With the USPRO Road Race coming up on Sunday in Greenville, S.C. I have been making my final preparations this past week and tonight I completed those preparations with a dinner at PF Changs.  If you have never been to PF Changs before you are about to experience the next best thing so follow along:

 Karl and his misses, Jamie, who flew in from Reno this morning sitting on the new furniture in the apartment.  It is awesome to not have to sit on the floor like we have been doing for the last three weeks. 

 Karl chauffeuring Jamie and I to Changs.  Next time Hollywood drives I will have to remember to pop a few dramamine!

 What it looks like to take a picture of someone who is taking a picture of me.

 Sorry ladies…..and um…..some dudes I guess…….but Hollywood is taken!  Awwww, how cute!  We were walking to Changs by the way.

 Finally, the lettuce wraps and dumplings are in sight.

 Waiting for a table.  This evening when I gave my name I decided I wanted be Harvey.  I also decided that I liked the name Harvey soo much that if I ever have a child, boy or girl, I am going to name the thing Harvey!

 Since Jamie is a Chang employee in Reno she took care of the ordering for Hollywood and I.  It is nice to not have to make decisions on what to eat. It is a very stress/cortisol free way of eating.

 The food arrived and I am happy.  Who wouldn’t be happy with lettuce wraps?

 Demonstrating my mean chopstix skills that I learned from Amanda last weekend.  Thanks for making me a pro.  Unfortunately there were no splenda packets for me to practice picking up.

 Next stop after Changs was Glacier Ice Cream…..the best ice cream place in Boulder.

 Wow, I really like ice cream   I hope Hollywood does not beat me up for saying that!  I however, was the only one out of the three of us to not have ice cream but I did smell it, look at it , and tried to touch it.  Basically, I ate ice cream without having any of the calories……well except for the fact that I did not taste it! 

 Back at the house Jamie assumed the Garrett weblogging position.

I hope that you enjoyed the PF Changs/Glacier Ice Cream double.  If anyone feels like doing the same in the future and would like company feel free to let me know. 

I would also like to note that I am not being paid by PF Changs nor Glacier Ice Cream like many would expect…..but come to think of it I probably should!

Time for bed have an early flight to Greenville, S.C. tomorrow.

later,g.

Last night my roomate Bryan and Ted wanted to go out for sushi but since I do not like sushi we ended up eating at a Vietnamese restaurant.  I don’t know why but for some reason I am not a huge fan of sushi.  I am not saying I won’t eat it per se I was on a date with a cute girl who wanted to eat sushi I could manage to choke down some of the stuff down and pretend like I enjoyed it.  However, since Bryan nor Ted actually met the “cute girl” criteria we ended up eating veitnamese.

 Frank was going to come out to eat with us but by the looks of it he had to go to battle instead!   Actually those are Franks new hiking boots and I am a touch jealous of them.

 Bryan, Ted and I on the way to Chez Thuy the vietnamese restaurant.  Smith is not actually talking to anyone he made me wait until he got his phone out before I took the picture so he could look important.  I don’t think it worked!

 Ted leading the way to Chez Thuy.

 I heard custard guts are contagious…..simply by touching them! 

 This past summer I tried to grow an organic garden but without real fertilizer the veggies struggled.

 After dinner at Chez Thuy the three of us headed over to Glacier Ice Cream which I am told by many is the best in Boulder.

 (cough)….pudding tits….(cough)…..I meant Bryan sampling some ice cream.

One of the professional ice cream scooping staff at Glacier.

Bryan you actually don’t have pudding tits or custard guts……or at least they are not that noticeable.  I think I might though after cracking and eating some ice cream last night…….or at least that is what Frank and Karl told me.

Lastly, I got an annonymous picture text message today from a 607 area code.  After doing a little detectory I found that a 607 area code is from Binghampton, NY.  Hmmm I wonder who I know that lives in Binghampton and would send me a picture like this?

 I do feel slightly bad for any young kid who has to grow up living on this road!

later,g.

Yesterday I went to my first motorcycle race at Invesco Field in Denver and it was a blast.  Ann, the owner of www.umbrellagirlsusa.com, and a great friend hooked Frank and I up with some VIP passes to the event.  Not only did we have the best seating in the place but Ann gave us a tour of the pits introducing Frank and I to a lot of the riders and told us exactly what was going on in the races.  Frank and I are now Super Moto seasoned veterans.

To top off a really great day Ann, Amanda (she works for Ann and is really cool), Frank, and I  hit up P.F. Changs for dinner.  It is still by far and away the best restaurant around mainly for their Dumplings and Lettuce Wraps.  However, I am still shit with chopstix but Amanda gave me a little help.  Even with some chopstick tutoring I am still terrible and always seem quit eating before I am full because I get frustrated.  Maybe I should eat with chopstix all the time and I would get really lean……or would the frustration cause my cortisol levels to increase thus resulting in custard guts and pudding tits?  I will get back to you on that one.

 However, for the chopstick help I have to pay Amanda back by Fedexing her some Wisconsin Cheese curds which she has never eaten before.  I honestly believe someone haven’t lived until they have eaten cheese curds.

I forgot my camera this weekend with sort of pissed me off because I could have taken some good photos.  However, Frank and Ann took some pictures that I will be able to post but it might take a few days to get them.

Speaking of motorcycles here is a picture of me on my motorcyle when I was little. I was a little ”hillbilly”  as a youngster and loved to ride motorcyle, snowmobile, four wheeler, or pretty much anything motorized.  I actually still do but I don’t get the opportunity to do it much anymore.  Anyway, I loved to give people rides especially my cousin’s friend Gina who is seen on the back in this picture.  (Thanks for the picture Gina).

Shortly after I think I lost my motorcycle privleges for throwing a rock through the front window of our house because Dad did not let me drive the riding lawn mower.  Therefore I had to ride a bicycle .  What fun is that?

I think it is time for dinner but I wanted to say thanks again to Ann for the awesome time this weekend………Thanks Ann.

later, g.

The other night was Hendy’s last supper…….or at least his last dinner before he left Boulder to go back to Australia and eventually New Zealand. 

Hendy and gluten really don’t go well together therefore Karl and I often find ourselves eating Asian food…….or……..Asian food.  Needless to say I am getting pretty damn good with chop stix! 

We ended up going to P.F. Changs which I can honestly say is the best place ever besided Springfield, MO. of course.  Not only is the food good but if it is busy and you sit at the bar they will refill your diet soda before it is even empty.  I sort of lost count but I think the final tally was around nine pints of diet soda.  Punch that out dog!

The night before that Mr. Chucky Coyle had a little shindig for Hendy at his house.   We did a little brewing and bbqing before heading down to Pearl street to finish the evening off.  Here are some pictures from the evenings affairs. 

Hollywood eating some kabobs we bought at Whole Foods.   

Chris and I watching Hollywood eat his kabobs before we were even able to get started on ours.  

The man of honor. 

Other than that ”The Pipp” made it to Boulder last night.  It was good seeing him and all but when I got up this morning I had no coffee.  Karl usually has coffee ready for me every morning but now with Frank in the house he drank my share before I got up.  That pretty much leaves me two choices either I am going to have to get up really early (before 9 AM) so I can beat Frank to the coffee or I am going to have to make it myself! I wonder what is worse?

Before I go and be really productive today I wanted to clarify that I do like Springfield, MO aside from the stale chips at the airport of course.  Actually, arn’t the Simpson’s from Springfield?  I like that show so there is proof!  Anyway, hopefully if I ever find my way back to Missouri ScottyD, Byron, and Huff can show me around!  

later,g.

I guess it is time for another race weekend re-cap.  This past weekend was the USPRO Criterium Championships in Downers Grove, Ill.  Karl, Hendy, and I flew out of Denver on Friday morning.  We met the rest of the team in Chicago and raced Saturday (pre-USPRO Crit Chapionship race).  We raced again on Sunday before flying back later that evening.

We did almost manage to miss our flight on the way to Chicago Friday morning.  For some reason, even though we got two emails with our itinerary, neither Karl, Hendy, or myself remembered our flight time but we figured if anything we must be late.  I still did not want to pay massive amounts of money for parking even though we were running a bit behind schedule.  Therefore, we parked in the economy lot where I almost ran out of gas trying to find an open space and had to catch a shuttle to the terminal.  Needless to say after some running we did make it to our gate in time!

We had a brief layover in Springfield, MO and here is Hendy and Karl eating a little lunch.  I had never been to Springfield and I never really care to go back.

After making it to Chicago here is Karl before talking to his girlfriend

…………a few minutes later this is Karl  going “instantly gay” while talking to his girlfriend. 

We ended up meeting Kyle, TJ, Alberto, Kirk, and Gord at the airport but had to wait for Deb to come and pick us up.

This past weekend was Gord “laser” Fraser’s last race. It has been awesome being the teamate of a “legend” this past season.  Thanks Gord.

Kirk eating something before the race.

Havoc relaxing before the race.

Hollywood and Gordo.

TJ I think you are suppose to wait until you are actually on the toilet!

We stayed at the Marriot for the weekend and I slept on the pullout while Hendy got the bed.  I did not realize we had a pullout in the room until the second night of my stay!  Yes, a pullout bed is much nicer than the floor!

Mike “Nutter” Jones.  I like Mike……we are both “nutters” and hanging around him at least makes me feel somewhat normal.

We ate dinner at some Italian joint and I think I am still belching garlic……..lovely!

At that same Italian joint I also ran into Megan and her teamate Leigh.

Last but not least here is Hendy’s facial expression after showing him my abs!

This past weekend was not the most sucessfull for the team but Karl did end up getting third on Saturday and Kyle who was in great position on Sunday going into the final turn unfortunately ended up crashing.

I also wanted to wish Hendy safe travels back to Australia and eventually back to New Zealand since he is leaving tomorrow. 

later,g.