S/M

Well, plans to ride with anybody fell through on Sunday so I settled for Hanna Park. I didn't look forward to riding there because I knew there would be a lot of yahoo traffic from the holiday weekend. I also figured the sand factor would suck, but I was actually wrong. Apparently the rain we got Friday night was enough to get the trails into decent shape. I had a 2:15 ride scheduled so I treated it sorta like a race since that is about how long most races take. I didn't stop (only slowed for bottles) and kept the pace steady, but not race pace for 6 laps around the south loop. It ended up being a really good ride, keeping my pace at 22:30 t0 23:00 for each lap. My bike worked, my legs worked, my body didn't breakdown so I should feel ok going into the Bump n Grind next weekend...

Monday morning Char, Avery and myself met Brett, Raina and their 3 youngins (Halia, Kai and little Brett) in Green Cove Springs for the Memorial Day 5K. The setting on the river and the festival atmosphere makes this a cool event. While Char, Brett and Raina ran the 5K, I entertained the kids at the playground. After the 5K was the kid's 1 mile run, which we all did. Avery set a PR in the mile so she was excited and I was proud. The little rivalry that her and Halia have going in running is entertaining and something that I hope they keep for years to come. We then hit the local church for a pancake breakfast and headed home toget ready for the rest of the day.

After getting cleaned up and changed, we all met back up at Tinseltown to see Speed Racer. The movie was ok, if anything it was very...colorful. After the movie, we all decided to cook out at their house back down in St John's County. We had already gotten everything necessary to cookout at our house but all we ended up taking with us to their place was watermelon and beer. Anyhow, we had a good time with those guys- talking, drinking beer, eating Raina's awesome food while the kids ran around and played. We had also taken Mayfield with us to let her meet their dogs, Daisy and Tuko. After Daisy established alpha status, they all just chilled too. That night we were all pretty worn out and I think we all passed out watching TV. If the worst thing I did was gain a few (3) pounds, then I think it was a pretty good weekend. Actually, I hear that quite a few people put on some weight over the holiday weekend...

This week I'm taking it easy on the bike, making sure I'm well recovered for the race this weekend in Birmingham. The course is very tough and very long. There is quite a bit of climbing involved, which is one of my biggest weaknesses. That may be due to my height to weight ratio, but I'm working on that. Actually, I weigh about the same as what I did when I graduated high school. I weighed 167 when I went into boot camp, got up to almost 220 when I was pursuing bodybuilding and now after cycling the past 4 years, I am down to 170. I'd like to get to 165 but I have to do it smart and slow in order not to lose any power on the bike. I shouldn't have a problem getting there if I ever decide to stop eating so damn much!!