From the Weekend Files

I really had no plans of racing the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb on Saturday morning. It wasn't because I'm "not a climber" or that I was saving myself for the ITT/TTT the next day. It was because the weather was supposed to be cold and wet, not a good combination for an 8 AM start time. I woke up and it wasn't raining and it wasn't really all that cold, despite the fact that Lookout was completely socked in.

I raced, I cracked the top 20 which is qute an accomplishment when there are only 26 guys at the line to start. It wasn't my fastest trip up Lookout, but I also didn't really warm up at all and I didn't really have any expectations. I kept rolling at the top and did a loop with some of the guys from Horizon Dairy before calling it a day and heading to Lucille's for brunch with Pinkerton and Randy/Heather.


Matt and I got in some late Derby celebrations, redneck style, out in the garage, sitting on buckets and kicking the truck tires. I was amazed by the selection of beer sizes there are these days in canned, domestic beers. The smallest option was 6 oz, but there was also an 8 oz and then on up to the plus sizes. We solved a few mechanical problems on the truck but mostly sat around.

Given the weather, I decided to do a little more baking this weekend. The loaf of the day on Sunday was a cheddar bread. I still have a little tinkering to do with the recipe since I'd like a bit more cheddar flavor to come through. On the second loaves, I put some cheese on top before throwing them in the oven and that helped a little bit.

Sunday morning, the weather held out respectable for the Rabbit Mountain TT. I always have a hard time with my warmup on this one. My usual routine gets thrown off by the longer drive to get there so I warmed up on the roads of Hygiene, CO. I didn't feel like I got a great warm up in and didn't feel spectacular during the ITT, but it was good enough for a solid 2nd place behind Kevin. Chuck joined Brian and I for the TTT which pitted us again the Vitamin Cottage squad of four. I'll keep it short . . . we were smooth, we smoked them. Sure it was only four seconds, but they had one more guy.

The weather was clear for a little while once I got home which gave me a chance to finish up arts and crafts hour and do some planting. I finished the last two window boxes and repotted the geraniums. I hope I don't kill them too quickly.

They look pretty good for now and I think they dress up that side of the garage nicely. With any luck, they will fill out and provide some color for most of the summer before the end of their plant days.

I still have to paint the windo box itself, but I'm making progress slowly but surely. You can hardly tell the rest of the backyard is still a trainwreck.