Well folks, I’ve started a big block of training. Like most riders fortunate to live in an area of nice winter weather, I’ll be able to put in the traditional December big mileage build. I’ve done this every year this time for as long as I can remember.

Here’s what the training’s looking like…

Week 1: 5 hours per day, Monday and Friday OFF.
Week 2: 5 hours per day, Friday OFF.
Week 3: 5 hours per day, No days OFF.

Do the math and you get a 25-30-35 hour build. Add two cups of big-gear workouts, a half cup of low intensity rides, sprinkle in some structured tempo, and top it off with the Saturday morning group ride and that’s about what the next 3 weeks of my life will look like.

Good times.

Speaking of good times, I took the Scout in last week to get a little work done on him. You see, with the top off I could hear the stereo when stopped, but add a little bit of speed and… well, I just couldn’t hear it too well.

So I dropped Mr. Scout off to Arizona Auto Werks in Tempe, Arizona. It’s owned by a local pro 1-2 cyclist named Kris Pagano, who my dad coaches. Check out their website and browse the “Clients and Awards” and “Photo Gallery”. They’ve done the cars of the who’s who of Phoenix celebrities and professional athletes…

Amare Stoudemire, Emmitt Smith, Shawn Marion…

Ferrari’s, Bentley’s, Lamborghini’s, lions and tigers, bears, oh my…

And now local Pro Cyclist Austin King’s sweet ass ‘79 Scout II… complete with 3 full can’s of a primer white paint job.

I should have never put down that baseball…

Things could have been so different.

When my dad and I dropped the truck off there was a white Aston Martin Vantage parked outside on display. Hm? Very nice indeed. I figured I could possibly trade my truck for it’s glove box or emergency brake. Next to that was a very high end Mercedes and next to that was a huge lifted Hummer. Quite nice if I do say so myself. Inside on the showroom floor, was a beautiful Porsche, a Ford GT, a Corvette, a few other cars and a whole wall of behemoth 20 somehting inch rims. They looked like wagon wheels. Are we at the right place I thought?

This baby sat outfront…

I crossed my fingers that Mr. Scout (and probably more so myself) wouldn’t get self-conscious in the prescence of all the nice luxury vehicles. I also told my truck to not embarass me and wipe his tires off and not drip oil all over the nice floor. He obliged.

So, end result is the fact that I can now hear my stereo very well at higher speeds. In fact, it sounds as if Neil Young is actually sitting in my backseat. Nice! I’m going to try and get his autograph. Big thanks to Arizona Auto Werks for all the help.

Oh, and by the way, Mr. Scout was fine after hanging with some of the higher end clientel. I, however, was very sad that they didn’t ask me to park my truck oufront on display…… just like the Aston Martin.

Oh well, there’s always next time.

Take care.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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