Merry Xmas...

Does anyone even read this anymore? Who knows, just thought I'd post a quick message to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Heather continues to post pictures of lil Annabelle growing up on her blog (which is why there are no pics in this update...she steals all the good ones). :)
That year went by really quickly, it's crazy to see how grown up our girl is now. She's the cutest, funniest, happiest little thing in the world, and we love her to pieces.
Not much else going on, just work and livin.
Hockey is going well, I'm having a really good season stats-wise...so much so that I was traded from the first place team to the last place team in the league because our team was too dominant (undefeated). Hopefully we can move up in the standings now.
In bike-related news, I mentioned in my last blog update that I was going to be on a new team for next season. The new team is the Fisher Midwest Regional Road Team. It's comprised of about half Trek employees. The newly formed blog for the team can be found HERE. We'll be riding this bike and the blog has pics of our kit (which will be modified slightly with sponsor info). Should be exciting! :)

Talk to you all later, and Happy Holidays.

Holy Bloggie, Batman!

Yes, yes, long time since my last post. I have no excuse. I've been doing Facebook more now...easier to update, quicker to upload pics, and takes less time. There, that's my excuse. :)

Lots has happened since my last post. Annabelle is getting bigger and more human like...Heather has been doing a great job on her blog with Annie updates. She's pretty darn cute and fun. I've been doing some bike racing, adult hockey league started last week, we did the Vermont trip, etc, etc. All good times. Here are some pics from VT.

The pool table in the ghetto basement of our 2nd B&B.

Heather risking limb to pet a horse.

Pic with a waterfall.More waterfall fun.

Trent, Jeff, and I acting tough (really just staying warm).

Tonia and I cresting a climb.

We toured the B&J's factory.

Tonia ready for another day of cycling.

Vermont countryside is similar to WI, just with mountains.

All of the buildings at this college were yellow.

There are more pictures from our trip posted here. The password is madone. It is all the pics taken by our tour guides...11 pages worth.

Halloween time. Annabelle's 1st Halloween, and she was excited. She picked out a ladybug costume.

That's about it for now. Maybe I'll post again in a month or so. :)
Some sad/good news...I may be departing Team Brown Bear for next season. There is a new regional team forming next year that I was asked to be on...I'll post more details as those come about.

Start them young...

With hockey season right around the corner, I figured it was time to outfit Annie with the right equipment. So I bought her a little Sioux jersey so she has something to wear while we watch UND games this winter.
It's way too big for her right now...we have to roll the sleeves about halfway up, so she'll probably be wearing it until she's 5 years old.
She's officially mobile now, crawling all over the place. I think she digs the independence...she can go where she wants and investigate whatever she wants. It's kind of scary at the same time though...she can now get into mischief. :)
Fall is approaching fast, but the weather has been glorious for the last couple weeks here. Perfect days. We're getting excited...our big trip to Vermont is coming up soon, and then cross racing and adult hockey season starts the weekend that we get back. Fun times!

Try, Try Again

Tomorrow, August 6th, is a big day here. It combines Heather's birthday along with Annabelle turning 8 months old. Good times.

To celebrate her upcoming 8th month, Annie decided that she wanted to pull herself up in her crib.

Her first effort "fell" a little short:

But, like the little trooper she is, she tried again. And her 2nd attempt was much better:

Nice job Binky. Her first two teeth are coming in nicely...right on the bottom front. She'll be eating meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy in no time.

On the new job front - it sounds like I have a good chance at getting the job...as long as the budget gets approved. With our dealer show, Trek World, being next week, I probably won't hear back until after that.

Busy, busy...

Another busy month, and I just kind of forget about the blog. Oops.
It seems that we've been driving all over the place lately. This weekend it was nice to just sit at home and relax.

A few races since my last post. I did a crit in Waukesha...my first crit in over 2 years. The last few corners were pretty sketchy, so I just rolled it in with the main pack. Then I did a road race in Whitewater. Felt really good, I was in the leading group of 13 riders with a half mile to go in the race when two riders right in front of me tangled bars and went down. I ran right over them and hit the pavement. Luckily my bike escaped relatively unharmed...the wheels trued back up, just a couple small scratches on the frame, few marks on the shifter...some new hbar tape and it was rolling again. I had some good road rash on my arm, hip, and palms though.

The next weekend Annabelle and I headed to ND to visit the grandparents and do the Prairie Rose road and mtb races.
Here she is at one of the pit stops, enjoying herself.
The road race was on Saturday. Once again, I was feeling really good and was in the leading group of 7 riders on the last lap of the 50 mile race. About a mile past the start/finish line, my rear tire flatted. Crap. My sealant didn't work, so I had to walk it back a mile. Turned out I had a nice chunk of glass in my rear tire.
The mtb race was on Sunday, and that went better. Vino, Greg, and Sears were there, so it was good seeing them. Jay Richards, a semi-pro from MN, was also there. He and I got away on the first lap and rode the rest of the 6 laps together, taking turns pulling through the horse trails. Some new sections of singletrack out at Turtle River...great loop. He got me on the uphill paved sprint finish, so I got 2nd place overall. Jay's take on the race can be found here.

Annabelle and I arrived home on Monday, and then on Wednesday we were on the road again to our annual lake retreat with the Josef parents, this time near Phillips, WI. That was a nice, relaxing time. It was pretty cold for July...didn't go swimming or anything, but I managed to read some books, do some puzzles, play some board games, and watch the Tour.

This past Tuesday after work we headed back to ND. RIP Jack. Our thoughts are with the entire Leedahl family.

Random notes...I may be getting a new job at Trek. I have a 2nd interview on Monday morning, so I'll keep you informed of what happens with that. Also, a group of players from my league hockey team signed up for the 2010 Pond Hockey Champs in Eagle River, WI in February. That should be a really fun time. And that's all for now.

Catching up...

Back at it again. Let's get it started...the last few months in pictures:

Auntie Alane visited us for a weekend. We went for a nice bike ride.

Then Tonia, Dad, and Danette all visited over Memorial Day weekend.
Tonia said the cows smelled just like Trent.

Annabelle loves swinging at the park.

Sometimes I want to partake in the fun as well.

This week we started Annabelle on some "solid" foods. She liked that.

Within two days, she already figured out how to work the spoon. Now I just put the food on the spoon and hand it to her. She takes care of the rest.

I got a new bike as well. It's fast and light.

Last weekend was the WI State Champ road race. I got 5th overall and 2nd for WI riders...I missed being the state champ by about 2 inches. So close...so that's both cool and annoying at the same time. The winner soloed for the last two laps and second place was none other than Robbie Ventura (ex-pro rider for USPS and ex-coach for Floyd Landis)...he wore a helmet cam and taped the whole race. There was a hill about 200 ft before the finish line and another rider attacked on that...only me and one other rider went with him. Here's the sprint developing, a little closer, closer still, and then me being disgusted that I lost the sprint. The first three places were all IL riders, so if I would have beaten that one dude at the end, I would have been state champ. Such is life sometimes... :)

Fun stuff coming up...first mtb race of the season for me next weekend. Road race on July 4th weekend. Then July 11-12 I am planning on heading back to GF to visit and to race the Prairie Rose road/mtb races. Annabelle has been all over the US with her mom (Michigan, Maryland, and soon Kentucky), so it's about time that her and I went roadtriping together.

Over and out.

First and Last

Long time no post. My apologies. Not too much new going on.
Annie's getting bigger, and becoming much more alert. Her new favorite game is now "Is Daddy Looking At Me?" when she's sitting in her chair at the table. She'll hide behind her toy, move to the side to see if I'm watching her, and then laugh and smile before quickly looking away. Then she does it again. Pretty darn cute.

Outdoor naked time.

Wearing her summer tank top.

On Saturday was my first race of the season, a road race near Baraboo. We did 3 laps of a 15mile course with two decent climbs on it. I felt crappy on the first lap and didn't make the lead group of around 15 riders that got away on the big climb. I got in a chase group of around 6 riders and we stayed pretty close to the leaders for the rest of the 1st and 2nd laps. We kept picking up riders that had gotten dropped by the leaders, and with only a few miles to go our group had around 15 people in it, with the leading group having 9. We brought the gap down to around a minute, but never got closer. In the last mile, a team from Chicago that had three riders in the group started to do a leadout for one of their guys. They were all lined up on the left waiting to start their sprint, but as we got closer to the line I decided to take off on the right. I took the field sprint by about a wheel length and got 10th place. Not too shabby for my first race of the season. After I got past the first lap, I felt good.

On Sunday was the last league hockey game of the season. Team Blue had a pretty bad playoff run...only winning one of the 5 playoff games. We were playing Team Red in the 5th place game, and we ended up losing 4-3 in the shootout. I've played three seasons now, and so far my team has ended up like this in the playoffs: Lost the Champ game (2 years ago), Lost the 3rd place game (last year), Lost the 5th place game (this year). I think that streak means that we'll win the Champ game next season. Either way, I still had a blast playing and will do it again next year.

We are getting a visit from Aunt Alane this upcoming weekend. Having some fun in the yard and hanging out is on the agenda. The weekend after that I am hoping to do a race double weekend...road race on Saturday, mtb race on Sunday. We'll see.

New Things.

Fun new things at the Abraham household. We got our Burley on Friday and took Annie on her first bike ride on Easter Sunday. It was really nice out, so we rode the 10mile loop around town.

Getting loaded up!

Heading out.
On the bike path.

She was comfy.

She did really well...didn't make a sound for the entire ride, just alternated between sleeping and looking out the windows.

I also got the receiver hitch installed on the Subie a few weeks ago:

No more Yakima rack! I got the Saris Thelma 2 rear mount rack, so that should work well.

The Eddy got some changes this past winter as well. New wheels and a new group:

Got the carbon Aeolus 5.0 wheels with the new Shimano 7900 group. Nice! The 7900 brakes are amazing...might take me a few rides to get used to the new lever shape on the shifters though.

In other news...my first race of the season will probably be sometime in the next three weeks. I haven't decided on the exact race yet though. Still have 3 more weeks of hockey, that's always a fun time. Heather's parents are visiting us this upcoming weekend, and then maybe Brandon and Gillian the following weekend.

Talk to you all later! :)

Taxes...

We did our taxes this week. Another benefit of having a kid = increased refund. I like it. We are going to buy a Burley and a shed. And then we are flying to Vegas and putting the rest down on RED. We'll be set after that.

Speaking of lil Annabelle, she turns four months old on Monday. Even at that young age, she has already figured out what she wants to be when she gets older...
That's right, she wants to be Elton John.

Updates...

I've determined that Heather is a much better blogger than me. You should probably visit her blog if you want to see better pictures and read a better tale. :)

Things are going well here. We are entering spring here in Madison, and I am loving it. Not that it was a particularly bad winter, I was just ready to start being outdoors again. All of our snow is gone, and we even had a 70 degree day here this week. With the warmer weather arriving, that means that the lunch rides at work have started in earnest, so I can get myself in shape for the upcoming race season. The Eddy road bike is getting some updates this year...I'll post some pics once I complete that.

Annie B is doing awesome. She's super cute and loves to smile. I'm ordering up the Burley next week, so soon we will be able to go on rides around town with her as a passenger.

Tomorrow I take off for the Cities for the Final Five hockey tourney. Heather and Annabelle are driving up on Fri for the day to visit with Auntie Alane, Dick, Dad, and Danette. Should be a good time!

I'm getting a receiver hitch installed on the Subaru next week. I just got a Saris Thelma bike rack...I'm done with Yakima racks. No more taking off wheels, hoisting it on top, bugs, bad gas mileage, etc. Should be much better.

Talk to you all later... :)

A Break...

Been awhile since my last bloggie post. Not too much has happened since my last update...we had a visit from my mom from Arizona, Heather's mom stayed with us last week, and that's about it. Here are some pictures.

Closeup!

(Almost) naked baby!
All bundled up.

With mom on the Capitol Square.

Heather and Annabelle with the Capitol.

London Trip

Hello all. Made it back from London yesterday. The flights there and back were both fine, pretty empty planes so I sat by myself and watched movies/played video games/read. The training for the European Trek employees went well...it sounds like they will be launching P1 over there in a couple weeks now.

While we were there, London had it's worst snowfall in 18 years, which shutdown the airports, buses, subways, etc. It was humorous, as it didn't seem like more than 1-2 inches fell in most parts of the city. Here are a bunch of crappy pictures:

The "epic" snowfall.

The Trek UK office.
A naked rugby player advertisement.

London Bridge being guarded by a battleship.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

The road crossing into Buckingham.

Phallic monument of Winston Churchill.

Some sort of massive building.

Far away shot of Big Ben.

A castle equipped with a ferris wheel.

Park/river/island.

Front of Buckingham Palace.

And that's it.

Then I came back home because I missed Heathrow and little Annie B. Sounds like Heather will be doing a 2-month old Annie tribute blog post tomorrow, so be sure to check that out.

Also, the weather is warming up here in WI (30's and 40's), which means one thing: Lunch rides at work are starting. :)