Twelve

The Wifey and I made it back from South Jersey unscathed. I hadn’t been down there since xmas ’04 so it was cool to hang out for a couple days. We ate some good food and did a bunch of relaxing. For all the times I walked by The Mad Batter and wondered how their food might be we finally stopped in for breakfast Saturday. Good stuff. We also visited Cabana’s, The Ugly Mug, Uncle Bill’s(shitty), Morrow’s Nut House(chocolate!!!), and twice we had pizza from Louie’s. I love their pizza. One slice is approx one quarter of a large pie. Yum.

Erin did some shopping all around town. I got 5hrs of riding in. riding down there is just short of brutal in more than one way. Flat. Dead freakin flat. Also windy. All the time. Especially the past couple days. Today I left Cape May at 9:15am on my bike and Erin left at 10am in her car so that I could get a little ride in. I check out the Weather Channel for a quick update on conditions. 35. 20-30mph winds out of the west northwest. Beauty. My general direction was north northwest. So, for 90 minutes I rode into a pretty stiff and unforgiving headwind. It was fun. She caught me 27 miles up the road. I was using my new Powertap SL system. Pretty interesting stuff. I know I was working WAY too hard for this time of year. Partly due to headwinds and partly due to my own curiosity about what this power measurement is all about. Now I will tone it down and start some base mileage. Still curious about how a dead flat ride will compare to a hilly ride. I’m figuring about the same but this is all new to me so it will take a little time to get it figured out. Coach Hebe has recommended CyclingPeaks software for the best in power measurement diagnostic type stuff. I also bounced the question off Matt while up at the Serotta thing. He has used a Powertap the previous 3 years and also said there is no better way to go than CyclingPeaks. He’s bound by sponsor commitment to use an SRM this year which is probably a pretty sweet tool in its own right. A small fortune but hell, if someone wants to throw one my way.

Last but certainly not least. Two of my most favorite people in all the land also happen to be married to each other. And today happens to mark the 12th year they’ve been married. I owe a lot to Mike and Amy. Without them there would most likely not be a Mrs Erin Kessel. They took me under their wing when I was a no-date-getting putz. They saved me from far too many weekends on my own. They are the only two people I know on earth that would ever place a single hunk of cheese between two slices of bread and without heating it up call it edible. Mike has bought way too many first rounds when there was not a second round. Amy has provided far too much entertainment with the feet and Dicky Martin and bingo and most importantly, as mentioned earlier, gave her blessing when I started dating and eventually married her cousin. Two great people and wouldn’t you know it, one phone number will reach ‘em both. Happy Anniversary Mike & Amy. Hey, you two are almost a teenager. Anyway, here’s to 12 more.

Gotta go, Napoleon Dynamite is on HBO. Riot. Sopranos tonight. F yeah!