Grabbing Life by the Texas Longhorns

So today was a very [un]productive day, but it was an important one nonetheless. A friend and I attended a birthday party at Superior Grill and it was good eats all afternoon. Seriously, folks, go try this place if you haven't already. In addition to the great Mexican food, a raspberry and Chantilly cake (which costs more than my entire Tulane Cycling kit, by the way) was brought out and we ate that for dessert. I do tend to boast that I'm a pretty good eater when it comes to all things ice cream and cake related (there are references to prove it), but this cake was so rich that I was only able to get through two pieces before throwing in the towel. I guess that shatters any dreams of establishing a viable competitive eating career.

Win!

After the party, we (all 30 of us) went back to our respective dorms/apartments to try and undo the food coma (but failed pretty miserably). It's a given that Mexican food sits in your stomach like a rock, but heavy birthday cake is like adding sandbags to the mix. I ended up in the fetal position but it was well worth it.

Upon recovering from the aforementioned meal, I joined most of the Tulane Cycling team for a meeting with Kenny Bellau, a road cycling mastermind who rides for Herring Cycling. If it's got wheels and pedals, this guy can probably get it across a finish line in first place. It was pretty cool that we got to pick up some racing strategies from him (as well as catch a glimpse of his pronounced cycling tan).

It almost looks like he's wearing an undershirt.

Seriously.

One of us is definitely represented by a button in this schematic of a paceline.

During the meeting we were told what to watch out for during road races, time trials, and crits. Especially during our races in Austin next week. More importantly, we were briefed on the yellow line rule. It states that cyclists can't cross the yellow line in a road race without getting disqualified or sent to the back of the pack. Lame sauce. Apparently there is a race official in Texas (who shall remain nameless) who is a total cycling dictator and sticks to that rule like butter to a stack of flapjacks. (I'm pretty sure I heard some old World War II words being used to describe her.) She once tried to get Kenny's team in deep trouble for cruising around pre-race without a helmet. Seriously, aren't there better things for an official to be doing instead of griping about professional cyclists' head wear during pre-race preparations? I'm pretty sure that more dangerous shenanigans are going on in the peloton during the race. Whatever. So to summarize, we should pedal hard and give it 105% (read: all we've got) next week, because Texas ain't easy and we have to show 'em that the new squad on the block ain't here to play nice.