Back in Michigan
Hey y'all, I hope everyone is well. I am back in good health again, and have a fair bit of updating to fill you all in on. My last update was from Fayetteville, Arkansas, and i hadn't been for a ride yet while there. That was a bit of a bummer, but the forced break probably wasn't such a bad thing. Once i recovered i was able to do a few rides and it was a pretty nice area to go training. I suppose the only bad thing was all of the 'dags' that chased us everywhere - I am quite sure that their owners don't feed them on a daily basis.
We stayed in a really nice vacation house in Fayetteville, and it even had lake access. It used to be river access at some stage, but the river has been damned off to form a lake. It made for a really nice spot though, and down on the water there were heaps of really good skimming (skipping) rocks for throwing in my spare time. Its funny actually, because i was reading some magazine during the week and it had an article on getting the perfect angle for the perfect rock-skipping (we call it skimming in Oz). I didn't realise there was a science to it, and now that i have been putting deep thought into my skimming my performance has dropped!
At night while staying in Fayetteville i could have sworn there were bears in the area, so i was a bit freaked out by that, but it was probably just another hungry dog or twenty.
At the race we went to while in Fayetteville, Joe Martin stage race, there were people handing out bananas, and thanks to the crafty work of Robbie, we ended up with about 400 bananas in our house. As cyclists we might eat a fair bit, but to eat that many bananas was unrealistic, so Teddy and Robbie got to work in the kitchen, and before we knew it had baked up about nine loaves of banana bread - one with strawberries in it too, so that was a good treat, and eating the warm, freshly cooked bread was... wicked banana! While on the topic of Teddy, it should be noted that 'Teddy' is a teammate, not the name of my footy! While reading over the last blog entry, and after getting an email from someone, i thought it was necessary to point that out to you.
Last Thursday we packed up our banana bread, football, and other stuff and headed to Russellville, Arkansas, a two hour drive away. It was another nice place, and we stayed with a really nice old couple who were our hosts. They spoilt us with food, and we had this really nice ice cream called Oreo Cloud. It was one of the best desserts i have ever had, and i think Thor and Teddy would agree with me there. It is one packet of Oreos smashed up with a hammer, one punnet of ice cream (or tub or whatever), and a tub of Cool Whip. Brilliant!
At the Tri-Peaks stage race we had a fair bit of success, with team members represented in all successful breakaways, and also Thor Zirbel pulling off our best NRC result to date with a second placing in stage two. The exciting thing for me about Tri-Peaks was that i got to finish my first two road races since San Dimas back in March some time. Hopefully those two finishes are going to be the coming of age for me racing in the States!
After stage three finished on top of the steepest hill in the world (that's what it felt like), we headed home to Michigan, and Benno the Bear did a stellar job behind the wheel. He was relieved briefly by Teddy, but basically did the drive on his own. We got back to Michigan at 8am, so there were a few tired guys on the team. It should also be noted that Robbie and Teddy got straight in their car then, and did a further 17 hour haul back to New Hampshire!
It has been good to be back in Grand Rapids, and things look pretty nice here now that it is warm enough for the trees to grow leaves. Bob and Heather are well, and i had almost forgotten how much fun we have here.
Yesterday Brentmeister, the Snake and I had to do some school assemblies for Priority Health. We had to ride our bikes in to the school hall and then speak to the students about being active, bicycle safety, and about health and nutrition etc. It was a great experience for me, and i got to get an idea of what the schools are like in the States, as opposed to Australia. The kids were good, and hopefully we influenced them in some way or another.
After the day of entertaining we headed back to Grand Rapids to do a local race. It was raining and we raced on a car speedway, so it was pretty slippery. It was good to do some racing mid-week, and was a good opportunity to race with the local guys. The plan was to get a win for Bob, but he couldn't race.
Anyway dudes, that's all for now. Sorry there are no photos this time, but i will have some in the next post when i get some from the guys who take all the photos. Also, you may have noticed the new look blog, and thanks must go to Wes Hartman for assisting me there.
Stay cool dudes...
We stayed in a really nice vacation house in Fayetteville, and it even had lake access. It used to be river access at some stage, but the river has been damned off to form a lake. It made for a really nice spot though, and down on the water there were heaps of really good skimming (skipping) rocks for throwing in my spare time. Its funny actually, because i was reading some magazine during the week and it had an article on getting the perfect angle for the perfect rock-skipping (we call it skimming in Oz). I didn't realise there was a science to it, and now that i have been putting deep thought into my skimming my performance has dropped!
At night while staying in Fayetteville i could have sworn there were bears in the area, so i was a bit freaked out by that, but it was probably just another hungry dog or twenty.
At the race we went to while in Fayetteville, Joe Martin stage race, there were people handing out bananas, and thanks to the crafty work of Robbie, we ended up with about 400 bananas in our house. As cyclists we might eat a fair bit, but to eat that many bananas was unrealistic, so Teddy and Robbie got to work in the kitchen, and before we knew it had baked up about nine loaves of banana bread - one with strawberries in it too, so that was a good treat, and eating the warm, freshly cooked bread was... wicked banana! While on the topic of Teddy, it should be noted that 'Teddy' is a teammate, not the name of my footy! While reading over the last blog entry, and after getting an email from someone, i thought it was necessary to point that out to you.
Last Thursday we packed up our banana bread, football, and other stuff and headed to Russellville, Arkansas, a two hour drive away. It was another nice place, and we stayed with a really nice old couple who were our hosts. They spoilt us with food, and we had this really nice ice cream called Oreo Cloud. It was one of the best desserts i have ever had, and i think Thor and Teddy would agree with me there. It is one packet of Oreos smashed up with a hammer, one punnet of ice cream (or tub or whatever), and a tub of Cool Whip. Brilliant!
At the Tri-Peaks stage race we had a fair bit of success, with team members represented in all successful breakaways, and also Thor Zirbel pulling off our best NRC result to date with a second placing in stage two. The exciting thing for me about Tri-Peaks was that i got to finish my first two road races since San Dimas back in March some time. Hopefully those two finishes are going to be the coming of age for me racing in the States!
After stage three finished on top of the steepest hill in the world (that's what it felt like), we headed home to Michigan, and Benno the Bear did a stellar job behind the wheel. He was relieved briefly by Teddy, but basically did the drive on his own. We got back to Michigan at 8am, so there were a few tired guys on the team. It should also be noted that Robbie and Teddy got straight in their car then, and did a further 17 hour haul back to New Hampshire!
It has been good to be back in Grand Rapids, and things look pretty nice here now that it is warm enough for the trees to grow leaves. Bob and Heather are well, and i had almost forgotten how much fun we have here.
Yesterday Brentmeister, the Snake and I had to do some school assemblies for Priority Health. We had to ride our bikes in to the school hall and then speak to the students about being active, bicycle safety, and about health and nutrition etc. It was a great experience for me, and i got to get an idea of what the schools are like in the States, as opposed to Australia. The kids were good, and hopefully we influenced them in some way or another.
After the day of entertaining we headed back to Grand Rapids to do a local race. It was raining and we raced on a car speedway, so it was pretty slippery. It was good to do some racing mid-week, and was a good opportunity to race with the local guys. The plan was to get a win for Bob, but he couldn't race.
Anyway dudes, that's all for now. Sorry there are no photos this time, but i will have some in the next post when i get some from the guys who take all the photos. Also, you may have noticed the new look blog, and thanks must go to Wes Hartman for assisting me there.
Stay cool dudes...
posted by Huck at 12:36 PM
3 Comments:
People have been trying to get Bob up for a win at Grattan as long as he has been racing there, i think it is impossible, but keep trying!!
keep smashing them tommy... its edmo here its a going place the states anyways throw me an email brad_edmunds@hotmail.com
your a mad dog
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