Happy 4th of July!

The past week has been a bit crazy, especially for a guy who is used to sleeping alot and barely working 30 hours a week. Anyways, I had to present a paper at a conference here in Berkeley, and give a 1/2 hour presentation. It was fun getting up in front of so many distinguished guests, but a little nerve racking answering questions. Nonetheless it went rather well.

A bit of sad news to report as well, a fellow cyclist on our team was in a awful accident and ended up passing away from the injuries she sustained after being struck by a car on a ride 2 weekends ago. She wasn't a close friend, but was an active member of the team who I had the pleasure of meeting and riding with a number of times. The team had a very nice memorial dinner, and a great ride from campus to the site of the accident. We had about 150 riders come out and pay their respects, it was a somber ride, but went smoothly, and felt like a pro stage race with the police escorts:
Corinne was a bright and gifted woman. You can read the whole story here:
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=25343
...and a tremendously well written obituary:
http://classics.berkeley.edu/news/articles/story.php?id=17

For me the ride was tough, as I've been off the bike for a while now. I've got some decent damage to my lung, so I was sucking wind up the climbs a bit more than usual. However it was great to get out and stretch my legs and pay my respects, and I'm thankful for every moment of that.

Early this week I went on a nice camping trip with Garuna, Erik, and Sarah. We camped in the Carson-Iceberg Wildnerness Area just north of Yosemite in the High Sierras. It was a trip of beautiful views, great weather, and some awesome meals. We ate like kings, and had a couple of nice day hikes from our camping area:
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/9676192@N02/045RK2

I'm off the Japan on Sunday morning, and will be sure to blog when I get back, hopefully I'll have some interesting stories and pictures.

Sayonara,
-Jeff