whoo hooo!!!

How old would your favorite classic cartoons be if they could age with everyone else?
Just take a look at the list below and find out.
Dennis the Menace = 57yrs
bugs bunny = 67yrs
Felix the Cat = 88yrs
Charlie Brown = 57
Popey = 79yrs
Tom and Jerry = 68
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So the second half has begun. Though it be without racing and more of just a re-base in training. Since is a break
in the racing for the team, and I need a change in living. More specifically a place that is more conducive to sleep,
which seems to be one of the main contributors to my funk that I have been in for the past bit. At this point you are
asking where I am going, well that is easy. Im going to Colorado, to visit family and get some altitude training.
I was torn for a week or two about where I wanted to be. I was going to fly home (corpus christi) or Colorado.
Home would be good since that is a super positive atmosphere where I know all the training routes and the training rides.
There really is not a draw back to home. Yet, Colorado has all the same positive aspects and also altitude and my nieces and nephews
which I do not get a chance to see often and they are growing fast and having a chance to see them grow is always a cool thing.
JuJu is taking swimming lessons so she will be following in the family's footsteps of swimming Im sure of it. Samuel is running around fearless
in his toy cars. Then there is Carolyn the newest of the three and she is just plain cute!!! So I need to see that in person.
Also when in Colorado I can go into the cave (jills basement) and when not riding or playing with the kids sleep. I know the emphasis has been
on sleep but trust me when you have roommates that like to stay up until 2am on a fairly regular basis it is hard to get the adequate
rest. Dont get me wrong I dig the ballerinas, we get along. We just have different life styles.
At this point you are probably thinking that I will not fill in the gaps from the last post to the beginning of this one well, you were almost correct
until about 30 seconds ago when I remembered that I had not continued the story. This is because I am not writing this entry with the blog, but
while I sit on the airplane waiting to arrive in Denver where Emily my little sis will pick me up and we will go hang out and catch up. Speaking of little
sis you should check out her blog look over on the right hand side of your screen towards the top where it is written "little sis'" click on that and check
it out. She doesn't update as often as I do but he has some cool pictures and stories.
Man, this is hard to stay on track with what I want to say. So last time I left off with the team arriving in Santa Monica after Mt. Hood stage race.
One last race until the break that is what I told myself. This last race would be the California State Time Trial (individual). So, I was excited about
this since, one I usually do well with flat time trials of 40km lengths. That and I just got done with a 5 day stage race and a 6 day stage race all within
two weeks. So I knew I was going to have some good fitness, it just needed to be tapped into. With all the previous stage races on top of the two I mentioned
in the last sentence rest was needed this week along with keeping the legs open for the TT that weekend. By the time Saturday rolled around I was feeling pretty
good and ready to go so I did my prerace preparation's and was ready. On the starting ramp 3-2-1 and I am off and rocking it standing for the first 200 meters getting
on top of the gear I planned on racing in. Sitting and tucked ready to blow the doors off. I was feeling pretty good for the first 10km cruising easily at 30+mph
and not really feeling it, even after the initial 2minutes or so when your body's perception has not caught up with the actual effort that you are putting out.
Then for some reason the comfort went away and nothing was clicking anymore. So I think to myself, its ok this happens just push through and keep the rhythm and cadence
and you will get your legs to wake back up. This never happened so matter what I did. The time I posted was not bad but not what I planned on posting. One good thing
that Tom Githens on the team was second right behind the winner of the day and the current National Time Trial Champion. So many props to Tom on that.
Once I crossed the finish line my body was done and began to cramp and shut down, so I knew that something was wrong, once back to the car the hip flexors did not want to
function properly so when I walked it would look or feel normal. The bright side was the racing was over for the day and we were off to have some sloppy BarB-Q. Normally, j
I would be all for just heading back to the house, but I was with some really good friends Adrian Gerrit and Mike Gerrit (A Real life Rocket Scientist) who by the way did
the State TT on a Fixed Gear bike!! yep, that is correct. The course was perfect for this.
After the BBQ experience, and just as much was on my face as actually ended up in my belly. For those who know me really well, know that this is not a fluke, but more of a
regularity. Which brings me to the nickname I received from some of the guys on the team, but did not find out about until the day of TT. The name they came up with was "the bull"
something to do with when I breath just normally sitting around and eating it sounds like a bull, or as Adrian said like I am about to take someones head off (as in like im pissed).
This is interesting to me, since it never occurred to me that this was one of my mannerisms.
The next day was a criterium over the Santa Monica mountains. This race I did not plan on doing but did plan on riding to in order to show some support for the guys on the team
that were racing. So on the way out there with JK (roommate/teammate from Belgium) we ran into Jorge Marco Rios and Anna so the five of us rode out together. Once we arrived and the
race started I stuck around until the winning break was made, which Jorge was in and Adrian rode across to solo and they finished 2nd and 5th. Once the break was established and was not c
coming back I decided to ride back since I was feeling pretty bad. On the way back it was inevitable that you have to pass over the mountains to get to the house. Man was this fun!!!! No!!!!
made it back to the house and saw the other noncycling roommates were grilling good stuff. So, I joined in sort of and ate a hamburger that was filled with blue cheese (thank you Nancy). Then
made my way into be and slept for the next 10hrs or so and still was a bit tired, but the first half of the season was over and now the focus was on rest and getting to Colorado for some solid
training and revitalization. Which is where I am now, or in the process of going.
Hope to have some pictures of the adventures over the next two weeks.
Thanks for reading and all the support that help me in so many ways.

Matt