A Nice Long Weekend

Lots to be thankful for this year, but I'll save that for another post and focus on the nice long weekend.

Wednesday night we tried the new Pi pizza place in the old Two Nice Guys building on Manchester. I grew up spending Friday nights eating pizza and playing Pacman in the downstairs section of TNG and have good memories of that place. I doubt I'll feel the same way about Pi, but I might be the only one. Since it opened a month or so ago, this place has always been packed and the parking a mess. We got there at 4:45 and were seated immediately. By the time we left the wait was over an hour. Erin thought the pizza was pretty good, but I was under-impressed to say the least. I'll give it another try, but would never consider waiting.

We spent Thanksgiving at Bart and Tanya's and both Erin and I agreed that the meal was one of the best we've ever had on Thanksgiving. Madeleine had a great time playing with the big kids and Hadley, as always, enjoyed being passed around. Both were out within seconds of being fastened into their carseats.

Friday afternoon was reserved for a trip to the zoo and dinner with Erin's parents, so I took advantage of the cold and sunny morning and met up with Tom, Bob, and Chris at Castlewood. Tommy had too much chardonnay with his Thanksgiving turkey and found my intentional constant chattering so annoying he finally told me to be quiet. And then almost crashed into a tree. It was a good ride and a great way to start the day.

Saturday saw a high of 66 and Madeleine and I didn't waste the opportunity to pedal over to Grant's Trail. I told her we'd go after her nap but she was so excited she couldn't fall asleep, at least in her bed. She made it to Sappington and was then out. I had to wake her 7 miles later when we got to the park. We both had a great time swinging and later visiting with the Clydesdales. I can't wait until next year when Hadley can join us.

Jim and Patty had us over Saturday night for pizza and to let the kids play. Madeleine and Connor were instant buddies and cracked us up all night. We need to do that more often!

It's been a good long weekend.

Hadley not letting Gracie get in her way:



Into everything:



At the big girl table:



Hadely making the rounds:



Out:



Turkey Tom:



Bob checking the DRJ board:



Sleeping through the zoo:



Hadley's new favorite chew toy:



I can't wait for spring!:



Excited, for real:



See, super excited:



Madeleine had Connor eating out of her hand:



Buds:

Milestones

#1: Two kids napping at the same time! This one probably won't be repeated anytime soon but I'm enjoying it.

#2: Two posts in one week... largely due to #1.

#3: Only one kid in diapers... this is more important than the previous two. Good job, Madeleine!

#4: Hadley started pulling up on everything and is now tentatively starting to cruise and let go and stand for 10-15 seconds on her own. She is into everything... especially Madeleine's toys.

And now for a few pics.

Hadley reading Outside Magazine. She isn't really into her books right now but she loves ones that she can try to rip.
Having a tea party. Madeleine really enjoys her tea parties. Hadley enjoys chewing on the cups.

A sleeping Madeleine. You can also see the assortment that has to be put to bed every night. Madeleine always tries for at least two dolls who have to be tucked in. This is usually followed by Madeleine telling me that we need to make room for her :)

Hadley in one of my favorite onesies... thanks Dennis and Shelly!

Berryman Epic & A Family Hike

I created this blog shortly after finishing the 2008 Berryman Epic mountain bike race. It's hard to believe a year has passed. I raced the 2009 version of the BTepic almost a month ago but am just now getting around to a post. 2010 should be here in no time.

I had high hopes for the 2009 BTepic. In 2008, I finished in roughly 5 hours and 20 something minutes, good enough for 14th overall and 2nd single speed. Hadley's arrival in February put riding on the backburner once again, but I figured I'd be in shape by October. I figured wrong. With one of the rainiest October's on record, this year's course was a wet mess. I finished 25 minutes slower than last year and can't blame it on conditions.

The race started out ok for me. I did my usual slow start and then worked my way up towards the front. By the second checkpoint (~1/2 into the 56 mile race), I was in roughly 15th place out of 120 or so that finished. I had just caught GORC's Larry, and he and I were chatting it up and having a good time riding together. Then I flatted. I run tubes with more psi than what most people would run, but don't flat much. It took me more than a few minutes to fix the flat and then I just couldn't get going again. I lost a half dozen spots fixing the flat and then maybe 10 more on the next long road section. I've never lost anywhere near that many spots in a long race before. I was able to gain a good number back in the next section of singletrack, only to lose most again in the final 6 road miles to the finish. The end result was 31st place and 6th ss.

Since everyone always makes excuses about why they could/should have done better, mine are as follows. In the week preceding the race: four days of work training (and playing) in Chicago, a sick kid, an injured kid, a trip to the airport at 4:30 AM the day before, and a Dad at home by himself with sick kid. That week, and about a combined 2 dozen rides/races in 2009. Oh well, there's always 2010. Good thing it will be here quickly.

A couple weeks later, Erin and I took the kids and dog out to the Lewis & Clark trail for a short hike. Madeleine hiked some and rode the rest in the "big backpack," while Erin carried Hadley. We were quite a sight and drew a number of comments, but it was a beautiful day and everyone had a great time.

Pics:

Start:



Mid-race:



Finish:



Lewis & Clark Family Hike:

Lions and Tigers and ...

Candy! Madeleine has discovered what Halloween is all about and she loves it. The rainy weather in St. Louis stopped just in time for Halloween. Our street had a block party with dinner and some pre trick or treating. It was fun watching Madeleine try to keep up with the other kids. Both kids looked adorable in their Halloween outfits... Thanks Tanya and Megan! Hadley was a big hit at the party and I think she was passed around to everyone there even the high school boys from accross the street. She kept her lion hat on all night! When it got dark Jim took Hadley home and Madeleine and I headed out for some door to door trick or treating. She had a blast. She keeps reminding me today that she "wanted to go that way"... that was the opposite direction of back towards our house. Today she has been enjoying her candy (and so have Jim and I).

WM Homecoming 2009

It has been way too long since I posted… I wrote one last week but never got it up so tonight I'm doing two when I really should be unpacking! This past weekend Madeleine and I went to Williamsburg for my 10 year Homecoming. It was a little crazy getting there but the trip was a lot of fun. Hadley was supposed to come too but she came down with an ear infection on Wednesday so she had some grandparent/daddy time this weekend. I'm sure Jim will post details of his race weekend soon.

Madeleine and I headed off to the airport on Thursday. Madeleine was really great getting through security (with the help of a M&M bribe). She was loving seeing all the planes. Our flight was delayed an hour so I took her to the end of the terminal where there was a lot of open space. Next thing you know she has tripped and bumped her head on the corner of a metal heater. Lesson Learned: don't let kids run in the airport. So instead of heading to Baltimore, we headed to the ER. A little glue and she was good to go. She told me she wanted to run again.

Friday morning we tried again and made it to Dulles via Chicago. Madeleine was very excited to go on two airplanes. So excited that the flight attendant had to carry my bags off the second plane so I could carry a screaming Madeleine who wanted more airplane. Tara met us at the airport and we headed down to Williamsburg to meet up with everyone else. It was so great to see all my friends from my freshman dorm!

We headed over to William and Mary on Saturday and walked around the tailgates running into some old friends. We made a lunch stop at Paul's Deli, a little different experience with kids in tow. Tara really wanted to hit the delis (W&M doesn't have bars) at night but I think the daytime was all I could handle. WM won the game and we enjoyed walking around campus. Saturday night was the actual reunion. The kiddos all stayed with Tara and Holly's moms. We appreciated having them watch the kids although Madeleine did manage to lock herself in one of the bedrooms!

Sunday we went to the bookstore and had lunch at the Cheese Shop, the best sandwich place ever! Everyone else who came for Homecoming also ate lunch at the Cheese Shop and went to the bookstore so it was a bit of a zoo. It was difficult getting there but I really enjoyed catching up with my friends and visiting William and Mary.

The group

At the Reunion Party... Holly made sure we had a good height order for the pic
Giving Abby a kiss
Walking around the campus
Madeleine and Abby
Sleeping on the airplane

Polite as a Princess

Update from last week that never got posted...

Madeleine has recently discovered princesses. She has a book "Polite as a Princess" with the Disney princesses saying all sort of polite things. This coupled with princess pull-ups has apparently inspired a princess craze. She also has become very polite. For instance, yesterday I asked her not to move the clothes I had on the table and she replied, "No Thank You." I figure at least she is polite when she tells me that she is not going to listen to me. She also has been cracking us up by insisting she needs to wear her fireman hat out and her sunglasses (usually not at the same time). Here are a few pics of her recent outfits!

Hadley is on the move! She is crawling and can get into trouble very quickly. The other day I turned around to get something out of her closet and when I turned back she was standing up at her activity table.

Burnin' at the Bluff VI

Mesa Cycles held their first 'Burnin' at the Bluff' 12 hour mountain bike race at Council Bluffs Lake in 2004. I wasn't racing bikes at the time, but recall reading and hearing about all the fun. I couldn't race Burnin' II as Erin and I had a wedding to attend that night, but we did take the kayaks down to watch and cheer and had a blast.

By 2006, I was racing for DRJ and teamed up with teammates BLM and Little Buddy (aka Mark B.) in the single speed class. We won, but only by something like 6 minutes. I was ready to repeat in 2007 but BLM had a series of mechanicals early in the race and decided he would rather drink beer than race. Not wanting to give up, I ended up doing his last lap and mine back-to-back and I think we took 3rd.

So last year, when it was clear BLM was out, I signed on with John D. and Brad B. of Cape G. Then Brad got hurt. John and I ended up racing our single speeds in what is supposed to be a 3 man class without Brad. The 2 of us each did 5 laps and took 2nd. Since Brad can ride an SS almost as fast as John, I have no doubt we would have kicked some butt if he hadn't busted himself up preriding the course.

John and I had so much fun racing together we had planned to team up again this year, until John decided he'd rather try Co-Ed for a change. Enter BLM. Having missed out last year and (I think) feeling lazy (or maybe just wanting a new bike?), Brenden bought himself a new Superfly SS so all we needed was a fast guy. I knew the Seagals and GORC boys would have strong teams, so we recruited Dan to make up for our slowness.

Mesa has always lucked out with perfect weather for this race and this year was no different. Even with 2.5" of rain on Thursday and Friday, the course was in unbelievable shape and Saturday was beautiful with a high around 60. I headed down Friday night after borrowing one of Frank's F350s and loading its 8' bed with firewood. Good thing Paul gave me grief and "encouraged" me to bring more than I had initially loaded. We needed almost every piece, even if some found them "wet" or "too big."

This race really is a good time and Council Bluffs has got to be the perfect venue. The campsites are great and we had 2 double sites for our gang.

Our teams included:

Wes, Bob, and Chris in Wicked Fast
Tom, John, and Ryan in Wicked Fast
Me, BLM, and Dan in SS
Paul, Thrasher, and Christine in Co-Ed
Scott in 6 hour

The Wicked Fast race was exactly that and it looked like Wes, Bob, and Chris would suffer their first loss in a few years. Entering the last lap, one team appeared to have it wrapped up until their lead guy suffered a series of mechanicals. CP passed him and the second place team to take the win by ~45 seconds. A bummer way to lose for sure, but it is mtb racing and that's all part of the game.

Meanwhile, Dan was only a few second behind first place SS after lap 1, but a flat on his second lap pushed us back and we never got much closer. And, of course, we had BLM, who proudly noted his "fastest lap this year was 6 minutes slower than his slowest lap" in years past. BLM, you better get in shape for 2010!

I wasn't as fast as I'd have liked, but stayed consistent as my first 2 laps were almost identical in time and my third good enough for the (unofficial) fastest SS night lap and one of the quicker night laps overall. Speaking of overall, congrats to the Seagal fellas for their first place SS win! With 45+/- teams overall, 3 SS teams in the top 10 (we were #9) is not bad!

Can't wait for next year!

Pre-race good times, clearly:



Little Buddy or Yeti?:



Grand Master Geezer or firewood salesman?:



Superflies!



Wes at the start:



Dan after Lap 1:



BLM being BLM:



GMG and "The Dick":