Spring break

I am currently enjoying the morning while drinking Vic's coffee from Boulder, Co. My sister and Kim brought me some coffee for all the good samaritian work that I have done over the last week. In two days, I go on spring break. Now, I know what you are thinking... Spring break? It is still winter. Well, Creighton University School Of Dentistry believes that they can just throw spring break wherever they want. Most likely, in an attempt to decrease the amount of fun we have over this week. My Plans for the week are as follows -

Saturday morning - Early ride and then hit the road to Boulder. Stay With Marie and Dave
Sunday morning - Ride with Marie, Lindsey, etc. Possibly, hook up with ralph for coffee
Monday morning - Drive to Salt Lake City and hang out with Nic Eggbert
Tuesday Morning - Drive to Bend
Wednesday - Interview for one job and look at a practice for sale.
Thursday-Saturday - Bend and then drive home.

Hopefully, I will get to see my friends Steve, Gina, Ed, Marie, Dave, Ralph, and that lady that owns Thai on the Fly.

Driving to Bend seems crazy, but I need a car, need my bike, and Lindsey is coming, so that cuts on cash expense also. (She also needs here bike and we were not going to pay 350 for two bike boxes). More to come...

Overreaction

Sunday night - and right now I am watching American Gangster. I had two rides outside, totaling... wait, I'm not supposed to tell. It wasn't as much as those guys in the TOC guys. Anyway, I watched the TOC both days and those days looked epic. Tough guy points all around. You know a tour is tough when only 80 of 135 starters finish. Hats off to Tom Zirbel from Clear
Lake, he almost pulled off the stage. Note - Two guys in the top 5 in this last stage from Iowa (Jason and Tom).

I road with Landen, Spence, and Dave Rogers today; I was pretty happy that it got up to 49 degrees. Maybe those guys in so cal should have ridden in the Tour of Nebraska and not a tour of California today!

Now to the story...

After 4:30 of riding today, and various angry motorist, I was reaching the end of my ride when a red Toyota X-terra rolled passed me. He slowed down beside me yelled something inaudible, and advanced his rig 100 meters. Now the 3000 kcal defect had played its toll on my brain, and I was suffering from what we in the business call hypoglycemia. I screamed and waved my hands in the air and motioned for the X-terra to stop and discuss our interaction.

He reversed in the street, and I told him that I had every right to be in the street and I payed taxes also. I was livid and ready to through down. What I did not understand at the time was that this fellow was in fact a cyclist and just wanted to say hi, and that he had no problem sharing the road with me. I missed that one. Over reaction. I Felt like a huge asshole. Of all the people I could have ran into, it was a cyclist in omaha. Go figure.

Also, Happy 55th Birthday to my dad!

Week in review

Above is Landen and Kim. Their speed makes me feel like a Cat 5 when I ride with them. Wish both of them a great season!



Above is my sister, apparently inspecting for blemished etc. Have fun in Colorado!



Above is a picture of my friend, vegas. He just shattered his wrist, so I have been told. Get well.

Enough of that. Now, this week has been the best in recent memory, with the TOC, friends stopping in, riding, and the prospect of nice weather this weekend.

First off, I have been sleeping great in the igloo called my apartment because of the invention know as the heated blanket. I had a heated blanket on loan from Lindsey, but it was more of a 2, and I needed an 11. Last week in Des Moines, my mom bought me the best gift ever. I heated blanket that crisps the skin if left on too long. Thanks mom!

Landen and Lindsey have been coming over to ride/watch the TOC that I tevo following work/school. I has been great to get some new cycling on TV. And the race is exciting. My dark horse for the TT victory today would have to be... Christian Vande Velde. I would think that Tom Zirbel, Jason McCartney, and BJM will ride a good time, they all did top 10 last year.

On wednesday, I got a call from Ian. "Pav, big favour". The favour was to let him and his dad sleep at my house that night. It was supposed to be a 10:30 ETA, ended up being a 12:30 ETA. Whatever the case, it was good to see Ian and Bob and get the update about Bob, his running, Eugene, his staph infected foot, and his daughter Erin's race walking.

Thursday was the day for me to take Kristin, Kim, Maria, Kelli, and KK to the airport. They drove in from Des Moines and were flying to Denver to get some skiing in this week. The picked me up, we got Noodles and Company, and enjoyed each others company until I took them to the Omaha airport. After we had finished our meal, a Noodles worker came by with pesto/ckicken pasta dish. "Is this yours," she said. "No, but I'll eat it if you are going to just throw it away," I rationed. 5 minutes elapse time, and she came back with the pasta dish for me to devour. Free meals... nice.

Weekend plans include watching to TOC, riding outside with Landen, and going to Marks secret birthday party... whoops. Not so secret anymore.

Unremarkable

That sums up the restaurant, Old Mattress Bar and Grille. I went to lunch there this afternoon. The building was a beautiful historical landmark, and the interior was modern and urban. I perused the menu for something that caught my eye... nothing. I asked the server what course on the menu was so good that I would want to send friends/family to the Matt. She did not really have a good answer. She said that they were very busy, but mostly during the Quest center events. It may have location, but taste it did not. It is a pity that business now a days can rely on where the business is, and not the quality of product that it gives it consumers. I had the Smoked Salmon salad. It was ok, nothing like Kirk Phillips Smoked products. The salad had corn with some type of grainy accoutrement. Upon further inspection, the chef sautéed the corn in butter, let the corn cool, and the aftermath was this texture... weird. Oh, the salad came with a muffin, poppy seed, I think. Good, but didn't really go with a salad. Finally, we had "homemade" hummus. Now I am quite the lover of hummus... I eat it practically every day. This was the worst part of the meal, no Tahini, no garlic, no cumin. In one word, it was unremarkable.

Good things come in two's PArt 1

2 Tacos
2 Tamales
2 Kims
2 new CD's
2 Parents
2 Breweries
2 Days
..oh, and 15 coffees/ 8 hours on the bike and one heated blanket.

Above is the weekend cliff notes. Study well, there will be a test.

I went to Des Moines this weekend for a couple of reasons:1. Dad's Birthday/see mom and dad 2. Watch State Wresting 3. See Des Moines friends.
We Started out the weekend on Friday watching state wrestling semifinals with my Dad and Kim. We could not find a seat, so Kim wandered with much purpose and more vicoden into a box seat marked "reserved - firestone tires"

15 minutes elapsed until we were kicked out of the box seating. Kim was way too slow on the explanation about who he knew from Firestone. We continued to watch Tanner Schmitt from Charles City clean some kids clock en route to his first state championships.

Following the wrestling and a trip to the post office we decided that it was 5 o'clock somewhere. We visited Raccoon River Brewery for adult sodas and snacks. I had their cherry wheat first and stout second. The stout was delicious, but more so served the purpose of washing the foul taste of cherry wheat out of my mouth. Then on to Granite City Brewery for some fish and chips, beer tasting, and conversation with the 'rents. It was great to see them, if only for two days.

Aside - I really appreciate my parents/my friends/my family support on the bike. They(you) all realize that I cannot always go do every tiny thing with them(you). I appreciate the understanding.

I then met Dave Williams and some of his friends to shut the box. A popular English dice game that takes entirely too much time, money, and patience. I started with 2 dollars and played until 3! I even saw an old classmate who coaches for Fort Dodge, Drew Kelly. The last time I saw him was 7 years ago in omaha at the UNO wrestling open (where he won).


Saturday was an exercise in forgetfulness. It started out with breakfast/coffee at the hotel, then the mall. My parents went to a movie and I had heard about a ride afoot at 1 pm. I made it to waterworks park with ample time, but forgot some crutial pieces of winter wear... gloves and booties. Lane, Dave, Chad, and new guy showed up, as did Jane, Kelli, Lou, and two other random whom I did not know. Luckily, Chad (saint/boy scout) had an extra pair of gloves to lone me for the ride. 4 hours later, two frozen hands + two frozen feet confirmed what I already knew... living in Iowa for winters blows. I also felt comfort in the fact that yes, dave still loves to pull everyone around, and apparently, Chad is the guy that drills the hills in Des Moines (in omaha, it is Landen).

Later that night at Dos Robles... my feet finally thawed. More to come (about that)...

so freakin' cold

So, this is a picture of me in my apartment riding. Seriously. I have been sleeping with a heated blanked, using 5 blankets, and still freezing. I guess this is what you get when you live in an apartment building with 12 foot windows. I read a recent issue of outside magazine. Some blond model was telling us to go ecco and turn our heat down one degree. Well, I am pretty sure hot blond models don't live in nebraska. I'll make a deal with her, she can turn here heat down five degrees in San Diego, and I will turn mine up three.

Things I know not to be true

I have been on the road and off the road quite a lot in the last few weeks, one stop in particular led me to Des Moines to see family and friends. Why, during that stay, I was welcomed in as a total stranger to a local cyclists house for a soup-er-bowl party. Some thoughts on my recent weeks experience or as the title of this column would suggest:

1. Valentines day. Silly ideas for this week include - buying into the commercialized holiday that is valentines day, auctioning oneself off on ebay for valentines day, and any thing associated with said "holiday".

2. To my friend that I talked to the other day at Costco; Don't let those cyclist freak you out. You joined the sport of cycling for many reasons, none of which involve letting someone stress YOU out about YOUR sport. Cycling is an activity that we enjoy and we make part of our life. We do it not to chase rewards, but to be healthy, athletic, competitive, and social. Racing is just one faucet of cycling. Pencil in a lifetime of this sport and with years of effort - rewards will come. And if they don't at least you were healthy, athletic, competitive, and social doing so. Furthermore, cyclist love to talk big; the ones that talk about their training are riding 1/3 of their mentioned hours, and are 1/2 as fit as they would like to be. It is cyclist way of compensation. Sort of like buying a big red truck with semi exhaust, for guys.

3. The hot tub is the not the social epicenter center of the gym.

4. waking up at 5 am to exercise is crazy and unproductive, unless suffering from insomnia.

Great Success

The boys at the crime lab with all their forensics, erlamier flasks, and science came within minutes of apprehending the thief that
had stolen the below lobster glove in question. Here is a picture of the alledged criminal fleeing from omaha's finest earlier today. As you can see he has cleverly disguised himself as a coffee grinder, to fool the police.
Upon escape, the thief dropped a bag of what were assumed to be stolen goods, and recovered was one sugoi lobster. Case solved.

Figure 1

The Case of the missing Lobster Glove

Or Two gloves enter, One glove leaves.

Lost: Single Lobster glove (see figure 1)
Last seen: Monday evening in laundry room
Reward: Booze
Contact: Me

Above is the sight that I posted in my building this week. The task was innocent enough, wash some cloths and my lobster gloves. Wrong. Someone decided that the wanted one lobster glove more than me. And that is where we stand today. Popular press tells us that a crime is best solved with the evidence in the first 48 hours. Below are a list of sinister fellows, who may be to blame for the theft.

Quote of the day

This is a quote that was sent to me last night. My friend Michelle is an avid coffee drinker and claims that this is the stuff:

f you can find this coffee i would recommend you try it. its like a kick in the face delivered by an innocent enough porcelain mug...

India Anohki (Liberica Varietal)

I would like to try the stuff, but I am hesitant to drink anything that should have a Warning:"may cause orbital blowout." attached to the mug.

But anything once... right?

New Flash! - Pavlovich named science editor

It has alway been said that business takes some unexpected turns, and this bend is forcaseted shows the business smarts of CEO of Alagomaha corp., Bryan Redemske. In an interview with Redemske regarding current market trends and the devaluation of the U.S. dollar, Redemske said this,"It was a bold move, but Alagomaha needed to some momentum and something for the shareholders to look forward too... And that was the addition of Matt Pavlovich as our new director of cycling specific research and online science editor.

Pavlovich was unable to comment regarding this new move, his press manager said that he was out doing a ragbrai fitness test. Pav, as his friends call him, often takes an out and back against the clock from Missouri Valley to ames. Alledigely, this aids in measuring his early season ragbrai fitness.

Although the number that Redemske and Pavlovich agreed upon remains confidential, Redemske is no slouch when it comes to negotioations. "He was demanding a 15% increase from his current salaried position... but in this market... with the recession... he was lucky he got a portion of what he demanded." Insiders say that in addition to the lucritive salary, Pavlovich recieved Redemske's award winning fajita recipe.

In any case, Alagomaha readers should be excited to see that Pavlovich's first science editorial will be published following his Missouri Valley - Des Moines loupe.