If I haven’t mentioned it before-I work full time. In the real world I am a project manager for a medical device company. My days are filled with meetings, emails, schedules, and often some kind of crisis management (or at least they seem like crises at the time). I work very hard to fit being a bike racer into my daily life, but it is usually a secondary (or even tertiary) priority. However, way back in October or November the Tokyo Joes Team manager presented me with an opportunity- how about a travel stipend to help cover the costs of racing in order for you to try and  qualify for the World Championship team? Hmm, intriguing-let me check with my real-world boss and see what kind of crazy vacation schedule they will let me get away with. Long story short, here I am in the midst of a 3.5 week un-paid vacation with the first priority being racing bikes. So, now I’m presented with the question of what does one do when one is a bike racer?

Well, this is what I am doing…although I can’t say that it’s typical of all bike racers. I spend my days doing the following (in no particular order): eating, cleaning my bike, riding my bike, stretching, eating, surfing the web, going to the grocery store, having staring contests with my teammate and traveling companion-Jill, cooking, eating, watching movies, driving around between race venues and/or ride destinations, face timing with my husband, checking email, and my favorite, anthropomorphizing random objects/things. For instance- in New York there are an abundance of woodchucks. At first I thought they were hedgehogs, but some internet surfing has convinced me that these medium-sized, rodent-like, waddlers are indeed woodchuck(s?). I’m a bit let down because I honestly don’t really see them being capable of chucking wood. Is this a misnomer? Either way, there are a few that live in the backyard of the house we are currently staying at. There appears to be 3, but I’m sure there’s 4-surely 2 couples? Wally and Wenda (not WendY-her parents wanted an original name) and Wilber and Winifred, Wini for short. One of them is small enough to sneak into the fenced off garden, but I haven’t figured out how. I monitor their activity on a regular basis, but so far have only seen them breach the garden perimeter once. They are very camera-shy so unfortunately I don’t have any photographic evidence. I got this off the inter web. This guy looks more like an Earl to me…

See? Good times. I could definitely do this on a full-time basis.