I'm not bipolar, I'm biwinning

Charlie Sheen is awesome. Gold nuggets of wisdom pour from his mouth like rain drops of sunshine.



If he's looking for a job I will gladly hire him on as my PR guy and occasional guest writer. Nothing will stop him from delivering... except an early death.

Biwinning quote from here at 1:11.

Now more Southern Cross...

The positives.

I stayed at the Hiker Hostel before and after the race.

$17 bucks for a bed, shower, breakfast, internet, and all sorts of amenities I never even used. If I was a shuttered in cyclist living up north looking to get away from it all for awhile so I could ride my road or mountain bike on some really sweet terrain I would look no further. The price is silly... and this place is popular for a reason.

The race itself?

Nam and Eddie did a great job. Southern Cross is one of those races that when I first hear about it I think "Do you really expect people to drive out to the middle of nowhere to do this?" Well, you know what? They do, and they did... 200 people this time. Insane. I had a ton of fun, and I endured just enough pain to make it all worthwhile.

The negative?

That's all on me, or perhaps me and my coach. He hasn't been around much this off season.

Mike Piazza has been busy conducting a choir of Stan's boogers in an attempt to produce his own public access cable version of Glee. In the meantime I have suffered a certain lack of coaching and direction. All winter it's been the same.

Me: "Hey Mike Piazza, I wanna do the short track series. Is that cool?"
MP: "Shut up. I'm working with my tenors right now."

Me: "Hey Mike, what do you think about SSAZ or Southern Cross in February?"
MP: "Leave me alone, you moron. We're in the middle of our Paint Your Wagon dress rehearsal."

So without any direction I just raced most of the first two months of 2011 away. I had no idea going into Southern Cross that I might actually be fit, and that I might want to take it seriously. I shoulda looked at the course profile a little closer, but I didn't. John Karrasch had it taped to his top tube, and I found myself bugging him for information while we were together.

I shoulda carried a little extra water. Even if I woulda swapped from small 21oz bottles to larger 24oz bottles I coulda had another 9oz total (almost half a bottle). Bad move.

I shouldn't have been left at home alone Wednesday or Thursday. I put on some Pandora, packed my bags, surfed the internet, and drank beer till my family came home. I was obviously dehydrated by the time Saturday rolled around. A pack of mustard woulda saved the day, but I left it at home because it was only a 3-4 hour race. Who cramps at a 3-4 hour race, especially in cool temps? Oh, that's right... me.

I'll take third and be happy. I got to hang out with Todd, Andrea, Jimmy, and all manner of other folks, and that's really what I came down for anyhoo. Trying to live a life slightly less ordinary in order to get through another winter.

In the words of Dr McCoy, "It's worked so far, but we're not out yet."