A few updates from last week

Last Wednesday, Nicole and I did another TT at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We did manage to break 30 minutes, unofficial time was 29:48. This was a good effort considering that Nicole twisted something in her back during the day and it caused quite a bit of discomfort the entire time. We still managed to finish last but that is OK. Maybe next month we can move up a bit. We are not last in the point standings but we need everyone in front of us to miss the last two events in order to move up in the standings.

Saturday was the August edition of the Assault on Morrow Mountain. I have not been doing any long rides this season but since I have been temporarily unemployed I have had time to ride a bit more and decided that I needed to prove to myself that I could still do a ride like this without too much trouble. This was the longest ride I have been on since my neck surgery last year. I am finally to the point this season where I am starting to gain some speed and strength. It was simply a beautiful day, you couldn’t ask for a nicer day in August in the Carolinas. The wind did blow mostly into our faces on the way to the mountain, but we had a great tail wind all the way back to Locust. I managed to get up the mountain without too much trouble and rode much stronger than I could have imagined on the way back. I was able to improve on my best 1 hr power average by 16%. Of course that means I now have to ride harder!

Next season I will be looking for part-time stokers for the Carolina TT series. If there are any of the Queen Bees who are interested please let me know. I will post something on the Bee Team site after the first of the year to remind everyone.

The Presbyterian Hospital Invitational was enjoyable this year. We made it out early to see the women’s race and stayed for most of the men’s race. We saw many of our friends in the crowd and if we missed you there we apologize. The only thing that could make the race even better, and don’t flame me for saying this as it is my opinion, is the race needs a better race announcer. I am sorry, but Chad is just not good and he grates on your nerves after a while. Dude, do some research and plan what you want to say and stop ad-libbing! I am not suggesting that I could do any better, but I do know there is someone out there that can, You don’t have to be a piano virtuoso to tell when one is out of tune, and Chad is seriously out of tune. Regardless, the crowds and the atmosphere was exciting, it is good to see an event like this continue to thrive in Charlotte. If you didn’t get to see some of the BMX demonstration make a point of stopping by next year, some of the tricks they do are simply amazing.

Stay cool and keep safe.