Prickly things and cops. I've found you!

I just remembered that I had typed the text in WORD. What a relief. Just have to post pictures again.


The perks of traveling. Mountain biking in Sedona!

I asked the owner to take a picture of me on her bike. Cruisin'!

What the.... I never get flats! Ah man there is slime all over the inside of the tire and nothing to wipe my hands with.

Bib says hello to Sedona!

Pre-ride tube change.

Don’t you hate it when friends and acquaintances don’t update their blogs? It takes a certain commitment to have a blog and the upkeep should be routine. I know, I know I have become a blog slacker lately. I realize I am extremely popular and apologize for the lack of blogging. Life has been busy and hectic and no connections while traveling.

Lets get the party started! I’ll remember as much as seems interesting. I may free form this so sorry if it runs on. I claim artistic license!

After Ironman Arizona I headed to Cave Creek, AZ for our Timex Team Camp. We spent 3 days at a really nice resort. I’d love to see more than the parking lot someday. With 39 athletes my camp experience was overwhelming. My day started at 5:30 am to make sure the truck was open for Gatorade and Power Bars for the athletes. Of course it meant last minute air and bike adjustments for some too. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner (except one) were eaten on the go. Most of the evening revelry was short-lived knowing I had to get up before the sun. They had some really nice pool tables which resulted in some bad pool games on my part. I think it was because the tables were high quality and the sticks were straight. I’m used to the uneven, ripped felt and sticks that point in the wrong direction One night before turning in I saw a wild boar sneaking around the property. No one believed me though. I think they are kind of dangerous. I was able to briefly meet some of the athletes I didn’t know and catch up with some I did know from last year. With my brain fried from the being in the heat all day I apologize if I mixed people’s names up. I find it best in those situations to refer to everyone has “HEY”. Hey, how are you doing? Hey, that’s a nice bagel you got there. Hey, I can’t build your bike because they didn’t ship a headset with it.

Many of the team sponsors were in attendance to talk about their products to the athletes. Chris Travers from Profile Design, Herbert from Quintana Roo, Dean Gore from Bontrager, Cassidy Phillips from Trigger Point Technologies, Talia from Spenco, Melisssa from TIMEX and a few more I’ve forgotten. In addition, Monique Ryan spoke about nutrition and someone from Gatorade Sport Sciences spoke too. Of course I heard none of this because I was in the parking lot working on bikes or gluing tires. Probably the most riveting talk was presented by myself. Close to an hour of tech talk with Doug Berner. I only saw two people yawn which was encouraging.

Once everyone was shuttled to the airport and the truck packed on the final day, the fun began for Keith and I. We headed to Sedona, AZ to spend the night (sleep like a log) and do a mountain bike ride the following morning. Sedona is beautiful and has some great mountain biking in addition to a very satisfying meatloaf dinner. This is the first time in my mountain biking career that I have used Slime Tubes. Our inquiry at the local shop said we should because of all the different types of cacti in the area. The guy was like Bubba in the movie Forest Gump rattling off all the ways shrimp can be prepared. “ Lets see you got prickly pear, yucka, saguero, sombraro, prickly this, prickly that”…. OKAY I”LL BUY THE TUBES! Well my only puncture on the day, 20 minutes into the ride, was a big green gooey mess. So much for self-sealing green Martian blood. Whatever dude! My regular tube luckily lasted the whole rest of the ride. Keith flatted too back at the truck.

The rest of the trip back to Wisconsin involved driving to Colorado Springs to drop Keith off to spend Easter with the girlfriend. That meant solo driving the rest of the way. Because we drive such a big truck we are subject to truckers rules. You know all those weigh stations and inspection pull-offs. To put it nicely Colorado is very strict. We had to have the proper paperwork etc. Something was a little off with our registration which I guess means that Colorado State Police can treat you like crap. I realize that I may be new at this trucker thing, but please don’t berate me. Talk to me instead of huffing and puffing. The thing is I/we were at their mercy. If I opened my mouth one more time they would probably arrest me but how else can I explain what was going on. The learning part was we need to adjust some paperwork on Team Sports end but they don’t need to be a prick about it. Every other state never even brought it up. Uh! I hate you Colorado.

Even though I’m back in Wisconsin I don’t think I’ll have any down time to relax. The shop needed to be organized from the great flood (a sprinkler head broke about a month ago while I was gone) and a bunch of QR’s need assembly. My only down time seems to be when I’m driving somewhere. One of the Timex athletes visited the shop today and commented that it was so organized. Right then and there I decided I should stop stressing about it and move on. That was a little blessing in disguise for me. Thanks!

Well it was nice chatting from this Panera. They have free wireless. NICE CALL PANERA. To the ladies in Europe hope all is well. Saw some pics from Fleche. Sarah, looks like you were on the rivet for one picture. Sima, way to look focused. The bikes look good.

For no particular reason….. Hey Shane and Athena….. You groovy cats. Shane and Athena got married the day before Ironman Lake Placid a few years back. They were competing in the race. I guess that’s one way to know when you’re anniversary is coming up. Hah!

Cheers for now,
DOUG