Home Sweet Home.....

I am back in San Diego and hopefully no travel until October! 6 weeks of travel was a lot.

Rest of Boulder stay was rockin. JD and I headed out at 5:30am on Friday for a great ride up to Wade, 9200 ft! Talk about thin air. We did a 4 hour ride, 4500+ ft of elevation gain and it was great. Beautiful and perfect temperature. My legs are coming back and I felt great on the ride until the final climb, it was only a bit over a mile, but was 14% grade and I was literally gasping for air. It''s all good....

Loved the fast descent back and we stopped at Adamo for some iced coffee and post ride fueling. Riley and Kathleen were going to meet us but plans changed so we fueled up and headed back to the house. I showered, cleaned up and headed to the airport. EZ Rent a Car return was easier that the pick up, nevertheless, still not all that easy, Over 10 people in line and they told me I had to wait to be checked out- don't think so.....dropped the keys and said see ya. Never to return again.

DIA is pain in the a#$ of an airport. Out in the middle of no where and massive....trams, walkways, terminals...but alas I was at the gate with time to spare and time to eat. Gotta love Einstein Bagel- Massive Turkey wrap + Venti iced latte and I was one happy camper.

Thanks to Mom picking me up I was home smoothly and quickly.....

As tired as I was, I went for a swim and cleaned up and we headed to a Happy Hour for a friend. Re-energized we had some good conversation, food and a few beers and called it a night.

Saturday.....well my legs felt the ride and the travel. Weary indeed. Did a short run and that was it for training today. John put together our new bike stand so I was eager to do a bit of work on my bike. Cleaned it up, adjusted the derailleur and swapped the cassette. I am such a grease monkey now. HA!

And then more socializing.....Off to Talene and Tony's goodbye soiree. Sniff, sniff- had a short visit and a tearful goodbye with Tal. Went to the Yorks for a reunion of sorts with good friends from Seattle. The old gang was together, parents and kids alike. for Mango Margaritas, Sangria and wonderful BBQ's delights by Rob and Jonathan Sr. It was a night of reminiscing and laughing that we have all been friends since the boys were in pre-school, and look at them now!

Sunday- up and out for a ride. Still lingering fatigue and per KP changed my ride plans to a shorter ride with less intensity. JB and I had a great ride, rocky start - but a good recovery and rolled in as it was getting very, very hot.

The next task was my favorite....cleaning the disaster of a house we have. It was filthy and needed a good scrubbing. Note to self: time to hire another house cleaner. Major cleaning makes Julie grumpy and angry with others. But the reward was heading to a Tour de France Party.....more yummy food and a big screen TV to see Lance up close. As awesome as he is to watch, I have to say I was in awe of Andy Shcleck as he rocketed up Mt Veux on the 2nd to last stage- he is simply awesome and a force to be reckoned with next year and years to come. He had the legs to take off - you could just see it, but he was working so hard to get is brother on the podium, but Lance could not be shaken. Amazing to think of the miles they have ridden..... what a feat.

Time to prepare for the next week- back to serious work and training and need to be focused to get it all done. Riles is back Tuesday night and JD has another soccer camp so there are logistics of driving involved on that front. JD and JB just headed to Poway lake for some fishing and I am headed to the couch with my book :)