Letter to the Neighbors

So, about the overgrown Ligustrum hedge along the side of the house, I'm really sorry about that. I know things haven't been quite up to Neron Place standards lately. I've been meaning to trim those hedges for a couple of months now, but you see, prime hedge-trimming time always seems to coincide with both prime riding time and prime growing season. Something just had to give, you know? I know you all see The Wife out there almost every weekend cutting every bit of grass she can reach with the extension cord and then edging and sweeping. She likes that. Sometimes that worries me. I'm supposed to take care of keeping the bushes and hedges under control, but hey, there was that trip to Birmingham for the Pepper Place Criterium, and the Giro de Rankin weekend, and of course the Six Gap Century. I was going to take care of it this weekend, but that Giro Ride on Saturday kind of wiped me out and then there was the whole moving thing with the Sister-in-law, where I was less than useful anyway because I hadn't gotten my usual post-Giro recovery time. I'm getting old you know, and I need more recovery time than I did when I was a 40-something guy. Then I had to do another Giro Ride on Sunday. My legs are still kind of sore. So I promise I'll take care of it next weekend.

OK, that's a lie, but I'll think about it. Really. It could happen. Once I can just get past the Rocktoberfest race we're promoting next Sunday I'm sure I'll have some time for that. Unless we get some of that great Fall weather we usually get this time of year. I mean, you couldn't expect me to be clipping hedges when everyone else is out riding. That would be depressing and then I'd need therapy and drugs and I'd probably start running amok in a serotonin induced euphoria trimming all the hedges on the whole block like that scissorhands guy. Of course I still have that Time Trial on the Natchez Trace and I'll need to get going on organizing the annual LAMBRA meeting, and there is that trip to Washington during the election, so I'll need to do the early voting thing, and right after that there's the trip to Colorado Springs for the USAC meeting, but the rest of November should be pretty open, I think. This racing season has to wind down eventually, right?

Wish we had a cyclocross season around here .....