Laundry Musings

I just put a load of wet laundry on the clothesline at Lionel's house, so I have some free time before it dries (about 48 hours in this humidity). The race on Bastille day certainly didn't go as planned. The circuit turned out to be dead flat and exposed to a cross-wind. Not exactly my specialty. A break got away just before the halfway point. In retrospect, I was too active too early which left me shelled when the break actually went. At the time, however, my logic was "if I'm in every move, there's no way I can miss the break!" Wrong. So I miss the break, and the second chase group, and wind up in the third group, until I flat (again) and have to pull out. This was not the best of days.
It definitely isn't healthy to have your entire life centered around cycling, like mine is for these three weeks. When you don't ride well, or something goes wrong, or both, your entire day is a complete failure. You can't justify your day by thinking "well at least I made an awesome spreadsheet at work," or "I finally cleaned that toilet." Because you don't have a job other than riding your bike. I don't know how Erik has stayed sane this whole time with the pressure of having all his eggs in one basket (cycling).
The next day, Marcel and I took the train to the costal town of Dieppe. We walked on the beach and the pier, ate seafood, and saw things of historical significance. This put me in a much better mood than the day before. It was a good reminder that there is, in fact life outside of cycling.
Erik and I went for an easy ride this morning and are planning on an early bedtime since our race tomorrow is at 8:30 AM. Which means a 5 O'clock wake up call. Can't wait.
We only have four more races left here. This Sunday and Monday, then next Saturday and Sunday. They will all be at a higher level than our first races, so I'll be spending a lot of time in the pain cave.

Ant Update: Last night we sprayed, stuffed, and pounded pesticide into the holes in Erik's wall, then filled them in with caulk. Not surprisingly, there are no more ants.