What a great time of year if you're a cycling fun. Each morning I wake up and watch the 3 hour coverage of the previous evening's Tour coverage in about an hour 45. Then after walking the dogs and getting some breakfast Finn and I head out to that days stage of Super Week. For those of you that don't know Super Week is actually two weeks of road racing throughout southeastern Wisconsin and the Chicago area. After enjoying a morning of live racing I get Finn back in time for his nap and head out of a ride for a couple of hours.

Here's Fin putting his own touch on cheering for the racers...harmonica instead of cowbell.
Ride on!

Just another day riding in Waukesha county. Rural roads, small streams and lakes, no surprise I grew up loving cycling in this area.

Ride on and on!

This past weekend was great. I got my first long ride in on the road bike and it felt nice. The trip was about 200 miles with 5,000' of climbing. Conditions were prefect, nice tailwind, light traffic, and moderate temps. To be honest it was a little too nice, it didn't even feel like training.

The rest of the weekend was spent boating, jet skiing, fishing and just general fun with my family. Finn caught his first fish, and grandpa was there to help. Sunday was a big day not only for our country but my family as another Carpenter took to the starting line. Cait, my brother's daughter, competed in a local triathlon. It's a small low key event that draws some pretty serious folks as well as a lot of people just out for a good time. I was able to ride along with her during the bike portion and her sister ran along with her to the end. Next year it sounds like Cait's brother and sister might compete as well. How cool would that be? Watch out Steve and Connie, a good tri bike will cost you $2,000. Too bad your kids aren't all the same size.

Here is a shot of Cait and her friend that got her into tri before the race.

Here is Cait just after she finished. She should be proud, it looks like she pushed hard.

This next week I think I'll slip back into a routine again. I'll probably get more spinning in as the Tour has started. Not only that but we are in that time of year where T-storms are predicted daily.

Ride on!

I've been starting to settle into a routine and managing to get two to three hours in on the bike a day. Tomorrow I'll get my first long ride of the summer in. We are headed up to Boulder lake for the holiday weekend. If all goes well it'll be about 180 mile day. The only bad thing is I'll be missing out on a ride with teammate Brad, Sean, who built up my bike last week, and Rachele who is training hard for Ironman Wisconsin. It's probably best, at my fitness level right now I'd be slowing them down.

Ride on!

Summer time and the livin' is sausage...really. Well yes! Good news, road bike is up and running thanks to Sean and Johnny Sprockets. We are on our way to the 508.
Ride on!

Aahhh, it's good to be riding around lake country again.

Ride on!

Mom and Pancho Villa got the garden in. Now let's hope the deer and the rain cooperate. If so, we'll have quite a harvest. As you can see we are back in WI. After a fun trip across country we are back were it all started. This morning I got up early and put in some good time on the trainer. I'll spend the week on the trainer and Song. Friday I head down to Chicago where Sean and I will build up the road bike. Speaking of Sean, he raced the Lumberjack today, I hope he had a blast. While coming cross country I was keeping a close eye on the RAAM. I was following Paul Carpenter pretty close as he is a professor and the university where I got my M.F.A. and for simple reasons...we share the same last name. He had to pull out early do to things that the RAAM will cook up. I hope to get in touch with him once the dust settles. When I was thinking of doing the RAW he was a great help, and I know I could use his sage advice for the 508.

Ride on!