De Stad Cross Cup Mud Fest

Well everyone finally got the mud they had been hoping for. On some riders I could not tell if that grin on their faces was a smile or pure agony.

I like the mud very much and usually do very well in it. Christopher loves the slimy conditions even more and showed it today. He had an awesome ride. After a slow start, he slowly picked his way up to the lead. I was very proud of him most importantly because he really tried. The kid was on the edge all day with snot and mud streaming off his face. He took home the Junior title today.

My race was fun. Did not have the legs to keep up with the leaders, but I did hang with some of the Men's Open guys on my single speed. I didn't have time to pre-ride the course because I was repairing the course and then I was running around looking for Christopher after his race because he wore my shoes (the kid already has a size 11 shoe). First lap was spent getting used to the course. Still did o.k. and kept Songer the leaders in site. After that I was losing my focus and couldn't enjoy the event because I knew there was going to be a lot of work to be done cleaning up after this one.

Here are some photos:

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De Stad Course Map

The Cross Guru was out finalizing the course yesterday in the dark. Hopefully he was able to find a smooth path but he does not guarantee it. Depending on weather conditions this course could be very interesting.

Key features: Mount De Stad should be a run-up for all except those with billy goat genes. The exit of Roger's Revenge has a nice little off-camber section on the climb back up. Those that can ride it will be at a great advantage. Butt'r Alley along the pond could be muddy if it rains. Bring the big chainring for the cobble road sections. Cow Town barriers will be in place right before the finish line stretch. Spiral of Despair moves to a new location with a faster approach. One to three dismounts depending on your ability level.

Veterans Cross Race Report

This years cyclocross season has really flown by. Only a hand full of races left after today's Veterans Cyclocross. One side of me is bummed that only 3 more races are left on my calendar. The other side is very happy because my cyclocross season has not gone the way I would have liked it. Today's race was in the middle...

Yesterday was spent helping Roger and his Renaissance Cycling team setup for the Veterans Cross a the University of Saint Mary. Roger wanted to design his own course and put in a few special features. As you can see by the photo on the right, Roger was a lot of help. None the less, things went quickly and we were done before noon. I headed home to finish working on the bikes and watch some college football. My Gators got R done, but their win over Vanderbilt was not pretty.

We finished setting up everything in about 3 hours this morning. All there was to do for about 4 hours is wait for my start time at 1:00pm. I almost signed up for the Masters just so I would not have to wait around so long, but I only had my single speed and I really did not want to experience that much pain today. The course was hilly and rough and racing the beast for 50 min was enough.

I took some pictures while I was waiting and cheered on Christoper. Carolynn was not feeling well and opted to sit out this one. Christopher has had about as good a cyclocross season as I. He finished in 6th on the day. Enough to keep him in the points lead, but just barely. Hopefully the weather will be a little cooler for him at the De Stad Cup. I know the course will be a lot less hilly and will suite him better.

Finally it was time for me to race. I did a couple of laps for warm-up and thought I had some good legs. The whistle soon sounded and we were off. I got into the lead, but did not press the pace and soon Steve Songer and Matt Gilhousen went by. I settled behind them until the first barrier section. After I remounted I had some good momentum going up that first hill and shot back into the lead. This lasted about 4 corners as Songer and Matt were back on the next climb. Their pace was fast, but they both slowed down in the new single track down hill section that Roger put in. I went back by them both and into the lead again. Are you guys keeping track. That makes 3 lead changes. Songer got by again and I decided to stick to his wheel. On one of the tight corners coming back up from the little dam, he slid out and I just about t-boned him. I thought for a second there that he rolled a tire, but that was wishful thinking :-). Here I go again back into the lead. Only this time I didn't to lead because of the windy conditions coming back to the finish. I settled behind Steve and Matt with Theodore close behind in fourth. By this time we opened a good gap on the rest of the single speed field and was actually closing in on the tail end of the Men's Open field. Something happened to Matt's bike during the next couple of laps and he soon fell off the pace. By this time Songer had checked out (he is a machine this season) and that left Theodore and I to decide who would take 2nd on the day. We went back and forth a couple of more times until my legs were gone. Theordore opened up a nice gap on me as I settled in for 3rd on the day. Fun racing today for sure!

Here are some pictures that Carolynn and I took today. I hope you all enjoy them. We promise that we will have a good camera for next season :-)

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Tug Uglies Take the Title

This weekend was the annual Stowers Institute family picnic. The last two years the event was held at Worlds of Fun, but this year the event was moved to the Faulkner Pumpkin Farm and Ranch. A very cool place to have a large party or such.....Christopher had a great time. At first I thought he would not want to go, but in the end we couldn't even get him to leave. He had a ball on the 4 wheel pedal vehicles.....Speaking of little Christopher, check out the photo from Saturday. He is officially taller than his mother now. And darn proud of it.

Highlight of the pinic was the Tug-A-War competition. The IT group at Stowers formed the six man team called the "Tug Uglies". After a week of training and studying video we were ready for Saturday's big show down. Luckily we got a first round bye as the number one seed in the competition. When it came down to our first pull I was actually very surprised at how hard it was. As you can see be the below video's, I am not too graceful on my feet, but I do get the job done. End result was a big win by the Tug Uglies. For trophies we got 2 lb hand weights and a sweet gift card from Target. Second place got a protein powder and power bars for their award.

The Tug Uglies in action:

Happy Anniversary

Happy 16th Wedding Anniversary Carolynn!

I finally found some photos from our wedding. We sure did look like a couple of young fools in love..........



.....16 years later I Love You more than ever.