TGIF 8/21/2009

It's tough to follow up the last blog, especially since I don't have more embarrassing pictures (at least none that I'm willing to post). The responses to that write-up and, more importantly, the actual event, have been hilarious - thank you !

Random ramblings:

I received an email with various witty, sarcastic statements about life and how the general public sucks ... usually that's right up my alley - until I ran into the statement "When I'm a pedestrian, I hate cars, when I'm in a car, I hate pedestrians. No matter what, I hate cyclists." Grr...

I've had several "car" incidents lately. I try to be a conscientious rider, especially when I'm in my kit (my sponsors will never get a call about me running a red light). My teammates will attest that they've heard me tell them "Don't even THINK about doing that in MY jersey" enough times to be annoying. If I'm going straight, riding in my lane with a green light, why would the arse-hole decide to turn left in front of me, pausing long enough as I slam on my brakes to give me the finger ? For whatever reason, that really hurt my feelings. Oh, I know, I'm tougher than that, but honestly, why ??

Big shout out, lotsa luv and luck to superstar Leslie, who is on her way out to Masters World Championships this week ... she's been on fire this year and I can't wait to see her show her stuff over there.

Congratulations to Jason Merdhott (Meidhoff), the newest National Champion on the Track in the 3k. He has been saying he wanted to win that race for months and damn if he didn't get it done. here's a pic that his honey sent out - nothing but smiles !

(sorry, I dont know who to credit for this photo ... if it's yours, speak up!)

Good luck to the DC Velo guys tomorrow in their final event ... and Good luck to all of you doing Church Creek. That's all I've got for today- Happy Friday !

The Shellfish Girls

What started as a "how funny would it be" phone call somehow morphed into a full-blown costume party for me and Zim. There was really no rhyme or reason for the costumes, which made it even more amusing.
Zim and PJ hamming it up. (c'mon, that's funny!)

You can barely see my good friend Billy in the BBC kit behind Robin - he deadpanned "Wendy, I'm glad to see you're finally coming out of your shell"

Bob, the Fiddler, was extremely entertained by the dancing shellfish ... and we were thankful for music for heckle-by.
You can find these photos, along with results, at the Chesapeake Wheelmen website.

Our costumes invited many interesting comments ... some of the more memorable ones:

• Crab telling a passerby "Man, I'm steamed".
• Me loudly asking Robin why she was always so crabby
• Walking by a confused group of people, asking where the Bay was. They responded by actually pointing in the general direction of the Bay.
• Being asked if we were getting paid for this, and whether we do this at ALL the races.
• Getting a suggestion that we should stick around because there was a bike race getting ready to start (uhm... did they think we dressed up as shellfish on a regular basis just for the fun?)
• A woman telling us not to listen if a man suggested that we had good pot-holders (?)
• Watching Chicken shake her head as she slowly realized that the two shellfish on the course were, indeed, her friends/teammates. She managed to comment "I don't even know what to say" as we chased her up the final pitch in the course.
• Various exclamations that we were cracking each other/everyone else up
• Crab running along side cyclists encouraging them to "Claw their way up the hill."
• Commentary that those riders who veered to the other side of the road when passing us must have shellfish allergies
• A comment to the Lobster that she had a great tail

Thanks to Chesapeake Wheelmen, who didn't throw us off the course, to Bob the fiddler, who put up with our antics and to the riders, who did all of the real work and didn't necessarily hate us. Big thanks to those who let us know that they appreciated our entertainment - it was one of the funniest experiences I've had in a long time.

Since the CW didn't know who we were, we are now known as either the "Shellfish girls" or the "Crab girls". I suppose I've been called worse !

Other big news: I am now cast-free !!! It came off yesterday morning and I officially removed the bar-tape from my car's steering wheel on my way back from the Dr ... fully recovered, just need to work out the stiffness from being in one position for 12-weeks.

TGIF - 8/14/09

Ah, it's a good day when it's bonus-time, my reporting deadlines have been met and I'm down to mere days before I get my cast off. Nice. Yesterday my brand-new, 47" TV arrived. At the moment it sits in the box, on a pallet, in the middle of my living room. I realized quickly that there was no way to avoid a disaster if I tried to move that thing myself. Hoping Zim and maybe Lance might help with it this weekend. Progress.

Highway to Heaven hill climb this weekend - frustrating that I can't do it 'cause it's about a mile or so from my house, but kind of cool that a bunch of my fellow racers will suffer the wrath of Ilchester the way I do when I'm training.

This is the sign on Ilchester Hill, advising
caution for the steep grade. Have fun
with that !!

Happy Friday !

Random but Funny

This morning I heard about a new entry into the energy-drink market (kind of). You know, the likes of Monster, Red Bull, Rockstar etc etc ? Well this one is an anti-energy drink - it supposedly calms and relaxes you using Melatonin, Valernian Root and Rose Hips (I can't find an ingredient list so I can't determine what else is in it).

This was less than blog worthy at this point, but then I heard the name, the slogan and the review. The name is Drank. I'm imagining someone saying "I need a Drank" with a back-woods southern twang.

The slogan - "Slow your Roll". This made me a laugh outloud. Partly because it sounds like something Joe Jefferson would say (now that I think about it, I'm positive that he has said that to me at least once).

The review: from the LA times : Still, Drank is gaining traction in an otherwise super-caffeinated market, with Time magazine running a story about it earlier this year (taking note of the fact that the name Drank has its roots in Houston's hip-hop scene) and Fox news writing that some who use it are comparing it to "weed in a can."

Now that's funny.