Nationals next week, so we're loading up more bikes, more trainers and more lycra than any one car should hold and we're taking a little drive to see what we can see. We've rented a house near the city and near the courses so, as is par for us, we're gonna make an adventure out of it. Hopefully we'll come back with some good stories, pictures and a little hardware.