The Weekend - in bullet points

Good: My first bottle of Accelerade, Fruit Punch flavor. Not that I really feel the difference of the "patented 4 to 1 carb/protein ratio" but I did feel very strong at the end of my 65 mile ride, the drink had some weight to it...

Bad: Not going long. I wanted to get more miles in this weekend (see Judson, below) but I also had a friend coming over to watch the Tour Prologue at 11 - so I needed to do the Old School Route (again) and get home. After my only pull with the main group I yelled, "Old School!" and only Alberto pulled off...I wanted to keep going, but I couldn't leave him by himself.

Good: So Alberto and I had a great ride together, and I'm certainly glad I got to know him better. Strong rider.

Bad: The Goddamn heat. I just read something this weekend about it being more humid, sticky, and muggy because the warmer air allows it to retain more moisture. Ironically, this makes the ground much dryer, via the evaporation increasing - look at all the fires out west and in the Southeast (?!?) this year. I must've sweat off 15 pounds this weekend. I look like one of the victims from that cheesy 1985 sci-fi thriller, "Lifeforce."

Good: Le Tour De France so far this year. Fabian Cancellara absolutely blew Andreas Kloden's time away - by 13 seconds. And that it happened so late in the day really added to the suspense of seeing if Andreas' time would hold up. Cancellara was f***ing flying. So fast, fact, he nearly ran into the motorcycles in front of him as he approached Buckingham Palace. Sunday's first mass start was even better. Robbie McEwan, one of the world's fastest riders, came from out of nowhere after getting caught up in a crash and fell of the back. His entire team stayed behind to tow him back into the group just before the sprint, and unbelievably, he worked his way through nearly 150 riders to blow past the leaders with about 200 meters to go. It was just amazing to watch as the leader completely deflated as he saw Robbie come flying past him...he just bailed off like he was leading a train, and the 10 or so guys behind him flew past as well.

Bad: Having my cyclocomputer break again for the second time in about 6 weeks. Sent it off to Michigan, and again I have no data with which to track my progress.

Good: Having my cyclocomputer break. Pain is my speedometer. It gave me a great moment on the team ride this weekend, pulling the pace line up the hill on St. Mary's toward the railroad tracks before the turn off for Old School. I knew I couldn't bail out on the middle of the climb, and if I'd been looking at my speed I'd have lost concentration on my spin. I knew if I was feeling the pain increasing, then everyone else was too, and I was keeping my speed up.

Bad: Missing the Judson ride. Just didn't get enough sleep and was a bit dehydrated when I woke up...I knew it was gonna be a hot, humid and windy day so I cut my losses, knowing I'd get my needed 3 remaining hours on the bike when the sun went down.

Good: At least I didn't miss Judson in vain. Cheap Trick put on an awesome show down at the Taste. Those guys should've been the one's selling out Wrigley Field, not the Police. The Police can barely stand being on the stage with one another. They're a novelty and people will pay any price to say, "I was there, man!" Cheap Trick have always brought to every single show for the past 30 years, and it should count for more than that. But even better, they don't think they're entitled to anything, and they gave the hometown fans a great performance. The best part, however, was heading to Piece, Rick Neilson's stellar pizza joint in Wicker Park, for a couple beers and a bite to eat afterwards. Mat went to the men's room, and who was he standing next to at the urinal? The Man himself. Not one to chat up at the pisser, he waited until they were both washing their hands. "Hey, big fan. Great show tonight." Rick belched his thanks, and then said, "It was hotter than shit up there!"

Bad: Riding the path at night. I don't know which was worse: the gnats in my teeth, or the beach crowd crossing and standing in the path as though it were their driveway. And when they give you that look as if to say "what the hell is bike doing here?" when you yell out, "on your left!".....grrrrrrrrrr. But definitely worse than both of those was hitting that pipe stave in the middle of the path straight on, unable to see it, causing both wheels to flat.

Good: Erik Didriken coming to pick me up in his car.

Bad: Having to do my remaining 90 minutes on the trainer.

Good: I was watching Something About Mary.

Bad: Haven't yet put my window units in.

Good: Transformers completely kicked ass. Which was a huge bonus since I would've paid $10 to see License to Wed, as long as the A/C was on.