The Tour of Lawrence is this weekend July 2-4th. If you’re looking for somewhere to race bicycles this weekend, this is it. If you’ve never been to Lawrence, Kansas, then you should use this as an opportunity to do so. Friday night there are street sprints downtown. Saturday is an awesome circuit race on the KU Campus and then Sunday is a criterium in downtown Lawrence. If you don’t feel like racing, Lawrence is a great town to just hang out in. It’s the Boulder Colorado of Kansas for sure. Get a room at the Eldridge Hotel in downtown. It is walkable to about anywhere you want to go. Also, Sunday there is a running race held in conjunction with the criterium. It’s called the Mass Street Mile. And, of course, fireworks are available for viewing July 4th, right from downtown. So, use this as a great way to visit a super city and have a great 4th of July weekend.

Sometimes life comes very easy and sometimes it seems hard. I think it is the same in cycling. I usually look at the hard times as just a blip, no matter how bad they seem.

I had to start taking antibiotics for strep again a couple days ago. Adding insult to injury, I couldn’t sleep much last night (and it doesn’t seem like tonight is going much better) because my chest hurt, so I went to the clinic this morning and I have 3 broken ribs. I didn’t really believe it when the doctor told me. I’ve broken/cracked/separated cartilage before and it hurt much worse. That is until last night. And riding today. I’m not sure what the delay was. I crashed on my chest over a week ago. I did do some strenuous stuff that probably didn’t help the issue. But, I didn’t know I had an issue then.

So, 4-6 weeks of tenderness. I’ve found you can usually half the time they say, so I’m going with 2 to 3 weeks. Sounds better I think.

So, it’s the middle of the season. The Tour starts on Saturday. I’ve ridden nearly 7,000 miles this season on my road bike and I was riding better in February. Not exactly going to plan. But, in cycling, as in life, things change pretty quickly. Adaptation is the key.