At It Again!

Hey everyone, I got a late call up to do my "local" race, Volta Catalunya. It wasn't as late as 3 days West Flanders though, so I could at least have a day at home to relax beforehand. We didn't stay at home though, we went to the coast! Caleb and I used our easy day to roll to the coast, and Lisa and Ally picked us up. We enjoyed a nice picnic on the beach followed by some paddle ball, which we followed up with coffee and Milan San Remo. It wasn't a proper be lazy, do nothing recovery day, but it was good fun and relaxing nonetheless!

I am excited for the opportunity to race Catalunya. It is close to home making it feel semi-familiar, even though there isn't really anything outside of stage 2 that I will know, and it looks to be a difficult parcours making me test myself more and hopefully become stronger. I'm happy to have a local cheering squad, too! Lisa will be able to come see a few days of the race, so that's a wonderful advantage.

Other news is that Lisa and I bought a grill. We decided it was time to put some birthday money to use and get ourselves a cooking tool we both will love. One of the reasons we have been hesitant to buy a grill is lack of available porch/balcony space, but with a little ingenuity everything is possible! Lisa might call it crazy, but I prefer to call it "fatherly" inspiration. I used my carpentry skills to assemble a grill shelf. I attached it to the railing of our balcony to keep the small space we have free, and also to provide a more user-friendly cooking height. The picture here is of the first version I constructed, but just today I made some small but vast improvements. I will try to get a new picture soon.

We made delicious dinners the last 2 nights on our new grill. The first night was kebabs of steak, peppers, and pineapple with a side of grilled asparagus: YUM! Funny story is that after such a raving success on use #1, I laid in bed that night racking my brain for what I wanted to cook next. After going through several ideas, I decided that a turkey/chicken burger was going to be it. Using previous experience and my own ideas, I created what I thought was another success. I grilled asparagus again actually to go with them, but that didn't turn out as good this time. Enough of this grill talk though. I'll just say I am excited for the next bbq with Lisa!

We've got a strong team here in Catalunya, so we're hoping for something good! I'll do my best to report along the way.