Fun in the Sun???

As most of you know I am down in AZ enjoying a little time away from the Wisconsin winter. However I just spent the last hour with nurse Andrea pulling stitches out of my head. The Arizona sun isn't always the best for you. About a month ago I went to the doctor and he noticed an odd spot of skin on my face. Long story short it was a small spot of skin cancer. A couple days later I was on the operating table as the doc was cutting a nickel size hole in the side of my head. There are three types of skin cancer and luckily for me I had the least damaging type. All of the cancer was removed and now I'll have a solid 2 inch scar as a reminder.



















The first thing that came to mind was this article in Velonews a while back. The doctor told me that most likely the damage to the skin was done between the ages of 10 - 20 years old. When I was a Jr. and the next few season of traveling the country racing in the mini-van it was more important to become a bronzed god than to race fast! I guess I was young....over the past 5 or 6 years I have been very very aware of the sun intake while training, but it was too late. Lesson learned....SPF 45 is your friend.

So here I am back in the sun, but this time around I'm being extremely cautious. We left Wisconsin 8 days ago and spent 3 full days in the car and 2 nights in some shady hotels. Rosco, 3 bikes, and some food all loaded into the little Hyundai Accent 3 door! The only bummer was the lack of cruise control.

We rolled into town last Friday evening to the sounds of Coyotes howling and some snorting Javelinas in our backyard. The next morning we headed out for a ride and saw a Bobcat within 15 minutes of leaving the driveway...pretty awesome.

I only have my cross bike down here right now, but its getting the job done. I've got in 5 solid rides, the new Bontrager Classics w/ Saris Powertap can pretty solid and am having fun studying the power data! Yesterday I found out my new Fuel 9.9 SSL is available and its shipping to Trek Store of Tucson! Can't wait to build 'er up and rip some desert singletrack.

We are planning on staying another 2 weeks and then heading over to visit mom and dad and partake in the Gravel Rouser Classic! Until then we'll be enjoying the sun with plenty of SPF 45.