Mental Doughnuts

Have been busy with work & all. Managed to get outdoors last Sunday for a ride. One hour & fifteen minutes total. What a refreshing feeling, as I have not ridden outdoors since September 6th, 2006. It was great to get out, clear my head & ride. Wow how I miss that! Cant wait for all of this to come to an end, hopefully a few more months!

My racing/training buddies from Vision Quest (VQ) Coaching services keep bugging me to ride with them, so I did this am. The Badger, Stan-O, Michaelson & The Young One all met at VQ HQ in Bloomington. They did their workout, while I tagged along, flailing near the back of the pack, staying out of the wind. When it was near over, they wanted one last effort, so they elected me to play "rabbit" for them. I would go out in front of them about 30 seconds, and they would do an all out effort, to "bridge" up to me. I took off up the road, but what they didn't realize was that "The Turtle" had just a few pieces of lettuce left in his shell. I jammed it, and 2 miles later, they were still chasing. One for The Turtle, Zero for The Chasers!

We then turned around, into the head wind, and Stan-O directs me to play rabbit again. So, I took off, then looked in my shell, and The Turtle was empty. The Badger caught me within 30 seconds or so, and the the whole group pounced on me like an elephant on an ant. Oh well, got my head cleared, and my pipes thoroughly cleaned out. We'll see if I can walk later today.

Here's Stan-O, Michaelson, The Turtle & The Badger after the ride! Pretty well smoked.

Had a REALLY cool opportunity last weekend, compliments of my beautiful wife, G. I had dinner with Floyd Landis, the winner of the 2006 Tour De France! Floyd was in town for a fundraiser, and a local guy sponsored a private dinner with Floyd. There was about 20 of us, and we had a great time! Just sitting around, shooting the breeze with the guy who won the Tour De France!

Rob, Floyd, Myself & Stan-O, chillin after dinner!

Got legs? Here's the x-ray from pre-surgery in November of 06, (on the left) compared with the post surgery 2-month checkup. I see Dr. Watson next Thursday for the 3-month checkup, and I think we are going to see more of the same, healing wise. I believe time is on my side this go around. Riding, healing, having fun? Those are the kind-of mental doughnuts I need! Keep them coming!