After an extended bout of laziness and apathy with regards to this blog, I'm back. And though I'd hate to make any promises I might fail to keep, I hope that'll be by far the longest break between entries here. I know that'll come as a relief to a lot of people.

Even though I haven't been writing about it here, I've been busy. Back in August, the Tour of Utah wrapped up with an overall win by Scott Moninger. I did what I could to help over the last few days, then got a ride in a follow car to the top of the last climb. I think that was my first DNF in a stage race. It didn't feel good, but dragging myself up that last climb wouldn't have felt too nice, either. Getting to be involved in yet another stage race win did, however, feel great.

After that I had a couple weeks at home to train for USPRO nationals in Greenville. I was really hoping for a good ride there, but it wasn't to be. I did have a good ride for the first lap, but it proved to be short-lived. I put absolutely everything I had into making the break the first time over the climb. But that break got caught midway through the second lap and I really didn't have anything left after that. It was an incredible course though, and I'm looking forward to getting back there next year and having a better day.

Under normal circumstances, that would have been the end of the season for me. But, this year's a little different as I'll be going to the Herald Sun Tour in Victoria, Australia. (I should note that, as of this posting the website is dead. Maybe they'll fix it.) The race runs from the 8th through the 14th of next month. I've never been to Australia, so I'm really looking forward to the trip. My passport's getting a pretty good workout this year.

To keep my motivation up for training this past month, I've spent a lot of time riding my 'cross bike.


It's a steel Vanilla made by Portland frame builder Sacha White. I've spent a lot of time out in Forest Park over the last few weeks trying not to break another bone. So far I've succeeded, and I've had a lot of fun too. I even did an early morning renegade 'cross race with local 'cross god (that term shall not be applied lightly) Erik Tonkin. In truth, that event proved incredibly humbling and a lot less fun. There're a lot of good reasons I don't race cyclocross, not least of which being the fact that runups are difficult in road shoes.

Another piece of news is that I've extended my contract with Health Net for one more year. This will be my third year there and I'm very happy to be staying on. I'm quite grateful that they're interested in keeping a frail old man like myself around. I plan to repay the teams confidence by not breaking any more hips. That, and riding fast.

Lastly, I have to mention a little off the bike adventure I had a couple weeks ago. For a little change, Adrienne and I headed out to the Columbia River Gorge for an overnight backpacking trip. Since neither of us were willing to be the first to admit weakness, we ended up doing about 20 miles in two days with fully loaded packs, then spending a week walking funny as a result. At least I got some good pictures. That's it for now.