You want to experience hot and dry? Come to Lubbock!

After one of many rides over the past 30 days

I've been back home in Lubbock for exactly a month since returning from Brazil, and one thing is for sure: It's hotter here than in South America! About a week ago we had three consecutive days of 100 or 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Yep, middle of May. And as far as moisture is concerned, it seems we're getting back to the drought years that started in late 2010. My lawn? It doesn't exist. The neighbors' lawns? What are you talking about? How are things supposed to green up when our annual-rainfall-to-date was just about an inch two days ago? Since then we had a few spotty thunderstorms in the metro area, but my place certainly didn't get the claimed extra inch.

Lubbock, at the intersection of Ave Q and 32nd Street

It's not completely correct that I have been home for a month. Twice I ran away, both times for races. The first trip came just a few days after my return from the land of Bossa Nova when I drove down to the Cleburne area and officiated our High School Mountain Bike League Finals in Dinosaur State Park. That's always a fun trip, and it was nice to see my NICA-related friends. A nice plus to this short trip was my being able to stop at Revolver Brewing and visit their impressive facility.

And they DO!!!

Gosh, they are so beautiful and I gush over them every year--Texas Bluebonnets!

No race without dinosaurs--at least not in Dinosaur State Park

My second out-of-town trip came about ten days later, when I flew out to Salt Lake City to be the vice chief for an international mountain bike race at Soldier Hollow (and thus chief for the US races). I had been out there last year and was lucky enough to be re-assigned in 2018. While last year's UCI-appointed chief referee had come from Canada, this year I worked together with Hubert from the Netherlands. We had a great race together, even if this time around we were housed in an actual hotel instead of being assigned a homestay--you may remember my detailing our time last year at the house of Jabba the Hutt. :)  MJ Turner is a truly great race organizer, and working with Hubert and Richard and Holly Blanco (both of whom I have known for years) was easy and enjoyable. Bonus point for this trip: I got to reconnect with Rick Morris whom I've known since the early 2000s when he used to live in the Austin area and raced in the TMBRA series. He and his wife moved out to Park City a few years ago, and Rick and Nell opened their door for Hubert and me for a home-away-from-home experience. Thanks!

Fabulous venue at Soldier Hollow (just outside of Park City in the Heber Valley)

Hubert, the Flying Dutchman

Four people running a UCI race

After five days I was back in Lubbock, just in time for that aforementioned heat streak. Immediately after my return (and actually, right beforehand, too) I was rather busy at times with helping my neighborette, Janet, prepare and execute her move to the Ft. Worth area. Janet and I had grown really close to each other over the more-or-less three years that she lived two doors down the street--that's what broken collarbones, vertigo, concussions, and not-to-be-discounted bashed-in bloody craniums will do for you. If the POS house she rented for a ridiculous $1,200 a month from a slumlord bubba hadn't been such a crap-hole, I think she might have thought about staying here. But she decided to leave Lubbock to be closer to various friends and has now moved in with her friend Jon. I was glad that I could help with a few things and assist her because I know she would have done the same for me. I'll miss our many happy hours together and the even more numerous meals that we had either at her place or mine.

Janet, aka Janet the Planet or simply The Uberette, about to leave for good, with Jon
and the truck from the Clampetts

Since coming back from Brazil I've been riding my bike almost on a daily basis. I just tallied up the distance since then, and it's been a whopping 721 miles! There were days when the relentless wind really got to me, but I somehow shrugged it off and kept riding. As a result, I feel a bit fitter, but it doesn't mean that I've lost a bunch of weight--Revolver Brewing, flying to Utah in First Class, and visiting two new breweries here in Lubbock provided enough temptation to sin a little bit. Oh well, I did take off a slight bit of poundage, but there's always room for improvement, right?

Lubbock doesn't get much rain ...

... but we have contractors for AT&T who drill into water mains ...

... just to recharge our surface playa lakes!

Quaker Ave was completely closed for four or five days

And now I have another (hot) weekend ahead of me before I am going to leave for Munich and some quality time with Sabine. What we'll do I have no idea, but I am sure we'll come up with something cool.

Yeah, the old truck's still a-running, if you've been wondering

Late yesterday afternoon...

Jürgen