I’m in the midst of a big chunk of work for the latest issue of ROAD Magazine. I love this opportunity, but I’m not a big fan of being sequestered to my computer for a few days at the end of each month solely to get my pieces finished. It’s hard sitting inside when the weather is perfect. I wish I could be doing some 6 hour rides right now.

I love this new opportunity as a journalist. I think it’s the greatest job in the world, but it isn’t always easy. I spent the last eight years or so of my life riding most everyday as long as I wanted. It’s somewhat frightening sometimes to realize that I CAN’T ride my bike for even a fraction of what I used to. I’m happy if I get an hour a day now.

I’m not complaining, just reflecting on how things have changed. With that said, I can now actually purchase things without worrying about being able to afford noodles. That’s a good thing, right?

Even better – Ashley is riding a fair bit, and she’s getting FAST. I can’t wait to see how strong she’ll be after a full winter of training.

More soon!

You better believe it. Just finished the first batch of work for the Tour de France. I think I’m going to do a bit more, and then it will be time for biking.

It’s another perfect day here at 8500 feet. It’s such a pleasant thing to wake up every morning to perfectly blue skies, warm temperatures, and a light breeze.

We’re starting to buckle down and get to work figuring out the details for our upcoming trip/move to Europe. We realized last week that we didn’t have any idea what we’re going to do, so it seemed a good idea to get started.

Ashley is taking the reins for the visa research and figuring out the details. I’m happy she’s in control of that, because I think she’s perfect for the job. I’m good at figuring out broad plans, plotting a route to ride bikes on, figuring out where to go in a trip, but when it comes to details like getting a visa, my skin gets clammy, my vision blurs, and a headache hits. Ok, it’s not THAT bad, but I have some kind of genetic block when it comes to paperwork and making phone calls. Ashley, however, is a goddess there. She learned a lot at the office when she was growing up. She never ceases to amaze me.

That’s all I’ve got for the moment. I’m going to do a little bit more writing, and then it’s on to the fun part.

The Tour de France is keeping me really busy right now. I work from 9am to about 3pm, ride for a couple of hours with Ashley, eat some dinner, then get ready for the evening set of work. It’s good fun. I like it because I’m riding my bike again.

I’ve found that as long as I can ride my bike for any length of time each day, I’m happy. I can contentedly sit at my computer for 12 hours per day as long as a bike ride fits in there somewhere. I’m happier now that I’ve realized that.

I’m even happier, because Ashley is doing great on the bike right now. She’s really taking to the velocipede and is making leaps and bounds forward. She has made some huge improvements since we got here about three weeks ago. She’s working hard. I’m proud of her. I can’t wait to see what she does in the time between now and when we leave!

Alright, back to work. More soon.

That might have been the most work I’ve ever done in my life. From May 1-31, I think I might have managed something in the 300+ hour range. I know that’s not a lot for most people, but it was a pretty major breakthrough in work for me.

The scary part is that the most important chunk is still to come. The next deadline for ROAD Magazine looms, and I have a ton to write between now and Friday. Let’s hope my writing muse is ready and willing to provide.

We’re enjoying a semi-easy day here in Monroe before heading back to New Orleans, and what we hope will be a semi-vacation in our adopted home city for the next couple of weeks. I’m starting to learn to really appreciate the times when we’re not moving around everyday. It’s such a pleasure to wake up in the same bed for a number of days in a row, it will be half a step from heaven to wake up in my OWN bed for two weeks in a row.

We’ve got some big hopes and plans for our time in New Orleans though. Our great friend, Kenny Bellau, will have a special ceremony in his honor on the 1st of June at 930am at St. Louis Cathedral to recognize his work after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They found the boat he used to rescue 400 people and have placed it outside of the cathedral, smack dab in the middle of the Quarter, where it will remain for the next 10 years. So if you ever get down to New Orleans, make sure you check it out…and give him a ring…his number is on the boat.

After Kenny’s shindig on Tuesday, the goals will be something along these lines:
1. Go to the zoo
2. Go to the aquarium
3. Do some tours in New Orleans (I want to play tourist)
4. Have Kenny give Ashley and me a real deal Katrina tour on our bikes…and I want to take pictures.
5. Ride bikes as much as possible. (Could be difficult considering our shoes and helmets didn’t make it back from CA)
6. Maybe even race as early as this weekend or next weekend for sure at the Tour de LA.
7. Get a whole bunch of writing done for ROAD.
8. Edit a whole bunch more pictures.
9. Get some pictures ready to maybe put on display for an upcoming show…ooooh!
10. Rest if possible. Ha!

That’s all for now. Lots and lots to take care of before making the four hour trek down to New Orleans this evening.

We have had an awesome time with the Norris Family the last week or so. I really appreciate their kindness and generosity. It means a lot.

I would also like to thank Narcissus, our cockatoo, for being the best little bird I could ever imagine. We missed him a lot over the past month. It was a pretty happy reunion for us to see the little creature again two nights ago.

We are on the long road back to Louisiana right now…only about 600mi to go. We had a great week in Hilton Head and really enjoyed some downtime and family time, not to mention an amazing house, beach, weather, and food. It was fantastic.

I’ve realized that I don’t mind driving long distances, but I do have a major problem with passengering for long distances. It is just so boring. I understand why Jacob always used to want to drive now. It wasn’t his infinite generosity. Ha.

I’m really happy that the Giro is almost over. This has been a really hectic, tough month, but I think we did pretty alright. One more week of crunch time, then I think I will be due a wee bit of easiness.

I think I will most likely use the mini break just to make myself more tired though. We are both fiending for some bike riding. It has been far too long since we last rode bikes.

Ashley is justifiably excited because she has a new Specialized Amira waiting for her in Monroe. I’m excited as well, because I have a new position that needs dialing in on my own bike.

I should probably edit some pictures while I’m just sitting here in the car. Surely there is some way to be useful in the car…

We had an amazing time in Santa Monica with the Lipes. We loved our time there and wish we could have had more of it. We left Monday afternoon and headed up to San Luis Obispo to stay with Dave and Elizabeth Morrow – and were surprised to find a completely different world up here, but one we loved just as much.

We’ve been so lucky on this trip. We’re so appreciative to everyone that has extended a hand to us. It means the world.

We did one of the most beautiful climbs I could ever imagine today. We drove up to Big Sur, then rode the climb of Nacimiento up from Highway 1. It was 7 miles of pure heaven. We have hundreds of pictures to sort through, plus another couple hundred of our other favorite part of the day: elephant seals!

We pulled over on the way home to check out a sign that said elephant seal viewing…we had no idea that there would be hundreds of them on the beach below. It was amazing.

Again, something that the pictures will describe much better than my poor words. In short, I’ve never seen anything like it, and we loved every second of it. I love elephant seals.

Alright, back to work, I’ve got a few stories to write this evening, then a little bit of sleep, then up again at 6am to get rolling with the day’s work. It’s all good fun.

We had pretty much written off a visit to Santa Monica when we found out that our friends Scott and Jodi Lipe were off enjoying the beaches in Thailand, but then Scott wrote to us a few days ago and said they were home…so we figured we’d drop by.

We packed up our little world, bid the McNamara’s adieu in Sunnyvale and started the 350 mile trek down to Southern California with lots of smiles. We had an awesome time with Matt, Starr, and little Mia. We can’t wait to get back at some point. Thanks so much for everything!!

We had a great drive down to Santa Monica. Ashley and I were up to our normal antics, and we ended up spending a solid hour or so singing nonsensical songs, even going so far as to record one. I think we might have a future in the music business when we’re done with biking…maybe.

It was really great to arrive this evening to the Lipe household and be welcomed like old friends. It’s hard to believe I only spent about a week with them last year in Flanders…I think that says a lot.

We’ve got a ton of possibilities for our time down here, so we hope to take advantage of it and do some cool stuff. It shouldn’t be hard, they seem to have good stuff happening around them naturally – their six-year-old son Jaden has a hip hop/break dancing performance tomorrow at 4pm. We’ll be there!

The BG Fit class last week was amazing. I have to say that my thoughts on bikes and how I sit on them has been changed completely. There will be a lot more to come on that topic soon enough, but I’ll let it be for the moment.

Ashley arrived on Friday after a long, long week followed by a long flight and a long drive up to Morgan Hill from LA (350 miles). She was a big time trooper though.

We spent all of Saturday in Santa Cruz with Wade Hall of Spokesman Bicycles. He helped put together the crowning part of what will be the BG Fit piece – he fit Ashley, and I took pictures. Ashley enjoyed an amazing transformation herself. I’ve got to stop raving. Wade is awesome though – so is the bike shop, Spokesman Bicycles. Check them out if you’re ever in the area.

Now, we are safely ensconced in Sunnyvale, California at PEZ Toolbox Contributor, Matt McNamara’s house. We are really happy to be here and are having an awesome time. His little one, Mia, is a superstar. We’ve had a lot of fun with her already. I haven’t even mentioned the most amazing ride ever yesterday evening. It was one of the top 5 best rides I’ve ever done – and it was only 25 miles long.

California is an amazing place. More soon!

I made it safe and sound, and after a very long nap, it has occurred to me that I am in fact in California. I have to admit that it’s kind of weird sitting in a hotel room by myself with no car or bike. I feel like I’m on an island. It’s a good thing that there’s an In N Out Burger on my island though. It’s basically attached to the hotel. That’ll do just fine for me.

I think I’m going to enjoy a few more minutes of non-work with a bath. They’ve got enough hot water here to fill a swimming pool. After the bath, and maybe a trip to In N Out as well, I promise I’ll get back to work.

I don’t think I’ve ever done so much typing in my life. Yesterday, I started working around noon and kept at it until four in the morning. Sure, there were some breaks here and there, but that was pretty much twelve hours of typing.

I’m excited about what I churned out though. For the next issue of ROAD Magazine, I wrote pieces on Fabian Cancellara’s Flanders winning bike, a recap on the Cobbled Classics, a recap on the Ardennes Classics, and a profile on the Koppenberg.

Those four pieces were quite the invigorating experience for my fingers, but in case that wasn’t enough, I wrote EuroTrash and four other smaller articles as well.

Oh, and I edited a couple of pieces for PEZ as well.

I’m not saying that this was in any way amazing, I’m just saying that that was the most I’ve ever done in one day on a computer. I didn’t know that was possible, but now that I feel my fingers crapping out entirely, I think that I found my upper limit, about 10,000 words.

Thankfully, I’m almost done with the big work, because I’m leaving for California in less than 24 hours!

Ashley was up working late last night as well. She finished a big paper for her class, so we had a solid, productive day that even included cleaning the house. Whew.

Ok, no more typing for me. I can’t take it anymore.