a long time cometh
wow it has been awhile.
first, fat tire. i got up early and took sam and my bikes down to the start in hayward and then headed back to cable for some breakfast. the start was chaos as normal but i was easily able to move up through the traffic and get into a place i was very happy with at rosie's field. about 45 minutes into the race i knew something was up and shortly after i realized that if didn't take it easy i was a candidate for a code brown. from then on when i felt good i pushed and when i felt bad i sat up...it was frustrating because the legs felt good. and, when i got up on sunday they still felt good...not the normal soreness from hammering these fire roads/trails. finished a shade under 500th in a little under 3 hours. not my best race but considering the circumstances, a good day anyway. like always, great to see the bike gang and the night after festivities went too fast...having a baby was an added wrinkle but was fine because it kept me in check on the beer front.
sunday, our vacation got off to a great start. we saw two bald eagles flying right over our car on the way to bayfield. we checked out bayfield, went to a couple of orchards, went to copper falls state park and did a sweet hike and then found a county park with a 90 ft waterfall and unimproved trail system to get to it. we stayed in ironwood in a two room suite with so cal slept well. monday we spent hiking several different trails at the porcupine mountain state park. what a great place, waterfalls, pristine forest and full on peak fall color greated us. cal is a champ in the backpack and it was an all around good day. headed to houghton that night to visit pat and katie (and charlotte) and the hospitality they showed us was top notch. we stayed in a dorm building but the guest rooms are nicer than any of the hotels we stayed in. on our way to copper harbor robin received the sad news that her grandmother passed away...two days before we were going to visit her in iron mountian. while it dampened our spirits, we pushed on to copper harbor and took in the sites and also pastries at the jam pot. check those monks out if you ever get a chance...good good stuff.
i ran on the michigan tech trails with pat after which we did 200 meter repeats on the track. by we i mean pat (i ran a few and with very extended rest). good company and great weather for a little trail time. that place looks like it would be great for skiing... after some dinner and ice cream we turned in for the night knowing the rest of the trip would have a somber note.
i was going to ride the fumee lake trails in iron mountin on thursday but the weather had other plans for me...it poured rain all day rendering us house bound and making it impossible to ride on friday too (too wet). other than that, the funeral was good (as good as a funeral can be) and we got to see a lot of robin's family that we haven't seen in awhile.
we got home late in the day on saturday which means we were on the road from thursday through the following saturday. quick got unpacked, went through the bedtime routine and then tried to get ready for the coming tilt at the uspg cyclocross race.
got to the venue a little later than i had wanted but still managed a practice lap prior to staging. the number nazis made me reattach my number again this year (must be roadies running the race) but other than that it was uneventful. i was staged around 50th and passed a bunch of guys in the start. about 1/3 of the way through the first lap i went too tight into a wet corner and stacked it taking another guy with me. i bent my shifter towards the inside of the bars which made for uncomfortable hand positions the rest of the way. i managed to pass a few more people but the crash left me a little tentative which is not what you want in a cross race. still ended up in 22nd place which i'll take considering how far back i was and the crash. i have requested my cat 3 upgrade with usa cycling for the wca season...starting this weekend at the mitchell park domes.
whew, that was a long one.
happy wednesday.
first, fat tire. i got up early and took sam and my bikes down to the start in hayward and then headed back to cable for some breakfast. the start was chaos as normal but i was easily able to move up through the traffic and get into a place i was very happy with at rosie's field. about 45 minutes into the race i knew something was up and shortly after i realized that if didn't take it easy i was a candidate for a code brown. from then on when i felt good i pushed and when i felt bad i sat up...it was frustrating because the legs felt good. and, when i got up on sunday they still felt good...not the normal soreness from hammering these fire roads/trails. finished a shade under 500th in a little under 3 hours. not my best race but considering the circumstances, a good day anyway. like always, great to see the bike gang and the night after festivities went too fast...having a baby was an added wrinkle but was fine because it kept me in check on the beer front.
sunday, our vacation got off to a great start. we saw two bald eagles flying right over our car on the way to bayfield. we checked out bayfield, went to a couple of orchards, went to copper falls state park and did a sweet hike and then found a county park with a 90 ft waterfall and unimproved trail system to get to it. we stayed in ironwood in a two room suite with so cal slept well. monday we spent hiking several different trails at the porcupine mountain state park. what a great place, waterfalls, pristine forest and full on peak fall color greated us. cal is a champ in the backpack and it was an all around good day. headed to houghton that night to visit pat and katie (and charlotte) and the hospitality they showed us was top notch. we stayed in a dorm building but the guest rooms are nicer than any of the hotels we stayed in. on our way to copper harbor robin received the sad news that her grandmother passed away...two days before we were going to visit her in iron mountian. while it dampened our spirits, we pushed on to copper harbor and took in the sites and also pastries at the jam pot. check those monks out if you ever get a chance...good good stuff.
i ran on the michigan tech trails with pat after which we did 200 meter repeats on the track. by we i mean pat (i ran a few and with very extended rest). good company and great weather for a little trail time. that place looks like it would be great for skiing... after some dinner and ice cream we turned in for the night knowing the rest of the trip would have a somber note.
i was going to ride the fumee lake trails in iron mountin on thursday but the weather had other plans for me...it poured rain all day rendering us house bound and making it impossible to ride on friday too (too wet). other than that, the funeral was good (as good as a funeral can be) and we got to see a lot of robin's family that we haven't seen in awhile.
we got home late in the day on saturday which means we were on the road from thursday through the following saturday. quick got unpacked, went through the bedtime routine and then tried to get ready for the coming tilt at the uspg cyclocross race.
got to the venue a little later than i had wanted but still managed a practice lap prior to staging. the number nazis made me reattach my number again this year (must be roadies running the race) but other than that it was uneventful. i was staged around 50th and passed a bunch of guys in the start. about 1/3 of the way through the first lap i went too tight into a wet corner and stacked it taking another guy with me. i bent my shifter towards the inside of the bars which made for uncomfortable hand positions the rest of the way. i managed to pass a few more people but the crash left me a little tentative which is not what you want in a cross race. still ended up in 22nd place which i'll take considering how far back i was and the crash. i have requested my cat 3 upgrade with usa cycling for the wca season...starting this weekend at the mitchell park domes.
whew, that was a long one.
happy wednesday.
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