I knew it would be a tough ride on the Racetrack loop due to the winds caused by Hurricane Irene. The winds were 14 mph from the north. As far as wind goes it is better to have a headwind on the way out and a tailwind on the way back. There is nothing worse than battling a fierce headwind when you're tired from riding the past hour. Well maybe being mauled by wild dogs is worse but it's close.

In the last 8 minutes of the ride my bike seat came loose and I had to ride out of the saddle the rest of the way. Other things of note included watching a semi slam on it's brakes to avoid creaming a car that stopped for a light that was going from yellow to red. I guess the trucker thought he and the car were going to go for it. Anyway the semi tires burned up some and the stench was horrific as billows of smoke came off the tires. Also they are doing road work on 441. The workers had orange cones out blocking off one of the lanes. I wasn't about to share a single lane on 441 with speeding cars so I was dodging and weaving through the cones. One of the workers started hollering at me but whatever I wasn't hurting anything.

Some older dude on a mountain bike witnessed my epic final segment of out of the saddle riding. Afterwards he said it looked impressive. I told him about the seat malfunction. I guess I need to stop picking up my bikes by the seat. The Sempre is so light you wouldn't think it would matter but I guess it takes its toll.

Woke up extra early Thursday so I could do my exercises in the shed and leave the house before all the school zones started cooking. It was dark in the shed and I messed up a little on what I had intended to do, but it was alright . I have to get a light in there.

I did manage to blast off to work on the Sempre around 6:50. The plan was to do my 1 minute interval bug outs before the streets were filled with kids, cars and crossing guards. The school zone lights were flashing but the traffic was scarce. Hard to believe in about 20 minutes things would be nuts. So everything went off fairly well. I pedaled hardcore for these 1 minute spurts, thinking about Boss Hogg and what a giant deutsche bank he is.

I haven't seen Small Kid Huge Backpack since school started. Maybe he graduated from elementary school and is now in middle school and is known as Somewhat Bigger Kid Even Huger Backpack,

Last night (Tuesday) V and I biked downtown to the Top and then over to Palomino for some pool afterwards. My beginners luck from a few weeks ago did not carry over. It was fun but ugly to watch. It took us several turns before either one of us made a successful shot. Later we biked over to the hippie ice cream place. A bunch of college students were there in pajamas. Despite what you might think PJ's are a fairly reasonable form of attire when out eating ice cream after midnight.

Today I did the Glider ride. Boss Hogg really out did himself, mugging at the front of the paceline for about 3/4 of the ride. At least there were some people between us so I didn't have to stare at his big behind the whole time. The ride leader is a guy in his 60's who really can't keep up anymore. Getting old blows.

Fell over on my bike while riding to work today (Monday). A car had a right turn arrow but decided to stop and wave me through. I was caught off guard and lost my balance. One day I'll learn how to clip out of my pedals while I am falling over but today was not that day. I banged my shin and knee cap. Cars should just do what they are supposed to do. Their random acts of kindness make things kind of unpredictable. Of course it was totally my fault. Once I start falling over and I'm clipped in I should hit a button that starts playing that Bruce Springsteen song because I'm Going Down.

In other news earlier in the day I did the Millhopper loop. My performance was lackluster but better than my anemic showing on the Racetrack Loop last Friday.

We brought back the vintage Schwinn bike from V's parents house Sunday. I'm told it is from 1950's. It has 2 gears and you switch between them by kicking back on the pedals. We'll take it to B&M sometime and see if they can work their magic on it.

Tough ride on the Racetrack loop yesterday (Friday). I wasn't able to generate my normal level of effort. I couldn't have powered a night light with the amount of watts my meter said I was putting out. My feet hurt and there was an intermittent stinging emanating from my pee-hole. Kind of like when a little hair or tiny fleck of something gets stuck around it. So that was awesome.

Anyway I soldiered on. I reminisced about this dude I used to work with many years ago in a heart cath lab. His name was Jeff, but I called him Captain Sabotage because he was a walking screw up. The Dr had subscribed to this cable radio service. Captain Sabotage loved singing along but could never get the lyrics right to well known songs. Thus when Credence came on he'd proudly sing, "I wanna know, have you ever seeeen Lorraaiiinne?" Or with Lyrnyrd Skynyrd it'd be "They call me Febreeze, I keep rollin' down the road. Or most ridiculously, "Hey Mister Tangerine Man play a song for me."

You might be tempted to think he was doing it on purpose but if you were around him for about ten minutes you would realize that most assuredly was not the case. He would get upset when I corrected him. We'd be in the middle of a case trying to save some dude's life while I'd be trying to convince him that Febreeze hadn't even been invented when Skynyrd wrote "Call Me the Breeze" or how it would be next to impossible to play a song using a tangerine.

Going down to Orlando this weekend to visit V's parents. We plan on bringing back her vintage 70's Schwinn she rode as a kid and having Bikes and More fix it up.

Today's Glider ride marked the return of Boss Hogg. There was also a dad and his kid who was about 16. The dad apparently used to race but he was mainly there to ease the kid into group riding. We had to stop for some mechanical problems. Nothing really exciting happened. I peeled off a mile or so early because we were riding right by my route to go home.

Later I went by B&M to have the Cortina's kickstand repaired and pick up their new tshirt. Chandler started wandering around saying he was working on it but of course Paul jumped in and took care of business. They appear to have hired an older gentleman as well. At least he was walking around in a Bikes and More shirt with a shop phone in his hand. Based on that criteria I could probably just start interning there and no one would notice. Other Christian was there growing some new beard mustache combo, Paul was bursting at the seams from his Primal fitness work outs, Lisa's arms looked more developed, Brian looked bigger. Their next t-shirt should say, "My bike shop can beat up your bike shop."

I took the day off because my mom is having surgery. While she was in the OR I went over to ride my Millhopper Loop. Remember when I said my next goal should be to bust through the 39 minute barrier? It happened today. I crossed the finish in 38:48. I was expecting bouquets and champagne but there was just a sweaty dude on the corner scratching his ass crack.

After biking to work for so long I had forgotten how much it sucks to get into a car that's been baking in the sun all day. Leaving the surgery center my car was roasting. I have to drive to work tomorrow because I need to go across town later for my annual evaluation. This will be the first time my boss has seen me with a beard and giant afro. Should be fun. My mom viewed my hirsute look this morning for the first time. I guess you're never to old to have your mom disapprove of your appearance. Maybe next I'll get a nose ring.