Yes, my friends, up to my eyes! That's how I categorize my arbitrarily busy'ness since, umm, since about early April. I love being busy so don't get my wrong and think I'm complaining. In the past few months I've jumped coast to coast to coast to coast, with some Coloradan mountains and a trip across the Atlantic thrown in there for good measure, and after these adventures I can report that my delicious Siggs blueberry Icelandic style yogurt was confiscated in order to keep our friendly skies friendly. Or safe anyway. I knew the moment I went through security that it was probably 50-50 whether they would see this yogurt at the gelatinous dangerous "liquid" that it is. Alas, it was a traveling rookie mistake and I'm telling you this entire tale with my tail between my legs. I went as far as offering it to the confiscating TSA agent to please enjoy it. Actually first I asked if I could eat it, but she told me I would have to eat it on the dangerous, pre-screened side of security. Which seems silly for a half dozen reasons, not least of which was that I had just crept through the security line for 35 minutes in order to reach this juncture of my travel. So after declining that invitation, and her subsequently declining my invitation to her to eat it, I went on my merry way but devastatingly yogurt-less. (sigh)Thankfully I had wasabi peas and a pack of Krave beef jerky for my trans-Atlantic sustenance and therefore made it to Europe by the skin of my teeth.I digress. I apologize for the length of time it's been since writing on this here blog, but thankfully you can stay apprised of all things Ted King via the rest of the internet. For one, I wrote this at our friends on Bicycling Magazine's website, then I summarized yee Tour of California and Nationals with this fine post. I'll supplement those doses of excellence with this photo montage featuring just some of the maple syrup shenanigans featured at the ToCA. Lest we forget friends, yes, I love maple syrup. But more importantly, in terms of sports nutrition, the stuff is liquid gold! Plus it's fantastic on both your oatmeal and pancakes not to mention splashed in your morning coffee.

So from California to more California with a sweet block party hosted by Cannondale at the inCycle/Pasadena...  Next up were a few days in SoCal before blasting east to Nationals, which are always a crapshoot, but were successful for a variety of reasons (just not in terms of collecting a new national champion jersey) then to home sweet New England. I soaked up every bit of the native countryside with a trip from Boston to Hyannis Port. Partaking this hundred mile jaunt made sense on the bicycle, so I did it as part of the Best Buddies Challenge: Those of us from New England know that Tom Brady is the crowd favorite for the BBC and of course the face of the New England Patriots. Yeah yeah, I love Tom too, but after watching Tom race the Best Buddies Friends Criterium -- a hotly contested three lap race featuring blue jeans and helmets unknowingly donned backward -- I take the cake for on-bike pros as part of the BBC. Just saying. That being said, he throws a better pass -- outdoors and apparently indoors as well: Click me!After a few miles of hanging out and embracing the peloton of friends, fans, and fellow riders, we ramped things up a bit and I took an 85 mile pull... That was followed by more fun upon arrival in Hyannis as well as recovery lobster. Or two... From there, with only a few days left in New England it made perfect sense to cobble together a two day trip to Portland, ME. I love Portland, I love Maine, I love my friends in that city, and I knew where I had to go. Plus I had two days of volume on the training docket so it was UP to Portland and BACK again.A trip on Iberian Airlines ensued, Boston to Madrid, which was fantastic because I didn't just get my own seat, I got my own aisle! I just had no yogurt to enjoy on the flight. Surely there's some to be found in Switzerland. Tour de Suisse is on the horizon.