Ride for the Roses in Austin

Very early morning start with Shelly, Cezanne, and me waiting for Chris (in line to drop off the junior Chris swim team).
4 mins later the sun had come up

A little too chipper for mile 60

Easily showing wear of the distance

Look at these guys! True longhorns for your viewing pleasure.


What a weekend. I had to opportunity to spend some time with wonderful people and together we raised more than $2000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Very cool!

I arrived in Austin late sat night thanks to Carolyn and Lips. I got a room and walked around a bit soaking up the Austin scene. I had been there plenty of times before but always enjoy 4th-6th streets when there is agreeable weather. To be honest, it very much reminds me of San Diego (except for the unbearable heat in the summer).

I picked up Chris and Cezanne on sat afternoon and we enjoyed a nice dinner with Shelly. Not really carbo-loading, but good tapas anyway. We woke up at the crack of dawn to get to the start. Shelly rode the 60 mile and Chris and I got a horrible start position for the 90 miler. So basically, we rode the entire 90 miles with one of the two of us pulling. I was hoping to find a group of twenty or so that would be willing to work with/for us. So we pushed at a decent clip for the 1st 1.5 hours with no luck. We cross at least 10 cattle guards and one creek (no kidding). I guess someone fell while walking across the creek and broke their arm. Ouch!

Chris and I soldiered on and enjoyed the scenery. At the start of the ride Lance claimed these were the roads responsible for 7 Tour victories. At mile 40 I started to understand why. We had only ridden 2 hours but it felt like 3.5. And all the roads were paved, just not really smooth. You know exactly the road I describe, definately not smooth but still hard and was probably paved in the 40s. A couple times I had to open my mouth so that my teeth wouldnt chatter!

Cezanne brought me a coke at mile 60 and that probably got me through the ride. 6000 feet of climbing coupled with only 3 training rides in the past 6 weeks creates a non-effective solution. But I still enjoyed the ride (after convincing Chris to wait for me a couple times). It was fun because Chris would crush me on the climbs then I would just roll down the hills enjoying the 40lb advantage I maintain over him.

For those of you who dont know, Chris and two of his 3 brothers have had some type of cancer. All survivors. Chris had bilateral testicular cancer and is free and clear now. He did offer me some synthetic testosterone before we started. The same kind of ointment Floyd would have used if he did cheat. I thought about it but then was thankful I had blessing of health. I wouldnt wish what he and Brett Holdiman had to go through on anyone.

Moms then came over from Houston and the 5 of us had dinner. Wonderful. We ate at Trulucks in Austin and it was probably the best seafood I have ever enjoyed. Very classy place.

All in all, a wonderful weekend. However, I am still $200 short of my fundraising goal of $1500. So, if you have the means, please donate $10 at

http://austin07.livestrong.org/yellowrice

Can't wait for next week and fat camp in Moab! What a life I lead.