Louisiana

After a full day of driving to get out of Texas, by full day that includes numerous stops for dogs and driver activities, I arrived at Barksdale AFB (Shreveport LA). The plan was to get a few days of riding in before driving to a race in Alabama then on to Georgia. For once the weather in Cheyenne is looking better than the road trip weather. 54 and partly sunny in Cheyenne, 57 and 60% chance of heavy thunderstorms in La. That and I doubt Cheyenne has mosquitoes or 90% humidity.

If by chance it isn't raining in the morning, I hope to get in a couple of hours before me and the dogs go looking for hibernating aligators.

here's an image of my dogs looking their saddest at having to wait in the car while I time trial. At least Nikki is trying. Axel is deciding if it is worth being scolded jumping over the tailgate or not.

Life after VOS

Wow, so much has happened in the last 2 weeks.
Raced McDowell Mtn regional park circuit race (2 cats), Old Town Scottsdale criterium (10th -40+), and then Valley of the Sun Stage Race. Lots of fun and suffering.
I'm now on the road to Georgia.
Texas is a major crossing. I drove most of the day from Las Cruces and now find myself outside of Abilene at a rest stop for the night (with free wireless internet access!!!)
The dogs have been patient with me so far. It helps that we stop every 100 miles or so to get out and play. Of course that doesn't help my drive time. But it's better than having 2 amped kids when I do finally stop for the night.
Well I hope to make it out of Texas tomorrow. Nothing wrong with Texas, I just want to get back on the bike and stretch my legs.

First Race '08

I got through my first race of the year. It was a training race at a Phoenix parking lot. The A race started last and that gave me plenty of time to warm up and jump on the back of the other races for measure. Start time was just before sunset and they were turning on the lights at the announcers table. Too bad there wasn't that much light on the rest of the course. At high speeds riding in the middle of the bunch in the dark, I was not confident enough that I could react quick enough to avoid any possible pile-up. So, I spent most of the race sitting on the back except when the gaps started to open forcing me to bridge. I was not going to finish out of the field. There was a Rock Racing pro rider there spending his layover time between flights lapping the field. He was on his way to the Tour of California. I felt pretty good for not having done any structured intervals or stuff like that to get me ready. Not wanting to mix it up in the sprint, I just slipped off and rolled across the line with Mike the Rock Racing rider. He was pretty cool.

Saturday and Sunday will bring more chances at testing my fitness.

The dogs are enjoying themselves as long as they stay on the road and off the cactus needles that I am continuingly pulling out of their paws

Much Warmer

got in a great ride today as the sky cleared and the temps went up. 3 hours of riding at less than 1800 feet feels like cheating after living at 6600' and riding the last week at over 5000'.
Last night the coyotes were singing across the desert. I kinda enjoy the sound of coyotes howling on a quiet night. They need to move up to Albuquerque where the rabbit population is out of control.

Weather

Well, I made it to Fountain Hills AZ from Albuquerque. Drove through the worst weather imaginable. High winds, blinding snow storm, and heavy rain. It's still raining here in AZ. I always thought that I would be able to escape the weather in Wyoming and then New Mexico by driving further south. It's miserable here. Tomorrow should be better but not by much. hopefully I'll get in some riding before Wednesday's evening crit in Phx if I drive over there. Stay tuned...

Jan 31
Weather here has not been very good for cycling as of late. Temps hovering around mid 30s has forced me into indoor training and gym workouts. I hope the other travelling cyclists in town (Team Astana) are enjoying their stay. Instead of choosing a nice place like Maiorrca or some other tropical oasis they chose Albuquerque too. Lacking my extreme cold cycling clothing it looks like I will be spending a few more days off the bike before I hit Arizona and their highs of mid 60s.
It actually snowed yesterday day and evening.

Jan22

With my small (10ft) travel trailer packed with food and clothes I headed south with my 2 dogs toward warmer climes. A 4liter Toyota Tacoma towing a »35 year old travel trailer seems like an easy task when on paper. After all it’s a “lightweight” wooden structure built on a steel trailer frame. It didn’t seem like it to me. Semis were travelling at the same speed as me which was comforting. Gas mileage was a bit dismal, but hey, I was hauling my living quarters for the next 3 months. Instead of pushing it all the way to Albuquerque I decided to stay next to the Pecos river outside of Santa Fe some 45 or so miles. I remember spending 3 days fly fishing on the river back in 2004 and really like the area. It was interesting being there with snow on the ground and 6+ inches of ice on the river. It’s at somewhere above 7500 feet that I spent the night in sub 0 temperatures. The perfect way to find out how well the heater is in the trailer. I slept like a baby with the heater keeping the inside toasty, what a difference from sleeping in the back of the truck with a couple comforters over my sleeping bag to keep me warm.

I pulled into Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque the next morning since the campground with electric hookup is only $11 a day, what a bargain. This is now base camp for the next 7-10 days.
I must say that Albu is goathead thorn central. I have never been to a place where thorn-proof inner tubes are a necessity before. Stopping by a nearby bike shop on Saturday I got the lowdown on riding here, ride defensively and avoid the following roads… Wow, this is going to be fun. So the next day I fired up the CX bike and rode 5 hours on air force base roads. No cars, no (h)assoles, no worries. It was great to be out after fighting to get 1 hour of training in on the indoor trainer while it raged +35mph @17 degrees outside in Wyoming.
On a note of the location in which I am staying. The Fam-Camp at Kirtland is loaded with rabbits. Having a rabbit OCD dog (Nikki) this could be viewed as either good or bad. Every time she is let loose from control there is the high speed chase of the cottontail into his/her hole. Axel contributes to the chase but I think it is more an attempt to try and show up Nikki as he thinks he is “Top Dog”.
So it was on that 2nd day in Albu that I noticed that my trailer tire was worn to the cords. Wha! Huh! How! Crap!! All came to mind. I guess I was lucky as I’m such a detail oriented person or I might have tried to drive another 500 miles and suffered untold consequences. I replaced that tire that day. Quotes from the local repair shop were around $500 to replace the bent axle that appeared to be the culprit. Not going to happen I decided. This was a darn nice weekend trailer but maybe the Idea of an extended trip in it was a pipe dream. I decided to check out the RV dealerships that were numerous on my ride out Central Ave (Route 66) en-route to a 3 hour ride with much climbing.
After looking at a ’08 trailer on sale for $12K, which was nice but seemed very cheap from the fake wood grained interior, I headed to the next lot to see what had really intrigued me. The silver sided trailer made by none other than Airstream, the legend of travel trailers.
Financing in place I rolled out from the service department 2 days later with a new 16’ Bambi Ocean Breeze special edition.
Living in luxury. After all these years of sleeping on the ground, in the truck, on the snow, showering by portable camp-shower, wearing a down coat in the tent, shi**ing in the woods, coffee presses, campstools, daily trips into town to buy ice to keep the beer cold, and reading books by headlamp I’d finally arrived at the pinnacle of on the road living.
Decadence at last!
Air Conditioning, heater, double stovetop, refrigerator/freezer, bedroom, shower/toilet, hot water, 10 disc stereo system with DVD 4 speakers and a 15” Sony Wega flatscreen TV! All in a sleek, silver, special edition, Ocean Breeze Package. Decadence, you betcha!