la in a few hours

wow! on a beautiful sunday morning, john from critter ridders came to check and remove all the rat traps. that's dedication, he didn't have to come today, but they knew i was leaving. i highly recommend this company. good news - no more rodents. the big test comes when i get home in 19 days. i'll let you know.

no riding today. finished packing and waiting for my neighbor to take me to the airport. going to miss sue, sold her place and is moving to prescott, az. good luck, sue.

i stuffed my osprey hydration pack with my shoes, pedals, and clothes then stuck my helmet on the outside. it's huge, hope they let me on the plane with the bulk. fyi - yes, giant is giving us helmets (see picture) but i'd rather have mine.

whoops, tsa not happy i had my pedal wrench. tore everything apart and then told me to wait. limit on wrenches is 4 inches. my is 6 - but they passed it. yes!

boomer wasn't happy today

boomer wasn't happy this morning as i closed the gate on his room at dog camp, the kennel he's staying at while i'm in taiwan. usually he runs in and seems happy. not this time, he even refused his chicken treat. i already miss him.

 i took him over early this morning because it was too damn cold at 38 degrees to start riding. my buddy jason came with me and afterwards we did 5 brisk laps at the veloway to get my legs working. it warmed to the high 50's and i felt good. good enough to climb wuling mtn or do 200km on the taiwan cup course? that remains to be seen, but you can bet i'll try. stay tuned.

it always feels so good riding the davidson. right? i said that before. i wonder what it will be like riding a brand new bike, with a brand new saddle and no "bike fit" at race pace. i have my fingers crossed it's the right size. that's part of the challenge i have no control over. here's a picture of the bike giant is providing. neat "touring" package. i'm bringing my own spd pedals, shoes, helmet and misc bike clothing.

right now i have got to start packing. i'm leaving tomorrow. yikes!

why am i telling you all this?

there's nothing like the patter of little feet around the house. of course, it's much better when they belong to children or your dog, not a huge female rat. i've been away for 2 months, during which time rodents seeking food, water and refuge from the intense heat and drought in austin burrowed their way inside and stayed. it has been a wild few days figuring out what to do.

then i found critter ridders and they took over. they have sealed all the holes outside and placed about 25 traps inside. hope it works, i'm freaked. those nasty things have rabies and carry fleas with typhus. at over 13 inches she was also pretty damn scary.

boomer is the hero in this story, chasing her up into the window at 4:30 am. waking me with his cooing and purring wanting to play with his new gal-pal, i jumped up and closed the window trapping it between the glass and screen. all we had to do next was call cr and wait for them to get here.  finally, cr snagged it and killed it then told me it's the one of the biggest rats they have ever seen in texas!

why am i telling you all this? because i wasn't able to ride until cr came to get rid of the rat. hope to make it up on saturday, my last training day before leaving on sunday on the way to taiwan.

well, almost

its been about 3 years since the davidson has seen any serious mileage. after the second girl talking on a cell phone ran me over with her car i stopped road riding. i've gradually, reluctantly returned, riding only in groups for short distances. i much prefer my mtn bike.

i am going to taiwan on a biking junket in a few days requiring some long distance rides around the island. about 3 weeks ago i started serious training. it has been a blast, getting back on the tange prestige steel frame with takabahsi unicrown fork and those gorgeous custom lugs bill davision made for me 23 years ago. this bike still feels so alive and nimble, looks beautiful, ready to take me anywhere...

almost ready to ride, because it is not easy acclimating to long fast rides after such a  hiatus. recently, i logged several hundred miles at tempo pace and suffered some saddle soreness and cramping. that's easily handled by ibuprofen. the sheer exhaustion i'm feeling after 50 - 60 miles is not so easily resolved.

like i say, i am almost ready to ride. mike schneider says, "take it easy and take your time." not much choice at my age. well, ready or not the 200km taiwan cup course beckons on tuesday, nov 5, 2011.