Down Hill Danger

It has been a great week of riding. I had off Monday and Wed of this week. Both of those days I was in them thar hills up yonder. I have found a strength in climbing and a weakness in going down hill.

Monday I rode the Uvas loop. It was a good ride for 50+ miles and the wind was kickin my butt on the way back....of course the way out was very nice. It was like I had Beecher on my front wheel....when he realy was'nt....where were you on the way back. I just put my head down and cranked. I barely made it up Silver creek hill at the end. I pulled into the driveway and K was waiting for me to go to the store...Yikes...maybe I was out too long...but the trooper made no mention. Very Nice..>!

Tuesday was back to work just to get ready for a day off on Wed. It was a long day since I had Monday and Wed off for the week. Work-work-work..it's all the same....I did not have time to hit the spin class that night.

Wed was the day of the Tour De California. I went first to the DMV that day to take my medicine. I knew there would be a fine if I was honest on the registration for California. i knew I should have changed over my stuff once I got to Cali...but I told myself I could just play dumb and say I just arrived. Well, the moment came for me to play that song....and I could not do it...something said just take it like a man and pay your dues. It was a big daddy fine too....I debate now on K's car as to what to do.... I can't be half honest I guess right...eith you are all in....or not... It sucks....Well....back to the bike....
I left for Sierra road and I knew just the spot to park by steed and watch the race. Seems 300 others knew the exact same spot. I did however find a nice bush to hide under for the hour we waited for them to arrive....It was freezin after riding all the way up the mountain then standing around in the wind. That bush was my friend :) Lucky El Guapo did not trim those hedges. It was a joy to see these guys come by. It was right at the time Levi was taking the lead on the hill. I saw myself on TV later that night. I looked like a total Poser. I had my cell phone trying to film the thing. After they all came by I jumped on my bike to try and catch them coming back around the loop into down-town. Here is where I found out how bad I am going down hill. The hill is a crazy going down and I was out of control. People were walking and riding back down and I had to slam on my brakes. I think I am too tall on the bike or my brakes are not good....I just feel like I am going to fly off the road at times.... Anyway, I did make it down the hill and was able to catch Levi and Jens going at it. A memorable day.

Thurs and Friday.....same ol stuff. No spin class on Thursday since Briggs had a WOlf meeting.

Saturday I decided to take some more hills to try and work on my fear of bombing down a hill. I choose to go down Metcalf hill which is steep one. I did ok...still i would rather be climbing. sounds crazy. Again the wind was really crazy....but this time it was on my side on the way back. I only did about 30 miles on Sat since we had a Birthday Party of my Boss. He turned 40 and we went out to a winery and ate some good grub and played in a Bocce Ball tourney. It was all indoors and really cool. The kids had a blast although the Dunfords got eliminated in the first round. Boooo Briggs thought he was robbed..Reagan was amazing...and Eryn just wanted to drink her "cote".

Sunday - just hangin out watching the Oscars and eating some Gulach that seems bottomless.

2 weeks untill Solvang....I hope I am ready.....

"Ich bin ein Berliner"

It's good to be back. After a long 10 days in Europe...it feels good to be back in my own bed. Don't get me wrong, I love Europe, but there is nothing like being back in your relm. Just thought I would give a re-cap of my trip to all my readers.

I left on a Saturday and headed to England. It's a non-stop from San Fran. The nice thing about travel with the company is that your travel in business class. British Air has the best Business class in the Bid-ness. I took upper deck and just kicked it. I watched the Movie "The Prestige" which was not bad. I also watched "A good day" which was ok. We arrived in England and I forced myself to stay up. So I took a walk along the Thames river and people watched. I enjoy just sitting and watching. The weather was actually really nice. That night we ate some grub...(which is not good at all anywhere in England). The next day we did all our presentations to the England folks and flew to Manchester to visit some of our agencies. We ended up in Preston England where I was bumped up to the President Suite and it was a treat.
The next day was pretty cold. We hit two more of our agencies and flew out of Manchester back to my motherland Germany. We landed in Berlin and hit Kurfasterdamn Strasse, found a nice place to eat, and had a big fat schitzel. Ahhhh...the real food. The next day we did our thing and it was a LONG day. We took a train from Berlin to Hamburg that night and got in really late. Now it begins to snow during the next few days as we wrap up all the other agencies tours. I choose to stay a few days later to hang out with my family in Ashcaffenburg. I took the train down and I finished the book "Fishers of Men" Vol 1. It was pretty good.
It was really nice to hang with Oma, Marina and Bernie. We ate at the Schlappe Seller which was VERY good grub and one of Tom's favorite..I can see why. We then went to the REAL to shop for some things to take back. I bought a ton which caused me to borrow a suitcase to take back.
Final day it rained and it was really nice to just hang and read and talked with family. I talked to Oma about my options to move to AZ or Salt Lake. I told her my concerns with both. One concern I have is that sometimes it can be a challenge to live too close to family for us. She says..."Yes, we loves our family......but not TOO much". It was classic. I will need to choose soon. Perhaps after we come back from our SKI trip we will know.
On the plane back I watched Employee of the month, Babel and Flags of our Fathers. All were not that great. Babel was horrible. I was hoping Flags would be better....but it seemed all over the place.
Now I am back to my family, bike, LOST, bed, juice and nice weather. Bikey weather.

I did the Sierra Rd King of the Mountain today with Scotty. We actually did not pay for it, we just joined the masses. It was a great ride. I can't wait to be up there on Wed when the Pro's come to town. I felt really good and at the top I crossed the finish line with the lead group....(I had a 10 min head start on the pelaton) It was great to try and keep up with these guys. It really put things into perspective on how strong they are....and weak I am. We rode down the back and headed back home. I felt really good and the weather was so nice, I stopped at home, filled up my bottles and went out for an additional 20. It was nice. My legs are killing right now but I need to get ready for Solvang or I am dead. I plan to ride on Monday and then watch the Tour de C on Wed.

Well...I need to do my taxes....hopefully we get a nice return so I can spend it....