Karl and I were fortunate enough to run into t he “best play by play” announcer in the country Dave Towle at finish of today’s stage of the Tour of California.

Dave hard at work. Thanks for giving me a shout out at the race today Dave!
Ashley came down from Boise, ID to watch the Tour of California so it was cool to get some front row VIP spectating.

After watching the race Karl, Ashley and I went into to San Fran and could not pass up a picture by the Golden Gate. It was the second time in three days I took pictures of the Golden Gate bridge. We were with Alberto on Saturday who had never seen the bridge and Ashley today.
Sittin’ on a rail with San Fran in the background. Thinking about how hungry I am.

Today, Karl, Ashley, Nicole, and I went and watched the finish of the first stage of the Tour of California in Santa Rosa. It was sorta weird being a spectator at a race but I had a great time watching and seeing my Health Net teamates and other friends. The crowds for the first two stages have been huge and I think the Tour of California is a race that is going to get bigger and bigger based merely on what I saw today. I was impressed!

The best part of the day however, was chatting with announcer Dave Towle. Dave is the best professional announcer in the buisness. I was able to witness this first hand today while spectating. It was really cool to watch how he can excite a crowd. Keep it up Dave!

I also wanted to thank Dave for hooking Ashley, Nicole, Karl, and Myself up with the best VIP behind the “special fence” spectating seats possible. I also recommend checking out the Towle Files:

There are has some awesome radio inteviews and Dave even does some of his own blogging.

After the race Karl, Ashley, and I headed to San Fran since Ashley had never been there. We stopped and checked out the Golden Gate bridge, walked around Fisherman’s warf, and ate some Indian food before heading back to Folsom.

It has been a busy weekend with today’s Tour of California adventure and yesterday’s trip to Lake Tahoe. I will save the Lake Tahoe trip for another time……………but now I am going to bed.

later,

g.

Menzies on my right and an Alberto double on my left. Someone had to take the picture so I found a good replacement for Alberto.

Menzies not happy becuase I had to run back to the house to get my camera. I am sorry if I am not on KST (Karl Standard Time)!!! My watch said I was still early.

Outside the ABC tv station. That is the antenna that allowed us to be on tv.

Alberto………..rocking the trench coat for his tv appearance. I think he was more happy with the Starbucks stop on the way.
Hanging in the greenroom getting hair and makeup. They told me I did not even need makeup which was good becuase they used my share on Karl and Alberto.

Watch out ABC here we come.

Several cups of coffee and a few espressos later Alberto and Karl a pingin’ and ready to be on tv!

The “buzz” around town today was that Mike, Karl and I had our pictures in the Sacramento Bee. The “Bee” is Sacramento’s main news publication and there was a picture of the three of us on the front page of “The Scene” section. Does that mean we are “the scene” of Sacramento since we appeared on the cover? Anyway, it was a nice article.

My phone has been ringing off the hook since I was in today’s paper. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any crazier I found out that Karl, Alberto, and I are going to be on the local ABC news tomorrow. It is a live broadcast that airs in the Sacramento area from 9-10AM so for the many many thousands of local Sacramentoans that read my blog you can see Karl, Alberto, and myself live on tv tomorrow morning!

I am not nervous becuase I have already been on live tv once. Frank Pipp and I were in the background of the Today Show……………

On another note I had to send out a fax at Kinko’s today and I ended up becoming an employee there for fifteen minutes. While waiting for my fax confirmation some dude came into the store and told me he needed to make some copies but did not know how. He must have thought I worked there? Being nice and since I had nothing better to do I made the copies for him and he went on his way! “Welcome to Kinko’s, how may I help you?”

later,

g.

Yesterday I was really productive and washed my bed sheets (the loose one and the other elastic scrunchey one) and two pillow cases. However, after I dried them I had three sheets instead of two. The piece of lint that came out of the dryer was huge. Is that normal? Maybe I could use the fabric to knit a sock? The good news though is that I know have an excuse to not was my sheets anymore!
Pretty much the only thing I saw on todays ride.

Last night we forgot to turn the heat on in the house and a cold front came in during the night so it was freezing when we got up. I was especially cold since my bed sheets are only half as thick after I washed them yesterday! It sorta pisses me off a bit.

Today Karl, Alberto and I went for a ride in the hills and it was miserable for me! Every so often there are days when I feel great and can destroy anything or everyone. Karl feels like that everyday but he is not normal.

The majority of the time there are days that are not great but not bad. I can go hard but it hurts a bit and I feel normal.

Then every so often days like today come around and I am complete shit. Honestly, riding fifteen miles an hour was a suffer fest. That would not be bad if I was going up a mountain but that was on the flats. I kept seeing if my brake was rubbing or I had a flat. Nope. The only way to get by is drink Coke and hangout at the back. Needless to say I was happy to get home, put on my lounge short and take a nap.

I did get an awesome Valentines day card in the mail today which cheered me up. Getting real mail instead of the usual Best Buy flyers is one of my favorite things

later,

g.