It was supposed to rain all day yesterday. It hardly rained anywhere I was, but I was pretty wet all day. 72 feels like 88 in December. Especially when it is 100% humidity. And that 100% humidity was the reason that I was wet all day. I started sweating from the first pedal stroke and didn’t stop for 5 + hours. They are really in a severe drought here, so they really do need some rain.

I wanted to get a few long rides in and 92 is longish, at least longish enough. Hopefully the forecast will be wrong again tomorrow and I’ll get in a few more hours. I rode mainly west, through the Hill Country. I did Lost Creek a couple times and then Barton Creek a couple times, across the dam and back. It was a lot of nearly retracing my route, but I didn’t mind.

I met up with Robbie Robinette later in the afternoon and got a good extended ride in. Robbie owes a company that trades some incredible percent of Nasdaq’s daily volume, maybe close to 10%. And a bunch of other commodities too. Whatever it is, it is mind boggling. I’ve had him explain it to me a few times in layman’s terms and still don’t get it. I know he hired something like 50 Phd’s in something, this past couple years to “tweek” his algorithm or whatever his program is called. Maybe USAC should hire him to get this ranking system figured out a little better? It would probably take him a short afternoon to make it run smoothly.

I got back just about dark. I stopped by Austin Bikes and got a spoke I’ve needed for a Shimano wheel for a couple months. (Someone stuck their pedal into my wheel training.) They had to order it. It was $15. Man, that is the most expensive spoke I’ve ever bought. I actually haven’t really bought any spokes for quite a while, but that seemed pretty crazy expensive all the same. I’m not blaming the guys at the shop, I’m sure the spokes are very unreasonably priced even at a wholesale cost.

I’m trying to decide if I’m going to race this weekend. The promoter from the Texas State Cross Championships told me about his race in Houston this Saturday. My hamstring feels better, but not perfect, or even close, but it might not ever feel perfect. I’m leaning towards going right now, but probably won’t decide until after the ride tomorrow.

It is weird having the air conditioner turn on the week before Christmas. The humidity is so high, that it is so sticky trying to sleep. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain again all day. If it is the same rain as today, let it pour. But, the temperatures are supposed to drop all day too, bottoming out in the upper 50’s in the afternoon. Burrrrr.

Stupid expensive spoke.

Lake Travis is so low that there are islands in the middle that you can walk to from the shore.

The weather turned south down here in Texas. Actually, it didn’t really turn south, it has already been south. But, the continued cold fronts and rain are getting a little bit old. I rode in the rain for 2 1/2 hours, the temperatures in the 50’s, and then decided that I should probably just head over to Houston tomorrow and race the Texas State Cross Championships and not migrate back up to Kansas. I’ve been getting a lot of nice emails and offers about coming over to the race and I do need to get some hard efforts in, so why not.

So, I’m not following the weather like I thought I would. It is going to be in the mid 50’s in Kansas all weekend, and sunny. But, I’m looking forward to riding those new FMB tires in the mud and I assume that there will be some mud in Houston after all this precipitation.

There is another race, the age graded states in Texas on Sunday and also the Oklahoma State Cross Championships in Tulsa, which is on the way back to Kansas. I didn’t get that many miles here in Texas, but in the winter, the weather rules.

Talking about miles, how about Mark Cavendish, in this article, talking about how clean the sport is now, compared to 2005, and how many miles he rides to be able to compete at this level. The number is approximately 31,068.559 miles (50,000 kms.). You know it is pretty hard believing anything that Mark has to say in this article when he spews numbers like this. I have a fair idea of the number of miles that great professionals have done throughout the years, and I’ve not heard a number like this, especially from a pudgy sprinter. If Mark raced a Tour de France every month of the year, that would be 12, obviously, he would still need to do around an extra couple hundred miles a month, just to get up to the 2600 miles a month he would need to average to get to this number. It’s about 85 miles a day, 365 miles a year, no rest days. Mark would do better to make more accurate statements when being interviewed, because when he makes outlandish statements, the rest of his comments seem suspect. Maybe he’s only inflating his numbers by 25% or so, but there is a big difference between 24000 miles and 31000.

On the sweeter side of things, Alberto Contodor is getting an award in Spain that is his weight in honey. That is the kind of award I’d love to receive. It is not only his weight, but the weight of 6 of his bikes too, since he’s such a lightweight.

And, changing the subject once again, I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Apple Store down here in Austin. First my computer needed the iPhoto fixed. Then Catherine killed hers by doing a softwear update and having the battery power run out. So we’ve been going to the genius bar a few times the past week. Those guys are pretty amazing. But, more impressive is the amount of customers that are in the stores. And the amount of money being spent there. I can’t imagine Apple having anything but a blowout quarter next time they release their numbers.

Okay. I’m gluing tires this morning and am going to wait until it is semi dry today before I ride. My legs are still a little sore from the riding yesterday. Something about cold and wet zapping leg strength the next day.

The Apple store cram packed with customers.

I found Catherine sitting on this ball waiting for her appointment with the genius guy.

Maybe Mark counts the vibrations he gets from this trainer as miles somehow.