“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.”
I turn over and look at the clock. 8:30 AM. I’m still exhausted.
Hit the snooze button. Eyes close.
“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.”
8:45 AM. Why am I still exhausted?
“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.”
9:00 AM. Fine. I’ll wake up.
I know that this extra time is a luxury.
I still grumble and roll out of bed, grab my coffee and amble over to the computer.
175 e-mails. Oy. So I get cracking.
11:00 rolls around. Time to head to Portland. Rack up a TT bike, CCX bike and a road bike. Ship out at 11:15 AM. Arrive in Portland 12:15 PM- roll around PSU looking for a parking spot. Eventually I find one and haul stuff up to room 249 in Lincoln Hall.
My cell rings.
“Where are you?”
“At PSU.”
“Are you coming to pick me up?”
“Uh oh. Was I supposed to?”
“We didn’t talk about it. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be there a little late.”
Kinda scary walking into a classroom. It’s been awhile- a small class awaits. I start my presentation on bike racing- there’s so much to talk about. I start a little stiff, but I say hell with it and get everyone to get interactive with the bikes, I throw on a cyclocross video- “An Hour in Hell“.
My co-presenter walks in- my stress level drops.
She fields questions about cyclocross, starting to race and about the racing scene. Smooth and polished. Perfect.
I relax- and things smooth out- people ask questions about racing, nutrition, doping, the tour, about the bikes. I love it. The class is over too fast- and I leave wishing we had more time to talk.
I think a couple of them will try racing.
Mission accomplished.
