Noah took 2nd in the Junior 10-14. I made him put his clothes on for the awards presentation.
(Thank for the pix, Kyle and Daveed.)
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Champ Champ 2nd
My buddy and teammate, Robbie, won the RR and Crit at Hotter-n-Hell. Robbie is one of the most deserving guys to have a weekend like this.
Noah took 2nd in the Junior 10-14. I made him put his clothes on for the awards presentation.
(Thank for the pix, Kyle and Daveed.)
Noah took 2nd in the Junior 10-14. I made him put his clothes on for the awards presentation.
(Thank for the pix, Kyle and Daveed.)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Bootleg Sittin' In
Everyone is different but me. During the opening miles of any group ride you can hear riders talking about how their kids are doing this and that so they can’t train, how work is getting in the way of the miles, and anything else that sounds like an excuse.
It is just part of it. We’re all unique in just how much our significant others, kids, and jobs will let us pursue our racing and riding passion, but regardless, we all have to make do with what we can, and most of us wish we could do more. But reaching my potential on the bike ranks somewhere behind doing the dishes, making sure the kids are bathed, and dropping off a copy of my proof of insurance to the county court to make a traffic ticket go away. Racing and training has to fit in among helping with a science fair project and watching the last half of the movie you started with your wife last week. Training has to wait until the important stuff is done, like looking for Barbie’s missing leg.
That was yesterday, anyway. To justify shaving our legs, we make do. Afterall, that’s the real reason we race bikes.
4:17am. I wake up with the diaper end of one of my kids in my face. There is much love in my heart for Kid #3, but that still isn’t how I want to wake up. The coffee machine is in my office, right next to our bedroom. It is set to start making coffee ready at 4:30am, when I get up. That is the smell that I want to help me out of bed. But just as I get #3 aimed in another direction and settle in for that last bit of sleep, I realize that I’m not getting that 13 minutes of sleep that was pampered away from me.
I turn off the alarm, brush my teeth, wash my face, and grab my cycling clothes.
4:30am. Just as the first cup of coffee is crucial to a successful morning, this is an important time of the process, as I need to make sure that I don’t wake up anyone. The deal is that if I wake them up before 5:30am, then it is my problem. Meaning, no ride.
I made way to the stairs with my cycling clothes. Getting ready happens downstairs now to minimize the noise. Granny, who lives with us, happened to be up, “Good morning,” she says. I wanted to “shush” her, but you don’t “shush” Grannies.
“Good morning,” I whisper.
“Are you going to ride?” she asked as I stood there naked holding my cycling clothes.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be back in a bit to make breakfast.”
“I hope you make muffins this morning.”
“Just for you, I will,” I sincerely replied.
Once in the garage, I grabbed the water bottles, which I forgot to fill the night before. I took them out of the “cup holders,’ as Kid #1 calls them, and went to the kitchen. I reached into the refrigerator for some lemon-lime flavored stuff and heard a thump behind the door.
4:35am. I had knocked down Kid #3 with the refrigerator door.
He stood up without fussing and asked for milk. Then he said, “I wango biride,” Not that I’m opposed to taking him in the trailer, but I...Well, yeah, I was opposed to that right then. I took him back upstairs and back to bed. He seemed content.
While getting his cup, I noticed that the dirty dishes were still in the sink from dinner. This is the result of the game where nobody does them to see if the other person will do them. I’m pretty good at that game, except that today it’s a thing that falls under “If Mama Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy.” Bike riding comes after dish washing in the household list of priorities. Plus there’s the whole “If Mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy” thing.
4:49am. With a relatively clear conscience, I go grab some miles. Today was a good day what with the bug count being pretty low and it not being a trash day.
5:54am. The last half mile of my ride was filled with “S” turns. The road isn’t all that twisty, but I could tell that the computer was going to end up at 19.8 miles, and 20.0 is much better than 19.8.
I put the bike in the garage. To keep things quiet, I used the shower outside. We don’t have neighbors so only cows were offended. Once inside, I turned on the oven to get things started for breakfast.
From there I went upstairs to get dressed and found Kid #2 having a tea party with her stuffed animals. She was then enlisted to help me with making muffins.
6:15am. Kid #2, Barbie and I made muffins for breakfast. You can’t tell anyone, because my friends and family don’t know I cook or bake, but these muffins are made from scratch and are pretty much the best muffins ever. It is way more fun to make a mess with a three year old when it doesn’t just come from a single box of mix.
6:43:am. With the muffins in the oven, it was time to turn attention to getting the kids ready for school. Kid #1’s school wasn’t to start for a week, so he pretended there wasn’t commotion going on around as Kids #2 and #3 were readied for their school. 7:05am. We get the herd moved from the upstairs pasture to the downstairs pasture. I cut up some fruit for the kids, which sounds healthy and all, but it really just buys me a few minutes while we wait for the muffins to cool, otherwise we have to spend 30 minutes of blowing on them because they will be “hot” no matter how cool they are.
7:25am. Kid #1 was filling 5 gallon buckets with water for the younger trees around here. While he was doing that, I was loading Kid #2, Barbie, Kid #3, Thomas the Tank Engine, Gordon, and this Hershey stuffed animal we brought back from a trip to Nationals this summer. We cram all of this in the Jeep each day. It is part of the routine. Sort of like airing up the tires before a ride.
8:05am. As I pulled back into the driveway (my office is at home), Kid #1 was still hauling buckets out to the trees, so I carried a few to help get him along.
8:23am. Worked.
11:35am. The pile of cycling clothes had been ranked as a climb by the Tour de France organizers, which meant it was time to throw those in the washing machine.
11:44am. Granny gets a nice smoked turkey sandwich on a bagel. I used pickle relish instead of pickles to give it some sweetness. Then we have a piece of chocolate, just to make sure.
12:08pm. To close the deal on the Downtown Denton Criterium, I have one more meeting to convince a few folks that having us there won’t be bad for business.
2:11pm. Worked. Well, I got caught up in a barrage of email where my friends make fun of each other. But I did get some work done too.
3:37pm Checked the TXBRA forum, wrote a response to some jackhole’s post, but deleted it before I could hit submit.
3:47pm Wrote a response again, because I wasn’t quite ready to let it go.
3:51pm. Deleted it again and promised myself to never look at the TXBRA forum ever again.
5:00pm. We were running late because I had to check TXBRA one last time, but I took Kid #1 to practice and picked up Kids #2 and #3, and then went back and picked up Kid #1 from practice. And we made it home just in time to see Mama pulling in the driveway from work.
6:30pm. Kissed Mama when she got out of the car.
7:15pm. Dinner. Mama trained as a chef in Italy. We like dinner. A lot.
8:00pm. Everyone under 6ft tall had to take a bath. I took a shower.
8:19pm. Everyone put on their pj’s and went downstairs to read books with Granny.
8:42pm. Kids #1 through #3 are put in bed.
8:47pm, 8:56pm, 9:02pm, 9:11pm, and 9:29pm. Kids #2 and #3 are put back in bed.
9:30pm Spend some quality time with Mama.
9:31pm Checked TXBRA again.
9:49pm Swore out loud and swore again to never check TXBRA.
9:52pm. Read something that didn’t have anything at all to do with cycling.
10:10pm. Remembered to go fill up water bottles and charge battery for the headlight.
10:18pm. Lights turned out.
10:19pm. Kiss Mama again. Fall asleep sometime after that.
1:17am. Remembered that the cycling clothes were still in the washing machine. I took them out and put them on the clothesline outside.
4:17am. I wake up with the diaper end…
It is just part of it. We’re all unique in just how much our significant others, kids, and jobs will let us pursue our racing and riding passion, but regardless, we all have to make do with what we can, and most of us wish we could do more. But reaching my potential on the bike ranks somewhere behind doing the dishes, making sure the kids are bathed, and dropping off a copy of my proof of insurance to the county court to make a traffic ticket go away. Racing and training has to fit in among helping with a science fair project and watching the last half of the movie you started with your wife last week. Training has to wait until the important stuff is done, like looking for Barbie’s missing leg.
That was yesterday, anyway. To justify shaving our legs, we make do. Afterall, that’s the real reason we race bikes.
4:17am. I wake up with the diaper end of one of my kids in my face. There is much love in my heart for Kid #3, but that still isn’t how I want to wake up. The coffee machine is in my office, right next to our bedroom. It is set to start making coffee ready at 4:30am, when I get up. That is the smell that I want to help me out of bed. But just as I get #3 aimed in another direction and settle in for that last bit of sleep, I realize that I’m not getting that 13 minutes of sleep that was pampered away from me.
I turn off the alarm, brush my teeth, wash my face, and grab my cycling clothes.
4:30am. Just as the first cup of coffee is crucial to a successful morning, this is an important time of the process, as I need to make sure that I don’t wake up anyone. The deal is that if I wake them up before 5:30am, then it is my problem. Meaning, no ride.
I made way to the stairs with my cycling clothes. Getting ready happens downstairs now to minimize the noise. Granny, who lives with us, happened to be up, “Good morning,” she says. I wanted to “shush” her, but you don’t “shush” Grannies.
“Good morning,” I whisper.
“Are you going to ride?” she asked as I stood there naked holding my cycling clothes.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be back in a bit to make breakfast.”
“I hope you make muffins this morning.”
“Just for you, I will,” I sincerely replied.
Once in the garage, I grabbed the water bottles, which I forgot to fill the night before. I took them out of the “cup holders,’ as Kid #1 calls them, and went to the kitchen. I reached into the refrigerator for some lemon-lime flavored stuff and heard a thump behind the door.
4:35am. I had knocked down Kid #3 with the refrigerator door.
He stood up without fussing and asked for milk. Then he said, “I wango biride,” Not that I’m opposed to taking him in the trailer, but I...Well, yeah, I was opposed to that right then. I took him back upstairs and back to bed. He seemed content.
While getting his cup, I noticed that the dirty dishes were still in the sink from dinner. This is the result of the game where nobody does them to see if the other person will do them. I’m pretty good at that game, except that today it’s a thing that falls under “If Mama Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy.” Bike riding comes after dish washing in the household list of priorities. Plus there’s the whole “If Mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy” thing.
4:49am. With a relatively clear conscience, I go grab some miles. Today was a good day what with the bug count being pretty low and it not being a trash day.
5:54am. The last half mile of my ride was filled with “S” turns. The road isn’t all that twisty, but I could tell that the computer was going to end up at 19.8 miles, and 20.0 is much better than 19.8.
I put the bike in the garage. To keep things quiet, I used the shower outside. We don’t have neighbors so only cows were offended. Once inside, I turned on the oven to get things started for breakfast.
From there I went upstairs to get dressed and found Kid #2 having a tea party with her stuffed animals. She was then enlisted to help me with making muffins.
6:15am. Kid #2, Barbie and I made muffins for breakfast. You can’t tell anyone, because my friends and family don’t know I cook or bake, but these muffins are made from scratch and are pretty much the best muffins ever. It is way more fun to make a mess with a three year old when it doesn’t just come from a single box of mix.
6:43:am. With the muffins in the oven, it was time to turn attention to getting the kids ready for school. Kid #1’s school wasn’t to start for a week, so he pretended there wasn’t commotion going on around as Kids #2 and #3 were readied for their school. 7:05am. We get the herd moved from the upstairs pasture to the downstairs pasture. I cut up some fruit for the kids, which sounds healthy and all, but it really just buys me a few minutes while we wait for the muffins to cool, otherwise we have to spend 30 minutes of blowing on them because they will be “hot” no matter how cool they are.
7:25am. Kid #1 was filling 5 gallon buckets with water for the younger trees around here. While he was doing that, I was loading Kid #2, Barbie, Kid #3, Thomas the Tank Engine, Gordon, and this Hershey stuffed animal we brought back from a trip to Nationals this summer. We cram all of this in the Jeep each day. It is part of the routine. Sort of like airing up the tires before a ride.
8:05am. As I pulled back into the driveway (my office is at home), Kid #1 was still hauling buckets out to the trees, so I carried a few to help get him along.
8:23am. Worked.
11:35am. The pile of cycling clothes had been ranked as a climb by the Tour de France organizers, which meant it was time to throw those in the washing machine.
11:44am. Granny gets a nice smoked turkey sandwich on a bagel. I used pickle relish instead of pickles to give it some sweetness. Then we have a piece of chocolate, just to make sure.
12:08pm. To close the deal on the Downtown Denton Criterium, I have one more meeting to convince a few folks that having us there won’t be bad for business.
2:11pm. Worked. Well, I got caught up in a barrage of email where my friends make fun of each other. But I did get some work done too.
3:37pm Checked the TXBRA forum, wrote a response to some jackhole’s post, but deleted it before I could hit submit.
3:47pm Wrote a response again, because I wasn’t quite ready to let it go.
3:51pm. Deleted it again and promised myself to never look at the TXBRA forum ever again.
5:00pm. We were running late because I had to check TXBRA one last time, but I took Kid #1 to practice and picked up Kids #2 and #3, and then went back and picked up Kid #1 from practice. And we made it home just in time to see Mama pulling in the driveway from work.
6:30pm. Kissed Mama when she got out of the car.
7:15pm. Dinner. Mama trained as a chef in Italy. We like dinner. A lot.
8:00pm. Everyone under 6ft tall had to take a bath. I took a shower.
8:19pm. Everyone put on their pj’s and went downstairs to read books with Granny.
8:42pm. Kids #1 through #3 are put in bed.
8:47pm, 8:56pm, 9:02pm, 9:11pm, and 9:29pm. Kids #2 and #3 are put back in bed.
9:30pm Spend some quality time with Mama.
9:31pm Checked TXBRA again.
9:49pm Swore out loud and swore again to never check TXBRA.
9:52pm. Read something that didn’t have anything at all to do with cycling.
10:10pm. Remembered to go fill up water bottles and charge battery for the headlight.
10:18pm. Lights turned out.
10:19pm. Kiss Mama again. Fall asleep sometime after that.
1:17am. Remembered that the cycling clothes were still in the washing machine. I took them out and put them on the clothesline outside.
4:17am. I wake up with the diaper end…
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Buon Compleanno
Happy 11th to Noah!
He gave himself a birthday present by winning the Junior race at the Wednesday Night Crits in Fort Worth too.
In his bithday suit playing with the playstation guitar thing he got for his birthday from Reanie and Buddy.
He gave himself a birthday present by winning the Junior race at the Wednesday Night Crits in Fort Worth too.
In his bithday suit playing with the playstation guitar thing he got for his birthday from Reanie and Buddy.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
What's that on my leg!?
I'm wearing pants. There's a bike race gonna happen in Denton in a month, and I'm playing the man behind the curtain. Part of this gig is (yet another) meeting this morning with the Mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, the Police Chief, and so forth. And because of that, I had to get dressed.
As I've been sitting here punching on the computer, I've felt a little weird. Some sort of cold/flu is going 'round our house, and I figured that was it, but it just occured to me...
I'm wearing pants for the first time in several months.
Weird.
As I've been sitting here punching on the computer, I've felt a little weird. Some sort of cold/flu is going 'round our house, and I figured that was it, but it just occured to me...
I'm wearing pants for the first time in several months.
Weird.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
School is Closed Today
So I have the POSS2. I loaded up the bouncy house and maragrita machine to get it back to Randy's (he'll bring it out and pick it up, but I wanted to make it easy on him). The kid's school is closed for a couple days while they get ready for the Fall term, so it was all three offspring stuffed in there among the blower, mixing jugs, cart, bouncy house, and frozen drink machine.
Back at the house, I tried to get some work done while the kids watched some Pooh movie, but it wasn't happening. After that, I tried to get them to nap, but it wasn't happening.
Once I gave up on that, I went into their room to surrender, and Reanie had all kinds of makeup and perfume out, spilled, and on everything, including Buddy. So, thank you to all y'all who brought that stuff for birthday presents. It cleans up pretty easy, except for the glitter stuff and perfume.
Buddy, on the other hand, looks pretty. And (I'm not kidding) he took a healthy big job that was pink. He crapped...THIS COLOR. OK, so it is a little purplish too. Not really mauve. Certainly not an earth tone.
Back at the house, I tried to get some work done while the kids watched some Pooh movie, but it wasn't happening. After that, I tried to get them to nap, but it wasn't happening.
Once I gave up on that, I went into their room to surrender, and Reanie had all kinds of makeup and perfume out, spilled, and on everything, including Buddy. So, thank you to all y'all who brought that stuff for birthday presents. It cleans up pretty easy, except for the glitter stuff and perfume.
Buddy, on the other hand, looks pretty. And (I'm not kidding) he took a healthy big job that was pink. He crapped...THIS COLOR. OK, so it is a little purplish too. Not really mauve. Certainly not an earth tone.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
You Had to be There, But...
...I'm telling it anyway--
We get to school and I'm pulling the kids from the Jeep. We go out the side since the top and sides are never on the thing and it is easier than moving the seat up. The kids can take off their own seatbelts, so when we park, they queue up for de-jeeping. They are standing on the back seat with a hand on the roll bar.
Reanie was first, but as I reached for her, she said, "Wait, Daddy. My panties are in my BT." While that is enough for something of a chuckle, what was really funny is that Buddy then bent down behind her to see her BT and what it looked like. Head turned sideways, hands on his knees. At least that's what I guess he was doing.
We get to school and I'm pulling the kids from the Jeep. We go out the side since the top and sides are never on the thing and it is easier than moving the seat up. The kids can take off their own seatbelts, so when we park, they queue up for de-jeeping. They are standing on the back seat with a hand on the roll bar.
Reanie was first, but as I reached for her, she said, "Wait, Daddy. My panties are in my BT." While that is enough for something of a chuckle, what was really funny is that Buddy then bent down behind her to see her BT and what it looked like. Head turned sideways, hands on his knees. At least that's what I guess he was doing.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Where are Nationals Going to be in 2012?
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Any bike racer knows how important it is to find a good dumper before a race.
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Game time.
Excellent Coaching
Thursday, July 27, 2006
I TOLD you to eat your peas!
Actually, this one gets filed under, "That's What You Get For Jumping on the Bed."
I posted the first pic for dramatic effect. She's a tough girl. This first pic was the tail end of a shot where she was sticking her tongue out at me. This shot was of her asking to see it.
Mama likes this picture, so I put it up here too. The cut probably could have used a stitch or two due to how deep it is/was, but it was bed time for the kids and I wanted to watch a movie.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Might Need a USB or Something for That
Lately I've been making muffins for breakfast. Sweet corn, or oat bran, with berries, with nuts, zucchini, banana, tahini, yogurt...I've been getting my muffin on. Makes for easy breakfasts. Takes some time to put it together since I'm not using a mix, but I get to wear the apron. It works out well, because we don't really have time to family-style the breakfasts on weekdays, and because I can stick a muffin in a kid's hand, stuff them in the Jeep and take them to school.
The mornings are "my" time with the little ones. We generally ease into the day. Since I get to the office when I say I get to the office, we may take our time with kicking the soccer ball or whatnot. This morning was one of those mornings, except that we had to make sure to get to school in time for Reanie's ballet class.
Mama called while I was herding the herd to the car. She talked to Granny a bit, and then Reanie got the phone. I didn't think the muffins were all that great this morning, but evidently Reanie did. She told Mama all about them and even held the phone up to them so Mama could see. Then she tried to send a muffin through the phone.
At that point I really thought it best to take her to school because there was work still to be done, evidently. Then again, maybe I should consider what school is actually teaching our children.
The mornings are "my" time with the little ones. We generally ease into the day. Since I get to the office when I say I get to the office, we may take our time with kicking the soccer ball or whatnot. This morning was one of those mornings, except that we had to make sure to get to school in time for Reanie's ballet class.
Mama called while I was herding the herd to the car. She talked to Granny a bit, and then Reanie got the phone. I didn't think the muffins were all that great this morning, but evidently Reanie did. She told Mama all about them and even held the phone up to them so Mama could see. Then she tried to send a muffin through the phone.
At that point I really thought it best to take her to school because there was work still to be done, evidently. Then again, maybe I should consider what school is actually teaching our children.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Couple more videos hiding on the camera from Nationals
Here's a quick video of Noah warming up on the trainer for the 2K finals at Nationals. Probably only interesting for Grandparents and the full-on cycling dorks.
Spin
And this one makes me so proud and breaks my heart at the same time. You don't get to see the 3/4 of a lap where it started, but you can see how it ended up for Noah.
Swarmed
Road rash on both arms (and knees).
Spin
And this one makes me so proud and breaks my heart at the same time. You don't get to see the 3/4 of a lap where it started, but you can see how it ended up for Noah.
Swarmed
Road rash on both arms (and knees).
Monday, July 17, 2006
Home.
3887.2 miles driven
42 meals eaten out
14.5 days
7 races
6 pounds I lost
1 top ten finish
Countless laughs
42 meals eaten out
14.5 days
7 races
6 pounds I lost
2 homesick bikies
2 crashes1 top ten finish
Countless laughs
Friday, July 14, 2006
Speed bump personified
This is the boy Noah found on the ground in front of him yesterday. It was cool to hear them talk about the fall and what they thought happened. Both advanced to the finals of the 2K tonight.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Today Noah Sampled the Other Side of the Track
He was in the front group, and it looked to be a lock to make it to the finals, but the rider ahead of him went down, and Noah couldn't avoid it. So he crashed. It was a good one--over the bars and everything. Broked his helmet and spread the rash around to multiple body parts. He's acting really goofy right now, but that's mostly because he's ten and because Grandaddy arrived today.
Wish this pics showed his war wounds better. He's kinda proud of them.
He's racing tomorrow. Last one for these Nats.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Update from T-Town
20th in the 500m TT. He's not too happy about it, but considering he crashed in his first attempt (pulled a pedal on the fourth pedal stroke), he did get points for getting back out there and trying again. A few scrapes and a sprained wrist. He'll make a decision about continuing in the morning. For what it is worth, he was running a full 4 seconds faster for the 500m in training we'd done back home.
Marty came up to Noah after he fell and said all the right things, patted him on the back and all that. We went back to the gear to get reset, and I found out that Noah had no idea who Marty was. Pretty funny. That's Marty Nothstein, if you need to google.
Couple video clips:
Pre-Race (there is no post-race interview this time)
Rain Delay
Marty came up to Noah after he fell and said all the right things, patted him on the back and all that. We went back to the gear to get reset, and I found out that Noah had no idea who Marty was. Pretty funny. That's Marty Nothstein, if you need to google.
Couple video clips:
Pre-Race (there is no post-race interview this time)
Rain Delay
Monday, July 10, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
23rd
It could have gone better, but Kid #1 just didn't have it today. Pie seemed to make him feel better afterwards, though.Start of the RR (only about 20 seconds)
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