Oh the Places I'll Go in 2008

Sara and I spent the last weekend of 2007 in VA checking on the empty homestead. It was a fun visit, Baja with friends, Mtn biking with Mark, Video games with Curt, Mill Street, and working on the house. Good Times.

Now i'm getting ready for several trips this spring. First on the list is a trip out to Snowmass, CO. Sara has a conference so i'm going along for moral support. We are planning on visiting Jim and his family outside of Boulder, a couple of Sara's friends from her youth that live there now, and maybe even get to see Taz who lives not too far from Snowmass. It should be a fun trip and we are hoping it is much warmer there than it was in Tremblant.

Second on the list is Las Vegas. The anual trade show for the award industry. Four fun filled days of setting up displays, talking to customers, and losing money. Before i head back east i'm heading out to LA. Jayson and Jenn just had a baby girl, Jayson's brother is engaged (TO A GIRL!!!) and another friend's wife is due around the same time.

Third is the Trip we've all been waiting for: RVV with SAMBO!!! Departing on April 2 and returning April 8th, 5 full days in the most likely cold, rainy, windy and nasty land of Flanders. A little 256km bike ride on the 5th, watch a little pro bike racing on the 6th. Check out Timmy's new house and Neleke's new apartment. Drink lot's of fresh Belgian Beer, eat lots of Frites, and ride my bike. Should be lot's of fun. I've got my plane ticket and i've registered for the Tourist version of the RVV. Hopefully Russell can make it too, we can take a trip north. 50 euro...what a deal.

See...it's trick photography....sure it is... now you know the truth about Timmy and me.

Nele can fly!!!


I'll post pics from Snowmass. At least we know there is snow this year.

End of the Cyclocross Season

Well, another cross season has come and gone. I'm happy with my first year in the GACX series. Hopefully next year will be better. The last two races i finished in 6th place. The last race i lost fifth in a sprint. The top 5 guys were still way out in front, but maybe next year i'll find a little more speed. Now is the time to ride more for fun than for training. Time to hit the gym to build a little muscle. Sara, Katie and I are going to explore some of the state parks nearby. Heck we paid 30 bucks for the annual pass, we need to get our money's worth out of it.

Here are some pic's from the weekend:

bumpy grass downhill with a steep run up at the bottom
the tougher of the two sets of stairs, i hate uneven steps!!
Here I am Sprinting for the finish, I got a late jump since i didn't realize when i passed this guy going down the bumpy downhill that he was ahead of me and not just lap traffic. If i had a kick like Russell the Muscle i could have taken 5th.
My folks made it out to this race, it's like being in High school again, except where did all that gray hair come from?!?

Sara and Katie at Amicalola Falls for our post race hike.

Katie and me on the hike.

Sara and I got all gussied up for here company Christmas party. I just noticed that i had my coat buttoned in this pic, you can tell i wear a coat and tie all the time. Sara looks great!

GA aquarium and i am finally back to "normal"

Sara's folks came to town for Turkey day. It was a nice visit. My folks took them to play golf Wednesday. (Sara and I don't do golf) Saturday morning we got up at 0 dark thirty and headed downtown to the GA aquarium. This place got all kinds of press 2 years ago when it opened. Now that we are living in GA we figured we should have a visit. We were very impressed. The walls of the tanks are made of acrylic so they can curve and bend anyway the designers wanted them to. Some of the areas had fish windows overhead as well as windows in the wall. Although the price was kind of steep, we had a good time, and will probably take our next visitors there too...if they want to go.

I spent the whole last week under the weather. After the race in Augusta, i was sick to my stomach and nauseaus all week. Not sure what i caught, but i finally had my appetite back on Sunday. Oh it feels good to be "normal" again. It was weird not exercising or riding my bike for a week. I wonder how bad the race will suck this weekend after my week off.

Georgia Cross Race 5, Augusta....I am the King of 8th place!!!

Wow, what a long drive it is from Jasper to Augusta. Apparently it wasn't quite far enough so sara and i added another 4 hours to Sumter, SC to see her cousin.


I felt like crap the morning of the race, maybe it was bad food the night before, maybe it was the people arguing in the courtyard of the hotel at 2 am, i'm sure i caught some sort of virus. I'm still not 100% on Wednesday, boy i sure hope i get my appetite back by tomorrow.





The race course was at the ASU sports complex, it was rolling grass with some pavement. I few steep short pitches that were rideable and two sets of barriers. I felt tired during my warm-up, so i didn't have high hopes for the race. The race started as normal, i fell back a ways in the group and then started to work my way back up. After three laps the front 7 were gone, and it was me and two other guys. They seemed content to just follow my wheel. I was a little concerned since i was feeling really tired, and i didn't want to do all the work. I let them go around on the tight grass section and they managed to pull a little bit of a gap. With 2 to go, i started to catch back up to them. I decided if i wanted to beat these guys, i would have to try to get a gap on them half way through the lap when we hit the pavement. Once we hit the pavement, they seemed to slow up a bit, I hit the gas and tried to get as far away as possible. When we came through the start/finish i had about 50 yards on the next guy. I managed to keep the gap and held my position. It just happened to be 8th. I was happy i didn't give up and let the two guys go. But i was done after the race, i let sara drive home, and once we got home, i just sat on the sofa. I'm hoping this is my one illness this winter. Knock on MDF. The next two races are close to home. Hopefully there will be lots of people i know at the races.

This is my office

Can you tell we make plaques?

One step forward, two steps back

9th place yesterday. Kind of disappointing. I felt okay before the race, we stayed in Macon Saturday night instead of driving 2-1/2 hours early sunday, so i was able to sleep till 7 get up eat and get to the race. I think i ate too much, too close to the start, since i was feeling a little full before the start. The fullness didn't bother me much once the race started, i pulled my usual anti-hole shot (need to work on that) and i started passing people to move up a few spots. The soil in this part of the south has a lot of sand in it, and it doesnn't take too many bikes going over it to start loosening up. Some of the tight turns became slick pretty quick. There was a long sandy beach run followed by some switchbacks up the embankment with a steep finish. I was surprised that i could ride the steep part each lap. I thought these old legs would have given up by lap 4. Next week we go to Augusta, it should be a fun weekend. We are hoping to see sara's cousin in Columbia on Saturday. i hope the legs are faster.

On the way home from the race we stopped off at the Summit Racing Equipment store. I was checking out some new headers for PAPA, trying to figure out a way to keep the truck from eating starters. I think Ceramic coated headers and a high torque starter (smaller) should do the trick. We will probably give the motor a thourough check to make sure it's all good....did someone say new cam....maybe... I need a truck that goes whump......whump.......whump.... at idle.

no pictures this weekend, i forgot the camera. Maybe i'll find some on the web again.

Busy Busy weekend, football, concert, family, party, bike race and b-day

Wow, what a weekend. Thank goodness we had an extra hour to squeeze it all in. Thursday night I watched my team SUCK!!!! Friday night we went to see They Might Be Giants in little five points. (Thanks for the tickets Lisa and Paul) Saturday afternoon we had a big family gathering with my moms side of the family. Saturday night we went to a party at a friends house. John and Veronica had a fun little shindig, Sara and I were a little disappointed that there wasn't any Spotted Dick though. Oh well.

Sunday i rolled out to Monroe, GA for the third race of the GA Cross series. Fun course, really flat though, lots of tight turns through the pine trees. (anyone know of a tread pattern that will hook up in pine straw?????) Even though i wanted to get a better start, i was still pretty far back right at the start, but i worked my way through the crowd and even passed my usual spot and finished 7th....WOO-HOOO!!!!

Sunday was also my dad's b-day, so after walking the dog, we went to my parents house to cook them dinner and help celebrate. 66....yikes!