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I’m off to man a tent at the Lowe’s YMCA 4th of July (on the 3rd of July) Firework and Festival. Come visit 5-10pm in the vendor area

Enjoyable evening ride last night. Beautiful commute to and from work today.  Can’t complain at all about this weeks riding schedule! I wish I had a computer just to gauge what my mileage for the week is.  Tomorrow I’m going to do my best to get out early on the bike (camera in hand) before a crazy Friday kicks off.

Day before long weekend at the shop, we (Cool Breeze Cyclery) are closed Saturday for the 4th of July and closed every Sunday so folks are trying to get last minute bikes or repairs done for the weekend. For your needs the Trek Store is open down at Exit 18 on Sunday.  Tomorrow I’m leaving the shop early to set up at the Lowe’s YMCA Festival and Firework display.  It’s right off Williamson in Mooresville from mid afternoon till 10.  Come visit and find me in the Cool Breeze tent.

Off to recoup and enjoy downtime before tomorrow mornings ride!

Rode into the shop this morning to knock out a couple bike builds as our resident bike builder is on vacation.  Needing to get a good chunk of a Serotta out of the way as I have a fitting tomorrow evening, then a Navigator (comfort bike) and now I’m home about to take a nap.

The evening goal is to go for a ride with Kim and figure out by riding with her why she is developing a pain in her knee.

*This mornings commute was sponsored by TwinSix.com

Cool thing of the day:
Starbucks has some special treat thing where if you buy something in the morning, they stamp your receipt to come back after 2pm and receive any cold grande drink of your choice for $2.00.  There are some grande drinks on the Starbucks menu that are $4-5 so it was a great deal.  I pedaled home with a carmel latte (with whip creme) after work today.

Swim Day :
This morning I woke up, rolled out of bed to make an instant breakfast and put on a one piece speedo bathing suit.  (The suit isn’t really a speedo, it’s a Zoot but whatever.)  Why was it 6:20 in the morning and I was up with a tight fitting bathing suit, googles and swim cap in hand?  Oh yes, that TRIATHLON.  Swim class is full on, every Tuesday & Thursday morning.  Kim and I got there, nervous and anxious to get it over with.  Thankfully Kathy (friend and swim advisor) is a really good coach and was super good with people that have no clue what to do.  An hour later I felt worked over and it was time to go home!  Less than 48 hours and we have to do it all over again.  Tonight we might run, depends how much it cools off before bed.

Random fact for the day :
Working 10-5 on Monday and Tuesday kicks ass!

Had some really great rides in the past few days.  Really making up for the lack of riding for the past few months.   Friday morning Joey and I went around Davidson, stopped for some coffee and then headed back to Cool Breeze to build up his new Surly Cross Check.  Saturday I attempted to swim laps at the neighborhood pool then Sunday Kim and I woke up early to ride the Lake Norman group ride from the state park.  I can say I’m finally getting my cycling tan back!

From emails and phone calls I have a few questions to answer :

Cool Breeze and Trek Store Charlotte are the same company.  Two different locations but the same owners, employees and ways of doing things.  Back in November I moved from our Cool Breeze location at Exit 33 on I-77 to our store that was opening, Trek Bikes Charlotte, at Exit 18 on I-77.  The stores are only 15 miles apart.

The Trek Store is a concept store. Meaning we teamed up with Trek, agreed to carry a large % of their product in that location and inreturn we can put their well known name on the side of the building.  Plus we got a lot of help from Trek corporate with things like archeticture, laying out the store, training and such.

Cool Breeze is the same physical size in the terms of store size but run completely different from any bike shop I’ve seen.  There is a fitness studio, aka gym, on the west wing of the store.  We have a personal trainer and USA Cycling coaches on staff.  Upstairs you will find a very well laid out fit studio that people are traveling hours away to get their fitting done in.  This store carries a lot of Trek, but also a lot of Cervelo and Serotta.  The store is niche and calls itself a “Triathlon Training Center.”  I hope to bring more mountain and recreation into that equation. We’ll see how that goes.

My role at Cool Breeze will be much like it was at the Trek Store.  Sales Manager/Leader or whatever you want to call it.  Continuing the education to the staff, training, and hopefully learning things myself along the way.

When a day starts with a cup of coffee at 8:30am that isn’t finished until about 2pm, you know your day is going to be long.

Lack of hydration, lack of riding and a boat load of excuses made my Wednesday night race very painful.  So painful that I am feeling it 24 hours later in my calf muscles that must of been sucked dry of any water or sodium.

The postives for the day were my “key throwing” face captured on camera & new kits for the shop finally arriving and looking super swizzle.   There were other things thrown in there but for now my brain is cramping and I really need to hit the hay.

At about 2-3pm today we will be driving south to Charlotte, NC from our travels in Annapolis, MD.  The trip was well rounded, good down time and many photos taken.  The goal for me right now is to return a tent at Hudson Trail Outfitters, eat sushi at Yin Yankee (before I decide not to and regret it for the month) and maybe, if time allows, visit Velo Orange to say hi to Tom and buy something I don’t need! I got sweet new shoes, ate good food, and hate the fact that vacation is over for now but ready to get back to Charlotte to start “training” (not eating like crap) for my tri!  Tomorrow I race my mountain bike, even after not having looked at a bike in over a week.  Should be thrilling, grueling and maybe even a little bit of fun.

But before I ramble on I need to go pack and all those good things.

Lots of photos taken up.