Somebody is watching you.

If you are part of a blended family (and many of us are in that situation) – please link over and read this article. Carefully selected and discerningly read, the article clears up the multitude of issues which result from relational “triangulation” — and it also offers clarity regarding the impact of triangulation within family units. Please know one thing, the article will help only those who can read and look within themselves to be honest about blended family situations.

REMINDER: Should you have issues with my blog, I suggest you take your happy ass over to my Rules section.

Happy Friday …

NOTE:  There are LOTS of photos in my bank of images from the weekend. I was able to capture mostly Elite Men and Pro Women along with Men 1-2. There are 1600 images total. The Men 1-2 CRIT photos will be posted later today. If you see an image – use it and use my name to recognize its use. Other than that – mine are FREE. If you want a particular image (larger file), just email me: davery@tombras.com – I’ll do my best to find it.

Thanks –

This past Sunday I traveled to the Foothills Parkway and enjoyed the mountain air, the scenic views and some climbing. Getting there was a challenge due to the line of cars backed up from the “open house” on the north side of the Foothills Parkway. I’m not certain what was served at the open house, but I suspect it was either money or alcohol (due to the number of cars – ha). The attached photo is just a Pentax snapshot of spring – springing in Great Smoky Mountains. I enjoyed it – a lot.

With a four-day work-week behind me, I made time to consider the great state of Aloha. Ergo, I’ve developed my Top 10 reasons to visit the great state of Aloha … aka, Hawaii.

The Top 10
10. It’s Hawaii, do I REALLY need to enumerate the reasons? It’s far enough away that you feel far enough away.
9. Sun. Plenty of it and no industry to pollute the air.
8. No snakes.

7. You can enjoy a sunrise and sunset on the same day without flying.
6. The temperature is highly stable. Average high temperature in Hawaii in August: 88. Average low temperature in Hawaii in January: 75.

5. Great fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing, kayaking, sailing and boating opportunities all around.
4. Beautiful wahines in tiny bikinis. NOTE: a wahine is a woman and when you pronounce it, it rhymes with bikini. Yes, now you get it.
3. Some of the world’s best beaches and scenic mountains are within sight of one another.

2. Almost no mosquitoes or flies. Well, there are mosquitoes, but few.
1. Laid-back lifestyle. The laid-back lifestyle and attitude makes Southern “front porch sittin’” seem stressful and hurried by comparison.

The time trial, for Masters men, started early. Burr is what I added to “Pain Mountain.” It was 46 degrees when we started (my start time was 8:10), a little wet (just rained prior to the start) and misty.

Lots of guys were on road bikes and that made me wonder, “what the hell am I doing with my TT bike?” It didn’t matter at that point because I left my road bike at the hotel! I strolled over to a guy who was preparing some wheels for a team and asked him to help me with my rear disc wheel. In getting it pumped up I asked if lots of guys were on TT bikes. His comment: “The first 5 or 6 miles are the race and a TT bike will give you an advantage.” With the tire and the insights I started to warm up.

Naturally I like to push my luck in getting to the starting line on time. I rolled to the start area with ONE minute to spare. Literally. I pulled off my rain jacket and clipped in my pedals.

Somewhere at mile 4-ish, I passed my thirty-second man, then my one-minute man, then my minute-and-a-half man … but that was mid-way up Pain Mountain. Ha.

Pain Mountain is an 18%-20% grade in the steepest section. Clearly I had the wrong gears … as I almost ground to a halt. At 1Km I clicked over to 23 minutes … and it took me another three and a half minutes to climb 1Km. WTF! Let me tell you – I can climb but not on a TT bike, with the wrong gears, slipping tire, stabbing pain, etc. etc. A little easier gear (I had an 11-23 on the rear) would have helped. I finished at 26:29 (8 miles total).

Later in the day I learned that I was 10th overall – with just 19 seconds separating the guys in 5th through 10th position. I kept imaging a different gear selection and what I “could have done.” Ok – next year. I was happy to pull a 10th place finish.

I left the area and drove back to Lancaster. I ate a Mickey D’s Egg McMuffin and then I stopped at Sheetz and got a breakfast burrito to go. I drank more coffee … I went in and packed … I showered (again) … I readied my road bike. I left.

CRIT Time. First, I dislike crit racing. I’ve had two lovely wrecks in crits and both ended in concussions. My policy is to start at the back and work my way up. Crazy policy but at least I have the opportunity to either be dropped or move up.

The short version: I moved up to 20th place in the crit and never worked that hard. We averaged 25.8 for 22 laps. Pretty fast considering that we slowed up with 7 lead changes.

SUMMARY: 17th in RR, 10th in TT and 20th in Crit; 16th overall and I was happy to walk away from the weekend with some lessons to help me in the future. One thing I learned – in a Masters field full of CAT1/2’s you can bank on it being fast, intense and competitive. I believe the Tour de Ephrata is on my list of repeats for 2009.

Ride-on.