I’ve been kind of just hanging around the last couple weeks.  Trying to get going good and catch up on some stuff I put off from travel.  Like hanging some drywall, prunning trees, giving blood ect.  Recovery type stuff!  I’ve been riding abit better in training, so maybe things are going to be OK for the last half of the season.  It’s always nice to have the Tour on live in the morning over breakfast.

I went to the doctor a couple times.  Had a blood test.   I waited over an hour for a 4 minute draw.  They are way more interested in your drivers license/insurance card/bank account statement/prize winnings than actually helping you medically.  It’s amazing how much blood they take.  I thought they took too much, then they took more.  I said to the guy, “do you actually use all the blood?”  he said no.  I said, “shit, I need that blood, can I have it back?”  He didn’t reply.

There have been a ton of turtles on the roads this year.  Maybe because of all the rain, but I can’t swear that is the reason.  I have serious personal rules about encountering turtles when riding. I’ve seen way too many squished in my lifetime to ignore them.   The short list-always move turtles out of the road when training.  Especially box or green turtles.  It OK just to kick a snapping turtle off the road.  I actually don’t mind seeing snapping turtles not make it across the road.  I hate them. They are super mean.   But, if they are alive when you come upon them, then you have an obligation to move them.  Moving turtles when racing is a different matter.  You have to use common sense to decide if you have enough time to spare.  Or enough energy to catch back on, depending on the situation.  I’ve moved a lot of turtles during races.  Most the time everyone will wait for me.  It’s better to be in a break.  Trudi moved a turtle during a time trial last Monday.  She didn’t get her time back though. Bad call by the timers.

I raced twice in Nebraska this past weekend.  I’ll post the results later today.

OK.  I’m supposed to be writing about Labor Day Weekend in St. Louis.  I’ll get to that later.  That was the last 4 days.  But, it’s the time of year for apple pie.  I’ve scoped out most of the apple trees in the county on our rides.  It’s amazing how many people have apple trees and let the fruit  drop on the ground.  Kansas probably isn’t the best climate in the world for apples, but the trees that are established seem to produce good fruit most years.  So, today after 4 days of racing, we did a rest ride and picked apples from a couple different trees.  I’m not an expert on identifying types of apples, but most  pies seem to taste better with a good mixture.   Anyway, I love pie.  Pretty much any fruit- cherry, apples, peach, pumpkin, whatever.  I can eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Snack too.   I don’t cook too much, but I do bake some.  Bread, pizza, pies, etc.  I bought a new oven last winter specifically for baking.  It’s a double convection wall oven with a ton of bells and whistles.  Probably too complicated for me.  But it bakes great.  OK.  Photo exposé of pie making below. (Click to enlarge).  St. Louis writeup tomorrow.