Hi, meet me.

'Bout time I checked in here and said that!

I'm representing the no-prior-connection-to-diabetes contingent here, as well as the Herman Miller subteam. The Herman Millerites are headed to Whitefish, Montana in August; this'll be my third year riding for the JDRF and my third location. I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be in Death Valley with the rest of the JDRF crew, but last year this time I was disappointed that I wasn't going to be going back to Asheville again. Death Valley was utterly not disappointing, and I don't expect Whitefish will be either!

Incidentally, if you catch the "Deserts" episode of the Discovery Channel show Planet Earth, one of the Death Valley vistas they show is the view from Zabriskie Point. The "tune-up" ride the day before the big ride there climbs up to Zabriskie Point, so the view was pretty instantly recognizeable.

Kinda hard to think about biking right now, though. See, Katie down there was totally not specific enough when she said "rain, rain, go away" 'cause DANG THE HECK but it's snowing to beat all, and there's no end reasonably in sight (I'm considerably less reasonable about this now that it's April, rather than January). Ah, Michigan, how indecisive your seasons!

So, thank The Great Googly Moogly for my portable DVD player, and for DVDs with commentary tracks. Turning the lights out in my workshop, firing up a flick, and ignoring the universe for a couple of hours is a sad substitute for a real bike ride, though. Sweat drips into my eyes instead of evaporating in the breeze of my own movement, and then there's that constant roar of the magnetic resistance dooleyhoober. Feh. My last garage ride ended after only 45 minutes or so, as I just couldn't stand it any longer. I should have tried a bit harder, as, determined to be productive, I headed over to my table saw and experienced a small chunk of maple kicking back into my left pinky finger at about Mach 3. Ouchie.

Soon, the roads!

did