Wooombpf

Howdy,

Hard o be entertaining because it is difficult to type, me head hurts, and it is about time for some more of these fine, fine meds. But here’s what I’ve managed to peck out…

While out for a mid-afternoon one hour spin, I was hit from behind by a motorist. It was straight up, plain and simple, an accident. I wasn’t the target of an angry driver or someone who was trying to brush me back or whatever. Not sure how fast he was going, but this is a 50-60 mph road.

I was heading southwest on Country Club Road in Argyle at about 1:45-2pm. I was very near the right edge of the road with my tires on or very near the white line, which is customarily where I ride. My habit is not to take up much of the lane, as I prefer to give motorist as much room to pass as possible. I understand some folks may feel they should take p more of their lane for safety, visibility, and to force motorists to pass in the other lane only when safe. But I prescribe to the idea that I want to be the least nuisance possible, since I live in the area and these are essentially my neighbors.

I was caught by the front fender and mirror of the car. My body took the blow. I spent a little time on the windshield and top of the car before dismounting into the nicely groomed ditch. Fortunately I missed the pavement.

The initial hit was sudden and unexpected. My best recollection (and so far, very much recurring) is the sound of “wooompb” as I was being hit, and my vision growing quickly black with a light growing rapidly smaller and smaller to the size of a pin hole while spinning, sort of like what I remember seeing in the Batman shows as a kid. That sound was the same sound you hear when cars hit each other.

My next glimpse of memory is being in the air in a “flying” position over the car and looking down into the windshield and seeing the driver’s hands on the wheel. At that point I don’t remember much except for thinking “I got hit and I’m probably dead.”

My next memory is hitting the ground, then a blank time, and then landing on my back and hitting the back of my head. I went out for a spell (I don’t know how long). I do remember thinking as the lights went out again that I hoped I wasn’t in the middle of a multi-car accident and that I could just end up where I ended up without having to deal with cars on me.

I couldn’t feel anything when I came to from that,. My thoughts were that I was either dead or that I was in such shock that I wasn’t feeling anything. I tried to do an inventory of body parts, but I couldn’t feel anything. I could hear my middle child saying names of the parts of the body as I checked to see if they were still attached.

Everything was very fuzzy and moving in a haze. Sort of like what the Young Guns were seeing when they took the peyote. But I wasn’t taking peyote.

The motorist stopped and tried to help me up as I was trying to get up. I wasn’t altogether with it, but came to very quickly when he grabbed my left elbow to help me up. Alarm clocks don’t seem so bad now.

He asked if he could take me to the hospital, and he was extremely apologetic. Looking back now, I can say that he was in shock himself. Another motorist then stopped and asked whose fault it was. The man who hit me said, “Unfortunately, it was mine (meaning himself).”

I looked at my phone to see what time it was, and I realized that I needed to get home quickly since I had to pick up Kid #1 from school. I asked the man to take me home instead. Mind you, I wasn’t entirely with it, and neither was he, which is why we didn’t call police. He asked me several times if he shouldn’t just take me to the hospital.

So, we piled my bike into his trunk, I called Chloe on the way home and asked her to meet me there, and the guy drove me home in what was the most harrowing 10 miles I’ve ever been in a car. He was a mess just out of being scared. Wrong side of the road, driving 15 mph, pulling out into traffic, etc.

While sitting in his car, the list of damage to me was being rung up. My shoulder and ribs were giving me the most pain, but my hips, back, jaw and elbow were close behind.

I asked the driver to stay with me at the house until Chloe arrived, which he did without hesitation.

Once Chloe arrived, she got his name, license number and all that. It occurred to me that we should have a picture of his car showing the damage, and she took that. Once certain she had enough information from him, she sent him on his way, and then we went to pick up Noah (kid #1) and then went to the emergency room.

With nothing poking out of me, it took awhile to be tended at the emergency, but I was seen. Was x-rayed (not kidding) about 40 times, and I had a CT scan done to check for internal damage.

Damage to me-
Dislocated right shoulder
Broken left elbow
Rib “damage” primarily on the left side, but the right got some too.
Concussion
General pain in teeth (all), jaw, back, neck, hips, left knee, and right ankle


Damage to bike-
Broken right seat stay
Trashed Powertap rear
Broken saddle
Don’t know if anything else yet.


I’ve pretty much stayed in bed since getting home Tuesday night. I can’t roll over on my own, and I need assistance sitting up. However, as of last night, I could get up the stairs if I took my time. All that said, with the pain meds and muscle relaxants, I don’t feel much like getting up anyway. There’s a nice supply of DVD’s being played on my laptop. Typing notes is a painful process since I can only one-hand it, and that hand is connected to a shoulder that isn’t working so well.

Anyway, as I told my teammates, y’all don’t know anyone luckier than me. I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and vibes. Mostly I want to thank my wife, Chloe, who has had to really pick up the slack. With three kids here (10yr, 3yr, and almost 2yr), she’s had her hands full. Noah has been a huge help in taking care of the little ones, getting stuff for me, and making sure he was cared for himself. I want to thank Andrew and Stephanie Hassan for watching and feeding kids #2 and 3 while I was in the hospital. I want to thank David for kicking butt at the last Tuesday Nighter in Plano. I’d like to thank the athletes I work with for understanding. I also want to thank all of those who have sent notes and “get well” wishes and offers to help. And I’d like to thank my teammates who knew just how much to joke and how much to care.

Cri

Wheels

This is Collina. She's not even 1 yr old yet.

This is Mama's car, Agatha. She's of legal age.

This is Ingrid. She's 13 yrs old (but she's had a heart transplant).







This set of "wheels" has had a face lift. This is Bollacilli. (www.semcustompaint.com)

Steamboats, Fried Chicken, Anti-freeze, Taking out a loan for gas, Pine Cones, And Our Visit to TN to See Apple Granny

Mama did a great job getting us packed into one bag. Kaner would be proud. All five of us were packed into one duffel bag. This is without cycling stuff, but still, diapers and clothes for five people for a long weekend in one bag is cat 2 packing, at least.

We made a trip out to Eagle's Nest to see Apple Granny and to try to talk her into leaving the farm there and moving in with us. With the babies and such, we couldn't afford to fly out there, so we packed into my "new" wagon and made the 12 hr haul on the road.

Before leaving on Friday, however, (my b-i-l) Lonnie and his clan stopped by for a quick visit on their way to CO. In the big picture it is kinda funny that they were plowing up I35 on their way to CO while we were loading up to plow I30 and I40 to TN, yet we somehow still had a Chloe-style dinner here at Stella.

I didn't get to eat with them, as I was at the shop getting new tires on the "new" car. Pretty much a leap of faith that the 13yr old car would make the 1400 mile trip, especially considering the only driving I'd done with it at that point was the test drive. And to think that I'm not much of a gambler.

We hit the road at about 10pm. The kids slept for the most part, which made for a pretty dang easy trip. Now that I think about it, it wasn't until Tuesday morning, when I took Noah to school, that he'd actually sat in a seat in the car. For the 12.5 hr trip there and the 13.5 hr trip back, he was packed into the back of the wagon with our bag, a blanket, a couple of pillows, and his PSP thing.

Anyway, we went up to see Apple Granny and enjoy a quiet weekend in rural TN. Now that Mama has a real job, we can't get away for a week at a time like we used to do, so we had to squeeze in our RnR qucikly. After driving through the night, I had a world class nap on Saturday...windows open, hearing the critters in the woods, and even the sounds of a tug boat in the far distance on the TN river.

There was visiting and some being made useful for Aunt Betty and Apple Granny. A trip up to the church to take some bottled water, carrying a few things out to the barn and up from the basement. Had to be careful, though, because I didn't want Mama to think I was all hip on doing chores.

Somewhere in there was some real good banana pudding that Granny said was for my birthday.

The little ones played with the dogs and sticks and stuff. Noah and I hiked (a pretty tough hike, actually) through the woods, across a couple of pastures and down to the river where we climbed on fallen trees, watched a steamboat go by, and got up close with a cottonmouth. It was pretty much a Tom Sawyer/Norman Rockwell-type weekend.

The visit was short, but it was a good one. The land up there is postcard beautiful, and the roads (though I didn't bring my bike) beg to be ridden. The rolling hills, 2-mile climbs, the forests, the perfect pavement, the country-quiet...

We hit the road for the return leg on Monday morning. The wagon ("Ingrid") was holding up with a minimal of coolant and oil leakage, and the spedometer and tachometer freeze was only temporary. Overall, as travelling goes, Ingrid is a solid vehicle for us, and after driving the Bessie and Moby for so long, we were glad to have something that got gas mileage in the 20's instead of the pre-teens, especially since we were paying anywheres from $2.99 to $3.69 (fugg!) per gallon.

It is one thing to travel through the night with babies in the car, but it is quite another to travel during the middle part of the day. But all things considered, I think they did a fine job of it. There was a short bit of cabin fever from all of us, but we're also rolling in a spot that is half the size in which we are accustomed. 13+ is a long time for a grown up to sit in one spot, so for the babies to be strapped into those seats was a significant chunk of their time alive.

We did stop for coffee, a lot. We also stopped for a family fried chicken dinner at a fast-food joint called Mrs. Winner's. The whole time we were there I had a voice in the back of my head that sounded like crOzzy saying, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner." Another de-car wasa at a rest stop in Arkansas where the babies ran around while me and Noah chucked rocks and a water bottle up into a pine tree to knock down cones. Mama has been collecting pine cones lately, so we were speeding up the process. Knocking pine cones out of trees is fun. Should try it sometime.

It was pretty late when we got back, but the adventure was a good one. The quality time with Apple Granny was still too short but worth the trip. The nap I had on Saturday, however, was certainly worth it too.

Odd

Listening to the public classical station in the kid's room this morning as I got the herd ready. In the mornings the "dj" has a british accent and speaks the perfect english that you'd expect to hear on the airwaves of such a station.

But it was still weird to hear him talking about Dallas Cowboys' news.


I suppose it isn't any weirder than Bob Roll talking about euro dawg peloton happenings.

Still, it sounded odd, but it also made me listen, and I don't normally listen to anything about the Cowboys.

Play Ball

Last night was the first game of the restart to my cat 5 softball career. Scott (Noah's step-Dad) and I play on a team made up of Scott's neighbor and his coworkers. So, I got on this team as the step-third cousin twice removed or something.

I hadn't thrown a ball or swung a bat in years (since 2000 to be be precise), but I was itching to do something active. Somehow I ended up playing softball. Oh, I take that back...I did swing a bat at Gameworks when Burke, Jodith and Keegs came up, but that was a video game. I also played air hockey, so I'm quite the Bo Jackson.

Since I'm the new guy, I got to play catcher. Catcher in softball is where they put the people so they will hurt them the least. But I got to play, so I don't mind. Honestly, I probably would have been a liability in the field since I'm gimped and all.

Had a good time though. Batted three times. Grounded out, flew out, and got on (probably an error). Didn't miss any pitches, which isn't anything to brag about, but I was surprised at how many strikeouts there were in this slow-pitch game.

But the cool thing is that I didn't get hurt. This might not be a big thing to the reader, but considering the last two softball games I played netted me a torn quad and a pulled hamstring. That I didn't get hurt is a big deal.

The sad thing is that I'm sore from running 300 feet on the night.

We won though, by coming back in the bottom of the last inning, and I helped push the guy from first to third who ended up scoring. Which sort of made up for the error I made (that everybody else would have made too) during a play at the plate. When you are catcher you only get one or two real plays per game.

It was fun, and I look forward to our next game. Our team name is "Those Guys."


Oh, I went to the last doctor (I hope) I'll see about my back. Since I've been doing exercises on my own and making some adjustments to how I sit and such, there has been some improvement. With that in mind, the doc says we can hit PT more aggressively. Worst case is that I'll get surgery later. Best case is that things continue to improve. The nerve damage is there and there's not much that can be done, but strengthening my back will supposedly minimalize the issue. I like this doc, so I'm fired up about what we are doing. Should be back to racing (got approval on the homefront) in 2006. The bottom third of the field is in trouble.

Scam

My Lovely almost fell for a scam. I wasn't going to write about it, but she insisted because she wanted to make sure nobody else fell for it.

The scam is called a "Nigerian Scam," I believe. It came into our lives when we put the Expedition up for sale.

Seems the scammers of this sort look for something being sold, and if they determine that there is some sort of desperation, they start in with the emails that involve out-of-country buyers, agents picking up the car, agents receiving payment, an overpayment with a cashier's check and so forth.

Nobody would actually pick up the car. No agent would actually show up. The scam is in the casheier's check. It is a counterfeit.

What they do is send a cashier's check for over the amount. The reason can vary to whatever their creativity affords. In this case, they told Mama that it had to do with reimbursement. The idea was that they would pay twice the amount for the car, and we'd send the over 1/2 to the agent, who then applies it to something and ultimately it all comes out in the wash. Mama read the emails closely, so she was believing the story. I didn't, however, since I'd read something about such a scam recently.

Meanwhile, I was to be checking the mailbox regularly for the cashier's check. If the scam holds true to form, the scammers won't send it for awhile to create desperation on the part of the seller. Eventually they expect that the seller will pester the scammer with "Where's the check" and so forth. At that point, they have you.

In this case, they were going to send a cashier's check, we would deposit it, and the bank would show that the money (in this case, $18,000) was in the account. Then we'd cut a check to the agent to speed up the process, since "the agent can't pick up the car until..." (or something like that).

But the thing is (here's the lesson), just because the bank shows the money in your account and says it has "cleared" doesn't mean it really has. It takes 10 days or so for a cashier's check to actually clear, but since your account shows the money deposited, you feel safe in writing the check. Meanwhile, the bank would learn that it was a counterfeit, but we would have already paid "the agent" the overage. Nobody would have picked up the car, but since it was a counterfeit check, the bank deducts the "deposit." But now you are out the money you paid to the agent.

When this whole "deal" stressed me out too much to sleep, I started looking for information online about the scams. At that point, Mama sent me the email dialogue with these folks, and we were able to sort out that this indeed was such a scam.

I want to thank Mama for listening to me on this one.


This scam is pulled not just on cars, but on anything. It is most often seen on eBay and the like. It can be for small items or big ones. When I went looking for information, I found that most of the time the scammed won't say anything out of embarassment for falling for such a thing. But it turns out that the scam has been pulled for "items" as small as a $10 DVD and as big as $60K Mercedes and $300K houses.

Thought for the day

No matter how much The Assassin encourages you to keep going, you really should stop after your second serving of zabaglione

Pope Budicus I 

circa 1977 in Longview. From l-to-r: Cami, me, Mimi holding Shaun, cousin Johnny, cousin Sheri. 

Doping

Photographic evidence that I do endorse performance enhancing supplements to my athletes. This is a shot of the head LSW soigneur helping one of my junior athletes in the bouncy slide competition. If you look closely, you can see that other juniors are forced to also use performance enhancing supplements to remain competitive. It is a vicious cycle. Do you remember when kids used to slide on the bouncy slides just for fun? 

#3's Terrors, Stuff We've Planted, and a Sleepover

Not sure what Mama was thinking, but I just scored an iPod mini. She was entered in some raffle at work and won...a Playstation. She made way to Best Buy and exited sans Playtation and con iPod.

A few years ago I was in the throes of music downloading mania. Originally this was to have a library of tunes for the regular spin classes I was holding up at Bluebonnet Bikes and in our garage. But a crashed hard drive took out not only my bidness, but also my library (I think it was around 1500 songs) of music that I'd handpicked.

I guess I'm still bummed. Probably because this was before DSL, or at least before I had it, so downloading music wasn't as quick as point and click.

But I've got the thing now. My library of CD's has made it back to the computer, but this was just a small bit of all the music I'd Napster'd. We'll see if I get back to that ripping music again. I think the going rate is a buck a song, so I'll have to be more selective.

Uncle Lonnie and Uncle Pickle have incredible music collections. They have something for every mood, party and situation. Me, I have a collection of The Racing Post cycling socks. Uncles win.

Just wish I was riding to use the iPod. Noah and I have been completely off the bike for more than two weeks now. My back has gotten to the point that I can't ride at all, even with Noah, and besides, he tweaked his knee practicing soccer, so we've been keeping ice on things. Or eating ice cream. One of the two.

Reanie has been riding, though. In fact, we're going to have to figure something out, because she's moving so fast and hard on the tricycle that she's usually only on two wheels. If she's on Budisimo's "bike," when she takes off she spins the front wheel while it struggles to get traction. Don't need no powermeter to know she's cranking out the watts there! Might be time to pull the little bike out of the barn...

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Noah had a buddy over to play and spend the night. They "swam" with the bouncy slide, and they were both very, very cool about letting Reanie and Budisimo play with them.

We had homemade pizzas and an apple pie thing that Mama concocted. So good that I ate three pieces of pizza past full and still went for it on dessert.

The boys played computer games well into the night. Though I was trying to sleep, it was neat to hear them really into it.

The plan was for them to sleep outside, but after tending to #3 at 4am, Mama saw that the boys were "camping" in the living room instead. I just got through checking on them, and as I look at the clock, I'm chuckling because the babies will be up soon, and those boys will be hard pressed to get back the sleep they missed by going to bed so late. 10 years old is fun, though.

But so is 35.

By the way, Happy Birthday, Lisa! (it was yesterday)


* * * * *

Something is going on with Buddy at night. It has happened twice in the last four or five days. He wakes up in the middle of the night in a terror or extremely pissed off. He's screaming and hollering and running around in full sprint. He runs faster than he can see and plows into and through things. He can't stop moving and hollering/screaming. On one hand, it is the middle of the night, so Mama and I are doing what we can to make this a brief interuption, but on the other hand, he's darn near inconsolable. If it weren't the middle of the night and I hadn't just been startled awake, part of me would like to see what he's doing or trying to do in an effort to figure it out.

Tonight he "came to" in about 15 minutes. The other night it took 45 minutes or so. Since I'm such a light sleeper that I wake up when a cow takes a leak, I'm up for good once Buddy does this thing. Mama tries to help him though it awhile, then me, then Mama, then me again...and so forth. Meanwhile, whoever isn't with Buddy directly is having to soothe Reanie back to sleep. It is quite a production.

Not to discount what Buddy is feeling, but it is painful on our end to see him in such a state. Sure, he's not even two, but to see him struck so breaks your heart. You just want to hold him and hug it away, but holding him increases an already unbeliavable outburst (not the right word, but didn't feel like looking for it).

* * * * * * *

-We planted some pumpkin seeds yesterday. It is about a month too late, though. They'll still grow, but the pumpkins won't look like much by halloween. Took me forever to find pumpkin seeds to plant. We'll have to save some from the pumpkins. But what will probably happen is that when it is time to plant next year, I'll be thinking either, "I meant to save seeds from last year," or, "Where did I put those seeds"...

-We've had a couple spaghetti squash from the garden in the last week. Better than what you can get at the store (of course), and strangely, bigger too.

-The tomato plants are about done. Next year I'll plant more of those. I didn't count on that the kids would pick and eat so much.

-Mama is about to make another batch of pesto as well as jalapeno jelly. Put your orders in now.

-The fig tree stopped producing for the year. Darn. I'm going to have to learn about the different kinds of figs and see if we can't get a June producer and something the will produce later in August.

-Noah's pear tree...last year it produced one pear. No big deal since we only planted it last year. This year, however, at one time there were 20 pears. But gradually they disappeared. It is normal to lose a few to bugs or whatever, but this was different. These weren't partially eaten or even on the ground. They would totally disappear. A pear isn't that small, so it isn't like a bug can take it away. Best we can figure is that someone has been picking them or that there is a bird that is strong enough to take the entire pear away.

As the tree went down to ten, then four pears (which weren't quite ready to pick), we became more attached to the remaining fruit. When we were down to one, I told Mama that it was for Noah to pick (he would be with us the next day). And wouldn't you know it, that ONE last pear was gone before Noah got here. Darn.

-I was about to pull out the eggplant yesterday. We got one good one off of it, but it hasn't done anything in a few weeks. On the day that I decided to pull it to make room for something else, sure enough, there's one brewing!

-The watermelon is about the size of a grocery store canteloupe, but it is ready anyway. We'll get into that today. I think we planted the watermelon too late, so I don't expect that we'll get anymore off of this plant.

* * * * * * *

You read all of this?

From the mouth of a babe

First thing Reanie said when she woke up yesterday--
"Excuse me, Daddy. I tooted."

First thing Reanie said when she woke up today--
"I like food, Daddy."

Buon Compleanno

This is what Noah looks like on his 10th birthday (and first day of school)! 

Communist

I was riding the scooter back home after taking Noah to a birthday party. A cyclist was rolling up the hill on McMakin as I approached. Being on the scooter, it didn't take much for me to get by him.

The car that was tailgating me, though, was not enjoying the ride. I was traveling the posted speedlimit, so it wasn't that I was holding up the show. But since I could wiggle through and get by, the car behind just had to wait for the guy to get over the hill.

The motorist honked in that unfriendly way and got right up on the cyclist's butt. And for some reason, that didn't make the cyclist go up the hill any faster. More honking. Shouted something, but I couldn't make it out (I slowed down and was watching this mess in my rear view mirror).

After the top of the hill, the motorist gunned it, went wide, but brought it back close to the cyclist. Who knows if it was intentional. Looked intentional to me. The guy riding gave the "hello arsehole" sign. Since I was watching I'd slowed down, and the motorist came up on me pretty quick.

I usually don't get involved in these things. I've only expressed my displeasure of a motorist a few times in all my years of riding bikes. But for some reason, I felt compelled to go 30 mph (posted 40) until the stop sign. When the guy tried to pass, I went to the middle of the road, but stayed in the lane. Nothing illegal; just not friendly since he obviously wanted to pass.

We got to the stop sign, and I moved over to the right, since that's the direction I needed to turn. He pulled up next to me, two wheels just on the other side of the yellow line, rolled down his window, and said...

"You F@*%ing Communist!"

So there you go.

The kids are home from school for a couple of days. Reanie seems to be enjoying the party. She dressed herself. 

I've never made a big thing about whether one wears a helmet or not, but Budisimo makes a good case for helmets looking cool. 

The original Schwinn Stingray. 

And I learned today that you can buy this Schwinn Stingray at f'n Kroger. 

Buon Compleanno

"Today is my birthday. I am three years old."  

First of all, Reanie is not on drugs. Second of all, this is the stuff I missed a lot last year. It is why I don't have any real racing goals at the moment. It is why I don't ride much. And I'm loving it.  

Not Really Stories But Gotta Go In There Somewhere II

NRSBGGITS #1
Noah and I went to Academy to get him some soccer shoes this morning. Over the PA, we heard, "Bubba, please report to the gun counter."


NRSBGGITS #2
Yesterday, as I was herding the livestock, I told Reanie, "Let's get in the car. It's time to get to school."

She said, "No, Daddy. It's time to get the party started."


NRSBGGITS #3
From the top step, Buddy can spit up milk to reach six steps down.


NRSBGGITS #4
I got my new old road bike back from Sem. If you ever think about getting a frame (or helmet, or motorcycle or...) painted, you will regret it if you don't at least contact David Sem. www.semcustompaint.com "Bollacilli" and "Binati" will be built up very soon.


NRSBGGITS #5
After our track workout yesterday, Noah and I ate at Golden Corral. Now, I will NEVER crave anything they serve there, but I believe it is now one of Noah's favorite places. Maybe he was just hungry, but he made six trips to fill his plates. Of course, he may have just wanted to stay inside the place, since we were in parking lot traffic in Bessie (no AC) and it was only in the low hundreds yesterday.


NRSBGGITS #5
We got Buddy his own tricycle today. Noah Reanie and Buddy can race each other.


NRSBGGITS #6
I haven't picked up a permanent replacement training wheel for my track bike yet, but Mama got me a kick butt rear tri-spoke that falls under the category of "You can't blame the wheel for your result" in terms of go-fastness.


NRSBGGITS #7
Had a good time at Rudy's b-day dinner on Sunday. And in contrast to Hassan's b-day dinner we had at the same place not too long ago, I can actually remember this dinner.

Here's another shot Troy took of Noah. This picture shows Noah getting up to the rail and picking up his pace to begin his 200m tt. 

This is Noah on the clock for his 200m TT. He did a great job for his first official 200. 

This is Noah just rolling out for his 200m TT. Troy took this shot (and the one above). I tried to blow it up so you can see Noah's face better, but I don't really know what I'm doing with the editing stuff. Noah had a good game face. 

This is a shot of Noah during his flying 500 TT. He's still on the lead in laps before the clock actually starts ticking. That's me in the background cussing and spitting at him. A client of mine (or his wife) took the shot. 

Looking for a rear wheel. Anyone got a rear wheel?

Since Noah and I don't ride much, we are perfectly qualified to race track.

We went out on Friday night to race bicycles. Noah hadn't ridden a bike in a week and a half, and I hadn't ridden anything more than taking the kids to school in the trailer in that time, so I wasn't much better.

What the heck? We raced anyway.

Noah had decent speed, but he was racing against juniors who were 15+. That is, once they separated the juniors/youth from the adults. He races his ass off, though, and if he sticks with it, these will be part of the stories we tell when he's got his picture in the magazines or something.

On the way to the track, Noah asked if we could eat dinner out with the racers. A sort of tradition is for a group to go out to eat after the races. By and large, these are all folk of whom I enjoy their company, so I do like to go eat. But it is also that Noah is 9yrs old, and we need to get home to get him to bed. Plus, I want to see Chloe too.

Anyway, Noah asked if we could go out to eat after the races. I told him that if I finished in the money that we could go out. See, I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen, so it was pretty easy to tell him, "Sure, if...."

Well, I only had enough cash to register Noah in his race and me for one category. Normally, I register for Masters and the 1,2's. Since I'm not training, the extra $3 to add another category is just ride time. I like that.

Well, with me only riding one category, I wasn't so fried in each race and I could actually hang on and not get dropped. A night of that got me 4th place and in the money. So Noah and I went out to eat.

I had a veggeburger, salad and water. Noah had a cheeseburger, french fries and root beer.

There was more racing on Saturday night at a new event called the Festival of Speed. This consisted of a 200m time trial and a 500m time trial as well as a kierin. Noah did the 200 and 500 while I did the 200 until the 175m point, and I had to pedal weird through the 500, and I didn't really get to do the keirin at all.

Noah busted out decent 200 and 500 time trials, but he really only had one other guy in his age group. With all juniors, Noah was 5th and 4th (I think). He won an XXL t-shirt!

I didn't get to really warm up since registration was overwhelmed by the unexpectedly large turout (for track, anyway), but I wasn't stressed by it at all. If that stuff is going to matter to me, then I need to train first. Nevertheless, I'd poured over gear charts and redicted times based upon certain rpm's and so forth that I had a good idea of where I'd be. Come game time, I wanted to leave nothing on the table, as I wanted to have a time of my absolute best to use as a benchmark in training.

In the 200 I thought I slipped my tire as I came out of turn 4 to get up to speed, and again out of turns 2 and 4 on the actual time trial. Weird, but I didn't really think anything of it, but it was a bit disconcerting to have something give like that when going all out. For just a split second there, it crossed my mind, "It'd be funny to crash going this hard and being on the track all by myself."

In the 500, it happened again 4 or 5 times as I ramped it up from 575m or so (you get to hit the starting line at full speed). I just assumed it was the cheap ass tires I'm using and the fact that I hadn't really run at it in the races like I was for this event. I sort of went at 90% through the first of the two laps, and since it didn't slip anymore, I tried to step on the gas for the last lap. Still wasn't happening. Felt like it was slipping even more. I tried to spin it up without really torquing the cranks. Whatever.

The last event of the night was the keirin. I wasn't going to do this event originally, as I figured we'd head home with Mama and the babies there watching and not wanting to stay out too late. However, things were running very late, and Mama took the attitude that if we were out that late, might as well do the event that I'm good at. And if I do say so myself, I'm pretty darn good at the keirin. And I wanted to make up for whatever was holding me back in the previous two events.

I got my buddy Mark to hold me for the start. The motorcycle comes around, and even though we're frickin crowded with 9 guys on the track, I get a great push and start without having to mix it up and half pedal as the group fell in behind the motorcycle. But the official signals a false start, and we roll back to the line to try again.

I get focused, and we get ready for the motorcycle again. It is going to be MY spot behind that bike, even if I did draw 6th position. MY spot.

About four pedal revolutions in and my cranks are just spinning. Like Lance says, "No chain." But in my case, it is "No cog." Spun that mf'r right off the hub. I'm out of the race 20m into it.

I coasted into the infield (which is very awkward on a track bike, since it isn't supposed to coast, and you don't have any brakes) and I'm thinking about how much a new wheel is going to cost and how quickly I just went from planning to be IN the money to being OUT of money. A few guys come up and tell me that I must have great power to do that to a cog. Um, yeah. Power. I'm trying to think of what a new hub is going to cost and where I'm going to get the money for that.

It was hard to be upset seeing Noah so happy. That dude wants it, I tell you.

I don't think today is my day

First of all, Reanie got up at 4:00a and though Mama could go back to sleep, Reanie's wiggling and chatting kept me up.

Second of all, it is raining today, so no riding on the track. Not that Noah could go anyway since he's at a sports camp.

Third of all, while the Wal Mart check out chick is waiting for the person in front of me to clear the way, she is cutting her fingernails with clippers!

Fourth of all, as soon as I get home, I find out that there's a race in Austin being scheduled in conjunction with Lance's Ride for the Roses, which is over the top of the two I'm promoting in Denton in October. OK, so I was only planning to promote TWO races in one weekend, but I also had the TXBRA awards banquet thing brewing as well as the TXBRA annual meeting for that weekend. I've been sitting in meetings with the Mayor, the police chief, the Chamber of Commerce, the Main Street Association...since October. *%#$!@#*)(

The high point today is that I'll be getting my road bike back from Sem shortly. I had to mail him an empty box so I could get him to mail it back. I anxious to show everyone my "new" steed.

Water Conservation at Stella Sola 

We're Dancing With Ourselves

Skipped more training lately. Skipped out on racing Friday night too, but that was because Noah was at his swim team banquet for awards.

But this weekend has been a good one. Haven't done much of anything, really, but I got to see everyone dance. It was especially cute to see Reanie and Noah dance together. I also got to sit under a tree and read a book while everyone skinnyslid. Stuff like that.

I had some pangs to race on Friday, but not as much as usual. We're taking Rob's advice to just chill for the season. Don't try to force it. Let's see how the winter plays out. I fully admit, though, that it would be easier to get out to train and race if I had an actual goal to pursue. Just sort of going through the motions until it strikes.

Burke and Jodi are coming so I watered the yard and crushed a grape with my chair and made jelly

In weather this morning, it has been three days in a row I was all set to water the yard. Three days in a row there was thunder, lightening, winds, and all the things that tell you to batten down the hatches, so I opted out of watering. Then it won't rain.

Well, I'm going out now to turn on the water. So you can be sure it is going to rain today.

It is some power to be able to control when it rains, and I am somewhat conflicted about using this power today, because Noah and I are to race track tonight, and Burke, Jodi and Keegan are coming up here today. But dang it, it is hard work keeping up with the neighbors and their yard.


In other developments this morning...I was eating grapes at the computer...

This just in. I finished typing the words, "...neighbors and their yard" and went down to turn on the sprinklers. Just as I typed, "...I was eating..." rain drops began hitting my window and lightening struck somewhere near the far pond. It is power I tell you. Power.

So, I was/am eating grapes this morning and happen to drop one. With Kid #2 and #3 around, we don't have the "3-second" rule, but that is mostly because Kid #3 will eat anything, anytime, anyway. I did drop one, though, and I wanted it, so I rolled the chair back so I could get the grape off of the ground. I rolled over the grape with the chair.


In sports this morning, Kid #2 is in flying form on her "bicycle." Her pink (giro, giro, giro) trike is being ridden to its fullest. It was just two weeks ago that she couldn't get over the hump in the driveway, but now she not only gets the thing over the hump, she also gets that thing going at about 120+rpms. She grits and bares her teeth, leans back to get more leverage with her arms, and gets after it. It is very obvious that she is enjoying the speed.

After a meeting this morning, I will pick her up from school and take her motorpacing.

In other sport's news, Kid #1 competed in the Divisional Championships of swimming yesterday. This is a big meet bringing in the top swimmers from around the Metroplex. According to the seeded times Noah had, he was placed in the first or second (of four or five) heats, with the supposed fastest seed/heats being the last.

He was bummed to learn that his times placed him in the bottom 1/3 or bottom 1/4. He responded by setting a PR in freestyle and placing 5th overall. He was DQ'd in the backstroke in a heartbreaker, since he was doing very well until the last stroke, when he turned over to touch the wall. His time was officially good enough to place him 8th overall, but the DQ negated that, of course. The other stroke in which he competed was the breast stroke, and he gave it his all in his small heat of three boys, but it wasn't quite good enough to put him in the top 8. It was a good meet overall, though I think Kid #1 was expecting higher placings based upon his placings at the regular meets throughout the season. But at Divisionals, the kids from the more serious swim programs show up, and that makes a difference. He just learned the meaning of "Big fish, little pond."

In the Strongest Man competition, Kid #3 competed in the tractor push yesterday. The John Deere Pedal Tractor is outfitted with Kid #1, who isn't allowed to pedal. the object is to push the tractor and Kid #1. That's all. Kid #3 did this on the driveway for about 15 minutes, which is a record not only in his age group, but also his size category. In fact, I'm still checking with the officials at the South African headquarters of the World Strongest Man Competition, but I think this is an outright record as well. Especially considering the shows are only 30 minutes long.

When I get back from motorpacing Kid #2, I'm going to take Kid #3 out back and have him push me and my truck across the pasture.

In health and living, Mama made some jalapeno/watermelon jelly. Yes, that's right. We picked the jalapenos from what we have growing here, and we would have used our homegrown watermelons, but they aren't ready yet. But the jelly is indeed 100% homemade even if only 40% homegrown. I've only had a couple sample tastings of this concoction, but my word, I dare say there hasn't even been anything better to spread upon cornbread.



Have a great day!

Some days I don't have it. Some days I almost do.

Been riding pretty regularly lately. That doesn't really mean much, since it means I regularly ride 15 or so miles per day, three days per week to take the little ones to school.

But I also get out to the track with Noah once a week, and that is starting to be more of a workout. I do some pacing or some sort of set of intervals with him, and as soon as we finish his set, I'll take off on a two lap "flyer" of my own. It is something, I guess.

About two weeks ago I went on the Sunday ride for the first time in months. My goal was to simply make it with the group to Hilltop. For whatever reason, I bridged across to a break just before the hills. The break was brought back, but the effort I made to get there didn't allow me much recovery time as the hills came. But I did make it to Hilltop, and proudly sat up and let the group ride away. I have no idea if I could have stayed with the group.

That's not true. I would have been dropped like Buddy would drop a brussel sprout if Mama brought cookies to the table.

Anyway, I suited up for the Sunday ride again today. No real reason to expect anything more, but I made the goal of getting over Hilltop with the front group today. And that is what I did. Though, I was caught behind some folks who let gaps open up or who were being dropped, so getting over with the group was dang hard. In fact, I spent about half of that hill chasing and just caught the tailings as we crested the top. Then I let it loose on the downhill section to put myself in a more respectable spot.

When we got to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill, I thought about carrying on with the group. I started planning where I could realistically hang on and thinking about where I would realistically have trouble if I kept up with the better end of things.

But a washed out bridge and road construction sent us on a detour. And that detour took in a hill that I wasn't ready to roll over. Oh, I probably would have made it with the group, but Hassan attacked there.

I was faced with two options as I saw it. Both options required me to shift gears. The racer in me wanted to shift to a harder gear and go. The other option required shifting with the left hand (to a much easier gear in the little chainring).

The wuss won out.

I saw Hassan carry on up the road, and the first person to go after him was wearing a Texas Cup Champ jersey.

Lazily over the hill and the rejects started coming by me. Then I started to feel all bad about myself.

Suddenly, I was inspired. I could see the leading group, and if I got after it right then, and if I could enlist some reject help, and if the leading group would let off the gas just a little, I knew I could get back in there with the real racers.

So I got the bike in the big ring, stood up, and made about 10 revolutions of the crank before I went to the little ring and sat back down.

I rolled in with a few folks who talked about how Hilltop didn't seem as hard today. Thanks.

Something ate at me about sitting up (twice), so I tried to guess where to meet up with the group to ride it in and get more "racing" action. I guessed the wrong way and assumed I missed them, so I simply head towards the house (we live just after the "finish" of the "race" part of the ride).

About two miles from the finish, Hassan and a sometime riding buddy, Mad Dog Thompson came flying by. They were off the front of the race group, but none of the four or five people limping in with me believed me. Especially since the pack wasn't in sight at all. A couple minutes later, though, the pack did come by, and they were going twice as fast as the two leaders.

So I took a short cut so I could see my boy win the sprint. He did stay away with Mad Dog, but they rolled across the line holding hands, sharing the "win." No, Hassan is not gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Nobody should get too worked up about some group ride "win," but this is the Sunday Ride, and it is one of the bigger deals of such rides. Maybe it is a Metroplex phenomenon, but the fact is, The Assassin raced well today. No upgrade points, and no cash payout, but it for sure shows that he's been doing his homework.

Our home routine is pretty established. I'm not likely to get away with evening group rides in the near future, if ever, but knowing that Hassan went from training and racing very well to very nearly losing a year of racing, and then coming back again...I'm insprired.

I may have to ride at 5am to get it done, but I want to be back with the front group again. Mostly because I don't want to have to argue with the dropped people about who is in the break.

True.

I'm not one to forward on jokes and such via email, but though this is one I've seen before, I thought it fit in here when I saw it again.

How to know whether or not you are ready to have kids...

MESS TEST: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

TOY TEST: Obtain a 55-gallon box of Legos (or you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.

GROCERY STORE TEST: Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

DRESSING TEST: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all the arms stay inside.

FEEDING TEST: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

NIGHT TEST: Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00 p.m. Begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 p.m. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 p.m. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 a.m. Set alarm for 5:00 a.m. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

INGENUITY TEST: Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

AUTOMOBILE TEST: Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it into the cassette player. Take a family size package of chocolate chip cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There, perfect.

PHYSICAL TEST (Women): Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans. And try not to notice your closet full of clothes. You won't be wearing them for a while.

PHYSICAL TEST (Men): Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

Not Really Stories, But Gotta Go In There Somewhere

-NRSBGGITS #1-
When Noah and I took the little ride out at Lake Cherokee, we used the lake roads, which are narrow, twisty and kinda hilly. The ride we did was an out and back thing that had a little loop at the end that goes around the pitch and putt, nine hole golf course out there. The total ride is about 14 miles or so.

Anyway, we spent most of that ride side by side. When we got to the golf course part of the ride, Noah was watching someone take a swing when he got his front wheel into my back wheel. For those of you who ride, you know that feeling. He should have crashed. As his wheel and tire were getting all up in my business, I had time to think, "Well, here he goes, his first real road fall. It is going to burn a bit, but we'll get to see what kind of toughness he has." Yes, he was rubbing up against me that long.

But he didn't go down. When I looked at him, his eyes and mouth were wide open. We were prolly going about 17mph or so at the time.

The first thing he said..."I was checking out her swing." Right on.

-NRSBGGITS #2-
On Wednesdays lately, Noah and I have been going out to the track to workout. This past Wednesday, I met him at the pool after his swim practice. He was on his road bike, which he had ridden over to Lisa's the day before. I intended to ride around, meet him there, and ride home with him, but I got caught up with something that must have been important, so I had to hustle and meet him on the scooter.

He asked if he could motorpace home. So that's what we did. 22 mph most of the way. He could have gone faster, but there wasn't any real need. He did go about 20 mph up the McMakin hill, which is something that not just any bike rider can do.

-NRSBGGITS #3-
When we go to the track on a weekday, I load up Moby with bikes and gear, and then Mama takes it to work. I run the kids to school in the trailer, and when Noah and I get ready to go, we take the scooter to Mama's office, then take Moby to the track from there. All silly, I know, but we are having fun trying to figure out how to use the scooter in place of a car.

Anyway, after we finishing ripping laps at the Superdrome, we take Moby back to Mama, and then head home on the scooter. This week, though, Noah wanted to hang out with Mama at the office. And that's what they did.

While riding home, I saw an Indian grocery store. Hadn't noticed it before, so at the next stop light, I break out the cell phone, call Mama, and ask her to stop by to find something new to try for dinner. Felt weird to be riding a scooter talking on the cell phone. Felt stupid, actually. Especially since it isn't an automatic. I didn't mean to ride and talk, but I was blocking traffic when the light turned green.

-NRSBGGITS #4-
I can't remember what the stuff Mama and Noah bought is called, but it was all good. It is always a treat when Mama gets creative in the kitchen.

It sounded like they had fun going in there and not knowing what anything was. This is an authentic place, so even reading the name on the package, reading the ingredients or even looking at the picture wasn't enough to really explain what they were getting into.

-NRSBGGITS #5-
That evening, Noah and Reanie played on the bouncy slide. I don't mean that they just happen to be on it at the same time. They were actually playing together. Singing together. Carrying on conversation. I wish had the skills to write about how amazing it felt to watch them interact like that. I must have spent 15 or 20 minutes watching them through the window.

-NRSBGGITS #6-
I coach a junior named Andrew. He's the real deal, but we have to find all the pieces before we can put his puzzle together. Since his return from Nationals, we're spending more time together. Frankly, I wish I could coach like this with everyone, and now that the magazine is out of my hands, I do have the time to do this better.

Back to Andrew...we've been meeting on Wednesdays at the track (same session with Noah) and then again on Thursdays here for motorpacing. Last week it was very windy to the extent that it made the scheduled workout almost impossible. Since he is a junior, he races on restricted gears, which means at some point, he can't just go to a bigger gear to go faster; he has to simply pedal faster. On the National and International level, since all the juniors have the same highest gear, races often come down to who can pedal that gear the fastest. So, we get him behind the scooter and I take him to speeds that I know aren't easily attained. We got up to 40mph last week, which is something in a 52x14 biggest gear. That's about 135 rpms and holding.

Well, today he comes over for the motorpacing session. And it rains. We wait it out, and after a few hours, the skies clear and the roads dry up (we won't motorpace in the rain). I tell him to get his cycling stuff on, and I go check messages real quick. When I come downstairs, Andrew is sitting by the door wearing his cycling clothes and helmet, and he tells me, "It's raining."

So I stick him on the rollers on the back patio, set up a fan and a radio, and tell him to knock out an hour. It wasn't until he was on the rollers that he told me that this was only his second time to try. But I left him next to the glass door and windows anyway. Maybe I should get him to sign a release or something.

Andrew makes it 59 minutes before he falls off the rollers. That's pretty close to an hour. So good job!

This is NOT our scooter. "Collina" looks just like this one, minus the white wall tires. We'll prolly have those, baby moon hubcaps, chrome trim and baskets...the works...when we win the lottery or something. 

Here's an aerial shot of Grandma and GrandBuddy's place where we held our family reunion over the 4th weekend. GrandBuddy took this shot from Cousin David's airplane. 

Go Jump in the Lake

We had a family reunion this past weekend at the Dixie Star, which is Grandma and GrandBuddy's place on Lake Cherokee. The Williams' came in from Texas, Colorado and Pennsylvania. Good group. Good times.

Getting there almost sent me over the edge, though. We thought we were doing great by leaving Stella around 2:00. It is about 2.5-3 hr to Dixie Star from our place, but at 4:10, we were still sitting at the Dallas Tollway and 635. Insert your favorite cuss here.

We did manage to get there eventually, and to make up for the frustration we went to an all you can eat catfish place. While it was nice to eat french fries, fried catfish and hushpuppies, Kids #2 and #3 were not ready for a sit down dinner, and they took to romping that room. Mama and I were too tired to put up much of a fight. It was funny/sad to watch Aidan get the strong arm from his Mommy and Daddy while we let our little ones run wild. We've been the ones to keep ours prim and proper while hell broke loose around us, so I felt their pain. Not enough to do soemthing about my kids right then, but I still felt it.

The next day was the actual reunion. We set up the bouncy slide, got the waverunner working, blew up a row boat thing, got the paddle boat in the water, put the trampoline float thing in the water, borrowed the neighbor's party boat (GrandBuddy's boat is sick) and got food stuffs out. Visited with cousins, aunts, uncles, inlaws, outlaws and so forth. Like I said, Good group. Good times.

We ate lots of desserts because that is what we do best, but we also had some Bodacious barbeque to keep things proper.

Just before dark, we piled as many Williams's into the party boat as we could, and set out to the middle of the lake. The Lake Cherokee community does an annual fireworks thing, and since it is a lake community, everyone goes out on the lake to watch it. Those of us who didn't squeeze onto the boat enjoyed the show from the yard, since the Dixie Star has one of the best views of the show anyway.

And that was that for Saturday.

Sunday was spent cleaning up a little, being lazy a little, and then riding the waverunner big. Since I couldn't throw off Kid #1, we enlisted the help of some friendly Aggies (Robert and Karen) from across the lake, and they took Cami and Noah out to dump them. Mission accomplished, I believe. We also swam and paddled and pedaled the paddle boat and jumped on the trampoline out in the water. Then we slept soundily. Soundly? Soundily? Whatever.

Monday morning came, and I had to talk Noah into going on a ride, but once we got rolling, he figured out why I made him take his bike. The curvy and hilly roads around the lake are just plain fun to ride. We visited a bit more, then loaded up and head home.

We stopped near Tyler so I could get a DQ Country Fried Steak Sandwich. Sandwhich? Sandwich? Whatever. DQ just happened to be next to a fireworks stand, so we did that too.

Once we finally got home, we put the Bouncy Slide out and played some more just to try to squeeze as much as we possibly could out of the weekend. Once it got dark, we remembered that our house is in the absolute perfect spot for catching firework shows. By sitting at the end of our driveway by the gate to the pasture, we have PERFECT seats for the firework shows from Flower Mound, Grapevine and what was either a Roanoke or Texas Motor Speedway show.

We made a good effort at a show with our own fireworks, but Reanie (Kid #2) wasn't so much into that, so we cut it short. Didn't really feel like a loss though, because we had a very full and long weekend.

Woke up the next morning, piled the kids in the trailer, rode with Noah to swim practice and then rode the little ones to their school. Raced like hell to get home as three people called me in that seven miles to tell me that I was about to be in the middle of a serious storm. I was home about two minutes when it hit. It was a good one, and this is one time I was glad to not be riding in the rain.

I turned on the computer, saw that it was 60 messages, then the power went out, so I took a nap.

Prolly left something out, but I didn't mean to.

Wednesday Morning, Thursday Morning.

Wednesday morning started Tuesday night as I loaded up Mama's car with the track bikes and gear. We've been talking about getting a smaller car, but everytime I load up enough gear for me and Kid #1, I wonder how we'll get by with anything smaller (we will, of course, but still...).

We filled and loaded a one gallon water jug as well as a 3 gallon jug. Lots of water. Have you been to the Superdrome at mid-day when it is 99degress outside?

The original plan was to ride road bikes with Noah over to swim practice with Kids #2-3 in the trailer and then on to their school. But we woke up 10 minutes too late to pull that off, so Mama took the little ones to school.

This worked out well for me because we took the scooter to the pool instead, which allowed me to take the laptop and get some "desk" work done while Kid #1 did the swim team thing. By not taking the little ones to school or riding to swim practice, I missed out on 20 or so road miles, but with a solid session planned at the track, I wasn't really worried about it. I was, however, worried about not having time to get some work done. It all worked out just fine.

We scootered home from the pool, ate some breakfast, and Kid #1 took care of a couple of chores while I finished up some work.

Then we took the scooter to where Mama works so we could transfer our bodies to her car with our bikes and head to the track. It would have been fewer transfers if we could have just taken my truck, but it was filled with brush that had yet to be taken to the brush pile...

We got to the track just about the same time Christi (track monitor) showed up, which gave us the maximum amount of time there.

Noah (Kid #1 for those without a program) and I got started quickly with a 20 lap warm up. About half way through this set, Andrew (a hot rod junior client of mine) showed up and got his stuff together. I expected two more clients to show, but Becky was the only one who could make it, and at that, she was running behind because she couldn't take her kids to gymnastics camp until an hour later than she thought.

Having clients out at the track is great because I can easily ride with them without having to chase anyone down too much, and I can watch them all without having to be in multiple places at once.

Andrew needed to do some specific work, as he's preparing for L'Abitbi. Noah was just getting a general workout in, but for him, we have to keep it all in "game" situations to keep it from being work or "training." Though, to be fair, he'd be just fine with whatever and however I threw it out there for him. Becky...Becky is like a 14 year old with a Corvette. She's got a great engine, but she's still learning to drive.

I was just out there to spend as much time as I could with each of them.

As Noah and I wrapped up our warm up, Andrew was hitting the boards for his warm up. I jumped on with him for several laps while Noah wiped down and got a drink.

Once Noah was ready to roll, I dropped off of Andrew and took Noah through a 12 lap thing of sprinting every four (we're in the same gear, and I have to pull all of the time).

We finished that up, and I rolled in, took a drink, and got Andrew going on his workout. For him, though, I was way undergeared, so I just did the best I could. Of course, he's such a hoss that he doesn't need someone to push him or lead him. Just tell him what to do and he'll give it 100%.

So, for the next hour or so, I was bouncing between the two and just working them through their workouts. During the resting periods I tended to a few coaching-related phone calls.

When Becky showed up, I spent some time riding with her, helping her get familiar with the track and riding with company. It worked out that Noah was getting on the track for a set while Becky was riding, and I tried to get us all to ride together, but Noah was getting tired and Becky is super strong...so all I ended up doing was messing up a set for Noah.

We did pull off a few "races" between Noah and Andrew. They'd start on the pursuit lines, and Andrew would have to race 2.5 laps to Noah's 2 laps. Fun for both, it seemed.

After over three hours of baking in the convection oven known as the Superdrome, Noah and I were spent. Andrew rode home. Becky wanted some more, but we were just out of time. And out of water.

Loaded up all the stuff, went to Subway and had one of everything, then took Mama back her car. I rode the scooter home with a quick stop at the grocery store for some stuff to make a dessert for the holiday weekend. Kid #1 went with Mama to go get the munchkins, and we all made it home whupped from the day.

Unloaded all the bikes and got the road bikes ready for an early morning ride before swim practice.

Thursday morning, 5:15am. "Hell, no," I say. We all sleep in a bit longer, Mama ends up taking #2-#3 to school again, and Noah and I knock out 15 or so ending up at swim practice. Pretty darn cool to watch him carry his swim trunks and goggles into the pool while wearing his cycling stuff. I went out for another hour while he swam.

Then we rode home so we could get ready for Andrew's motorpace session.

Just as I got out of the shower, Andrew showed up, and we made quick work of getting ready, since we wanted to minimize our time out there in the upper 90's.

Noah rode with me on the scooter while I paced Andrew through some speedwork out to and at the Texas Motor Speedway. It took Noah about an hour, but he learned that riding on the back of a scooter at 28mph for 2.5hr isn't really all that fun. But he didn't complain. He asked me at one point when he could start motorpacing...

While out at TMS, Noah was riding backwards on the scooter, facing Andrew, and Andrew was all of six inches behind the scooter...and we passed a police car. He waved. He's my second favorite police man ever.

Just as we were all about to crack from the heat, we called it a day.

Smoothies and pasta for lunch. Andrew went home. Noah took off to play with friends, and I got to work on desk stuff.

Pretty dang good, thank you

Budreaux, when asked, got me Reanie's shoes as I was getting her ready this morning.

They teamed up for breakfast. Reanie gave him the stuff she didn't want to eat, and he gave her the stuff off of his plate to share.

Reanie helped Budreaux get in the trailer for the ride to school.

Noah missed warm ups for the swim meet today because I couldn't find something as small as a country club. But he dgot to work anyway and picked up two firsts and a third. I know he set at least one PR (freestyle) today.

So, how was YOUR day?

Going on a ride with Barbie

Here's an advance look at the column I wrote for the next issue of the magazine.


I was going to kick Barbie’s ass.

We’ve been having such good family time in the evenings lately that I’ve sworn off late afternoon—evening training rides for the time being. How noble of me to give up riding when the pavement is melting. Anything for the kids. Riding, instead, comes in the form of the morning commute with the kids to their respective places of business.

Kid #1, who started racing this year, has swim practice in the mornings about three miles away. Too close for loading up the car, too far to walk, and he needs to ride anyway, so we make it a part of the “training” ride each day.

Mama now has to be at work at 7am, which means she is leaving just as kids #2 and #3 are getting bright eyed and bushy tailed. I thought that I could grab a couple more miles in the morning with the kids in the trailer and let Mama get to work without having to rush.

So, Kid #1 and I can ride to the pool, and Kids #2 through #3 can ride with me to their school. These aren’t 100 mile endurance days or anything, but I’ll take what I can get. Besides, by using the bike as our transportation we are saving the planet and letting our kids breathe Metroplex fresh air. Or something like that.

Today we got everyone up and like a clock; we had the cogs turning and working together. Mama is putting fresh drawers on one kid while I finishing clothing the other. Kid #1 is getting his swim stuff together, the tires aired up and the bottles filled. Mama jumps into her car as I’m stuffing food and kids into the trailer. And just as I look down at the clock on my bike’s computer and think, “we’re going to make it,” Kid #2 makes it very clear that for this trip to be pleasant for all parties, it will require Barbie as a companion.

We organize a search party to find Barbie. This task is complete with instructions from a two-year old about the current location of Barbie. I ask, “Where’s Barbie?”

Kid #2 responds, “Yes.”

I change it up a bit, “I’ll get Barbie. Where is she?”

Kid #2 responds, “Barbie wants her super suit.” That’s code for swim suit around here, and it makes much more sense if you’ve seen the movie The Incredibles.

Getting a little stressed, Kid #1 goes on the hunt, finds the Barbie, and we all manage to get rolling in such a way that if we lift our pace just slightly, everyone will make it to their place on time.

Kid #1 tucks in behind the trailer and drafts our rig, and we make record time to the pool. I give him instructions to be ready to go directly after practice because we have a full day planned, which will culminate with track racing. That’s good news to him, and he’s off to his thing.

Kids #2, #3 and I get on with the tougher part of the commute through the hills to their school. Along the way I get a few smiles and thumbs up for having the kids in tow, but I also get a motorist with a cell phone shaking her head and hand at me. “Sorry, didn’t mean to slow you down for three seconds. Nice Navigator, by the way.”

Along the way, there is some disruption in the trailer, but they manage to sort it out among themselves. Though, when I saw it resolved, one kid had two sippy cups and the other two bagels. Hey, if they are OK with it, I am too.

At about the half way point, Kid #2 lets it be known that she is upset that Barbie’s leg came off and that Kid #1 is chewing on it. We didn’t have to bring in arbitrators or ex-presidents, but we did negotiate terms and make the situation livable for all in close quarters.

There is a stretch on this commute of about 300 yards where we have to get on a fairly busy highway. The shoulder big enough for a bike, but not big enough for a trailer, so we have to get on the road a bit. Unnerving somewhat, but nothing kicking it up a few watts (and trust me, I can only kick it up a few) can’t manage.

About 200 yards past that 300 yard section is where I heard Kid #3 say, “Barbie uh oh.” Then Kid #2 beckoned, “D-A-D-D-Y!”

How Barbie got pitched out of the trailer I will never know, but sure as Ken has a schizophrenic girlfriend, Barbie was in the lane of traffic right in the middle of the lane where there isn’t much shoulder.

We wait for a break in traffic, I make the u-turn, we haul it to a point about 50 yards past Barbie, make another u-turn, get the thing rolling again, and we are blessed that at that moment there are no cars coming, and during all that Barbie had managed to dodge becoming Mrs. Macadam. Demonstrating a talent that is utterly useless in competitive cycling, I reached down while riding, scooped up Barbie from the highway, and tossed her into the trailer. Kid #2 even made a decent catch of it. Yippee yahoo, let’s go to school.

The rest of that leg of the trip is uneventful, though we did have to sort out that Barbie was staying in the trailer and not going to school today.

I, dressed in cycling togs including my new Atmos helmet, take the kids to their classrooms. This is when I’m told that today is “Splash Day” and, “did you bring their swimsuits?”

It must have been a funny sight to see someone time trialing all out with that trailer, especially since I didn’t care if it was missing the edge of the road or the potholes, and even more especially since I was taking the highway to pick up Kid #1. We were in a hurry because “Splash Day” was going to happen in 45 minutes, and I needed to ride seven miles to get Kid #1, and then the three miles back to the house, get the swimsuits for Kids #2 and #3, and then get to the school in time for them to get dressed.

And that is exactly what we did.

Originally, this was going to be a pleasant commute. Get in a few miles, save the planet, enjoy some fresh air. It turned out to be one of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done.

Looking forward to doing it again on Monday. However, Barbie is gonna just stay in the road next time.

Bad Blog

Friday--I was planning to race the sprints at Master's Regional Track Championships, but when it came time to pack up and leave, I was just getting home from what ended up being an all day affair of buying our new scooter. I'll have pics of her (we're narrowing down her name) soon.

See, we were about to buy a new car. We'd done some research, mostly avoided arguing about it, test drove a ride or two, and even haggled with a salesman about a Mazda3. But the whole ordeal of shopping, financing (we like to buy things outright), and figuring out needs vs. wants and trying to predict what would work best for us in the next year or so...we said "screw it" and spent the down payment on a red, 150cc, 4-speed, hot rod.

I was sunburned and tired from being outside all day, and I nearly melted when I saw a bank sign say the temp outside was 109, but I was riding a scooter through Dallas and down 121 and passing trucks at 60mph.

Yeah, we got a scooter. We're that much further away from being cool, but we're having more fun. Especially on me and Chloe's first ride together.

Saturday--Woke up early, ran over to get Noah from his Mom's, and we went to the second session of Master's Regionals. The events of the day were the Kilo and the Pursuit. I had no business racing a bicycle at all, but I figured I'd make my donation of an entry fee, run a few laps, and call it a day.

I picked the kilo because it was the shortest event on offer, thus leaving me on the track for the least amount of time to be embarassed. There were only five people in the 35-39 category, but my bronze medal is forever.

We motored home and got to work on the garage. We emptied that thing out, cleaned the floors, filled up the truck with trash, got all of the TRP stuff out...and then put everything but the trash back in the garage because it looked like it was going to rain. The garage is clean and organized now, complete with weights set up, a place for the scooter, bike crap organized...

We'll see how long it lasts. But I do think it will stay tidier now that we don't have team stuff and TRP stuff in there. Well, the TRP stuff will be out completely this week.

Sunday--For Having Sex With My Wife Day, my kids gave me this cool plate that has their hand prints on it. The handprints are made into fish. Cutesy, but they're my kids, so I think it is cool.

Mama took me to Lowes and we got a workbench and some stuff to organize the bike tools and such. We also got some long-needed florescent lighting. Good times.

Noah and I went for a ride this evening, and we chose to hit the hills, complete with an assault on Hilltop the short and steep way. Now, we didn't go up it fast, but we got up it just fine.

Mama made a wonderful sauce for some pasta tonight. Made it with some fresh tomatoes from our next door neighbor. But we have our own tomatoes growing just fine. Because we are farmers and all.

Stuff that doesn't fit into a particular day--We came across a copy of The Muppet Movie on DVD. It is the favorite move around here lately. As long as we ignore Fozzy's "Wakka wakka," which annoys everyone, especially Buddy.

Reanie doesn't wear a swim suit. She wears her "super suit." This makes more sense if you've seen The Incredibles.

We wore out the bouncy slide. But we are taking it back to get another. You'd think they'd make those things kid-proof.

I've been sick with some chest/head thing for a week. Probably should have gone to the doctor for it, but I'm tired of going to the doctor lately.


I love my kids.

Pause for Dramatic Effect

Reanie took off downstairs after I put clean drawers on her. It was quiet for a bit. Then she came upstairs (my office is upstairs) wearing her swimsuit.

I figured Noah helped her put it on and that they were going to to play on the bouncy slide thing. But Noah was nowhere to be found. Hmmm....

After calling for him a few times, I went looking out the windows to see if he was outside somewheres. Sure enough, he's teaching himself how to rollerblade out in the driveway.

I'm not getting any work done, but the kids are loading up the cute points.

And I got my coffee mug with that action shot of Noah (posted a few days ago) today.

Bad day for work. Crummy day cuz I'm illin'. GREAT day because 2/3's of the kids are here being cute.

Punch Line

Just as I hit "publish" on the last post, Reanie said, "Daddy, I got big job."

160,000 rolled pennies per month

I love my kids. Really, I do. But we send them to this school so they can learn a bit and be social a bit. But this school, to which we pay a healthy sum for the opportunity to send our kids there daily, has made it a habit of calling me to come pick them up on a weekly basis. And I don't mean when it is time to pick them up; I mean like in the middle of the day because Buddy coughed or Reanie had a runny nose.

This week, I've had one or the other child here for three days. It would be one thing to just have them here from when we wake up until we put them to bed, but what this is has to do with dropping them off at school, coming back home to work, only to have the phone ring just as I fire up the computer. "Mr. Williams, this is Joanne from the Merryhill School, and Reanie/Buddy has...you need to come pick him/her up and take them to the doctor."

See, at this school, when they tell you to come pick up the kid, you have to have a doctors note for them to return. So, you lose the time that you had to go pick them up, the time you were going to work now that you have them at home, AND the time it takes to take them to the doctor.


So, I've been sick the last two days--sore throat, coughing up oysters and whatnot. This morning, we had to get everyone rolling earlier than normal because Mama had to be at work earlier than normal. My truck is in the shop, so we are down to one vehicle, and that means everyone piles in. But me. I get to stay home and be sick and be working. Fine. Cool.

25 minutes after everyone leaves, the phone rings. Mama says I need to take the kid's swimsuits and towels up to the school because it is "Splash Day." Hokey dokey. I'll ride my bike and take them up there. The car shop is very close, and I can go pick up the truck while I'm at it.

Took me 20 minutes to find their swimsuits.

Then Mama called and said she left a folder on her desk that she needs for work, "please bring that to me this morning." No problem. Forgetting things happens (right, Noah?)

Just as I'm stuffing everything into a backpack, Noah's Mom calls and says she's on 407 (a main road around here and the same road in which the car shop and the kid's school is located) and asks if I could meet her to get the Big Boy. "Sure," I tell her, but you'll have to meet me at the car shop, since I'm on my bike and have to pick up my truck..."

Just as I stuff my phone in my jersey pocket, it rings. This time it is the school. Reanie seems to have a "rash" and is "scrathing a lot." "Please pick her up and take her to the doctor."

I ride to the shop, pay the guy $200 for a hose, which isn't much of a stretch to create the metophor--I got hosed. Noah jumps out of his Mom's car, helps me load my bike and stuff, and we drive over to the school to give them Buddy's swimsuit and pick up Reanie. Both kids are soaking wet, by the way. They tell me that, "We tried to keep her dry."

I grab the soaking Reanie and hand over the now pointless swim suit for Buddy, and we pile in the truck to take Mama's notebook to her.

Now that we are home, Reanie wants to show me every picture she is drawing, and she wants banana and apricot. Hearing two year old girls say "apricot" is enough to make you stop what you are doing and get it just because it is cute. But she's on apricot #4.

Ain't no work getting done today, and Mama leaves for NYC on Sunday.

[ Oh, and a special note (read: inside joke) for Rob, Burke and JR: ... ]

Reanie's ailment? The tag on her shirt was rubbing her back.

Mama and I get to argue tonight about keeping the kids in this school. She loves it, and I think it is a decent school but a huge pain in the ass. I get more done here having the kids underfoot than I do by dropping them off only to turn around and pick them up and take them to the doctor 2 hours later. And then wait the 24 hours that the school says they must wait if they are ever picked up early due to itchy tags and whatnot.

New Team Bike

Here's my new sled. Instead of new wheels, we got the bouncy house/slide/climbing thing pictured below. Very good choice.

For those with an eye for it, this is one gorked out bike. Compact frame with 140mm negative rise stem with Biomax, shallow drop bars. I jacked up the chain on installation, but Robbie sorted it out so that it is rideable until time for the next chain replacement (which will be 2008 if I keep up this training schedule). I left the pump on there for the picture because it is my blog. I also put the bike in the big ring for dramatic affect.

Actually, I've ridden for three of the last four days. We would have grabbed another day in there, but just about the time we got to the track, Noah realzied he forgot his shoes. I wanted to ride with Noah, so I skipped the ride out of sympathy. I mean, I've forgotten to take cycling shorts to a race on two occasions, so I don't have much room to give him grief about it.

Let the good times roll

Here's Reanie on Nonno's motorcycle.

Nonno stopped by Sola Stella for a night on his way up to Canada. He had a couple things to do, and one of those was to ride from one end of Canada to the other. The other was to get engaged. He did both real good.

Reanie is all about Nonno's motorcycle.

Slip and slidSlide on Steroids

We've been doing some crosstraining lately. I'm gonna suck at bike racing for awhile longer, but I can do a somersault at the top and still land sliding into the pool at the bottom. Next trick is to make it a 1-1/2.

Buddy likes to slide, but it takes him a trip or two to remember. Reanie climbs up this thing all on her own, and she throws herself down the thing. Noah, I'm convinced, becomes obsessed and completely spaz's out with this thing in a good way. Mama ain't shy about giving it a run either. Heck, even Grammy slid down the thing once or twice.

Here's a shot of Big Boy getting after it at the criterium in Ft. Worth on Memorial Day. 

Bootleg Sittin' In, June 2005

Many of you won't be on the mailing list for the magazine anymore, so I'm posting my column here. If you want to be surprised and read it when the next issue comes out, you need to cover your eyes now. Anyway, nobody is making you read this...

“Juniors are the future of the sport!”

It is a swell and spirited rallying cry, for sure, and you’ll have to trust me in that I’m a believer in the cause, but I’m just not so sure that all of those sounding this sound bite actually understand what it takes to get juniors involved with the sport. For instance, bicycle racing must compete with birthday parties, date night, baseball, swim team, other siblings, and mowing the yard. And that is only one weekend at our house.

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at my desk cranking out work stuff when I looked at the clock and thought, “Gotta hurry, Kid #1 gets out of school in 45 minutes.” The phone rang at 2:17p and I answered to hear, “This is Miss Tendez at the school, and I wanted to let you know that though Kid #1 is very sweet and we enjoy him here at the school, the students were released at 1pm today for the summer.”

On my way to pick up Kid #1, I received a call on the cell phone from Kid #2 and 3’s pre-school. “Mr. Williams, we wanted to let you know that you need to pick up Kid #2 because she is running a fever.”

After picking up Kid #1 we motored over to the pre-school to pick up Kid #2. As I entered the place, Kid #3, whose class was changing rooms, saw me. For those of you with kids under 2 years old, y’all will understand that there was no way we were going to be able to leave that school without taking him with us.

So the four of us squeezed into the two seatbelts in my pickup because I didn’t have Kid #2 and #3’s car seats in it--we were planning to have Mama pick up Kids #2 and 3 while I took Kid #1 to his baseball game that evening. Mama ended up working late, so the lot of us went to catch some little league action. Someone out there give me a pinch when it looks like “Juniors” and “Bike Racing” are coming into focus, and keep in mind what I do for a living here.

After a dinner of hot dogs and big league chew and a game that had to play out the tie (we are in the playoffs), we got everyone home and reasonably bathed by 10freakin’pm. As I tucked Kid #1 into bed, he reminded me that now that school was out, swim team practice was now in the mornings at 7:30a. “Got it,” I told him.

We got through Friday morning just fine. Kid #3 was taken to his place of business, the older one taken to swim practice, and Kid #2 was serving a one day suspension from school for getting a fever. Mama had to be driven to work, because we were all taking her car to the track (Bike Racing!) that night, and it was easier for me to corral the herd and pick her up on the way. While Kid #2 slept, I even managed to get the yard mowed mid-day before loading up the car with bike gear. As I loaded up Kid #1’s bike, he told me he got a flat the last time he rode it, which was two weeks earlier.

We made a rush job of making some sandwiches and snacks for the night, filled up a water jug, picked up Kid #3, picked up Mama, and then made the 25 mile, 80 minute drive to the Superdrome for a night of track racing against five other juniors. Kid #1 set a personal record by completing one race without being lapped by the older kids.

After his last race, we picked up anything that looked like it belonged to us, be it a bike, gear, food, or person, and we threw it in the car, drove home, and had the lights out just a tad after midnight.

Mama and I actually cheered a little cheer when we heard the storms hit that night, because that meant the 10:00a baseball game was likely to be rained out. That also means there would be an extra game the next week, but sometimes that bit of breathing room is all we need. Then again, if you have to loosen your belt a notch after a big meal it isn’t because your pants just got too small.

After a big clap of thunder, Kid #1 comes into our room and asks, “If the game is rained out, can we go race bikes instead?” What happened to Saturday morning cartoons?

There wasn’t enough rain over night to cancel the baseball game, so we loaded up to be there the customary 45 minutes early for warm ups. Made it almost to the end of warm ups before the game was postponed due to rain, and since it was only postponed, we loaded up three wet kids and two soggy parents into the car and just sat for another half hour waiting for the rain to let up. When the automatic sprinklers turned on while we waited in the rain, we figured that was it for the day.

So, we all went back to the house, and Kid #1 said, “Let’s race!” We dropped off Mama and Kid #3 because he was invited to a birthday party, and I loaded up the bike and gear, grabbed some dry clothes for Kid #2 and me, and we hurried our way to Mesquite for the race. Along the way, Kid #1 kept saying, “I hope it rains. That would be epic!” Kid #2 kept saying, “Donut!” It was sunny from the house all the way to the race and all the way up until they said, “Go.”

Kid #2 threw a near fit when I loaded her into the car just as the race started, and not even donut holes with sprinkles could get her to calm down. I drove us to a spot on the course where we could watch from the car, and just as I opened the tailgate to give us some shelter, the Juniors came around for their first lap. We cheered for Kid #1 like the Tifosi would for a returning from the dead Pantani. That was our boy out there racing in that weather with kids twice his age!

Just as we were settling back into the car to wait for the race to come back around, Kid #1 surprised us by jumping in the car. He sat there dripping all over Mama’s interior and told us the race had been postponed and that they were supposed to wait in their cars. The race didn’t end up happening, and by the time we were on 635, I had two kids whose lips were blue, but they at least they were sleeping.

That evening we were invited to a party held by some friends we hadn’t seen in some time. While there, Kid #3 locked himself in a bathroom and Kid #2 busted her lip open on a pitcher of margaritas.

The next day was me and Mama’s anniversary, so we mowed the yard, caught up on laundry and went to the grocery store. That evening Grammy came into town, so Mama and I went on our first grown up date in about a year. We had plans for dinner, dessert and a show, but after dinner, we tagged out and called it a night just too tired to pretend that we weren’t tired.

Monday was Memorial Day, but I didn’t take that into account when I scheduled some work that needed to be done. While the kids went “swimming” in the sprinkler, I got a call from some friends, who live in Ft. Worth, wondering where we were, since we said we’d meet them at the bike race…

And then I realized the solution to the “Where are the Juniors” problem. If you really want to get Juniors involved with racing, the races need to be held at suburban Mexican restaurants on $3 pitcher night with free babysitting provided.

Hey, hey, hey

So I got my new road bike all built up. Still needs an adjustment tweak here and there, which is normal for a new build, but it is otherwise ready to ride as long as I have a 4mm and 5mm allen wrench in my pocket when I go.

I gave it a 1 mile test spin to make sure I bolted everything down and such.

When I ride, my belly hits my legs. That just ain't gonna happen.

What are your ideas for making belly fat disappear?