Merry New Year

The New Year is almost upon us. This past year seemed to just fly right by. Heather and I take off after work today for Fargo to celebrate a late Xmas with the Abraham/Litchy/Chase family. Vontoux will not be making the trip, as he is having fun over at the Leedahl residence. I will post pics once we return.

Ever wanted to know how to say 'Happy New Year' in sign language? Here you go:
Now that the holidays are almost over, the time to take down the Festivus pole is drawing near.

Hope everyone has a good New Year's celebration. Also, a big congrats go out to Dave and Jen, who tie the knot this very evening. Go get her, Vino!

Christmas in MI: A Pictorial Review

Hope everyone had a great Xmas! Here is a look back at our trip to MI for the weekend.

Here's Hayden showing me the correct way to play with his toys.
Why did Heather steal one of his socks?

The family.

Eric and I in his basement playing some foos. That foosball is the devil!

Can you ever have TOO much hot chocolate? The answer is yes.

Vontoux just got done shredding all the wrapping paper. Soon he will terrorize the cat in the background.

At the park, testing Vontoux with some agility challenges. Check out my hat!

A good time was had by all in MI. Lots of driving, but the roads were good so it wasn't so bad. We even visited the Johnson clan on our way back home. Why didn't anyone buy me the IF XS from my previous post?? Up next is a New Year's celebration in ND. The next time I see Simmons, he'll be a man!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody out there in blog land! Heather and I are leaving today after work, heading to MI. Should be fun. Hope everyone has a good Xmas and gets what they want!

If anyone has deep pockets, this is what I want for Xmas:

A 45mph couch potato

Hello everyone. Wow, Xmas is right around the corner now. Crazy. It will be a hectic couple of weeks for Heather and I, as we are going to MI this upcoming weekend and then to ND the following weekend. Lots of driving, but it will be a good time regardless. We got our little nephew Hayden the coolest gift ever, the Trek Trikester. The thing is bad-ass. Hopefully he isn't reading my blog, otherwise the surprise will be ruined. He probably won't be able to use it right away, but by the time next spring rolls around, he'll be flying on it.
Heather and I went to another house showing on Sat in east Madison. It was ok...all the appliances were ancient, it still had a fuse box instead of circuit breakers, all the walls would have to be repainted, the layout was weird, etc. It did already have a fenced in backyard, but it was a small yard that looked into all the neighbors back yards. We still like the Sun Prairie split level the best so far.

After our house showing, we went to AniMart (like PetCo) because they were having an "open house" for the WI greyhound adoption organization. It has long been Heather's dream to rescue a retired racing greyhound, so it was good to see them up close and pet them. They are actually really calm and friendly in person. Vontoux would love having a playmate at all times! ;) Our favorite one from the website is Dean:

Tonight I had my last league hockey game for 3 weeks because of the holidays. Team Gray continued their winning ways, beating Team Green 3-1. I scored a goal (only 40 seconds into the game) and also got an assist on our 3rd goal. A slap shot hit my skate near the end of the 1st period, and now my right foot hurts. It's not bad though. As we head into the holiday break, Team Gray is 6-2 and in 2nd place still. I have 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points in 8 games.

I have some extra vacation time at work (and if we don't use it, we lose it), so I took tomorrow off from work. Brooks and I are going to play. Should be fun. Talk with you all later!

This isn't really an emergency, but....

Hello everyone out there. Is it really only 2 more weeks until Xmas? Crazy. This past week was a fun one...Heather and I were house-sitting Mary and Brooks' house while they were in FL. I'm sure that little Vontoux and Sampson had fun playing together all day, as when we returned home on Fri, he was pooped out for 2 days straight. I was also on-call this week, which is not fun at all. My title for this post is how every call begins. But the extra money is always nice.

We also looked at 3 houses this past weekend. The first house was in downtown Sun Prairie. It was an older Victorian-style house. It had a nice big yard. That's the only good thing. Next!
The next house was a cool looking house in Cottage Grove. From the pics, this house looked really nice, and I was excited to see it. But once we got inside, it was not good. Bad floors, doors, crazy wiring, a dungeon basement, etc. Even the workshop/garage (which they hyped in the internet ad) was crappy and looking ready to fall down. Disappointing. Next!
This one is a split level house in a nice neighborhood in Sun Prairie. I didn't like the look of the outside of this one as well as I did the last one, but the inside definitely had the most potential of the houses we looked at this weekend. A nice wood-burning stove downstairs, and a huge, long backyard. Some updates would be needed (paneling, wallpaper, etc), but we will keep this house on our list.
Team Gray has now won their last 2 games. Won last week 4-2 over Team Orange (who beat us 7-1 earlier this season), and won last night 5-4 over Team White. No goals for me, but I got an assist. We are in 2nd place in the league.

2006: A Season in Review

So here it is, as promised, my 2006 season recap and goals for next season. Depending on how I look at it, it was both a very good and a somewhat disappointing season. Very good because I raced more than I ever have before with races in 3 different disciplines of bike racing and put more miles in my legs than I ever have before. Somewhat disappointing because this season lacked the big result that you're always gunning for. But all in all, I am pleased with how the year turned out, and it makes me excited to see what next year brings.

I ended up racing 18 races this past year (beating my old record from 2004 of 15 races...the year that Greg and I did all those collegiate races).
--5 road races
--6 mountain bike races
--7 cyclocross races

The road season seemed to be where I raced my best, as I was always in the thick of things at the end. I felt strong and was able to come out with some decent results. This gives me confidence heading into next year's road schedule. Watch out for that powerhouse Team Brown Bear next spring! Here is a pic of me, with a storm in the distance, leading out a guy with big legs and a little bike.


I had a fun mtb racing season, although abbreviated due to me missing many races with weddings, trips, and vacations. I was pleased with how it seemed like I was improving with every mtb race. The first WORS race I finished 7min back from the winner, and the last one I did I was only 2.5min back. Next year I hope to do more races in the WORS series. I was also very happy with my result in my first Chequamegon. Look at how blurry fast I am going on my flame bike near the end of Cheq!

I wasn't sure what to expect heading into my first full season of cross, as I am normally not very good at the short, intense races like crits and cross races. But I felt that I did alright. The season was pretty inconsistent, as I felt strong in some races and weak in others. I ended up 11th in the WCA cross standings, which is better than I expected before the season began, so I am happy with that. Next year I hope to do more intensity-based training before cross begins to hopefully do a bit better.

And then we can't forget the trip to France. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that had the best riding that I have ever done (and probably will ever do). What a great honeymoon. Here is a pic of me, stopping for a photo op on the descent of Alpe d' Huez.


My goals for next season:
Road -- 1. Be the WI Cat 4 State Road Champion
2. Finish consistently in the top 7 in all other road races
3. Earn enough points to upgrade to Cat 3
MTB -- 1. Finish top 5 age group in the WORS Comp standings
2. Finish in the top 10 at the 24Hours of 9Mile Solo
3. Finish in the top 100 at the Chequamegon 40
Cross -- 1. Finish in the top 6 of the WCA Cat 3 standings
2. Be more consistent

A Thanksgiving Miracle

Hello all. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Heather and I went over to Brooks and Mary's, where Brooks had prepared a delicious feast for us all. It was a very relaxing day, watched a couple movies and ate way too much. So, in other words, a typical Thanksgiving day. I enjoyed having a 4-day weekend, and am not looking forward to heading back to work tomorrow.

Here's a picture of us before we stuffed ourselves silly.
The poor little puppies couldn't take all the excitement and had to take a little nap.

On Friday, it was so nice out that Brooks and I went for a bike ride...in shorts! Crazy. Ended up being a good 40 miles or so. Fun, relaxing ride to burn off all of our Turkey Day calories. No more of that though, as it is supposed to rain early this week and then get much colder later in the week.

Tonight I had league hockey once again. We faced off against the undefeated Team Blue. We ended up losing 6-3. I played ok, got 2 assists, but also had one of their goals deflect in off my skate. Oops. Heather was joined by Mary and Brooks in the stands to watch the hockey fun.

Heather and I met with a lender on Sat to go over financials for our upcoming house purchase. She gave us some good advice, and gave us a price range to look at, so that was nice. We may be looking at a few more houses this week. I'll keep you posted.

Royale with cheese

What's up everybody? Today was the last bike race of the season, the WI State Cyclocross Champs, right here in Sun Prairie. I had a 4min drive to get to the venue. Nice, I can handle that. It was a nice day, a bit cold with the wind, but sunny, so not bad at all.

The race was held at the Angell Park Motor Speedway, and it was a fun, challenging course. Some good climbs, fast chicanes, some fun off-camber stuff, and a stair run-up. Brooks entered the race 11 points up on Greenblatt in the WCA standings, so it was close. The field was much bigger as well, with a lot of MN and IL racers showing up. They did call-ups at the start, so both Brooks and I got front row starting positions. The first lap was hectic with all the tight turns and chicanes. A lot of rubbing bikes and racers. But then it got more strung out. I didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel good either. Both my legs and lungs just didn't have it, which I was pretty much expecting being that I haven't ridden in a week and a half. Finished up in 18th place. The real fun was at the front for the state champ title and the series title. A guy from MN ended up with the win, with Greenblatt coming in for 2nd. Brooks finished in 5th...which left them TIED for first in the standings. Wow. From what I can remember, they use number of wins as the first tie-breaker (Brooks got 2, Greenblatt got 1), so Brooks should still be the winner of the series title. We'll see I guess. Great finish to the series though, with it being that tight. Nice job, Brooks. I think that I ended up 10th overall in the series.

Right before the race. Lots of racers going for that state championship!
Me going down a fun little downhill before a good climb.
Part of the TBB support crew is pictured below. Vontoux was at his first cross race of the season. He seemed to enjoy himself.

We had a good size cheering section there for this race with Heather, Mary, Brooks' parents, and a co-worker of mine (the other Brian) and his girlfriend all there.

Tonight I had my hockey league game as well. It didn't look good from the start, as only 8 of our players showed up. So we only had 3 players on the bench at a time. The worst part of this is how tired you get by the 3rd period. The good part is all the ice time that you get. I had my best game of the season so far; I felt comfortable and my passes were connecting. I ended up scoring 2 goals and assisting on 3 others for a total of 5 points in Team Gray's 8-5 win over Team Black. That puts Team Gray at 3-1 so far this season. Nice.

And with today's race, that concludes the 2006 racing season. It was a fun season. Maybe I will post a season recap with my goals for next season sometime soon. But now it is time for a month and a half vacation off the bike before starting base training for next spring's road season. Sounds very relaxing.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

Tonight Heather and I went to the Bob Seger concert in Milwaukee. Good stuff. :)

Who's this little guy, snuggling with his favorite stuffed elephant?

Birbigs!!

Well hello there everybody. Another fun weekend here.

Tonia and Trent drove up on Fri...spending the entire day on the road because of the winter conditions that moved through WI. They always seem to have bad luck with weather when coming here...strange. Fortunately they made it on time for us to go to The Friends of Bob and Tom Comedy show at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Madison. It was a great time...hilarious stuff. It was headlined by Mike Birbiglia. Birbigelbutt.

I decided to skip out on the cross race in Janesville...with Tonia and Trent only in town until Sunday morning, I figured I would rather spend the day with them. Brooks went down there and represented TBB well. Next (and last) up is the State CX Champs, right here in Sun Prairie.

Last night we all went to the new Will Ferrell movie, Stranger than Fiction. I really liked it and highly recommend seeing it. Trent said it best; a great "smart" comedy.

Tonight I had hockey once again. Team Gray pounded Team Green, 5-2, after getting behind 2-0 in the first 5 minutes of the game. No goals for me though. But I thought I played really well, lots of chances, only a matter of time before they start finding the back of the net.

I will leave you with a teaser logo from the jersey design:

Notice the subliminally placed star. Ah, yes. More details were hashed out on the main jersey design, so it shouldn't be long before we can get that finalized.

New Mexico? Perfect place for Mijo!

Hello all you bloggers out there. Seems like lots of stuff has happened since my last post, so I will get right into it....so I am sorry if this ends up being a lengthy post. :)

We went over to Brooks and Mary's house for Halloween. Dressed up Sampson and watched Clockwork Orange. Good times. On Saturday, Heather and I relaxed and did not do much of anything at all. It felt good to just chill out. The relaxation was needed, because Sunday was a very busy day.

It started out by heading to Milwaukee for the Estabrook Park CX race. Heather told me as we were driving there that her season was over. She just wanted to relax and not spend the money on racing anymore this year. I understand what she's saying there. :) This was a cool course; I really liked it. Some pavement sections, fun chicanes, and a nice little mtb singletrack section. Brooks and I once again got front row positions, but as he said in his race recap, neither of us got off to good starts and we ended up actually rubbing shoulders when everyone pinched in. Regardless, we were both in the front group of 10 that lead for the first lap or so. I had decided before the race to take it easy for the first few laps so as not to blow up like in the last race, so when a group of 4 (Brooks, Sachs, Masterson, and Haley) got off the front, I didn't chase them down. I instead got in a 5 man "chase" group. We were going at a decent pace for another 2 laps, when to my surprise, we caught back up to the leading 4 riders. I was just taking it easy at the back of this group when one of the riders picked up the pace at the front, and a guy in the middle let a gap develop to those same 4 riders. I didn't want to blow myself up chasing, so I just hung with 2 other riders for a few laps. I ended up getting dropped by those 2, and rode in no-man's land by myself for a couple laps, eventually being caught by another rider right before the last lap started. What was crazy to me was how small the time gaps were. Each lap around, I could see the leading 4 in the chicanes less than a minute up on me. During the last lap, the rider that had caught me kept accelerating, trying to drop me, but I would catch back onto his wheel. Then, as we entered the last set of barriers, we could see Masterson (from the leading group) running his bike along the course. I yelled out to the guy I was with that we should pick up the pace and catch him. As we went through the last chicanes and entered a grass section right before the finish, he was running right in front of us. We were catching up to him quickly as we turned into the final straight for the finish. I launched my sprint, going around the other rider and just missed out on catching Masterson by 5 feet. Ended up getting 7th. If I could do it over again, I would have attacked on the grass section instead of waiting until the final straight, as then I am sure that I would have passed Masterson as well. Oh well, I guess. I found out after crossing the line that the reason why he was running was because of the carnage from the crash on the last lap. His bike was toast...he'll need a new rear derailleur, right Campy shifter, der hanger...that was an expensive race for him. Brooks ended up 3rd, but unfortunately Sachs boy won and took over the lead in the series. Good thing there are still 2 races left to right that ship. I'm happy with my performance, my legs and lungs felt much better than last week. Hopefully I can do well in the final races to move up some more spots in the points series.

Here is a picture of the Milwaukee River, which ran through the park where our race was held. There were hazard signs posted about eating the fish from the river. Must be clean!
Look at me, flying through the singletrack! This was the fun part, right after a loose, steep run-up section and before a fun little descent.
Brooks leading out Team Brown Bear arch-rival, Sachs boy, around some corners.
After getting back home, Heather and I met up with a home buyer's agent at a house for sale in east Madison that Heather had found online. The house had an awesome, big yard, but that was about the only thing nice about it. Really weird floor plan, crappy garage, and random walls all over the place. It feels weird to be looking at houses. But it's going to be great finally getting a house! We should be looking at more properties in the coming weeks...

Right after looking at the house, we headed over to the Sun Prairie hockey rink for my league game. We played Team White, but I was confused, because I didn't see Pat out on the ice. This was the first time that Heather had ever seen me play hockey. I played ok, but not as good as last week I thought. My passing was off all night, and I missed 2 chances right in front on golden opportunities for goals. Thankfully, I got the chance to redeem myself, as the game ended in a 3-3 tie, so we went into a 3-man shootout for the win and I was one of the guys chosen by our "coach" to shoot. I skated in on the goalie, faked a deke, then shot it upper corner for a goal. Luckily, our goalie shut out Team White's 3 shooters on their chances, so my goal was the only goal scored in the shootout, and ended up being the game winner.

Here is a picture of me in action, skating around what might be the skinniest ref in the world.

This upcoming weekend will be great fun, as Tonia and Trent are coming to visit us here in lovely Sun Prairie. Word on the street is that Tonia plans on unveiling her design ideas for next year's Team Brown Bear jerseys. How exciting.

In other news, a big congratulations goes out to Nathan "Mijo" Vasquez, as he got offered a position at BTI, a bicycle parts distributer, in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Nice job Nathan!! Yet another SBS employee getting a job in the bike industry. Terry, Monty, and Pat must put something in the water Mt Dew there. I am excited for Nathan on his big move out to NM, but I must admit that it will be sad to go back to GF now and not be able to go out with him to the Hub anymore. :(

Halloween Cross and Sun night hockey

These weekends just blow by when they are jam-packed with action. It makes going back to work on Monday mornings that much harder. :)

This Sunday we had the Halloween cross race in Milwaukee. It is a really fun course in a cool city park. Heather did very well, getting 12th place in the Womens Cat 4 race...and just getting edged at the line in a good sprint with another chickie. My race was like an exact replica of the first cross race of the season: I got off to a great start (2nd wheel for most of the first lap), then just lost all power for some reason. Was moving backwards for the rest of the race until the finish. Ended up 15th, just like in the first race. I did have a heck of a sprint finish though. I was riding with a dude for the last 2 laps, and his woman kept yelling at him, telling him that he could take me. We caught up to another guy near the finish, and right when we caught him, the other guy attacked. So I caught up to him, drafted off him for a few seconds, and then countered. Turns out that his woman was wrong. Hehe. :)

Brooks had a great race, coming in 2nd and beating the hated Sachs boy in the process. The dude that won was crazy fast. He is a Cat 2 roadie, so I am not sure what he is doing racing Cat 3 cross, but whatever. He was way up there from the very start of the race.

Here is a pic of Heather powering her way up one of the pavement sections.

Here is a shot of me, having a lovely jaunt, coasting through the fall leaves.
Brooks on the last pavement section before the start/finish line.
Here's me after launching my sprint away from the dude who's woman lies to him.
Then, just a few hours after returning home from Milwaukee, I had my first hockey league game of the season. It's right here in town at the Sun Prairie hockey arena. It's definitely no Ralph Englestad Arena, that's for sure. ;) We ended up losing the game, but it was a really good time. We should have a decent team as well. I played better than I thought I would being that I haven't played since April. The league is almost every Sunday night until next April, so if any of you loyal blog readers are ever in town for a weekend, you're more than welcome to come cheer Team Gray on. :)

And for parting words...Daylight Savings Time sucks. Getting off of work when the sun is already down sucks. That is all.

The Joys of Phlegm

Hello all. I thought I had better do a new blog post before Vino's head exploded. :) Hehe. So, here is my recap of this busy weekend.

Heather's parents got into town on Thurs evening and stayed until Sun morning. On Sat, they went with Heather into Madison and explored all the fun sites while Brooks and I got muddy. Everyone wave at Joyce! I bet that Jim would have had more fun watching us race than watching them shop. ;)

The joys of phlegm indeed. I started to get sick last Sun, and am still under the weather now. Sucky. My stages have been like this: Runny nose/general grossness (Sun-Wed), stuffed up nose/head cold (Thurs-Sat), and I am currently in the sore throat/"hey, I bet that I have tuberculosis" cough phase. Not fun.

I wanted to race regardless though, being that there were alot of points to be had with 2 races this weekend. So...the first race was on Sat at an old landfill. Why they thought that holding a bike race at a landfill was a good idea is beyond me. It was beyond muddy. Just sticky grossness and grass. Both Brooks and I got off to good starts from the front row and remained in the front group for the first lap. But then I started to slow way down, due to me not being able to breath and my wheels not being able to spin. I called it a race after 3 of the 6 laps.

Onto Sunday's race. Another muddy one, but in a much better venue, with almost a mtb-like feel with some fun singletrack. Brooks and I got crappy start positions and had to start from the back, but we made our way back up quickly regardless. My legs felt great during the race, but once again I could not breath properly and could not hang with the lead group for too long. Ended up 12th. This is a course that I feel I could do well on...maybe next year! Brooks took the win for Team Brown Bear, relegating the hated (and arch-rival to Team Brown Bear) Sachs boy down to 2nd. Nice job, Franklin. Heather raced in the Cat 4 Women's race and did very well for her first time ever riding in those type of muddy conditions...and she got the much coveted Lanterne Rouge in the process!!

A pic of my bike after the Saturday landfill race. Forty pounds of energy-robbing fun!
Our solution to the problem was to stop at the local car wash on the way home.
Two thumbs up for a job well done. Both the car and the bikes came out sparkly clean.
Brooks during the Sunday race. That guy beside him is thinking "Venga! Venga!".
It's a bird, it's a plane! Nope, it's just me leaping over some barriers.

This upcoming Sunday is going to be a busy one as well, with the 5th cross race in the WCA series (in Milwaukee) as well as my first league hockey game of the year that night! That's right, I joined an adult hockey league, playing every Sunday from Oct-April. That's alot of hockey. I'm on Team Gray. Hopefully my sickness clears up before then!

Talk to you all later.

Cross racing / On-call / Visiting family

Hello all. Yesterday was the 2nd cross race in the WCA series. As Brooks pointed out in his race recap, the course was not designed for cross racing at all, and kind of sucked from a spectator's point of view because of how much it was spread out. But it was a good time, nonetheless.

Heather did her very first cyclocross race (her very first bike race in general, actually) in the Women's Category 4 race. Despite starting from the back because of the crappy start area, she managed a very good 11th place. Not too shabby for her first ever bike race!! She is planning on racing some more races in the series now as well. Nice job Heathrow.

Brooks and I were not sure when to line up for the start (since it was a 5min jaunt to the start line from the cars), so we didn't get a warmup at all and decided to get a better start position instead. We got there and got perfect, first row positions. Excellent...until some latecomers decided that they could just wedge their way in front of us to my right. At the start, as the racers to the left of me were taking off on course, some idiot to the right of me in a Polska jersey couldn't clip in, so he swerved to his left in front of me. I had to literally track stand for a couple seconds waiting for him to get the hell out of the way. When he finally did, I was already down in around 15th place or so. Crappy. The first lap retardedness was not over yet though, as halfway through the lap, another idiot (on a Richard Sachs custom cross bike with carbon wheels) decided to completely cut a chicane, hit a rock in the process, wipeout, and have his bike land right in front of me and another racer. Serves the guy right. By the time that I was past all that shenanigans, the lead group was already 20 seconds or so up course. Double crappy. So I spent the first 2 or 3 laps just trying to catch up to that group. Nice waste of energy that would have been completely avoided if not for a couple other racers. By the last lap, I had worked my way back into the top 10, and managed to catch another 2 riders in that final lap (ALMOST catching another group of 3), so I ended up 8th overall. The time gaps were very small in the top 10, so I am sure that if I could have avoided that first lap mayhem, I would have been in the top 5 group. Oh well, I guess that is racing sometimes... :)

Since blogger is not letting me post pics for some reason, here is the link to all the pics.

And, in other news:

A) This week I am on call for work. That sucks.
2- Heather's parents are coming to visit us this weekend. Good times...they haven't seen their first-born grandson in awhile.
c. Next weekend there are 2 cross races. Should be a good time.

Trip back home and Birthday Boy!

Made it back from my trip to GFND in one piece. Spent a lot of time at the bike shop getting them setup and trained with Ascend. They went live with the system on Saturday! It's about time they got rid of that 20 year old DOS-based computer system. ;)

Had a good time visiting with family and friends as well. Went to a Sioux hockey game, Paradiso, Hub, got some fun biking in at TRSP with the gang (the new singletrack is nice!), and watched plenty of HGTV with the family. :) Had a nice tailwind coming home and got hella-good gas mileage...made it all the way from GF to past Eau Claire before I filled up!

Today is a day of celebration. First, it is my one year anniversary working at Trek. Second, I had my annual review and got a raise. Third, and most important, it is Vontoux's birthday! Our little son turned 2 today. They grow up so fast. Here is a pic of him and his proud mother, as he waits to play with his two new toys...a weird squeaky hedgehog named Spike and a rawhide.

This weekend is the second cross race of the season, and Heather said that she is going to race! Exciting. She is going to kick some butt. One of my co-workers got us tickets to the UW/UND hockey game on Fri as well, so we are going to that. Should be a good time.

If you haven't noticed yet, Brooks and I started a team here in WI, Team Brown Bear. The jerseys are being professionally designed by my lovely sister, so watch out for them at next year's races. We will be taking applications for race roster spots this off-season. :)

Cross has begun / Good reading

Hello all. This weekend was the first cross race of the season for me. It was gorgeous out, with a high of about 75 and sunny. I see that Brooks has already posted a nice course description and race recap, so I will refrain from posting too much about that. For me, this race was divided into 3 parts: the first 2 laps - where I felt strong, the middle 3 laps- where my legs felt powerless, and the last 2 laps - where I felt strong again. I think my body needs to get used to doing these short 40min races instead of the 2hr races that I have been doing all season. Good thing there are 7 more races in the series! :) Regardless of how crappy my legs felt in the middle portion, I ended up 15th overall and 10th in my age group. Hopefully I can move up as the series progresses.

Here is a picture of me going over the first set of barriers, right after the start/finish:
Another shot of me, entering the gravel climb near the start of the lap:
A pic of Brooks, stylin' with his skinsuit and orange handlebar tape:
One of the ways to intimidate the other racers is to flash gang signs, post race:
Next race is in another 2 weeks. Heather may also race in that one, so that should be fun.

In other news:
I just got done reading Marley and Me, by John Grogan. If you are an animal-lover, I highly recommend picking it up. Great read. Gets quite sad at the end when Marley dies (sorry to ruin the ending). Doesn't help that Marley is also a yellow lab that looks like little Vontoux. Heather is going to cry when she reads it. I guarantee it. :)

This weekend (Thurs-Sun) is the big trip back to GF! Looking forward to it. Hopefully we can get the bike shop all set up with Ascend, and still have time for all the fun stuff that I want to do. I'll post a recap once I get back. Until then, keep the rubber side down!

Traveling around.

Hello all. Last weekend Heather and I went to her friend Heather and Rick's wedding in Port Huron, MI. It was a good time...Heather's brother Eric and I got to make fun of people dancing. And they had an open bar, so Joyce saw my alcoholic side (she has pics to prove it!) . We also got to celebrate our little nephew Hayden's bday. Here he is opening up our gift, a talking dump truck named Chuck:

One good thing about weddings is all the good-looking women prancing around. I happened to lock eyes from across the room with one hottie in particular. We shared some good times, but then I found out she was married. Bummer. I did get a pic of us together though:
Otherwise not much is new around here. This Sun is the first WI cyclocross race. Should be a painful good time. Brooks and I will have to drive a whole 25min to get to the race site. :) Fun times...I'll talk to you all later.