Suzukiiiiii Bandito

I had a motorcycle, but I just sold it. In fact, I just sold it about an hour ago to a nice young man from Vermont. Here's a picture of my former handsome steed from when I was in Tucson. I really loved it and in the last few days of owning it, I almost had to tell the buyer that I couldn't sell it because I was loving it too much! But when push came to shove, I don't use it enough right now to warrant having it. During the rider-friendly summer months, I'm on the road to much, and it's too danged cold to operate it in the winter. Alas, I'm no longer a motorcycle owner.

Fitchburg finished up a while ago - July 2nd to be exact - and Mayo and I headed off to Squirrel Island again; this time, it was a family affair with Robbie and Dad coming along, too. I'll point out first, however, that Fitchburg went pretty darn well for me and the Priority Health Boys. Brian Sheedy SMOKED the opening time trial and sat pretty in the leader's jersey for the first two days and with three Priority Healthers in the top 11. Then in the always-tough Wachusett Mountain Road Race, Brent and I ended up in a break that stayed away all day, thereby removing Brian's leader's jersey but putting Brent into 5th and me into 6th, which is how it finished up in the final GC. The team worked really well throughout the four day race, which got me exceptionally pumped since it wasn't even an official "team" race for us. Check out results here.

So backtracking to Squirrel, that was fun as usual, although the 4th of July was a pretty damp, foggy day, so we didn't bother going to Boothbay for the usual fireworks. Instead we went to the Gillespie's and had a good time seeing friends who I haven't seen in ages. Here's a picture of Dana, Ashley, me, and Mayo. Pay no attention to what's in my hand.

The next stop for my hit bergade was a swing through southern New England for two criteriums. First was in Attleboro, MA where Mark McCormack walked away with a victory in a close-to-home race (meanwhile Robbie was 5th and I was 8th). Next was the New Britain Criterium in New Britain, CT, where Robbie and I exchanged turns in the day's three breakaways - first Robbie went, then I went, and finally Robbie was in the last, successful breakaway - to ensure that the King brothers came away victorious. Thankfully, Robbie has heroic strength and killer race savvy, so he beat his 9 other breakaway companions to come home with a cool $grand$.

The best part about the weekend was seeing our cousin, Mandy, and her family. Mandy is my dad's niece and her husband is Jay and their two kids are Emma and Freddie (4 and 1 1/2). As usual, I'd add the picture of the family, but Blogger isn't working very well. Pooouuupphh. Anywho, Jay is a hardworking doctor doing his four year residency at the Yale University Medical school and Mandy is a hardworking mother who I think is heading back to teaching elementary school in the fall. They're awesome and it was fun as heck to see them.

That's all for now!
T to the eddy