As soon as we could all finish our work Friday afternoon, Erich, Amy, Bus, Aliza, and I all hit the road for Athens, Georgia. Mark had left earlier in the day to meet up with his Team Mountain Khakis boys. Our road trip was an enjoyable one...low-key with good company...my favorite! We all crashed as soon as we arrived into town, knowing it was late already and the next night would not be an early one.
Erich left early the next morning to join the rest of his buddies for band practice, so I joined Starnes and the Hekmans for breakfast. Once we finally got The Bus awake, we all hit up Jittery Joe's in downtown Athens. What a funky, cool coffee shop! The combination of two of my favorite fixes, cycling and coffee, was really, really cool. And I'd put their white mocha up against just about anybody's.
Once Mark left for a training ride, A-Hek, Bus, Starnes, and I shopped for a while downtown. I know it sounds crazy, but Junkman's Brother's Daughter is a super fun store! I'm pretty sure the only reason we left after an hour was because of the barbecue lunch Jay and Courtney had waiting for us at their house. Delicious food and great friends...it's hard to beat it!
The only real damper on the whole day was the weather. We knew there were some nasty storms to our south and west, and sure enough, as the day wore on, the weather got worse and worse. Bus, Starnes, and I sat on the front porch, listening to the sounds of the pouring rain and Argus-turned-garage-band. I have to say - the old boys sounded pretty good in warm-ups, so we started to get really excited about their show later that night.
Erich and I headed back to the hotel so he could change, then we headed to Tasty World to 'load in.' For those of you who don't get to hang out with rockstars on a regular basis, that's the lingo for setting up your equipment before the 'gig.' Once they were all settled, I met up with Aliza at the hotel, and we headed downtown for an espresso before meeting up with the crew for the show.
Just as planned, the show started around 6:45pm so we could have around 2 hours of rock 'n roll before heading out to the Pro Race of the Twilight Crits. The guys really did rock the crowd - maybe the best show I've ever seen them play! It was a ton of fun to be there with our buddies...something I'm sure we won't forget for a long time to come. We were even lucky enough to have The Legend join us for the show before heading out to the race. For those of you who don't get to hang out with The Legend on a regular basis, that's the lingo for Aliza's dad, Wayne. And that's about all I can tell you. The rest you have to enjoy for yourself!
Once the show wrapped up, we headed out to the soggy race. I felt bad for the guys having to race in the thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. But the race was still an entertaining one. Once a 6-man break went down the road, Team Mountain Khakis put on a show chasing them down. With the conditions as bad as they were, the peloton had dwindled to fewer than 40 riders out of the original 150+ starters. As the bell sounded for the final lap, we all held our breath for the sprint. Unfortunately, when one racer went down in the finishing straight, he took a few other guys with him, including our buddy, Mark. But he still made his way across the Finish Line, leaving a little skin behind for good measure.
After the race, we all unwound with late-night pizza at the hotel. And after sleeping in to a delightfully late hour, we grabbed plenty of fresh java beans from Jittery Joe's, plus mochas for the road. It's funny, but after traveling to Charleston, Williamsburg, Courtland, New York City, Cambridge, and back again over the past few weekends, the trip home from Athens literally flew by.
And before we knew it, we were right back in the middle of a new week. We celebrated Aliza's birthday with a girls' night this past Thursday, which was a lot of fun! And Amy's bridal luncheon was this past Saturday...we had such a beautiful day to celebrate together. It's so hard to believe that we're only a few short days away from the much-anticipated wedding of Bus and Starnes! I'm putting the finishing touches on my toast (read: deciding how to put it all into words). Hmmm. Stay tuned on that one.
You know there's nothing in the world like my girls!
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