Blue sky velo cup

Boom!! To my surprise I got 5th out of 84 finishers/ 91 starters. Dressed as a beer
can!!

More later

Sent from my iPhone

Snow Day Events

It's been a while since I had a snow day. While I didn't have to have a snow day, with the Monster Truck and all, it was an unexpected pleasure!

• We cleaned up the play room
• Setup and jumped in the jump castle
• Played loud music and danced.. all over the house
• Got dressed up and went out in the snow. Shoveled the driveway and tossed each other in the snow
• Took the monster truck out for a little recreational drive in the snow "Kailee reminded me we should've gotten the bigger tires because we were sliding all over" - I didn't tell her that was the goal.
• Went back in for hot chocolate
• Cleaned out the hallway closets
• Cleaned out and re-organized my bed room closet! (needed that)
• Took the wife and kids to the Y so they could workout and play (thanks Amy for watching Kailee)
• I went to work for a couple of hours
• Picked up the family and went home
• Helped (that may be too strong of a word) cook dinner
• Went back outside to play - everyone was out
• Pulled the kids on sled and shoveled some more (only seriously crashed the boys once)
• Back inside for more hot chocolate and TV (our only TV of the day)
• Off to bed

It's how everyday should be.

Still Snowing

That play house has no roof. The snow is just sticking on the walls!
They say we should get a few more inches.

It's Getting Deeper

The Calm Before the Storm

Got out for an early morning ride this morning before the "storm" moves in. Beautiful, peacefull, refreshing, cool ... good to be alive!

Lookout has some snow and ice on the road on the upper north facing switch backs but other than that it's good.
I feel great but the watts are dropping. Once it gets dark in November, training hours will likely drop.

Castle Cross Photos

The Start

I was on the right side of the pack

I pulled through on the corner

Boom, I was leading the pack

Descending the slippery off camber "mud slide"!

One of the muddy run ups, I was falling back into traffic - and catching lapped riders

Ouch.... The Finish

It was very cloudy when we arrived. But look at the clear blue sky. Nice day to play in the mud.

Holy Smoke..... Hole Shot

Got the hole shot in the race today. First time I've done that! Held
the lead for the entire first lap. It was down hill from there,
finished 11th! (Not bad) Muddy race, photos to follow.

Stressed

Sorry for the lack of posts. Things have been crazy busy!

This past weekend we had some family friends visit from out of town. (by they way, I have the Lego's) It was great to see them. We all had a great time. As part of the activities for the weekend I got to race the Valmont Park Cross Race. I finished 12h on that crazy bumpy coarse. I was really set back by a poor warm up. Our race went off at 8 am, since the sun didn't come up until 7:15, it was hard to get the pre-race routine in. My legs were hurting those first couple of laps.

Sunday had everyone catching a plane, including me. I was off on a three day, three city whorl wind tour. Basically the outcome of those meeting was not what I was hoping for. Not bad but I came back needing to get a lot of work done. Missing 3 days around the house (not counting the past month and a half of weekends that we've been gone) has really put me behind there too.

So, needless to say I have been working a lot. First at work then rushing home to try and squeeze in family time....... "Squeezing in family time" - that doesn't really work, forcing the issue can make things worse. I just need to be there.

So, I'm looking forward to a slower weekend ..... yea right. Things aren't going to ease up just yet. Activities already planned for both days.

I Think I've Figured it Out

I make decisions/changes in such a strange way. I may not even know I'm working on making a decision, it just grinds away in the back of my head, running in the background. It makes life interesting, strange things seem to happen.. I'm forgetful, irritated, absent minded, under a cloud.. whatever you want to call it. I guess my bandwidth is all used up chewing on the decision I don't know I'm working on. Well I think I finally figured out what my brain has been working on, it's something I've been thinking about for awhile and needs closure before too long.

It's a should I stay or should I go kind of question. No, not with work. It's more serious because it's my only hobby, something I enjoy doing and do for free, the bike team. I have spent a lot of time trying to mold this group into what I think a race team should be. As a member of the Board of Directors I have grown our cyclocross team by x10+ times (still not that big). I have helped/suggested bringing in sponsors that I thought would benefit the racers. I've helped design clothing, plan and run training clinics, lead group rides, raced and generally helped improve the team anyway I thought appropriate. I've made a lot of friends on the team, I know what to expect and how to get things done. I've made a lot of contacts that could help with any issues.

But there have been many let downs. Racing alone, leading team rides that no one shows to for, a clinic that was embarrassingly under attended (including the board director for that discipline!), a clinic for a discipline that didn't happen because the organizers were afraid no one would show up (even though the majority of racers on the team race this discipline), this is a large team that has only a small number of actual racers (half the people that sign-up we never see again!), attendance is generally poor.

I guess it feels like I'm a member of a club that has some racers. A majority of the racers on this team are beginners because few race enough to get moved up. I feel like I want to be apart of a race team. Were members are a little more like minded.

So my options appear to be.
1. Stick with my current team. Don't give up, continue to move things forward and see if I can build a team. But I don't want to get stuck in the middle of the season frustrated and burned out wondering why the hell I did that.
2. Stick it out with my current team but don't be as concerned with the big picture. Work more with the people that I race with and build a smaller team within the big team consisting of the people I race with.
3. Find another team that is a little smaller (maybe) and more race oriented. There are a lot of unknowns with this option and another team is not necessarily a better team.

My plan:
Well, at least I know the question (that will help). Should I stay or should I go?

For now, I believe I will leave the question unanswered. There are some critical decisions and deadlines ahead. I think I'll see how those pan out before making my final decision.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

Fall

Blaaah..
I know, I like cyclocross but I hate fall. It's dark in the morning, dark sooner in the evening (pretty soon we'll be going home in the dark). Days are cold and sometimes snowy/rainy. But my fitness is still pretty good. It's really hard to get on the trainer after all those beautiful days of summer. Let's face it, my modivation is low.

I feel like I need a new hobby. In reality, I really don't need a new hobby. I do need something to keep myself busy and constructive.

I'll let you know what I find.

Frisco Cyclocross #2

The Frisco Cyclocross extravaganza continued on Sunday. After a restless night in a condo up near Copper Mountain (I never sleep that well in a hotel) I awoke with legs that certainly felt the effort from Saturday. I hopped on the trainer for about 15 minutes turning the pedals very easily. Just wanted to get the blood flowing, flush out the legs and hope for the best. I have to admit, I felt better after the short ride.

We had a little family pancake breakfast and some morning cartoons before packing the car and heading to the race. Just before we left I got a text from Josh “Hand looks like a Belgian Waffle.” I was bummed and assumed he was out of the race for the day, I knew he wouldn’t be happy about it either.

I got ready to head out on the coarse for a warm-up and to check out the new route. Just before I left, Josh shows up all kitted out. He said, “I’m here, I can’t not race,” that’s one dedicated dude. After a couple of laps it was time to line up. Again I was called up and had a front row start. The whistle blew and we were away. After the performance in the lead group yesterday, I was happy to sit in a chase group. Unfortunately the lead group didn’t really come apart this time. Most of the chase group had raced the day before and didn’t have power to pull them back. After a few laps I fell out of the first chase group only to find there weren’t many people behind us, the race had really come apart. I was determined not to fade as badly as I did the day before.

In the end I had a clean race. No crashes and no big mistakes. I finished exactly the same position as I did the day before, 14th. Since my legs felt so much worse, I was happy. Josh came in 20th despite the injured hand.

I found out Monday morning that Josh had broken his hand in the fall on Saturday. He had raced a 45-minute race on Sunday with a broken pinky finger, in-the-hand bone! I know cross is hard but it must have been excruciating over that bumpy ground. That’s one tuff mofo. I think the cast is going to slow down the rest of his season. He’ll be missed.

Pics below. My wife did a great job.

Frisco Cyclocross #1

This weekend was a cyclocross extravaganza! The last weekend of racing in the mountains, both days at Frisco. A great excuse to stay in the mountains and hang out with good friends. I brought the ladies (Kailee and Melissa) while Nate hung out with Grandma.

We were expecting cool temperatures, possible rain and snow. Instead we received a beautiful day, warm and sunny! The coarse was fantastic. Paved climb with a quick descent and some fun technical sections. The best part was I had 3 other teammates in my category. That doesn't happen very often. It's always fun to know you wont suffer alone.

I received a call up and was starting in the front row, nice when there are 60 racers. The whistle blew and we were away. A small group shot off the front and I was content to get in a chase group. After about a lap the lead group shattered and most of them starting coming back. There were a lot of mistakes and crashes out on the coarse. I kept my head in the game, focused on the next obstacle and road clean laps. A couple of laps in I felt good. Then they said "four to go" my mental clock said that seams like a lot. I kept pushing but soon felt the body start to fade. I lost about 5 places in those last four laps. Wish I could have held on but it didn't happen. I road the last lap glued to my teammates wheel. We finished 13th and 14th.

After the race I found out my teammate Josh crashed in the steep little meat grinder with a sharp right at the bottom. His hand was all swollen and his race on Sunday was in doubt. Noooo!

After the race all the families got together and Josh (despite his injured hand) made us a fantastic meal. The kids had a good time and the wives got to know each other. After we were all fat and happy it was off to rest up and repeat tomorrow. My goal for the entire afternoon was stay hydrated, keep moving so the legs don't lock up and enjoy.

My New Ride

I have only ever owned two cars, with the exception of the cars my wife has been through. Both of them hatchback Honda Civics. Yes, my first was a 1983 and the car I've been driving for the past 16 (yes - SIXTEEN) years is a 1993 Honda Civic. They've both been great cars, hell the 93 is still good (I still gets nearly 40 mph)- you almost can't buy a car with that high miles per gallon and it's sixteen years later! Sad really

Back when I was single, a small "sporty" (or at least that's how I felt driving it) car was perfect. Once I got married, it was still mostly ok. Now that I have two kids, it's just a sad, "Dad's former glory" - "get Dad to work car."

Well, that has all come to an end. I introduce to you my new green car a (the 93 was green too... and we called it the green car) 2000 Toyota 4 Runner. I can seat the family comfortably and I can tow stuff, if I had anything to tow. Since I can't call it "the green car" I have elected to let the children name it. They have selected "monster truck" - based on them recently watching a monster truck crush cars on TV the other night while preparing for bed.

Last week, while getting tires of the new car , my daughter asked me to get the big tires.... so we could drive over all the other cars. To that I replied, with a daydream smile, "That would be sweet!"

Now.... I'm broke but I'm looking good doing it (or at least that's how I feel driving it).