Summer!

This is my first real, long, enjoyable, activity-filled summer since 2005 and it's a BLAST.

- Did my first Keirin on Friday night and somehow came in 4th in the finals, behind Amara, Annette, and Tela. I call it beginner's dumb luck thanks to my excellent pole positioning in both races. I can definitely dig a race where you don't have to do any work except for the last 600 meters and I even did a new personal high speed of 32.8mph (and the girls who won were going even faster!).

- Need to race smarter in the longer races. No more chasing down everything and saying "it will make me stronger." No, it will make you blow up and finish at the back.

- I've discovered a cure for the hipster fixie plague: make them do workouts 2x/week in a +92" gear. Soon rear derailleurs will no longer be in stock at your LBS.

- I love riding Kermit around town. More than anything I love his gear range so I can spin up any hill and coast at leisure to recover from said 92" gear workouts.

- I love twilight at 10:30pm and sitting on my deck after a hot summer day of riding around, checking out our little garden of spinach, tomatoes, peppers and herbs. It should be like this all the time.

- Despite the wonderful summer, I'm already thinking about CX season and getting a new, GEARED bike. Even one that's light enough for me to shoulder. So far Jake the Snake is at the top of my list, mostly because it's blue and PRETTY. That goes far in a girl's book. What? A 2nd new bike in 2 months? Well.....yeah. Gotta support the LBS in my own form of economic stimulus!