Life Is Good (Copyrighted) - and Florida is A Cup Flat

Many of you have missed me, I know - You know you hear people say - yeah my wife's rich uncle - well, Judy really does have one - Oh Yeah - Sucks to be you!

So right now I have temporarily moved to Naples, Florida where I am sitting on the beach typing my blog. This house is the shit. We are staying in the guest house which is two bedrooms and two full baths, kitchen, laundry, and even cable. You got it, I am even getting Versus so I am quite well aware that Lance bombed out and Mark Renshaw lays down a good headbutt during a sprint.

So this is the part where I gloat - I am living in a 12 million dollar mansion on the beach and you aren't!
Now I will gloat with pictures:
This is my view from my left:
This is my view from my right:
This is my view from the front:
This is my view of the house behind me:
This is my hot wife:
These are my kids in front of the house at sunset:
There- now you feel jealous.

On to Cycling:
Saturday, July 3: Judy did the Hub Ride! She hung with group - unitl Mary Queen - but we rode on, caught up with Stephanie and I joined up with the guys and it was all good in the end. Afterwards, we went to the Webster 4th of July Parade in front of The Hub and had a good time with Dave Smith, Rock, and many others!

On the Cycling in Florida:
Florida is flat - Like riding on rollers flat. It takes some getting used to. It has been very difficult to take pictures while riding because the groups of so rank and file. This has to be doing wonders if I wanted to practice my TT skills. Unfortunately I brought my Jake the Snake and not my race bike with deep dish carbons - man, those would rock out here. The terrain is so flat it seems be going downhill both directions. The group rides are super fast - but I'll be honest, it is a little boring with no hills. Guys get into a pace line and that is it - you wait until it is your turn, pull and fall to back, repeat, repeat, etc. I have fallen in with three group rides - Tuesday and Thursday from Naples Cyclery. This is the shit shop out here with a large race team. The ride is super large (maybe 70 plus) and breaks up into 3 groups - an A group (pace 27-28 mph) - an A- group (pace 22-24 mph) and a B Group (pace 20 mph). The first day I arrived (last Thursday) I rode and try to hang with the A group - big mistake - I was wiped out from the drive and I ate Skyline Chili for lunch - it started coming up so I fell back with the A- group. On Tuesday I rode with the A group again and was feeling fine - I pulled, pulled off and there were like 30 people, so I waited for the train to go by and jumped on the back - and than I pulled again later - and the third time a guy opened a gap up to three guys in the front and I tried to close, but we all know I suck at that, so I closed half way and pulled off to let the guy behind me finish, which he did. I pulled off to wait for the train to pull by and,,, there were only like 10 guys left - well shit. I wasn't paying attention and before I knew it they were by me and gone - AHHH I hate that - I felt fine - so I hammered back with this other guy and still had fun. The pace was 27 mph. It seems so fast, but it is so flat, it is so doable. I would love to see what Devin, Ryan, or David Mark would do out here. If Devin can pull 28 out Clayton and David can pull 24 up Conway, I can only imagine what they could do to these guys. On Sat. i did a training ride led by a retired Marine Drill Sergeant. I kid you not - this ride was a trip - he told everybody how fast to ride and did a hell of a job keeping the rather large group together. It was a hilarious. He rode on the back and shouted commands to the person on the front - you have to experience it to understand - I will get a picture of him for next week.

Oh well - I miss riding at home - Peace out! One more time of me at the beach: