Hanging with the White Dog

Not much to blog about. We've got the White Dog until Jan 5. We took her to Rock Creek today but the pics didn't turn out... too foggy and rainy. Here she is on yesterday's walk. When we are short on time but need to calm her down, we take her to the lawn of the Library of Congress and play fetch. She wanted to carry her ball home.

Kelley Acres Ride 12/22

Another Kelley Acres ride survived yesterday. Beautiful weather, even if the sun never came out. An even better group of people to ride with.
I got to use my new CHB winter jacket.
Heidi pees like every 10 miles.
Lynda made a friend along the way.
This dog wanted some luvin' too.
Afterwards we sat around eating chili that Fred prepared and playing with Shasta (Chris' cat). I haven't downloaded the data yet, but something like 3:30 hours and 50+ miles. A very good day.

Happy Birthday

While searching the web for birthday related cartoons I came across this site. Too funny. Savage Chickens! I love it. This guy draws all his cartoons on sticky notes.

Trebon's crash at Nationals

I was looking at some video from cyclocross nationals and saw this. No matter, I still want to go next year. Kansas City, December 2008, here I come!

My left molar

All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth and a left molar

That's right. Cancel all those wishes for fancy bike gear. I need teeth!

Yesterday I was flossing and my front tooth fell apart. I was hit in the mouth with a softball as a kid and broke it. I've had problems with it ever since. Once I was having my teeth cleaned and the dental assistant just popped it right off. I don't know the terminology for how they fixed it. I know it's not a cap or crown, maybe more like a veneer. It seems the tooth just split, front to back. Nothing to worry about though. Only the back part of it fell off, you can't even notice. Shouldn't be too painful or expensive to fix.

Well today I was flossing again and my crown fell off. This is more serious. Again, it's not visible, but my boss told me that if I ignored it, it could abscess. I hope the dentist is able to bond the crown back to the platform. If not, I could be facing the dreaded root canal. This could be extremely painful and quite costly. By the way, this tooth originally broke when I tripped and fell and hit my jaw on my desk.

On a better note, last night was Evelyn's Festivus Celebration.

Festivus is the celebration for the "rest of us" and begins with the airing of grievances. My grievance is that Ev gave Sonja and I matching jackets so we look like a couple of dorks. (Just kidding! I love my jacket.)

After the airing of grievances, come the feats of strength. I skipped out on that part. And one important thing, for Festivus you don't put up a tree but rather a pole. Here's Jeff and his Festivus pole.
It was an enjoyable evening and a great celebration to kick off the holiday season.

27 Things to Know

A friend of mine sent me this email. You are supposed to answer the questions and send it on to people you know. I am putting my answers here for all to see.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Neither. I’m so bad that I usually just give it in the shopping bag it came in.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Neither. And even if I wanted to put a tree up, I wouldn’t have room for it with all the bikes in the way.

3. When do you put up the tree? Moot point, but I guess if I was going to put one up it would be about now (mid-December).

4. When do you take the tree down? Again, moot point, but if I put one up, I’d be sure to take it down before New Year’s. Right, Mom?

5. Do you like egg nog? No.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My red bike with the banana seat on it when I was 4 or 5 and living in Yuma. I would put my dog Pepe in the basket and ride around the neighborhood for what seemed like hours.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Donna

9. Easiest person to buy for? Mom

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, but I’m really bad. In fact, this reminds me I’d better get some cards in the mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? None. It’s the thought that counts.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? A three-way tie between A Christmas Story, The Grinch that Stole Christmas, and Rudolph.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? At the absolute last minute. Not a big shopper here.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I don’t really eat anything different at Christmas than I do the rest of the year, just more of it.

16. Clear or colored Christmas lights? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song/carol? God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman and The Little Drummer Boy

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes. Who can’t?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Again, if I had a tree I would put a star on top.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Some one the Eve, some in the morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Shoppers, and the fact that stores are advertising for Christmas and putting up decorations weeks before Thanksgiving. Come on people, it’s not supposed to be a commercial holiday.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Rudolph ornaments. CVS was selling them years ago and I bought the whole set for a friend. I wish I had bought myself a set too. They were the cutest ornaments I’ve ever seen.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Can I have steak and frites for Christmas?

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Michael Vick to be put in a ring with starving, abused pit bulls and left to fend for himself. Oh, and getting me clothes and bike stuff is always a good bet.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? My mom.

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? My dad.

Getting in the holiday spirit

I'm finally getting into the holiday spirit. Hey, better late than never. This weekend hopefully I can finish (who am I kidding... more like start) my Christmas shopping.

Jess sent me these.

Exiting the sand pit.

The finish. I'm smiling 'cause it's over!

Some Rockburn Cross Photos

I found these. I will post more if I find any.

Over the random barrier on the backside of the course.

Another barrier shot.

Leapin' Lynda.

Ilana Iguana.

Now that's what I call a cross race

Today was the Rockburn Cross race, the last race in the Mid-Atlantic region and the last race of my season. I went into the race with no expectations, having my foot injury and all and not having raced for about a month now. I thought I would be flat, but I surprised myself. During the warmup, which for me was one lap, I got wet and cold and decided to do the rest of my "warmup" in the Ghetto Elephant. About 25 minutes before the race I went to the bathroom then rode the 1/2 lap to the start where I stood by the fire until the absolute last moment. The race for me now is pretty much a blur. I rode clean which is probably why I won. JeanBean had a great start but missed a turn and went into the course tape. Lynda rode well, but crashed. Yeah, that's right... I won. The only thing that stands out about today's race is that it was the first "real" cross race of the season... muddy, wet, and cold conditions. How ironic that the last race of the season is the first race that had all the elements of a true cross race?

The podium shot. Lynda is missing... she had to get home to the kids. Notice we are all bundled up.

The Merckx after today's race. This is the first time that I have to clean the cross bike after a race.

It's bittersweet, the end of the season. I can't believe I have to wait until October 2008 until the next cross race. But in a way I'm relieved.

Chicken

Where are my Yaktrax?

Today's scheduled workout had me running and doing intervals on the bike. I decided to take the Metro to work, run home, then hop on my trainer for the intervals. The forecast for the day said snow, but no accumulation. At 4:30pm I went outside my office to check the weather and grab an afternoon snack. At that time, it was snowing but nothing was sticking. Well, when I left at 7pm to run the 4 miles home, this is what it looked like. I think the weather people got it wrong! I really could have used my Yaktrax as the snow along the Mall was already 3 inches deep.My foot was ok. Still not 100% so I will probably take a little more time off from running which means no long run this weekend. Oh, and about a block from home I tripped and fell and slid about 5 feet on the sidewalk. The snow didn't cause the fall, at least I don't think so. I think I stepped on a loose brick. Anyway, thanks to the soft landing I escaped without spilling any blood and I didn't put any holes in my running clothes. I will most likely have some very nice bruises tomorrow though.

And I must say, I love my Brooks running jacket. It's paper thin, waterproof, and it kept me warm with just an undershirt in 30 degree weather. As a bonus, it packs up so small that you can put it in a pocket.

Some images from home

My sister Val.

Molly dancing in her Santa dress.

Tater Bug.

Gerald, the best brother-in-law ever.

Monster truck. You don't see these everyday.

Well, Foot!

After a short blog hiatus I'm back. Lots to write about and I'll have pics to post later.

The title of this blog is something that my mom says instead of spurting expletives like "shit, fire, dammit to hell". That little doozie is one she used to say. It also brings back memories of other little sayings of hers, some good, some bad. I seem to recall something along the line of "that grabs my gonads". That really wasn't a good one. Others are the standard "colder than a witch's tit" to which she would add "in a brass bra". And of course, "full as a tick" to which she adds "that's been sucking on a dog all day". And never, ever use the phrase "well, well, well" with her because she's surely to reply "that's a deep subject for such a shallow mind".

But the subject of this post is actually very appropriate for me right now. As luck would have it, I finally registered for my marathon in Myrtle Beach and well, foot, I injured my foot running on the treadmill last Thursday. I was hoping it would be better by Sunday for my cross race, but no dice. As hard as it was for me to miss my race, I feel I made the right decision. Jumping off a moving bicycle and running over barriers in hard mountain bike shoes on a cold day would probably have made it worse. I have it taped right now and will sleep in a special sock tonight and hope that I can run on it later this week.

Here are some highlights from the last week and a half:

• I went on a Kelley Acres ride in Middletown, Maryland. Thanks for the invite, Chris. It was an epic ride and I hope to do several more once my "offseason" starts next week
• I went home for Thanksgiving. I have some pictures to post later.
• I joined the Quad Cities Bicycle Club in order to do RAGBRAI next year with my dad.
• I had the White Dog for the weekend. I couldn't take her to Rock Creek because her nail is still healing from the last visit.
• The Marmot visited for the weekend. It was good to have her up. Please come back soon!

That's it for now.

White Dog at RCP

Azu on the rocks.

Trying to rock climb, and most likely where she broke her nail.

A little help, please.

With the "stick" that she dragged all the way to the car because she was not ready to leave.

Even more photos from Race Pace

Jess and I hamming it up for the camera. She races A and will kick my butt once I upgrade.

The "podium" shot. Sonja insisted that she get a podium shot, so she and Jess pulled it out of the trailer. Problem was, none of the podium finishers were around so Jess and Denise filled-in for Lynda and Kristina. Jess looks happy, doesn't she. Such a ham!

Route 1 Velo's resident model and second place finisher in the Men's C Race

More photos from Race Pace

Another view of the off-camber

Approaching the only "barrier" on the course... a log that you could ride over

High-fiving JJ at the finish

I'm pretty happy about this one

Chickin with some dough. That's the podium in the trailer. They hadn't unpacked it yet but I was ready to go.

Race Pace Photos

Ladies at the start

Announcer Extraordinaire

The technical off-camber section of the course

Chicken in the lead!

Other than the pavement, my favorite part of the course was this section.

Bipolar Day

A day of ups. A day of downs.

The upside. The day started with something I've been waiting for for a long time. A WIN! Yes, that's right. I actually won my race yesterday. I had an okay start. The usual not being able to clip-in to my pedal, slotting into 5th or 6th place, making some good passes and ending up in 3rd about half way thru the first lap. I was behind Lynda and Kristina going up the "run up" which most of us were able to ride. Lynda got a small gap and I was kind of stuck behind Kristina. I managed to get around her and began chasing down Lynda. She took the first lap prime but her gap was not that big (I would say only 5-10 seconds) but it must have looked bigger to the spectators because JJ (the announcer) was going off on how far in front she was. I caught her just after the pavement climb about a quarter of the way into the second lap and we were together going up the run up. Unfortunately, she crashed on the downhill and nearly took me with her. At this point the little angel in me wanted to stop and make sure everything was ok. The little devil in me wanted to put the hammer down. The little devil won (sorry Lynda). What followed is a blur. I put on the gas and never let up. The first time gap I remember was only 15 seconds, then I heard 51 seconds, then 2 minutes. JJ was already announcing me as the race winner with 3 laps to go. I heard him say "Winner, winner, chicken dinner" with 2 to go and was praying he wasn't going to jinx me. Sonja told me I could go easy and cruise to the win but I didn't want to take that chance. I've had so many mechanical issues that I wanted my gap to be as big as possible just in case my bike broke and I had to run to the pits. I ended up winning with a gap of about 4 minutes. Lynda recovered from her crash and was able to hold onto second. Good job. Kristina rolled in for third. Really good job considering she was on a mountain bike.

Results here. Be sure to read the story, too.

After the race, Sonja took me to lunch at Belga Cafe, the Belgian restaurant on Capitol Hill where we dined on waffles, drank a glass of champagne, and toasted the Belgian monks in Chimay by downing some of their fine brew. The day was capped by borrowing the White Dog and taking her on a hike in Rock Creek. Nothing pleases us more than watching her joy in running off leash and fetching sticks out of the water.

The downside. The White Dog split a toenail at Rock Creek and there was blood everywhere. It doesn't sound so bad now, but we were panicked at the time. I mean, we borrow someone else's dog and she gets injured under our watch. Of course we're going to feel bad about it. Thankfully, Laura didn't seem to mind. Dogs will be dogs.

And the really bad news... Sonja's mother took a turn for the worse. I won't give details but I hope she knows my thoughts are with her.

I did happen to find this

Not the most flattering but it's all I could find...

Over the uphill barriers at the Wayne Scott Memorial Cyclocross race at Fair Hill

I'm over it, finally

I never posted about my races this past weekend because frankly, I was too upset. But now it's time to move ahead, look forward to the upcoming weekend and focus for my race on Sunday. Not that my races last weekend were bad or anything (I finished 2nd both days), it's just that I am sick and tired of mechanicals dictating how I finish.

Saturday's race at Fairhill was different to say the least. A pretty strange course had us running thru the "Sand Pit of Doom", hopping over the most ghetto of barriers (a concrete something or other), passing thru horse barns, and lots of turns. It didn't really suit me, but I had a good start (even taking the prime for the first racer across the finish line after the first lap). After taking the prime I was passed by the eventual winner. She's a very strong rider and I was not making up ground on her so I settled into 2nd place and rode my tempo. She beat me by 30 seconds and I beat third by 30 seconds. I was happy with this race and looking forward to Sunday.

Sunday was MY race. The course couldn't be better suited to me and I got a call-up so I didn't have to elbow my way to the front. The first lap and I've already got a gap. Jeanbean and I are WAY off the front starting the second lap when she started to fade. I made my move and had a sizable gap when my bike broke AGAIN. Forced to run to the pits I was passed by Jean and 2 other riders. At least that was it. If I hadn't of had such a gap on the field it would have been much worse. Hopping on my pit bike I was able to fight and clawed my way back up to second in what was described to me by several spectators as one of the best races they've ever watched. An epic, I guess.

Here's hoping for no mechanicals (or crashes) on Sunday. Please. Pretty please with sugar on top.

No pictures from the races but here are the results.

Fairhill
Tacchino

White dog greeting us...

Mom, this one's for you.

I bought Azucar a new toy when I was out in Colorado a few months ago. She likes to play tug-of-war and when I saw it, I just had to get it for her. It's a rubber football attached to a stretchy rope with a loop at the end. She and Maya enjoyed playing with it.
She played with it all night Thursday and even brought it to bed. You know how dogs are when they get a new toy... it's their new favorite thing. However, when I woke up on Friday, all I could find was the football end. I couldn't even find one single thread from the rope, nada. No way could she have eaten it, I thought.
Well, I was wrong.
The rest came out later in the day.

WV Ride

Sunday Sonja and I were out in WV with the dogs and decided to do a little ride. "Little" is a bit of a misnomer as any ride that you do in WV winds up being epic. It started innocently enough with the descent down the front side of the mountain on Howard's Lick Road. The views from here are magnificent. Case in point.

Along the way we ran into Heidi. She and the ABRT/Latitude girls were staying at the barn. This was Heidi's second day on the bike since her horrible crash at the Christiana stage race back in August.
Me posing with "Eddy".After descending Howard's Lick, we started the long dirt climb up to the Fire Tower. The descent from here was a scary ordeal for me on my cross bike as the trees were casting shadows on the road and I had a hard time seeing the potholes, rocks, and whatnot.

The next climb was Liberty Furnace. I have a love/hate relationship with this climb. I think it's one of the hardest climbs in WV. It's long, extremely steep in some sections, and has 2 false flats. Some may say that the back side climb is harder, but I find Liberty Furnace to be more taxing. I have to look at my garmin, but I think it took us an hour to get to the top.

After descending Liberty Furnace, we headed to the Mathias General Store for some grub. I chose the white chili. It was yummy and exactly what I needed to face the final climb of the day back up to the house, Hemlick Rock Road.

Sonja enjoyed her food.

Hemlick Rock Road is infamous. It is pretty much straight up the mountain and it's not paved. We couldn't take pictures here because, frankly, if we had stopped, we'd probably not be able to get back on our bikes. It's that steep. Fortunately, the recent rain had the road in good shape and our tires weren't sliding out so much in the dirt.

At the end of the day we had ridden something close to 50 miles, 4 and a half hours, and almost 7000ft of climbing.