life is a little bit crazy.

without getting to o personal,my life is being temporarily upended. If you know me, and talk to me, you'll know soon enough...It sucks.

Other news! The Horribly Hilly is coming up. My mood on the day of will determine the distance and the pace. If I am able to dislodge the rage that is harbored inside me, I may go long and slow. If I'm feeling like I do today, I'll probably go short and slow. I imagine I may go long and hard. That seems most typical of me. Whatever. We'll see what happens day of, and how I feel the week prior. I'm excited to get out of town a bit. Oshkosh will be fun. I hope. I hope everyone can get along. Not usually the case. I hope to be on my bike more often than not, and therefore out of everyone else's hair. It's all I can do. Time to find some routes out there. I know just the person to ask.

I hope with all of my heart that that will be an enjoyable week. I have my reservations. We'll see.

Side note. I still love my wife. I don't see that changing. I may be stupid, and maybe the entire community reads this, which I doubt, and care even less, it doesn't mattter. If you know me, you'd probably think of me as genuine. I don't mask well. Maybe it's a flaw, maybe not. I'm ok with it. It's what I do.

I want back on my bike. Stupid other things to do. Why does life always get in the way.

recovering the lost.

I found it. It left me for a month or so. Perhaps it was the new job (because it's closer). Maybe it's because I'm still bad at mountain biking. Maybe it's because I took some time off. I'm not sure why, but it's back.

My love of the road bike. Sure, my legs may be a bit hairy, but that's because I told my wife that she gets to use the last razor first. I'm waiting. I've been out on it. I've actually been feeling really strong out there, too. This is good. I'll need it now that Jake is all but assured a Cat 3 upgrade, leaving me to work for myself. Time to step up (eventually...there HAS to be a race coming sooner than later.)

But yeah. I'm happy. Who wants to ride afternoons? I get done with work at 3:30 and can be on the road at 4. Where we going? Yesterday I went out to Wayzata. Today I spent an hour at Ramsey/Grand/Irvine. Tomorrow? Who knows. Gotta get an Minnesota ID, but after that I'm game.

Cheers, road bike. I've missed you.

the following week.

Margaret and I took a vacation up to Duluth this weekend. Big Matt and Jake both took home the GC jerseys in their classes. Wish I could have raced. That would have been better. Poor planning on my part. What else is new. Decided I'd rather ride bikes with my wife. The plan was to ride all the way down Edward Munger trail. just under 70 miles each way. Longest paved trail in the country...blah, blah blah. Didn't even see it. Never happened. Not totally surprised, though I was excited as all get-out about it. It was too cold, anyways (in an attempt to look on the bright side). It was fun to walk around and hang out with a few new faces in a (kind of) new city. There were a few piles of suck that I stepped in, though. Felt pretty shitty all weekend. I only wish it wasn't all mental/emotional. A physical sickness would have at least given me a good excuse.

I dropped the ball bigtime on Margarets birthday. Totally forgot until about an hour into the day. My only saving grace at all was that I had a gift coming to her in the mail that day. Good planning, Jason. About time. Yeah, so she had a terrible birthday, and I'm pretty much at fault. Maybe that is why she hasn't said much to me in days. I dunno.

I just went out for a "training" ride. Pushed myself pretty good out to Wayzata Caribou. Tempted myself to go around the lake, but the clouds made me not want to risk getting wet. It was starting to get cold, too. Lot's of big gear tempo/TT-like efforts (or at least what I imagine a TT to be...never done one) and a lot of jumping the hills. Got a plan to go do repeats in St. Paul tomorrow. Though, I guess I should be working more on my sprint if there isn't a road race for weeks, and the state fair series starts soon. That means no hills for quite some time!

I dunno. Time to shower.

Trying to be better.

I'm back. After a fairly long hiatus. I'll try to keep this better updated. Some people told me they miss me. Strangely enough.

Updates! Racing hasn't been going so well. DNF at Ken woods. Felt very strong. Flat tire. 6-ish miles from finish. Bummed me out. Got shut out of the last Opus I did. Didn't race smart. DNF Marty. Didn't eat nearly enough that morning. Did my part to string out the pack and drop some riders, cashed myself on the climb. Dropped out after second lap. Team did well. I'll take it. One race since. Eriks spring cup #1. That was great. 54th overall out of 160something in sport. 3rd singlespeed. I'll take that, too. First MTB race ever. Second mtb ride ever, on a bike I borrowed the night before and put pedals on that morning. Backt to Opus for more in a few hours.

In other news, High Five Bicycles will be on the way from Taiwan shortly. Keep your eyes peeled in a month or so.

In more personal news, I'm 24 now. And I've been officially Married for a year. Good times. Feeling like I win at at least that segment of my life.

Mem day will be spent (not racing. No $$$ for that) up in Duluth for the races. Just hanging out.

Soon Margaret and I are taking a trip to Oshkosh for the Dairyland Dare. Thinking of doing the 200k. Did that last year pretty well. Was thinking about doing the 100k as fast as possible. Screw it. A 60 miles hilly as fuck ITT won't be fun. Doing a 200 mile ride the weekend before as prep. That's gonna hurt. At least it'll be flat.

Yeah. That is all. Welcome back, and thanks for tuning in.

-Jason