I changed my ticket to fly directly to Arizona and skip the flight today to Kansas, then driving

Denver, then from Denver to Tucson.  So, I have all day today and tomorrow here in Seattle.  The Walberg’s get back around midnight tonight, so it will be nice to actually see them here.

It is sunny and clear here.  This is really the first time I’ve seen the sun in a week.  So I’m going to go explore East of here, over by Cougar Mountain.  So, I don’t have much time here.

I’ve noticed this container ship just parked here this past week.  I was wondering what the deal is, but then I saw this article at Marketwatch explaining there is a longshoremen’s labor dispute going on right now and the West coast shipping is being affected.  I’m wondering if that is why the ship is just hanging here doing nothing?  The article says that average salary for  these guys is $147000 a year.  I’m not sure what they are disputing?

Anyway, the article says everyday they don’t unload containers it costs the US economy $2.1 billion dollars.  Man, they do have a lot of leverage it seems.

Anyway, just an interesting answer to a question I’ve had this past week.

Gonna just put some oil on my legs and ride sans knee warmers and leg warmers.  Should feel great.  Looking forward to riding new terrain.

This is the boat that has been anchored here all week.

Pretty abnormal hourly forecast, at least the last week. No rain all day. We’ll see. I’m taking a rain jacket still.

Today is my birthday.  Too bad I’m going to be spending a majority of it travelling to Arizona.  I like the travel involved in the sport.  But, sometimes it gets long nowadays, especially compared to pre-9/11.

Luckily I changed my flight so I now have a direct flight to Phoenix to meet up with Trudi, Bromont and Vincent.  I’m not flying until 3:30 now, so I am going to get a chance to go out for a ride.

I’m not really that big on birthdays. I used to try to ride the number of miles of my age, but it was never really a “rule”, so I kind of bailed on that.  Hopefully I can get in a couple hours and stay relatively dry.  Maybe I can do my age in kilos? Yesterday I started too early and got wet initially, then it cleared, but I was already wet. Crossing my fingers for just dry.

I’m a little worried about being unprepared for the whole 24 hour MTB thing.  I‘m been hearing that it can be super dusty, plus smoky around the start/finish area.  I’ve been worrying about a lung deal, nearly everyday I’ve been in Seattle, so the whole bad air thing is spooking me a little.

Plus the heat.  I guess it can be in the 80’s, which really isn’t that hot, but when you’ve been riding in the 40’s in the rain, I’m sure it is going to be brutal.

Really, it is just a life adventure and learning experience.   I’ll have a couple days to ride my MTB bike before the race, so I should know by the weekend what my hip can and can not do.  I’m sure I’m going to be mildly wacked doing around 100 miles off-road when I haven’t ridden a single mile off-road in months.

But, like I said above, it should be fun and a great memory.  Okay, I had better suit up and get out for a ride.  I still have to pack my road bike, etc. after the ride.

Yesterday I rode down these stairs, well not on the stairs, but on the little edge beside the stairs. I saw this from the I-90 bridge and thought it looked fun. I didn’t anticipate how wet it was. Plus, it was steeper than it looked. I got a little crossed up towards the bottom and thought to myself it would have been a real disaster if I would have fallen. LIttle steep and slick for a road bike.