Summarizing

Ok, wow. This will probably be a long post. I'm not going to apologize for my absence because I hope that it made your heart grow fonder.

I just spent too long searching YouTube for a clip that I thought appropriate for that strange introduction to this post, but I could not find it. Since things are ALWAYS funnier when you try and remember them and then explain them with words and commas instead of video and audio, here's the clip:

Film- Coffee Town
Actor- Ben Schwartz

The trick to helping your friend get a date is to lower the target's self-esteem before your friend goes in. Like this. Hey, what happened to your face? Is that chair going to be strong enough for you? Didn't you mean to order Diet?

I didn't use quotes because I have absolutely no idea if that's how it goes and I'm not trying to get arrested, you savages.

Let's fill in the gaps of the last month:

First, I've been well. Thanks for asking. Second, I've recently decided that in order to make my mornings unbelievably exciting, I stare at my morning coffee until I see an image. Then I drink it. This morning routine is based off of the whole tea leaf reading lifestyle made famous by Harry Potter and Miss Cleo. I've been noticing something strange- all of my accidental creations are forming into marvelous animal creature shapes! Check it out:

This is a bearded giraffe:

This is an adorable Koala bear:

A brave Sea turtle:

A jelly fish with HUGE eyes:

A duck:

This one I couldn't really make out the animal shape I made so I just poured coffee all over the place.

I'm not sure what this accidental-drawing skill means for the season to come, but I can only be excited that wild creatures are starting to show themselves in my daily routines. I do hope that I can latte-draw a rhino or jaguar here in the next couple of weeks so that my mentality can stay fierce.

Continuing with coffees and animals, I saw this van while leaving my go-to coffee establishment in Seattle.

We've worked our way to about mid-February. Next, Marissa and I went to Valentine's dinner at Brimmer and Heeltap in Ballard. It was awesome and I had a good time. However, I couldn't help myself from being distracted by the shirt that was staring at me all meal:

It's nice that our Valentine's Day dinner had a lazer show too!

Then this happened:

We got our typical nice week in February where everyone wears shorts and thinks Winter is over, followed by our typical biggest snowfall yet. Yes East Coast, that is about two inches of snow and I'm calling it our "biggest snowfall yet". My bad. This weather scared me and my road bike, so I got on an airplane and flew down to Southern California to hang out with Steve Fisher and do some bike practicing.

I got to LA and I found Steve in a bit of a slump:

You see, his multiple case shipment of Jelly Beans maybe was taking over his living situation. He was trying to save some for the Apocalypse, but I showed up and started making lots of political decisions:

This made Steve a HAPPY chappy!

I forgot to take more than one photo while I was there. So enjoy this photo A LOT because it's all we get to reminisce upon:

I returned from California and started plotting for my first race of the year. The Ice Breaker TT is my usual season kick-off, and this year was no different. I squeezed into Carson Miller's skinsuit (I get my clothes at team camp next week) and pedaled hard. I was able to get the win, which breaks my streak of... not winning... at the Ice Breaker TT.

photo credit: Woodinville Bicycle

We're caught up to present day! Speaking of "Present Day", I got my training bike in the mail yesterday. The new Jamis Xenith is way better than last year's bike, and last year's bike was the best bike I had ever ridden. I'm very excited to get racing on it. Marissa says that it's "a million times more beautiful" than my bike last year, so feast your eyes:

Go ahead and make fun of me for taking a photo in the little ring. Whatever!

Let's talk about more racing! The season officially starts for me this Saturday at the Old Pueblo GP in Tucson. I fly down on Friday, meet my teammates, get my kit and other bike, race, then have a week of team camp in the sun. Following team camp, I do another race: The Tucson Bicycle Classic.

It's been a long winter, and we're four days from take-off.

THERE ARE NO MORE PICTURES, SORRY.

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