I’ve been so inspired by Brett Favre’s comeback battle to the NFL that I have decided to make a comeback to my blog. 

It hasn’t been easy, but I don’t think its been as hard as the NFL drama.  I once read in a blog by Sabine Dukes, founder of Velo Bella, something very clever.  It went like this, “It’s not that haven’t I been blogging, its just that its all written in my head.”  Never, in a million years, could I have said it better.  And I just saw that Sabine announced today that her VeloBellaBabble site is moving somewhere with more bling and less babble.

So in between then and now, I have been at the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon.  Ah, Oregon . . . I am so proud to be a Native Oregonian and I desperately pine for the day that I can move back to the land of greenness, soft clouds, bikes, nice people, and delicious ice cream.  If you have never been to Cascade, let me tell you that you are missing something.  Sure, its a hard race.  But the Down Town Twilight Crit with thousands of specators and the cool dips in the Deschutes River make up for every foot of climbing in that race bible. 

Thats me in blue.  Looks like a downhill part of the race.

The race was great, I had a few places in the top ten but unfortunately no podiums for the week of racing.  And now I am back home and plugging away with a few more big race trips left on my schedule for the year, including the Nationals TT and Road Race, which I am eagerly anticipating to see the course.  Profile has been out for sometime, but its very different to see the hills in person.  So I guess I will wait and see.  And ride.

I’ve made some changes to the bug and added a used coffee cup to the exhaust.  I hope you like the improvements.

All I want for Christmas is an Oregon Scraper.

We got caught taking pictures here.  Nic (my bro) yells out the window “Nice lights” with sincerity and a wave as I peel out, yo.

A large part of the charm here is the lawn mower in the front yard.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph celebrate outdoor plumbing. 

My present to you.

Thanksgiving has been a wonderful holiday this year.  So far we have had ZERO kitchen fires, a big improvement since last year’s highlight of flaming corn souffle (imagine accent mark here).  Also, the weather has been great.  I think its about 36 degrees everyday . . . who likes the mid-70’s of California?  I’ve also found some new training partners to kick my ass. 

This is me and Pat training together.  Usually I just call him “Dad”.  We do recovery rides together . . . that’s when I just sit on his wheel and beg for mercy. 

This is Annie, our borrow-a-dog-4-the-holidays.  We do our morning walks together.  She doesn’t like the leash, tug tug tug. 

Annie is special.  She can get an apple stuck in her mouth. 

Yesterday my mom asked me how to make an apple pie. 

I told her.  She made the pie.  We ate it.  We all agreed it was a wonderful pie.

My mom then turned to me and told me how to make a pie as good as hers, mouth full of apples, crust, and vanilla ice cream.  Unbelievable.  The woman just asked me for a recipe, followed it, and then turned around to give me more advice.  Do you see what I am dealing with here? 

My one and only brother Dominic flew into town on Thursday night. Here’s a warning: if the occassion ever arrises that either my brother or I fly with you, ask for a ride to or from the airport, or casually discuss flight plans, you should disregard any details we provide you. We suck at that stuff.

I went to the Oakland airport at 11:00 pm on Thursday night to pick up Nic. He was supposed to fly in on Air Faganone, OAK 11:00 pm. I circled around pick up, his phone wasn’t ringing, I couldn’t find him. No big deal, I just hung out in a park and call lot for a while. Then a while turned into two and half hours . . . I needed to take a nap in my car. I decided to call it a night, I just can’t get ahold of him. So I start driving home, he’d have to fend for himself, and of course that’s when he calls. “Where have you been!” I was pretty livid and completely exhausted. His flight didn’t actually get in until 1:00 am, plus it was delayed an hour, and guess what? Turns out he was flying into SFO and Air Faganone doesn’t really exist. Ooops! He was willing to take the BART, but I told him he’d have to wait until 4:00 am to hop on the next train. So being the phenomenal little sis that I am, I drove over the bay bridge to pick him up. LIES. I mean Roman drove me over the bay bridge to pick him up. I was very tired from circling the OAK pick up, so I decided it would be safer for all bay area residents if I slept in the passenger seat.

One time I showed up at the Philly airport, tried to check in and failed. Turns out I was there on the wrong day and at the wrong airline desk. Details are for suckers!

Now Nic and I drove home to my mom and dad’s house for a sleep over. Me, Nic, and my mom are watching the Discovery on the couch together on a wild Saturday night in Medford, Or.

My Dad and I go riding together. He is in training for Cycle Oregon next summer!

Here is the view as you enter Jacksonville

The left picture is climbing up Sterling Creek and the right picture is the Applegate River Valley facing South. These hills are actually the Southern Oregon-Northern California boarder.

These are the really happy Oregonian cows that contribute the Horizon Organic Dairy. Based on my observations, I am pretty impressed with their treatment and happiness levels so I encourage everyone to support this dairy.

Then there was Lola . . .