B. Casual April 9, 2008
  Well, after a few busy, busy weeks I can post here again. Work is non-stop. I am really looking forward to settling into a four or maybe even five day work schedule when I get to Philly. This six or seven day work week sucks. Even though four of those days are only 5 to 6 hour shifts, one day off is just not good enough for me.
In recent news, our race, Business Casual, went off great. Even though it was pretty crappy weather we still somehow enticed 55 people to come out and enter. Thanks!! The riding was soggy and fierce, but the awesome Tempeh chili was great in contrast. We were the proud receivers of not just a few pounds of locally made tempeh for which to feed our hungry racers along with a few pounds of gainesvile’s own Sweetwater roaster’ coffee to get folks pumped. Crashes were at a minimum, mostly happening at my checkpoint which was at the end of a long wooden boardwalk into the woods. That nonsense was SLICK. It was great to see so many folks without the reservation of racing in helmets. A couple of folks were pretty glad they wore them. Brendan and Mike graciously opened their house up for the event and we all piled around to watch the Tour of Flanders afterwards. Hooray!!!
I embark on my trip Northward tomorrow. Me and Nat-a-tat are driving the eastern seaboard all the way to NY, NY., where the wonderful gang of the Rapha east coast team are having the first meeting and dinner. The rest of the weekend will involve a ride through the Catskills and a glorious return to NY. Let it be known that copious amounts of coffee are going to be consumed. It will be on this trip that I will answer my own questions regarding my acclimation to Florida temperatures. Will I be unduly freezing in the rainy 50-60 deg. temps, or will the old New Englander part of me rear his head and thicken up that blood. I do know I can hardly stand the 80+ deg. days here, but is cold and rainy what I crave?
After the weekend in Ny, we depart for Philly to arrange to see some houses and apply for jobs. I’ve scoped out a couple of shops I’d be pretty interested in working at, for as much as you can garner from someone’s website anyway. I am psyched to get familiar with Philly’s layout again and to see how much I remember. I’m getting itcy to get into a new place and start getting my stuff set up.
The group rides here have been going great. I’m really thankful for them in general. We’ve started going the intermediate length since daylight is a bit short, getting dark right about 8:00. The route now is up to 45 miles at an average speed of 24 including warm-up. Pretty fast, there is a pretty constant double paceline rotation for most of the rides, and as always, a good umber of attacks and breakaway attempts. It’s a great intensity day for me, and I like the folks who come out. It’s also just nice in a social way. Since I’m not hitting up the racing circuit here at all, the Hipp ride gives me a chance to chat it up with a good number of friendly, familiar faces and hear about the weekends’ competitions and what not. The ride typically gets 25 to 50 folks out on any give Tuesday or Thursday.
Well, tomorrow is a big day. I’m alittle nervous, but for no real good reason. I guess it’s time I get some sleep.
good luck, everything will end up great! The northeast is better anyway! Leaving Florida before it gets REALLY muggy.