Test your Metal!!!!

I got into the TEST! So, I will be racing the Test of Metal in about 3 weeks time. I was thinking about just bagging it because i have some road races teed up before that, but now i think that I will just do the road races that will take me to the Test, which only leaves me with one weekend to ride my MTB prior to the race. Oh well, the first year that I did it, I rode it in 3:22 with a flat ( fast change though ) and had never seen the course, Ronsonic just emailed me what to expect. There are really only 2 technical downhill's, actually 3 if you count the ring creek rip. The plunge and one other one. Can't recall it's name, but it is short. The plunge is technical, but if you ran half of the plunge it might make a 2 minute difference in a 3.5 hour race. So, preriding will not be a luxury that I will have this year. Doing the road race out at SFU this Sunday, it should be interesting. It is a super short loop that you do 15 times with a 1.6km climb. I am hoping that it does not detonate in the first few laps as if it gets shattered to pieces early I may just pull the pin, especially if the forecast that is calling for rain is correct.
So, it appears that everyone on the old Team Telecom was doping. Big surprise there. Riis, Mr 64%! Ulrich! Now I am not sad about Zabel, but he rides with class so I would have liked to have believed that he was clean, but you would really have to be an idiot to think that in a nearly 20 year career that he did not dope. That may be pessimistic of me, but just look at the times. It was dirty and still is! One funny thing is, the doctors on the team admit to systematically doping the riders. They lose their jobs at the hospitals that they work at as a result. Riis says that he did it all on his own? I guess now that he is a team owner and DS he does not want people thinking that the DS are involved in the doping, namely his biggest rider Basso. Like he did not know Basso was doping? Come on. Annnnyways, they should strip Riis of his title, then who would it go to? Ulrich ( 2nd ) Virenque (3rd ) or Dufaulx (4th ) all of these guys have been busted in doping cases. Best to leave it with 64%. Should be interesting to see who comes out next week. Oh one other thing about Riis confession was that his wife and kids knew. How would they not I guess, but it still seems weird to me that your spouse would know you are shooting up for a bike race....let alone your kids.
What else....I am skinny now. i had been carrying a few extra lbs with me in spring. I am back to about 160 or below. Just being lazy and not watching portions. I was eating like I was riding 4 hours a day. Well, I ride 2 hours a day ( except weekends ) 4 days a week and that is mostly broken into 2 1 hour rides. So, I go in the habit of only eating small portions through out the day. nothing like a quarter of a bowl of cereal in the morning before leaving, half a muffin when I get to work, half of my lunch at 12:00,. then the other half at 2:00, half a Clif bar before I ride home, eat dinner then grapes while I watch TV.
Been doing the Tuesday night crits. They have been good. I have felt strong doing them, tried to make an escape this last Tuesday, but when you are going 40km plus it is pretty tough to sneak away. My ability to roll it near 50km is pretty limited. I guess I am not that strong after all.
The Fashionista has been waking up at like 5:50, that is not bad for me as I am an early riser. For her mother it is a bit more of a struggle. She is also an early riser since meeting me, but not that early 7 days a week.

I got a sad note from Millertime telling me that his mom has breast cancer. He put it best "it is like a kick in the head when you get the news". It is hard to know what to type, except to say that everyone over here on the left of the country is sending huge prayers her way. I will never forget the time we dropped Millertime off (loaded ) after a party in high school and he went to the wrong house and his mom having to corral him before going to the wrong house. God love our mothers!!!