It’s almost noon. We’re not even close to ready to leave for Greenville yet. We’re supposed to ride with Andy today to preview Paris Mountain. I’m not quite sure how that’s going to work at the moment, but I’m pretty sure the best way to make sure that happens is to first stop typing on my website.

Ok, ok, I’ll get to packing.

Luckily, I did laundry last night, so at least we have clean clothes. That’s always a plus.

I just finished an article for PEZ about my training saga to get ready for USPRO. It was a labor of love that’s for sure. I spent way too much time on that damn article, but I’m happy with it. I feel like it was pretty honest. I hope it didn’t come off as too me me me. That can be pretty painful. 

Alright, that’s all I’ve got. Training is going well, Ashley is doing well, all that’s left is to clean some bikes, pack some bottles, and get on the road. Should only take a couple of minutes, right? 

So my little fantasy of riding the US Pro Championships looks like it’s actually going to happen. As with all things great and sort of mythical, I often doubt that they’ll actually happen, so I’ve been a bit reserved with allowing myself full recognition that I’m going to ride. I paid the 90 dollar entry fee though, so it looks I’ll be riding it come Sunday.

Bike practice has been going really well…in my opinion. I’ve been riding a fair bit, riding hard, getting used to the heat. All in all, I’m satisfied. I’m still nowhere near my best, but compared to where I was a month and a half ago – I’m over the moon.

Ashley has been riding a fair bit as well. She’s getting better by the day. I’m happy and excited for her. She did her first race this past weekend. She celebrated her first moments of bike racing by attacking off the line, riding the first lap solo, then getting dropped. It was beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder. She’ll be winning races soon enough.

As for me? I flatted out of the race. That was more than a little disappointing, but I got over it…a few days later.

Alright, Ashley is about done with class. I guess I should go pick her up. Traffic on UGA’s campus is insane. Actually, traffic in Athens is insane. There has to be a better way to get to class. Biking isn’t the best idea because it’s so ridiculously hot right now, so we have to get creative.

More soon, just wanted to say hi and waste some time instead of doing my work.

So yesterday, Ashley and I went to the bookstore to pick up some of her books. We went to the Off Campus Bookstore, because they normally have a lot of used books for cheaper than unbelievably, jaw-dropping expensive. For the first week of school, they have a ton of help inside, people to check out, people to help you find things, cops to make sure people don’t run out of the door with a grand worth of books. Ok, stage set.

We walk in, we’re interested in some help, we approach one of the guys.

‘Hi, can I help you?’

‘Of course, we’re looking for…’

He looks the two of us over, sees Ashley’s pretty flashing finger, looks over our shoulders, sees a single girl walk in the store.

‘Excuse me, I’m going to see if I can help the young lady over here with anything.’

No joke. That actually happened. It was pretty funny. Ashley was a bit miffed. I’m still chuckling.

Ok, back to unpacking the insanity. I bet you didn’t know that Ashley has more tank tops than there are days in a decade. Same with skirts, but maybe only a year’s worth.

It’s kind of odd sitting in my, well, our room in Athens now. I sat in this same room over 13 months ago and figured I’d never be back here again. Well, here WE are, 13ish months later, right back where I started.

I’m not upset about it or anything, it’s actually quite nice. If anything, it’s a surprise, a good one.

Ashley and I are absolutely on our knees at the moment. I haven’t been this tired in a long, long while. Ashley would say the same thing, but she’s asleep. I’m pretty far behind with work, but I should be able to catch up in a couple of days. Riding is falling behind, but hopefully I can get that back on track this week at some point.

We’ve been going full tilt for about a week now, so it’s good to finally be here, good to finally start to unpack our bags, and good to settle in to our place of residence for the next six months-ish.

We had a nice visit in Monroe for a few days. It was nice to take a few deep breaths before we got moving again. The little foray to Monroe resulted in a ring on Ashley’s finger. We’re pretty over the moon about being officially engaged now. I’m a happy boy. I think Ashley’s pretty happy too. I’d ask her just to make sure, but she’s still sleeping.

Ok, back to work. More soon.

Bah. It’s almost midnight on Monday. We only have one more full day in Innsbruck. We check out from our apartment at 4pm on Thursday. After that, I guess we’re kinda homeless until the next morning.

I’m in the middle of tearing the house apart and placing the pieces into garbage bags. Ashley is studying for her finals.

Packing is not my favorite thing in the world. As I was tossing things into the garbage bags, I found our very first plate that Ashley made for us to eat off of our first day here, 13 months ago. It was funny to see it again, a piece of cardboard, covered with a piece from a plastic bag. The ‘plate’ was still covered in our year old crumbs.

I wish we could rewind back to that time right now.

Ok, back to work. There’s packing work, computer work, biking work, and then more packing work.

Looking forward to: family, friends, agua linda, krispy kreme, wendys, mellow mushroom, dairy queen, margaritas, little debbies (jered), steaks, bbq, cheap clothes, the dollar and not losing 40% of income due to currency conversion, big ass grocery stores, group rides, coffee shops with wifi, no more 40 degrees and raining, having a car, etc. In no particular order.

We’ll miss: mountains, epic scenery, different languages per 2 hours or so in the car, so many different terrains, worlds within 8 hours, walking distance to school, roads, our appt., the view from our bedroom window, unlimited haribo, spar right next door, the altstadt, gelato, feeling that if you wanted to go to prague today you could just go, feeling of being some place special. etc. In no particular order.

I guess it has been awhile since last I wrote. Oh well. We’ve actually been busy…with stuff. Ashley has been doing great with her summer school classes, I’ve been training and doing the PEZ thing like always. We haven’t been able to travel as much as in months past, but it’s kind of nice to get a little preview of real life. We made it most of a year without having to dig too deep in terms of work, so this is a little kick in the ass for what’s awaiting us back in Athens – we head home in less than ten days. Scary.

Our Bosnian friend, Mile (Mee-lay), came to visit us for almost two weeks. We had a really good time with Mile. I did a lot of biking with him, he showed us a lot about computers and the internet, and we just had a good ol time all around. We will be seeing Mile one more time before we leave – either in Istria or Bosnia. We’re excited about one last trip.

On the tail end of Mile’s trip, we met up with Vati and Hannelore. Mile and I took the train to Spittal, where Vati and Hannelore picked us up. From there, we drove down to Istria. We spent the night and the next day there. Mile and I did a fantastic ride in the morning through Slovenia and Croatia, then afterwards, we did a little car tour of Istria. That was a lot of fun. After THAT, it was time to say goodbye to Mile (he spent the weekend in Istria then went back to Bosnia with Michael and Marijana) and get going. We drove the five and a half hours home to Ashley.

I was pretty tired at this point.

The next day, we enjoyed a pretty easy morning, then went for a great hike up Nockspitze. I never get tired of that hike. It was good fun. Ashley finally got to make the summit after three other failed attempts. Ha. I was incredibly sore after that. I think that’s the sorest I’ve ever been in my life actually. I could barely walk for the next two days.

Thankfully, the next day we spent driving around the Dolomites. That was a pretty excellent way to spend the day. Driving up Tre Cime is definitely an easier activity than riding my bike up it.

Vati and Hannelore left on Sunday. Ashley and I spent the day watching movies and being really lazy. It was needed.

In summary: biking is going great, Ashley schooling is going great, and we’re bummed that our time in Innsbruck is almost over.

With less than ten days to go before our departure, there’s only one thing I really want to clarify…and this is to Ashley.

The grocery store below us, Spar, has the following opening (and closing) hours:

Sunday: Closed

Monday – Thursday: 7.30 to 19.00

Friday: 7.30 to 19.30

Saturday: 7.30 to 18.00

That is all. Please make a note of this, Miss Ashley.

Ha.