making the most of the new wagon

granny had a blast towing around her granddaughter. montana got jealous, so Helen gave her a tug too. montana looks better running than riding if you ask me.

 
 
  

the grandparents catching up...

you can see my great lineage for having no hair. his father was the same. i wonder if his father's father also had the same genes?

  

wow, more cool threads

  

Alina and her friend Georgia

  

guess who?

 
  

cheering on the Tigers

 
  

having my cake and eating it too

 
 
 
  

new house after 16" snow

 
 
 
  

Alina's bday party

 
 
 
  

whew

lots of great things have happened. Alina turned one year old and we had a great party for her on Saturday. Both sets of her grandparents were there too, so that's special. we are chugging along on some home improvement projects. The garage is turning out awesome. I have a ton of photos, but not sure my stupid card reader is working to upload some photos with Picasa. will check it out soon.

lake loop

Tim and I were lucky to get out for a lake loop today before the snow started. good cruise intervals over to Frisco to meet him at his office. then we did some decent tempo around the dam and over towards Summit Cove. Some good intensity up Swan Mtn wrapped up a nice day outside. It was actually in the mid 40s, and I was almost overdressed! Glad we go out, b/c it is snowing out now and the roads will be unfriendly tomorrow, except to the knobby tires perhaps.

funny pic

i saw the other day on some cycling site.

tough

Katie Compton swept the weekend races out east, but Canadian Lynne Bessette gave her a good battle. I like Katie's quote below-
"That was a hard race," said Compton. "There was no place I could gap her. And I would have bled through my eyes before I let her go."

Too bad I am nowhere near that tough in any one of my races.

alina is 1

today's the day. think it was around 9-10pm or so. Helen brought her to the doc this morning, and she is doing great. 20lb 2oz. not sure about height. for her age, she is in the 30th % for weight, 50th % for height, and 50th % for head size. pics to come later for sure.

go for the overall?

the ACA now has an overall competition for best cyclocross rider (BCR) for Category 3 as well as the Open (pros). I didn't realize until I checked it out today that I am sitting in 3rd for the Cat 3 standings, as of yesterday's race at Interlocken. The next 2 races included in the BCR points are the USGP races on 11/4 and 11/5. I just need to get out and train more, that's all. easier said than done when it's gray and about 30 degrees outside. I should still go though, b/c I know Tim commuted this morning in the teens, before wind chill.

hoppin' back on

i am getting smoother at getting back on the bike, though it's pretty easy when you're on a smooth sidewalk or bike path. what needs some work is running and shouldering the bike more efficiently.

  

new track suit

out of the big bucks we spent yesterday getting a new rug and carseat and other various items for our house, we of course managed to spend a bit on cool little warm-up (for what?) suit for Alina. She had fun yesterday in Boulder, as we escaped the Breck high temp of 35 to the Boulder high temp of about 50. SHe was a trooper to tag along with us to Crate & Barrel, the baby stores with her mom and g'ma, the 'cross race, Target, Lowe's, Babys R Us. whew that was a long day.

tomorrow she is a year old. hard to imagine it's been a year, but it has. we are so fortunate with her. As much work as it is for us both (although Helen does way more than I), we couldn't imagine our lives without her. I almost feel sorry for my friends who don't have a baby. We are going to have a nice party for her this weekend.

 
  

Boulder CX #2

Sunday's race was down south of Boulder at the Broomfield Interlocken East Park. Faia told me the course would be nice and Euro-style, complete with lots of off-camber grassy sections, made all the more interesting due to the previous day and night's snowfall. I got the hole shot for the first time of the season. Only because I clipped in immediately and had 3-4 good surges on the pedals. I rounded the first corner and comfortably held 1st or 2nd for the first lap. After the 2nd and 3rd laps I was comfortably in 3rd position, and we had a nice gap on the rest of the field. About mid-way through the race I was rounding a slick concrete corner and my front wheel washed away, and down I went. Stupid! I had re-con'd this corner perfectly in practice, and even then I noticed my front wheel slipping and thought I should tone it down there in the race. But to no avail. After bouncing off my knee and elbow I quickly got up and hopped back on the bike. About 5 guys passed me and I was in the top 10 still. The rest of the race was okay, though my speed was a hair down as I was mentally blown by the stupid crash and losing the speed and latch of the front group. The running was not my forte, about 100 yds per lap, all at one spot on the course, basically up and down across a volleyball pit a couple times per lap. I ended up 8th on the day, not all that bad out of a field of over 60, but it doesn't sit too well knowing I can and should be on the podium every weekend. I think the weather will be favorable the rest of the week, and I can get in some good time on the bike leading up to the big USGP races in early November at Xilinx, my favorite course, and the Boulder Cup. It was great having Helen and Alina there watching, in what will be Alina's last bike race as a little girl under 1, as tomorrow is her birthday. It was also nice to race in true wet and muddy cyclocross conditions. Luckily it wasn't the stop-in-your-tracks mud like the day before at Arapahoe, but still more true to the sport's heritage than our typical dry hardpack courses. I'll prob skip next weekend's race at Boulder Res as my parents are in town to help out with some things.

 
  

mtb season....

is officially over here in Breck. There's about 5" on the ground now, and they're calling for about 12-16" by end of tomorrow. Oh well, another awesome year on the trails. I might be skiing Sallie Barber soon!

classical is good

house pics

 
 
  

new house pics

a couple kitchen photos. with our lighting, appliances and Staron countertops, this has become one of our favorite rooms. Plus, I love to eat. So I will be hanging here a lot.

 
  

puffy

  

undercover test truck

i saw something unusual today as I was driving back from Frisco with Alina. We were behind a new truck with manufacturer's plates from Michigan. But it was covered with this velcro-fastened black canvas/cordura nyulon system...so as to completely hide the make or model of truck. From peering inside at a stoplight, I could tell it prob wasn't a Ford, and perhaps it was a Dodge, but I was unsure. And the guy driving had a laptop with a whole slew of wires sticking out the back. I would assume he was test-driving the vehicle, and that perhaps it was a prototype '08 model and they didn't want much to be revealed. Nonetheless, it looked weird.
Woke up to about 2" of snow, and it's been snowing off and on all day. Trails might not melt out again, if this continues or if we get about 6". Hard to say. Now that I am in the new house, I am eager to do my first ride from out of the garage!

new house & some cross

well we've now spent 2 nights in the new abode, and we love it. sure it's a construction zone, but we've been there before. it will be even more okay when we can get some blinds hung, since the density is high inthe neighborhood, so are the number of workers who are constantly within 20 feet of our house. once the copper rose next door closes, we will be surrounded by finished (mostly finished) houses. The neighborhood and the town have a bond to ensure that the developer finishes the landscaping next summer. that will be fantastic, as we will then be able to put up a fence for Montana, and get some privacy ourselves in our back yard. for now, we are just happy to be in here, even if the painter is under the gun with the imminent arrival of winter, as they can't paint when the temperature is under 35 degrees. there isn't much left to do, but if they don't do it today, it looks like next week at the earliest. not a big deal, as long as they finish it before winter is really here to stay.

so this past weekend was the annual cross-in-the-mountains weekend, with both Brecktobercross (finally the name works, as in the past the race was in September) and Friscocross. race reports. saturday we lined up and it was spitting rain and snow, perfect cross weather. i had a good start and was soon in 3rd. then jared and reigning woman's natl champ (yes I race against a woman occasionally, and she usu crushes me) Katie Compton were up with me and we had a huge gap on the rest of the field. after the 1st lap I took the lead and felt awesome going through the techy, greasy singletrack. on the road, my chicken legs were at a sever disadvantage to the roadie jared and the internationally trained tree trunks of Katie. after a couple of laps of us three riding together, Katie went down on a run-up section, and it was just Jared and I. Hats off to Jared for his repeated attacks. I know he is stronger, but I was fairly motivated to pushg myself hard. I survived at least 3 attacks going into the final lap. I could hear him and see him peripherally on the last steep run-up, but I gassed it and maintained my lead. Heading up to the finish at the nordic lodge, he again tried, and once more I held him off, but I was fading. Abotu 15yds from the line he again tried to pass me. We bumped each other, but stayed upright, as he passed me and took the win. seconds later I threw up. yummy. reminded me of my high school cross country days...my body was saying no, you can't do this, you don't train enough. oh well. good fun.

yesterday's Friscocross had a much better course, but I was feeling the effects of 2 days of moving and not getting much sleep. nonetheless, the start was pretty easy, and I was soon in first place for the opening lap. that didn't last long, as the two boys in blue (Ward Baker and ?) passed me, and opened a gap which I could not bridge. then Jared scraped his way back from what I read was a crash in the opening lap. He passed me on the disc golf course section, and again I was powerless to hold his pace, although I know I am a much better technical rider. And then, since I am down, the blue sky velo chump passed me, and I was in 5th. I stayed in 5th the rest of the race. 1st-4th had a sizeable gap, and my only motivation was maintaining 5th place, as the kid, yes kid, in 6th place was a pimply-faced teenager racing for RMCEF. So 5th place for today. not good, not bad, good training.

new house!

we closed on our house today right at 5pm. the painter will be back to paint the exterior garage trim on Mon or Tue. The rest of the punch list items look pretty good. We'll be moving all weekend, in between cross races!

one more ride on Barney Ford...

after work I hurried home to hop on the mountain bike for a spin up French Gulch to Sallie Barber road. I knew it was probably rideable still, and sure enough I rode up a firm tacky road to the top of the mine. Spots of snow in the trees, and a few mud puddles near the top, but overall still a great climb. Last year, I rode up it one day, and then skied up it a few days later. Not sure the forecast is calling for anything substantial in the near future, but it still feels like every mountain bike ride could be my last, esp. if I might not ride the same trail twice between now and when the trails are covered. I'd guess Faia is riding the path to and from work with the same feeling of ultimatum...that he might only have a few more days or weeks until it is snowed in for the season. The roads and path typically last a few more weeks than the trails, so I am all about the mountain bike now. Then the cross bike will next also see one of its last rides of the season on gravel and mud in the county. The road bike has a longer riding season. I'd like to start doing some better intervals on the roads again, as my 2min on/2min off up and down Sallie Barber and French Gulch is getting old. But alas, why ride the road bike when the mountain bike still has some local rides left to squeeze in?

pears

alina does a jig

poor video quality, but just a test

new house

we're getting excited. this Friday or next, we'll see.