Slop at Granite Bay!!

What a fun day!  Rain, wind, cold, mud, cyclocross!!

Seeing that my last race at Discovery Park was a failed attempt to deny that I was sick... I was a bit anxious to see what legs would show up!?  I raced the A's, still the only goober on a single speed in the A's, but after riding the course I was confident that "not having to shift" was going to be a good thing....Granite Bay is sand, DG, and more sand with a tiny bit of sandy-loam thrown in... Everything was crunchy after the first 100 meters of riding.

Marja and Shelly were first off at 10:30...Women's A, B, and C.  Marja came around the first lap behind her "arch rival," don't ask me I think its a woman thing, in fourth place Bs, 5th place overall.  After the next half lap she dropped the caped crusader...no wait, "arch rival" and she was off chasing the big guns!  A few laps later she dropped one of the strongest A riders and the rest except for one.  Marja had minutes on third place and ended up second in the Bs and third overall for women.  Not bad for someone who never rides...she opened a serious can of whoop-ass on the field...Scott and I just hoped she had some to share with us!

Shelly wasn't a happy camper early but after lap two she started moving her way up the field!  She was quoted at dinner last night as saying, "I hope it doesn't rain!?"  Yeah, it was raining!  She finished strong with a big smile on her face!  She is at the top of the series standings!!

My race started immediately after the girls.  The A's had a big turn out today.  The first corner was sloppy, had to lean into the turn against two other riders trying to take the hole shot on me but ended up sliding into me...next came a fun little section with some tight hairpins and a couple risers, you could tell who rides mtbs out there today as the roadies were flailing all over the place.....

I settled in and started making my way up the field, slowly.  I would gain and pass on all the technical twisty, and SLIPPERY turns and would have to hop on wheels in the flatter straights due to my lack of gears...then the sand pit.  Now it looks cool to ride the pit, but on every lap I ran and passed riders..everytime.  First of all I would have been wasting energy in my 42x17, but second with all the rain, it was a mess!

7 more laps later and one last rider before the finish....watched him lolly-gagging over the barricades and I hit them sprinting, mounted and just dropped it to the finish.... "It aint over 'till the fat lady sings!"  

Felt great, ended up 5th A's 35+ with Gordo saying I was 7th overall...don't think I buy that one.  But I beat Gordo, he's a Sac icon in CX, so its always nice to finish ahead of him while he's on gears....this was actually the first time this year I have.  A great day to finish up the CX season for me. 

Next came Scott "the punisher" Clark.  He's racing the B's on his SS, and lets just say he crushed the field.  The entire field.  Not only did he get the cash for winning the first lap, but he out-rode the field by about a minute.  He never looked back.  Scott had some balmy conditions as the rain stopped falling, so the course got a little tackier and Scott ripped it up.  He didn't need Marja's left over whoop-ass, he had his own 64 ouncer of it!  It was fun to watch!  

Wish Chris was down from Seattle for this one and Steve from Redding!  Would have been even more fun witchya!!

  

Last CX for me this year!

This morning is the last CX race for me, the final race of the series is January 3rd, but with Cam's indoor soccer game at 9:20 in Rancho and Annika's gym practice from 9:30-11:30 and my start time at Sutters Landing at 11:30....well you do the math!!! Such is life....I do have to brag here, Cam almost scored with a header in his U8 indoor game yesterday, the place went insane as he missed just wide off the wall!

So my buddy Chris is spiralling into depression because he finds himself in 4 inches of snow with a foot more on the way in Seattle. I won't rub it in and say, "you have to live with your choices..." cuz that would be mean. I won't remind him we are all racing CX today here in Sac and his season is over. That just wouldn't be right. Finally, eventhough he makes fun of the California CX we race here, i.e. sun and dust, I won't let him know that its raining and 44 degrees, with rain expected to get heavier through the day. See, friends don't do that to friends...

So as I sit next to the fire place with Phil and Maddie curled up chewing on their bones, me sipping coffee, Marja already stressing over her 10:15 start... I stop and take in the big picture...

1. Its 44 degrees, raining outside...
2. Its 64, fire roaring inside with a pot of coffee brewing...its dry
3. I will be sliding on my mud boots, rain shell, beanie
4. After Marja's race I will struggle to slide my already frozen feet into my mtb shoes and start trying to warm up on course...soaking wet

Wow, when you look at it that way, why would anyone want to stay inside at home! I guess thats what CX is all about. Now in Chris' defense....we will not be on a frozen tundra with snow on the ground, I am and will always be jealous of that... we will however be racing in the rain, through wet sand with some mud, yes it is still California Cross...but its WET California Cross! Back to my favorite phrase, "it is what it is..."

I always said riding my bike reminds me of the freedom of riding my BMX around town every summer day, all day...but racing CX, heck, thats being a kid all over again...if you haven't any idea of what I am talking about, you need to try it because you won't understand it until you do...

Ode' to the Roadies...

On a personal level I don't really have an issue with riding my road bike. One roadie doesn't scare me, but a group of roadies is another story. Yes I know I am throwing a stereotype out there and that just isn't right, I agree with you....but its fun. And frankly, other than a few people I know....it sticks. And as much as I wish it did not...I cannot find an escape from it. The more I speak with people from different states, the more I realize that, like everything else in California (like Serrano for example :), California Roadies carry a stigma... Call it a dark mark. Some people enjoy this, but to the entire community of cyclists in this country, it doesn't help anyone.

Enjoy this thanks to Scott...its perfect. The red bike is actually ridden by a local journalist for the Sac Bee....



And to admit, it just isn't roadies... This idiot acted like this at a CX race, keep in mind he is a roadie using CX to cross train, but I digress:

http://velonews.com/article/86089/scuffle-at-kansas-city-cyclocross-nationals

WTF?

This might seem shocking to some, but thanks to my encounters with "Sacramento's self-proclaimed Bike Advocate" himself and his girlfriend, nothing surprises me anymore at all....surprised Blair didn't write this...now maybe you see why my road bike is affixed to my trainer... please read:

http://velonews.com/article/85828/legally-speaking-with-bob-mionske---can-t-we-all-just-get

It is what it is....

Man I HATE that expression.....

Well, its that time of year when time is a hot commodity. Tuesdays consists of Annika's gymnastics workout with her team, Cameron has his weekly timed math tests on Wednesday, followed by his timed spelling tests on Thursday, oh yeah and Annika's tumbling class at her gym again on Wednesdays....lets see what else, oh yeah, I am supposed to work too, wait Cameron's indoor soccer is in there somewhere! Oh yeah, I need to ride?

Don't get me wrong, I love it...my kids staying busy with what they love to do. Yeah I loved soccer as a kid, but gymnastics wasn't my cup of tea, but to see my pumpkin-head back handspring and flip down the tumble track is great, and the laugh she has the whole time she is doing it is even better! You can see her bust through her shyness and be so confident in herself...nothing like it.

As for me, it just means figuring out when to ride, which as you can guess means less sleep and A LOT more discipline! Serious will power when you are beat (this time of year I need a Monster to get me through the afternoons/evenings with those two!!). Good example was tonight..

Gym ends at 7:30, of course Annika has to go nuts with Ally on the trampoline before we get out of there at 8:00...already passed bed times on school nights....wait, Cameron has to finish some more pizza (yeah yeah, but with so little time, what can a guy do...I am a guy after all, pizza has ALL the food groups....as my Dad would say, its got tomatoes doesn't it?) run through Cam's flash cards one more time then we get upstairs...

Now my kids are angels when it comes to bed time, but after 2hrs of tumbling and trampolines and bars, etc that little fire plug of mine is NOT ready to sleep.... so we read one of her princess short stories, followed by Cameron reading me one of his books and finally lights out! Its 8:30...

I get dressed in bike garb and head out to the garage and my road bike....its actually my road bike on a trainer but the road bike hasn't left the trainer since probably last June or so...I have an old 27" TV with a DVD player out there to make life as comfortable as possible....pop in a Spinerval DVD and I am off to "drop the hammer"...man that does sound as dorky as I thought it did, but hey its a great interval workout for an hour....

So about 9:45 I am off the bike....I want to puke....gulp down some Clif Recovery and here I am. I won't be able to fall asleep for probably at least another hour if I am lucky, but It is what it is.

Tomorrow a.m., its up at 05:00, then I will drop the kids off at school(s) and ride in from Hazel/Aquatic center, a 22 mile ride on my CX on the dirt along the Am. River bike trail....EZ...spin back to the truck after work and repeat the night before w/o the interval workout.

Its crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way...most people think my performance come mtb season suffers because of my hectic weeks on with the kids. Miles do go way down, and it used to stress me out. Last year I fully accepted that riding took a back seat on "on" weeks and I got in what I could...last year was my best year ever on the bike. Its true what they say, it is 90% mental. The 10% physical is brutal though, but it is what it is.... That's what Ruck-a-Chucky is for :)

As for me, I will get the last two CX races in the Sac series and start thinking about MTB season, April and May are going to be hard to recover from (Sea Otter 4/18, Coolest 24hrs May 2-3, So No Mas 100 May 16) seeing as I will not even be 37 anymore by then, whoa!! (Sorry Scott)

Hoping Sunday I can hit the single track with the kids, the ride while I run and help Annika up some of the bigger hills, Cameron is never to be seen until we get to the turn around! He's smart enough to figure out his gears and flies uphill, more than his old man can say!

When time runs short, get a ride/run in, whatever it may be because you will never get that day back to train...it is what it is!

CHEERS!

my day dream....

As we look forward to more DRY California CX with no rain in the forecast through next weekend, we can sit and day dream...

The price to pay for being responsible...

Sorry to do this, but I have to say something...the Fed's plan to offer those people having trouble with their mortgages - i.e. over extending themselves, being totally irresponsible and missing payments, etc - has me a bit miffed. I am a laid back guy, but the fact that I have been responsible and have made every payment to my mortgage and every bill means I lose out?

Huh?

Fannie Mae/Mac may be buying mortgages, for those "having trouble," and giving them a fixed 4.5% ...oh yeah, on new purchases too. So the people like me who actually refinanced to a fixed mortgage when there were signs of changes, and believe me there were signs, lose out. If I had simply done nothing, missed a payment or two and whined, I too might be able to save a couple to several hundred dollars a month on my payment, not to mention the $90k in interest over the life of the mortgage...Someone please explain this to me? I own a home, I am putting two kids through school, I own my truck outright, I pay my bills....on the other hand I don't have a BOAT, an RV to stay in when I use the boat at the lake, a second Dodge 3500 to pull the RV and the boat, I don't own three quads, a jet ski or a jeep to go "wheeling"....Instead I have a college education savings account, a 401k and I ride my bike as much as possible with the added bonus of not buying more gas (of course my food expenditures go up, but thats another discussion).

Perfect example is my neighbor, refinanced several times pulling money out each time, now her payment balloons in January so she decides to walk. She short-sells the home for $200k less than what she owes...the bank forgives the difference, collects that from the federal gov't and my neighbor now does not have to pay capital gains on that whole forgiven amount.....how does that work? Oh yeah, her credit rating is trashed, but my guess is the gov't will have a say in that down the line when things "pick back up" and these same people complain that they have bad credit.

Word for the day....RESPONSIBILITY....take some!

OKAY, I feel better now...

Road the CX bike for 2.5 hours yesterday, finally a winter day here, temp never above 49 degrees with some sun and more fog. As my work day came to a close I realized something yesterday....as I grab my stuff from my office and start down the stairs from the 5th floor, I realize I am skipping stairs trying to get down as fast as I can just like when I was in elementary school at the end of the school day...you know that feeling you had that you had the whole rest of the day to have fun! I seriously feel like that each time I get to ride my bike. Everyone wants to be young again, why not just live it everyday!

Off to Annika's dance recital, leaving from there to Cameron's Indoor Soccer practice then to celebrate Max's big 1 year b-day with Scott and Shelly.

The whole time proud of the fact that my property tax check just cleared, my mortgage payment was taken out of my account, my daughters tuition was deducted leaving me just enough to feed the kids and play a little with 2 birthdays and Xmas this month...

You know what.....I am damn happy with that!