Un-Italianization
I did a race for most of May in Italy. If you Google "Giro d'Italia" I think you'll find some info about it.The race was pretty darn taxing, so I've come up with a plan to detox myself from the rigors of racing three straight weeks. Coincidentally, it's a rough chronology of what I've been up to since returning stateside. It's a multi-step process that goes like so:1. For starters, get out of dodge! (Or Italy in this case.) Yup, the race was hard. But it's more than just that. Perhaps you've heard that Italians are intense. That would be an understatement to rival most understatements. I've never been so accosted for waterbottles or caps, I've never been asked for the jersey off my back minutes BEFORE a race starts, and I've never witnessed such airport discombobulation as when in Italy. Not to say that there's anything wrong with any of these things, because Italy is an incredibly enchanting place, and clearly it's working well for the Italians. However, to adequately hit my post-Giro-reset button, I had to get out of town. And what better place to go than home sweet home!2. This is a very important rule: Definitely DO NOT eat pasta, rice, nor oatmeal for at least one week. DO be sure to cook all the food you've been lusting after throughout the Giro. I took a page out of my European coffee supplier's book (not to be confused with my other Euro coffee supplier, nor my other Euro coffee supplier) and started the very night I got home with a pair of spectacular homemade pizzas. One was homemade pesto, peppers, onions, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and other such awesomeness whereas the other was BBQ chicken and caramelized onions. Yum a yum yum.
I have made a concerted effort to eat nothing but superb food during my time home. Seriously, for five out of the previous six weeks there was staff on hand to decide what and when I was going to eat. That is thoughtful and all, but I'm a connoisseur of fine food and pride myself on making these fine foods. So this time home was definitely going to be a Tour de Gastronomy as much as anything else.Other sterling meals since getting home include tonight's burgers and grilled asparagus, a trip to Loco Coco's up ta Kitt'ry, an amazing dinner compliments of the Fujii's last night highlighted, well, by everything: filet mignon, a stunning fresh potato salad, baby green salad with ginger dressing, and the densest of dense carrot cakes. MAN O MAN that was good! Another stunningly delicious meal was courtesy of Janet up in Maine and that was preceded by Sea Basket's finest for lunch. Also see number 5 for a tasty treat.3. During the Giro, it's assumed you're sleeping a lot - 9 to 10 hours per night is a good estimate. So on the one hand, it'd be good to rest up during this time home, on the other hand I'm trying hard to un-Giro myself and therefore I've been waking up super early in order to take care of everything I have to do. What do I have to do? Besides write blogs, please see numbers 1 through 8, minus 3.4. Another excellent way to cleanse one's self from the Giro is to get as far away from one's bicycle as possible, even if for just a short while. I took a sweet 48 hour furlough (noun: leave of absence) from my bike at the end of last week. Even though my Twitter shows my location at the middle of the ocean off of Africa, I took a little break to an island in Maine that I won't divulge for fear of everyone and their mom wanting to go there and spoiling my special place. Sorry friends. (Actually, if you're a good friend of mine, chances are you've been there and therefore you know exactly what I'm talking about.) 
5. Test the legs. After my break from riding (number 4), I did the Lake Auburn Road Race up in Maine. I would like to thank both Lee and John for hosting such a well organized race. I have a blasty blast every time I come home to race in New England, so I'm really thrilled the timing worked out.Among other reasons, here is why this race was excellent.- I won. Yeaaaa!- My appearance fee - which I most certainly did not ask for - was a freshly baked homemade apple pie! Money is highly overrated and pie is definitely where it's at. Thanks Mindy!
- Robbie finished second. King brothers going one-two is the radest of rad.- I was watching the Men cat. 4 race wrap up before I got to the start line. As the peloton came barreling by me just 300 meters to the finish, some guy (later discovered to be Mike Golay) in the midst of his sprint says, "Hey it's Ted King!" Ha. That made my day.If you want one of the better PRE-race-race reports ever foreseen, with just a little bit of vulgarity, check out Ryan's blog over HERE. He's remarkably accurate in how the race goes down, which is impressive since he wrote it the day before. Although it turns out that not all 18 McCormacks could make it to the race.6. Begin training again in your favorite place. I have about fifteen favorite places, but Vermont ranks really highly on that list, so that's where I've been the past two days. I racked up about 9 hours of riding, nearly 16,000' of climbing, saw one best friend and her hubby, and various other tallies. Day one was down in the greater Manchester region and day two was up in Middlebury where I went to school. I honestly attribute a sizable part of my love for cycling to the fact that I got into road riding while at Middlebury, and this trip reminded me why I love it so much. Awesome terrain, awesome terrain, awesome terrain. Here is a very nondescript picture I snapped while leaving the Green Mountains today. See, even on an overcast blaaaaaah day, I love Vermont.
7. I had the distinct privilege of doing a four-for-one the other night. Actually, no it was a four-for-two. See, I tackled four tasks in one night over the course of two events. First I saw four great friends - Matthew, Heather, Josh, and Michelle - while also dining on some more fine food (although I'll gripe that I wanted a buffalo chicken sandwich and they couldn't comply with such a lofty request. They have buff-chick wraps, buff-chick pizzas, and an enormous variety of sandwiches, but they somehow couldn't figure out how to mate the two into a buff-chick-sammy.) THEN I went out on the town to see the movie The Hangover all the while hanging out with three more great friends - Dana, Ruth, and Decia. So two hang out sessions, one meal, and a movie all the course of about 4 hours. That's efficiency.8. Go Rock the Party that Rocks the Pinata. I don't know what that means exactly, but I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right now.I'm tired and now going to bed. G'night.