Brownstown Road Race

Saturday we drove the 45 min necessary to get to Brownstown, PA where we were registered to do a 50 mile circuit race. Nearing our destination not much looked different from the roads around here other than the fact that there were tons more horse drawn buggies on the road. I had seen them before out on rides around Kutztown, but before this I had maybe seen 2 or 3 in the last 3 weeks of riding. In Brownstown, they were all over the place. As we were getting ready by the car on the side of the road, a buggy would trot past us every couple minutes with the little Amish children sitting in the back seat staring at us (half naked and wearing bright-colored spandex) and all of us staring back at them (fully clothed, complete with suspenders and top hats). I think it was a real culturally eye-opening experience for both parties of starers. This was Amish country apparently.

Not long after we had registered, suited up, and pinned numbers, the clouds opened up to give us a nice soaking before the start of the race. Not long after, the rain stopped and we lined up to start the race......all 17 of us......that's right, there were only 17 people there to race in the Pro/1/2/3 category. As the race unfolded, we ended up making a mistake or two and two guys ended up off the front without us. No big deal right, it's only 2 guys versus the 4 of us, and one of the guys we knew was not very fast anyway....well that's what we thought. As Oscar and I went to the front and started chasing, these guys were still gaining time on us. The two of us were accompanied at the front by a couple other guys that were not only content to let us do the chasing, but they wanted to get in our way to slow the chase. So, one time, after a good hard pull, Oscar pulled off and slotted in line right behind me as I pulled through, first wheel now. He let a big gap open up in front of him and behind me as I pulled away from the bunch. Doing this, I was not actually supposed to go anywhere serious, it was just an effort to make all the guys sitting in behind Oscar a little scared and have to sprint around him in an effort to hold my wheel....but I guess everyone was content with going slow cause no one came around him. I ended up riding off the front by myself and was now in an effort to chase the leaders alone. Oscar eventually bridged up to help me but this was a pretty bad position to be in. Through the strong winds and intense rain, we just didn't have enough gas to close down the growing gap to the two leaders. I ended up with 3rd in the race and Oscar 4th. It still kinda blows my mind how those two guys gained such a big gap (around 2 min at the finish) on the rest of us, and honestly, it's kind of embarrassing.

Race update

So we are not leaving tomorrow after all. Instead of going up to Massachusetts for a couple crits this weekend, we are not going up there until Tuesday to prepare for Fitchburg. Instead, we found a circuit race that's happening tomorrow and is a lot is closer. We are going there to race tomorrow afternoon and then not race Sunday or Monday as we had planned.

A couple good days of riding.

Heading out yesterday for a ride, we kind of did a dirt road tour, hitting 3 or 4 different dirt roads in about 2 hours. Any dirt road is a good road, and when you race down them it just makes it all the better. Not everything went so smooth on this ride, as it hardly ever does when you're riding dirt. One scary encounter was on the second dirt road we took. This road actually turned to somewhat of a paved road halfway through but was still no wider than one lane. While bombing down a hill after just racing to the hilltop, Thomas, Jafer, and I all leaned into this blind left-hand bend at 30+ mph. Just through the apex of the corner, I looked up to find myself staring directly into the front grill of a huge farm tractor hauling a gigantic trailer of hay bails.....taking up the entire road. In the split second before we smashed into the front of it, all we had time to do was throw our butts back behind our seats, lock up the brakes, and swerve off into the grassy ditch on the side of the road. No worries though, no one fell, and we all escaped with a laugh.....though I'm sure the tractor driver was pretty terrified.

Last night was junior night at the track so Mike Niemi (the boyo from Florida that is staying with us) went to do some racing. We made it there to watch him, and that's what the pictures are from. He was the junior 15-16 national time trial champion last year so he pretty much won all the races of the night. Its fun to support someone you know is gonna win.

Then, today, looking for a nice recovery ride, we rode out to Trexlertown to this bagel shop and had some of the best bagel sandwiches I've ever had.

Picnic

Tonight, after a day of playing Scrabble and chipping golf balls around the back yard (I took the day off from riding), we prepared some food and then drove to the local Gun and Rod club to cook out. When I say "we prepared some food" what I really mean is "Thomas Prepared" almost everything including turkey burgers, asparagus, baked beans, potato salad, and banana bread. I made fruit salad and made the grocery store run to get all the goods. We also brought the small grill from the house that we have to cook everything on.

We ended up with an incredible feast alongside the stream and could barely waddle back to the car once we were done gorging ourselves. And I caught a couple more fish :)

BAM!!!

That's the sound the tubular on my disc wheel made as it went from 130 psi to 0 in about half a second. I was warming up on rollers 10 minutes before the start of our first of 4 races when my tubular tire pretty much fell apart and flatted. We hadn't brought any extra track wheels from home in Georgia...much less to the track last night; nor had we brought any tools other than the one hex-wrench we used to put our wheels on. No worries though, as soon as it happened, the guy in the stall across from us in the infield offered up a spare wheel of his....and his tools. And then he actually ended up switching the gear and wheel for me because I guess I was doing it too unbearably slow for him to watch.

While I no longer had the advantage of racing with my aero disc wheel, I got back in business pretty quickly and off to a good night of racing. I finished 6th in the Win n' Out after getting in a break; Thomas rode a smart Miss n' Out and finished 6th out of 35 rider field; and Oscar, with the best performance of the night rode to a 5th place in the Points Race to be the best placed cat 2. For being the best placed cat 2 rider, he got a $44 prize that someone in the crowd had offered up, along with $10 for 5th place.

It was a full track of 35 riders again and once again filled with some good talent. The Australian national track team (either juniors or U23) were there along with Rite Aid's Bobby Lea who just qualified to go to the Olympics with the US track team.

I felt a lot more comfortable on the track last night even though I didn't place any better than last week. I felt good riding a fast, steady pace but could never really spin up my legs fast enough to contest any sprints. That was to be expected after my 4 hour ride the day before, and after the past weekend's racing. With some rest the next few days I think I'll gain a lot of speed back.....hopefully enough to do well at Fitchburg!

A ride on a Monday???

Today was the first Monday in probably my entire life that I did a real training ride. Monday's have historically been a day to rest and recover from the weekend, with just an easy hour ride at most. Well today I broke tradition and rode 4 hours with Oscar and Jackie. While I usually wouldn't have wanted such a long ride after a weekend of racing, these next couple days are the only ones I am going to have before I need to start cutting back my volume of training to get ready for Fitchburg.

This week is one of my last in this house. Either Friday or Saturday we are heading up into the New England area to race a few crits up there. Then, Fitchburg starts on next Thursday, so since we'll be in the area, I think the plan is or just get a hotel up there until the race starts. Fitchburg is a stage race that goes from Thursday to Sunday. Then, the day that ends (July 6th) I fly out of Boston to come home and drive to Pfeiffer for orientation. Aaaaaand then I get to go see Jordan at camp Celo! After a couple days there I fly into Chicago on Friday for the start of a race series called Superweek, our last set of races to tune up before nationals. Finally, after Superweek, we'll be back at the house for a couple days before coming home and flying out to California....

Giro Di Jersey done

In both today's and yesterday's stages of the race there were some strong, organized teams along with the Rite Aid pro team. We are a little bit unaccustomed to as much organization in races because not many teams are so strong or organized in the Georgia cup races. While it often does make the racing faster and harder, it also makes it more predictable. The last two days of racing were both circuit races with hills playing in as a major factor; each day Jafer got in the the main breakaway of the day, and each day I worked to lead out the sprint in the final miles. Though he did make the important moves, as he always seems to do, Jafer found little cooperation in his off the front efforts, and they did not stick. Our best placing of the weekend was made by Oscar on today's long, uphill sprint finish; after the first 10 riders finished in a break, Oscar placed 5th in the field sprint....ending up 15th for the day. Oscar and I both recieved a little bit of pay out at the end of the weekend for our positions in the overall general classification, placing 24th and 20th respectively.

Last night we decided to get a cheap room at the Extended Stay Hotel in Somersey, NJ which turned out to be a really good call. Booking the room saved us almost 4 hours of driving (back home and then to the race again today), and gave us plenty of time to lounge around, shower, wash out our clothes, get our bikes ready for the next day, and eat.........a lot. After cheching into the room, we immediately headed back out to fill our starvin bellies with some grub (we had just finished racing 74 miles so we was huuuuuuuungry). After a short bit of wandering in the volvo, we came upon a business district in a city called Bound Brook. If I had been knocked out and woke up to find myself in Bound Brook, I would have sworn I was somewhere in Mexico. There were probably at least 20 Mexican restaurants and various other stores (all with signs in spanish) lining a few blocks. Luckily, the thought of mexican food sounded great so we sat down at one of the smallest, hole-in-the-wall restaurants there was. After eating our authentic and very spicey tacos one of the guys sitting in there started talking to us and when he heard where we were from he told us he used to work in Carrolton and in Lawrenceville, so that was cool.

Just a few hours later, when we headed out for dinner, we went a different direction and found ourselves on the streets of New Brunswick right by Rutgers University. We enjoyed dinner at a little pizza/pasta/hooka bar place in the college town.

After all the driving and down time we've had between races, I have become a sudoku master.

Time trial come and gone

Jafer wrote this for the team blog so i just copied and pasted cause he pretty much said all there was to say:

It was another early morning as we headed off to New Jersey for the Giro time trial. It didn't take long for the mercury to rise as we warmed up on the 15K course. Today's course was mostly rolling with only one serious hill towards the finish. The first part of the course was super fast as it was mostly downhill with only minor rollers. After the turn around, the real race started as we gave it everything we had, to have a faster split time. We faced a large field as there were 80 riders in the pro/1/2 race. The course suited Jafer as he posted the fastest time on the team taking 20th place, followed by Joey with 25th and Oscar in 28th and Thomas saved himself for tomorrows race.

Now this is me writing:

Once home, after putsin around on the computer and taking a power nap, I got dressed again and went out for an easy spin with Jafer. An hour and a few sprints later we returned, got dressed and headed out for sushi.....just me and Jafer.....it was our little date. Returning home with bellies full of fish protien, it was time for a real, pre-race meal so we made some pasta to get ready for tomorrow's 70 mile road race.

Upcoming Races

Tomorrow we are starting a local race in New Jersey called the Giro di Jersey. Tomorrow's (Friday's) race is a 15 km time trial. Then, on Saturday we go back for a long road race and then again Sunday for a circuit race. Stay tuned for race reports.

Got dirty at a car race

Last night when I returned from my ride I heard the same noise we had all heard the Wednesday before. It was the blaring sound of either car or motorcycle engines somewhere close by. After listening to it all through dinner, we just couldn't take it anymore and set out to find the cars. It turns out that in the Kutztown fairgrounds, a 5 min drive away, there is a little, flat, dirt racetrack, and they host Wednesday night racing. We got there towards the end of the night, but stayed for the remainder of the races. It was actually quite a sight. These amateur drivers were driving what looked like really fast go-carts with cages and flimsy metal built around them. When they started each race, the track would explode in a giant dust cloud, and the wind would blow it directly onto the stands. Each time they tore around the corners at each end, they would go into a sideways skid and each time I was almost certain they weren't going to recover, but they usually did. Well, sort of.....there was a crash almost every other lap.

Tuesday night track racin

For the first time since we've been here, we got to race at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. We showed up with plenty of time to spare and registered for the Pro/1/2 races that we'd be competing in. The following is the race report on the points race that I wrote for the team blog. The races prior to this one went well for Thomas, but not really for anyone else. Oscar rode very aggressively, attacking off the front many times, but being so short, the Win n' Out and Scratch race really suited Thomas' strengths the best. He placed 4th in both of those races. The points race played out as follows:

Being the very last event of the night, it was nearly eleven o'clock as we set up along the track getting ready to start the points race. We had been at the track since 6 pm that evening and had already competed in three events. I had no idea how my legs would hold up for this final 30 laps around the track. It seemed like there were many things going against me going into the start: every race we had already completed had been one of the fastest track events I've experienced, the last meal we had eaten was lunch, and it already the time of night when we usually go to sleep. We started in high spirits nonetheless.

The first sprint came and went very quickly as the 36-man field thinned down due to the fast pace. As soon as the speed had slowed a bit, right after the sprint, a couple of us had the same idea to attack. We yo-yoed off the front for a minute as others chased off and on, but eventually, after a couple hard accelerations two other riders and I broke clear of the front end of the peloton and quickly built a substantial gap. One of the guys I was in the break with was a familiar face, his name is Nik Reinert. I last saw him a year ago at junior track nationals where he won our the men's 17-18 points race, 3k pursuit, and madison. While I was off the front, Thomas and Oscar did an excellent job of sitting on the front of the peloton keeping the pace low and jumping on any attacks that people attempted, thus discouraging further attacks. My two break away companions and I rolled through the next couple sprints with me taking the second place points, but I was really starting to hurt. Then, after leading out the whole lap of the second to last sprint, I got made a minor error in judgement when I pulled up track to let the other two come through to pull, and I got gaped off their wheels. Just then, the two I had been with lapped the field, each gaining 20 points automatically. For the remainder of the race I was so close to lap the group, but just didn't have enough gas left in the tank. I ended up with third place at the end of the race which was considerable better than any of my other placings that night, so that made me happy.

After swinging by the gas station to grab a snack and a "big gulp" (64 oz of whatever your heart desires) with our $10 in race winnings, we returned home at nearly 12:00!!! By the time we had showered and eaten dinner, it was well passed our bed time, and all we could do was stumble up the stairs and pass out on our bouncy, plastic beds.

For more pictures and stuff, keep checking the team blog!

Haircut

Thats my new cut. After an easy hour ride this morning, I went and got a haircut and did laundry. It was a pretty productive day. Now we're off to race at the track for the first time.

Turkey Boogers

Thomas made these really awesome turkey burgers for us for dinner last night. Thats a picture of them.

and then it rained.

and then oscar got a haircut from thomas. it was really sad 'cause oscar's afro was awesome.

and then before all this we whatched the finale of the us open golf championship and rocco almost came through but tiger never folds under pressure

then we ate bannana bread with chocolate chips in it, from the bannana's that we got for 1 dollar a box, 'cause they was rotted.

then we went to bed

I have a confession to make.

I watched golf today and liked it. After 3 days of being forced to watch the US Open golf championships, today, even though Oscar and Thomas weren't here to turn it on.....I turned it on by myself to watch Tiger tie with Rocco forcing a playoff round between the two tomorrow.

I'm all alone.

I was the only one to wake up to ride at 7:30 this morning.....everyone else wanted a rest day. Then, after my 3 1/2 hour ride, I returned to an empty house.....they had all gone to Harlem to watch a crit Jason was doing. They didn't get back until like 9:30 pm. I sat and layed around all day. Pretty uneventful.

Every road is a good road in PA

It's is really hard to find roads here that you don't want to ride on (except for the highways). Both today and yesterday we covered some new ground on our rides, and nearly every road we took was a great road to ride on. On our rides, we wind between farms and through big pastures, but within a matter of minutes we can also be in the middle of forested mountains where the pitch of the road changes with ever turn.

I don't, however, want to give you the wrong impression about our rides; when we go hard, it still hurts, and today hurt a lot. We started our three and a half hour death march at 9:30 this morning, and from the gun, Jason was tearing our legs off. Having come to stay at this house and ride these roads for many summers past, he knew a good route and was leading the ride: i.e., we were at his mercy. The only times in the whole ride he was not at the front was on some of the long, steep hills we climbed.....and those hurt because they were hills. After a much needed gas station stop, we did eventually make it back to town, and just for the record, I'd like everyone to know that I edged out some tough competition including the likes of Oscar Clarke and Thomas Brown to win the sprint to the Kutztown city limit sign on the way home.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out

I just added a link to our team blog in the upper left corner of this page. Jafer created it and has been bringing viewers up to speed on what has been going on so far this season. Stay tuned, we will soon get the team blog up to date and then it will be a good place to access our race calendar and current results.

In other news, this morning we went down the road to a really big farmer's market that is only open Fridays and Saturdays and picked up some much needed groceries. All the vegges, friut, meat, eggs, and bread we bought were farmed/raised/made locally.

I ain't got no kinda coordination.....

After being inspired by watching some big golf tournament on tv while eating the corn pancakes I cooked up, we went out to hit (and miss, in my case) some balls of our own. First was the driving range where I discovered that I'm about as coordinated as a drunk German at a soccer game. While Oscar and Thomas railed balls way out to the 175 meter mark, I struggled to get mine to leave the mat. After a quick pause to eat some italian ice, we turned to the putt-putt course to test our skills there. Jafer and Thomas excelled in this discipline of the stupid sport, but at least I didn't get last....that spot was reserved for Oscar.

Again, we headed to the velodrome, and again we didn't really know what to expect other than the fact that there was gonna be some kind of group ride. Today we got the crit we had been hoping for yesterday. It wasn't just a group ride though, this was a well-organized practice race with numbers, $5 entry fee, and waivers. We hadn't brought our licenses but Oscar sweet talked the guy into letting us race be saying "Aww, c'mon, we's jus a coupla stoopid jawr-juh boooys." Haha, no the guy was really nice and didn't need the sweet talk....but Oscar did say that.

This was a fast race. We did 30 laps around this 1 mile loop in the park, with sprints for points every 3 laps. We all took some turns off the front, and Thomas did what he does best and placed in most of the sprints. After that, plus the ride home, we were all pretty pooped; its been a hard but really fun couple of days of riding. Some really good training I think.

Yesterday

I was pretty tired and stayed up talking to Jordan on Skype so I ain't post noffin yestaday. It was actually a pretty eventful day though which is just what I needed/wanted after sitting on my butt for two days straight. The first thing that made it so nice was that the intense storm from the night before, had brought in some cooler temperatures. It was the first time in about 3 or 4 days that I had been able to wear a shirt for more than 5 minutes.

We didn't plan to ride until about 4 pm so after breakfast we headed out to make something of the day. First we got in the car and retraced our steps (or pedal strokes) to get to a pick-your-own strawberry patch we had noticed on a ride a few days before. Though the woman on the farm warned us that we might not find much because the hail had destroyed a lot of the crop, we went a-pickin anyway and soon filled the two quart baskets that she had given us. On the way home we stopped at one of the dozen road side produce stands where I picked up a zucchini, two green peppers, a bag of field greens, an apple, and two pears all for only four dollars! Once at home again, and determined not to get bored, Oscar and I headed out to go fishin, but despite driving around to numerous creeks out of determination, we came up empty handed.

Around 4 pm we then suited up and rode to the velodrome (about 10 miles away I'd guess) to meet up with a group ride. We didn't really know much about it but were pretty sure it was gonna be a practice crit through this wide bike path across the street from the drome. Turns out plans had been changed that day so the ride headed out of town for a little 33 mile loop. First disappointed by the slow pace, we welcomed the attacks and quickened pace that ensued about half way through at a designated point. That's really bout it.....it turned out to be a really good workout with some nice, long rolling hills.

lookit

Something I forgot to mention before: We got out team shirts in the mail today! Jeremy had them made and then shipped them up to us. They're pretty cool, I'm wearing one in the picture.

Hail Yeeeah

If you think I did nothing yesterday, you shoulda seen me today. I took another rest off the bike with the possibility of racing at the track this evening, but that didn't happen. Right around 6 pm, as weather.com had predicted, dark clouds rolled in and a big thunderstorm started. We all rushed outside (still shirtless) hoping the rain would bring cooler temperatures and were nearly frozen dead in our tracks by the chilling gusts of wind blowing through the street. Then the hail started. It came in a few separate showers and the little ice pellets eventually grew to be at least the size of quarters, if not bigger. They hurt pretty bad if you stepped out from under our overhang.

As for the earlier part of the day, I got some laundry done at the laundromat and figured out Skype. Throughout the day I chatted with both Micah and Jordan face to face (we all have webcams) on skype. That was nice, and a bit more personal than just a regular phone call. That's bout all I got for you.

I've decided I've had enough resting....its getting VERY boring. Can't wait to get out of the house and ride tomorrow.

Butt-day

I call it that because I never really got off my butt all day. I didn't even step foot outside until around 5 pm. I enjoyed a rest day sitting inside, shirtless, in front of a fan and the TV, munching away at whatever I could find in the kitchen. My legs were feelin a little tired after the hard effort yesterday, and unless the rain holds off and we get a chance to race at the track, tomorrow will be much the same. I didn't, however, remain a completely braindead, motionless blob for the entire day; after a while when I started feeling really useless I actually got up and cleaned the kitchen and was then eventually persuaded to go ride on the track.

Tonight there was open track at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome so we got down there around 7:30 pm to roll around for a little while and get Jafer some track experience. It was only his second time ever on a velodrome, but he road fine. Riding this track feels so nice and smooth compared to Dick Lane, but the shallower banking makes the corners feel a little different.

Heading home we stopped at a gas station and Oscar and Thomas each came out with a "Big Gulp" (64 oz) filled with gatorade. After a challenge from Thomas, Oscar proceeded to drink two "Big Gulps" (he refilled it), and start in on his third, in less than 30 min. Thomas trailed behind finishing a measly one "Big Gulp" in about the next hour and a half.

Good News

- Jeremy found Curly.
- My elbow ain't so swole no mo.
- Our air conditioner started working again.

River Pictures

Racin in New Joysey

Today was sooooooooooooo hot. I haven't stopped sweating since I woke up, it was really almost 100 degrees here (and in New Jersey). Our upstairs AC unit is working overtime but we're all still sitting here shirtless with beads of sweat continuing to stream from our brow.



After a big pancake breakfast courtesy of Thomas, we headed out around 10:30 am to Highbridge, New Jersey to race. This was the hottest race I think we've all done in a long time, and the heat definitely took a toll on us....as did the incredibly steep uphill and the torn up roads in the 3 mile loop. Sections of the skinny back roads were almost comparable to cobbles. The field was pretty talented as well. A few former U23 National team riders showed up to race as well as a couple other strong teams. A huge group of about 17 riders eventually formed off the front as people started slipping up the road in small groups, and at the end of the day only Jafer and I finished. Out of 70 starters, only around 25 made it to the finish line at the end of our 11 lap race. Believe me, that was the longest 33 miles I've ever ridden, and if it weren't for a much needed water feed from Oscar towards the end of the race, I don't know what would have happened. Jafer and I finished in the only group remaining behind the group of 17. Stumbling to the car as soon as we finished, I think we both were severely dehydrated and overheated. That, however, was nothing a good dip in the river couldn't fix.



After laying in the river, stopping at a gas station/burgerking, and finishing the hour drive back to the place we now call home, we enjoyed some juicy burgers on the grill and then rushed upstairs to "chill" in the only room with AC.

More Landscape

Gone Fishin

Our fishing trip was a success!!! While tearing through a narrow road in the woods in excess of 100 mph we came upon a gun club that had a pond full of nasty plants and frogs. Soon after Oscar's first cast of his Wal-Mart fishing pole, we discovered that that's not all that was in the lake. Over the next hour, taking turns with the pole, we all probably caught about 20 fish, a few of which were good sized small-mouth bass. We threw them all back.

For dinner, Jafer hand made us some pasta from scratch. That was cool, I'd never seen it done before. I played the role of the pasta catcher as he fed it through and cranked it through the cutter. While out we also picked up a homade shortbread cake and strawberries at this Amish/Menanite lady's produce stand. With some milk and sugar on top, it was very delicious.

i got noffin to do but write

Just an update:

-Our house is REALLY hot. (Jafer went and bought a fan today so its getting better)
-While he was out, he discovered a farmersmarket where some of the locals take there goods. He got some delicious fresh bread and a couple other farm-grown crops...yum.
-My elbow (the one I hit hard in a crash 2 weeks ago) got swollen again. I think I mighta slept on it wrong and further irritated it by riding. It's pretty big now.
-Oscar dog, Curly, ran away :(
-We live next to the Kutztown bottling plant where they brew beer and make soda. They have a store in the building too, where we got root beer, birch beer, sasparilla, red cream soda, and black cherry.
-Now we're off to find a good creek to fish in....and a fishing pole to buy.

B-E-A-UTIFUL

After yesterday's ride to the velodrome lead by Jackie (one of the women that was already here when we arrived), today we decided to head a different direction, up towards the ridge. Off in the distance, there is a ridge that runs east to west and today we investigated. While it was around 90 degrees outside and felt like 101 cause of the humidity, it turned into a really nice ride. Once we climbed up into the ridge, we just rode along the top of it through the rolling hills and farms where Oscar dropped us a couple times. There are farms everywhere! Everywhere we go is rolling farmland and traffic is very minimal, its awesome, and makes for some really nice riding. Check out a couple picatures I took of the house and ride.

We made it to PA!

Finally, around 10:30 Thursday night I was able to get up off my increasingly soar butt. We had made it to our house in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. We quickly got to unloading the piles of stuff we had managed to jam into Thomas's Volvo and out rental Pontiac. Out of glee for being done with that 12 + hr car ride I proceeded to unload with gleeful shouts and stomps.....until Oscar reminded me that Jackie and Yuki were probably sleeping. I felt kind of bad about that, but in the morning they were very nice and lied to us saying "Oh, no we didn't hear a thing when you guys showed up." Its a pretty skinny little house, only one room wide and three stories tall. We set up our air mattresses in the very top floor and installed an AC unit which, I think, is the single most important piece of equipment we packed....that top floor was blazing hot until we showed up.

Time to go ride, Oscar is already suited up and waiting on me....and telling me how big of a dork I am for setting this blog up.

joey is really good

joey is awesooooommmmeeee
so coooooooolllll

joey rulllzzzzz

joey roastkapf
rulllzzzz