It's dark in here...

My sincere apologies.  My head.  It's still stuck in mine own asshole.

I'm staring at maps and doing screen grabs and doodling lines on them with MS Paint and thinking about course tape and volunteers and... basically focusing 95% of my anal compulsion towards the Tour duh Charlotte and the remaining 5% on getting ready to leave for the 2nd Maxxis Appalachian Summit.

I finished filling out my permission slips yesterday and have a decent amount of things packed already.

Even though food and beer and beds and towels and bathrobes and basically all the needs outside personal garb are taken care of, I still find myself pacing around the room with anxiety looking to grab this or that from its shelf or spot on the pegboard.  A not-so-full bag makes me feel incomplete.

I'm bringing my own bike... because... burrito.

I don't think I'm supposed to bring it.  Almost everyone else (read: real industry insider douchebag journalists) will be on super squishy shifty Pivot wünderbikes.  I think there's one for me... but what if I can't figure it out?  What if I want to ride... something I'm familiar with?  Dunno.  Perhaps is forboden.

Mebbe it just stays on the rack... until I stop on my way home at the stage of the Tour duh Charlotte that I'm responsible for to do some more tweaking and a final ride through to get a better estimate of mileage/time and course tape needs.

I mean, I'm not packing the machete because I think it will come in handy for hot tub time at Mulberry Gap.

Might be useful if someone wants to shotgun a beer tho.

Nick "Dip 'n Spray" Barlow showing one way to do it.

At least this trip will provide much blerhg fodder for next week, so mebbe I can stop dreaming of racers getting lost and ending up on an island with smog monsters and polar bears.