The meltdown is complete.

Note to Lou: Rumor on the street is that you need to give me a NEW update? Out of retirement already? Let's catch up.

My Response:

Hi My Brother,

Indeed. My meltdown has come full circle ;)

At the risk of sounding like even more of a drama queen than I probably already do, I had a bout with cancer (believe it or not), and some surgery on Monday. It was malignant, but it is all gone. What remains is a chunk missing from my lower right eye lid and 60 stitches in my back where a large mass was removed.

Like I said in my email, "it's never one thing" and the health issues were just part of it. But the response last week from all of our cycling friends was humbling. Then, seeing everyone at my sale (at one time I counted 35 people in my garage), made me think about how much cycling is in my blood. I have never felt stronger and am riding like a banshee right now.

So the meltdown lasted about 5.5 days. I think that's acceptable once every 40 or so years. It culminated with the purchase of an old corvette that will probably rest under a tarp in my garage only to be driven on an occassional sunny Sunday afternoon when there is no bike race.

Not only am I "all in" the race game, but I have set my sights on winning a couple of stars and stripe jerseys (in addition to total Midwest annihilation).

See you out there!