Relaxing on my bed in Dan’s guest house where Shane and I are staying. Shane’s bed is under mine and it gets slid out every evening and put back in the day so there is some space to move around. The kitchen is behind me. It is sort of like camping in a big RV!

Shane “Cheap Bastard” Peltonen putting his groceries away in the kitchen.
The bathroom sink which also doubles as the kitchen sink!

This morning I awoke at 6:30 AM so in order to be riding by 7:30AM. I don’t know why but it seems like people who live in the desert like to do things early. Probably because it gets hot here in the afternoon but even so it is still rather annoying. I definitely prefer the 10:00 AM ride schedule that Menzies and I have adopted back in Folsom. That way I am able to drink my coffee, check my email, and most importantly do my abs before riding. Here I am riding too early to do my abs before and it is a struggle to do them after the ride especially when it is 100F in the guest house. I still do them don’t get me wrong but it is just more difficult.

Another slight annoyance is the fifty degree nighttime temperature fluctuation of the guest house I am staying in. It especially sucks since I don’t have a blanket to cover up with at night. When I go to bed it is rather toasty (~95 F) so I only have to wear my sleeping shorts and even with the ceiling fan on I am still sweating balls. However, by the time the morning rolls around it gets pretty cold (~55 F) and my sleeping shorts alone are not nearly enough to keep me warm.

I have worked out a pretty efficient system to deal with this temperature change. Before hitting the hay at night I set a pair of sweat pants, socks, and a hooded sweatshirt next to the bed. Usually around 3:30AM I end up getting up because I am cold bundle up with all of the clothes I had set next to the bed and that usually gets me through until morning. Maybe I should just buy a blanket to cover up with because that would be easier but what fun would that be?

I also had an appointment at a local salon this afternoon to get my haircut. Well, it really wasn’t a salon and I did not have an appointment but I did get my hair cut. I went to the Arizona Barber College where they let aspiring barbers/barberettes cut hair to gain experience for a future job. Going to places like these is sort of a gamble because you never know what you are going to get but one thing for sure is that good or bad the haircut will be cheap!

I got lucky and won the haircutting lottery today. Not only was the girl who cut my hair EXTREMELY attractive but she did an awesome job! Honestly it was the best hair cut/hair cut experience I ever had and it only cost me $4!! I did end up leaving a $5 tip so the grand total was $9 but it was worth it. Holy crap, I just did the math and I left a 125% tip…….damn I am nice. I am honestly contemplating going back and getting another haircut tomorrow!

Time for bed I have to get up early to do the shoot-out tomorrow. For those of you that don’t know the shoot-out is Tucson’s regular world championship ride that happens every Saturday.

later
g.