Noah's new rig

It's a new frame and fork, as the other stuff is the same goods he's been riding for a couple years. He received a new Fuji Team Pro frameset in November. I ordered a size bigger than what he needed, figuring he'd grow. But Noah hit a serious growth spurt and promptly grew right out of it. Robbie and Fuji set us up again and got this new Fuji SL frameset just in time for Hollywood this weekend. Pro-style pic with the bike in the 52x14! The rooster's name is Eddy.

I love the drive to school in the mornings!

Me: (driving) Happy Valentine's Day!
Reanie: Happy Valentimes Day!
Buddy: Happy Birthday!
Reanie: Buddy, it's Valentimes Day! We get cards and a party!
Buddy: (concerned look on his face and thinking for a moment) Merry Christmas, Daddy!
Reanie: No, silly. It's Valentimes Day. We draw hearts and flowers and pink and red!
Buddy: I want to go to Sprouts (local grocer)
Reanie: (worried and sincere) Daddy, I don't think I made Buddy a Valentime.
Buddy: I love you Reanie.
Reanie: I love you too, Buddy.

And then they held hands until we dropped off Reanie.

Bonus feature

Move it

Love me some chain saw

Saturday. Wake up. Get some work done before everyone wakes up. Eat breakfast with my kids. Go out to do some miles before catching up with a local group ride. Stop to mess with seatpost. Stop again and mess with it some more. Stop again to mess with it some more. Stop once more, ready to quit cycling altogether only to find that the clamp is cracked. Ride home. Replace seatpost. Forget to measure saddle exactly. Guess and get pretty close. Head out to see if it is possible to meet up with the group ride afterall. Time trial like crazy thinking they are only a minute or so up the road. Get demoralized that I can't even catch the people who would get dropped. Look back at a stop sign and see the group. Join the group and struggle for a bit as I've been going full tilt trying to catch the group behind me. A mile later someone crashes and nobody stops, so I stop. He's ok so I chase back on just as we hit the hill on Hilltop. Get caught at a stop sign that the leaders blew. The group that formed up the hill waits. Someone thinks it is clear when it isn't and almost gets smushed by 70mph traffic. Smoking tires stink. This is all about a mile from where I was hit. I get sick to my stomach and throw up. Ride some more after that, thinking it might be a good way to get skinny. Catch up with Ribblit and ride some extra miles. Get home, take a shower, eat lunch. Set the DVD/VCR thing to record one of my 1992 VHS tapes to DVD, finally, after buying the thing to do it more than 2 years ago. Take a nap with Reanie. Wake up, hit the Saeco and get the chainsaw running to attack the tree that attacked the playset. Get frustrated trying to find the good lopers and pruning saw for Mama to get the kindling-sized stuff, only to see her ripping the limbs and breaking them on her leg. 3.5 hr later, and not able to much lift my arms or hear anything anymore, the pictures show the progress. Mama wants to go out for dinner, so we take the top down on the jeep and head for Mi Ranchito. Huevos Rancheros (over easy) for me. Take the back roads home. Buddy helps me drive. Get the kids in bed. Mess with work stuff for a couple hours. Get to bed myself just before it turns tomorrow.

Or I could have just gone down to Castroville and raced my bike. I know the guys are saying it was a hard, hard race, but I could have used an easy day like that.

It's kinda like putting a picture of Britany Spears on the cover. It isn't really news, and there's nothing new to report, but it'll sell copy.

Bibi won the Solo Elite Women 4 hour series (mtn bike) put on by DORBA.

Don't mess with her.

See, it's funny because...

But seriously, don't mess with her.

It's almost 8am (4pm EuroCrash time) and here's two funny things I've heard this morning

"The nilla wafers in your banana pudding are organic. Really."
"Here's your coffee. Now go take a nap." (I've been up awhile)

Hey kids

Daddy had a pretty good weekend at the office.

Reanie's playlist

A few weeks ago, Reanie spent some time going through my iTunes with me. Noah has his own play list, so she wanted to get her own. This is the list she ended up sorting out:

Take on Me-- a-ha
Roam-- B-52's
Good Day Sunshine-- The Beatles
Beautiful-- Christina Aguilera
Bubbly-- Colbie Caillat
Big Girls Don't Cry-- Fergie
I Ran-- A Flock of Seagulls
Over My Head-- The Fray
Daughters-- John Mayer
Don't Stop Believin'-- Journey
Behind These Hazel Eyes-- Kelly Clarkson
Our House-- Madness
Safety Dance-- Men Without Hats
Desitantion Unknown-- Missing Persons
I Melt With You-- Modern English
Always Something There to Remind Me-- Naked Eyes
Unwritten-- Natasha Bedingfield
Sister Christian-- Night Ranger
I'm Gonna Be-- The Proclaimers
Pretty in Pink-- The Psychedelic Furs

We have about 1500 songs on iTunes, and while we certainly didn't go through all of them, it was clear that Reanie has an affinity for 80's music. My guess is the easy to learn lyrics and danceability is what appeals. Some of my Reanie highlights as a parent are watching her dance and sing to these songs. A few of these I added if for no other reason that I like them for her, but when the CD is playing in the car, as each and every song starts playing she says, "This is my favorite!"

I remember playing my Mom's 8-track tapes of The Eagles and Boston, but those were albums that were out after I'd been born, whereas this stuff is more like me listening to music from the 50's. Pat (my step-Mother) had some albums I'd spin when there. I played Wild Thing-- The Troggs and Papa-oo-mow-mow (can't think of the actual name)-- The Beach Boys, and others like those over and over again. The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, while I'm sure made quality music, it is like art I just don't get. I can hear it, and I know that many think it is great and appreciate it deeply, but it is lost on me. That isn't to say that much of the 80's music is good in the sense that the musicianship or lyrics are that artful, but I like it. So does Reanie. I also like the chicken fried steak sandwich at Sonic.

But when thinking about comfort songs we all have, it occurs to me that I have a great deal on my iTunes that guys my age might not want to admit to owning. And while there is plenty of recent music that gets me to enjoying the amp and bass in the Jeep, it's the 80's stuff that I'll seek out when nobody is looking.

Then again, when I know Reanie will sing along full blast with what is playing, it's like getting a corner piece of birthday cake with all that extra frosting.

Why I haven't downgraded

A good friend of ours has two kids. The boy, tired of his game which he had mastered, asked his sister if he could play her game. She said, "no." A negotiation ensued. The final deal was that he would allow her to kick him in the nuts, twice, if she allowed him to play her game. With a deal struck, so were his nuts, and he got to play the game.

I'd rather get kicked in the nuts and play the p,1,2s. And if my nuts just can't take it one weekend, I'll race 35+ until I'm ready for my next kicking.

Wind vs Willow Tree vs Swingset

We're having wicked wind today. 45+mph gusts.
Bummer for the swingset. Good news for firewood.

I didn't like that tree much anyway.

You're welcome. I think.

One of my kids: Daddy, come here, please.
Me: Where are you?
One of my kids: In the bathroom.
Me: Ok. Just a second.

a few seconds pass and I make my way to the bathroom

Me: Yes? Oh. Did you go big job?
One of my kids: Yes
Me: (checking the toilet) I bet you feel better.
One of my kids: I do
Me: That was big.
One of my kids: Thank you

maybe we meant more spa than Sparta

so we rode. water up to our pedals in most parts. higher in others. the wind picked up. visibility was suck. But we didn't turn around until it started hailing on us. Not very Spartan of us, but we did eat some pink, heart-shaped cookies and had a latte while we tried to warm up enough to ride back home.

Did the Spartans wear long sleeve rain jeckets?

Some of my teamnuts came out to southern California for a January training camp last year. They picked this area because of the mild weather, the mountains for climbing, the beauty and offerings of things to do for their significant others. Adding to their confidence was that several pro teams base their training camps out of Santa Barbara at this time of year as well.

During their camp last year, they caught several days of rain. Being southern California, they figured it was just a spell of bad luck that they had that weather.

The talk of the fun they had and the great riding in spite of the rain motivated a return trip this year, and in all of that I was given the green light to attend as well.

So here we are in Santa Barbara.

On Monday, it was 36deg at the top of Gibralter, which is where we were and nobody was all that fired up to descend, but at the same time, we were freezing and shivering uncontrollably. Getting colder was really the best option. It started raining that afternoon.

On Tuesday we nutted up and went out in the rain. If you go all the way to somewhere else for a training camp, bagging out on riding is a sin and you go to hell. That's what our leaders were saying anyway. We got muddy and wet and knocked out some miles anyway. It was...fun.

It continued to rain. It is raining now. We're looking out the window as I type and the general mood is that we are all sissies but are going out anyway. Spartan. Except the Spartans didn't have the sissy talk. Then again, the Spartans didn't have to put on leg warmers that are still wet from the day before.

Quote of the Day

Some jackholes who, though we were all, including the cars, moving less than 10mph, were offended that we were on the road.

After some stupid stuff they did in their car and stupider stuff they said, one of us says, "Why don't you get out of the car?"

One of the punks says, "Why don't you get in the car?"

Anyway, a few blocks later they are pulled over by the police.

I think we have a handle on it now

yesterday blogged about being graded as a parent and put in there that Mama is currently a full time chicken and Buddy rancher. I assure you that no chickens were harmed in filming this video.

Report card

It isn't too often we get a parenting report card. Recently, though, we've (Chloe and I) been thinking about how we score. What with Chloe now being a full time chicken and Buddy rancher, we've been reminded just how easy it is to miss parenting "assigments", especially when everything else seems relatively ok.

But being a parent isn't something where making just a passing grade is good enough. But trying to ace the exam isn't much of a reality either.

This morning, when dropping Reanie off for school, a car pulled up behind ours and dropped off a little girl. I've seen Reanie walk with this little girl to school several times. today, though, this little girl came right up to Reanie and they gave each other a hug. That's never happened before.

I asked Reanie who this was, and Reanie said, "She's my friend."
So I asked what her friend's name is, and she said, "I don't know."

By now they are walking a step ahead of me towards the cross walk, and they are holding hands.

Grabbing Reanie's other hand, we walk the spot where Reanie and I usually stop, kiss, say "Have a great day" and so forth. During this walk, I ask Reanie's friend what her name is, and she says what I think is "Lamtasha". So I say, "Lamtasha?" and she replies, "No, Tamarasa."
"Tamarasa?"
"No, Tamasha."
"Tamasha?"

And she laughed at me.

I asked her what grade she's in (she's a head taller than Reanie), and she said, "Kindergarten!" She said it with more exclamation points, but I refuse to do that, and instead, spend 21 words saying she did.

At that point, Reanie and I kissed, I said "y'all have a great day", and at that moment they skipped, together, holding hands, backpacks bouncing away.

Today, if I were grading myself, I'm getting an "A".

Friday afternoon

I thought I got them all Tom Sawyered there for a moment.


It sounds like a train from my office

of brains and snot

the running joke, especially with two prime snot makers in our household, is that when someone sneezes and rains snot, we say that their brains came out to ask if they need a tissue.

While running errands last night, Reanie sneezed. I asked her if her brains came out. She said, "No (laughing), but my pants came unbuttoned."

If for no other reason...

...than for me to get Reanie to say she works at the Chicken Ranch.

I'm better at being a jackass than you.

Where Reanie goes to school is in a neighborhood where it is customary for parents to drive their kids to school for the .5 to 1 mile walk it may be. I'm not judging them at all, as I'll take our scooter the .5 mile to the bus stop to pick up Noah so he doesn't have to drag his drum kit all the way home.

Anyway, in the mornings, it is an absolute whipping to get Reanie to school, as she does have to be driven to school because we can't leave her at the bus stop in the mornings while getting Buddy to school (no buses for him), and because Noah doesn't always ride the bus from here, so he can't wait with her.

As I said, anyway...

So I'm in the daily traffic jam in front of Reanie's school. I never wait in the car line to drop her off at the door, as doing so would make Buddy late for school, and because I'll eat my brain by just sitting there waiting to move 5 feet, whereas I'm ok being 5 min late if it means we kept moving. So I usually go into a nearby cul-de-sac, park the car, walk Reanie 100yard or so to the crosswalk in front of the school, where a teacher works that crosswalk, and from there Reanie can get to the school and to class by herself.

Today there was even more congestion than usual, and we sat parked in traffic for 5 minutes, just a couple car lengths from the crosswalk. Thinking I'd help get Reanie to school on time, I told her she could go ahead and get out and walk in the grass to the crosswalk instead of waiting until we went all the way around to our normal parking spot. I thought I was helping move things along since we were stopped anyway.

In getting out of the car, she fell (in the grass). No big deal, but as I said, we'd been sitting there in traffic for 5 minutes. Of course, that's when traffic ahead of me started moving. With Reanie on the ground and her backpack under the car, the car behind me lays into the horn. Not the "beep beep, traffic is moving again" honk, but the "@%$&! YOU are the cause of everything bad and are probably a terrorist" honk.

And when I got out to help her, the car behind me decided that there would be no break in the honking, so they just laid into it with a middle finger extended out the window and a HHHOOOOOOOOOONNNNNKK. Good morning.

I gathered Reanie and helped her get composed, and she went on up to the teacher at the crosswalk. At my car door, I looked back to the lady behind me and was going to give some "I'm sorry" gesture. She rolled up her window (middle finger was out the window), started honking again, and her two kids got out of the car and walked to the crosswalk, while I just stood there looking dumber than normal.

I couldn't even think of something clever to say, though she appeared to be swearing up a storm. So I opened my door...

...then decided to tie my shoe before getting in the car.

A conversation that will happen in the next couple of days...

someone: Noah, you are walking funny and have a knot on the back of your head. What happened?

Noah: Well, we were tailgating and eating breakfast in the parking lot at the Cotton Bowl when my Step-Dad and Dad started tossing the football. I wanted to get in on that and walked up to Scott. It was really cold, so I had my gloves on and my hands in my pockets and a hat and my jacket hood on my head, so I couldn't see very well. As my Dad passed me the ball, I couldn't get my hands out of my pockets, so I started backing up, not wanting to get hit by the ball, even though I was dressed in something like one of those party Sumo suits. I backed up several steps, lost my balance, fell backwards in the parking lot and hit my head on the bumper of a truck, setting off the alarm. The Missouri and Arkansas fans seemed about as equally concerned, but they were tailgating too, so other important things were happening at the time. Scott, Papaw (Noah's Grandfather on his Mother's side) and my Dad laughed. The owner of the truck made sure his doors were locked with his remote.

(Dad enters the room, faces Noah)
Dad: Please don't tell that story anymore.

No naps at our house, ever

It used to be so quiet out in the country.






I love Reanie's expression at ~11s in after hitting the cymbal.

I'll never be a good football coach

For whatever reason, and something I haven't thought about in years, I remember one of my football coaches from high school telling a teammate that he should wear ankle weights all day on game days because it would make his legs feel lighter (thus faster) during the game.

I asked, "Wouldn't it be better to wear them every day, all day, except game day?"

The coach poked me in the forehead with his index finger and said, "that's why I'm the coach and you aren't."

Reanie this morning

I'm down with the crud for the last several days, and it seems to be lingering longer than it should. Reanie decided enough was enough this morning. She told me to breathe on her so my sick would go into her. She said, "It's ok, because if I get sick I can go to the nurse at school and she'll make me better."

The Reanie Channel

This just might be the day I look forward to most each year--our date to go see The Nutcracker.
Traffic getting there was horrendous. So much so that we didn't have time to eat dinner. I spotted a chocolate shop near the Bass Performance Hall and told Reanie "We get to eat chocolate for dinner today!" She scrunched up her face and said, "Daddy, chocolate isn't healthy. Let's eat somewhere else."

I made her eat that chocolate, because it is Christmas dammit.

The people we shared our box seats with weren't so great. The performance itself was a little off, and our seats were wonderful if you enjoy seeing only half of the stage because you are seated behind a column, and...

...and it was still a great night out with my daughter.



Yesterday we went to the mall to visit Santa. I'm not sure when things changed, but you no longer wait in line to tell Santa what you want for Christmas. Nope. Now you wait in line to have your picture taken with Santa, and that'll be $25, thank you. Good thing Santa gave a $26 smile, otherwise my Christmas spirit would have taken a bruise.

Buddy said...

Mama, the POSSx2 and Jordan drove up to Oklahoma to pick up me and Noah. We're all keeping an eye out for a restaurant, but Buddy needs something to eat muy pronto. Mama has some cashews and hands him a handful.

Moments later Buddy says, "My nuts are dropping!"

Well, we got a chuckle out of it anyway.

No Donut Rides So Far

I've got a date with Reanie in just a bit. Pulled out the tux earlier today, and Mama made me try it on despite me saying something along the lines of "Why? It was tailored to fit ME."

She just finished taking in the waist. The pants were almost 3" too big.

Dickens on the Strand

Photoblog attack

This is where we stayed. It really was a nice place despite the water shutting off for awhile on Saturday. Noah and I grabbed some soap and simply "rinsed" off by taking a quick swim in the Gulf post-ride. While it wasn't "Polar Bear Club," it was shoutingly cold.

All dressed up for the funnel cake eating contest

Ye olde porta-can.




Reanie and Emerald
Buddy and Pearl

Evel Knievel-- October 17, 1938 - November 30, 2007

Best ever

And Then Earl Campbell Took Reanie's Tennis Racquet

Noah and I did a night ride on our cross bikes at the Northshore mtn bike trail. Odd enough, but it went ok until his cleat came off at the turn around. Good thing Jeff LaBauve was there to lend him a tool. It made Noah's day that Jeff recognized him.

Thanks Jeff!


At one point when we stopped to mess with our lights, Noah said that he enjoyed riding cross bikes, and that racing cross was "ok", but what he liked best was when raced each other on our trail out in the pasture.

Can't take that one away from me.

The only exaggeration is the "eleventy gazillion"

My feet weighed 15 pounds each with mud, and a guy was dragging me through the desert, by my trailer still hooked to my car, backwards, until he started to get stuck. That's when I gunned it (in reverse and with a trailer, mind you) to bump him with the trailer to give him some momentum to keep pulling me out. and...

Wait, there was something before that. Thanksgiving.

It really was a great Thanksgiving. We went out to La Leona in Terlingua to hang out with my Father-in-Law, his bride to be, Sunny, my b-i-l and s-i-l and their two kids.

It is ~12hr for us to get there when factoring in that Buddy and Reanie don't coordinate their bathroom stops. It would be 14 hr still, but they don't mind taking a leak on the side of the road. Good kids.

Noah hopped a plane from Orlando on the Tuesday after spending a long weekend with Scott and Lisa at DisneyWorld. We then got our first (of eleventy gazillion) monkeywrench when Chloe's new job scheduled a thing for her Wednesday morning, which necessitated us waiting until after that call (didn't) happen.

So, now 12 hr behind, we began our 12 hr drive. Made it just fine, thank you, even with a one hour walmart stop (on the evening before Thanksgiving, no less) in somewhereinthemiddleofnowhere, TX.

Thanksgiving day was as Norman Rockwell as can be given where we were. Good memories. Friday was a day trip to Marfa and then a great hike with everyone in IForgotTheName Canyon on the way back through Presidio. I even got a ride in on the rollers that evening.

Then the rain came. A lot much.

We woke up the next day seeing snow on the mountains. Ahhhh. But all that pretty came with a price. Lots of cloud cover means solar power not so good. And then there's the fact that it is several miles of "road", through the desert. Desert and rain not so good company.

That the storms were coming wasn't really a surprise, but we didn't count on that the batteries would dry up at the house, giving us no power, and ultimately no water. And with no way out due to the muddy roads, we, um...

So Lonnie IV head out in his car with his family. The plan here was that they would call if the road wasn't passable. His car is 4wd. Ours isn't, and we were pulling a trailer (you BETTER tell me how much you like the table we brought back). He called. But with no power, the phone to the house wasn't ringing. So he called cell phones, which don't really get reception out there. So he left a message, which we got when Lonnie III came out to meet us after we got stuck in the mud trying to 4wd our 2wd while pulling that trailer.

I cussed so much that I'm no longer allowed to cuss. Of course, my tolerance was low what with having a stomach bug that meant I needed a toilet every 15 minutes, so being stuck in the middle of the desert with nothing but mud for miles around and no place to nicely make more...well, you know. I guess it could have been worse and we ran out of paper...oh, wait, that did happen. So I guess it could have been worse and it could have been cold...oh, wait, that did happen. It could have been worse, I'm sure, but I'm still afraid to think what it could be lest it actually happen.

We did eventually get back to the house. With nothing really to do except fret about the clouds moving in but relish the fact that we couldn't get stucker, we took naps and waited for the one guy who could pull us out got back from hunting. Of course, it was taking him awhile since he was stuck in the mud out in the desert somewhere too.

With it getting close to dark, and me tired of doing nothing but napping and sitting on the toilet and praying that there was enough pressure in the toilet tank to make a flush, Lonnie took me back out to the car, and I got us unstuck (!) for about 100yards until I got stuck again. This time I just stayed with the car and hoped a Russian sattelite landed on me.

Eventually, one of Lonnie's tenants, who happens to be the Terlingua Fire Chief, who happened to commandeer one of the 4wds for the town just so HE could get home, pulled me out. Backwards. By the trailer.

Now, I won't claim to be all manly, but I did attend most of the man classes along the way. I can back up a trailer. I have to think about it, but I don't have to hold my hands up with my thumb and index finger extended to remember which way is "L" for left, but I'm a fucking moron and have to really, really think it through when someone is sliding around trying not to get themselves stuck while pulling me backwards by the trailer so I don't mess it all up and crash into a mountain and get Earth stuck into Jupiter.

Eventually we get on to something to drive our vehicle that is more like stew than soup, and the kids and Mama are delivered, and we started the 12 hr drive home.

Check that.

With all the mud on our car, it wasn't driving well. In fact, we couldn't go much over 40mph, which was fine since the road to Alpine was snow and ice. Yeehaw.

With the car shaking in such a way that 4year old boys can't help but go uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh no matter how many times you fucking tell them to stop, that 88 miles of absolute nothingness from Terlingua to Alpine (go ahead, look at a map) at 40mph took awhile.

Once in Alpine I found a car wash so I could powerspray some of the mud off of the wheels so that they would spin and allow us to go, maybe, 50mph instead of 40mph. Of course the dollar changer thing wouldn't take my dollar bill, and the car wash takes $1.50, and we only had 5 quarters...

Eventually God sent down a $5 bill and I was torn between using it for quarters or toilet paper. But the car won out and I power washed $3 worth of mud from the wheels.

Which means we could drive 45mph all the way to Ft Stockton (look at the map again, please. be sure you check the scale). Once there I pulled into a the gas station and took Reanie's "lips" pencil, got down on the ground (there wasn't much snow right there) and started chiseling the mud off of the wheel.

At least then we could roll at 65-70mph.

Well, that is if the highways and bridges weren't covered with ice.

Totally beat, and with even Buddy talking sense about getting a motel for the night, we pulled into Colorado City and made camp. I slept well between my 8 trips to the bathroom in 6hr. I wrote Troy's name and phone number on the wall in that motel room. American Inn, room #127.

Reanie and Noah played in the snow in the morning. Then we loaded up and rolled out. But from then on, the trip was rather uneventful.

When we got close enough to home that things started to look familiar to Reanie, she started crying. I asked her, "What's wrong." She said, "I don't know. It's just so much."

With only a couple hours left in the school day by the time we got home, we just didn't bother. Noah and I got in a quick 10 mile ride. Lisa came over and picked up Noah since she hadn't seen him since Tuesday, and then we ate pizza and made a fire.

We all slept so well last night that we overslept this morning and Reanie was a little late for school.

But by then was pretty much cured of cussing.

getting in a ride before school

I've turned coaching duties over to Sir Budicus.

On Being Buddy

Buddy, Noah and I went out for pizza Saturday night. We picked a place on the square in Denton mostly because it is near Beth Marie's Ice Cream Shop.

Buddy was fired up for pizza. That is until I parked in front of the ice cream place thinking we'd just walk across the square to the pizza place. Now, Buddy isn't a fit thrower, and he didn't on this occasion, but he was adamant that since we were going to get ice cream that it makes perfectly good sense to go into the ice cream shop if that's where we parked.

So when we did get to the pizza place, Buddy wasn't quite as fired up seeing as he was so ice creamless. Some root beer helped.

Our pizza had black olives on it. Buddy will not eat the tires no matter if you call them olives and eat a bunch to show him that they are, in fact, food.

He eventually did eat a piece of pizza, which is a light meal for him. Out the door he was suddenly recharged. Holding hands to cross the street. Running and jumping in the grass of the courthouse. He even sat down and trusted that Noah, waiting in line, would actually bring him a chock-o-let ice cream.

While there, a blind woman came in with her seeing eye dog. A couple kids went to pet it, but somewhere along the way Buddy must have learned that most folks with seeing eye dogs would rather you didn't be all kid-like with their dog. Not sure where he learned it, but he was telling us that you don't play with blind dogs.

Later, at home, we found out that Buddy LOVES The Three Stooges.

All told, it was a good day.

Eat Drums

Soccer Ballerina

Reanie's first soccer season wraps up on Saturday. The talk of keeping the team together for the spring season is already going, and I'm completely supportive if she wants to play soccer and stay with Coach Robert, Coach Scott and these girls.

But I also wanted to give her the opportunity to do something else in the spring. She's expressed interest in basketball, gymnastics, and taking ballet again. For sanity's sake, I asked her to pick one for now, and we could maybe had another if everything was going ok (read: didn't inconvenience me too much).

She said she wanted to be a soccer ballerina. I explained that while there are certainly times that soccer can be graceful, there really isn't any such thing as a soccer ballerina. She said SHE is a soccer ballerina, and I say, "of course you are, Honey, but when it is time to go to practice, there isn't any place where they have soccer ballerina practice, so..." She said, "yes they do".

And I didn't feel like poking my eye out with a stick, so I let it go. That is until she asked me if we could go get a soccer ballerina outfit.

"Now, Reanie, there's really no such thing," I said, knowingly. And to prove my point, I put "soccer ballerina" into the google, dammit. I really, really, really hope I'm not coaching a soccer ballerina team in the spring.

Everything was perfect, but then Noah talked

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;

it rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;

it pounded through on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat;

for Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

I've been riding regularly. Almost all of it is with Kid #1, but it is happening often enough that my doughy center is more like several 100calorie snack packs instead of the "I Just Ate How Much" bought at Sam's. Lately I've felt more like someone who could maybe have been almost better than average instead of "Is that really your 'champ' jersey on the wall", in an incredulous tone.

We're rolling along side by side as normal, and feeling like I wanted to open the throttle just a tad, just enough to hear and feel the motor run, I told the Kid that he could sit on my wheel. I figured it would be nice to offer since his first instinct would be to try to match my pace while riding side by side.

Big ring. Having my left hand doing the shifting feels foreign, but I increase the tempo so that I'm riding at general cruising speed for someone who deserves the category number that is on my racing license. The Kid behind me shifts through his gears as well. My mental math calculates the distance we need to ride, our current pace, the watts I'm throwing (tossing, laying, perhaps dropping) down, that he's got it 10-20% easier in my draft...and then get some Pet Shop Boys song gets stuck in my head and I go all public school on my calculations.

We make a few turns, pop over a few hills, and generally carry some solid momentum. We roll on for several miles without talking, which is just fine. Really. We have to get on a busy FM road for a hundred yards or so to get to Hilltop Rd, but we make it through. No big deal.

As we approach the bottom of the hill on Hilltop Rd, Kid #1 comes flying by and tells me to start the clock. Haven't heard a word out of him in 15 minutes, and he startles me by not only sprinting to the bottom of the steepest hill around these parts, but also by telling me, basically, "Game On!"

I hit "start" on my computer a few times, jacking it all up, pretty sure I'm going to have to send it back to the company to reset it, finally getting it right just as he passes the tree we use as the normal start for time trials on this hill. Then I chase him so I can stop the clock when he reaches the top.

It wasn't a PR, but close enough that he obviously gave it is all. Since I was all cruising just fine before this impromptu world record attempt, I didn't let up too terribly much. Maybe I was feeling a little put out that my tempo wasn't enough for him and that he needed to go "hard" to get it done. I don't need no 12 yr old reminding me I'm slow. But whatever.

So maybe I didn't let up at all. Maybe I just kept the tempo going. "I'll wait for you at the end of the road" I didn't say out loud but implied when I kept going.

With him still right on my wheel, I do think I heard him breathing hard, though.

We went up and over another couple hills, over some tracks, and just maybe I increased the tempo a little bit more. It may have been because it was getting dark. It may have been because we were meeting Mama and the POSS2 for dinner after Kid #2's soccer race practice. It may have been to show that I'm going easy all the time because I'm riding with you, not because I am this slow.

From there we make a turn up a longish false flat. The kind of road you can really put out the power and still feel a sense of speed. Figuring this is where he'd finally come off, I even said, "I'll wait for you up there" giving a head nod towards the top.

I passed some attractive women who were walking on the path in the opposite direction, who I'm sure wanted me real bad, but I was busy at the time, so I just smiled and said "Howdy" in a voice that I aimed to make sound like going at that pace was normal for me and actually easy, even though they are feeling this rush of wind go by without me even breathing hard.

Felt some sweat glisten on my arms and roll down my nose. "Hell, YEAH!" The watts looked good, and I'd been holding it for awhile. "Maybe I should adjust my goals higher for next season. I better sit up for the Kid. No need to show him up. Nah, he's good. He can't get lost even on his own. I'll keep going."

He startles me just then by rolling up next to me and saying, in normal breath, "Is glue lighter once it dries?"

Buon Compleanno

Buddy is 4 years old today! well, he'll be 4 years old tomorrow too, but he started being 4 years old today.











"Am I always going to have Halloween cakes for my birthday?" Probably so. Could be worse. Could be born near Christmas. Your Daddy is cheap like that.




This is really a pciture of Roxanne, but Buddy got in the way.

in the last 240 hours

Friday. Chloe quit her job at BEA.
Saturday. Reanie had a soccer game.
Sunday. Chloe left for NYC to train at her new job.
Monday. Regular day starting out with getting kids ready for school, lunches made, breakfast, and dropping them off, but then I had to pick Noah up from school to make sure we had enough time to ride, and then for me to go get the kids (normally Chloe picks up the kids, but she was in NYC) from day care and get back in time for the group strength workout here.
Tuesday did the same pick up for Noah, because the bus doesn't drop him off at Lisa's until too late for us to ride and get back in time to pick up kids.
Wednesday. Same as Tuesday. Had to help Mama with a homework assigment over the phone and internets at 11pm.
Thursday. Same as Tuesday.
Friday. No Noah, but did get the house sorta ready for Buddy's birthday and halloween party. Picked up Mama at midnight from the airport. So I guess that is really...
Saturday. Soccer game for Reanie in the morning. Tackle the yard, which entails mowing with a push mower, since our tractor has been in the shop for a month, which also means that the yard hasn't been mowed in a month. My arms are still sore as of this writing. Trimming too. Basically reclaimed our yard. Set up for party. Then had the party. Grammy, Lonnie with Ella and Lonnie V stay the night.
Sunday. Cross race for Noah. Go out to eat with our crew, Grammy, Lonnie and his kids. Visit with Jordan's parents that afternoon and evening.
Monday. Move offices to get Chloe sorted out in her new home office. Group workout in evening. Noah, Jordan, Chloe and Mark all take turns cleaning our fireplace.

Reminds me of training camp

I love it.

Reanieisms

Bathing kids and otherwise getting ready for bed.

Reanie: Daddy, who am I the boss of?
Daddy: (thinking carefully) Nobody.
Reanie: Noah?
Daddy: No. You are the boss of me.
Reanie: Oh. You need to tell me to get ready for bed.

A few minutes later, as I'm getting out of the shower, Reanie is standing on the scale...

Reanie: Daddy, will you measure my feet?
Daddy: What?!?
Daddy: ...
Daddy: ...
Daddy: OH! Your feet are 40 pounds.
Reanie: Now measure Buddy's feet.

Another few minutes later, while looking at the marks on the wall where we measure the kids...

Reanie: Will Noah still tell me he loves me when I'm taller than him?
Daddy: He will if you tell him to.

Yes!

And a diet coke, please. I'll be first in line.

Never Quit

Memory Ln.

Don't blink

fall is here, hear the yell
back to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walking blues
climb the fence, book and pens
i can tell that we are gonna be friends

walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we've found
then safely walk to school
without a sound

well here we are, no one else
we walked to school all by ourselves
there's dirt on our uniforms
from chasing all the ants and worms
we clean up and now it's time to learn

numbers, letters, learn to spell
nouns, and books, and show and tell
at playtime we will throw the ball
back to class, through the hall
teacher marks our height against the wall

and we don't notice any time pass
we don't notice anything
we sit side by side in every class
teacher thinks that i sound funny
but she likes the way you sing

tonight i'll dream while i'm in bed
when sill thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
and when i wake tomorrow i'll bet
that you and i will walk together again
cause i can tell that weare going to be friends

--White Stripes, we're going to be friends

No guarantees

One of the big risks of letting people know you are pregnant early on in the pregnancy is that the risks of losing the baby are the greatest in the early part of the pregnancy, and then if that does happen, everyone gets let in on that too. We know better, really, but in all the surprise, we were excited and wanted to share that excitement with everyone too. We're not sure if we're going to keep trying at this point. Of course, we weren't really trying in the first place.
Right now it feels a bit like a great party and nasty hangover.

First, I'm gonna take a nap

Reanie scored a couple goals. I got all teary eyed when she gave her victory salute.
Noah crashed within a few miles of the finish and DNF'd.
He raced the next day and won.
He was too sore to ride all week.
Buddy told me I grabbed the wrong keys when I grabbed the keys to the Toyota instead of the Jeep. He was right.
I got real busy with the weekend's (just past) race promoting.
Found out the baby is due in May.
Promoted some races this weekend.
Reanie scored a goal in her game I missed because I was in a parking lot with bike racers instead.
Noah won his race.
Reanie came with me to the bike race in Downtown Denton (to help).
Noah crashed much harder in this one. Finished anyway. 3rd. Went to ER. Nothing broken, but he ain't moving to good, is in a sling, and has bandages on most of his body.

It's been an eventful 7 days. But I really, really need a rest. Kept waking up in a sweat last night thinking "Oh, Crap! I have to...", but I couldn't think of what the thing was I had to do.

Bumps and bruises

Re-posting the thing about being bumped by the car started a side conversation about the most recent bump I felt.

Here's today :

No, ROF May, those aren't stretch marks.














This was about June 14 (the bruise is on the right. Cami is on the left):

What Reanie Learned at School Yesterday

Setting: Breakfast table Friday morning at Stella Sola. Noah, Buddy, Reanie and Jordan at the table eating toast. Daddy is in the kitchen putting lunches together.

Reanie: Daddy, do you know what I learned at school yesterday?

Daddy: No, Honey. What did you learn?

Reanie: That 4th graders are TALL!

Daddy: They are?

Reanie: Yes! Not up to the sky tall, though.

Daddy: Ah.

Buddy, Do you want some more toast?

Buddy: Yeth.

Daddy: What kind of toast do you want?

Buddy: Chok-o-let. (pause for several seconds) And budder.

It is just another day, but then again it's not.

a few days ago I was reminded that September 13 marks two years. In some ways it seems like a lot longer ago, but in other ways it feels like it could have been last month. anyway, that was a crappy few days. things are getting better still. but they are getting better.

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.

I'll risk going it alone

After dropping everyone off at school, I was mindlessly listening to the radio during the drive home to work.

I was too lazy to lift a finger to change the channel when a commercial played. So there I was listening to a pitch about a program from New York Life. They said something along the lines of there being a guarantee that I wouldn't outlive my money.

that may be well and good. It is a perfectly prudent thing to make sure you have enough money to live while you are living. But for the life of me, my first impression was that once my money got low, New York Life would kill me. Guaranteed.

"Daddy, please take my picture before my soccer race"

Almost got me

I commented about seeing parents cry on the first day of school. Almost got me today.

Reanie has been 5 years old for less than month. She's at the young end of things at her school and in her class. She's my only little girl.

This morning, while eating breakfast, she told me she wanted me to drop her off with the other big kids instead of walking her into school. I expected that I'd have to walk her to her class for a couple of weeks, at least. Mind you, just about every kindergartner has parents walking them into school and to class, and frankly, I'm not sure if Reanie can find her class on her own. I still don't know, now that I think about it.

But she was convincing. Of course, not having to park, unload Buddy, and all of us make the hike inside, and then hike back to the jeep isn't something I want as part of my morning, but I do like that time when we are all together chatting.

So this morning (an hour ago as I write), I waited in the line of cars, inching up one car length at a time, that was equivalent to the time it takes for a parent to get their kid out, put on a back pack, say good-bye, remember the lunch box or money, then say good-bye again. For eleventy-million cars.

Screw that.

Reanie, tired of sitting and waiting for everyone get out, asked if she could go ahead and get out of the jeep. I couldn't think of a reason why she had to wait until we pulled up to the front of the school, so I said, "Sure."

She unbuckled her seatbelt, hopped out (normally, she needs help out of the jeep), grabbed her backpack, slipped it on herself, told me to have a good day, blew me a kiss, and shut the door.

All pretty cute, right? I think so.

But where she got me all choked up is when she took off running for school then. Her size 10.5 feet pitter-patting as fast as she can go while wearing Keds and a backpack that is way too big. She looked so tiny. My baby girl. She couldn't be running to school. We weren't pressed for time, and I wasn't on anyone's case about hurrying. She just wanted to run and get there.

I lost sight of her quick, though I tried to look through and over the 20 cars ahead of us. I can only assume she made it to the front door, and from there I can only assume she made it to her classroom. But that little pitter pat run with her backpack darn near as big as her...my memory forever.

We got through the line of cars, and started working our way to the highway towards Buddy's school. He told me to turn right, which was actually correct. I made the turn, and he told me, "Good job, Daddy."

It isn't even 9am yet, and I've had a GREAT day.

Welcome Home, Troy

I'll stop chasing you down now.

Seriously, thank you. It means a lot to me.

2 of 3

First day of school in these parts. Noah is now in 6th grade, so he's off to a new campus, and Reanie started kindergarten this morning.

Buddy and I took Reanie in to school. The line waiting for the doors to open was at least 400yards long. Parents everywhere with video cameras filming every second of standing in this line.

At 7:40 the doors opened, so the parents either filmed the kids from behind as they slowly marched in line to the school, or they walked backwards, filming their kids from the front as they slowly marched into school. So many videos are going to have a script that reads, "oops, sorry" as parents walking backwards filming run in to parents walking forward filming.

We were sans camera and just talked about big school, what was in the lunch box, our phone number, and whatever Buddy picked up off the ground to show us.

I was surprised to see so many parents crying. For a second, I almost felt bad that I wasn't. Am I doing something wrong? Am I supposed to be sad? Are these tears of joy? Or maybe it was the shirt I was wearing that said, "2 down, 1 to go. Day care is expensive."

Reanie settled into her classroom fine. We'd just been there on Friday, so it didn't seem all that new to her. She seemed excited about being there, but she did seem suddenly older. Not really any baby left in her. If you blink, you'll miss it.

With Reanie secured, I took Buddy to his preschool. It was the first time I can remember taking him to school all by his lonesome. He didn't seem any different about it. If anything, he was more chipper than normal, but that is probably because we'd eased into our day, whereas in the past I let them sleep until the last second, threw them in the Jeep and dumped them off at preschool.

today, though, he "read" his Thomas book to me, and every time he needed to turn the page, he handed me his toy plane, turned the page, then took the toy back. As we pulled into the parking lot, he said, "Bye plane. Bye Thomas. Bye book," and set them down on the floor board.

Most days he starts out grumpy at school, but today he was ready to go.

One in middle school, one in kindergarten, and one on deck. Ok, Buddy will be two more years before kindergarten, but still...divide and conquer.

...

Teammates are sorting out what categories they are racing at an upcoming race nearby. Some want to race their ability-based categories, and some want to race in their age group. The age group races are easier for me. And I was tempted to go that way seeing as I haven't raced since I dismounted abruptly, but I've got a kid in middle school now, and I'm not ready to be old.

ROF May, sign me up for the p,1,2's. I'll take it like a man.

Becky Rode Her Bike in France...

...a little bit.

Congratulations, Becky!

She just completed the historic Paris-Brest-Paris. 1200K (about 750 miles). Oh, and she did it in about 90 hours. The drop out rate was massive this year. I've read that it was as much as 40%.

But Becky fought it out and did it. I'd have to get all bike geek to talk about the event and what it took to qualify, but the fact is that she made it. She rode 200K in 26 deg temps and rain. She injured her knee had we had to get real creative about getting through the 300K, 400K and 600K qualifiers, which all had to be done by the end of May to make it to P-B-P. But she did it.

This was a case of 1% coaching advice and 99% Becky is a Bad Ass.

We are so proud of you Becky!

Make a "T", Daddy

We've been enjoying an A frame beach house in slow Surfside, TX since last Friday. It has been our first honest-to-goodness vacation in years. Sure, we've had some getaways down to the farm for long weekends and visits out to Big Bend, but I've never really been off work or anything like that.

But this has been play time, and it has been good. The waves have been great! So good, in fact, that we've actually got scrapes from when we timed our body surfing or body boarding efforts. We'll need to thank the two storms that have been around us (the Gulf) and not actually hit us.

While things have been tight ($) on the homefront lately, we'd already paid for this place, so we've just ate in, surfed, surfed some more, played in the sand, napped, surfed some more, and then after dinner, surfed some more. And this place has cable (we don't at home), so we've fried our brains too. Noah and I rode a few days getting him back on the bike after taking a couple weeks completely off. We all (Mama, Noah, Jordan, Noah and me) rode one of those surrey bike things with Reanie and Buddy in the front jump seat. We picked up Reanie a back pack for school at Col. Bubbies. We ate ice cream at the candy shop on the strand. Reanie and Buddy basically learned to swim here.

I still had to work a bit, most of it today. A tiny bit of TXBRA stuff, some race promoting stuff, and actual work emails and a few training plans, but all in all, it has been the most relaxing extended time we've had in so long.

After submitting this, I'll go for my last swim on this trip, we'll clean up the house, hit the sack and head back home first thing in the morning. Reanie has meet-the-teacher night at school tomorrow evening, and seeing that this is Kindergarten for her, we have to make that one.

We brought the camera, but I've been so busy with actually making memories, I didn't record much at all. However, Buddy has burned in a good memory, mostly because he does this 10 or 12 times per day.

"Make a 'T', Daddy."

He knows he can't go out to the beach without sunscreen, and that's how he stands when getting slathered. You'll know he wants to go to the beach or go swim when he's talking about making a "T". I know it is getting late, but I think I'll sign off here and get him to go make a "T". There's some kids and six+ foot waves calling my name.

Reanie's soccer race

Reanie started her first season of soccer on Tuesday. They play 3 on 3, it is a girls team, it is all very cute. The shin guards, the cleats, and everyone with a pink soccer ball.

The few days leading to the first practice had Reanie really excited. We've kicked the ball around some, but we never got around to goals, defense or anything like that, but she picked it up pretty quick.

She's super cute in her soccer outfit and her enthusiasm, but to make sure we keep it in perspective, she kept asking, "When is my soccer race?" "What time is my soccer race?"

Buon Compleanno

Kid #1 is 12 years old today. That 11yr old year was a pretty good one to lead out the 12th.

Only Chloe's Flight...

...because my flight would have had gas cans filled up from when gas was $2.29/gallon.

Mama went to see Apple Granny for a couple days in Tennessee. Flew in, visited, flew home.

The hiccup was the return flight that had a layover in Houston. Plane lands, probably a transfer involved, and then...a delay. Thursday night, 7pm flight from Houston to Dallas, I think it is reasonable to expect that the people on that flight were planning to be home sooner rather than later.

But nope. Turns out that the plane was out of gas and the plane gas filler up people didn't have the right voucher from Southwest to just pull up to the pump and take care of it. So they had to sit and wait.

Buddy and I (Reanie stayed the night with her cousin Anelise. No, they aren't really cousins, but it was easier to explain to them that they were than to try to explain why they aren't sisters if they are both sisters to Noah. But I digresss.) head out to the airport at 10:00pm instead. Picked up Mama at 11:00 and were still home on Thursday, so it wasn't all that late.

Good to have Mama home. I think the kids were tired of having grits for breakfast and dinner.

Buon Compleano (yesterday)

This is a shot of Reanie at her Princess Birthday Party yesterday. 5 years old!

Most mornings...well, today anyway.

Most mornings I'm up before everyone here. I wander into my office, stoke the LCD fire to glow up the room and sit there all stupid until I hear the coffee machine signal that it is ready.

after a few minutes of clearing cobwebs and pretty much working on autopilot, things come into focus and I start knocking things off of the "to do" list properly. Then one of the pet monkeys will wake up and stand next to me for awhile.

At that point I either stop what I'm doing and have a tickle fight or tell them to crawl into bed with Mama. sometimes Reanie wants to sit in my lap while I work on training plans or answer email. When Buddy does that I usually end up losing the training plan or whatever I've been working on, so he's not allowed to have his fingers within two feet of my keyboard. Otherwise his rear end starts to hurt.

Today has worked out a bit different, as Mama is taking the day off from work, so she took the kids to school this morning instead. No, don't call it school. call it "Kiddie Barn" or Buddy will get upset with you. School. School. School.

This means me and Noah will ride for about an hour, finishing just in time for me to motorpace Christina. After that I'll grab some lunch, work on a training plan, answer an email or six, visit with Lisa for a moment to make sure we are sending Noah to camp with shorts AND udnerwear instead of twice as many shorts as needed and no skivvies, then motorpace Troy, then meet with two clients prior to the KoW ride, then ride the KoW myself if I have any juice left.

Ok, the part about riding twice today isn't like most days at all. But I'll take it.

1000 words

Thank you, Scottie.

Flow Mo

Flow Mo

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numbers

6 days in a row on the bike.
7 days until Reanie's princess birthday party.
6 days after tomorrow until Reanie's princess birthday party.

"How many days after that until my princess birthday party?"
5 days after that, Reanie.

"well, how many days after that until my princess birthday party?"
That would be 4 days, Reanie.

"So it is 4 days until my princess birthday party?"
Yeah, sure.

Thanks

It can still hurt a bit, but the right team makes all the difference.

One day riding

I rode yesterday. Well, I've been on the bike three times since I removed my top tube from my old rig, but the first two didn't go well at all since I clearly wasn't ready to roll yet.

And I'm still not. But I didn't go ride to train so much as I did to just move and get some fresh thoughts blowing into my ears. Dorkballing may just be riding bikes, but I need that fix. What I really need is to race, but riding is part of making that happen. Walk before you run, or something like that.

I'm grumpy, grouchy and no fun to be around when I'm prohibited from sweating in spandex, and this is amplified because I was going pretty well when I dismounted last. It had taken so long to get sorted out, and just as i was...I'm waking up on the ground again.

But I rode yesterday. can't pull up on the bars. can't take a deep breath. and I need Noah to help me change out a flat tube. But I rode yesterday. And I'm going to ride again today. and tomorrow.

The discomfort in the ribal region is not much compared to the brain mush grouchiness frustration darn near panic I feel when I can't get out and just move forward. So, it is a wobbily step, but going forward.

Oh, I'm sure the guys who have been finishing 30th-39th in the races are scared now that I'm getting back at it and moving them down a spot, but I gotta start (again) somewhere.

These days, I feel like the buffalo...


Still standing.

It helps having PALS.

2007 Texas State Road Race Champ 10-12 yrs old

PS-- added to the collection with a State Championship in the criterium today in Lufkin (7/22).

Last race at Nats

A bit delayed in getting the update out here...

Noah's last race at Nationals was the road race. This is the event he has the best mindset to do, but this particular course is so hard with the hills that it might not be best suited for him (yet). That said, he went at it like he does every event-- Full Throttle.

He made the 6-man break that formed on the second of three laps. On the third lap, with about a mile to go, on one of the steepest hills, he lost contact with the group. He said he kept going as hard as he could, but that he knew he was dropped and not coming back with a mile of climbing left. His plan was to keep it full gas and hope that something went wrong up front.

Nothing did, but he did hold on for 6th with 7th and the rest minutes behind. Considering Noah finished 27th or something on the same course in the same race last year, he did a fantastic job.

Because I have access to the files his computer on his bike provides, what I've come to respect the most out of Noah's racing is his ability to go to 100%. People talk about giving "110%" or "150%" or even "200%!" but Noah really does give 100% out there. I never wonder if his placing could have been better if he just tried harder.

He wasn't blessed with bike racing genetics, but he has something that is often better-- heart and guts.

I'm so very proud of you Big Boy.

So close

Buddy was being particularly sweet to Reanie. While Reanie wasn't exactly being ugly, she wasn't really giving Buddy the props he deserved. With both of them in the kitchen together, I looked at Reanie sternly and in my Daddy voice, I told her, "you need to say 'thank you, Buddy'". All the while, Buddy ran around flying his tractor and not paying attention to the exchange between me and Reanie.

As soon as the words left my mouth, Buddy said, "thank you, Buddy."

Road Nationals Update

The first day was the time trials. Noah eeked his way onto the podie with a 5th.










Jordan in the last mile of the TT.

Here's me trying to think of something intelligent to say to Jordan and Austin. This race got sobering real quick. On a straight but very fast downhill about 3 miles into the race, a crash happened. 30 or so riders down. We heard about it over the race radios while waiting for Royce to start in the next race. This was the official race radio reports, so it wasn't rumor, which made me queasy.

Ultimately, 8 ambulances and two Life Flight helicpoters were called in and used. Meanwhile, we waited agonizingly to hear the numbers and names of the riders down, not knowing if ours were involved.

I'm not happy anyone went down, but we were relieved that our riders made it unscathed. Unfortunately, our boys were delayed so long that they were out of it from that point. Both noblely soldiered on and finished. This is one case where I'm glad our guys did just finish, because we weren't sure they could there for awhile.

Hig your kids today, please.

3

Jr Track Nats Day #2

Quick post...

Royce crushed his old best time in the 500m TT (41.3) with a 38.9.
Austin rode a decent kilo.

Noah finished 4th in the 1K scratch. He's still sitting 3rd overall by 1 point. It all comes down to tomorrow!

This is from Noah's 1K Qualifier. He finished 2nd. 1st is already out of frame. 9 or 10 riders behind Noah.

Nationals Day #1

We made it up here to Colorado Springs without too much trouble. It helps a ton that we travelled with Rob and Royce (one of Noah's teammates) to get here. We did run through a nasty hail storm, but even at that we made it from Stella Sola to the hotel in 12hr even. Austin and Hunter showed up a little later with their folks.

Home is the DoubleTree, so it isn't like we are roughing it. We have several restaurants within walking distance, and we've made a WalMart run to take care of the times we don't want to even walk.

On Friday the boys got in a great tune up ride on the track. It is basically the same dimensions as Alkek (Houston), but it is quite a bit smoother.

Last night (Saturday), Hunter and Noah both had 500m TTs, and Austin had the 25K Points Race. Austin rode the best and strongest I've ever seen him ride, and I've seen him do some big things on the bike. I believe he was around 15th. Maybe a bit better. There were 50 or so starters. It was very late when his race was done, so we didn't hang around, as we wanted to get the younger boys to bed.

Hunter took 1.5 sec (HUGE) off of his best 500m time.

Noah finished 3rd in his age group, earning his first medal at a National Championships.

Since I'm coaching here, I didn't bring the camera, but Steve (Hunter and Austin's Dad) is taking lots of shots, and I hope to get those up here soon.


Qualifiers this morning for Hunter and Noah. Austin and Royce race tonight. Hopefully Noah and Hunter will be as well.