When there's lots of work (worky work-work...as in, my job) for me to do, it's a good thing for the family. But it's also a tough thing, because I don't get to settle in and be Daddy the way I wish I could. I don't get to play bike racer like I wish I could, either.
Not complaining. With my gig, I can stop in the middle of something and wrestle with Buddy or do some gymnastics with Reanie or look at what picture they've drawn or help find the chocolate that Mama has hidden. I'm not on the clock, and my boss isn't in the next cube seeing me go to the vending machine for the 5th time since lunch. Or whatever. I only need to make sure I get what needs to be done, done.
With our silly sport, though, there is that time commitment in that we can't just go to a 45min aereobics class a few times per week and be competitive. Again, not complaining, because that training time is also a decompression, reset, and whatever else "me" time I need. Gawd...I'm 40 and sounding like a fruit cake now.
When work is really heavy, that's when the hour or so to go ride is needed the most. I've got a training buddy who needs to ride, so that helps me push back from my desk, suit up, and roll down the road. And since he has some lofty riding goals and can't realistically go out and train on the roads by himself, yet, I really do have to go out with him.
Mondays are particularly heavy here at the office, and it's usually a light or off day for riding, and it is a day we need to be done early since Noah goes over to Lisa's on Monday evening. Our intent was to squeeze in Family time on Monday afternoons since the evenings and weekends Noah is with us are usually for racing. In the past couple of years, though, we've just not really made family time happen like we should, and that has been coming back to bite us in the collective Williams' butt.
But this past weekend, we took lots of time off of the bike to put in some family time and while it was an awful time to not get in the training, it was the best time to remember that our house is more than a transportation hub with comings and goings and nobody really staying until bath and bed time.
The work stress was adding up, Mama was in bed feeling ill, but the POSS2 were playing contentedly. I wasn't finding the window in work to stop for a bit, so I did something I've never done in 11 years of this gig...I just got up, thought unfinished, plan undone, and got dressed. We made the window to ride.
The wind was blowing, so I knew it was going to be something more than a leisure spin. And just as I pulled on my kit, I heard the rain hitting the window. But Noah didn't hesitate to get dressed, and within a few minutes, we were rolling down Hawk Rd into a 25mph wind. And we just kept heading west.
You know you have a good training partner when you can ride for several hours talking and not get sick of them. Same thing, though, about being able to ride with them and not say anything at all, and that be ok, too.
Yesterday was the latter type of ride, even if it was only an hour. We had a workout agenda, since we'd missed Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but the weather made the scheduled workout impossible, so we just started hammering. No talking, no discussion. We simply went from riding side by side to a two-man time trial.
After about 8 miles, Noah asked where we were going. I suppose it was a valid question to break the silence. Afterall, we'd been hitting it above threshold into the wind and rain and going 13mph at that point. Whether we were going to be chatty or not, it's nice to have an idea how long a beating like that is going to last.
We chose a 20mile loop, and from there, we just hit it like we were a breakaway. I'd pull at my limit, and he'd sense when I was starting fade and come around. I'd recover in his slipstream until it felt like I could lift our pace a bit. And that's how we continued in the stinging rain and hammering winds.
Until we got the tailwind, that is. At that point, we were still "training", but we were really only seeing how fast we could pedal the junior gears. We rolled up and over some decent hills at well over 30mph. We did the best we could with bike handling on the s-turns and slippery roads. Pushing it something past comfortable and into "I can't believe I just did that", and then realizing that maybe we could go faster. Well, ok...that last part only lasted until Noah started sliding out, but still.
Other than the brief discussion about "how far" and a very brief, "Stop pulling through so hard, you are dropping me on the hills", we didn't say anything to each other for that hour. On the cool down part that is a couple miles back to the house, we talked about how the ride sucked, but was really good at the same time. We talked about being glad we went out anyway (he never waivered, but I'm buried at work and didn't have to look for excuses).
And when I walked in the door, Reanie was excited to show me the picture she drew on the computer. Buddy insisted he show me his new dance, spin move, and while Mama was asleep in bed, at least she had a smile on her face (I need to thank whoever she was thinking about).
I stole an hour away from what needed to be a 16hr work day. Other than making sure they were safe, entertained, fed, bathed and put to bed, I wasn't much of a Daddy yesterday to any of them.
But now that I write it out, I feel pretty darn good about what I did do on the day.
Now, back to work.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sister has her brother's back (and tooth)
Buddy has a wicked earache the last few days. It is bringing him to tears. He's been resting in our bed, his bed, and the guest bed in my office. He's also had a loose tooth that came out yesterday. He was so excited that he brought it down to me, handed it off with a smile, said "here's my tooth", and then went upstairs to watch a movie. That's how excited he was.But because it was only his second tooth to lose, and partly because Reanie was more excited for him that it seemed he was for himself, we put it in a "special" bag under his pillow.
He didn't make it too long in his own bed last night. Reanie tried to comfort him, but there's not really any amount of stuffed animals or trains you can put in bed with someone to keep their ear drum from rupturing. He ended up in bed with Mama, and I slept in the guest bed.
And neither of us remembered to remind the tooth fairy.
But Reanie remembered, and when she checked (for Buddy) to see if she came, and then saw that she didn't, she took one of her own dollars and put it in the bag, and then she excitedly told Buddy that the Tooth Fairy had visited.
I know I have my shortcomings as a parent. I know my kids aren't perfect. But dangit, something is going right if one of them looks out for the other like that.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
things you don't expect to have to say as a parent...
..."Hey, you two stop biting each other's bt's."
bt= butt
bt= butt
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
It's starting to smell a lot like Christmas...
And to think we just had a conversation about making more.Each of those is almost 3lbs.
Not sure, yet, if we're making limoncello as well. We need to get on that immediatamente if we are.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
In!
It ends on a good note...
We were both feeling rather flat, so the workout was taking a little longer than normal. Not a big deal, really, but I'm one of those who prefers to be there to watch warm ups for a sporting event, and when it is a concert, I also like to see the opening act. In this case, Muse was to start playing at 7pm, which meant we needed to be rolling at 530 to make sure we got there in time. So we were already a little behind.
We rolled out at 545. Not awful at all. We were even blessed by the traffic God in that we didn't have to sit in much Metromess traffic for our first trip to the new Cowboy Stadium.
We'd reserved a parking spot that was outside of the stadium lots (this turned out to be a blessing), so we had a pretty good 1.5 mile walk to get to the stadium. After a few blocks, we realized an easy 1.5 mile walk is a lot easier, probably, if we didn't just do a workout before.
As big as the stadium is, we didn't see it because of other buildings until we were right up on the parking lot, which is massive. Kinda unnerving to be walking somewhere new and not see something like a stadium, but with all the traffic and people, we figured we were going the right way. It was about 645 when we first set foot on the Cowboy Stadium parking lot, and the cars going in weren't moving. By 7:00we were looking for an entrance into the concert,
We walked up to the first one to have our tickets scanned. The scanner made a different noise than it did for other tickets, and we were told to go to another entrance. No big deal.
We walked around the stadium and found another entrance with many, many more people. We waited in that line, got to the ticket scanner thing, and then the same not-the-same scanner sound was made. We were told to go to "entrance C", and I was shown on our tickets how I should have known this from the get go.
So we completed our near lap of the stadium and found entrance C, which was close to entrance D, which is where we initially tried to go in. We now know what the stadium looks like from all sides on the outside.
We got through the line to the scanner at entrance C quickly. We got the same "not good" scanner sound. Scanner guy told us we needed to go to the box office. The box office wasn't too far away, thank goodness. I reckon it was about 745 at this point.
We get to the box office, and there are about 15 windows there, most having to do with Will Call and Purchasing. Those were the biggest lines. Two lines were dedicated to "Ticket Resolution". They weren't very long lines at all. Just a few people.
We stood in that line.
When we were next up in line, I looked at the email I was given by Chloe that told us what to do in case there was a problem.
Now, I was sort of prepared that there would be a problem, so I wasn't really all that frustrated. See, Chloe bought the tickets from our friend Mary. She bought the tickets from some outfit called Stub Hub, who offered the tickets from some other seller. So, I was pretty far down the chain from original purchase. Call it pessimism or call it realism, but I expected at some point that I'd have to explain how I came into the tickets, and I was mentally prepared for this.
So, I was reading the email, and in it the thing clearly read that we DO NOT go to the box office for ticket resolution. An entire paragraph was there to explain that the venue can't help us because we didn't buy our tickets there. It gave us a number for Stub Hub to call if any problems arose. My thinking at the time was that it was a customer service thing, and with all of the expensive charges Stub Hub tacked on to things, that it meant I basically had an ally to get us into the concert.
I was on the phone saying "yes" and "no" to automated questions. I was on the phone pressing "1" for this and "2" for that. I was on the phone on hold waiting for a customer representative. I was on the phone long enough that my phone was hot to the touch, and I'd yet to speak to an actual person.
Meanwhile, I stepped out of line to deal with the call, as the email had instructed me to call them and not talk to the box office people. To do something, anything, Noah stood in line, and as he'd make his way to the front, he'd then go to the end of the line because I didn't know what to tell him at that point. he was basically just saving us a place in line, just in case.
After 40-45 minutes of holding, I talked to a customer service guy, who asked me all kinds of verification questions involving customer numbers, order numbers, Mary's zip code, her email address...and I scored a 100% on that test. He then gave me silence for 20s and told me he needed to send me "up" to a manager. OK...
...Another 10 minutes or so, and then I was talking to a manager. He apologized 17 times, told me Stub Hub really is swell, and that...well...that there wasn't jack shit he could do for us. He assured me that someone from Stub Hub would get back to me within 72 hours and file an Investigation Report. Yea!
There was some silence on the phone as he waited for me to do or say something, I guess, and I was silent while waiting for him to tell me where to go get my actual tickets to get into the concert. U2 was to start playing at any moment.
While messing with this damn phone call for an hour, I saw 10 or 12 groups of people go through Ticket Resolution. This was probably 70 or so people, all told. It would be a group of 12, then a couple, then a family, and so on. Only one couple actually walked away from that window and took valid tickets into the show. Everyone else went away in a pissed off cloud of swearing.
That's what I watched while on the phone for an hour.
So when the realization hit that Stub Hub wasn't getting us into the concert, I gave Chloe a call. Her first reaction was disbelief, of course, and then she wanted to call Mary, who I believe is in Poland at the moment, which is why we were able to get tickets in the first place.
Chloe told us to get tickets from a scalper, because she wanted us to get in that concert. Since I only had about $100, we weren't going to be able to get one ticket, much less a pair of tickets, but I appreciated the thought.
Since Noah and I still hadn't eaten, he said, "Let's just go get dinner." And I was thinking, "Yeah, but I'm willing to buy a $10 hamburger INSIDE."
If we'd have paid the $40 or $50 to park at the stadium, we'd have just walked to the car and left at that point. But since we had a hike, I figured I'd just go up to the Ticket Resolution window anyway. The Stub Hub guy told me not to do so, because if the tickets were invalid, the box office would keep them, and he wanted me to hold on to them. Whatever. I figured if we were already out the $400 in tickets, he could just use a receipt or something, because I really didn't want to look at the worthless tickets anymore.
We walked right up to the window (nobody in line at that point), I said, "evidently our tickets are invalid, but I figure you can tell me what they've told me at the entrance points so far".
The woman at the window scanned the tickets, the scanner made the same wrong scanner sound as before, and she looked at the scanner to read the code. She then got up, went to get a manager (I suppose he was a manager), and the two huddled over the scanner for a bit.
He punched something into the computer, she got on the phone. And we stood there. Just stood there. They weren't telling us anything, and I stood there pretty drained. Just waiting for them to tell me the same thing they told 70 other people over the last hour.
She moved close to the window to talk to me. I moved closer to talk to her. She explained to me that the tickets we had were sold before the stadium was finished being built, and the seats on our tickets don't actually exist.
While I was already beat down by the whole thing, I thought being flattened, finally, was appropriate enough.
Then she handed us new tickets. Evidently, just because we bought seats that didn't exist, that didn't mean there was a problem, other than that they'd assigned these tickets new, actual seats.
We ran into the stadium, paid $40 for a burger, sandwich, water and a beer. Ate it on the run, basically, and sat down just a couple minutes before U2 came out.
Our seats.
It took probably half of the concert to really settle in and relax, but I got to see U2, and I got to see them with Noah. It was absolutely worth it all.
We were both feeling rather flat, so the workout was taking a little longer than normal. Not a big deal, really, but I'm one of those who prefers to be there to watch warm ups for a sporting event, and when it is a concert, I also like to see the opening act. In this case, Muse was to start playing at 7pm, which meant we needed to be rolling at 530 to make sure we got there in time. So we were already a little behind.
We rolled out at 545. Not awful at all. We were even blessed by the traffic God in that we didn't have to sit in much Metromess traffic for our first trip to the new Cowboy Stadium.
We'd reserved a parking spot that was outside of the stadium lots (this turned out to be a blessing), so we had a pretty good 1.5 mile walk to get to the stadium. After a few blocks, we realized an easy 1.5 mile walk is a lot easier, probably, if we didn't just do a workout before.
As big as the stadium is, we didn't see it because of other buildings until we were right up on the parking lot, which is massive. Kinda unnerving to be walking somewhere new and not see something like a stadium, but with all the traffic and people, we figured we were going the right way. It was about 645 when we first set foot on the Cowboy Stadium parking lot, and the cars going in weren't moving. By 7:00we were looking for an entrance into the concert,
We walked up to the first one to have our tickets scanned. The scanner made a different noise than it did for other tickets, and we were told to go to another entrance. No big deal.
We walked around the stadium and found another entrance with many, many more people. We waited in that line, got to the ticket scanner thing, and then the same not-the-same scanner sound was made. We were told to go to "entrance C", and I was shown on our tickets how I should have known this from the get go.
So we completed our near lap of the stadium and found entrance C, which was close to entrance D, which is where we initially tried to go in. We now know what the stadium looks like from all sides on the outside.
We got through the line to the scanner at entrance C quickly. We got the same "not good" scanner sound. Scanner guy told us we needed to go to the box office. The box office wasn't too far away, thank goodness. I reckon it was about 745 at this point.
We get to the box office, and there are about 15 windows there, most having to do with Will Call and Purchasing. Those were the biggest lines. Two lines were dedicated to "Ticket Resolution". They weren't very long lines at all. Just a few people.
We stood in that line.
When we were next up in line, I looked at the email I was given by Chloe that told us what to do in case there was a problem.
Now, I was sort of prepared that there would be a problem, so I wasn't really all that frustrated. See, Chloe bought the tickets from our friend Mary. She bought the tickets from some outfit called Stub Hub, who offered the tickets from some other seller. So, I was pretty far down the chain from original purchase. Call it pessimism or call it realism, but I expected at some point that I'd have to explain how I came into the tickets, and I was mentally prepared for this.
So, I was reading the email, and in it the thing clearly read that we DO NOT go to the box office for ticket resolution. An entire paragraph was there to explain that the venue can't help us because we didn't buy our tickets there. It gave us a number for Stub Hub to call if any problems arose. My thinking at the time was that it was a customer service thing, and with all of the expensive charges Stub Hub tacked on to things, that it meant I basically had an ally to get us into the concert.
I was on the phone saying "yes" and "no" to automated questions. I was on the phone pressing "1" for this and "2" for that. I was on the phone on hold waiting for a customer representative. I was on the phone long enough that my phone was hot to the touch, and I'd yet to speak to an actual person.
Meanwhile, I stepped out of line to deal with the call, as the email had instructed me to call them and not talk to the box office people. To do something, anything, Noah stood in line, and as he'd make his way to the front, he'd then go to the end of the line because I didn't know what to tell him at that point. he was basically just saving us a place in line, just in case.
After 40-45 minutes of holding, I talked to a customer service guy, who asked me all kinds of verification questions involving customer numbers, order numbers, Mary's zip code, her email address...and I scored a 100% on that test. He then gave me silence for 20s and told me he needed to send me "up" to a manager. OK...
...Another 10 minutes or so, and then I was talking to a manager. He apologized 17 times, told me Stub Hub really is swell, and that...well...that there wasn't jack shit he could do for us. He assured me that someone from Stub Hub would get back to me within 72 hours and file an Investigation Report. Yea!
There was some silence on the phone as he waited for me to do or say something, I guess, and I was silent while waiting for him to tell me where to go get my actual tickets to get into the concert. U2 was to start playing at any moment.
While messing with this damn phone call for an hour, I saw 10 or 12 groups of people go through Ticket Resolution. This was probably 70 or so people, all told. It would be a group of 12, then a couple, then a family, and so on. Only one couple actually walked away from that window and took valid tickets into the show. Everyone else went away in a pissed off cloud of swearing.
That's what I watched while on the phone for an hour.
So when the realization hit that Stub Hub wasn't getting us into the concert, I gave Chloe a call. Her first reaction was disbelief, of course, and then she wanted to call Mary, who I believe is in Poland at the moment, which is why we were able to get tickets in the first place.
Chloe told us to get tickets from a scalper, because she wanted us to get in that concert. Since I only had about $100, we weren't going to be able to get one ticket, much less a pair of tickets, but I appreciated the thought.
Since Noah and I still hadn't eaten, he said, "Let's just go get dinner." And I was thinking, "Yeah, but I'm willing to buy a $10 hamburger INSIDE."
If we'd have paid the $40 or $50 to park at the stadium, we'd have just walked to the car and left at that point. But since we had a hike, I figured I'd just go up to the Ticket Resolution window anyway. The Stub Hub guy told me not to do so, because if the tickets were invalid, the box office would keep them, and he wanted me to hold on to them. Whatever. I figured if we were already out the $400 in tickets, he could just use a receipt or something, because I really didn't want to look at the worthless tickets anymore.
We walked right up to the window (nobody in line at that point), I said, "evidently our tickets are invalid, but I figure you can tell me what they've told me at the entrance points so far".
The woman at the window scanned the tickets, the scanner made the same wrong scanner sound as before, and she looked at the scanner to read the code. She then got up, went to get a manager (I suppose he was a manager), and the two huddled over the scanner for a bit.
He punched something into the computer, she got on the phone. And we stood there. Just stood there. They weren't telling us anything, and I stood there pretty drained. Just waiting for them to tell me the same thing they told 70 other people over the last hour.
She moved close to the window to talk to me. I moved closer to talk to her. She explained to me that the tickets we had were sold before the stadium was finished being built, and the seats on our tickets don't actually exist.
While I was already beat down by the whole thing, I thought being flattened, finally, was appropriate enough.
Then she handed us new tickets. Evidently, just because we bought seats that didn't exist, that didn't mean there was a problem, other than that they'd assigned these tickets new, actual seats.
We ran into the stadium, paid $40 for a burger, sandwich, water and a beer. Ate it on the run, basically, and sat down just a couple minutes before U2 came out.
Our seats.
Sunday Bloody Sunday.
It took probably half of the concert to really settle in and relax, but I got to see U2, and I got to see them with Noah. It was absolutely worth it all.
Friday, September 25, 2009
anyone have contact info for Daniel Webster?
Me: What are some words that begin with the letter "y"?
Buddy: Yo-yo. Yesterday. Yes.
Me. Good. What about the letter "m"?
Buddy: How about the letter "z"?
Me: Sure. Give me some words that start with "z".
Buddy: Zebra. Zipper. Xylephone.
Me: Hmm...actually, Xylephone starts with "x", but I know it sounds like "z".
Buddy: No, it's a "z". It goes zuh, zuh, zuh-xylophone.
Me: ...
Buddy: Zero.
Me: You know what. It's ok if you want xyxlephone to start with a "z". I'll back you up on that. (thinking that "ok, he'll get that one wrong on the test, but I think he can still pass.")
Buddy: Yo-yo. Yesterday. Yes.
Me. Good. What about the letter "m"?
Buddy: How about the letter "z"?
Me: Sure. Give me some words that start with "z".
Buddy: Zebra. Zipper. Xylephone.
Me: Hmm...actually, Xylephone starts with "x", but I know it sounds like "z".
Buddy: No, it's a "z". It goes zuh, zuh, zuh-xylophone.
Me: ...
Buddy: Zero.
Me: You know what. It's ok if you want xyxlephone to start with a "z". I'll back you up on that. (thinking that "ok, he'll get that one wrong on the test, but I think he can still pass.")
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
91% humidity erase board
Buddy was showing me how he could draw numbers in the air. Big numbers, with exaggerated arm motion and the bit. He started drawing 51...
...stopped. Looked at the air for a moment, then made an erasing motion and started again. Evidently he made his 5 backwards.
...stopped. Looked at the air for a moment, then made an erasing motion and started again. Evidently he made his 5 backwards.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Dr. Buddy
First week of school. Buddy is in kindergarten. Hasn't been in pre-school or anything like it other than gymnastics class since last year. Not real concerned, but concerned anyway about how he'd handle sitting in one spot for extended periods, being quiet when he was supposed to be, etc.
Well, he did have to go to timeout yesterday. Something about playing with something that needed to be put away. His teacher, Mrs Shark (how cool is that!?), said something to him along the lines of, "Buddy, you broke my heart." I imagine it was something like, "when you don't mind, it breaks my heart" or some context like that.
But when Buddy told me about his day, it went...
"I had to go to timeout. I broke Mrs. Shark's heart. But it's ok. She said I fixed it and then I could go play."
So there you have it. In kindergarten today, Buddy became a cardiologist. Don't ever knock Denton schools.
Well, he did have to go to timeout yesterday. Something about playing with something that needed to be put away. His teacher, Mrs Shark (how cool is that!?), said something to him along the lines of, "Buddy, you broke my heart." I imagine it was something like, "when you don't mind, it breaks my heart" or some context like that.
But when Buddy told me about his day, it went...
"I had to go to timeout. I broke Mrs. Shark's heart. But it's ok. She said I fixed it and then I could go play."
So there you have it. In kindergarten today, Buddy became a cardiologist. Don't ever knock Denton schools.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Buon Compleanno
Happy Birthday! Noah is 14 years old today. And the chicken coop needs to be cleaned out.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Getting to Oregon, got to Oregon, now let's get busy
40 hours in the van (or next to the van fixing stuff)
One flat on the van.
One flat on the trailer with no trailer spare and the only tire place anywhere nearby being closed.
Running out of gas in the void of civilization that is western Oregon (very much like getting to Terlingua via Alpine).
We actually got by very well on the trip. Good chemistry with the 12 people in the van.
Teamwork got that flat on the van changed in less than 20 minutes.
Rob went all charm school on the guy with the closed tire shop and got him to help us with the trailer tire.
Despite Rogut's warning about stopping to get gas before heading across Oregon, somehow the collective decision was to press forward. But if you have $400 and a number for AAA, you too can get 10 gallons of gas in the middle of nowhere at 3:00am, that will be enough to get you to the next town that has one gas station open, but an attendant (you can't pump your own gas in Oregon) who is drunk and spends 10 minutes puking behind your van before he can pump your gas for you.
After all that, you'll get to your rented house at 530am.
Most of the folks staying here with us have arrived, and we've settled in, complete with ping pong, foosball and hot tub. Scott, Lisa and Anelise arrive tomorrow, but I don't think we've used up all the fun yet.
But with all that done, we start racing (Danny, Imari and Noah) tomorrow with their Road Race.
Andrew and Megan's first races are Wednesday.
Ashley and Royce's first races are Thursday.
Everyone's Time Trial is Thursday.
Noah, Imari and Danny's Criterium is Saturday.
Royce, Megan, Ashley and Andrew have their Criteriums on Sunday.
One flat on the van.
One flat on the trailer with no trailer spare and the only tire place anywhere nearby being closed.
Running out of gas in the void of civilization that is western Oregon (very much like getting to Terlingua via Alpine).
We actually got by very well on the trip. Good chemistry with the 12 people in the van.
Teamwork got that flat on the van changed in less than 20 minutes.
Rob went all charm school on the guy with the closed tire shop and got him to help us with the trailer tire.
Despite Rogut's warning about stopping to get gas before heading across Oregon, somehow the collective decision was to press forward. But if you have $400 and a number for AAA, you too can get 10 gallons of gas in the middle of nowhere at 3:00am, that will be enough to get you to the next town that has one gas station open, but an attendant (you can't pump your own gas in Oregon) who is drunk and spends 10 minutes puking behind your van before he can pump your gas for you.
After all that, you'll get to your rented house at 530am.
Most of the folks staying here with us have arrived, and we've settled in, complete with ping pong, foosball and hot tub. Scott, Lisa and Anelise arrive tomorrow, but I don't think we've used up all the fun yet.
But with all that done, we start racing (Danny, Imari and Noah) tomorrow with their Road Race.
Andrew and Megan's first races are Wednesday.
Ashley and Royce's first races are Thursday.
Everyone's Time Trial is Thursday.
Noah, Imari and Danny's Criterium is Saturday.
Royce, Megan, Ashley and Andrew have their Criteriums on Sunday.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Here we go again
Getting ready for a trip to Junior Road Nationals. I haven't yet quite fully unpacked from track nationals yet, but that's the way summer goes for us, it seems.
With a few more people going to road nationals, we have to take the trailer to carry all of the gear. Chloe has been getting that sorted out with all the bike and wheel mounts. Noah has been helping her with that, and I just periodically look out my office window to check their progress. It's looking good. Not "pro", but then again, there's no "pro" budget. Just whatever money is on our pocket. Still, it'll be nice to have it set up so that we can be somewhat organized. 12 bikes, the race wheels, the rollers and trainers, the folding chairs, etc and so forth...it takes up some space.
We also rented a van for this one. 12 people don't fit in the Honda or Toyota, which is what we have taken to Nationals trips in the past. Wow! Renting a passenger van is expensive. Might need to hold more races next year. Or, we'll just save money and ride the bikes to Nationals. But for this year, at least we'll have four drivers to help us knock out the 30+ hour drive to Bend, Oregon.
We also rented a house for this trip. While nobody has really complained about hotel/moteling it, we'll ultimately have 20 people there (a few folks flying in). That's a bunch of hotel rooms and even more meals eaten out. No thanks. We couldn't afford it anyway. So, we'll fill up the floor with air mattresses, get cozy, community kitchen...it'll be a great bonding experience or everyone will be looking for another team in early August.
We have some unfinished business from track nationals, so this trip to road nats is an opportunity to make up for it. That's not to say track nats didn't go well, because our guys raced their hearts out. But Noah had a tough break in the 500m TT, and that set up a game of "catch up" for the rest of the week. In a sporting analogy, Noah was swinging for the fences because doubles and triples wasn't going to get it done at that point. As a squad, we couldn't have done much better. Everyone came home with a medal from Nationals. Every junior on GS Tenzing has earned a medal at Junior Nationals.
Off to get some work done, bikes tuned and cleaned, last things organized. Here we go again!
With a few more people going to road nationals, we have to take the trailer to carry all of the gear. Chloe has been getting that sorted out with all the bike and wheel mounts. Noah has been helping her with that, and I just periodically look out my office window to check their progress. It's looking good. Not "pro", but then again, there's no "pro" budget. Just whatever money is on our pocket. Still, it'll be nice to have it set up so that we can be somewhat organized. 12 bikes, the race wheels, the rollers and trainers, the folding chairs, etc and so forth...it takes up some space.
We also rented a van for this one. 12 people don't fit in the Honda or Toyota, which is what we have taken to Nationals trips in the past. Wow! Renting a passenger van is expensive. Might need to hold more races next year. Or, we'll just save money and ride the bikes to Nationals. But for this year, at least we'll have four drivers to help us knock out the 30+ hour drive to Bend, Oregon.
We also rented a house for this trip. While nobody has really complained about hotel/moteling it, we'll ultimately have 20 people there (a few folks flying in). That's a bunch of hotel rooms and even more meals eaten out. No thanks. We couldn't afford it anyway. So, we'll fill up the floor with air mattresses, get cozy, community kitchen...it'll be a great bonding experience or everyone will be looking for another team in early August.
We have some unfinished business from track nationals, so this trip to road nats is an opportunity to make up for it. That's not to say track nats didn't go well, because our guys raced their hearts out. But Noah had a tough break in the 500m TT, and that set up a game of "catch up" for the rest of the week. In a sporting analogy, Noah was swinging for the fences because doubles and triples wasn't going to get it done at that point. As a squad, we couldn't have done much better. Everyone came home with a medal from Nationals. Every junior on GS Tenzing has earned a medal at Junior Nationals.
Off to get some work done, bikes tuned and cleaned, last things organized. Here we go again!
Friday, July 17, 2009
It's time...
...to gas up this truck and start rolling again.
Let me kick some dust off of things, change the oil, and get back at it.
And if you aren't interested, nobody is making you read this.
Let me kick some dust off of things, change the oil, and get back at it.
And if you aren't interested, nobody is making you read this.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
I thought I told you not to grow up
Was looking at Reanie this morning. Today is the last day of school. She'll no longer be in first grade. There is something about kindergarten and first grade that means the kids are still so young and small. But to think that she's going into second grade...
I told her "Last day to be a 1st grader", and she said, "Yes, and then I'll be 7, because 2nd graders are 7."
Seven? Nooooo!
Not that there's anything wrong with seven, but still now and then she let's me pick her up to hug her. I don't want that to go away. With her home during the day for the summer, I better make sure I get in a lot of them quick before they disappear.
I also know that eventually it would cause issues, but I sure do like the way she talks with these bottom teeth out.
I told her "Last day to be a 1st grader", and she said, "Yes, and then I'll be 7, because 2nd graders are 7."
Seven? Nooooo!
Not that there's anything wrong with seven, but still now and then she let's me pick her up to hug her. I don't want that to go away. With her home during the day for the summer, I better make sure I get in a lot of them quick before they disappear.
I also know that eventually it would cause issues, but I sure do like the way she talks with these bottom teeth out.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
New Training Partners
Pulled the trail-a-bike thing out of the barn the other day. I was going to sell it or give it to someone who might use it, but as I was cleaning it up, Reanie asked to go for a ride. Reanie (nor Buddy) can actually ride a two wheeler on their own yet. Haven't expressed much of an interest. In fact, I dare say that they had shown disinterest so far, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity once she did.
We gathered some of Noah's cycling clothes from when he was 5 and 6 years old, and it worked well to come up with stuff that fit. And a yellow jersey on top of that! That is how you start riding.
I put the trail-a-bike to my bash bike, which is a basic singlespeed thing. Reanie put an apple in her pocket for a treat on the ride, and off we went for a ride on the Jeter Loop.
We were about a mile away when she'd finished her apple. At two miles, she asked if I'd ever ridden that far before. At 2.5 miles, she asked if we were in another town yet and if Noah had ever ridden that far. She asked if anyone had gone this fast on a bike before (we were going 14-15mph), and she said, "We're FLYING!" and "Wwwweeeeee!" Lots. My face hurt from smiling. In fact, she never, ever stopped talking for that entire 10 mile ride, and never wanted her to stop talking, which is more than I can say about some folks I've ridden with.
When I told her we were half way, she asked if we could go further because she didn't want to go home yet. About 2 miles from home, she listed the parts on her that were getting sore, but she "...was ok and wanted to keep going. Can we ride again after dinner?"
When we pulled into the driveway, Buddy had cycling clothes and a helmet on as well. So his shorts were on backwards. Big deal. And they were a pair of mine, so they were a little (and only a little) big. But Reanie let him put on the shorts she just wore, and they fit him nicely as well, so there we went. And if they ever really get into riding or racing, I've got leverage on them about how they shared cycling shorts.
Now Buddy is different than Reanie. he doesn't talk much at all during the ride. But good gravy he hammers. He was going all out ALL OUT as soon as we were on the road. He blew a 1/4 mile later, but a 1/4 mile after that, he was recovered and hammering again, even while I was braking and trying to maneuver the big rig around a corner. We were cruising at what I estimate was 18-19 mph when he was on, and 13-14 mph when he was off. When we bogged on the hills, he stood up and yanked on the bars and thrashed at the bike to get it going.
That, my friends, isn't something you coach.
He called out, "Hello" to the horses and cows. He told them he was riding. But mostly, he just hammered away back there, and I tried to keep up with him.
Buddy also found the bell on the handlebars, and you'd know when he was recovered, because he's start ringing that bell and the bike would pick up speed and wiggle all over the place.
We did the same Jeter Loop. When I asked him if he wanted to go further, he wasn't as excited, but he did say, "I want to later." And I'm completely cool with that.
So, I've got two new training partners, and I couldn't be more excited about going 14-15mph with them. And I know we're on to something, because they've been asking often if we're going to train that day. As soon as SRM makes a one piece crank for the trail-a-bike, we're on it.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
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