MERRY CHRISTMAS!

All this morning (Christmas Eve) Jeb was pretending to be Santa Claus:



MERRY CHRISTMAS!

man...

I don't have class anymore, and I'm not training (not that I ever really do), but it still seems as if I don't have any time. So, this one is going to be short.

I went up to Cyclocross National Championships in Providence, Rhode Island last Friday. I didn't race, I thought I'd enjoy myself hanging out with the DCC of D and other MAC brethren. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Got my first grad school grade, an "A"... So, I got that going for me. One down, two to go, before I can get admitted to the program. They have a policy that if you take three classes and get a 3.something, they will wave your undergrad GPA, a necessity for me, as well as wave the GRE's (like I have time to study those frickin exams)

That's all for now.

Happy Holidays!

Phillipsburg Cross

Raced Sunday in Phillipsburg, mom was babysitting and the race was local (30 minutes away). I figured out a few thing not to do before a cross race...

don't leave your bike in the car for the entire week before the race!
don't eat 2 bowls of Cookie Crisp 1 hour before the start!
don't show up to the race 15 minutes before the start!
don't not pre-ride the course! (PRERIDE THE COURSE!)

While hurrying up getting dressed I'm thinking about this being my last cross race for the year, and dang it there is a monster hole in my gloves. Oh well I'll get some new ones for next year.
Line-up with out any idea of what lays out on the course... not a good idea, especially on this course, as I'd find out later...
Got my usual great start, I decided it would be smart if I didn't lead the course. So, I sat in on the guy in first...
not so bad, usual cross stuff, hmmm off camber drop off.... no problem,
ok 180 around a tree off camber... why's he running it?...I can ride it...NOT down I go and take out most of the guys behind me... oops, sorry guys.
back on, S turns through some trees... no problem... dang it, under the tape, hey but back on course
what the heck is going on with my bike? The freehub is sticking, crap... anytime I coast the chain keeps going... NOT GOOD!!!
ok, pavement, hey, cool a skatepark, hmm, up a bank and down, tight but no problem...
barriers... no problem
pavement... no problem
course goes up a steep hill... carry momentum, doh! it goes back down, lucky...
more pavement...What the!?!? Holy crap that is steep! and LOOSE! Momentum is your friend... guys are getting off at the bottom, I'll cruise by them and get off halfway up....BAM!! I'm on my back in the loose dirt!!! Aw crap!! there were all those people watching!
Whew, we're back on grass, through the football uprights
Hey, why is everyone stopping at the top of this hill?!?!? WHOA!!! STEEP!! AND LOOSE!!! Made it...
OK, now I have to do it a few more times...
No problem... I'll get off the bike and run around the tree...WHAM!!! on the ground, DANG IT!!! the ground is frozen!! OUCH!!! That's gonna leave a mark!

The rest of the race was a lot of the same. Sometimes I could make it on the technical stuff and other times, well, I couldn't...

This photographer knew to set up shop at the bottom of the loose steep drop off:
This is how you do it.
This is how NOT to do it.
Don't steer into the crash, you dummy!

That was probably the most fun I've had racing the cross bike all year! Even though I am a little banged up! The course reminded me of the Ft. Devens course of a few years back... good job guys! Thanks!

Whew!

The paper is done and handed in. My first graduate class is all done. One down 11 to go?

Thanksgiving "break" was nice, I had 6 days in a row that I did not have to go to work!

Thanksgiving was great! Spent the day with the in-laws, I think there were 19 people there. The Lancaster cousin's came out, t-bone and Lynn came down from Maine, THEY'RE HAVING A BABY! and Lynn looks great as usual!

My favorite thing about t-day was one of the guys brother was going to his in-laws and they were having tofu-turkey, not that there's anything wrong with that. Anyway, he keeps taking pictures of the turkey in the oven, and sending them to his brother.

Friday: the boys came over for a ride. We were going to go mtb but man was it going to be muddy. I convinced them to go for a "road" ride around the lake. It was cool, but it was a lot shorter than I remember. Afterwards we went to wawa for hoagies, they're from St Louis, so it was a bit of a new experience for them. Back at the house we played ps2, man they whooped up on me in Medal of Honor! I suck! That night everyone came of to our house, my mom brought Brunswick Stew. It was yummy. .. there wasn't any squirrel in ours... I think...

Sat. drove out to Carlisle for the state champs cross. The venue was great! They could have a MAJOR cross race out there. The race went as usual for me... great start then the fade to back begins. After most of the race I found I was gaining on a guy and almost got him but I think he finally saw me and turned it on a bit. Oh well. My family was there, aunt and uncle were driving back to NC down 81, my uncle had to pick up a bumper he bought on eBay in Hagerstown. My parents were driving the boys back to St Louis. So, Carlisle was on the way for everyone. I don't think my aunt and uncle, and the boys had ever seen a cross race. I hope they liked it. One notable thing about the race was, having that much family there, well, there was a lot of cheering for me... I ended up 28th out of 36 finishers.

Nice shot of my family after the race:


Love 'em! Thanks for cheering!

...working on a term paper...

...and boy does it SUCK!

I hate writing term papers, YUCK!

No racing today.

I pre-registered for the cross race today, but there was no way I was going back to that mess. So, what did I do instead of slogging through the mud today:
- Sophie didn't wake up until 8:15!
- Fed Sophie and Jacob
- Decided I would have bacon, eggs and toast.
- Hung out with Jacob watching tv.
- Mom came over.
- Jacob and I went "fishing" at the Lake (Guy's/EVO I have a great place to put on a race)
- Watched some guys play disc golf
- Looked at the boats
- Jacob wanted some food, so we went to wawa for hoagies, he pushed the buttons.
- Ate lunch with Mom, Jacob and Sophie
- Went out for a ride to the Lake (Guy's/EVO I have a great place to put on a race)
- Came back, told Jacob he had to go to sleep
- Jumped in the shower
- Ran to the grocery store
- Made Chicken Paprikash, to take over to In-laws
- Loaded up Mom's mini-van (had to make about 10 trips, I kept forgetting things)
- finished prepping dinner
- served and ate dinner
- came home in the jeep with Kris
- put Jacob to bed.
- here I am
- I'm going to bed.

Not racing today was worth every penny of the $26.20 entry fee!

What a waste of money...

Went to the Evo-Guys race today. From what I could tell the race was going to be run in some fields around some guys house and with all the rain we were in for a slog. I held out some hope that they could configure the course to at least make it a little interesting. Not really. Although, they did not have much to work with. I'd say 98% of the course was on grass. A lot of it was in hay fields that hadn't been mowed in a while. (I pulled foot long pieces of grass off of my bike.)

With all the rain, about 90% of the course was 3 inch deep mud. Now, I can handle mud, as long as there are some sections were you can carry momentum and some speed. The whole thing was about at running pace. I hate this kind of race and to me it is not modern cross, more like what I'd imagine cross was like in the 20's.

Oh maybe the fact that I have no fitness came into play? It was the absolute worst conditions for someone with my lack of fitness.

No, I'm not going back for more tomorrow. $58.40 down the drain! Damn! That is over a month's worth of my bike allowance!

Anyone want to meet me for a ride tomorrow?

Highland Park Cross

Mom said she'd come over and watch the kids while I went to the race! Woo-Hoo!
I figure if I'm going to actually ride my bike, it might as well be a race, right?

Sophie was up but Jeb was still sleeping, changed and fed Sophie and out the door by 8:15. crap map quest says an hour and a half... crap need gas... crap I hit every light on 309... It wouldn't be race day without some stress.

I actually got to the race about 45 minutes before the start. Number, suit-up, sweet free red-bull, pee, almost didn't make it to the potty, yeah, I was doing the pee-pee dance. Ride the first section of the course. hmm this is going to be a little slick. lined up early, I learned that from the Granogue race, I got a second row start, right behind Fort James and Pauly. I got a really good start, one of the things I'm actually good at, I think because there is a lag between the effort and your body realizing what the frick is going on. So, I'm sitting there in about 6th position and notice Pauly is off the front by a bit. Heck, while I'm here I might as well try and help Pauly. So, I get to the front of the group and kind of ride next to a guy, not blocking but disrupting. It worked for a few seconds, until we hit the next hill and it was like the dam burst, people kept passing me... Usual cross race story for me, any uphill I get passed, any downhill or section I can carry momentum I pass them back. I was back and forth with a Kissena guy. He had a bit of a gap on me going into the barriers before the finish. I knew I was faster through the barriers, closed the gap through the barriers. Into the right hand 180 onto the paved finishing straight, he goes wide, I changed my apex and got inside of him and on the pedals before him... beat him to the line! Felt good to actually sprint someone at the end of a race!

Hung out and ate my "pork" bbq sandwich, the lady gave me chicken instead of pork. I ate the sandwich in front of Tom and Kelly warming up on the trainers for their race. They didn't want any of my sandwich?!? Tom remembered he needed his number pinned on, "Its in the truck". Nope, not there. Tom runs around looking for his number, after about five minutes he sees a crumpled piece of paper on the ground about 20 feet from his truck, yep his number!

Good to actually get out and race, good to see everyone, wished I could have hung out a little longer, but had to get back to releive mom from watching the kids.

Looks like Mom is going to watch the kids again this weekend! Sweet more racing!

Thanks Mom, it means a lot to me.

New York City

Took the family to NYC last Friday evening. April, Cayley, and April's friend Tonya came up to spend the night at my parent's time share in NYC. The location is sweet! 56th and 6th or something like that. We took a stroll down to Times Square:


We look like a bunch of tourist don't we. I guess we were.

We went into the Toy R Us. And stumbled across this little lizard:



The thing moved it head, eyes, and tail. Jeb did ok with it until it started to roar! He was a little freaked out.

Everyone came by the house Saturday, after spending the day in nyc for cheesesteaks, I make a pretty good cheesesteak, thanks to my time working in Ganello's.

Trick or Treat

I took the kids trick or treating. Jeb filled up his little pumpkin with some good candy! I envisioned us doing our little cul-de-sac, but he wanted to keep going! We hit the next cul-de-sac over as well.