Ciao Regazzi...

It was a long journey, 24 hours of traveling including: near voluntary bump for big $$, 9 hours in a seat next to an oversized French couple overflowing their coach seats, and a 50 minute flight next to Chatty Cathy from Texas (while we just wanted some quiet time). But we made it and have had two great days of cyclin...160 K. It's hot so riding in the morning has been the key. Tomorrow we head into the mountains for our first day of sustained climbing.

So far the biking, gelato, wine and food are all that we had hoped for. We'll post more later but now it's time for the afternoon nap.

Felled by a log...

That's right, that's what I said.

Not 'meld with the blog' or 'smelled like a frog'.

F-in Felled by a log...that's what happened to me today. Riding down Tunnel Rd, minding my own business. Trying to sneak in one more workout before packing the bici in the box. In fact, I was done, heading down the hill trying to make the year-end-middle-school picnic. All of a sudden the tree worker up the steep hill starts yelling, the dude on the road holds up his hands imploring me to stop while watching his back. I grab a fist full of break and look uphill for what's crashing through the brush. A log, big enough to be a foot stool, comes bouncing down the hill like a crazy football making a bee line for the end zone, only this bouncing foot stool has drawn a bead on me. Next thing you know I'm lying on the deck in need of a new fork and maybe a bar of soap in my mouth.

I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow. My main concern is can the awesome guys at Montagna Della Bici get the new fork installed before the flight leaves on Sabato. They say 'no sweat'...they haven't let me down yet! Thanks guys.

No, that's not the same broken fork picture from last year.

Look closely and you can see some Eucalyptus embedded in the carbon.

I must have a serious karma debt to the Goddess of Carbon.

Stale Blogs are...

well, stale.

We've been busy wrapping up the school year on several fronts and getting ready to get out of Dodge.


A quick check of the weather reminds me to pack the rain gear (...thought I was done with that stuff for the summer.)

We're looking forward to some great riding, yummy food, tasty wine, great views and lovely people. Oh, and we're even going to get to do some racing! Unfortunately we arrive the day of this Gran Fondo. Looks like quite the spectacle...maybe next year.

Rumor has it there's i-net access in town. We'll try to share some pictures and stories along the way. Stay tuned.

Ciao

New Photos...

A few shots from Sunday's EMC race in Pleasantville have been added to our photo site.


Follow the link in the sidebar ->.

Confessions of a 7th grade teacher

I confess, I really like 7th graders. I seem to
have found the right combination of being super-
strict, having engaging mathematics to work on,
and telling provocative stories. It's the stories,
though, that are the most convincing reason for
them to come to class.

Yesterday we were learning about simple
interest compared to compound interest. Before
launching into formulas and such, we were
having an informal discussion about when
interest comes into play in the real world and
what kinds of questions they could ask their
parents to learn more about the effect of interest
rates.

We talked about how banks give you interest as an incentive for storing your money there, and turn around and lend your money to someone else, while charging them interest. Students almost angered to discover that the money they put in the bank isn't the exact same money which they receive when withdrawing from an account. "But that was MY money..."

One question led to the next and we started talking about advantages of banks and why you might have a lot of cash and NOT deposit it into an account. I dug into my suitcase of courage and found the perfect personal story. When in college, I spent a year in Bolivia and often had large amounts of cash stored with me during my travels. In considering how to hide it, I decided (male readers, please excuse my bias here...) that most robbers are men and most men avoid women's feminine products at all costs. So, I used a box of tampons, threw away some of the tampons, and stored my cash rolled up inside the wrappers.

I hadn't thought about that story in years, but the spontaneous telling of it was quite a hit and I doubt that class will ever forget how to calculate interest as my Bolivian tale led into the teaching of interest as the 'alternative method to storing money in a tampon wrapper'.

Debates...

In case you missed the political debates, like I did, I found this brief summary on the web.

Artwork by B. Kliban.

No Bozos

All week I've been thinking about sportsmanship. Some actions I saw at the race on Monday reminded me how important it is to me that competitors win and lose with grace. We're all taught from childhood that being a good sport means holding your head up and losing with grace. Maybe it goes without saying but I believe winning with grace is more important. Victory celebrations are great and exciting but taunting is for punks and bozos. Luckily, karma anticipated Monday's shenanigans and rectified things immediately.



Sure, from time to time we all have Bozo thoughts inwardly but indulge in victory taunts and you will Turn Into Bozo Cyclists Outwardly.