Sunday, August 17, 2008

This and That


I've been pretty lax in posting lately. I guess it's not really lax if all your time is taken up doing something else. A one-year-old provides all the something else required to take up all my time right now. Any Olympics I've seen has been after the fact on nbc.com, and there hasn't been much of that. Katie really liked the track bicycle racing for some odd reason, especially the Keiren where the moped drives around in front of the racers for a couple of laps, then dives into the infield while the sprinters go crazy for 2 laps.


I got out yesterday with Big Jim, Lanny, Ray, and Luke for a preview of the State road race course north of Avon. It's not my cup of tea, with a 150 foot high climb to the finish up a fairly steep hill. I seem to gas out after about 50 feet vertical (which is basically a power climb for me). Anyway, Ray and Big Jim flew up both of the hills in the race, and then we went back and did the finishing climb 2 more times just for laughs.


I've decided to line it up at the State RR next Saturday, even though my shoulder is only about 75% at this point. I'll try really hard to stay out of trouble, which for me is usually just the last 200 meters during the sprint. With the finish line at the top of a climb, I'll be out of the mix long before anyone starts sprinting. I'll probably go hard the first 2 laps to chase down attacks or whatever, then cruise in.


I'm really training for the last time trial of the year in Henderson on September 6. I'm not that great at TTs, but they're really hard, so I'm highly motivated to train well going into the fall. I've found that I have to trick myself into working out hard, or else I end up just pedaling around without sweating much, or worse yet, I don't get on the bike at all. The first and still most important reason I took up bike racing was to keep my training motivation high through the winter. There's nothing like fear of getting dropped in the first race of the spring to keep you riding and lifting all winter long.


With Katie home, I've been riding with the guys on Saturday mornings, which usually provides me with plenty of hard efforts on the bike, and then I've been riding 2 or 3 nights a week on the trainer after Katie goes to bed. That way I maximize time with her (and earn points with Soulmate), and also get to watch a little of the Olympics "live". It's actually nice to just sit around in this beautiful weather for once, instead of fretting about how I'm going to get a ride in.
Here are some photos from around the house:

This is Katie with her 4 month old cousin Noah. He outweighs her by 5 pounds or so (she is 13 months old now).
Here we are in our love seat swing--lotta luv here!
Katie loves this swing--I have the shoulder bursitis to prove it.
Three generations of July birthdays: Soulmate (July 20), Katie (the 1st), Grandpa (the 28th), and Soulmate's sister Sue (the 5th).

1 comment:

Jonathan said...

Good stuff and glade to know that there are more July birthdays in the family circle. Add cousin Kyle and I (July 3) to that awesome group of Cancer b-days.

Love to all from the stormy PacNW