First of all, Juli, Jess, Blake, Mark and Luis…you all ROCK! You all had amazing races and looked strong whenever I saw you on the course. Luis, you truly are a hero gutting out that marathon with your feet and ankles. I had no idea everyone was battling some physical ailment along with those winds. Sorry I missed the party at 10pm!

I rode on Thursday in this huge awful windstorm that had gusts up to 40 MPH with a sand storm in the middle of it all. There were tumbleweeds (the size of cars!) and sand got in every orifice of my head. This was my maiden voyage on my new Trek bike. Also the first time I had ever been in an aggressive aero position, fun initiation, huh?

After the race we found out that the east coast was hammered by a nor’easter. I live in the Hudson Valley region of New York by the Catskills. My friend said we had 7 inches of rain. 7 inches?! It took a day for that to sink in. I live in an incredibly lovely, yet old Victorian house that leaks like a sieve when it rains a lot. I called my pet sitter to look in the basement when she got a chance. She said it was about 6 inches of water. Well, that’s not too bad, I thought.

We got home after flying 12 hours, the water heater was out. We had to pump out the basement with our 2 portable sump-pumps. After we got the water down we tried to light the pilot ourselves. Nada, rien, nutin’ happening. OK, a service call at night was 150 bucks. We could wait until the morning. The plumber gets here and looks at the water line on the heater, we had 16 inches! That explains why everything in the basement was all over the place, it actually floated around! Ugh. (I’m sure you are wondering where 10 inches of water went? We have a lovely crack in the floor that lets the groundwater in when things flood, and back out when it receeds.)

So the whole heating unit had to be removed and cleaned out. It ended up running us 300 bucks! Although I gotta admit it was nice to come home to a moist environment! LOL. Always look at the bright side of life!

Best news yet, my bike beat me home! Thanks to Lawrence & Cid of Inside Out Sports. It’s going to be really nice here this weekend and I’m going to hit Harriman State Park on Saturday for training rides in preparation for the Harryman ½ Ironman on May 19. Wish me luck its a very tough couse!

Good job everyone! I might see ya’ll at Coeur d’Alene!