(Most of) March in Lubbock

Wow, looking at the calendar in my bathroom on which I record my weight every morning when I am at home I realized that I had a chance for 24 entries out of 31 possible ones in March. So that means: I really spent some time at home.

It may not have seemed like it as I did have two race weekends. Two-and-a-half weeks after my long trip to the Dominican Republic I flew out to Charlotte, NC, for a one-day race in Rock Hill, just across the state line in South Carolina. That was a fun trip in that I got to work with Michel, my colleague from Canada whom I had last seen in Switzerland. Everything race-wise went off like clockwork, which made it possible for us to actually enjoy two nice evenings for dinner and a bit of walking around (and beer sampling) in Charlotte's interesting NoDa district. And not having to hop through major time zones was pretty nice, too.

BMX racing in the Carolinas

Just this past weekend I drove about 610 miles from Lubbock to Dinosaur Valley State Park close to Glen Rose and Granbury, just west of the DFW metroplex. It was TX High School Mountain Bike Race #3 (I had missed #2 because of my trip to the DR), and the 230 or so HS students again had a blast—as did I. The venue is beautiful, the weather was perfect, and walking the 6-mile course after my arrival Saturday afternoon after the long drive from Lubbock was just the perfect exercise. After working the race on Sunday I drove back home. This was a quick 36-hour roundtrip.

During my time in Lubbock I have been doing what one is supposed to do when at home: Clean the house, work on an occasional bike, mow the weeds (no lawn here), have dinner with friends, go out for a cool concert (or was it two?), and ride the bike. The fact that I logged 652 miles speaks for itself. I even had a chance to meet with my former neighbor Terry to start the process of landscaping my yard (xeriscape). There were lots and lots of race-related e-mails, and I worked on finalizing some reservations for the upcoming months.

Courthouse in Granbury, TX

And in exactly one hour I am going to be picked up by my friend Jenni who will transport me to the airport. I am leaving for Thailand today, the longest trip I have ever taken. It will be more than 10,000 miles one-way to Chiang Mai, about an hour by plane north of Bangkok, where my old buddy Stu recently bought a bike shop. He said, come over and bring me some tools, and so I am. Thankfully my flight to Tokyo has been upgraded—at about 14 hours that's a long one.  But the remaining six hours to Bangkok will be in the back of the bus of the JAL flight. I'll cross the dateline, and it'll be a bit tough to wrap my head around the fact that I am really, really far away, but that's the beauty of my life: always something new.

Stay tuned for news from Thailand.

Jürgen