Wow, lots going on here.
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sheibo, sorry to hear, that's rough. I had a similar experience 2 years ago, riding into work after some intervals on Fiesta Island. The cops had blocked off Balboa Ave at the 805 on-ramp on were directing traffic onto the hwy, but he waved me through. "Be careful out there" he said - but he didn't explicitly warn me about what I was about to see as a crossed the bridge. I was pretty shook up from that one for sure.
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merlinextraligh, sorry to hear about your layoff, but it sounds like your bases are covered and that you'll be OK. Glad to hear.
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waterrockets, nice to hear from you, glad that life is rad for you right now, and that you're getting back on the bike!
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shovelhd, sounds like quitting racing may have been a tough decision to make, but you seem to have a good, positive attitude about that. Thanks for giving back so much to the sport - too many riders just have their fling with racing and never put anything into it.
On a separate note, I miss the mentoring and leading that I used to do on the intercollegiate cycling team during my last few semesters. Developing new talent was something that I took a lot of joy in. There was always one or two new riders each semester that exhibited real talent, and became faster then me within a couple seasons, not that I'm anything that special or anything.