Yesterday I woke up sick. Guess I touched too many people in NYC or on the way home. Flying in the winter sometimes isn’t the best idea. Anyway, I don’t get well too quickly usually. I don’t have a spleen. I fell out of a tree when I was 6 and ruptured it. The spleen filters your blood and keeps your lungs from being infected. I have to get pneumonia shots because of it. Anyway, I’m not a Sven Nys that is sick and Friday and wins a World Cup on Sunday. Sometimes I stay sick a long while.

But, I don’t stop riding when I’m sick. I just ride easier and shorter. So, I guess I have a couple days to figure out the weekend. I’m not big on traveling ill, but sometimes racing sick makes you better quick. Don’t ask me why that is. I just know by experience.

I hate routines. It seems like as you age, you do get set into routines easier than when you were young. I’m not sure why that is. But, I try to avoid routine with a passion. Bromont is on a routine. He has to go running when I get back from riding. And he has to go for a walk between 10-12 at night. He usually starts bugging me by 10:30pm if I haven’t acknowledged that we’re going soon. So, I’m trying to avoid routine, but my dog gets me on a routine I love. Strange.

Last night, our cat Lilly went on the whole dog walk through the neighborhood. When I got about a 1/2 mile away from home, I finally picked him up and carried him. He just wanted to watch what Bromont was doing. They’re buddies.

Did you have a chance to watch the Westminister Dog show on TV the last two nights. A Scottish Deerhound won the Best of Show. The dogs I saw in front of my hotel on Sunday must of been there for the dogshow. I kind of wished I would have stayed another day to watch. Would have been fun.

Okay. I’ve been trying to drink a bunch of fluids. I don’t really think that helps me get well any quicker. Seems like I just have to pee a lot more often. I’ve been making fresh orange and grapefruit juice though. Seems a little like a waste, since I can’t really appreciate the taste as I should. It good for your mind either way. I’m going to do all the things that you’re supposed to do. I should probably just start taking antibiotics.

Hickory, a Scottish Deerhound from Virginia.

Lilly, a orange and white Tabby from Kansas.

I haven’t been paying too much attention to the Lance deal. I thought he was riding the Tour Down Under as his last Professional race outside the US and then racing the rest of the season domestically. Guess not. I heard on the radio this morning that Lance was officially retiring from the sport of bicycle racing again. Something like Retirement 2.0. It doesn’t seem like it is getting enough press coverage.

On NPR, the spokeswoman from the LAF Foundation said that Lance was back as the full time Chairperson for LAF and a full time father.

I’ve seen a couple articles on Lance’s retirement. Here at Cyclingnews.com, the Subtitle was “Armstrong call time on controversial career.” That seems kind of mean.

I assume this year isn’t going to be so kind to Lance, off the bike. I don’t think having a federal investigation hanging over you could allow you to have a stress free life. I could be wrong.

I’m wondering if all these drug accusations and the federal investigation makes the retirement announcement so much less prominent. Think if Tiger Woods announced his retirement. It would be the front page of every paper and the lead story for every news show. Maybe it is because Lance has already retired once, so since he’s just doing what he said he was doing 4 years ago, so it’s not so news worthy. I don’t know.

It is kind of perplexing, because I was mildly looking forward to seeing him race in Colorado this summer.

And I was kind of hoping to run into him at a MTB race sometime this spring.