Can you see the heart beating?

Friday June 29 is an exciting day for me! As I'm sure any parent will attest, the nervous excitement of the first ultrasound can be overwhelming at times. This will be my first ultrasound since that fateful day when we found that big bundle of joy in my body. It's been 14 weeks and I can't wait to see the progress. One would hope that my little intruder has gotten smaller rather than bigger...but there are some similarities, no? If the news is good, I'll be sure to post picks of the utltrasound so everyone can put them on their fridges. This impending date w/ the doc will determine if I can race in mid July. If I don't get the green light, I'll get it checked out again in August and just take it month by month. BUT, if I do get the okay - I will be racing at the Bicycle, Blues, and BBQ festival road race in Clear Lake, IA on July 8 as my big return to the sport. It's a 71 mi point to point race with a closed finish and it is run by cyclists who know what racers like. So, you think you're fit??? Come and bring the hurt to a pro cyclist who hasn't felt the pain of a race since March. Doesn't that sound like fun? Besides, Clear Lake is a cool place to be around the 4th of July and it'll be a fun weekend.
Soooo, I guess it's summertime, huh? It's been pretty stinkin hot on the Colorado front range lately. You'd think that climbing up 4000ft would cool things off significantly but that doesn't always seem to be the case. With that in mind, I have a pop quiz for ya'll:
1) The other day, I went for a long ride in the mountains where the temperature varied between 80-90 degrees, depending on the elevation I was at. So, the question is - how many ounces of water did I lose during the ride? Details: I was out about 6 hrs, rode about 110 mi at an average elevation of about 7000ft. hints: remember I'm a big dude so everything gets scaled up. Here's a pic of the post-ride salt stains on my arm and jersey.
The calculation I used was (weight lost during ride) + (total ounces drank during ride) - (2 lbs for calorie expenditure) - (1 lb for my one "nature break" during ride).


Over the past few months I've been forced to observe races from the other side of the barriers, and don't get me wrong, somedays I miss racing so much that I feel sick but there is definitely something to be said for spectating this cool sport. I mean what is there not to love? It's free, you can get so close you can touch the riders (right Teddy?), you can just sit there and let the riders come to you, and you get to see all sorts nuances of the race that aren't always apparent in the pack. It's certainly a nice way to spend an afternoon...

Not an atypical sight at a lap race. This was from April at Koppenburg. Lounge around and chat/drink for 20 min., cheer like mad for 30s, sit down and repeat.
A Denver crit from last week with Logan in tow. They went by probably 50 times and this was the best picture I could manage. weak.

Take care and remember to get out and ride (if applicable).