A ho-hum late winter / early spring

Bluebonnets at last weekend's NICA race at Reveille Peak Ranch
in the TX Hill Country just north of Austin

By all metrics, this was one of the less-memorable first quarters of the year in many years: no international trips, suck-ass winds, and far too many "issues" that intervened with my usual, fairly happy life.

We're a day or so away from the end of March, and this month will be recorded in the annals as one that brought Lubbock exactly zero droplets of precipitation. Right, no rain. While some places in California were buried by 60 or more feet of snow this past season, and other placed drowned in "atmospheric rivers," Lubbock stayed dry, and windy, windy, windy, and then dusty. Looking at my riding log (and the mileage reports from my peers in our bike club) I come to grips with the fact that we've had an unusually nasty Spring. Excuse me, Spring started just a week ago, so it was mainly a horrible Winter. At least we haven't been devastated by tornadoes—these days they spawn a few hundred miles farther east thanks to global climate change.

I've started my backyard project in earnest, but just like the weather it has not been satisfying. I had hoped that (after paying my five-digit down payment) things would progress a bit faster, but they haven't. At the ripe age of 67 I have learned the true meaning of tranquilo, but still... With an international trip rapidly approaching (and another one two days after finishing the first) I am concerned that I won't be available to sign off on the various stages of this project.

How have I spent my time since my last blog entry? Well, pretty much the same as in January and the early part of February. I try to sneak in a ride whenever there's no haboob in the forecast, which has been rare. I'm so sick and tired of our dust storms.

At least there's food, sometimes homegrown

Weekends are taken up by races, most of the time. The NICA high school races have continued in more-or-less two-week intervals. My mentee Beth has been working them alongside me, yet because of her work schedule as a school teacher the weekends have been condensed into 36-hour stints that start at 9:00 am on a Saturday, followed by a 6-hour drive or more and a course inspection, a hotel picnic and an early Sunday morning wake-up alarm, working the race, and another 6-hr drive back home that finishes with unloading the vehicle at 10 pm. Fun? Not as much as it would be if the weekends were decompressed into three or four days. All that in the name of teaching the next generation... But we do get to see bluebonnets.

My two USAC road races were better in that regard as I had more control over my travel time. Actually, at the conclusion of the Lago Vista race called La Primavera I stayed for a truly enjoyable night with Mike and Candi down in the Hill Country. That's what I call fun. In all fairness, last weekend's NICA race in the Dallas area had to be cancelled because of heavy rains, and Beth's and my plans to see mutual friends during a three-day weekend were cancelled since we had to move the race to Burnet. That would have been fun to see new and old friends!

Lago Vista, with moto ref extraordinaire Ryan

Otherwise? Not much going on in my life. Cooking decent food for myself on a daily basis, inventorying and accommodating yet another case of vino in the Eurocave, educating Bob III (my vacuum robot) and selling a few used bike parts on FB Marketplace for an old friend of mine, with mixed success. Planning upcoming race logistics, figuring out how to do laundry without my Wäschespinne (just look it up if you don't recognize the word), and dealing with normal, mundane crap. That's what is taking up much of my daytime hours. Normal.

My upcoming (personal) trip to Barcelona next week is definitely a step in the right direction. I spent much time today making adjustments and changes because of the strike of Heathrow's ground and security personnel, giving me the feeling that I'm still having that travel instinct in me. We'll see how things pan out, especially with another trip to Panama scheduled only two days after my return from Europe. But isn't that what I like?

In other words, don't give up on me just yet. I promise, the Barcelona post will be more exciting than writing about the 0.75" of rain that Lubbock has received since January 1 and the ensuing blowing dust. Cheers!

Jürgen