Halloween CX and Puck Fun

Hello all. Another weekend of cyclocross fun, but this time with only one race. This race at Washington Park in Milwaukee was the site of my very first cross race in 2005. Good times. I hitched a ride down there with Brooks, Mary, and one of Mary's co-workers, Kate. It was a bit chilly...not bad though, but super windy. We watched part of the Cat 4 race from the coffin bunnyhop barrier. It was the same as last year, except this year they used lighter fluid and had a fire going on the backside of it...made for a cool effect.

I got a good start and settled in behind 2 other riders for the first half lap. Toward the end of the first lap, Tim attacked from behind and opened up a gap that he continually extended throughout the race to easily take his 4th win a row. Another rider and Dave took off a lap later and also stayed away for the remainder of the race. I rode in 4th place for a bit until Kevin (on his sweet Vanilla Speedvagen) and another rider caught up to me. I rode with them for a couple laps but eventually couldn't hang onto their wheels any longer. I finished the race off in 6th place, with some good blood lung to boot. :)

Not my best result, but it's not really a course that suits me very well, so I'm satisfied with that.

Thanks to djonn for the pics once again. They got the standings updated on the WCA website, and I'm currently sitting in 2nd place! Very cool. Not much of a chance to move up, as Tim has a monster gap on the rest of us, but it should be a good battle for 2nd place with Greg and Dave right behind me.

A few hours after getting back from the cross race, I headed off to the SP Arena for the 1st hockey game of the season. Team Blue is going to be pretty good this year, I have a feeling. We have some solid dmen, and 3 or 4 guys that can put the puck in the net. We cruised over a good Team Gray, beating them 8-4. We had a 7-1 lead after 2 periods, and then let up a bit in the 3rd. I finished the game with 1 goal, 2 assists, and 2 shots that hit the post. I felt pretty good considering I hadn't skated since April. Good times, I'm excited that the season has started up again.

We also started painting the guest bedroom this past weekend. We have to get that finished up so that we can start converting the office into a baby room. Speaking of that, Heather and I went to her latest doctor appt on Monday, and mother/daughter are both doing well. Her little heart is chugging along nicely at 140 bpm. Heather will be completing the guest bedroom painting this week (while wearing her protective paint mask) and I am working on running cable internet to the sunroom so we can hook the computer up in there.

Busy weekend ahead: Two cross races, both in Milwaukee...Saturday at Kletsch Park and Sunday at Estabrook Park. I've done well in the past at both, so hopefully I can get some good results. Then Sunday night is another hockey game.

And I'm out. :)