Serious justification...

....for my kids being the cutest damn things in the world....as my lovely wife is out trying to make a buck, it's Daddy day-care here at the ranch. After good dinners and some chit chat about what Santa may (or may not) being swinging by with, I put on some tunes. Now it should be stated that while tastes may differ dramatically in our abode, music in general terms is key. My two daughters use the kitchen as their own personal club and rock out to anything from Hannah Montana and the Clique Girlz (yea, I said it....) to Dave Mathews to Tribe to the Dead (well the latter is more Dad rockin' out, but you get the point...).

What has been just a BALL to witness of late is the younger lad's new dedication to joining his sisters on the dance floor. His current favorite seems to be Kate Nash's "Foundations" (as soon as that song ends he starts pointing at the iPod and saying "mo, mo, mo...Dada, mo, mo!", which in Ryan-speak means, "Hey Dad, play that f-er again dude!!!"

Something about the first storm of the year...

I'm not sure what it is, but I've always just loved the first big blowout of a snowstorm of the year ever since I was a little kid. As I look out the window and watch Mother Nature covering our yard with a foot of the fluffy white stuff I can't help but get a little excited. Shoveling will certainly suck, but watching Meghan and Caitlin blast down the killer sledding hill we have next door will be a hoot. Money's tight right now so ski days will be limited...I am hoping to get on some XC ski trails this year both as a workout and as a Daddy-daughter day (I got Meghan some plastic XC skis last winter and she loved it...perhaps a budding endurance athlete here??). I'll likely be the first one up and get the walk shoveled out after a nice hot cup of joe. By then the girls will be up and super psyched to get out in it. And then the little guy will eventually be up (the kid is 18 months old and eats more than his older sisters-he's in the top 9f5th percentile for height and weight and sleeps for 12 hours at a clip--can you say "not my son"???). We'll put him in the baby sled and pull him around the neighborhood too (sure he'll love it). Then we'll pack up the fam and head to the 413 for some holiday cheer with Mom's side of the family.

Love winter!!!

NBX Day 2 Report

Well, not much to report! The day was just plain silly-about an inch of new fallen snow on the ground with icey corners and my hip really sore from yesterday's bashing. 4th row start with the B masters and I just didn't have it in me. After half a lap I just decided that I wanted to have some fun and not crash. Don't think my heart rate really spiked much at all. I had a bottom 50% finish but I stayed upright and had some good laughs with a couple of BRC guys that seemed to be in the same mind frame I was in. It's been a REALLY fun season and I feel pretty good about my improvements: a couple of top tens, a few top 20's, and some improved skills. It gives me strong motivation to train harder this summer and try to get some top 5's next year!

NBX Report, Day 1

I love this course....I'm not quite sure why as there are a lot of road sections and it's wicked fast, but I just love it. Lined up for the 4's race today and had a third row start. I felt strong and was rolling well into the final lap when, with a group of about 8 guys, I learned how easy it is to go from 12th to 20th in less than a second. Was taking the sweeping off-camber right hand turn and WHAM!, down she goes. What was sort of funny in retrospect was the crowd's reaction. You know when you see a pretty sick open ice hit in a hockey game and the crowd just yells, "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" as the dude picks himself up, shakes the stars off and kind of limps back to the bench? That's kind of what happened.....I did my best to jump back on and catch my group but they were gone. I finished the last half lap and rolled in for a 20th. Not bad, but not great either; that's cross though, and tomorrow is another day!

Late Sterling post...

...not too much to post on this one...it's just not my kind of course unfortunately. While there are some good technical sections, I lack the HP for the long straightaways. Plus the steep runup just about kills me every time. I won't make excuses for this one; I didn't feel great and wasn't super motivated. Finished 19th in the 35+, 35th overall. I think there were 90 guys in the race, so top half. But not great; I felt like I left a lot out there.

It's funny to say this, but I'm ready for a break. My back has been really bugging me all season long. Lately my elbow has been really bothering me too. I feel like I need to take a month off the bike and let some things heal up. Then I need to really work on core strength in the off-season and do a lot of sloooooow and easy base work. I love, love, love being on any of my bikes and 'cross is definitely my favorite. But slugging it out every weekend with a bum back ain't much fun.

On the up side (there's ALWAYS an upside) the MRC crew lit it up overall. Gary and Rich podiumed in the B-masters (behind Mike McKittrick who is fast as hell and regularly finishes top 10 in the killer B's). Anna won (again) the women's B race, and we found out that Manny has been invited to join Geoff Proctor at Euro Cross Camp. That kid is just plain talented and motivated. While Luke Keough is the class of the US Juniors right now (I predict a podium at Worlds this year for him), Manny is hard f'ing core. I guess another bright spot (and sort of funny one) would be that I had my first official run in with Mr. Curley. He took me out on lap one behind the scoreboard. It seems that this icon of New England 'cross racing has rubbed elbows with most of my team mates. Now I feel like I'm part of the crowd!