I got up at 6:00 AM on Friday to pack and get ready for the trip to Binghampton, NY for Chris Thather. Wes and I met Nick at Team Sports, loaded up the van, and departed at 8:30 AM. Before we left though I had to change the saddle on my bike. I think I had adjusted the previous one so much that I ended up bending the rails. Maybe I can get comfortable on this one?? Probably not!

Friday the three of us drove to Toronto where we stayed with Wes’s second cousin Roland and his wife Wanda. It was the first time I had ever been in Canada and it really was not that different except for some French writting on road signs, lots of Tim Hortons (Dunkin Donut like chain), and the locals with funny accents. It was cool to be oot’ and aboot’ in Canada, ay! This is coming from a guy who always gets ripped on for his accent. It is nice to be on the other side once in awhile. The people in Canada seemed to be very friendly and nice.

Roland and Wanda were great hosts. They cooked us burgers for dinner and had breakfast ready when we got up. After breakfast on Saturday Nick and I went for a ride and checked out downtown Toronto. We were fortunate enough too meet a local named Holly on the ride. She had grown up in Toronto and was an awesome tour guide showing Nick and I all of the landmarks in the downtown area. Thanks Holly!

We did not get out of Toronto until late which was made even later by the fact that we had to stop at Whole Foods. It was one of only two Whole Foods in Canada and on top of that it was Saturday; sample day at Whole Foods. We filled up on samples and bulk and then hit the road.

The next stop was Niagra Falls. I was really impressed with the falls, they were huge! I would compare it to the Grand Canyon in that I cannot describe them you have to see them yourself. There were a ton of tourists and it cost $18.00 to park your vehicle. Needless to say we did not park the van but I did manage to get some good pictures out the window. The falls were definetly cool but not cool enough to justify spending $18.00.

From there we drove to Binghampton and made it in at 9:00 PM. We had to get up rather early for breakfast and to get ready with the race starting at noon. Last year when I did the race the hotel we were staying at (same one as this year) had an awesome breakfast buffet but this year it did not seem as good. Instead of spending the $8.95 I opted for the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal I had brought with. I had to use water though since I had no milk. I did mix some coffee creamer in with the water so at least it had the appearance of milk.

The race was pretty hard and at the end I attacked, and attacked, and attacked again but nothing managed to stick and it came down to a field sprint. Frank mixed it up in the sprint and ended up 9th while I finished in “shitteenth” place!

After the race we loaded up the van once again and drove non-stop back to Milwaukee. We pulled into town at about 8:15 AM and since then I have only managed to shower, eat, and sleep. I am tired, I wonder why?

later,

g.

PS. Happy 21st birthday to Steph Birkenstock.