Way before I ever got into this bike racing thing, I was a happy beer drinking, tobacco chewing, golfin' maniac. I lived in Minnesota and was perfectly content to lift weights, play basketball, watch tons of sports, become a dart champion, and eat mass quantities of bratwurst. I had a group of pals that I am still great friends with today. They still live there and by all accounts, live like they've never left. Most are married now with families, so the scene is a bit toned down. But every now and then, when the women folk look the other way, we get together and live like we did in our 20 somethings.

I get on the plane at noon today, and by tomorrow at this time, I'll be jumping into 10 Mile Lake in Northern Minnesota. According to my buddy with the cabin, the name dates back to the Native Americans as they used to say that the lake was 10 miles from Leech Lake in Walker, MN. I question this fact, as I don't think the Indians used our standard of measurement back in the day. The lake probably should be called Two Moons or something. Anyway, I have a friend that owns a bonafide log cabin in the Great Northwoods, and it's pretty close to heaven on earth. We'll golf, and chew, and drink, and boat, and eat, and drink. It'll make me long for my younger days, when breaking a sweat or losing my breath, weren't really a part of my vocabulary. It'll make me question my current state in which I eat small quantities of lettuce, wear spandex, get called a "fag" by some jarhead in a pick-up every time I ride, fight with the wife about the need to do a five hour training ride and that spending a weekend in Madera is good time allocation. The amount of my money that now gets poured into two wheeled contraptions is mindboggling. I just got off the phone with one of this weekends participants and he was speechless when I told him how much I just spent on my Specialized S-Works carbon hardtail. "Something that expensive should come with a motor," he deadpanned. Maybe he's right. I'll let you know if my perspective changes next week.

Johnny GoFast