At Fitchburg, when it rains it pours. Literally. At least that holds true for the opening stage of the 49th annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The day started out with picture perfect weather and maintained the better side of average for much of the day. But then around 5:38:45pm, which just happened to be 15 seconds from my start time, the sky opened up and there was a deluge. Crud.

The time trial course here this year is the same as last year. In one word, it’s HORRENDOUS. (Other equally descriptive adjectives include: decrepit, dilapidated, decaying, and stupid.) Basically to describe it to the uniformed, they’ve created a 6.5 mile mostly uphill TT on roads that are most suitable for an ATV, or perhaps a snow-cat in the winter. This is all extremely exacerbated when the rain accumulates into rivers on the roads so you can’t see Volkswagen-sized manholes. Absurd.

In other news, most major news outlets have already broken the news that Garrett was involved in a crash at my hometown Exeter Criterium. Not his fault though, which is important to point out, because some dude slid out in front of him leaving Garrett no where to go besides directly onto the curb.

We’re now staying at the Fitchburg State College dorms. I don’t know why I haven’t done this in the past because the set up is quite primo. We have a delicious meal plan taken care of, we’re a stone’s throw from the circuit race, a farther stone’s throw from the time trial, and air conditioning. Is there anything else?

Two things to note in the above picture:

a) Garrett is laughing while the picture was snapped so he’s nursing his nearly-broken collarbone by holding it down. Poor lad.

b) Scott is reading the current issue of ROAD. I’m featured in the 20 questions opposed to my teammate Zirbel.

56 miles of bandwith being occupied by 10 computers; 2 refridgerators currently holding 5 gallons of milk, 6 quarts of yogurt, 3 dozen eggs, 5 loaves of bread, (3 different types of ice cream); 5 vehicles allowing seating for up to 29; 78 cumulative hours wasted watching TV… so far; zero victories in two attempts, but 2 second places in those attempts; 9 pots of coffee brewed up to now; 43 times we’ve heard “that’s what she said.”

And all of this for 12 people, 8 days of racing, 6 days in 1 house belonging to the parents’ of yours truly, for 2 pro teams.

I’m currently at the Detroit airport in the midst of taking a trip home to New Hampshire for a few weeks. It’ll end up being five weeks home, but the first week and a half will be spent at Fitchburg and the crits leading up to it (the Exeter Criterium is next Tuesday. My hometown race. Should be rad. Yes, rad), while the week following will be spent on the opposite side of the country at Cascade Cycling Classic. It won’t be until mid-July that I get some r’n'r before I have a weekend lacking sleep for my best friend’s wedding. No complaints there though; that’s going to be awesome.

Aaaaaaanyway, I’m near the food court here in Detroit and I see a restaurant called PB&J. Curious, I walk closer and see that this establishment strictly deals with that wonderfully nostalgic sammy, yes the peanut butter and jelly. However this particular restaurant sells four-and-a-half dollar sandwiches. Whoa! Time to thank your sandwich-making parents from grade school, my friends, (or straight through high school for yours truly), because based on the typical 180 day school year, that’s $810 worth of sandwiches.

My garden is producing in full force. As seen in this photo, 2008 will clearly be a bumper crop, because this is what I reaped during the season’s first harvest:

Okay, time to take inventory:

Banana Peppers: 1 (one)
Cherry Tomatoes: 1 (one)
Big Beef tomatoes: 0 (zero)
Red Peppers: 0 (zero)

I should point out, however, that I’ve additionally harvested enough basil for two modest portions of homemade pesto. Deeee-licious.

Switching gears, clearly the cycling industry has been abuzz lately with news of the world’s most prominent teams signing new big time sponsors. High Road has become Team Columbia, CSC will become Saxo Bank, and I’ve noticed the Slipstream boys have been posted in results as Garmin-Chipotle. This is all very cool across the board. Of recent note on Missingsaddle is Will’s post about his new toy, the Garmin 705. While I most certainly think that the 705 is pretty freakin’ rad, I ask how you can even try compete with THIS bad-boy when it comes to moving apartments?!

The BISSELL Healthy Home is helping me move healthfully and sans-airborne toxins out of our apartment and down the street to another fine abode. We’re packing/boxing/moving like mad, yet the clean-up process is beyond easy with my vacuum. Here are a few candid action shots.

(This is in no way a sponsorship plug. Neither is the t-shirt I’m wearing in the above picture.)

Did anyone notice that my last blog post accumulated 4 comments about saddle sores, in the form of an ongoing conversation? I don’t really know what to think of that, besides that I’m the master of clever and witty blog titles. “Sore Subject”… ha ha ha! Brilliant!

The road trip consisting of Philly Week and Nature Valley GP has come and gone with varying levels of success - long breakaway at Philly, half the team (and half the peloton) battling severe heat stroke, yellow jersey for a bit at Nature Valley, 6 guys in the top 10 at NV’s TT (six!), and finishing up with 2 in the top 5 on GC. I’m now back home in scenic Asheville, NC for a week of unpacking the road trip duffle bag, packing all of my belongings, moving into a house temporarily until I figure out what will be happening with my life beginning in about September, and then packing again for a trip back to my roots of Brentwood, NH all within the next week. I’ve decided that’s entirely too much action for just seven days, so I’m sitting at the greatest coffee shop in all of Asheville contemplating how to tackle this laundry list of chores. Sounds not too far amiss from my broffa Robbie’s recent endeavors.

During Philly Week, I ran into my New England friends Kevin and Todd. Kevin likes boxes, as shown here by his t-shirt. An “I HEART Boxes” sticker next to a smoking bird wearing a hat. Kevin doesn’t even have to speak and he cracks me up.

In addition to seeing these former collegiate nemeses, I had a whole slew of blasts from the past, that I’m sure very few of you care about, but I’ll still mention because I think it’s cool and important. At Philly, unbeknownst to me, my friend from high school, Dynah, has since moved to Philly and was out spectating with the best of ‘em on Manayunk. Unbeknownst to her, I’ve taken up professional bike racing and therefore was racing in this crazy spandex colored spectacle. She wouldn’t have had any idea that I was there among the other 200 dudes except that I was in the break for 4 hours and the announcer atop Manayunk was shouting my name every lap. Cool.

Next came the Granola Bar Grand Prix in Minnesota and I had another former high school friend, Isaac, come out to the Stillwater Crit. See him there on the right?! Yeah, neither do I, but he did magically pick me out of the crowd as I was cruising around town looking for coffee. The crowds were awesome at Stillwater, and he was there somewhere among the other 5,000 screaming fans. He AND my college friend with a massive cardiovascular motor, Garrott Kuzzy. Garrott’s awesome. He’s probably the fittest guy I know, and being from Minnesota he’s likely the nicest guy I know too. (Kuzzy, you are from Minnesota, right?)

Think reunion time is over? Not quite yet. On my tour-of-the-east-coast-airports-trip-home, I totally randomly ran into an aquaintence from high school, Kara. Yeah, we’re probably not classified as friends, except on Facebook, but we chatted in Charlotte airport and it was noteworthy all the same.

You tired yet? Glen, Ben, and Zirbel are.