Long time no chat! Life has gotten busy and I suppose I thought I really didn’t have much of interest to tell you about. I’m still not sure if I’ve got any late breaking news or headline grabbing content, but you never know what will come out of my fingertips.

When I listen to podcasts with authors who say things like “the character just appeared to me” or the “the characters really spoke to me”, I often think, “what a load of bunk”. But, here I sit with no idea of what I’m going to write about and then the words just start flowing out of my fingers – so maybe these authors do know what they’re babbling about.

So, what is going on? Well, I’m back to regular good old life and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’ve been riding my bike pretty regularly now for a couple of weeks.

I have to admit the first week back was hard. Really hard. My legs didn’t want to pedal. My cadence was gone. My muscles couldn’t remember what to do. My triceps ached something fierce. I was panting on false flats. Yeah, I was kind of a hot mess on the bike.

I knew this would happen but deep down I secretly hoped that through some miracle, I could get back on the bike and just roll along where I left off on April 29th. Nope. The human body, at least a 46 year old human body that’s been stretched, pulled, cut open, and wrung out more times than I care to think about in the last nine years, doesn’t just bounce back.

This is okay. The good news is I’ve been here before so I know it’s all part of the process. I’ve had some awesome rides these last couple of weeks. It’s been great to ride with so many different people. I’ve barely looked at my power meter and just focused on the person next to me and trying to remember not to talk too much.

We’re in full summer mode here. Which, I suppose for us doesn’t really mean much is different except, I have to wear pants and hoodies indoors because of the air conditioning. Question: does anyone else get super cold after eating cold food or drinking a cold drink? I do and it can be super annoying – I have to bundle up before eating ice cream or having an ice cold pop.

Hmm, what else is going on? Well, I finally got to see Bryan Adams. I’ve wanted to see him since I was a wee young teenager. It was as great as I knew it would be. We also went to see The Dave Matthews Band. Wow, what a night. There is nothing better than seeing a band full of real musicians. Dave is a real character and he let his personality fly on  stage. It wasn’t an easy next day for Marc however, with some post-concussion symptoms rearing up. Fortunately, Marc is feeling much better and back to his regular self.

Let’s see what else is happening? Nothing really. Lots of reading, Tour de France and Giro Rosa watching, podcast listening, and general loafing around. It’s a pretty good life really.

My brain is slowly but surely drifting towards the sudden onset of cyclocross season. This time last year I’d already put in a few solid months of specific cyclocross drills and training sessions. Not so much this year. But, hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can get back out on the trails and do some dirt riding.

New and exciting for this week are: mountain biking on the weekend, planned first long ride of 2018, and a return to yoga classes that aren’t Yin yoga.

I’m nervous about all three.

But, the way I look at it is – I have to cross these hurdles sooner or later – so I might as well do it now. The problem with later is I never know when that will be and it might never come.