This adorable little bunny was in the yard a couple days ago.

This is what happens when Hitcher gets bored.

I absolutely love having the daily Tour de France coverage, though it does cause me to spend much more time in front of the TV than I normally do. It's been really hot here lately, so we've kind of been stuck indoors for the most part. I can't wait for a cool down.

Ted's in San Antonio this week for a conference, so I'm just hanging out here with Shamus, Pazza, and Hitcher. We move in a little more than a week, so there's going to be quite a lot to get done around here soon, including a major cleaning. Ted has been in this apartment since 1999, so a lot of living has happened here.

The racing season is pretty much over, aside from a few small local things. Time to start getting ready for cyclocross season! Well, this has been a boring update. Hopefully there will be more exciting things to write about here soon.

Philly Trip

Back from Philly. We had a great time with our good friend Tammie and her boyfriend, Carlos. We drank some good beer, had some fantastic food, rode our bikes a little, and visited a lot. Oh yeah, and I did a bike race.

The problem with one day races is if you have a bad day, your race is over. I felt awful on the bike. My legs just didn't want to turn the pedals over. Why? Who knows? Ted has been sick for over a week, so perhaps I'm getting that. I've had a sore throat for a few days now. After I dropped out of the Nationals road race, Ted commented that I reeked of ammonia. I've never had that before. Ted had it happen once before and it was also at a race where he felt awful. A Google search basically says that no one really knows why it happens.

If you go to Philly and like tapas and martinis, this is a good place to try, but be prepared to drop some $: http://www.continentalmartinibar.com/

Ted's win in Boise

Treasure Valley

The past weekend found us in Boise where it was really hot! Ben, Ted, Hitcher, and I drove down to do a stage race, which turned out to be the most horribly organized race any of us had ever done. The race "packet" pickup was really just number pickup; there was no race information or anything else given to us. If we had not had access to a computer, we would have had no way to know the directions to any of the stages, let alone any other race information.

When we arrived at the start of the first stage, we were greeted by the lovely fact that there was one porta-potty... for over 100 people. They had to start the races late because so many people were still in line for the bathroom! On top of that, the race organizers had made no provisions for water to be at the start/finish area, and it was nearly 100 degrees. Unacceptable.

There were even more problems, but I'll stop there.

Ted had an amazing criterium on Sunday. He made a perfectly-timed attack and got a good gap ahead of the pack. His gap grew to nearly 40 seconds and he stayed off the front for the last 10 km of his race. He scored his first win in impressive style and made some money in the process, so that was really fun to watch. Pictures will follow at a later date.

Ted and I are leaving on Friday to go to Philadelphia where we'll spend a couple days with our good friend Tammie and her boyfriend. Then, on Monday, I'll do the elite women's national road race in Seven Springs, PA. It'll be tough - hopefully I feel good! It will likely be my last big race of the year since I decided not to do the Tour de Toona afterall. No matter what, it should be a fun trip!

More Races on the Horizon

Just last week I decided to do the national championship road race in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. It was a very spontaneous decision, which was largely due to the cancellation of the women's race at the Cascade Cycling Classic; I'm still highly disappointed with the race organizers for their choice there.

I was also searching for a team for the Tour de Toona, which is a 7 day race in Altoona, Pennsylvania. I've done it the past two years and was hoping to do it again, but I had pretty much figured I wasn't going to find a team. I just got an invitation this morning to race Toona with a team, so it turns out that I'm going to do it afterall. July will be a bit hectic, but it'll be fun to do these races.

Poor pooch

It's been a stressful week for the Hitch man... and for me! We were scheduled to leave around 8:30 am on Saturday to go to Olympia and race, but Hitcher was still having severe stomach issues, so we made a trip to the vet around 9. A fecal test didn't show anything, so we decided to go ahead and go on with our trip; unfortunately, we got to Olympia too late for Ted to do his race, and barely in time for me to register for mine. With no warm-up, my legs weren't ready when the ladies starting pushing the pace off the line.

We bought some Pepto Bismol for the pooch, and fixed him a bland meal of rice and boiled beef... yummy. When he was still having problems on Sunday morning, I was starting to get worried. My concern only increased when the afternoon had arrived and he had refused to drink anything all day, so I bailed on my race and we headed to a vet clinic (thanks to Suz and Eric for the recommendation). Ted did get to race yesterday and had a really good crit, so that was good.

The vet in Lynwood did some bloodwork, did another fecal exam, put him on more antibiotics and an anti-parasitic, and gave him a bunch of subcutaneous fluids. He walked around with a giant fluid-filled hump on his back for a few hours! The poor guy wasn't too happy, but he had a great time playing fetch with Ted's niece and nephew for a little while before we headed home. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got home, which was around 1 am, so we slept in a bit this morning.

Our local vet clinic had called this morning to do a follow-up, so I filled them in on everything from the weekend, along with the fact that Hitch hadn't pooped in over 24 hours. That made them a little concerned, so he went back to the vet here again this afternoon. He got more subcutaneous fluids, another fecal exam, and lots of pokes and prods. The vet here says she doesn't want to get into any expensive diagnostics at this point, but if he's not significantly better by Thursday, he'll be getting more work-ups done. I think he's on the up-and-up. I sure hope he is because the past few days have been horrible for me!

On another pet note... Shamus turns 14 tomorrow, so he'll be getting some catnip and extra belly rubs tomorrow. He also got a dog-free afternoon today, which Ted says is the best gift you could give him.

The plan is to race in Boise this weekend (as long as Hitcher is doing okay), where it's supposed to be over 100 degrees. Yikes! I haven't been to Boise since 1998, so it'll be fun if we can make the trip.