Italy Again?

Of course, Italy again. 

After visiting that beautiful country back in 2013 we're about to do it again on July 3-11. In fact, we'll almost be visiting the same areas or at least the same region of northern Italy. We've spent time in Como before but only a few hours in Milan. Every place else will be new to us. The impetus to led us to this trip is that Jonnene's niece, Michelle, will be part of a touring high school group of orchestra and/or choir members who'll be spending just over two weeks in northern Italy and then go over to the parts of southeastern France. Her parents, David...Jonnene's brother...and Olga, will going along as chaperones. It's a chance for us to see them between the 18-24 months that we fly down to Australia to see family. Plus we get to see Italy, too, so that's a bonus. I hope to post about the trip on this blog if I can. I'll have to use Jonnene's iPad for the most part since I'm only bringing my iPhone and I'll only be able to use it when there's Wi-Fi available.

We're traveling light. Nothing but carry-on's this trip. No checked bags...well, there's a possibility of one checked bag on the return flight depending on what David brings to us from Oz. Things like Aussie chocolates and canned passion fruit are a possibility. The canned items, if we get them, would have to be on checked baggage since they'd be too big (and liquid) for passing through security on the way home.

We're carrying what we consider to be only the essential clothes and items we will need for nine days of traveling. We've culled down some of our gear already and this weekend we will cull it down again! I even made a detailed list of what I think I'll need and I'm already noting what I can take off that list. In my case, it's a pair of jeans, two pair of shorts, five underwear, two T-shirts, two polo shirts, a long-sleeve white dress shirt, walking shoes, sandals, and 4-5 pair of socks for starters. And I'll be wearing some of that during the flights! We will wash our dirty clothes at our hotel/BnB's in the sink and hanging them to dry overnight. I'll have my toiletries, electronics, and various other items but, basically, I hope to not take up a lot of space in my bags.

My bags...I will be using a rolling Swiss case that's just under the size for carry-on and it'll be stored in the overhead compartment during our flights (or checked on the return as I said above). I will also have a small backpack that is supposedly anti-theft (wire in the shoulder straps and wired outer body to defeat cutting, RIFD protected pockets, clipped zipper tags, etc.) and it'll be accessible to me on the flights and for walking around to carry anything we might need. Jonnene will have a rolling case plus a larger over-the-shoulder bag for her gear. She also has a smaller anti-theft bag that she'll carry while we're walking about.

The major places we'll be visiting are Venice, Veronna, Como, Bellagio, and Milan. We'll see David, Olga, and Michelle in Venice at the beginning of the trip and in Milan at the end, attending their concerts and visiting. After that they go on to France while we head back to the States.

I'm excited about going...heck, I'm always excited to go someplace that I find interesting. Italy is interesting. I'll do updates here when I can, so keep an eye out for them. I'll include photos from here on, too.

Just To Remember

I wrote this in Facebook a couple of years ago, about meeting my dog Farley after his death. I'm reprinting it here to make sure it's preserved:

The night after my first dog, Farley, died in 2009 I had a dream that convinced me there was a heaven for dogs. I remember finding myself in a very dark place and I was aware of someone standing next to me but I couldn't see a face or, really, any detail about him. After a moment I began to see a light off in the distance and the light was moving toward where I was. As it got closer I realized this light was made up of thousands of tiny pinpoints of light, very intense and bright but they didn't hurt my eyes to look directly at them. They were moving like waves and reminded me of the effect that wind has on fields of wheat, how they swayed to and fro from the wind. Soon they were everywhere around me moving here and there in these gigantic waves of light. It was incredible. There was nothing like it that I'd ever seen in special effects or movie CGI. It was breath-taking.

Suddenly I realized that each pinpoint of light was something more than just a lot of lights. They were the essence of a previous life...angels? or what? The presence next to me was saying nothing. I was having to figure it out on my own. Then I noticed a light had separated from the rest and was coming toward me, quickly. And I recognized the light....it was Farley! Though I couldn't see him I knew it was him! I went down to a knee and the light was all over me....Farley was jumping on me and licking my face and wagging his tail! I knew it even though I couldn't see it! And I cried and I hugged the seemingly empty air but I could feel him! It was wonderful!

All the lights out there were dogs! They were running and playing and chasing each other...and Farley had been doing the same until he saw me and ran to me. He was happy, he was young again, and I could feel his energy. Most of all he was happy to see me and was showing it. And I was so happy to see him. The joy was amazing. After a bit I could feel that he was starting to look back at the other lights/dogs running out there and I knew it was time for him to rejoin his new pack. I "petted" him on the head (where I imagined it was) and the light buzzed around my face. Then it moved away from me and I stood up. Suddenly that pinpoint of bright light hesitated and circled around for a moment. Farley was taking one last look at me and I could tell that he was trying to let me know that he was okay and hoped to see me again some day. I waved him on, like I used to when I would send him out the back door into the yard, and he went on to join the other thousands of lights. I tried to keep my eye on him but eventually I lost him in all that beauty of movement.

The presence next to me "told" me that it was time to go and I said okay and thank you. Was the presence God? I don't know but I think it was probably an angel. Really, I do think that. Next thing I knew I woke up in the dark, in my bed. I had tears in my eyes but I woke up happy. I slept well the rest of the night.

The next morning I buried Farley in a place at the old house where he liked to scratch his back in the grass, where he had felt pleasure many times in his life. It was hard work to dig such a big hole but I did it right and I did it for him. I miss him so much, just as I miss my other dogs and cats. I will see them again. I know they're in a happy place and I know it exists. Nobody can tell me otherwise. This is my story. - Alan

I haven't had a repeat of that dream since and maybe I'm only allowed to see it once. But I have dreamed of Farley twice since then, both very short dreams but very realistic. I remember the details very well.

And so it goes....

Just heard about the passing yesterday of a parent of a dear high school friend. Another piece of my life history is gone but nothing compared to what he's lost.

In four years of high school I had four friends I could always count on and hung out with. I'm still in touch with all of them. Heck, the guy who just lost his dad does my taxes. Now, I'm the only one, at this time, who still has both parents. One still has his mom and the remaining three, in a sad joke, are orphans. All of these parents...still here and those gone....raised the five of us boys in some form or fashion. In many ways they could be surrogate parents and on some late night or weekend afternoon the teenagers we were could tell them of problems or insights we wouldn't tell our own parents. They fed us, supported us, and sometimes had to discipline us. And though we wouldn't see them near as much after we'd gone to college and beyond, we knew they'd have our back if need be and that they always wanted to know if we were doing well in our lives.

And every time we lose one of these valuable people we have to remember to pass on whatever they gave us to someone else. It keeps them alive in our hearts. They made us better people.

I spoke to my friend only a couple of hours before his dad passed. It was mostly about taxes and a form I needed to find. Then I mentioned seeing on Facebook some photos of him hanging with his grandson last Sunday. "Yeah, I thought I'd take the afternoon off and spend some time with him. We had fun." I told him that was nice to hear. And it really was, and more so now.

Once again I started to get into a discussion on Facebook and, after looking it over, I deleted the comment before posting. I'm dong this more often as I'm finding that I have no desire to get into arguments with people I don't know over stupid things. Many of these folks...with whom you usually share a mutual friend(s)...seem eager to escalate the disagreement into something ugly. All I want to do is make my comment and move on, letting people decide what they want. They're not going to change my mind and I'm not going to change theirs, so what's the point? Most of these people are asses anyway so I don't need to waste my time with them.

The end of THIS year

I ended 2012 sick. Well, today not as much as the last three or four days. So I haven't been on my bike since December 9th and haven't been running since December 24th. Here are my totals for 2012:

Run mileage: 291.3 miles
Bike mileage: 3962.6 miles

In both cases I was just a few miles from ticking over a big number. Only 7.7 miles from getting 300 miles for the year and 37.4 miles from achieving 4,000 on the bike. It was just a strange year in that way. The phlebitis I had in June pretty much just messed up the rest of the year as far as my head was concerned. I couldn't get motivated plus I was gaining weight (that really surprised me) which depressed me even further. Still a great year overall but I was hoping to get back into some competitive events. Only did one bike race in 2012, a criterium in August that actually went pretty good for me but it wasn't enough to make me want to keep up the training the rest of the year.

My cycling/triathlon club at Centenary is smaller this year. Virtually no triathletes in the club this year although I do have my first mountain biker! In the spring we'll be concentrating on road racing more than multi-sport although there is still some interest.

2012 saw a couple of old friends pass on. Jimmy Starkey died of surgery complications in Baton Rouge and he was one of my Class of 1973 classmates from Minden High School He was both a running back and quarterback on the football team, later owned his own ambulance company and also was a city councilman in Minden. The last time I probably saw Jimmy was at the 1993 class reunion but I don't remember if we spoke. We probably did but no doubt it was brief. Too bad.

Debbie Holtzclaw passed on December 26th from colon cancer. She is the second person to die that I used to date and that's kinda weird for me. I knew her in college and she was a great person. We stayed friends but lost contact over the years. Facebook enabled us to get back in touch although the last exchange between us was over a year ago. Apparently the last ten years of her life was kinda tough although the last six years she was happily married and happy is what I'd want most for her. A mutual friend told me that she talked about me a couple of months ago about things we did in college and that made me happy to know that I was still a bright spot in her life. I'm going to miss her.

Still hot...

I'll continue my story below in a later post. I want to keep you on the edge of your seat!

This morning I went out with Jonnene to check out the bike course for the River Cities Triathlon (I'm the bike course coordinator). She would do a workout and I would get a good ride in while inspecting the course from the rider's point of view. My original plan was to do two laps of the course totalling 36 miles and that would work well for my legs. As I continue the story from the post below you'll see that I had to ease back into cycling after taking the month of June off from doing ANYTHING. Now I'm trying to get back into shape without rushing things yet doing it all quickly! Figure that out.

A group from the local trathlon club was going to do a 30-mile loop with part of it covering 13 miles of the 18.4-mile bike course. I decided to go with them to get some speed work and do a few challenging hills. I did better than I thought since I was on a standard road bike and the rest were on tri-bikes with aerobars. In the end we averaged 21 mph which was my first average above 20 since I started riding again. It wasn't brutally fast but I had to work at keeping up in the first few miles. I don't know why the others wanted to go so fast so early...in the end they slowed down and I wasn't nearly as tired since I pretty much had to spread my energy out. I worked to avoid the fast/slow pace of the group yet take my pulls and sit in when I needed to.

After that I got in a very slow 2.5 mile run at the park. The rest of the day has been spent here at the house, sleeping some of the afternoon away. It is just too hot outside to do anything else.

Hot.......

Toward the end of May I started feeling a pain in my lower left leg. The day before I had completed a 67-mile training ride with Team LaS'port in northern Bossier Parish which I was quite pleased with though I was thoroughly exhausted from all the hills and the speed...this DOES get harder as you get older! Anyway, the next day I woke up to some pain toward the inside of my lower left leg below the knee joint. I thought I had pulled something and it'd be fine in a few days if I took it easy on future rides. Well, it would get better and then get worse over time and it was not going away. Then about 8 days after it had flared up I woke up feeling pain midway inside my left thigh. That wasn't right. A pulled or torn muscle does not transmit pain up your leg, bypassing your knee (which felt fine). And I had this noticeable reddish line on my skin along the inside of the leg.

Jonnene saw this and said, "You're going to see the doctor today and get that looked at." She was right, of course, and thought this could be phlebitis...hmmm? Sounded like a scalp condition to me but apparently it's not. "It could lead to a blood clot, " she said and that got my attention. Phlebitis is a treatable condition but it can be serious. In my mind I had this vision that I might be at my own funeral this weekend instead of riding my bike or working around the house. I didn't like the looks of that. So I was able to schedule an appointment with my doctor, saw him later that morning and he agreed with what Jonnene had thought. It was most likely phlebitis. He scheduled an ultrasound for me that I took an hour later. I came back to his office that afternoon and it was confirmed. I had some stuff in a vein in my lower leg and a bit of something at the junction of two veins in my upper leg. He was most concerned about that.

"Alan, I'd like for you to stop doing any strenuous exercise for the next 3-4 weeks. Can you do that?"

"Yep."

That was an easy question to answer. Biking and running were great for my health but I didn't need them to accelerate any condition that would be adverse to that. And that's what my doctor wanted to prevent.

Then he says that he wants to put me on blood thinners for the next 10 days. Doesn't sound too bad, I think. Then he says that he doesn't want to go with oral meds because they're harder to control with this condition. He wants me to be injected....okay, I say. You'll have to have two shots a day....uh, what, okay, I say (doing quick math I determined that was a total of 20 shots...ugh). But I'm okay with that because I want to get well and you do what you have to do, right? Unfortunately you'll have to take the shots in your stomach or belly area....I don't say "excuse me?" but I give him a look that says that.

"Do you think you can give yourself the shots?"

"No."

That was easy to answer, too.

More to come........

World of Twitter Politics

Sometimes there's a lot that can be said in 140 letters.

Here's a few political musings just from today:

• President Obama's approval ratings are so low now, the Kenyans are accusing him of being born in the United States

• "Like, we're like all connected, you know? Like this choom in this bowl, like, somebody else made that happen, man." Obama, dorm room 1981.

• Re: Romney tax returns, again Pres. & media caring more, as @iowahawkblog put it, about what Romney did w/ his $$ than what Obama did w/ours.

• By the time CA completes high speed rail, Apple will be releasing iTransporter 4. At their headquarters in Texas.

• Listening to Obama explain where wealth comes from is like listening to a 4-year old explain where babies come from. Adorable!

Front Page

Jonnene and I just deposited more time into our 15-minutes-of-fame account. In today's Shreveport Times there was an article about identification devices for runners and cyclists. We got to be the models for that article....well, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time for the photos that were shot to illustrate the story.

Here's the LINK.

Sure, we're getting fame but not expecting much fortune. Drat.

New Year's in Sydney

We went to Australia for six weeks so that Jonnene could spend some real time with her family and have her first Christmas with them in five years. We had a great time and I'll write more about that later on. One of the highlights was getting the opportunity to spend New Year's in Sydney. I've always enjoyed seeing the fireworks display on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on TV and it made sense to see it in person if we were going to be in Oz anyway.

We were lucky enough to get an invite to a party given by a friend of one of Jonnene's cousins, who had an apartment on the 27th floor of a high-rise with an unobstructed view of the bridge and the Opera House about a mile away. He had two balconies from his living room and bedroom, both of which were crowded with partiers during the display (it actually made me a little nervous with all those folks out there). But it was a great time with great people and great food. Here's some of the pics we got.

 Boats in the harbor waiting for the evenings' fireworks.

 Overview of the harbor from the 27th floor of Bill's apartment. The bridge is in the center and the Opera House can be identified as the triangular yellowish shapes at center.

 View of Sydney at night before the fireworks.

Some of the party goers on the balcony overlooking the city.

 Looking almost straight down from the balcony.

A group poses for a picture on the living room balcony...on the 27th floor!

And the fireworks begin!

Both balconies got a little crowded with everyone wanting a good...er, great...view of the show!

Smoke begins to drift over the harbor and the city towards the end of the show.

Both of us after the show ended. A nice way to end a trip to Australia!

Habits...huh, what?

I can't believe how long it's been since my last posting here. I will have to admit that I've made the mistake...or not...of spending more time on FaceBook. FB has been a handy vehicle to use in keeping track of friends and acquaintances in real time. It's easier to post photos there. It works well. But because of that "real time" feature you tend to get sucked into it and I'll admit that I spend more time on the computer now than I used to...to read really ridiculous stuff that tends to overwhelm the good, important stuff.

In the process I have ignored my blog. A place where I can write about things in more detail and actually write in a more coherent way in expressing what I'm thinking about plus what I've been doing in the meantime. I ignore long posts on FaceBook but not on blogs (there's always an exception, of course). You can't, and shouldn't, get into a lot of detail in FB in what you write and what images you post. First, nobody will read it if they see lots of gray on the screen and, second, if your photo album is more than 50 images...well, that's when they'll, more than likely, move on to other postings. Someone once said don't post a video on FaceBook that's more than a minute long. There may be some truth to that but I really don't want to bother getting into it.

So, I'm going to try to get this blog back on its feet. It will be difficult at first to get back into the habit...I used to be so good at it: see my older, way older, postings for proof....and I'll actually have to focus on what I write. I know I can do that. I just have to do that.

Now I'll have to spend some time getting up to date on things and mention what's been going on the last few months. No rush.

We had two trees removed in our backyard last week. One of them, an oak, was located only a few feet from the back of our house and it was a massive tree. The branches that hung over our roof were as big as small trees, more than a foot in diameter. I have always been worried that one or more of these branches could fall on the house in a good storm, or just because they wanted to. The results would have been devastating since the fall could come from a height of 20-35 feet above the roof. A good windstorm, a tornado, or remnants of a hurricane coming into the north part of the state would be good enough to make that happen. Any rotted branches soaked with water, thusly heavier, from a rainstorm could have the same affect. I've wanted the tree gone since we moved in.

The other reason to get rid of the tree is that we want to make use of the back yard and it was simply in the way. It wasn't allowing any sunlight back there so it was impossible to grow grass...the yard was a dust bowl. We also want to replace the patio with a completely new surface and a cover but the tree was in the way. The old patio had been built around it and the growth of the tree over the years had lifted and tilted the inlayed bricks in all directions and caused pooling of water along with a dangerous surface to walk on.

The back yard as it is now. The tree in the middle of the patio is gone but we can't remove the stump until we pull the patio up. All the brickwork will be replaced.

Taking the trees out was the first step in turning the back yard into a place we want to spend time in. They're gone now and the area is a mess. We had to remove part of a fence to get a Kubota tractor back there to remove the cut-up branches and trunks. The tracks of the tractor also tore up the ground but we expected that. Anything in the yard is subject to being removed so it wasn't a big deal to lose bushes or ivy or whatever. We'll end up replacing them anyway. I'll keep everyone up to date on the process but no doubt it'll be a few months before the area is what we want it to be. I hope we can finish by spring of next year and start grilling outside! We want to host some get-togethers and we'll have some of Jonnene's Aussie family visiting us next summer. It'd be nice to have everything set up by then. I also want to build or drop in a decent storage/work shed in the back to replace the dilapidated aluminum shed.

Back in the States

Actually, we've been back coming up four weeks now. We got into Dallas on the late afternoon of Monday, January 2nd, after a 15-hour flight from Sydney and we rented a car to drive back to Shreveport where we got to our house around 7 pm. Not bad...if we'd flown back to Shreveport we would have gotten into town about the same time (because it'd be a later flight) and would have cost about three times as much. The drive back allowed us to unwind a bit plus get used to driving on the right side of the road!

This will be brief but I wanted to record these numbers:

1. 66 miles. That's how many total miles I ran while I was in Perth, Australia. I ran every other day for distances ranging from 3 miles (often) to 6 miles (twice). I only missed one day because I was sick so I stayed fairly faithful to the schedule. Didn't run at all during the total four days we were in Sydney.

2. 946. That's the total number of push-ups I did while I was on this trip. We were gone for 43 days and I made a decision that, to help stay in shape, I would do one pushup the first day, two pushups the second day, three the third, and so on to when I got to Day 43 I would be at forty-three pushups for that day. By the time I got to 20 I realized that there was no way I'd do that many...plus more...straight through, so I divided it up to sets. For instance when I was at Day 25 I would do two sets of thirteen and twelve with about a minute's rest in between. On Day 26 it would be thirteen and thirteen, and so on until by Day 43 I was doing three sets of 15, 14, and 14. Since I've been back I've made it a point to continue the exercise by maintaining 20 pushups a day. So far so good. I can see a bit of difference in my shoulders.

Now if I can just work on that stomach!

It's raining outside...I'm sick inside

Man, I've seen lots of rain in my life...some of the nastiest, heaviest deludges all the way to light powder-puffs of mist. But the rain that's falling in Perth right now is another animal. Big, old droplets and lots of them. It started thundering around 4 am this morning and it's been pretty much raining ever since. Perth airport was shut down with flights waiting on the tarmac unable to go to the gates because of planes already at the gates unable to leave. It's been impressive, no doubt.

In the meantime, I've gotten sick and stayed inside all day. No fun. Nothing to report. We're having some people over later tonight and I'll try to join in but don't know if I can hack it with everyone the entire evening. Hate it.

Undies and Oz

Here I am in Australia and I'm up to my neck in underwear. Well, not really up to my neck but underwear/knickers seem to be at the top of my recent purchases since I've been here. Y'see, I planned to get rid of my current, well-worn, and not-exactly-new tighties at the end of the year and replace it all with new stuff. So I decided to start my new supply with some Aussie-styled duds. So far I've bought 5 pair of briefs and 3 pair of boxer briefs. Will there be more to come?

We arrived in Oz about 10 days ago, planning to stay for a bit, visiting family and friends. It's been a nice smooth trip so far but now it looks like I'm coming down with a summer cold (it's summer here...well, almost) and even though I can function just fine I still feel like I'm a half-second out of sync. I'll just go to bed early, I guess, and sleep it off.

Unconnected

Acck! Spent most of the day without internet! The suffering was tremendous and the withdrawal pains stupendous. But we're back on now. All is well. Peace, out.

More Random Stuff

Well, Jonnene and I have taken action on how we're getting from Shreveport to Dallas when we go on our trip to see her family in Oz later this year. The original plan was to rent a car one-way to Dallas, then when we return a few weeks later we'd rent a car one-way again back to Shreveport. There would be a drop-off fee, of course, but it would definitely be cheaper than flying. Taking a plane from Shreveport to Dallas and back is ridiculously expensive and we had the time to afford to drive there and back plus save save at least $250 each way, if not more. Jonnene's mother had suggested this and it sounded like a great idea.

My favorite part of the flight to Oz is the sunrise while over the Pacific Ocean.

But a few days ago Jonnene came across a fare sale with American Airlines that offered a one-way between the two cities for $84. After adding the fees it would be $96. This was more than half the regular price! Add in the fees for two bags of luggage ($50 total) and flying over was only $40 more than renting a car plus the cost to fill up the gas tank before turning the car in...not bad! We could consider the $40 to be a "convenience" fee for the flight. The advantage is that we can wait a couple more hours before having to leave the house, giving us more time to pack or run last minute errands or just relax a bit. And we still save around $200 for the trip to DFW.

Of course, we still have to get from Dallas to Shreveport when we come back. The fare sale expires mid-December so we can't use it for the return. We're going to wait a while to see if any other sales pop up and, if not, we'll go to Plan A and rent a car to drive back. We'll still save money and should be back home by early evening of the day we fly back into the States.

It's no secret that we're both ready to go!

Last Saturday I participated in the Louisana/Mississippi road race championships (bicycles) down in Natchez, MS. We drove down that morning since my race didn't start until 2:10 pm...didn't need to get a hotel. Saturday is when the age group races take place and I have found myself in the position of qualifying for the Masters 55-59 age group. We were going to be paired with the 60+ racers so this more than makes this an "old man" race. Attendance for these races was low this year for some reason and we only had six guys in the 55+ and three in the 60+, making only nine total racers to cover the 36 miles of a 7-lap race in Natchez State Park. There should have been twice as many but it wasn't happening this year. Don't know where everybody else was.

The weather conditions couldn't have been much better...wasn't too hot, wind wasn't bad. All I was worried about was being able to keep up on this course. Within 100 meters after you start you have to make a climb up to the top of the levee, make a sharp negative turn to the right, cross the 400-meter-long levee and soon climb three short but very steep hills. These hills always get me and I've never been able to stay with the pack more than two laps. With a small field I wasn't sure if I'd have enough people to hang with before the group might break up.

We found a great shady spot to park, next to my teammates Joe and Brian. After I got dressed in my cycling duds we went out to warm up, discuss some tactics, and talk to some of the other racers we knew. Jonnene and I worked out how I wanted to take the bottle handups and by the race start time we seemed to have everything worked out. I choose to use a set of aero wheels mainly to see if they'd do me any good on this course and, also, just for the heck of it! The front was a Zipp 404 and the back was a Blackwell 100mm deep carbon wheel, both tubulars with fairly good tires on them.

The start of our race. I'm in the middle of this photo as we begin the climb up to the top of the levee.

The race began faster than I thought it would, not anything I couldn't handle...yet...but still quick considering the small group we had. Some of the guys thought we'd just stay together before making attacks later in the race but, no, there were attacks from the beginning and I was trying to keep up until my legs were warmed up enough. The pack crawled up the hills in the first lap and I was happy to see that I was staying with them but it was still a hard series of climbs, just as I remembered them. I had some trouble keeping up on the fast downhill curves, leaning the bike while going 30+ mph (I'm not a big fan of doing that) and, as a result, I let a 200-meter gap open up between me and the rest of the pack ahead. Then a fast downhill right turn, with a bump, onto Wikcliff Road and I used the next two hills with their descents to bridge back up to the pack which wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. The course is a 5.2 mile loop and at this point we had three miles to go before starting the next lap of seven total.

It was fast, around 28-29 mph through all these beautiful trees that line the road but which also has plenty of light and dark as you go through the spotty shade. Suddenly you can see well in the light and just as suddenly it goes dark as your eyes try to adjust to the shade from the trees. Then you pop out into the sun and go through the rear entrance of the park over some rougher road. I went past Jonnene in the feed zone, happy to still be in the pack. We were still all together starting our second lap. The second lap went roughly the same as the first but the hills were getting harder to climb. I got gapped again on the descents but not as badly and easily made it back up to the group before we topped the first hill on Wikcliff. I was getting hopeful that I might be hanging in longer than I thought I would. A couple of the guys were riding kinda stupidly and I got cut off twice but there was no contact. I kept an eye on them real close after that.

I took a new cold water bottle from Jonnene as we began the third lap. We climbed up the levee again, went across, and did the series of hills again. It was getting harder but I was staying with the group and I getting my confidence up that I might make a difference in this race. After the hills I moved up to the front so that I could control the pack as we went through the curves...at my speed. It worked well but I decided to go to the back since I had minimized the gap threat on this lap. At this point we dropped a Tiger Cycling rider so there was just 8 of us now. Joe and Brian were up at the front, marking Randy, a very good racer from New Orleans. Then I felt it...a slight whump-whump-whump from the back of the bike. I had a flat! I couldn't believe it! Being in the back I couldn't tell Joe and Brian what was happening but I pulled over, shifted the gears so I could remove the rear wheel as the follow truck came up. I got my spare wheel out of the back of the truck and quickly changed them out. The driver put his hand on my backsides and pushed me down the road. It was a really quick change....that rarely happens. So I picked it up and thought maybe the pack will slow down for a lap and I could catch on. That wasn't going to happen. When I got to the start/finish line I looked up at the top of the levee and I couldn't see the pack at all. That killed my incentive to chase so I backed off, told Jonnene that I'd flatted but I was going on anyway (you never know what's going to happen up front). She wished me good luck as I went by.

After climbing the hills again, I waited for the Tiger Cycling rider to catch up to me so I'd have some company on the road and we stayed together the rest of the time. We also caught a rider from the 45+ age group that had started five minutes ahead of us so we all rode together...except for one time when the 45-pluser try to get away. We didn't chase him since he wasn't in our race but we ended up catching him anyway. He had to do two more laps than we did so there was no point in him attacking us. At the end of the last lap we made a half-hearted sprint for the line which I "won" so I finished officially fifth out of six in my age group. Brian got second in the 55+ part of the race and Joe was third in the 60+.

On the last lap: I'm in the back with the other guy in my race and the 45+ racer as we start to go across the levee. I'm ready for the race to be over by this point.

We packed up quickly and headed out. Our original intention was to drive up to Monroe to see the ULM-Grambling football game but it was so late that the game would have been half over by the time we got there. So we ate at a restaurant with Joe and Brian in Winnsboro which had an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet...sweet! Then it was on to Shreveport where I listened to the game on the radio while Jonnene read her Kindle. BTW, the Warhawks won 35-7!

My Warhawks got their running game going against the Tigers of Grambling.

Saturday...wasn't there one last week?

This morning Jonnene and I got up at 6am which is a more respectable hour to wake up for the day compared to the 5am alarms so that we can walk the dogs to we can get a quick ride in or go to yoga/pilates (well, Jonnene does that). This time we were going to do the local bike club's monthly ride from Ford Park which started at 7:30am. We had already put our gear together the night before so it wouldn't take long to pack up the car and get on our way. So why not sleep in a bit later?

With the hot weather we've had (last significant rainfall was June 22nd) it would already be near 90F by the time we started our ride. It was a huge crowd...don't have a total number...but it included several from Texas who were invited to partake in the ride and the food that is served up afterward.

The group starts to gather up before heading out from Ford Park.

The ride itself went pretty well with the longest distance being 48 miles which I would eventually get into a small group of faster riders in the last 10 miles where we really pushed the pace with some significantly-fast surging up the hills. Jonnene rode really well on the way out but started to have some issues with the heat in the last part of her ride. She felt she hadn't hydrated enough the day before but she would be fine. It was getting close to 100F by the time we returned to the park. The food and drinks were welcomed and fairly well consumed. Good time had by all, generally speaking.

After getting some much needed showers and a bit of rest at home we headed over to my mom's house to move a queen-sized mattress from one part of her house to another and get her computer set up for Skype so she can talk to and see us when we go to Oz. She can also have a chance to talk to Holly while she is in Hong Kong. Then we made a quick stop by the grocery store for a few items. The rest of the day/night we're at home, just relaxing. Tomorrow I need to get some training in for the individual time trial district championships a week from now in LaPlace. I'm quite sure it'll be hot tomorrow, too!

Trying Again...

I tell you, I thought I had last written in this blog much more recently. Then I finally look at the date of my last entry and it's in March....MARCH! Time has flown by way too fast and I haven't kept up. Many things have happened. Here's a brief look at them and I'll get into any particular ones at a later date...hopefully, not five months later:

1. Jonnene and I have been married 5 years as of May 6, 2011.

2. I took three of my Centenary triathlete students to the national collegiate championships in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Two weeks later a tornado came through Tuscaloosa, damaging property and killing people.

3. My niece, Holly, went to Hong Kong this week to be an exchange student at Lingnan University. And she's the reason I'm trying to get my blog active again (she's started one herself to record her experiences).

4. I did my Rouge-Roubaix bicycle race last March. The first eighty miles weren't so bad. The last 26 were not pleasant at all, finished the 106 miles in 6:06, slower than I wanted to go. Good thing: NO flats.

5. I've already competed in two other bike races since then and I've three more (I think) on my schedule left to go.

6. Jonnene has done a couple of triathlons but she's not as active this year. Kinda taking a break from all the action.

7. Both of us are going to Australia late in the year. We hope to bring Holly down from Hong Kong at some point while we're there for a visit. Hey, we're on that side of the world, Holly's on that side of the world....just makes sense.

8. We have had over 45 days of 100+ degree temperatures this summer. No measurable rain since June 22nd. The grass in the front yard is dry and brown. The good side? Don't have to mow it!!

9. I'm feeling very optimistic for a good football season out of my ULM Warhawks. We have a good team this year and we will be in a bowl game! I promise you!!!

10. I got first place in my age group in a few races this year (duathlon and a couple of 5K runs). My competition is skeered of me.

Riding Against the Wind

Knocked out 80 miles today. Eighty. My last long ride before the Rouge-Roubaix bicycle race in St. Francisville, LA in a week. That'll be 106 miles of exquisite effort and some pain with about 20-22 miles of the route on gravel/dirt roads, some of which possess a few hills that'll more than tempt you to get off the bike (if you don't fall over first) and walk. I've done The Rouge three times and I've walked parts of the course each time. Watch the video at the link above and you'll see why.

Anyways, I had a pretty good ride today. Got a little aggressive on some climbs and went thru a couple of dirt sections with a bit of speed. Our ride "leader", Mack (that means he knows the routes better than we do), followed me on a muddy section because I was picking good lines thru the debris and he said he trusted me to lead through. I was chasing Chris but he already had a good lead going into the section, so catching him was going to be a bit hard...however, I didn't have to. I did go after him and Warren a couple of other times when they took off later in the ride and caught them. I'm not going to say I'm ready for The Rouge (I'm not...not enough, anyway) but I hope to make myself proud. It'll be a good workout and maybe I might place well enough in the Masters 50+ to get some points for my team.

Jonnene and I are talking about other improvements we need to do for our house. The kitchen is a high priority but not an immediate one. We're moving our sights to the back yard for now. The gutters that I put up a couple of years ago are going to come down and we'd get new ones put up by professionals. Remove a couple of trees, too, but I need to remove part of the patio bricks and concrete so that the trunk of one of the trees can be ground down after it has been reduced to a stump. Replace the patio surface with new patterned concrete and possible include a deck. Then improve the drainage and get some grass back there. Oh, yeah, and a new storage building would be nice, too. Obviously, we'll do this a bit at a time, in a timely and orderly manner.

Already had some work done on the front of the house last week to replace some rotting fascia boards. The husband of a friend (who is also a graphic designer) is an independent contractor and I hired him to fix it all. He got it done in a day and he did a fine job. I finished painting the new work on Friday after priming the wood and reset one of the corner pillars on the front porch in the meantime.

It's always something.

Oh, what's been happening lately?

- I recently exchanged Twitter messages with Adrianne Curry, an actress and model. She won the first season of America's Next Top Model. We discussed the maturity level of 18-year-olds in regard to military service and voting. I was actually surprised she responded to my comments. Of course, that doesn't compare to being able to correspond with Michael Yon who is a war correspondent (he has a book coming out that I will have to get a copy of). He and I have exchanged a couple of conversations via FaceBook about Mount Everest, Katrina (the hurricane), and flying into Iraq. He's former military and writes about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus he has an intense interest in the Far East, especially Thailand. His photography is outstanding and his writing equally so.

- Taking three of the kids from the Centenary Cycling & Triathlon Club to Fort Worth this weekend to participate in the Texas State Duathlon Championships on Sunday morning. I won't be racing this time. The entry fee this week was $60 and it wasn't worth that much money for me to run-bike-run in under 75 minutes. Heck, it was $50 each for the students a couple of weeks ago (that the club is paying for) and I thought it was too much then! I don't understand why it's so expensive unless it has something to do with insurance and liability. I hope the race packet has some decent swag in it or we're not coming back to this particular race.

- I've been trying to prepare for the Rouge-Roubaix bike race coming up on March 13th. I need a couple more long rides (like, 60+ miles) to feel like I have a chance of completing this race the way I'd be proud of. I've already paid the entry fee (that was a lot, too) and reserved the hotel so I gotta go. There's already 23 Masters racers (40+ and 55+ age groups) pre-registered including four of my teammates from Team LaS'port. I'm expecting that number of 23 to probably double by race day, maybe even triple! The bike is ready to go. Am I? Only three more weeks to train!

- Looking to do a few needed repairs on the house this spring and I still have leaves to rake up. We have a fascia board that is apparently rotting so I'm going to have a guy come out to see what needs to be done...hopefully it's just that one board. So many things we want to do in the back yard. Sheesh! We need to cut back on the spending this year since we're planning a big trip to Oz but there are still projects that have to be taken care of. Home ownership is a wonderful thing, right?