Sunday

I forgot that the useful Blogger functions with the mouse don't work with my desktop.  Hmmm.  Entries are becoming a little like my regular office stuff...nothing's easy.  That's why I make the big bucks, fo' sure!

The DeWitt ride this morning was a bit of an effort.  My pal Pete was a no-show as he had done a 100-mile ride yesterday, so I had no drafting partner.  There wasn't a lot of wind though, so it was just the basic reality of 48 miles to traverse.  After those three rides on the hills at Lake Tahoe last week, none of the hills on these local routes are intimidating.

I thought that cars on my ride yesterday and today all gave a little more road to me than on what had become normal days around here.  I'm giving credit for that to two fairly widely publicized automobile-hitting-a-bicylcist accidents in the area within the last week.  Irrespective of most motorists thinking that bicycles belong on a path, not on a road used by cars, those same drivers don't want to be on the evening news either.  If such reports scare enough drivers, maybe the bike clubs should leak stories every month or so to keep up the awareness.

The guy who won the PGA event this weekend in Greensboro, Patrick Reed, has received a lot of press coverage throughout the Summer, mostly for his good play.  But one of the side-bar stories whenever he has been in the hunt, is the double-take inducing picture of his very petite wife lugging his bag around behind him as his full-time caddy.  This pic really doesn't do justice to the relative sizes of her to the bag.  Understand that the pro's use these over-sized bags as advertising props for their sponsors (kinda like NASCAR).  So a smaller bag is not an option.  Heck I can't even carry a lightweight, made-for-the-purpose "carry-bag".  Good for her.  And him.  Good story.

Staying with the theme from earlier posts in the last few days, today is the two-year anniversary of 4 and I making it up the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.  (The Tourmalet being the most storied climb in the Pyrenees.)  I remember sitting in a cafe in the ski resort town of Le Mongie near the top of the Tourmalet and having to talk the waiter into serving a Margarita pizza to us in the middle of the afternoon...and it being a big deal because it was no longer the lunch hour.  And when I asked for ice in the Coke, I got one cube.  Love the French! 

(OK.  I really don't know how this will end up looking online.  To get the Tourmalet pic posted, I had to go to the iPad...and the BlogPress app, which isn't exactly compatible with the standard Blogger.  Like I said earlier, this is getting a little bit like WORK!)

The Little League World Series is underway in Williamsport, PA with a team from Urbandale, Iowa representing the Mid-States area.  They've split two games, so they're still alive in the double elimination tournament. These teams are All-Star teams from their hometown leagues.  And they have played their way through local, state and regional tournaments to get to Williamsport.  Its a BIG deal.  I remember my Little League days...my team was the Olsen Sporting Goods Dodgers...we won the Ottumwa City Championship (at least once), and lost a couple of others...and my teams never made much noise on the All-Star level.  I may find a Little League pic to add here later.  (Will need to look further.  Couldn't locate what I was looking for this evening.)

(My Babe Ruth league All-Star team DID win a state championship when I was a 15-year old.  The state tournament was just up the road from Ottumwa...in Oskaloosa...and I think I hit a home run in the championship game.  Then we went to Missouri some where and got knocked out in two straight games in the regional.)

Enough for today.  Busy week ahead for me.  Lots to do before Italy/Sicily...now less than a month away!

Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT