I freaking love airports! I am going on hour number 7 of my 10 hour stay here in the Salt Lake City airport. Everything was going smooth until I made it to Utah.  I got in at 10 am and waited for my flight at 1 pm to Durango.   Then it was just canceled for mechanical issues.  My only option was to wait and try to fly stand by tonight for a flight that was already oversold and there would be another 30 people fro my cancelled flight trying to fly standby for that one as well.  If I couldn’t get on that flight I would be stuck in Salt Lake all day until 9:15 Tuesday night because Delta serves only one flight that day.  My alternative that I have signed up for is to stick it out here until 8:00 and fly to Denver, stay the night, then fly to Durango on a different airline the next morning.   Is it a better option??? Who knows? What I have learned in the airport today is that one there is no free internet.  I know, that makes two times in a week that I have cracked and had to pay for the internet. Never again! What else am I supposed to do with 10 hours to kill just here in Salt Lake? Nothing is free in an airport for the most part.  Even finding an outlet to charge your computer is nearly impossible.  I had to search high and low and finally crawled under the back part of the check in desk to charge the computer.

Also on this trip I have learned that if you are extremely over weight you can still fly no problem.  The poor guy in front of me on the plane could barely fit in his seat and overflowed into the seat next to him and the isle.  The seat-belt wouldn’t fit around his, um, midsection.  A little push of the call button for the flight attendant and wallah!  A seat-belt extension is all you need.  That’s right folks just add an extra 80 inches of strap by clicking it into the already existing end.  Genius! Who cares about the woman who was suffocating in the corner and trapped with no space at all.  It must have been a long flight for her. 

My Greenville preparations are set back another day.  Looking foreword to hitting up the bakery for a Bread ride and some good training.  Off to Greenville for US Pro and am not sure what is after that.  We will see. Enough ranting and complaining for one day! I am just living the dream people……..in Salt Lake…….. in the airport…….. behind the Customer Service desk.  Living it!

Well, it could have gone better to say the least.  No I didn’t crash! No, I didn’t have a mechanical.  I actually had a very good start and wanted to give it a go.  The race was super fast for the first 10 laps or so and I think that is about all I was in there for, seriously.  My job today was to cover early moves.  I wasn’t feeling super stellar, but just kept following the moves early on in case something snuck away.  When it is raining and slick, it is a bit easier for moves to sneak away.  I stayed up front for about the first 30 minutes and it was completely strung out.  The race was a bit safer today, but there were still guys doing dumb shit of course and stacking it up in the corners.  Too fast for a course with bad conditions.  I ended up going a bit to hard to early, cracked myself a bit and drifted back to far.   A few guys were coming unglued and gapped me out.  Game over!  It was a bit disappointing and I was riding a bit soft today.  Getting a little tired here at the end of the season.

 It is off to Durango, home, tomorrow and I am looking foreword to it very much.  I need some good rest and some good training before Greenville.  I am really looking foreword to that race and have been all year.  The course is a good one and suits me on a good day. 

The rest of the guys did well.  Evan Elken killed it and ran 6th or so and was probably in the top 3 for Americans which is awesome!  He even crashed 3 times.  Unreal!  Nice work from Tommy and Neil.  Tommy slid into a curb backwards and still ran top 15.  It was a crap shoot if you made it through.  Good work to all the epic riders who finished.  Just making it through was a success and a good result. 

I finally cracked and paid the $10 for internet here at the Hyatt.  After all that squawking about not coughing up the cash last week, I just couldn’t go without it again.  I guess that makes me an internet junkie.  I am not as bad as some who wake up in the night and check their email and surf the web. 

I am back in Chicago for the US Pro Criterium Championships in Downer’s Grove.  Yesterday was the Pro Amateur race with over 225 starters.  Mixing that many amateurs with the pros and adding some rain and cash means you are going to have some spectacular crashes.  I think I rode through at least 5 in the hour of racing that took place. 

I was stinking up a storm yesterday at the back of the race for the most part.  The legs weren’t happy with the 50 degree temperatures and rain.  It went from upper 90’s with humidity to ice cold rain in just a day.  With 10 laps to go there was a massive crash and I just missed it.  All 70 riders went to the pits, me included.  Then the riders just kept riding instead of waiting for the break to come around.  It was pretty much a junk show and the guys that were in the pack sitting good ended up getting chopped and at the back.  Lame!  I stuck it out and tried to help Evan on the last laps, but it was an effort to late. 

Today is the big one.  100 kilometers for the National Championship Title.  I am banking on rain again today.  Sweet, have a good one eh!