Because I had to, I wore overalls this weekend. Overalls were necessary due to the type of work we were doing, not because we wanted to look like we were working like farmers or whatever.
The weekend started on Thursday night with Noah's 8:00 baseball game. Bedtime being 8:30-9:00, it is safe to say that it was a late night. We went into the weekend proper with some racing on the track Friday night. To get there, it took Noah and I 90 minutes to drive 25 miles. My temperature was 98.6, Celsius.
I just showed up and registered like last time. There was no real plan about which race to do or even that I was looking for some result. The idea was/is to go with Noah so he can race. Mission accomplished.
Noah races his heart out at the velodrome. He's measuring his success by how much he is involved in each race, not by his actual result. This is effective because he races with the women (adults), the novice men (adults), and juniors up to 18yrs old. He's about 4yrs or so younger than the next youngest racer, and for those of you not counting, there is some difference between a third grader and a 7th grader. With a few years of this, if Noah is still infected with the cycling bug, he's going to be something to watch. Heck, he seems to be the crowd favorite now (with a little help from a buddy, Mark, who does the announcing).
I raced in both the 1,2,3 and Masters (racers over 30yrs) events. "Doubling up," as it is called, is tough when one is fit. When one rides once per week, it is a lot like swimming through wet concrete. Since I have absolutely no reason to expect to be competitive, I really am just out there to ride in a race. To be perfectly honest (it is my blog afterall), it didn't matter that I'm not running the right gear or that I'm not training--I had just about as much fun out there last Friday as I ever have at any other race. I have no idea of how I placed in either category, and if you told me I happened to win--even though I know I didn't, but let's play along--it wouldn't have made the night "more fun" for me.
You should check out a night of racing at the track. As far as bike racing goes, track cycling offers the most "bang for buck" for spectators. You can see ALL of the action, even if some of the events may seem a bit odd.
Saturday morning started with a Country Boy breakfast. Strong coffee, eggs (ayeggs), hashbrowns (taytrs), bacon (baykin), and toast (like my legs).
Then we absolutely just got after it on the outside of our "farm." It is Monday evening as I type, and I'm only sore in my legs, back, hips, shoulders, neck, hands and arms. And feet. From this weekend.
We cleared out the brush at the front of the place by the old well. Turns out that the cap on that well has "4/9/1951" carved into it. In digging out the Nandina roots and other crap I didn't want in the ground, we found chunks of the foundation of the original (what I assume is the original, anyway) house here. But the coolest discovery was a grape vine in all that mess.
Now, anyone who has spent even a little time in these parts will notice wild grape vines around. Heck, the town of Grapevine is all of a few miles away. But the grape vine we found is about 70-80 feet long from end to end. This thing was tangled in bushes, brush, trees and junk and we didn't even know it was there.
I thought it was cool, anyway.
I've got it run along the fence right now, but we'll most likely cut it out, since it has been neglected for so long, it prolly can't produce anything proper. But we'll leave it there for this growing season simply because it is cool. Maybe I'll get a picture of it or something.
Besides clearing out that brush and such, we also heavily pruned the trees up front. It isn't the time of year to prune those trees, but they needed it so badly that I got up in there and did the basics to keep the trees from killing themselves. Even though we were doing only a simple pruning job on those four trees, it still gave us 6-7 truck loads of branches to haul. But we didn't use the truck. We mostly used the Noah to drag it all out back.
Chloe did the digging of the Nandina roots, which is no small job at all. And she did it for four bushes that were about 5ft tall before I axed them who was the boss. We also created a garden for some blackberries and strawberries. And we planted a bunch of trees. And we tilled up (with a shovel, because we're too cheap to get a tiller) a garden spot for some watermelon...
Counting the last two weekends, we've planted (I'll list for dramatic effect):
1 Willow Tree
2 Oak Tree
2 Plum Tree
3 Apricot Tree
2 Apple Tree
1 Pecan Tree
17 Strawberry Plant
4 Blackberry Bush
2 Rose Bush
2 Blueberry Bush
2 Pepper Plant (I started from seed a few weeks ago)
2 Watermelon Plant (I Started from seed a few weeks ago)
1 Squash Plant (I started from seed a few weeks ago)
2 Tomato Plants
1 Eggplant Plant
2 Lemon Trees (supposedly a type adapted for this far north)
1 Plot of Basil
1 Fig Tree
1 Thyme Bush
1 Plot of Oregano
AND we took control of our lawn. If anyone had seen our place lately, it was looking like maybe the house was abandoned...last year.
Fertilized, weeded, weeded, weeded, and weeded. And weeded. And, yes, weeded.
We would have gotten more done, but the babies got struck with a tummy bug. It broke my heart to see Reanie throwing up. She handled it very well, but the look in her eyes...being so helpless for them, when all you can really do is say, "It'll be ok." Maybe I'm weird (maybe?), but it makes me love my kids even more when they go through something like that.
We were in Chloe's car, Moby, at the time. I could see Reanie in the rearview mirror. Besides saying, "It'll be ok," there wasn't much else I could do. Chloe said, "Pull over at a gas station!" But I was thinking, "I'd rather her throw up here, in the car, than take her in to a gas station rest room."
But I pulled over anyway, and Reanie emptied her guts some more in the car. Chloe stripped her down and held Reanie in her lap for the rest of the ride home. For a few minutes there, Reanie was happy again. Then she threw up some more about 2 miles from home.
So add cleaning out Moby to the list of things done this weekend, because even though you love the babies, you still don't want to smell that nastiness.
We made an early evening run to Home Depot yesterday only to be met with what must have been Home Depot's freshman B team in terms of personnel. Our mood went from content-happy-tired to youaretheposterchildforabortion-tired. We hoped getting some takeout pizza would help, but we were done for the weekend.
Then Chloe woke up this morning with the stomach bug too.
Our place is really starting to look like our place, though, so at least Chloe got to stay home for a day and see it a bit more.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Taste of the Week 4/25
Album: No. 2 LIVE Dinner, Robert Earl Keen
Book: I'm still working on Welch's Winning. Been so dang tired at night that I fall asleep in 6-8 pages, so I have to reread those pages the next day...
Grub: Scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns
Dolce: Homeade vanilla ice cream with our own strawberries on top
Drink: Water from the well
Game: Chase, with the kids
Book: I'm still working on Welch's Winning. Been so dang tired at night that I fall asleep in 6-8 pages, so I have to reread those pages the next day...
Grub: Scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns
Dolce: Homeade vanilla ice cream with our own strawberries on top
Drink: Water from the well
Game: Chase, with the kids
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Nothing To Post
I've been sticking to my latest training plan, the "Ride one day a week" Plan, very well. Rode the local group ride here last night. Had lots of fun, but at the same time, it is also very frustrating, because I'm in a constant mode of, "I used to be good on this hill" and "I used to be able to attack from here" and other subtle and in-my-face reminders that I now inhale with great vigor on two wheels.
With no real race plans on the horizon, it doesn't bother me to be slow too much, but it is still more fun for me to run with the front group with some authority. Oh well, I'm pretty sure this is all temporary. In 18 years or so all of the kids will be out of the house or at least mildly self-sufficient.
* * * * *
Noah has a baseball game tonight. At 8pm. And they last for at least 90 minutes. What they do is keep playing until 90 minutes, and then they finish that inning. So it could be that the first pitch of the inning is thrown at 9:29, but then they play for another 30 minutes or whatever. It is one thing to play past the kid's bedtime, but it is quite another to play past mine.
* * * * *
Reanie's current song list, which is the list of songs she can sing and you'd recognize it:
Mary Had a Little Lamb
ABC's
Row, Row Your Boat
This Old Man...
Twinkle Little Star
She is also now spending some time speaking in the third person. Daddy isn't sure how he feels about that.
Reanie can count to 16 or so in english, to 10 and then skip a few to 15 in spanish, and then she gets all messed up sometimes and does a combined thing to twelve in italian-spanish.
She also says, "I (or Reanie) want ice cream." She can say that a lot. You may think it is cute one time, especially if you actually have ice cream, but I'm telling you now, it isn't cute when that is the first thing she says in the morning or when she says it to you at 3:37am.
* * * * *
Buddy is going through a phase that seems to be inspired by something from the 60's. He does this sit down protest thing. If something is happening that he doesn't want or like, he just sits down. Amusing, unless you are in the post office or something.
He does "patty cake" very well. He also eats as much as Noah, which is 2-3 times what Reanie eats. But I can still eat more.
Buddy's vocabulary includes: Daddy, Mama, Ree-ee, Na-aa, Shoe, Sit, 'side (outside), Stand, Ball, Cah (Cow), Tuck (truck), 'side (inside...with context, it is very easy to distiguish between "inside" and "outside", and several others. A not so favorite he has down right now is, "Mine."
Get Reanie and Buddy saying "Mine" at the same time, and I rapidly lose parent of the year points.
* * * * *
Chloe seems to be digging her job. They are at the end of the quarter, so evidently that is a big deal. Busy this, hectic that. Extra hours. But as long as Mama is happy, everyone around here gets to be happy too. Mama is happy.
Ciao,
Cri
With no real race plans on the horizon, it doesn't bother me to be slow too much, but it is still more fun for me to run with the front group with some authority. Oh well, I'm pretty sure this is all temporary. In 18 years or so all of the kids will be out of the house or at least mildly self-sufficient.
* * * * *
Noah has a baseball game tonight. At 8pm. And they last for at least 90 minutes. What they do is keep playing until 90 minutes, and then they finish that inning. So it could be that the first pitch of the inning is thrown at 9:29, but then they play for another 30 minutes or whatever. It is one thing to play past the kid's bedtime, but it is quite another to play past mine.
* * * * *
Reanie's current song list, which is the list of songs she can sing and you'd recognize it:
Mary Had a Little Lamb
ABC's
Row, Row Your Boat
This Old Man...
Twinkle Little Star
She is also now spending some time speaking in the third person. Daddy isn't sure how he feels about that.
Reanie can count to 16 or so in english, to 10 and then skip a few to 15 in spanish, and then she gets all messed up sometimes and does a combined thing to twelve in italian-spanish.
She also says, "I (or Reanie) want ice cream." She can say that a lot. You may think it is cute one time, especially if you actually have ice cream, but I'm telling you now, it isn't cute when that is the first thing she says in the morning or when she says it to you at 3:37am.
* * * * *
Buddy is going through a phase that seems to be inspired by something from the 60's. He does this sit down protest thing. If something is happening that he doesn't want or like, he just sits down. Amusing, unless you are in the post office or something.
He does "patty cake" very well. He also eats as much as Noah, which is 2-3 times what Reanie eats. But I can still eat more.
Buddy's vocabulary includes: Daddy, Mama, Ree-ee, Na-aa, Shoe, Sit, 'side (outside), Stand, Ball, Cah (Cow), Tuck (truck), 'side (inside...with context, it is very easy to distiguish between "inside" and "outside", and several others. A not so favorite he has down right now is, "Mine."
Get Reanie and Buddy saying "Mine" at the same time, and I rapidly lose parent of the year points.
* * * * *
Chloe seems to be digging her job. They are at the end of the quarter, so evidently that is a big deal. Busy this, hectic that. Extra hours. But as long as Mama is happy, everyone around here gets to be happy too. Mama is happy.
Ciao,
Cri
Monday, April 18, 2005
Uh Oh...Sue is in Trouble
Chloe made apple fritters tonight. Now, I realize that in some circles--namely anyone who has done or wanted to do a Donut Ride--that speaking of Sue in this manner is blasphemy, but Chloe did make apple fritters tonight.
And they were good.
And they were good.
The Racing Post's next chapter
Though it isn't absolutely official, it looks like Chloe and I are going to close up shop with the magazine. We want to go out while we are cranking out good ones.
Burnout it the main culprit, but so is the stress of it all: collecting news, writing news, sales, collection of past due payments...it adds up to more stress than the pay justifies.
We're still in the early stages of discussing it all, but we do have a couple of folks interested in buying it from us, so that is a bit of a relief knowing that it won't just go to dust.
Chloe is working lots of hours (enjoying the job, though), and I'm (we're among friends and family here) having a real tough time with dealing with just me, so we want to simplify things around here. It may workout out that I have the little ones two days per week to just be a Mr. Mom-type.
It is hard to think of The Racing Post not being ours, or that it might not be printed at all, but really, the more we lighten our load around here, the better we all seem to be.
So, I don't know what's next. I do know that we'll need some sort of income to justify what we are giving up, but things seem to workout. But until they do, if you know of anyone needing a cycling or triathlon coach...
Burnout it the main culprit, but so is the stress of it all: collecting news, writing news, sales, collection of past due payments...it adds up to more stress than the pay justifies.
We're still in the early stages of discussing it all, but we do have a couple of folks interested in buying it from us, so that is a bit of a relief knowing that it won't just go to dust.
Chloe is working lots of hours (enjoying the job, though), and I'm (we're among friends and family here) having a real tough time with dealing with just me, so we want to simplify things around here. It may workout out that I have the little ones two days per week to just be a Mr. Mom-type.
It is hard to think of The Racing Post not being ours, or that it might not be printed at all, but really, the more we lighten our load around here, the better we all seem to be.
So, I don't know what's next. I do know that we'll need some sort of income to justify what we are giving up, but things seem to workout. But until they do, if you know of anyone needing a cycling or triathlon coach...
Taste of the week 4/19
Album: Cross of Changes, Enigma
Book: I'm still working on Welch's Winning, but folks may want to grab the April issue of TRP. Might have been our last. We're sorting it out.
Grub: Fried Catfish
Dolce: Toblerone
Drink: Mojito
Game: http://www.angeltowns.com/members/shan1660/games/keepups.html (29)
Book: I'm still working on Welch's Winning, but folks may want to grab the April issue of TRP. Might have been our last. We're sorting it out.
Grub: Fried Catfish
Dolce: Toblerone
Drink: Mojito
Game: http://www.angeltowns.com/members/shan1660/games/keepups.html (29)
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Taste of the week 4/11 or 4/13...whatever
Album: U2 Vertigo
Book: Winning by Jack Welch
Grub: Patlicanli Pilav (Eggplant and Tomato Pilaf)
Dolce: Hmmm...still working on that. Might have to get Chloe to kick in
Drink: Pernod
In the spirit of #100, I chose Pernod this week because Pernod used to sponsor the season-long, Euro-Pro series, which then became the World Cup and is now the Pro Tour.
Game: http://www.boomgames.com/item.php?itemid=1547.htm I can get to Switzerland, but the best I've done there is 2nd place. No, I didn't count the wins to get there as part of my 100. Geesh.
Book: Winning by Jack Welch
Grub: Patlicanli Pilav (Eggplant and Tomato Pilaf)
Dolce: Hmmm...still working on that. Might have to get Chloe to kick in
Drink: Pernod
In the spirit of #100, I chose Pernod this week because Pernod used to sponsor the season-long, Euro-Pro series, which then became the World Cup and is now the Pro Tour.
Game: http://www.boomgames.com/item.php?itemid=1547.htm I can get to Switzerland, but the best I've done there is 2nd place. No, I didn't count the wins to get there as part of my 100. Geesh.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Thank you
Here are some overdo thank you's and a bit of a read for those who don't need ritalin.
I want to thank my Mom for taking me to all of those BMX races. I don't know how we afforded racing so much, especially early on, but that's where I started winning on two wheels.
-A story-
There was one race, a National, where I broke a wheel or messed it up to some degree. That pretty much called it a day, because I wasn't at the point where I had a spare bike or parts or anything. But Mom bought me a set of the then new, hot, latest and greatest, Skyway Wheels. These were the mag wheels just when mag wheels where not only THE thing, but they were also the supposed "necessity" to do well.
I made it to the main event of that weekend, though that wasn't one of the wins. But at a time when we packed sandwiches to a race due to limited cash flow, that she bought the latest high zoot race wheels at a vendor at a race is a perfect example of how much she gave to get me to the starting and finish line. Dang, there were so many late nights leaving tracks from all over the state...that's not really a social life for a single woman in her early 30's.
It is somewhat surprising that I won any races in that first year of BMX. I didn't train or practice per se, but then I'd treat every warm up/practice run on the day of the race like it was a race. Looking back on it, in my mind, I was racing everytime we were on the gate. That was something like 20-30 "races" per night. I was one of the kids who would just keep sprinting after the finish line to get in the starting line sooner.
That settled down once I was in the Experts. I wasn't really training during the week back then, but I was also in every other sport in school, so there wasn't time or energy anyway. Once I hit the Experts, I was becoming more aware that I was racing only when I was racing. It didn't take long to figure out that you had to be on your "A" game to win with the big boys.
Once I narrowed it down to one school sport and racing at the same time, load of wins came in the Experts. I'd race the 13-14 Expert (when I was 13 and 14), but I'd also race up in the 15-16 and 17-18. There was also an Open category that allowed you to race age group regardless of category. Those races were also 13-14, 15-16, 17-18. One night I remember being a bit bummed because I only won 4 of those 6 possible races, and I thought that it was doable to win all six (never did, though).
Next up on two wheels was the biathlon thing. I was spending some time living at Dad and Pat's when that took off for me, and thinking back on it now, they knew as much about biathlons as I did. Kinda funny. I was running everday. And I rode about every other day at Bear Creek Park.
-A Story (sort of)-
Back then I would show up to the park and ride along side the training group there. I didn't figure out (or just didn't care) about drafting and stuff until I was at SWT and getting involved with the cycling team there. But at the park, I'd ride along side of those groups.
Turns out that those groups are the Southern Elite and Nortwest Cycling teams. They would do some pacing work, some sprint work...anything and everything, really. And I'd just ride along side of them. When I'd get dropped, I'd just keep chasing like I was going to somehow speed up and catch them or something. They'd finish their effort, slow, and I'd catch them. Actually, it probably set me up well from a mental standpoint, because bike racers in general tend to pull the plug pretty quickly once they lose contact. I can think of three occasions of races where I was dropped, kept at it and got back in the race, and then went on to win.
I digress. The biathlon gig took off, but it was mostly in spite of myself. I would hit the first run and the bike so damn hard that I would fall apart in the second run, and running was a strength back then. I'd get enough of a lead that I'd be caught by Elites and other age-groupers, but it would be enough to hold off the under 20's or the 20-24's. It isn't a tactic that I'd coach now at all, but it worked, even if it was painful and ugly. There were quite a few biathlon/duathlon wins, but like BMX, I wasn't getting any done by style; I was just plowing through. Lots and lots and lots of 2nds and 3rds due to poor tactics, strategy, and a no pain-no gain training approach (where every ride and run had to be a PR).
After hitting the biathlon scene and getting to where there wasn't much else to do but take it to the show, and being so green that I didn't realize that, I decided to take on the (then) daunting aspect of triathlon. Keep in mind that though I knew how to swim--or better, not drown--I was just wanting to do the triathlon thing because it was "next" or something.
Julie. Julie was so completely and utterly supportive of me back then. I owe her a huge thanks for directly being a part of those first half dozen or so age group wins in triathlon. We lived like elite athletes. Complete with being on limited funds, sleeping in the car, and basing our whole days, nights and weekends around training and racing.
It was then that I was figuring out the training end of things. At that point, I didn't just have me to sort out how I was resonding to training, I also had Julie who was training and racing as well. Any time we changed up anything, I had a data sample that was now twice as large. I can't really explain it other than that I just started to "get it."
The triathlon success came a little slower than the BMX and biathlon success, but this was also due to starting with a more competive category and due to successive injuries. But it was those injuries that allowed me to really hone some coaching and training skills with Julie doing the road work. I also hooked up with two great swimmers in Mary Ruth Tipton (alternate for the US Olympic team) and Tommy Birrell. Since I knew nothing about swimming except what the life guards from my Dad's neighborhood pool were telling me...
Anyway, once Mary Ruth and Tommy sorted me out, it was GAME ON. I had a run of something like 8 or 9 age group wins in a row in triathlon. Thank you, Julie.
-A Story-
Coming home from some triathlon (seems like it was east TX), we stopped in Nowhereville at a Pizza Hut. The waiter told us that we must be from out of town. We explained that we were racing a triathlon. He said, "Cool. I've seen that on TV" or something. He asked, "Did you win?"
"Yep."
He gave us our meal for free.
My triathlon gig was cut a bit short because I was hurt half the time due to training advice from the No Pain-No Gain Training Book. I couldn't run much, so I ended up spending more time on the bike. Since I was at SWT, I spent time riding with their cycling team. Since I was spending more time with them, taking up road racing seemed the next logical step.
The wins didn't come in collegiate racing (my only collegiate wins were on the track in the conference championships pursuit and kilo). However, I did learn how to win bike races. Let me s'plain.
It was here that I met Shannon. Now, he knew a little bit more about racing than me, but really, this was more of a case that he knew 55% of what was going on, and I knew about 25% of what was going on, but when we put those two together, it somehow ended up 200%.
We kicked the living crap out of just about everyone for quite awhile. Granted, this was in collegiate and cat 3 racing, but back then, collegiate racing (A's) was a bigger deal than it is now. Now that I look back on it, we stayed in the 3's too long. Then again, we were actually making money at racing, and as college students, that money was a source of income. Sad. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Once Brady joined the mix, it was game on every weekend. If we (as a team) didn't win, it was a dissapointment. For those of you reading who race bikes, you know how rare it is to show up to a race absolutely expecting (not hoping, but expecting) to win. We were there.
The wins I got back then were at races where my teammates didn't show up, or they came from leadouts that went "wrong." There are several examples, but a notable one is from Hotter-n-Hell in '97.
-A Story-
Shannon and I tried and tried to get away in the first 3/4 of the race. With 15 minutes to go, we agreed that nothing was going to get away, so we got in "Bread and Butter" mode (I lead him out). As we crossed the s/f line for the bell lap, we were in perfect position sitting about 6th and 7th from the front. Something happened to knock us from our spot, so I had to take a run at it with Shak in tow on the back stretch. We got from 25th or so back to tenth, rounded turn three to a 200m stretch before the final turn, and I looked back to make sure he was there.
He was in my pocket, so I darted to the right away from the strung out pack that was next to the left curb, so we could minimize how many people were on our wheel, and also to take a totally different line through the last turn than what we'd been taking for the race.
I take off and eventually pass the guy leading the pack train about 50 meters before the turn. I was going way too fast to take the inside like I had planned, so I went to the left like everyone else, and I just leaned that bike over and prayed that I wouldn't slide out, because we were going a full 10mph faster than any other time we'd taken that turn that day.
Exited the turn first, and knowing that Shak was on my wheel, I just absolutely buried it to the line, which was 150meters or so away. I was fading and fading, but Shak hadn't come around, so I just kept going hard. He usually came around just as I started to slow, and we had our timing down so that in most races, that would be about 100m from the line. I was running out of steam, but he wasn't coming around. So I kept fugging going.
I couldn't see a thing. It was all a dark tunnel with a few stars floating around. I'd pretty much been sprinting for half of a lap. 1. Me, 2. Jason Wadell, 3. Shak
There were other times when I won races from a leadout, but that was because Shak saw that we had such a lead that he didn't need to come around. We'd just roll it in 1st and 2nd. But most of the time, I'd lead out Shak, he'd win, and I'd get 7th or something.
But for those times you didn't come around, thank you Shak.
Since I devoted myself to the road and track end of things, my Dad has been supportive. He's kicked in some sponsorship cash when we didn't have any, and he's basically just been there if we needed to make sure we got to a big race. Dad totally takes my word for it when it comes to racing, and having someone with that kind of faith that, "yes, your $100 will be something that allows us to make $400 this weekend" means he opens his checkbook...all I can say is, Thank you.
The last four-five years or so...
The wins came much less frequently. One of the most memorable for me was the season kick-off race in Bear Creek Park (this was pre-TXBRA). This was a criteirum in the same park I used for training back in the multi-sport days. It is the home of the soccer and baseball fields I played on when I was growing up. And the race was the day after my birthday.
-A Story-
Brady and I started talking about this race in early November, and by mid-December we had a plan of how the race would play out. That's confidence. Or hope. Or being naive. So much so that in our race plan (we made liberal use of Instant Messaging while we were at work), we had it figured out how we were going to finish 1-2-3 with Shannon.
I won't bore you with how it played out, but the race went 99.5% the way we wanted it to do so, but unfortunately, we only ended up: 1. Me, 2. Some other guy, 3. Shannon, 4. Brady.
Planning for that race, at a time when Lisa and I were separated, I was broke, and was seeing Noah only half of the time...that race (or racing at all) was something that was an "Up" thing. Heck, that whole spring was a time of great racing with 5 or 6 wins as I recall, and no finishes outside of the top ten, except the Lance Crit in Downtown Austin, which Shannon won. But I was getting married the next day, so 11th and a team win is OK, I think. Thank you, Brady. Thanks for letting me talk bike racing, and especially introducing me to Chloe at that time.
Chloe.
We married and then there was moving, job changes, kid, more kid, businesses to start and fail and re-start...I'm pretty sure my excuse book is a thorough volume. However, the wins weren't coming like they had before.
We did, however, give track racing a try. We learned that I have a knack of figuring out the different types of races on the track. With my puny lungs, I was blessed or developed an above average ability to deal with anaerobic efforts and lactic acid build up. And track has a lot of that.
Winning on the track has added to the total, but there was something about it that made me look nervously at my win count when it got to 91,92,93,94...they were all on the track, and since I was racing P/1/2's on the road, the chances of #100 coming on the road was small. I wanted to get #100 in a "substantial" race. Some race that everyone would be proud to win. Being the tallest midget wasn't how I wanted to get there.
To give some meaning to those BMX and track wins, it is worth noting that the 100 wins doesn't count the individual races of track racing, like a Miss and Out, or Scratch, or whatever; only omnium wins count. Same for BMX. I didn't count the heats, only main events. Heck, there were probably a hundred heat wins in BMX alone. But the higher up you go in the categories, the harder it gets to win in any case, be it BMX, triathlon, track, road, etc.
If I told Chloe, "I can do this. I can train like a pro on the road, and I'll get that win, but I need to be free of distraction," she'd tell me that if it was something I really wanted to do, that I should go for it.
The reality is that it would take me that kind of training to win races at the p/1/2 level, and even if Chloe would say, "let's do this," we really couldn't. We're grown ups now.
I wanted #100 to be something memorable. But the longer the dry spell lasted, the easier it was to talk myself into letting smaller races, like Tuesday Night Crits, count.
-A Story-
My best chance came late last Summer. Form was there after the Superweek trip, and I could see a win (that's the sign for me). We had a guy in the break, so it wasn't going to be that day for the win, but for whatever reason, he sat up as the race entered the last turn just as the break was taking off for the line. The pack was charging for the finish, and I was sitting third wheel forcing others to chase. It was the perfect leadout, and I could see that the break was sprinting, but they were blown. We were catching them! We were going to catch the break, and I was being led out perfectly! I could almost see it.
Exiting the last turn, I took the left side of the road to save as much speed as possible. Just then, my teammate, who was in the break, swerved hard to the left to get out of the way...
Next up was Hotter-n-Hell, where I knew a win was realistically impossible, but I still let myself hope that, you know...there's something special about that race for me.
-A story-
Yeah. Special. I was hit with food poisoning or something on lap #3 of the crit, and I spent most of that race in a port-a-can. But JD (a teammate) won. So I spent that night thinking about how I was going to get a free ride in any break during the road race, as there was an omnium prize on the weekend. That meant I could race the front and protect JD's lead, which would allow me to infiltrate breaks but not be required to make sure they work.
Anyway, despite being fired up, at mile 2 I flatted, and the wheel truck wasn't with us just yet. I was slipping all over the place on the wet road, but I kept going to stay in contact. The truck caught up to us and me and another guy with a flat stopped. I was second to get a change, but I chased and chased and chased. I caught the other guy, and as soon as I did, he sat up. So I chased some more.
The pack was in sight for 35 miles or so. I kept thinking, "Man, if I had a teammate with me, I would be back on by now (I was in the front five when I flatted). Discouraged, I'd sit up, but then the pack would slow, so I'd chase some more, only to see them get strung out hauling ass. It was demoralizing, but I kept thinking, "I can't win #100 if I'm off the back." So I'd chase some more.
I lost more and more ground on the field. Eventually I was caught by the race behind us, and I just rode in the last 50 miles or so with them.
I had to finish, because Chloe was working the feedzones for the team.
On the drive home, Chloe tendered her resignation from soigneuring for the team and me. She would still support me if I wanted to keep at the bike racing thing, but I'd need to figure out a way to get fed and stuff, though.
I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet, so I went to one more race in 2004, but went there on my own.
Trying to make a 25 year racing story short...
I've written about it elsewhere, but I went to this race, slept in the car, made a mess of myself, struggled through the race, and still managed to score a decent result in the 1/2's (5th). But it wasn't a win.
Cyclocross season came, and at the time, I'd been putting in real miles for a last stab at making #100 happen in the 1,2's.
I had to sell my cross bike for financial reasons, but when one of those races came to the Metroplex, I just rode my road bike in it road tires and all. 6th. This was racing with the masters, though, because there is no way at all that I'd even be on the same lap as the top two or three cross racers in the "A" race. Obviously I was willing to let #100 come at a lesser race at this point. But I couldn't hold the pace with the leaders at the end, even in the masters race, and that was that.
The wheels, figuratively and literally, came off soon after. No training. No nothing. You've read and heard all the reasons from me in earlier posts. My riding has been limited to about once per week with Noah.
He's wanted to race on the track for some time now, and with my buddy Mike's help, we got him a cram (not crash) course to be eligible to race on the track in the week leading to opening night at the Superdrome. I hoped to ride some laps with Noah at his class, but there was that thing with the riding lawnmower, so I missed out.
Chloe was away in NYC for the week, and even though she arrived only Friday afternoon, she agreed to go directly to the track to watch Noah's first race ever there. Because I still wanted to turn some laps with Noah, I took my bike as well, as we were going to have plenty of time to ride before the crowd and racers showed up.
While riding around on the track, I had a flat. That is baaaad news on the track, but I handled it. Went to the truck and got a tube to fix it. About the time I got it fixed, the announcer said registration closed in ten minutes.
I went up to the table, got Noah registered, and...
There is absolutely no reason for me to expect to win with no training, but without thinking about it, I registered. Habit? Guilt? Selfish? Fun? I still don't really know.
I did, however, limit myself to just one category of racing (I'm eligible for two races because I can race Master's as well). I decided to race the 3's because I wanted to add numbers to the 1,2-3 field for opening night. Besides, if you are going to get thoroughly embarrased, do you want to do it in church league softball, or do you want to do it in a real game, in a real stadium, with a real crowd?
Well, I'm of the type that would rather strike out facing Randy Johnson than hit a homerun because there was a hole in the Dairy Queen sign in the left field fence of a podunk softball league.
So I raced with the 1,2, 3's. But for the Texas Cup, the 3's are racing against the 3's, even though they are on the track with the 1,2's.
Overall, I think I ended up 6th or 7th on the night in the combined race. That's like hitting a single off of Randy Johnson. Nice, but no big deal. But in the 3's, I won (meaning I beat the other cat 3), so there's my #100, right through the hole in the Dairy Queen sign.
But Chloe and all of my kids were there. Chloe could have chosen to sit this one out. She just got back from NYC and all, I wouldn't have felt bad about her not being there. Actually, I would have felt bad for running off to a race just as she got back into town. She was there, though, to see Noah race. I raced anyway and my family was there...I'm eternally grateful that they were.
Noah was the first to give me a hug, because he was wondering why I was getting all buzzed (I can't think of another word that is something like "emotional" but subdued). He went and got Reanie, and she gave me a kiss.
On one hand, I'm extremely relieved to get it done. On the other, I wish it would have been under more competitive circumstance. But hey, it was opening night of Texas Cup racing on the world class Superdrome. I can't help it if people don't show up to race.
I did. Well, I didn't, but I did. Sort of like Noah's, "I won, a kinda not a race but it was a race so I won..."
I want to thank my Mom for taking me to all of those BMX races. I don't know how we afforded racing so much, especially early on, but that's where I started winning on two wheels.
-A story-
There was one race, a National, where I broke a wheel or messed it up to some degree. That pretty much called it a day, because I wasn't at the point where I had a spare bike or parts or anything. But Mom bought me a set of the then new, hot, latest and greatest, Skyway Wheels. These were the mag wheels just when mag wheels where not only THE thing, but they were also the supposed "necessity" to do well.
I made it to the main event of that weekend, though that wasn't one of the wins. But at a time when we packed sandwiches to a race due to limited cash flow, that she bought the latest high zoot race wheels at a vendor at a race is a perfect example of how much she gave to get me to the starting and finish line. Dang, there were so many late nights leaving tracks from all over the state...that's not really a social life for a single woman in her early 30's.
It is somewhat surprising that I won any races in that first year of BMX. I didn't train or practice per se, but then I'd treat every warm up/practice run on the day of the race like it was a race. Looking back on it, in my mind, I was racing everytime we were on the gate. That was something like 20-30 "races" per night. I was one of the kids who would just keep sprinting after the finish line to get in the starting line sooner.
That settled down once I was in the Experts. I wasn't really training during the week back then, but I was also in every other sport in school, so there wasn't time or energy anyway. Once I hit the Experts, I was becoming more aware that I was racing only when I was racing. It didn't take long to figure out that you had to be on your "A" game to win with the big boys.
Once I narrowed it down to one school sport and racing at the same time, load of wins came in the Experts. I'd race the 13-14 Expert (when I was 13 and 14), but I'd also race up in the 15-16 and 17-18. There was also an Open category that allowed you to race age group regardless of category. Those races were also 13-14, 15-16, 17-18. One night I remember being a bit bummed because I only won 4 of those 6 possible races, and I thought that it was doable to win all six (never did, though).
Next up on two wheels was the biathlon thing. I was spending some time living at Dad and Pat's when that took off for me, and thinking back on it now, they knew as much about biathlons as I did. Kinda funny. I was running everday. And I rode about every other day at Bear Creek Park.
-A Story (sort of)-
Back then I would show up to the park and ride along side the training group there. I didn't figure out (or just didn't care) about drafting and stuff until I was at SWT and getting involved with the cycling team there. But at the park, I'd ride along side of those groups.
Turns out that those groups are the Southern Elite and Nortwest Cycling teams. They would do some pacing work, some sprint work...anything and everything, really. And I'd just ride along side of them. When I'd get dropped, I'd just keep chasing like I was going to somehow speed up and catch them or something. They'd finish their effort, slow, and I'd catch them. Actually, it probably set me up well from a mental standpoint, because bike racers in general tend to pull the plug pretty quickly once they lose contact. I can think of three occasions of races where I was dropped, kept at it and got back in the race, and then went on to win.
I digress. The biathlon gig took off, but it was mostly in spite of myself. I would hit the first run and the bike so damn hard that I would fall apart in the second run, and running was a strength back then. I'd get enough of a lead that I'd be caught by Elites and other age-groupers, but it would be enough to hold off the under 20's or the 20-24's. It isn't a tactic that I'd coach now at all, but it worked, even if it was painful and ugly. There were quite a few biathlon/duathlon wins, but like BMX, I wasn't getting any done by style; I was just plowing through. Lots and lots and lots of 2nds and 3rds due to poor tactics, strategy, and a no pain-no gain training approach (where every ride and run had to be a PR).
After hitting the biathlon scene and getting to where there wasn't much else to do but take it to the show, and being so green that I didn't realize that, I decided to take on the (then) daunting aspect of triathlon. Keep in mind that though I knew how to swim--or better, not drown--I was just wanting to do the triathlon thing because it was "next" or something.
Julie. Julie was so completely and utterly supportive of me back then. I owe her a huge thanks for directly being a part of those first half dozen or so age group wins in triathlon. We lived like elite athletes. Complete with being on limited funds, sleeping in the car, and basing our whole days, nights and weekends around training and racing.
It was then that I was figuring out the training end of things. At that point, I didn't just have me to sort out how I was resonding to training, I also had Julie who was training and racing as well. Any time we changed up anything, I had a data sample that was now twice as large. I can't really explain it other than that I just started to "get it."
The triathlon success came a little slower than the BMX and biathlon success, but this was also due to starting with a more competive category and due to successive injuries. But it was those injuries that allowed me to really hone some coaching and training skills with Julie doing the road work. I also hooked up with two great swimmers in Mary Ruth Tipton (alternate for the US Olympic team) and Tommy Birrell. Since I knew nothing about swimming except what the life guards from my Dad's neighborhood pool were telling me...
Anyway, once Mary Ruth and Tommy sorted me out, it was GAME ON. I had a run of something like 8 or 9 age group wins in a row in triathlon. Thank you, Julie.
-A Story-
Coming home from some triathlon (seems like it was east TX), we stopped in Nowhereville at a Pizza Hut. The waiter told us that we must be from out of town. We explained that we were racing a triathlon. He said, "Cool. I've seen that on TV" or something. He asked, "Did you win?"
"Yep."
He gave us our meal for free.
My triathlon gig was cut a bit short because I was hurt half the time due to training advice from the No Pain-No Gain Training Book. I couldn't run much, so I ended up spending more time on the bike. Since I was at SWT, I spent time riding with their cycling team. Since I was spending more time with them, taking up road racing seemed the next logical step.
The wins didn't come in collegiate racing (my only collegiate wins were on the track in the conference championships pursuit and kilo). However, I did learn how to win bike races. Let me s'plain.
It was here that I met Shannon. Now, he knew a little bit more about racing than me, but really, this was more of a case that he knew 55% of what was going on, and I knew about 25% of what was going on, but when we put those two together, it somehow ended up 200%.
We kicked the living crap out of just about everyone for quite awhile. Granted, this was in collegiate and cat 3 racing, but back then, collegiate racing (A's) was a bigger deal than it is now. Now that I look back on it, we stayed in the 3's too long. Then again, we were actually making money at racing, and as college students, that money was a source of income. Sad. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Once Brady joined the mix, it was game on every weekend. If we (as a team) didn't win, it was a dissapointment. For those of you reading who race bikes, you know how rare it is to show up to a race absolutely expecting (not hoping, but expecting) to win. We were there.
The wins I got back then were at races where my teammates didn't show up, or they came from leadouts that went "wrong." There are several examples, but a notable one is from Hotter-n-Hell in '97.
-A Story-
Shannon and I tried and tried to get away in the first 3/4 of the race. With 15 minutes to go, we agreed that nothing was going to get away, so we got in "Bread and Butter" mode (I lead him out). As we crossed the s/f line for the bell lap, we were in perfect position sitting about 6th and 7th from the front. Something happened to knock us from our spot, so I had to take a run at it with Shak in tow on the back stretch. We got from 25th or so back to tenth, rounded turn three to a 200m stretch before the final turn, and I looked back to make sure he was there.
He was in my pocket, so I darted to the right away from the strung out pack that was next to the left curb, so we could minimize how many people were on our wheel, and also to take a totally different line through the last turn than what we'd been taking for the race.
I take off and eventually pass the guy leading the pack train about 50 meters before the turn. I was going way too fast to take the inside like I had planned, so I went to the left like everyone else, and I just leaned that bike over and prayed that I wouldn't slide out, because we were going a full 10mph faster than any other time we'd taken that turn that day.
Exited the turn first, and knowing that Shak was on my wheel, I just absolutely buried it to the line, which was 150meters or so away. I was fading and fading, but Shak hadn't come around, so I just kept going hard. He usually came around just as I started to slow, and we had our timing down so that in most races, that would be about 100m from the line. I was running out of steam, but he wasn't coming around. So I kept fugging going.
I couldn't see a thing. It was all a dark tunnel with a few stars floating around. I'd pretty much been sprinting for half of a lap. 1. Me, 2. Jason Wadell, 3. Shak
There were other times when I won races from a leadout, but that was because Shak saw that we had such a lead that he didn't need to come around. We'd just roll it in 1st and 2nd. But most of the time, I'd lead out Shak, he'd win, and I'd get 7th or something.
But for those times you didn't come around, thank you Shak.
Since I devoted myself to the road and track end of things, my Dad has been supportive. He's kicked in some sponsorship cash when we didn't have any, and he's basically just been there if we needed to make sure we got to a big race. Dad totally takes my word for it when it comes to racing, and having someone with that kind of faith that, "yes, your $100 will be something that allows us to make $400 this weekend" means he opens his checkbook...all I can say is, Thank you.
The last four-five years or so...
The wins came much less frequently. One of the most memorable for me was the season kick-off race in Bear Creek Park (this was pre-TXBRA). This was a criteirum in the same park I used for training back in the multi-sport days. It is the home of the soccer and baseball fields I played on when I was growing up. And the race was the day after my birthday.
-A Story-
Brady and I started talking about this race in early November, and by mid-December we had a plan of how the race would play out. That's confidence. Or hope. Or being naive. So much so that in our race plan (we made liberal use of Instant Messaging while we were at work), we had it figured out how we were going to finish 1-2-3 with Shannon.
I won't bore you with how it played out, but the race went 99.5% the way we wanted it to do so, but unfortunately, we only ended up: 1. Me, 2. Some other guy, 3. Shannon, 4. Brady.
Planning for that race, at a time when Lisa and I were separated, I was broke, and was seeing Noah only half of the time...that race (or racing at all) was something that was an "Up" thing. Heck, that whole spring was a time of great racing with 5 or 6 wins as I recall, and no finishes outside of the top ten, except the Lance Crit in Downtown Austin, which Shannon won. But I was getting married the next day, so 11th and a team win is OK, I think. Thank you, Brady. Thanks for letting me talk bike racing, and especially introducing me to Chloe at that time.
Chloe.
We married and then there was moving, job changes, kid, more kid, businesses to start and fail and re-start...I'm pretty sure my excuse book is a thorough volume. However, the wins weren't coming like they had before.
We did, however, give track racing a try. We learned that I have a knack of figuring out the different types of races on the track. With my puny lungs, I was blessed or developed an above average ability to deal with anaerobic efforts and lactic acid build up. And track has a lot of that.
Winning on the track has added to the total, but there was something about it that made me look nervously at my win count when it got to 91,92,93,94...they were all on the track, and since I was racing P/1/2's on the road, the chances of #100 coming on the road was small. I wanted to get #100 in a "substantial" race. Some race that everyone would be proud to win. Being the tallest midget wasn't how I wanted to get there.
To give some meaning to those BMX and track wins, it is worth noting that the 100 wins doesn't count the individual races of track racing, like a Miss and Out, or Scratch, or whatever; only omnium wins count. Same for BMX. I didn't count the heats, only main events. Heck, there were probably a hundred heat wins in BMX alone. But the higher up you go in the categories, the harder it gets to win in any case, be it BMX, triathlon, track, road, etc.
If I told Chloe, "I can do this. I can train like a pro on the road, and I'll get that win, but I need to be free of distraction," she'd tell me that if it was something I really wanted to do, that I should go for it.
The reality is that it would take me that kind of training to win races at the p/1/2 level, and even if Chloe would say, "let's do this," we really couldn't. We're grown ups now.
I wanted #100 to be something memorable. But the longer the dry spell lasted, the easier it was to talk myself into letting smaller races, like Tuesday Night Crits, count.
-A Story-
My best chance came late last Summer. Form was there after the Superweek trip, and I could see a win (that's the sign for me). We had a guy in the break, so it wasn't going to be that day for the win, but for whatever reason, he sat up as the race entered the last turn just as the break was taking off for the line. The pack was charging for the finish, and I was sitting third wheel forcing others to chase. It was the perfect leadout, and I could see that the break was sprinting, but they were blown. We were catching them! We were going to catch the break, and I was being led out perfectly! I could almost see it.
Exiting the last turn, I took the left side of the road to save as much speed as possible. Just then, my teammate, who was in the break, swerved hard to the left to get out of the way...
Next up was Hotter-n-Hell, where I knew a win was realistically impossible, but I still let myself hope that, you know...there's something special about that race for me.
-A story-
Yeah. Special. I was hit with food poisoning or something on lap #3 of the crit, and I spent most of that race in a port-a-can. But JD (a teammate) won. So I spent that night thinking about how I was going to get a free ride in any break during the road race, as there was an omnium prize on the weekend. That meant I could race the front and protect JD's lead, which would allow me to infiltrate breaks but not be required to make sure they work.
Anyway, despite being fired up, at mile 2 I flatted, and the wheel truck wasn't with us just yet. I was slipping all over the place on the wet road, but I kept going to stay in contact. The truck caught up to us and me and another guy with a flat stopped. I was second to get a change, but I chased and chased and chased. I caught the other guy, and as soon as I did, he sat up. So I chased some more.
The pack was in sight for 35 miles or so. I kept thinking, "Man, if I had a teammate with me, I would be back on by now (I was in the front five when I flatted). Discouraged, I'd sit up, but then the pack would slow, so I'd chase some more, only to see them get strung out hauling ass. It was demoralizing, but I kept thinking, "I can't win #100 if I'm off the back." So I'd chase some more.
I lost more and more ground on the field. Eventually I was caught by the race behind us, and I just rode in the last 50 miles or so with them.
I had to finish, because Chloe was working the feedzones for the team.
On the drive home, Chloe tendered her resignation from soigneuring for the team and me. She would still support me if I wanted to keep at the bike racing thing, but I'd need to figure out a way to get fed and stuff, though.
I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet, so I went to one more race in 2004, but went there on my own.
Trying to make a 25 year racing story short...
I've written about it elsewhere, but I went to this race, slept in the car, made a mess of myself, struggled through the race, and still managed to score a decent result in the 1/2's (5th). But it wasn't a win.
Cyclocross season came, and at the time, I'd been putting in real miles for a last stab at making #100 happen in the 1,2's.
I had to sell my cross bike for financial reasons, but when one of those races came to the Metroplex, I just rode my road bike in it road tires and all. 6th. This was racing with the masters, though, because there is no way at all that I'd even be on the same lap as the top two or three cross racers in the "A" race. Obviously I was willing to let #100 come at a lesser race at this point. But I couldn't hold the pace with the leaders at the end, even in the masters race, and that was that.
The wheels, figuratively and literally, came off soon after. No training. No nothing. You've read and heard all the reasons from me in earlier posts. My riding has been limited to about once per week with Noah.
He's wanted to race on the track for some time now, and with my buddy Mike's help, we got him a cram (not crash) course to be eligible to race on the track in the week leading to opening night at the Superdrome. I hoped to ride some laps with Noah at his class, but there was that thing with the riding lawnmower, so I missed out.
Chloe was away in NYC for the week, and even though she arrived only Friday afternoon, she agreed to go directly to the track to watch Noah's first race ever there. Because I still wanted to turn some laps with Noah, I took my bike as well, as we were going to have plenty of time to ride before the crowd and racers showed up.
While riding around on the track, I had a flat. That is baaaad news on the track, but I handled it. Went to the truck and got a tube to fix it. About the time I got it fixed, the announcer said registration closed in ten minutes.
I went up to the table, got Noah registered, and...
There is absolutely no reason for me to expect to win with no training, but without thinking about it, I registered. Habit? Guilt? Selfish? Fun? I still don't really know.
I did, however, limit myself to just one category of racing (I'm eligible for two races because I can race Master's as well). I decided to race the 3's because I wanted to add numbers to the 1,2-3 field for opening night. Besides, if you are going to get thoroughly embarrased, do you want to do it in church league softball, or do you want to do it in a real game, in a real stadium, with a real crowd?
Well, I'm of the type that would rather strike out facing Randy Johnson than hit a homerun because there was a hole in the Dairy Queen sign in the left field fence of a podunk softball league.
So I raced with the 1,2, 3's. But for the Texas Cup, the 3's are racing against the 3's, even though they are on the track with the 1,2's.
Overall, I think I ended up 6th or 7th on the night in the combined race. That's like hitting a single off of Randy Johnson. Nice, but no big deal. But in the 3's, I won (meaning I beat the other cat 3), so there's my #100, right through the hole in the Dairy Queen sign.
But Chloe and all of my kids were there. Chloe could have chosen to sit this one out. She just got back from NYC and all, I wouldn't have felt bad about her not being there. Actually, I would have felt bad for running off to a race just as she got back into town. She was there, though, to see Noah race. I raced anyway and my family was there...I'm eternally grateful that they were.
Noah was the first to give me a hug, because he was wondering why I was getting all buzzed (I can't think of another word that is something like "emotional" but subdued). He went and got Reanie, and she gave me a kiss.
On one hand, I'm extremely relieved to get it done. On the other, I wish it would have been under more competitive circumstance. But hey, it was opening night of Texas Cup racing on the world class Superdrome. I can't help it if people don't show up to race.
I did. Well, I didn't, but I did. Sort of like Noah's, "I won, a kinda not a race but it was a race so I won..."
Friday, April 08, 2005
Friday already? Feels like next month.
Chloe's getting back from NYC later this afternoon. Noah had a 90 minute baseball game last from 5:30 to 9freakin'o'clock last night. Let me tell you, that is a long time for babies to have to snack on cheerios behind the left field fence. The real bummer was losing a 3-run lead in the last inning, 12-11.
The babies' school is closed today, so they are making sure I'm kept busy. Noah is at his school, but what he's really doing is getting psyched up for racing track tonight.
I have absolutely no business racing, but I'm taking my bike anyway. Just because it is stupid to have a nice track bike but not take it out on the track.
9:00 karate in the morning, 6:00 baseball, head to San Antone for a race Sunday morning...I'm so glad Reanie isn't playing soccer or something right now. Can Noah get a hardship license at 9yrs?
The babies' school is closed today, so they are making sure I'm kept busy. Noah is at his school, but what he's really doing is getting psyched up for racing track tonight.
I have absolutely no business racing, but I'm taking my bike anyway. Just because it is stupid to have a nice track bike but not take it out on the track.
9:00 karate in the morning, 6:00 baseball, head to San Antone for a race Sunday morning...I'm so glad Reanie isn't playing soccer or something right now. Can Noah get a hardship license at 9yrs?
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Time for an intervention?
I pick up Kids #2 and #3 from their school and head to the grocery store. Timing-wise, I know it will be a disaster if I don't stuff some food in them before shopping.
Fortunately there is a McDonald's at the Super Wal-Mart!
While standing in line at the McD's counter, it hit me that this isn't good. I've got two babies, I'm wearing ratty shorts, an old t-shirt, and I have a haircut that looks like one of the babies gave it to me, and I just ordered chicken nuggets and french fries for their dinner.
So I completed the show and ordered a 1/4 lbsder with cheese.
Buddy isn't eating anything but fries, and I'm getting a little frustrated that he won't eat some of the "chicken." Instead of going all the way white trash, I don't spank him. Yet.
Since I am white trash with a degree, I told Reanie to give Buddy a "chicken" nugget, which he took and then ate. As long as Reanie fed him, we were good to go.
Reanie put ketchup in her hair.
Buddy has a black eye and a nice scrape/scab on his eye from falling on a chair the day before.
But now we are ready to shop, so we grab a cart, put Buddy in the seat and Reanie in the basket. We hit the fruits and veggies first. We grab a watermelon, which Reanie uses as a seat in the basket. The rest of the fruit goes underneath the basket in the dog food/diaper cage thing.
We go through the store and pick up the regular stuff for the week, and all of it goes under the basket, otherwise Reanie will get into it. Every time...EVERY time...I stop to get something, Buddy stands up in the seat.
After doing all we can do, and me breifly considering purchasing the Fat Albert DVD thing, we go to check out. As I load up the conveyer thing, Buddy stands up. Of course.
I'm getting frazzled, and I know we are in Wal-Mart, but I still don't jerk him up by one arm and spank him, though that's what everyone there was thinking I should do, I'm sure.
Instead, I gave him the credit card while I tossed the bags below the basket. Meanwhile, Reanie is pulling the bags off of the wheel-a-bag thing they have there as fast as the checkout thing can go. And Buddy has the check card, and I'm losing my mind wondering where I put it.
And it is raining and 30mph winds outside. I mean, this Wal-Mart was indoors, but it just helps the story.
We get it all to the truck, and I get Reanie out of the basket, because everytime I put some bags in the truck, Buddy stands up, and then Reanie grabs him, so I'm afraid she's going to knock him over.
I grab some more bags and put them in the truck, and while I'm doing that, Reanie starts pushing the cart, with Buddy standing in the seat, across the parking lot. In the wind and rain.
That was that. I'll go up to Wal-Mart later today to see if they are still there.
Fortunately there is a McDonald's at the Super Wal-Mart!
While standing in line at the McD's counter, it hit me that this isn't good. I've got two babies, I'm wearing ratty shorts, an old t-shirt, and I have a haircut that looks like one of the babies gave it to me, and I just ordered chicken nuggets and french fries for their dinner.
So I completed the show and ordered a 1/4 lbsder with cheese.
Buddy isn't eating anything but fries, and I'm getting a little frustrated that he won't eat some of the "chicken." Instead of going all the way white trash, I don't spank him. Yet.
Since I am white trash with a degree, I told Reanie to give Buddy a "chicken" nugget, which he took and then ate. As long as Reanie fed him, we were good to go.
Reanie put ketchup in her hair.
Buddy has a black eye and a nice scrape/scab on his eye from falling on a chair the day before.
But now we are ready to shop, so we grab a cart, put Buddy in the seat and Reanie in the basket. We hit the fruits and veggies first. We grab a watermelon, which Reanie uses as a seat in the basket. The rest of the fruit goes underneath the basket in the dog food/diaper cage thing.
We go through the store and pick up the regular stuff for the week, and all of it goes under the basket, otherwise Reanie will get into it. Every time...EVERY time...I stop to get something, Buddy stands up in the seat.
After doing all we can do, and me breifly considering purchasing the Fat Albert DVD thing, we go to check out. As I load up the conveyer thing, Buddy stands up. Of course.
I'm getting frazzled, and I know we are in Wal-Mart, but I still don't jerk him up by one arm and spank him, though that's what everyone there was thinking I should do, I'm sure.
Instead, I gave him the credit card while I tossed the bags below the basket. Meanwhile, Reanie is pulling the bags off of the wheel-a-bag thing they have there as fast as the checkout thing can go. And Buddy has the check card, and I'm losing my mind wondering where I put it.
And it is raining and 30mph winds outside. I mean, this Wal-Mart was indoors, but it just helps the story.
We get it all to the truck, and I get Reanie out of the basket, because everytime I put some bags in the truck, Buddy stands up, and then Reanie grabs him, so I'm afraid she's going to knock him over.
I grab some more bags and put them in the truck, and while I'm doing that, Reanie starts pushing the cart, with Buddy standing in the seat, across the parking lot. In the wind and rain.
That was that. I'll go up to Wal-Mart later today to see if they are still there.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Noah is certifiable
On Sunday, we took Noah out to the track so our friend Mike Gacki could get Noah certified to train and race at the Superdrome. To ride at any of the Superdrome's training sessions or to race at the races, this track class is compulsory.
Noah has been pumped to get on the track for some time now. Since he couldn't race until he was "racing age" 10 (meaning one has to turn ten in the calendar year to take out a USA Cycling racing license), there wasn't any real need to rush the process. But he's been on my case since he started racing and riding for real, so we waited until the right opportunity opened up and scheduled this thing.
I did pull rank a bit and asked Mike to set up a "class" that wasn't offered publicly. Mostly I didn't want Noah on the track with a bunch of newbies and bozos. At the same time, however, I did want there to be other people on the track, because that's the reality of riding and racing.
Originally, I was going to suit up and ride with them, but in my attempt to prove Darwin right, I'd thrown my back out about an hour before we were to leave for the track when I lifted up a lawn tractor to kick off the loosened flat tired wheel...
But this is about getting Noah on the track, and that's what we did anyway. Though, I must say, it was somewhat bittersweet because I had been looking forward to being a part of this with Noah and Mike. There's going to be lots and lots of opportunity to turn in some laps with Noah (and Mike, for that matter) in the future, though.
Noah used one of the Superdrome's bikes they have for the classes and whatnot. A rental, essentially, but Noah was the first one to ride this baby. It was a smaller bike overall than what Noah normally rides on the road. It has smaller wheels, and basically, everything is scaled down to 2/3 scale. It worked well, though I expect we'll get him a bike with normal sized wheels, as I expect Noah will likely grow in the next two years or so.
While waiting for us to show up, a curious cyclist took a peak inside the track, met Gacki, and badda boom, badda bing, Gacki had two people in the class. It worked out well, as it created some traffic for Noah, but not enough to be overwhelming. This guy was greener than Noah about being on two wheels, so it was kinda funny to see it play out.
Noah's bike had about a 68inch gear, which is like saying a dragster only has first gear. It wasn't going to be a fast bike, but the point wasn't to win a race on Sunday; he just needed to get a feel of the track.
It was probably best that it was a small gear, as Noah did start to fade a bit towards the end of the two hour class. And when you get tired and slow down too much on a track with 44deg banking...
But Noah kept it upright for the entire class. In fact, once the class was officially over, he asked Mike if he could ride some more. Mike has a rough exterior, but Noah pushed him over.
I think Mike would have ridden out there with him for another two hours if I wasn't pissin' and moanin' and wanting to go lie down somewhere and feel all bad about myself.
As we were leaving, I asked Noah what he thought, how it went, etc. Noah responded, "It was better than I thought it would be." That's saying something, because he already had it built up pretty high, so to exceed already lofty expectations...
Thanks, Mike. I look forward to riding out there with the both you and Noah.
Noah has been pumped to get on the track for some time now. Since he couldn't race until he was "racing age" 10 (meaning one has to turn ten in the calendar year to take out a USA Cycling racing license), there wasn't any real need to rush the process. But he's been on my case since he started racing and riding for real, so we waited until the right opportunity opened up and scheduled this thing.
I did pull rank a bit and asked Mike to set up a "class" that wasn't offered publicly. Mostly I didn't want Noah on the track with a bunch of newbies and bozos. At the same time, however, I did want there to be other people on the track, because that's the reality of riding and racing.
Originally, I was going to suit up and ride with them, but in my attempt to prove Darwin right, I'd thrown my back out about an hour before we were to leave for the track when I lifted up a lawn tractor to kick off the loosened flat tired wheel...
But this is about getting Noah on the track, and that's what we did anyway. Though, I must say, it was somewhat bittersweet because I had been looking forward to being a part of this with Noah and Mike. There's going to be lots and lots of opportunity to turn in some laps with Noah (and Mike, for that matter) in the future, though.
Noah used one of the Superdrome's bikes they have for the classes and whatnot. A rental, essentially, but Noah was the first one to ride this baby. It was a smaller bike overall than what Noah normally rides on the road. It has smaller wheels, and basically, everything is scaled down to 2/3 scale. It worked well, though I expect we'll get him a bike with normal sized wheels, as I expect Noah will likely grow in the next two years or so.
While waiting for us to show up, a curious cyclist took a peak inside the track, met Gacki, and badda boom, badda bing, Gacki had two people in the class. It worked out well, as it created some traffic for Noah, but not enough to be overwhelming. This guy was greener than Noah about being on two wheels, so it was kinda funny to see it play out.
Noah's bike had about a 68inch gear, which is like saying a dragster only has first gear. It wasn't going to be a fast bike, but the point wasn't to win a race on Sunday; he just needed to get a feel of the track.
It was probably best that it was a small gear, as Noah did start to fade a bit towards the end of the two hour class. And when you get tired and slow down too much on a track with 44deg banking...
But Noah kept it upright for the entire class. In fact, once the class was officially over, he asked Mike if he could ride some more. Mike has a rough exterior, but Noah pushed him over.
I think Mike would have ridden out there with him for another two hours if I wasn't pissin' and moanin' and wanting to go lie down somewhere and feel all bad about myself.
As we were leaving, I asked Noah what he thought, how it went, etc. Noah responded, "It was better than I thought it would be." That's saying something, because he already had it built up pretty high, so to exceed already lofty expectations...
Thanks, Mike. I look forward to riding out there with the both you and Noah.
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