Art, Bikes and Oz: Koff...koff...kofffff....hack...

Paul relaxes with his version of the musical "Kats".

I rode my bike for the first time in two weeks last night. As Jonnene said, I would rely more on my muscle memory than actual muscle strength. The best part was that I stayed with the racers for the first six miles down to the Crossroads and I felt friskly enough to do a couple of chases...and caught 'em, too, at 29 mph...but toward the end I was feeling a bit worn out and more than happy to let them go on. I waited for Jonnene's later ride group and finished out the jaunt with them at a much slower pace. But 27 miles for my return to the road wasn't bad...I'm curious if my butt will be sore when I do my second ride on Thursday! In the meantime, I'm still sick to some extent but I'm getting better, getting more energy and all that. Still lots of coughing going on....

Spent parts of Monday and Tuesday up in Little Rock visiting my friend, Paul, and doing another photo shoot for Cobb Cycling of their new V-Flow Max saddle. A good opportunity to catch up on things and stay up way later than the two of us should. I think I konked out before 1 am Tuesday morning, getting up at 7:45, ea

ting breakfast and leaving for Shreveport by 10:30. The shoot went well and I've included a shot of the new saddle. Should be ready for sales & distribution by July. Johnny Cobb says it's the most comfortable saddle he's ever designed and he plans to use one of the two sample models at a Half-Ironman race in Kansas in a few weeks. Jonnene rode one of them last week and she felt it was a very nice saddle, no problems at all. It just looks a little odd.

Last weekend was the fifth edition of the local Rocky Mount Stage Race, a race I started back in 2005 with just two road races over a weekend. It became a stage race the next year and I took myself out of it. I had gotten burnt out on being a race promoter and director, and I'm glad to spend time being a regular volunteer and advisor if needed.

I drove lead vehicle for the Cat. 1-2-3's and the Masters 35+. Highlights included a 7-man break in the 1-2-3's that would end up in a heads-up sprint between internationally-experienced Christian Helmig of the Metro Volkswagen team and Mat Davis of my own Team LaS'port. Mat...or "Bolt" as we like to call him...edged out Christian by a couple of inches at the line in an impressive display of power and speed. In the Masters race, Jason Miller of MidSouth Masters took off from a small break and rode solo for the remaining 3.5 laps of the 4-lap race, winning by 4 minutes or something like that. It was fun to watch from my vantage point.

On Sunday morning I spent 90 minutes on a corner on the criterium course in a freezing rain, getting wet and wondering if my sickness was going to get worse. That weather lasted thru the first three races (Cat. 5's, Women, and Master 45+/55+) until the sun blasted thru all the clouds and the weather was warm and perfect for the final three races. After all that, I vegged out the rest of the day trying to get well.