...couldn't get to bed last night..."Alrighty Beatles fans I know the correct lyrics are "Flew in
from Miami Beach
BOAC...," but give me a little creative license will ya.
Well general title theme about sums up my all-niter to the
Magic City arriving this morning (slightly tardy) at a little before 8AM this morning. And it was not
BOAC but the Eskimo adorned tail of
Alaska Airlines.
Anyway my goal of this today's entry is to out-do the 10K word response/discussion that
Prudoggie had with
"IleadthereforeIgive" while providing a multitude of useful links and correct spelling, all the while not mentioning the
testosterone & caffeine infused topic that
Prudog engaged in. I refuse to even mention
Floyd Landis even once (
DOH!). OK starting right now, no
Floyd (Oh crap!) - right now!!
After only 3 1/2 hours of sleep I put together the
Pocket Rocket anxiously looking forward to Monday's team ride. Again a not very well attended ride, but getting out solo with the
Axley colors for some East Coast exposure in the beautiful weather (85F with matching humidity - put the
Heat Index into the low-90's) was a wonderful thing to behold. Though filled with many multi syllable words and several scientific references you don't hear
Prudog mentioning anything regards to HI in his blog, I wonder why? Conspiracy theories abound?
I haven't been to Miami in at least 10 years and haven't spent any significant time here since the demise of the
Great Silver Fleet in '89. Though a bit bleary-eyed during the drive to the hotel, a lot has changed - for the better - along the
Miami beachfront.
Out of the
crew hotel (where the unofficial motto is "What's Miami is
Yourami") in North Beach slathered in
SPF 50, I take A1A north past Fort
Lauderdale (
yes Prudog there are forts - or there were) I miss all the driving blue haired centurions - who are either taking their afternoon nap or eating at the early bird special, passing about two dozen Trump properties whose vast real estate holdings surpass the enormity of
Rosie's brassiere size.
A flat ride - 4" above sea level - except for the 10 (or so) waterway overpasses, I can understand why guys lose their climbing legs after hours (and days) of flatland riding (
shud-
dup Prudog!). With a grand max. elevation of approx. 30' my normally
EZ Zone 1 pace skyrocketed on the killer climbs. Could also be contributed to the general lack of sleep and dehydrated state after the 6 hour flight (
that's my story & I'm sticking to it).
The ride took me north past
SMYT Beach where I am either 6 months late or early for the
Spring Break mania, though their was no SB atmosphere there was still a lot of folks out enjoying the sunny day. I think the politicos have pretty much toned down SB here (like
Palm Springs & elsewhere where the old guard is still in control), but it does live on in places like
Cancún,
Mexico;
Rosarito;
Acapulco;
South Beach;
Panama City Beach;
South Padre Island,
Texas;
Negril,
Jamaica;
Nassau,
Bahamas; and
Puerto Vallarta.
An interesting aside here, USA Grocery in Hollywood Beach does not (I repeat
DOES NOT) sell
USAToday.
Humm yeah I thought the same thing.
Anyway I continued northward past the
Pelican Grand Beach resort, which hands down wins the place I'd rather stay in this part of the world. Not to be confused with the other Pelican named
non-resort in northern CA.
Just up the road I spot a flier for a missing dog with a reward of $1,000! This must be some dog!? Further reading lists the missing canine as a very small white chihuahua. Though interestingly the info. was posted on the backside of a garage sale sign. SO my theory here is that
RSOL (rich senile old lady) has a garage sale and sells dog then forgets & posts reward for its safe return
OR the aforementioned
RSOL actually has a
Chinchilla and the monthly pest control guy mistakes it for a little white rat and takes the little guy out. Either scenario has the possibility of a good outcome dollar-wise if
RSOL cannot tell the difference in the little guy you purchase at the local
pet store.
Just before my turn around in the little hamlet of
Hillsboro Beach (luxury villas on the east side of the road fronting the big A, while across the street lay the helicopter laden yachts on the inter coastal)) I pass a
possum in the road, and I don't think he's playing; little X's in the eyes and all. After a few more minutes I turn and to my amazement the local policeman has stopped by the side of the road (lights ablaze) and is scooping up Mr. Possum into a plastic baggie and presumably taking it for appropriate disposal. How long the poor little guy was defacing the ritzy community road is unknown but I'll bet the response to this catastrophe was swift. I don't imagine Crockett &
Tubbs providing the same service with their confiscated
Ferrari Testarossa (where would they fit it?). Although Sonny did need some sustenance to keep his pet alligator - Elvis - hunger at bay. Can you hear
Jan Hammer's (not to be confused with
Franz Hammer) music as possum patrol completes it's task; nah probably not.
Ride back to the hotel via the same route I did notice a guy in a faded yellow jersey riding north, had me wondering just what
Floyd (
geez! OK
rightttt nowww!!!) has done with all those
MJ's he earned in 2006? Does
Oscar, his former
Phonak teammate, get them all? He should round them up and
FEDEX them to
Spain before the
UCI goons show up at his door in
Temecula.
Thus concludes a nice 4 1/2 hour team ride just prior to
sunset. Fly back tomorrow non-stop,
flight 17. Early get up notwithstanding (3:05AM Seattle
body-clock-time yikes), it's been a nice trip - perhaps more
teamies on the next outside-Seattle area-ride, which is
tentatively set for NOV 2
nd in Dallas. Until then it's been fun...
...to talk about news?
