Okay, yesterday I wrote about it being hot. This might be the worst I’ve been in the heat in a long while. I guess I haven’t been in temperatures over 70 for 3 weeks or so. That is probably the cause. But, I blew up so badly yesterday that I’m kind of hesitate to even attempt it again today.

It was super hot yesterday. 103 with a heat index of 116. One of my problems with heat is that it doesn’t really feel bad. I can’t really tell how hot it is until I start melting. And when I start melting, it is a very quick occurrence. We rode 40 something miles yesterday. I felt okay considering what I’ve been up to. I did run out of water 45 minutes into the ride, but that normally isn’t an problem. I should have seen the writing on the wall.

I did make it back to about 2 miles from my house before I couldn’t really function anymore. I felt horrible. Nauseated, headache, no power, ect. When I got home, I drank a couple glasses of water and ate some watermelon. But that didn’t help much, so I went to bed. I stayed in the above mentioned state half way through the night. Plus I was cramping when I was sleeping. There is nothing like getting woken up by your hamstring cramping. If you’ve never experienced it, you are missing out.

Okay, enough of that. I’m going to get out of here in a week, so I have to just shut up and put up with it. It rained last night and this morning, so it’s only going to be 100% humidity on top of 102.

I emailed all the Kansas representatives in Washington today about this political situation on the debt ceiling. The last time I contacted these guys was way back when they were trying to make it illegal to smoke on airplanes. This is a joke. They’ve raised the debt ceiling 77 times and they are waiting until the last minute because of political issues. Our political system needs a revamp.

I have to put a new water heater in my house. I’m trying to figure out if I want to use a tankless, hot water on demand, heater or the standard water heater with a tank. I’ve been reading some on the question and am leaning towards just the standard water heater. I can install either myself, so that cost isn’t an issue. I’ve been to a few houses that have the tankless water heaters and haven’t been too impressed by the results. From my experience, it takes too long to get hot water, thus using a ton more water. Anyone have any ideas, I’d appreciate it.

Trudi had a new BMC bike waiting for her when she got home from the Tour de France. I assembled it. It was easy since their team mechanics had assembled it originally. There is such a difference between a bike shop mechanic and a team mechanic. Anyway, she hasn’t had a new bike in over a decade, so it was a eye opening experience. It’s all Dura-Ace, so it is pretty sweet.

The kitten has grown a ton since I last saw him. But, he is still really small and kind of uncoordinated, which is kind of cute in kittens. It is healthy though. I kind of thought it was going to have some issues since it was so close to death, but it seems to have recovered pretty good. It is going to have the run of the house pretty soon.

I’m trying to decide on races to go to now. I’m going to go out to Colorado and ride my MTB for a week, then head over to Utah for the finish of Tour of Utah. After that I’m kind of up in the air. But, I know there isn’t going to be any racing for me this weekend anywhere around here. Baby steps again.

When I told Trudi that Cadel was going to be racing the Pro Challenge in Colorado next month, she said, “That is going to change everything.” – In a not such excited voice. Trudi doesn’t avoid work, just the opposite, but there is just a lot more work to do when the Tour de France champion shows up.

I think it is awesome that Cadel is racing here. Of course he raced here a ton when he was a MTB rider. I remember doing a lot of laps of the Vail World Cup with him way back in the day. I didn’t remember/realize that Cadel won that very World Cup.

I’m interested in seeing how well Cadel deals with altitude. Obviously he has an off-the-charts VO2. But, not being acclimated can make a super star a mere mortal. Maybe he’ll go to St Moritz or somewhere high in Switzerland, where he lives, and spend some time there. I know Cadel doesn’t use an altitude tent. Last year at the Tour, we were talking about altitude tents and he told me a that he gave his to a friend in Australia. But not without a huge hassle. I guess in Switzerland it is super expensive to ship something that heavy to Australia, so he wanted to cross the border (he lives on the Swiss/Italian border.) and ship it from there. The problem is that it is illegal in Italy to possess an altitude tent if you’re a competing athlete. Something about sporting fraud. Anyway, I don’t quite remember how the whole story played out. I think he had a friend in Switzerland ship it to his friend in Australia from Italy. The point is that he doesn’t sleep in a tent, so won’t be acclimated unless he goes to altitude either in Switzerland or Colorado.

Anyway, if you’re looking to take an end of the summer vacation, The US PRO Cycling Challenge should be it. The Coors Classic is having a reunion get together in Vail the night of the Thursday TT there, so a bunch of the “old” superstars of the past are going to be mulling around Vail. And, it seems, the whole podium of the Tour this year are going to be there, if the rumor of the Schlecks and Contador prove true. Not such a bad way to spend a little off time, riding your bike in Colorado and watching the race in person.

Cadel MTB racing in 1997.