Feasting

It has been a fun last couple of days with a bit of riding mixed in. On Thursday afternoon, we fought the holiday traffic and rolled up to Tacoma to watch the Rainers game and fireworks with my brothers, OB12OLD, and my Louisiana nephews. We had a great time just being boys - you know, throwing stuff, yelling random comments, and just being annoying overall. The fireworks were great, the kids loved them.

The 4th was spent just hanging out at a memorial breakfast, eating some incredible BBQ (Thanks 2OLD for the ribs), playing some football at the park, and reading. Thanks for my mom for having us all at the house and be patient with all of the kids and as always, the great food. Although I never lived in that house, it does feel like home because she is there.

After leaving around 6 PM, we headed to the airport and meet the Dunfords. Quite exciting for all - they are here.

We got up Saturday and tuned into the Tour. Yes, it started. Valverde put on a show at the finish. I believe he was trying to send a message to the peleton that the Dauphine was no fluke. I am leary of his ability to finish the Tour. Three weeks is a long time. Cadel's face at the finish kind of told it all - "I am going to have to work hard."

JD and I put in a metric century and a half - 97 miles of fun around the Willamette Valley - North Valley, Haag Lake, Yamhill, Carlton, Lafayette, Hopewell, Wheatland Ferry, St. Paul (let's rodeo), and back to Newberg. The weather cooperated with us - it was a cool 72 degrees with cloud cover all day. It was good to be riding with JD.

Overall, 150+ miles this week - with one week to go to STP. We'll probably ride a bit more than the schedule this week but also allow plenty of time to recover. It would be nice to have a 300 mile week!