Insanity has company, they are called teammates and they all show up to race Kern.

Lilly is so right.

i love my insane teammates. our 35+ group just keeps getting better and better. we will be back again next year. did i just write that? the other teams will see us and know they have their work cut out for themselves. if they were smart they would copy our style. they'd start getting sillier and insaner and funner and winninger -- like us.

we slayed the kern beast...no, i don't like that metaphor. bellas don't kill animals. what do bellas do? we tame the beast. we make the beast purr and roll over and then we put pretty shiny flair around its furry neck and say, can i get you a beer?

but it takes a team to soften up the beast and we each played our part.

we all let the beast roar and howl at the TT -- whatever beast. do your bad beasty thing. we'll see you in a bit.

lilly faced down the beast at Walker Basin. she attacked and attacked. chased after time bonuses which would help her and take away from the other teams. the pack was closing in after lilly and i moved over to andrea to suggest she might get ready for a counter attack.

"Andrea," I began...
"Yup," she said. and off she went.

oh we are so good.

and there was linda with the water bottle to cool riders down. getting up to the front on the hill sprint to help me get back on. shutting it down when we realized we weren't all there. and then in the last lap linda, sabine, and Andrea moved up the side as we approached the 1K mark. the field strung out and we had it.

the hill climb was key. last year we didn't know the course so we rode at the other teams' pace. but this year we knew we had to go from the gun if we were going to make the time we were down from the TT.

and so sue and I went. we looked back and the beast was chasing. we rotated taking pulls. and soon the beast was nowhere in sight. silly beast you have to be fast to catch us.

and you're so gonna look cute in flair.

on to Woody. we had a 34 second gap between first and 2nd. and a 1.43 (?) gap to third. our main objective was to hold the 34 seconds and secondarily to move Sue into second. the course this year suited us very well. since it started on the rollers followed by the steep downhill and then more flattish rollers. we kept watch on the Protech TT'ers and any moves by the Kalyra gals who had nothing to lose by going out and trying to get away on the descent and rollers -- which they tried! But no luck. And having the teammies there calmed me immensely because i always fear that section as i'm no tt'er and if the other teams worked together they might just possibly get away taking Janet with them and our 34 second lead.

Purrrr...pretty, pretty beast, pretty baby.

Linda and Andrea patrolled the descent and then on the rollers Sabine and linda set pace in the wind going up the hills. Linda worked so hard. resting and recovering. And sabine gave 110 % coming back for more and more...and more. Sue and I sat in. We knew our part was coming. I kept seeing Maryanne and Janet whispering and it made me edgy. But then I would see Sue with her game face on and I felt better and I just had to remember how we'd drilled it on the hill climb. And i couldn't help but notice that Janet was in a big, big gear and i wondered if she would be fresh for that steep finish.

and then linda and Andrea hit the rollers. Sue and I had discussed that we might go at this point and I really should have been ready for it, but when it happened it threw me into shock. I thought perhaps Linda and Andrea were going to be given a little freedom to fly, but Janet was going with everything. EVERYTHING. I waited for the initial acceleration to ease. but it kept going. Linda was like the energizer bunny. I wanted to shout "I'm getting dropped!" but of course I knew tactically this was like shoving raw meat under the beast.

so I did the only thing I could. "LINDA!" i shouted in that special loving married couple voice.

but then Andrea was going strong and Sue was jamming and Janet was covering EVERYTHING. aw jeeze.

And then we looked behind and Maryanne and the professor...i mean Sonia were coming up. Sue attacked. Janet covered. I attacked, Janet covered. So finally it was the five of us hitting the final hill. I marked Janet until the end though I was never certain if she was going to jump me create a gap and get the bonus finish points -- and possibly the overall GC.

But it was not to be. we had the beast feeding out of our hands. it rolled on its back. Lilly removed its beast's mask and we slung bella flair around its neck.

we will be back.

a magical weekend with the bellas and fellas.

"your shirt matches your mug," the kid at the coffee shop this morning noticed. she peered at the velo bella logo on my jacket as she pushed my velo bella coffee mug across the counter.

"it's a team," i said.

she nodded slowly, uninterestedly, probably imagining some lawn bowling team.

i bring toast to the coffee shop in the morning with a little bit of almond button on top. but i have to hide it because i feel bad for not buying their artery clogging scones and croissants. i take a bite out of my toast then wrap it back up in the paper towel and wait till it's clear before taking another bite. old lady behavior without a doubt. i'm not so fond of some of the counter help that work at this place. why is it so hard to smile? why is it so hard to say hello? i mean i'm pleasant when i come to the counter, or pleasant enough with my secret wad of toast tucked under my armpit.

the other morning someone mixed up the non-fat with the half and half jug. i knew something was terribly terribly wrong when my coffee turned a ugly grey color. coffee is like $1.70 a cup and is a big daily money drain so i was certainly not going to drink it. i went back to the gal with the evil blank stare and odd bleached hairdo. it was smashed flat to her head on the left side apparently from a deep, unmoving sleep on that side of her face and yet she'd clamped a hairpin over the flatness. i would have put the pin somewhere that might move, but anyhow.

i said "there's non-fat in the half and half." i pushed the grey liquid toward her. "see," i said. "i can't drink non-fat. i have to have half an --"

splat! she tipped it in the sink. "try the non-fat jug" she said. problem solved, except she never went over to the jugs to switch the evil non-fat with the half and half. and i was a little afraid of her and her hairstyle to suggest she might make the switch.

i sat down and unfolded my paper towel and took out my toast. it's very tasty. but it's sort of unsettling when i look at the almond butter jar that is almost empty to think i've eaten a whole jar of almond butter. so i crunched on my toast and all the while felt guilty for not warning others as they approached the jug section and tipped non-fat in their coffee. i was going to get up and warn the smoker guy who sits outside everyday and is friendly enough but then i recalled how he always spills sugar everywhere and never wipes it up.

so i sat there and watched him pour. watched him bring the the cup close to his eyes to examine it. yep, that there fouling up your coffee is non-fat messy smoker guy.

this is from the first Kern i ever did. I think it may already have been linda's fourth or fifth. this is from the randsburg stage. a very weird old cool ghost town in the middle of nowhere at the top of a long straight road up into the hills. we stayed in the cottage hotel. i recall that stage was miserably difficult with debbie allen pulling the two of us in the field through the wind until she'd had enough of us and rode off. then the other woman took off and i was alone in the mojave. just me and my drool thinking i will never do this race again. then linda appeared and we rode together. i was so freaking happy it was over. i remember seeing the finish line beneath my wheel and praising the almighty that it was done. seems it's always like that.

i received this photo in my inbox from linda.


now tell me, is this normal behavior?








now she wants me to push it down with this

i've been having crazy dreams lately. i'm in russia. i'm sitting on a hill in russia thinking, wow, russia, i want to wander the streets and go to deli's. i told this to linda in the morning. how i was so excited to wander the streets of russia and find deli's. she said russia wasn't like that. russia was falling apart, she said. no deli's. but this was my dream and there would be deli's. last night i had this dream that i was in this wonderful building, a rambling old rickety place. i was looking out the window to rolling green hills covered in mist. i like those kind of hills. and i thought, this is where i want to be. i could live here. it's small, but i like it. and then i noticed there were Bellas in the place. they were chatting and sitting at the table in this cozy room. someone came in with an armful of food supplies and put them in the refrigerator. i liked that too -- food in the refrigerator. it was comfort food. macaroni and cheese. pop-tarts. i wandered down the hallway thinking this is the place i want to be. it had a harry potter feel to it. tall ceilings of carved dark wood. dimly lit with candles. in another room there was a fireplace. it was a bit messy with crumbling bricks but the fire glowed and was warm. i could sit in this room all day, i thought. and then i noticed in the corner all by himself was a man reading. i didn't know who he was, but i didn't mind him there because he was obviously enjoying the place too. i went back to the kitchen with the views of the hills. i think i told someone how much i liked the place. and they said it's for Bellas only. it's a bella place.

i think this is the most fun i've had at madera ever. we got to do it all.
a little port tasting on friday.

chit-chatting on a pale blue blanket under almond trees on saturday.

a major, major clown sighting at dinner.

after-dinner port and chocolate (er, sorry about that lead) on a hotel comforter probably last cleaned in 1973.

searching for pigs on sunday and finding none.

getting locked out and looking for ex-cons to break in.

calling lilly's cell phone and getting the message that Laura is not available and hearing lilly say "that is because I am sitting right here."

finding infinite lilly logic in that.

i even got to do my bucking bronco interpretive dance upon the bike.

thank you Linda and Soni for instantly turning around to check on me and Pam Davis who I took out when my front wheel hit a pothole. Pam was very gracious and rode off (with one very firm butt cheek exposed) with linda and Soni but their races were over.

so sorry ladies.

other bellas raced on and did very, very well!

we went to L.A. this weekend and of course i left something behind. it seems i must lose one item a day. and that's a good day. i left behind the power supply for my work computer. i had no juice left in the machine and the computer store on campus wanted $75 for a new one.
no way jose! i'm getting linda's 96 year old stepmom, faye, off her easy chair and down to the post office tout suite.

she's 90 frickin six and still drives. she drove us to Baker's Square. she's got a pontiac or some such soul sister kind of car. it's in perfect condition except for the roof fabric that hangs in big bulging blisters above your head. there's not much room in the back seat with her walker and AARP mags. i read a very interesting article about michael j. fox during our drive to baker's square which we all fortunately survived considering she says she just aims between the yellow and white lines.

jeez, i hope she makes it to the post office okay.

we bought her dinner. fettucini something. looked okay to me. i wanted a sample but i feared faye might immobilize my hand with a fork if i poked at her plate like i did with linda's chinese chicken salad which was okay except she wanted crunchy chinese noodles and got rice. still it went well with the chilled cabernet and faye's foot abscess talk.

but i do like faye. she's got a good sense of humor and a great memory. but boy can she let 'em rip. not a little pufffft like my dear aunt margaret. no these are big nor'easter farts that blow from the bedroom, down the hallway and finally die out in the kitchen. the kind that woke me from my Jeopardy stupor on the couch.

earlier in the day faye told linda that she'd had a dream about her father. she saw him in the bowling alley, walking in with his bowling ball. and she started to cry in front of linda. we took her out to her favorite messican restaurant for a margarita and a wet burrito. we wanted a good top shelf and got a shot of grand marnier on the side which she didn't want and which we quickly drank. she didn't talk much through dinner and i felt maybe she was still a little sad.

"how's your dinner faye?"
"better than last night's."

she ate it all. we got ready to leave. i offered her a stack of napkins which she snapped up instantly. she stuffed them in her purse, then reached for the tortilla chips and lifted them by the wax paper and tipped them in her purse too. i just might love this lady.

i hope she sends my adapter soon.

we rounded up all the loose change in our place and exchanged it for bills. $120 smackers it was. linda poured it into a machine at the bank that does all the counting and sorting for FREE.

driving out of the bank parking lot, i was admiring the pretty blossoms drifting across the ground like a flurry of snowflakes, when i noticed something even prettier -- a twenty flapping in the wind.

get out! get it! i cried. look for more! look for more! i shouted. greed is not pretty.

i did an interval along a beautiful winding road and asked myself for twenty minutes why am i doing this? i thought it'd be much more fun just riding along admiring the beauty but the legs kept going do it! do it! intervals are not pretty. however, there is something i like about them. the finite pain. the sense of accomplishment.

the gnocchi with brown butter sauce and mushrooms as a reward.

i found linda further down the road with the iPhone -- when is she ever without that thing? she holds it inches from her nose at night, runs her fingertip up and down the screen. she reminds me of Tom Cruise in that movie where he moves screens back and forth in front of him like he's conducting. only it's just linda's one index finger that does all the moving. it moves very fast that little finger.

i'd like to drop it in the toilet. did I say that? why yes i did.

on we rode. we sprinted for county lines. we inhaled the scent of cut grass in the wind. she talked to me from two bike lengths ahead, as is her way. i can't hear you, I shouted but she didn't hear that either. she rambled on. farm trucks and Cadillacs roared past us.

life is so very pretty. aged manure, even if it's free, is not.

what a lovely surprise came in the mail today from Flandria!

cute little wrapped samples of her raw foods. tasty granola bars, kong cookies, a garlic pumpkin seed mix, crunchy crackers.

thank you!

we were going to go to Bariani and Landpark. it just didn't happen.



so we suited up and took advantage
of the beauty around us.


oh my god, it's like a big nature competition out there with trees trying to outdo the next. they're throwing out their very best blossoms. you can do that? okay well look at this.


come here little bee. come here little buggie.

take a look at what i got.















that's nothing, take a look at this!






we had to stop on our bike ride several times just to try and capture all the beauty. and we never quite could. the iPhone cannot do nature justice. and in the back of my mind i was thinking some people never got to experience this day. this very day. it makes me sad, but i'm trying not to be sad but to appreciate.

corny but it's really an art, i think, being happy, enjoying life.

and it takes effort like intervals. focus. focus on the good. let the bad stuff go. and lots of practice. and you can't just go sit on a beach and stare out at the ocean and think, i've got this happiness thing down. no, no, no you gotta test yourself.

go shopping in the Berkeley Bowl at lunch. perfect test. try and feel happiness as a woman jams up the produce aisle sniffing a melon. not so easy. try and feel the wonder of the universe as you watch a kid pick his nose then stick his fingers into the olive bar. no walk in the park on a sunny day.

and sometimes life has a funny way of tricking you into lightening up, relaxing. the horn on my toyota pickup went caput a couple of weeks ago. i can't tell you how many times i've wanted to lay on that thing and couldn't. and so yesterday, there i sat while this bozo in a Volvo -- always a freaking Volvo -- sat at a green light not moving. we both just sat there in the glorious sunshine, bees a buzzing, trees showing off, still as can be. perfect test. i exhaled. i waited. finally we moved. who knows. maybe if i'd a honked my horn we would have moved off faster and got rammed by a semi. see -- there's a happy thought. i'm getting better every day.

for dingo

say again?

Bush at a White House news conference:

"I know there's a lot of, here in Washington people are trying to — stimulus package two — and all that stuff. Why don't we let stimulus package one, which seemed like a good idea at the time, have a chance to kick in?"

Asked about American consumers having to pay $4 for a gallon of gas once the summer driving season arrives, Bush said:

"That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. ... I know it's high now."

another day, another training ride...

it's amazing what crap people put up for sale on craigslist and the crappier pics they take of them.



caption reads: NO SCRATCHES. WHITE BOARD SHOWN IN PHOTO ON THE LEFT

$150 smackers they want for the white board on the left, not the right, the left.




better move fast before this one goes!

"Very useful space efficient, real wooden shelf($29)"

and what's with that price?


this is craigslist, not Macy's






i may just have to get this bar cart for ippoc.


i could wheel our mojitos down the hallway to her.



how about that background?










oh lordy, lordy what's for sale in this mess of a photo?
















i'm guessing it's the big blue thing.















something white and thin.














in case you're not clear on what you can put in a storage cabinet...












there's always,

always a few sideways pics.


luv them!













maybe not the best way to advertise a couch...

linda sent me these pics to post...the pics arrived numbered in my inbox.

soon after their arrival (7:40 am) i received a call that i should post them.

okay.

i will stop working (a rare moment at work)
and blog for linda.



(just got a call from linda asking why these photos are not up yet.)






And here is the caption that I am to put with photo #2

"A walk in the park on a beautiful Tuesday morning..."


linda's nicer than me. I would have put:

"A walk in the park wearing my bright pink comforter on a beautiful Tuesday morning..."









photo #3 in my opinion is a wee bit...er...dark.

i'm very suprised linda is not in front of one of those cameras

linda loves to be on camera.











see our militant anti-military neighbors greet the new day.

Sorry, linda's caption:

"I love Berkeley!"

when Bellas go on a training ride...

why have this?






when you can have this!

i've been thinking a lot lately about the joy of just riding my bike without considering heart rates, intervals, racing.


just riding along relaxing like i did in college. escaping from the frisbees banging against my door, my roommate's ever present sorority sisters, my suitemate barging in, spoon in hand, requesting access to her tub of frozen cool whip stored in our frig because she didn't trust herself to store it in her own.

i would take the back stairs down to the bike rack and ride the nice long winding path from Isla Vista to Santa Barbara with my headphones on. i'd listen to al jarreau

mornin little cheerios, mornin sister Oriole, Did I tell you everything is fine, in my mind.


i know -- very gey.

and everything was fine and gay as long as i was rolling along on my old bike with the worn leather saddle that fit my rump just perfectly.