What it is?

It has been a while so I thought I would throw up a post for the five people who still stop by.

We sold our home in Saline and hope to ink a deal on one here in Phoenix next week. There are lots of things that still have to happen before any kind of normal life can begin. Maybe, just maybe, we will be settling in around Christmas. Really, no hyperbole here. After the move we need to get school squared away with lots of issues to be sure.

House shopping in this market is a real hoot. Most of the homes are either short sales or foreclosures. If the owner is still living in the home during a showing things get interesting. These folks are living in their home without paying the mortgage. They are not motivated to clean their home or make it the least bit appealing. I had two homes yesterday that were intentionally trashed up! I won't go into detail but suffice to say they went out of their way to dirty things up.

The riding is incredible out here. I can't get over the daily scenes I am blessed with. Incredible vistas and wildlife. I rode by a rattlesnake today and it surprised me. I went back to look it over and it was dead. Poor little guy was just trying to warm up and something must have ran it over.
I rode by what I thought was a live one a few days ago at the edge of the road but upon further inspection I determined it was some kind of constrictor that mimicked the coloration of a rattlesnake.

My rides usual begin just before sunrise, (around 5am). This gets the ride in before the heat of the day. It's actually really nice. I love getting it completed so early. At this time of the year it can be a little on the cool side riding downhill out of Fountain Hills. At the moment I am chosing between two routes. One goes north around the McDowell Mountains through Scottsdale which is 43 miles. The other is out towards Saguaro Lake and Usery Pass which is more like 65 miles. Many riders meet across the street from my apartment at the Safeway to begin their ride. I haven't met many hard-core roadies yet. Most are tri-folk. That whole thing is crazy-poplular out here. I was passed for the first time today by a motley group riding a mix of road and tri bikes. I shadowed them but elected to give them some room. TT bikes and road bikes don't mix well in my opinion. The 43 mile route features an 8.5 mile climb! I don't mind these at all. You just set up your effort and sustain it. Usery Pass takes me about 15 minutes to climb at 280 watts. It is a natural interval that makes for a nice workout.

I miss my family a lot. It gets kind of lonely out here sometimes. I don't work very much so human contact is infrequent. The local sports bar has proven to be a great place to watch the Red Wings though. Lots of displaced Michiganders wearing their colors and loudly cheering the boys on. Pretty cool.