I am ready !

Wow, what a busy three weeks. I've been slacking on this blog by posting links to other sites as a distraction to you (Were you distracted?! :)

As a follow-up my last real post: http://lousarcade.blogspot.com/2005/08/another-relaxing-weekend.html
It has been non-stop. I'll keep this post brief (well try to anyways);
I've been riding about 3 times a week, while at work we had a few major releases of code - so its been very hectic both on and off work. On top of that, my parents were in town for a week from Hawaii, during which my sister-in-law and her dog dropped in (for a wedding) for a couple nights stay as well. The house has been a zoo and the wonderful wife has been doing a great job of keeping it all together. Kaleo has also started special-ed pre-school for three year olds, so it's taken some burden off her with him being gone. The bus has been a great experience for him and he's excited to go off to school.

I've been so busy that I've had to micro-manage my time even at Disneyland. Sunday went like this: Kaleo and I were at Disneyland real fast yesterday (Sunday) From like 10:30 to about 12:30. We packed a lot into two hours...

As soon as we ran in from the parking lot, to the tram, through the gates:
We jumped on the horse carriage to the castle
Got a fast pass to Buzzlightyear
Hopped on Star Tours, (he's finally tall enough to ride it and had a blast)
Did Buzz light year (scored 66k)
Ate lunch at Tomorrowland
Did It's a Small World (without falling asleep)
Did the Teacups (without puking my guts out)
Jumped on the antique fire truck back to the entrance/exit
and we were gone, I think we set a DL record for the number of rides in two hours.

Another example of hecticness, the Saturday before that my parents left, I negotiated ride time with my wife to let me go up to Hurkey Creek in Idyllwild for some ride time with the team. I hadn't planned on going up there, but it worked out. Basically, once Clarice gave me the porch pass to go (at 4p.m.), I packed my camp gear, tent, bike, lights, warm clothing, fluid, food and was gone within an hour. A 2 hour drive up to the mountains, rode and camped some 25 miles and then I was back down the hill again by 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Anyways, I clocked a 1:10 lap time on my second lap which is way faster than any of my laps in previous races.

Tuesday was a road ride with Kaleo in tow, Thursday was a night group ride at Turnbull Canyon, Yesterday we did Maple Springs which is about 14 miles with a heckuva lot of climbing about 2000' elavation gain. Some of the riders turned back around at the look-out, but there was some great single track they missed out on.

Anyways, I am feeling very confident about my conditioning. My legs are strong and my lungs are fit. I am ready for Saturday's race. Tuesday and Wednesday will be my last workout. It's going to be < 40 degrees at Hurkey Creek during the night laps and I'm not looking forward to that. The co-ed division looks competitive, but we're all doing it for fun.

L.