Home again home again, jiggidy jig

I always look forward to coming home to New England and getting to race the local races that I've grown up doing the past few years. After arriving back to Rochester, NY one week ago from Joe Martin in Arkansas, Mayo and I packed the lightening quick Civic Hybrid up to the brim (thereby vastly limiting it's lightening quick capabilities) and drove through a ferocious rainstorm to home sweet home in New Hampshire. The weather continued for the latter part of the week to be rainy with a chance of more rain, so the prospect of waking up Saturday morning before the sun rose in order to drive to central New Hampshire didn't seem like the best idea. However, at 5:30 Saturday morning I was checking the consistently incorrect Weather Channel website and saw that there were only "Rare Showers" in the forecast. Being the optimist that I am, I took this to mean warm and sunny.

Alas, after about 90 minutes of driving to the Lake Sunapee Road Race in wonderfully scenic Newport, NH I discovered that it was most certainly raining consistently outside - not the rare showers as previously advertised. So with warming oil on the legs beneath my leg warmers, and an awesome Gore-Tex jacket and enormous Gore-Tex mittens, I was feeling toasty and as warm as I possibly could be. It was awesome seeing friends whom I haven't seen in about 8 months; lots of people I raced against in the collegiate ranks and then over the past handful of years too. On top of that, I won the race, which was pretty darn sweet! I figured that anytime I have to wake Mayo up before 6am in order to drive in the rain, I ought to make it worth her while.

Additionally, the circumstance for my trip home in the first place called for a win. I'm sad to report the passing away of my paternal grandfather. Edward Oliver King lived every day of his 93 years to the fullest and truly brought happiness to all those who had the priviledge to meet him. He passed away last week and his memorial service was the same weekend as this race. He was always very proud of everything I did and I therefore figured that a win would make him especially pleased. Grampy was a very enthusiastic singer, so we sang Grampy's favorite medleys and old college fight songs during the memorial supper. Here are his children, Betsy, Kathy, and Dad belting it out! Yea Gramp!

On a lighter note, Robbie celebrated his doctor's prescribed 6 weeks of no riding following his surgery. That ended last Thursday with an exhilerating 30 minute ride with me and Mayo. Although dry, it was colder than I would have hoped. Robbie's a burly man now and has a full beard to show for it - it's keeps him warm in the cold New England spring. Mayo is obviously very excited to be riding a bike, as seen by the look of glee on her face.