There’s nothing I hate more than being sick, and I have been sick for going on three weeks now.  It would appear, based on a very much forced upon me doctor visit, that I have walking pneumonia.  That’s the preliminary diagonsis.  We are slowly piecing together the chain of events that could lead to such a problem for someone who has never been this sick in his life.  I was one of those nerds who had multiple years of perfect attendance at school.  In fact, I have more awards than not for my years in school for which I had not missed a day.  Guh.

Needless to say, I have not been training at all.  I have already had to make the unwanted decision to deprecate my forthcoming race from a half Ironman to olympic distance race.  The marathon in October is also looking like it’s going to be a very hard day.  My only hope is that we now have all the issues on the table and identified, and I can get back to training this weekend.

I just don’t understand the mind-set of some of the pro peloton riders.  Getting caught for doping in this years’ Tour is insane.  How could they think that they would get away with it?  So far, we have had three riders thrown out of the tour, and one team completely retire.

Saunier-Duval walked away from the Tour on the heels of the revelation that their rider, Ricardo Ricco, tested positive for a new form of EPO.  Did they walk away because of shame, or fear that more of their riders would test positive?  Seeing as Ricco had two stage wins, not to mention a runner up slot at the Giro d’Italia, and Saunier had riders finish 1-2 on stage 10, one can only wonder if the new form of EPO Ricco was caught using was also flowing through the bodies of the rest of that team.

Here’s what I don’t get.  If the police come to a bar and tell the patrons that not only are there going to be sobriety check points on the road that night, but that there would be check points at all possible points of egress from that bar, and that if you test positive you are going to jail for life, would anyone leave the bar drunk and try to drive?  Seriously.  Dumbfucks.  The lot of them.  I just can’t comprehend the level of conceit and disrespect for a sport where you continue to cheat, especially knowing full well that you will get caught and be publicly shamed and humiliated.

I don’t care if the cheaters are gone.  They haven’t tarnished what has been great racing so far.  The Tour execs have handled each of these doping situations swiftly, strongly, and appropriately.  Good on them.  Here come the Alps…let’s keep riding.

It’s great to be back on a bike. After the last couple of years, with a myriad of issues and two children getting added to the mix, I really haven’t been able to train the way I want for my races. Last season’s Ironman Buffalo Springs was a complete let down in terms of my finishing time. At least I finished.

So now that we are done with our little vacation, and apparently relocating to the Pacific Northwest, I can start thinking about my race schedule for this year. I plan to post my training regimen, as a way to share with other folks looking for ways to supplement their training, without all the preachiness you will find on certain web forums for triathlon. It’s just what I do and what works for me.

The one thing that I am not used to here, which we certainly did not have in Texas, are the hills. Holy banana hands, there are some crazy hills around here, and I am so not prepared for riding them. It will be great for training, but man does it suck. At least the weather is cooler here (if not more damp).