Baby, It's HOT Outside!

No kiddin'! The temps around here have been in the 100-101 Fahrenheit (wow, actually spelled that right! Score one for me!) range the last few days and it's made for some sweaty bike rides and dramatic weight drops. I hope our water bill doesn't go up too much with the amount I've been drinking. In the last 72 hours I've done four training rides, one 4.5-mile run, and spent a couple of hours out in the yard, and I'm feeling it. I'll be taking all Friday off, sorta....I'll still do stuff but just not as intense. The worse part is that I can't seem to get the A/C on my truck fixed. I've taken it to the shop twice now and when they say it's fixed, I find out it's not fixed. Oh, they've done some real work on the system but it's not correcting the problem (stays cold for a while, then blows warm air the rest of the day). I'm giving them one more shot at it and if there's no joy then I'm looking for another place to take my business. I think the problem is mechanical now since there are no leaks and all moisture has been evacuated from the lines which was originally thought to be the cause.

Wednesday night we had the sixth in our 8-race time trial series south of town. Usually I run these time trials but sometimes I get to actually race one or two of them myself when someone else volunteers to take over. This was the case and I got to suffer with the rest of the crazy people who want to see how fast they can go on a bicycle for 7.35 miles...in this heat. Jonnene helped Jason, along with several other volunteers, to make it all work. Fifteen riders showed up and I started third in the lineup. I ended up having a good ride, setting a new personal record on the course with a 17:52 time, averaging 24.68 mph, and finishing sixth overall. I was happy with that and the whole event went smoothly. Did I mention it was HOT?

One of my LaS'port teammates, Mat Davis, won the 65-mile Masters 30-34 road race championships last Monday up in Louisville, Kentucky. He was part of a seven-man break about halfway thru the race and made a dramatic sprint in the last 200 meters to narrowly win over Mike Olheiser of Alabama. It was a terrific win for Mat and the team as Olheiser has a few stars & stripes and world championship jerseys hanging up in his closet! This made Mat the third Team LaS'port rider to win a coveted jersey over the last ten years. Mat was at Thursday night's ride and we got to talk to him a bit about his experience. He sounded pretty excited about the whole thing.

Mat pumps his fist in victory as he wins the 30-34 national
road championship over world class racer Mike Olheiser.

Since today is pretty much a day off for everyone, I'm going to get a few things done around the house and run errands with Jonnene. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July where we'll participate in the FireCracker 5K run and go to a team party that evening. We'll just enjoy the holiday.