Winter base riding can sometimes be the greatest thing. I got on the bike today at about noon to do 5 hrs alone... everyone is out of town. Motivation level was relatively low, getting back from being sick is sorta annoying and I feet like I lost some real ground. BUT! About 20 minutes into the ride, I looked down at the ol' P-Tizzle and it was reading near 300 watts, and i wasn't gunnin' it. So, I did what any good man would do: found a good pee-spot, powerwashed a hole in a pile decaying leaves, and went back to the P-Tap, and checked the torque for zero. I figured the P-Tap was reading hot... but, it was zeroed, and I re-zeroed it again just for kicks. Got back on the bike, and, brother, I was ROLLIN'. 250 watts effortless. So, that's how the ride went. I was just feeling great. I had about 5 hrs of Essential MIX in the Rio, so I just rolled steady, equipped only with a PB&J sammy. Cranked out a solid winter base ride, and it felt good. Nothing fantastical, but just solid.

Ride went perfect except for this little bad boy... I broke my rear D cable. Fortuntely, being the God-fearing Eagle scout I am, I was totally prepared with another derailleur cable, and I fixed 'er in a JIF. I swear that I just replaced this bad boy recently. I'm pretty shifty.

Lots of great stuff going on tomorrow. Teaching a spin class at 6:15am at Golds Gym, and then doing a ride, going to a "business meeting," and then getting a haircut from the greatest stylist in the world, Marlo, at Bristles. She keeps me looking hip. P-Hen also goes to Marlo. Not only does Marlo give the greatest haircuts in the world, but she is great to chat with- there's always lots to talk about!

So, Christof and I did agree that we shouldn't talk about our rides too much, so we won't. But, here are my stats from the ride today, which is fairly standard for a 5 hr ride in the winter: (note that I only produce 991 watts in the winter when 3 large dogs are chasing me)

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Tonight my mommay and I prepared something wondrous to eat. It's simple, but great. Basically, it's what I like to call "Salmon on Kale sauteed with garlic with Orzo simmered in chicken broth with almonds."

I had about 3 servings of it because Ian did a WHOPPING 4 hours on the bike today. Well, when ya rode only three times in the last 10 days because of illness, 4 hours is a long way! Thank goodness I had some Essential Mix pumping on the mp3 player. E E E E E E seeential---- MIX.

Anyway, yes, I did ride my bike today, and yesterday too. I did 3 hrs yesterday and 4 today. Have I ever told you that I really don't like riding in NJ??? I would never have become a bike racer if it weren't for Charlottesville, VA. I didn't start riding until I got to UVA, even though there was plenty of opportunity to start riding with Dad when I was still in NJ in my pre-college days. Actually, I didn't start riding at UVA until after I got mono and the flu in my second semester, which forced me to quit pledging a fraternity. Thank got for mono and the flu!!!! I might be a fat post-college frat boy working some corporate job! I recommend that if YOU want to become a pro cyclist, you should probably start off with an illness that lasts about 3 months. That ought to get you good and lean. It's best to start off your cycling career lean. That way, you only need to worry about gaining muscle, and maintaining that gaunt look.

So, CHRISTOF hopped on a "aircraft" today to go to Switzerland to visit his Dad, who happens to live in Switzerland. He will be there for a week of so. I visited Christof's Dad in Switzerland when I visited to watch the TDF last summer. Lots of stories from that trip, woo! All I gotta say is, who do you have to know in France to get a friggin' breakfast, huh! It's hard to do a 6 hour ride on a baguette, butter, and a croissant. We made it work, though.

Update on Dad... yesterday, he started feeling better and the poisoned feeling he was having started to subside. I think we've officially decided to blame it on all the drugs. Now, the big man is eating and drinking, and we were laughing and carrying on and having a good ol' time today. He only had enough energy to do that for about 4 minutes, but, nonetheless, Dad is hopefully back on the recovery track. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the bike shop with him for an hour or two to assess how many things are in crisis mode, since his leaving nearly 2 weeks ago. That ought to be fun!

Back to C'Ville tomorrow afternoon, yessssss!

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We here at 2skinnypros wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!! We hope your weekend was somewhat merrier than ours, though!

I spoke to Christof tonight and he reported to have woken up this morning very sick... fever, aches, barfing, hacking, and molting like the arthropod he is! I hope he gets well fast, because he can't afford to lose any more weight, that lean bastard!

My Dad is still recovering from his major Iliac Artery replacement surgery he had last weekend. Having talked to him all week, I knew that this weekend would be tough when I got back to NJ. The guy is having an awful reaction to something, where he is absolutely repulsed by food and his mouth and throat feel dry and taste very salty. It was getting bad, so we took him to the ER at 7:30 on Christmas Eve, and after 2 hours of waiting, we finally had an IV put in him to supply some electrolytes. Mom and I stayed with him until about 4am, when he was released. The abdominal x-rays and CT revealed nothing out of place, but at least we left with him hydrated. All day today he felt like he was poisoned, and I literally had to force him to eat. Nasty shit. He has some serious willpower- this whole surgery is so that he could crank out some XM-Dubs . (extreme maximum watts, on the bike) Anyway, Dad thanks everyone for sending well-wishes!

I got underpants for Christmas!!!!

Here is Tom Ayers, clearly not a hat-guy:

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Tonight, Christof came over and we had propsickles after wrork! Yrummmmmyyy.

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"i'm actually fockin' stiff from what I did tonight.... it's rediculous". -ian

ian had a tough night waiting tables... i watched smuggly from the other side of the restaurant, sipping my shirley temple. he had to answer a question about wines, and he told 'em he didn't know and that he'd find out, and then he walked away, walked back, and told 'em a lie. not because he didn't care, but because he knew they didn't care.

it was hard not to smile. the chef/owner Sean says we're a couple of goofie-ass mofos and we smile too much. what can i say? the food's just tastes better when it comes with a big ol' Kool-Aide smile.

ian's got the hots for a waitress at the restaurant next door. apparently she came into Cassis last night with her family, and was amazed at ian's plate handling skillz. this was big news in the rentraunt and the staff was buzzing with excitement. as ian's crush next door strolled down the sidewalk, we hucked ian out the door to chase after her. with his apron flapping in the wind, and the chariots of fire soundtrack blarring in his mind, Ian set off in hot persuit. In a tragic twist of fate, the hottie turned onto the downtown mall, and Ian slammed into a barrier of self-conciousness. he didn't want to be "that dude".

with his love forever lost, ian solemnly strolled back to the restaurant.

In this time of strife, let us all offer our support and condolenses to our dearest ian. with the support of his closest friends, ian will surely spread his wings and fly, fly away, to the land where the true playas play.

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I worked today at Cassis. I think we only served 39 mouths tonight, but I met some lovely people. A nice senior-aged lady had the greatest thing to say to me... I said to her and her husband, "Happy Holidays!" when I gave them their check. I hate doing that, but I did this time anyway. She replied to me with, "WHICH HOLIDAY DO YOU MEAN?" And I, without hesitation, responded, "CHRISTMAS, OF COURSE!" We all had a good laugh, and then the husband reminded me that without Christians, America wouldn't be here today. Duh!!!! Praise the Lord.

So, I come home from work and open my front door, and roommate P-Hen immediately says: "I'm OK, we had a little problem here." Before the P-Hen could explain to me that he had stubbed his toe on AM's BOOT, I was on the floor doing surgery:

Doctor Ayers at work.

I don't know how, but P-Hen somehow managed to kick his whole 2nd toe toenail OFF, THROUGH HIS SHOE, when he kicked the boot. Holy smokes! He really kicked that boot! He was bleeding through his shoe! Luckily, AM and I were there to help. So, I cut the remainder of P-Hen's toenail completely off and got the honor of pouring loads of hydrogen peroxide into P-Hen's fresh bloody toenail-bed. Fortunately, he didn't kick me in my face.

Getting back on the bike tomorrow after recovering from being sick, for a good 4 hrs with Christof. Should be a nice long cold donger.

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Looks like the DNS changes to the new domain have propogated. WOOHOOO!!!

So, I was very disappointed to be sick for my spin class at Golds Gym this morning at 6:15. I went to bed last night at about 10, then woke up at about 11:30, sick! Ridiculous! I had a raging fever, and, oddly, my front teeth were aching so bad that I could hardly think straight. Actually, they're throbbing so bad right now, that, well, shit it hurts. Anyway, I saw the doc today about this acute sickness that I've developed. He said that I probably had some viral or bacterial infection, but that since I was showing signs of improvement, that I didn't need drugs. That's good, cause Ayers don't like da drugs. But what about my teeth aching, weird! Well, all my front teeth are fake, anyway, and those are the ones that are killing me. This same thing happened last year when I got a while body infection from crashing, the teeth ached. So, that makes me think that I have the same type of bacterial infection, and that my teeth are some sort of Barometer for infectiousness. BAROMETER.

Illness doesn't surprise me because I just spent the last 4 days in the hospital nursing dad while he recovered from getting both of his Iliac Arteries practically rebuilt. However, that is a story for a later blog. But, till then, here is your moment of zen:

'NUFF SAID! hahahaha

Thanks for reading, Ian.

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