Motivation

I need some.
1 severely broken wrist + 6 months rehab + 1 new job + 1 60 foot oak tree dropping on 1 house + Krewet #2 due soon = very little 2008 ride time
Seriously, I think I rode a mountain bike (races included) less than 12 times in 2008. And that means I'm ready to ride.
So, I've signed up for this: Syllamo's Revenge
I've been to Mountain View, AR to ride the Syllamo trails a few times now. Erin and I first ventured down in 2004 and I've been back twice since with the DRJ. I've ridden many, many miles of trails in many different states and can't speak highly enough of this trail system. Built by and for mountain bikers, Syllamo has 50+ miles of prime singletrack. The only thing it needs is riders. When Erin and I first checked it out in '04, only Phase 1 was completed. Still, it was a beautiful September weekend and after riding over 30 miles of trail we saw only 2 other riders. And this was weeks after it was covered in Outside magazine. Maybe it's because it's Arkansas? Maybe it's because it's in a dry county? Whatever the case, we didn't see many more riders than that on the DRJ trips.
It should be a different experience to line up with 350 riders in May. This race sold out in less than 48 hours and I've already noted plenty of STL's finest on the list of registrants, which means I have some work to do. Not that I'm in a rush. 29 days into '09 and I still have 0 days on the bike.

A few pics from our 2004 trip:

Erin at warp speed:



One of the first production singlespeeds and the bike that got me hooked on the whole SS thing- my 1998 Bianchi BOSS (Bitchin' Orange Single Speed). When you look at this pic, do you notice the bike or the bonus view of the White River?



Riding singlespeed:



A few pics from the '06 DRJ trip:

You have to love the brown and yellow National Forest sign featuring the words "Mtn. Bike Trail":



Yes, Arkansas has snakes:



Arkansas also has smallmouth bass. We stayed near a tiny creek and I bought a cheapo ultralight and some of my favorite Beetle Spins at Wally World. The end result was at least a dozen smallies, a bunch of panfish, and one rainbow trout, which was totally unexpected. Nothing huge, but still good fun considering it was a feeder creek:



At Wally World in a dry county in Arkansas:

Tour of MO and Snow

I keep waiting for Jim, whose idea it was to start this blog, to post something but instead it is me again. Today the 2009 route for the Tour of Missouri was announced. The good news is that it will start on Labor Day in St. Louis so we will get to see one stage. But it is heading east to west this year so that is all we will get to see. This year promises to be good too with the classification for the race going up a level. We were really spoiled the first year and went to 4 stages including the time trial in Branson. That was definitely a highlight as George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer rode by about 4ft in front of me doing some pre-race scouting. Some riders last year, including Christian Vandevelde who won the race, said that the Branson time trial was the hardest they have done. I'm disappointed it is not on the race route this year and hope the race is good enough to come back in 2010.

Enough about cycling, I am really excited because we are finally getting some snow! I went out to run errands last night and actually really enjoyed driving in it. The roads (and stores) were empty and it was so pretty coming down. It is falling again tonight. It really makes me want to go skiing! It has been a few years but I think we are definitely going to try and plan a trip for next winter. I would like winter so much better if we had more snow and less cold rain.

The countdown has really begun at our house with the newest Krewet expected to arrive 4wks from tomorrow. Now we just have to start getting ready!

George Hincapie or DaDa

One of Madeleine's favorite things to do right now is look through our picture albums and see the "baby". She does not quite get that she is the baby. One of the albums starts with pictures from the 2007 Tour of Missouri. A couple of weeks ago I pointed to the guy in yellow (George Hincapie) and asked her who it was...

Madeleine promptly replied DaDa. Now everytime we look at the album she points to George and says DaDa. It cracks me up everytime.

As for pro cycling, next week is the Tour Down Under and Lance's first race back from retirement. Today I saw a headline on cyclingnews.com saying "Insecure Armstrong to face heat Down Under". Now from everything I know about this guy I'm pretty sure the word insecure has not been used to describe him before. But sure enough in an interview he said that he has a little bit of insecurity about being back in the peleton... not about his fitness. It will be interesting to see how he does this year. I personally wish he would have stayed retired and ended on the 7th Tour de France victory. I just read Johan Bruyneel's book which was written after he retired and before he joined Astana (which seemed like a matter of hours). He summed it up saying he wanted to go out like Lance with a big victory. But they are both back. I'm looking forward to watching the Tour de France this summer and cheering for all the Americans... although it will be sad to see George and Lance on different teams. Too bad it won't occur during my maternity leave this time! It is hard to fit in 3 hrs of coverage a day for 3 weeks!

Happy New Year!

It's 3 days into 2009 and we are long overdue for a new post. Hope everyone had a great holiday and 2009 is off to a good start. It is going to be an exciting year for us with less than 8 weeks until Krewet #2's scheduled arrival.

We had a great Christmas with all the family in town. Madeleine definitely enjoyed getting to spend time with her aunt and uncles. She didn't really get into opening presents, but really liked the Christmas tree and playing with Baby Jesus from the nativity scene. She also really enjoys playing with all her new baby dolls. She loves to pretend to feed them and put them down for "night night," which is on the floor. She got a baby bed from Jim's Aunt Sally but will take the dolls out of the bed to put them to night night!

After Christmas we spent a few days at the Lake with Uncle Dave. We had a few warmer days and we all enjoyed getting outside, especially Madeleine, who would stand at the window and say, "Outside, Outside, Please, Please". She never says any word just once.

Here a few pictures from Christmas and the Lake. As you can see, we had to get creative to take a family photo with Madeleine smiling.


Christmas photo 2008:



New table and chair set from Grandma and Grandpa Miltenberger:



2008's Christmas dress:



Enjoying green Cool Whip with Aunt Sally:



Walking the shoreline at the Lake with Dad:



Liftoff!:



Bouncy time with Uncle Dave:

Santa

Erin and I took Madeleine to see Santa tonight and I learned a few things:

1. I may not like shopping at Plaza Frontenac, but they do have the best Santa.

2. Santa is not crowded during rush hour.

3. No matter how hard he tries, Santa may never get Madeleine to smile.

This is the 2008 photo, and we've got to give Santa credit. He really did pull out all the stops trying to pull out a smile.

Better luck next year big man.



Getting ready was even more fun:

St. Nicholas, Shopping and Illness

I’m laughing reading Jim’s post… he definitely said he was hanging up his bike until the beginning of the year. I can’t complain though as I am heading out two nights this week to an ornament exchange and book club. I’m also having a hard time believing how fast the end of the year is flying by. Friday night, St. Nicholas came to our house and brought Madeleine her Christmas PJs, a book and ornament. Now I know that for many people St. Nicholas is just another saint or he only brings candy but this has always been a big day for my family. Madeleine got the most enjoyment out of carrying around the gift bag that all the goodies came in. I’m sure the wrapping paper and boxes will be the big draws at Christmas!

Madeleine and I braved both the mall and Target this weekend even though I said I was never taking her shopping again. She did good at the mall but Target reinforced the shopping ban. At Target she decided she needed to walk which normally I would be happy about. However, the store was really crowded so I was not thrilled with this choice. Then the check out line was not moving fast enough for her and she laid down on the “clean” Target floor while in line. She also felt the need to touch everything we passed… so if anyone who went to the Kirkwood Wal-Mart on Sunday ends up with pink eye she’s probably the reason why.

Yep that’s right; Madeleine came down with pink eye over the weekend. She followed it up with a little throwing up last night. To top it all off she has a stubborn cold that will not go away. All I can say is that going to daycare is helping her build one heck of an immune system. Hopefully, she is getting all the illnesses out of the way and will be healthy for the holidays.

Madeleine and her St. Nicholas book:

Winter Rides

I promised Erin that after the Berryman Epic, I would hang up my bike and work on the upstairs. She thinks I said something about not riding until the first of the new year, but I don't recall the specifics. I do know that I had been off the bike for what seemed like forever.

So, a couple weeks ago I made it out to the Ranch for the weekly night ride, my first this season. It was a small group that Tuesday: Me, Tom, George, Kevin, Andy, Wes, and the GMG. The trail was dry, but leafy, and Wes and Geezer immediately set out to rip off the rest of our legs. I kept them in sight for the first half of the ride, and then Tommy flatted. Two CO2s (you're welcome Tom) and too many minutes later, and we were off. Well, everyone else that is. I didn't have much left in the tank and limped back to the heat, beer, and chili.

I missed last week's ride, but already have this week's on the calendar. Dwayne usually misses out on the Ranch rides as he watches Lucas on Tuesday nights, but is planning for this week as well. I'm hoping the weather holds. Night rides at the Ranch are a treat, and I need to redeem myself.

I followed up the Ranch ride with a ride at Chubb yesterday. Two rides in 6 weeks. Woohoo, I'm back!

The DRJ boys left from Lone Elk at noon, but I wasn't able to get out there until late afternoon. I had planned on riding solo but Jeremy Bradshaw was getting ready to ride as I was pulling in and was kind enough to wait for me to get ready. And kind enough to wait for me throughout the ride. Our out-and-back ride time was less than 1.5 hours, but it seemed like it took forever. I really need to get back in shape. And next time I need to remember my leg warmers. Wearing only lycra shorts on a windy, below-freezing day was just plain silly. I might as well have been naked. It sure felt that way. Oops. I guess now I know how Madeleine felt a few weeks ago.

Some pics from the Ranch ride:

A welcome winter sight:

An even more welcome winter sight:

The world's smallest IF 29er singlespeed, complete with Moose Mitts, a Ranch favorite. Note one of the world's largest IF 29er singlespeeds in background:

The Grand Master Geezer himself. Proof that 60 years of Krewet can still kick ass:

Hey Paul, I think you should have run 12 gauge: