the catholic guilt

I always feared giving confession as a kid because I hated the part where you had to tell the priest that it has been XXX number of months since your last confession. After I missed a few weeks, it became easier to live with the pain of sinning than haveing to face one of God's linemen and fess up to how much I've slacked in my responsibilities.

Same goes for this blog. At some point it just became easier to find a reason not to update it than to have to write something. But I'll be better, I promise.

Since the end of April, we've been busy...

-I installed a walkway to our front doors from the driveway stairs. It is sweet.
-We've had short vacations to the Cape (terrible) and Gloucester (wonderful).
-We've started and completed CJ's first season of tee-ball and he had a blast. Coaching him was fun too.
-I've been riding my rear off and will be more than ready for the PMC. Why, just today I went 58 miles!
-Ali's mom is hanging tough and is on a different treatment plan than thay had originally planned, though I'm not certain why.

So there you go. You'r eup to date and it wasn't so bad asking for your forgiveness afterall...

slacker

hi. sorry. I know I've been slacking here, but things have been really busy as the weather has been nice for the most part. Translation: yardwork! More soon.

the marathon, the weather, my training and fundraising

Two weeks ago we hosted a couple of friends from Puerto Rico (not those guys, two others) who were up to run the Boston Marathon. The weather was terrible, especially for warm climate Puerto Ricans running their first full marathon, but they both finished in pretty good shape and hopefully had a good visit.

It seems as though Europe has been getting our spring and we got theirs. The weather for Paris Roubaix was hot and dry while we were wet and cold. This past week was a bit better, but here we are again looking at 3-4 days with possible showers in teh forecast. Got to ride through it though, no time to sit on the sidelines and wait for dry roads.

The PMC effort is in full gallop: the donations are still coming in, the training is going great, and the event planning is well underway. There will be a golf outing on July 23rd at the Montaup Country Club in Portsmouth, RI. Entry will most likely be $100. As for the PMC ride itself, I'll be starting my PMC weekend a day early on Friday August 3rd in West SPringfield at the Azadan's house. I'll ride that day to Sturbridge and crash at a friends house there, then get up early and ride over to the offical PMC start. I figured that starting in West Springfield and finishing in P-Town would be more meaningful with respect to my Aunt Judy's memory.

More again soon.

c'est manifique! Comfortable! Very mooch like, how you say, un lay-zee-boi?

Jimmy Caspar's Gent-Wevelgem ended with a spectacular face plant. He's taking a quick breather in the photo above, probably wondering if the Unibet dental plan covers lip and tounge repair. The French Sprinter was kind enough to give a quick interview just before the medics strapped him to the board:

AP: Jimmy, tell me how this happened!
JC: Well, I wuz juust riding along and out of nowhere dis watair bottel come flying out and made the ground wet, you know, and I um sort of slipped on the tires, you know and make sort of smoochy face with these orrible pebbles.

AP: Jimmy, you look to be severely injured. Do you think that the race organizers purpously made the field travel this treacherous road in hopes that one or more Unibet riders would crash and the team would ultimately have to withdraw from the Pro Tour series, ending the season long feud between the UCI & the grand tour promoters?
JC: I do not know of such things, I would hope that they wood consider paving dis road before next year's race. Now I know why Oscar (Friere) prefers to watch from home during Paris-Roubaix, he is smarter than I thought.

AP: Thanks Jimmy, and speedy recovery.
JC: Merci! Please watch where you stand, I ah lost a contact in de fall.

Three great classics in a weeks time: Tour of Flanders, Gent=Wevelgem & Paris Roubaix. Thank heaven for cycling.tv! Something like 4 hours of uninterupted coverage for each one. The cobblestones define these races, and the PR trophy says it all...




More on the marathon, the weather, my training and fundraising in another post coming soon.

day at home

Today I'm home with the kids while Ali works at Fairlawn. I had a great ride yesterday with Mike Z., Karen P. & Jeff. Jeff volunteers for the PMC as rider support so we talked about how much fun that weekend is going to be over a burrito after the ride. I'll look to hook up with him somewhere on the route, I'm suree we'll ride again, yesterday's sixty miles was great. The weather and the company was perfect.

I've got less than $300 to go to reach my fundraising minimum, my sponsors have been great. CJ is doing a hop a thon for MD next monday: he seems genuinly excited about the possibility of doing something within his powers to help others. That's a good feeling for a parent.

Thanks again sponsors!

rainbow stripes

This past weekend the pro tour boys over in Europe raced Milan San Remo, the first of the big one day spring classics and by many accounts the biggest prize (especially for the Italian riders) of them all. Paris-Roubaix & Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) are probably more entertaining to watch because of the mass carnage and unusual selection that happens over the cobbled sections but MSR is a very hard race to win. The race has two nicknames ("La Primivera" & "La Classicissima") and is so important that the two multi day stage races the week before are considered warm ups. The course is long, about 180 miles with the selection made in the last 20k or so where riders hit two climbs in rapid succession: La Cipressa and the legendary Poggio with a nasty decent between the two. If the sprinters can hang with the leaders on those last climbs, it will be a fast finish, but a break can get away and win as well. You never really know until the very end. It's really a great race.

Great races deserve great champions and this year was no exception. The current world champion is quickly becoming a legend. He fell three times and fractured a rid in Tirreno-Adriatico (one of those warm up races mentioned earlier) but started MSR anyway. Being Italian and the current WC means you start MSR even if your leg is off. So Bettini crashes in MSR, twice, and considers withdrawing before a teammates talks him into continuing on. He's well back of the field after the crashes, but reels them all back in, rides straight through the group on the Cipressa, and leads the charge on the descent to bring back the last breakaway to help his team's sprinter get in the best position to win. Watching Bettini charge through the field and then throw himself down that hill was incredible: 5 crashes in a weeks time and here's the rainbow jersey doing grunt work for a teammate. He finished 33rd and his sprinting teammate didn't win, but he rode a great race and did the jersey proud. The racae was won by another classy former World Champion, Oscar Friere.

group ride

I've been commuting... alot. Tonight I hooked up with a few friends for a quick 30 miles on the way home and I felt really strong. The legs are responding well to all the volume.