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!

Why I love Easthampton CX

1. Cold as hell this morning, starting to feel more like cyclocross season (though personally I prefer sloppy and wet, the cold I can do without, but it IS 'cross).
2. It's in the 413, which gives me an extra reason to schlepp the kids out to my folks house for a visit.
3. My sister lives in Noho which is next door, so another family visit opportunity.
4. REALLY fun, twisty and single-tracky course.
5. I got 7th despite almost coughing up a lung on the last lap's run-up.

Great course-based on some of the comments I heard today regarding the Cheshire, CT race, I am going to see if I can negotiate the double for next year, assuming both races fall on the same weekend!

Daddy Daycare

Should be an interesting weekend! With the cost of "life" essentially doubling and my salary not keeping pace, my beautiful wife is heading back to the work force. I know this wasn't in the grand plan, and to be honest I'm somewhat ashamed/embarrassed/insert derogative term here, but it is what it is. She's Ok with it, and I think getting out of the house a bit will be a welcome respite from chasing 3 kids under 8 around all day every day.
So we've got a hoops game at 10, a birthday party at 3, a bunch of work-work that needs to get done, a bunch of house-work that needs to get done and a CX race in the 413 on Sunday. Hope to have some fun and not lose my mind doing it!!!

Ahhhhhhh, the results...

Quick post....I'm playing hooky from some late night work I gotta' get done. Results finally posted for Plymouth South; I guess the promoter lost them for a while. Anyhoo, a 16th in the 4's. Once again, my lack of finishing sprint (what??? Chicken legs got no juice???) put me one place down than I should have been.

This past w'end was perhaps my favorite race of the New England CX scene over at Shedd Park in Lowell. It is such an awesome race and with all the rain the days before the event, there was mud, mud, mud. I love racing in mud. I'm not really sure if it's because I have some perversion about getting dirty, but I love it.

I had a pretty good starting position in the second row. This year the good dudes at BRC wanted to wind it up and out a bit before the slingshot tree turn, hoping for a smaller amount of stacked up riders....great plan, but guys stacked just the same. I got a little caught up there, but I'm trying to learn from experience. Instead of bitching about it, I'm trying to use those situations to my advantage. Jump off and quickly get through the melee on foot and scoot further ahead. This seemed to work pretty well. The next part of the course was the wicked steep ride-up that I was forced to run because my sh*tty shifters aren't working well when they get muddy ( http://blog-o-sweeney.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-really-want-rival.html). I didn't really lose any time on that but my HR was completely pegged for a section I should have been able to ride. The twisty turny sections worked out WELL for me as a fair amount of guys were wiping out and giving me space to pass which was great. By the middle of lap 2 things had strung out a bit and the Psycho guys that I just can't catch were on the front (again). The woodsy section was dramatically different this year and was loved by all (though I wish they hadn't taken the barriers out). Trying to ride that mud bog was by FAR the most fun of the course! I was able to clear it 2 out of 4 laps (stay in ze meeedle!).
By the end of the fun I was racing with a guy from NHCC. As we came out of the woods on the last lap I jumped on his wheel onto the track. Around the last bend and I came alongside him and smiled-he smiled back. We both stomped on it....and, yep, my "sprint" proved second best again. Ah well-I'm still improving (15th out of almost 80 starters) and really, really enjoying the season.
On to Easthampton hopefully! See you there?

Plymouth South

Well, I have been waiting to post up a report on Plymouth because I have no idea how I finished yet. Due to a yard full of leaves and two lovely little girls that were dying to jump in a pile of them, I had to get home right after I raced. So I did my thing in the 4's (race time was 10 otherwise I would have done the B masters), then watched Gary, Rich, and Jim start, then I took off. As of Tuesday morning, still no results posted. That bothers me....anyway....

The course was great...a mix of everything--some great woodsy single track (GREAT for me), coupled with long and open straight-aways (good for the guys at Psycho that keep f-ing beating me). Despite a lingering chest cold, I felt Ok and got off the line in decent enough shape. My biggest goal for next season though is improving my starts. As with many races this year, the bottlenecks at certain obstacles on lap 1 have a definitive mark on the outcome. I tend to be a decent enough bike handler but if/when I am caught behind guys that struggle on slippery stuff, I lack the power to bridge to the leaders once things open up again. It's my feeling that if I can develop more power and get off the line more quickly and then (theoretically anyway...) be able to stay there for two laps, I can dramatically improve my placings. This race was no different with guys stacking up on the off-camber turns right off the pavement. IMO this was an easy obstacle, even with a couple across going through it, but there were crashes and I was behind them. I caught up to Dave on the second lap and was hoping we could work together a bit to bridge...but my brain shuts off when I go into O2 debt and I just keep going as hard as I can. Need to work more intelligently with team mates from now on, it's doable in cross I am convinced.

Course notes of interest:
-I loved the waterbar descent through the woods-the traction was ideal and I was full gas through this section each time through. On the last lap, a 3/4 woman stacked pretty violently right before the uphill out of the woods....she seemed ok but that looked nasty. The guy from NEBC that was with me in this section literally rode OVER her!!!
-The off-camber S-turn section right off the road was also very cool and Sterling-esque. I wonder how much quicker I could be on that with tubulars at low pressure?
-It's too bad they took that steep downhill by the backstop out of the course, that would have been a BLAST to bomb down.
-The long grassy straightaways by the ball fields again crushed me. It's frustrating to watch somone literally ride away from you when you are giving every ounce of power you've got and the gap is still growing.

In any event, I think I placed top 20 or so, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Next up is the BRC race in Lowell, one of my absolute favorite courses of the year.

Noho report....late

Not sure if the Farmington race is no longer or what, but Adam and the Cycle-Smart crew put on a fabulous double at Look Park. Enough changes in the course over the two days to be a ton of fun and we had something like 27 MRC'ers on the scoreboards!! Highlights for me were watching Manny dukin' it out at the front of juniors race (that kid is just plain fast), the Professor hitting the podium in the B-masters, and CCC at the front of the killer B's on both days. Bad Brad was sucking wind in the 2/3's but that kid is so good, it'll just take a couple of races to get some fitness back. The MRC women's team is wicked strong--podiums for Christina and Anna; didn't catch how Andrea did, but she's racing against the friggin' pros now! It's great to see; in just a couple of years it seems like the women's fields in NE 'cross have virtually doubled.
For me, well, I did Ok. As much as I love Noho, it's got a lot of roadie sections where I break down later on in the races. The long grass straightaways are the death of me. I need more twisty turny stuff! On Saturday I was 33rd overall and 25th in the 35+, and on Sunday I finished 32nd overall and 19th in the 35+.

The very best of the weekend though was my own personal fan club-Mom came out to watch on Saturday, and on Sunday the whole Sweeney crew was there. Mom and Dad, my wife Penny, and all 3 of my kids, my sister and her boyfriend. There is just NOTHING BETTER than hearing my daughters cheering me on--"go Daddy, go; he's only a couple seconds ahead of you".
My sister caught me doing my best Coley imitation over the barriers and staying upright! Perhaps the funniest thing (in retrospect) was on Saturday when I literally crashed right in front of Mom. On the steep run-up a rider from Cycle Loft inadvertently cut me off (I'm sure it wasn't intentional...) and in my oxygen deprived state I went off after him....just as we were to swing back to the left, I stared right at his rear wheel...and yep, hit it and went down hard. There's Mom on the other side of the tape-"Scotty, look where you want to go....not where you don't want to go". She's a smart one, I tell ya!

Thus far I am happy that I'm improving. Each week I look at my B masters results and transpose them to the cat 4 results list. Obviously it's a different race, but if I'd be placing consistently in the top 20 and even some top 10's in that group. I need to keep it up, it's fun and I'm gettin' better. On to Plymouth!

Wrentham Report

Lined up for the B-Masters, 35+ race on Saturday on a pretty nice day for New England 'cross. This was a huge improvement weather wise over last year, when this race was in mid-December and absolutely freezing. I think I had two sets of leg warmers on and I was still cold! I was in the 5th row and felt pretty good pre-race. The course was pretty rutty in sections, so a half dozen warm-up laps certainly helped me pick out lines to follow.

Whistle goes and I go hard. Considering how crappy last week at Mansfield went (DFL after the MOC, 1 minute into the race) I had to be closer to the front before the grassy turns. I tend to do better on the twisty-turny stuff--I began riding as a moutain biker and I think my handling skills help there. I'm not Coley on the technical stuff by any means (who is?), but I think I can hold my own. Through the twisties and over the first set of barriers. I have worked pretty hard at getting smoother on this skill. Next year I will try to get faster through them. I think I picked off a few guys on the remounts the first two laps.

Through the woods and back out to the open grassy area. At the second set of barriers, literally right in front of me, Steen tried to bunnyhop over. Looks like he caught his front wheel and face-planted. Great attempt! Bigger cahones than me, that's for sure.

Next few laps were typical. I jumped up a bunch of spots....had Mike and Paul in my sites on the bell lap. Couldn't catch Mike and Paul put in a great dig on the last straightaway and I couldn't catch him. My best result ever in a 'cross race....10th out of 70+ starters. I'm pretty happy with that.

I continue to improve and need to keep pushing hard on the intervals.

Big shouts to the MRC winners: Rich won the 4's going away; Anna took the women's 3-4 race, Andrea the women's 1-2-3 (the MRC ladies are just handing to the competition this year!!!). I don't have the full story on Manny yet, but I guess there was a mishap of sorts but he was schoolin' the field...I am so happy to be part of a club where 'cross is a big thing!! On to NoHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I love the 413 and I'm hoping the kids will get to see Dad put up a solid result.

Have you tried this yet???

So we're having some friends over for a little Oktoberfest fun tomorrow afternoon and I was browsing our local packie's seasonal selection. When I came across this one, I just had to try it:

http://www.butternutsbeerandale.com/

This one is going to give Dale's a run for its money. And the name itself is priceless. Head on down to your local purveyor and ask for it. It's slappin' good!

I really want Rival...

My 'cross bike has Shimano 105 9-speed shifters. Hey, I'm a B masters racer, mid-packer most of the time, and we're on a pretty tight budget. But I do ride my bike a lot, and I've been racing more this past year or so, and plan to continue that. Anyhoo, the shifting on my 'cross bike lately has begun to flat out suck. In Gloucester, it literally wouldn't shift at all until I just pounded the shifter with a fist and then it finally clicked down a gear. In Mansfield this past weekend it did it again. Please don't offer advice....I've read the blogs, flushed out the unit with degreaser and carefully hit the pivots with some oil, blah, blah, blah.

I want SRAM Rival shifters. I was goofing around with some fellow MRC bikes the last couple of weeks and I really like the action and the stiff, audible "CLICK" of SRAM shifting. Then being the closet weight dork I am from time to time, I read the differences in between 105 and Rival and was stunned. (335 g. for Rival, and 490 for 105)

Now I just need to come up with the dough.....350 for shifters, 75 for a derailleur, and 100 for a 10 speed cassette and chain.

I did get two of the yellow Monopoly properties in my number 5 value meal today (worth 25k if you get the third property). What do you think my chances are???

Mansfield Hollow report + Why Mapquest sucks.

So the plan this weekend was to race on Saturday at Mansfield Hollow in CT (and sadly miss the big time party at Canton with the MRC crew) so that I could go see Meghan cheer on the Nashoba Pop Warner football team on Sunday. It was her last game cheering and I really wanted to see her.

So let's start with Mansfield-absolutely great course with the exception of the Monster Off Camber (MOC) that was a minute into the race. Unfortunately for me, this obstacle essentially decided the final selection. I got bogged down behind a couple of guys that bobbled at the top and by the time we got it sorted out, the lead group was gone for good. I felt like I had decent legs that morning, so opportunity lost. The course itself deserves some space here though. No less than 5 or 6 dismounts PER lap dependent on one's fitness. There was a single barrier before the MOC at a hairpin left turn, a log barrier right on another hairpin left turn (bunny hoppable, but the sharp turn made that a suspect strategy IMO); two sand runs, a steep run-up with a barrier at the top, and finally a double barrier (regulation height) just out of the woods. The good news is that I felt pretty smooth on my dismounts and mounts-I feel like my skills are improving there. I am beginning to get the feel for what Myerson refers to as "merging with the bicycle" and immediately stomping on the pedals. I hit the sand runs at almost full speed without having to scrub speed ahead of time. My running sucks though and remains a weakness. Because my back has been so torqued for so long I am having a tough time sprinting-big time core strengthening once 'cross ends. In any event, I finished 20th, just behind Gewilli. I was able to stay and watch the first half of the women's MRC team have at the course. Spent some time with Christina, Anna, and Andrea--they're dominating the women's fields right now and stepping onto the podium at most events. I think Anna and Andrea won on Sunday at Canton.

As for Sunday....well, let's just say that Mapquest officially SUCKS. Why on earth that program had us going to Worcester (Holy Cross exit) then driving in a couple of cirles (though now I know where Bicycle Alley is...) to get to Spencer is beyond me. Truth be told, I should have read through all the directions before even leaving the house but hey-we're a busy family, Ryan had a tough night, we were tired and just wanted to GET THERE. Well, we missed the damn game and I missed the Canton race because of it. Ah well....

The MRC race is this weekend, followed by Beer Cross in Dayville, CT on Sunday (same guy that promoted Natz Schmatz last year).

Gloucester report!

I've been wondering lately why the hell I get SO nervous before the start of virtually any athletic endeavor I'm about to begin. I mean seriously, I had a customer golf tournament last Friday and I was practically hyperventilating on the first tee (I banged it 250 and straight btw). Saturday morning was no exception. Racing is a funny thing....there's wicked fast guys out there with minimalist kits and piece meal bikes and there's old frumpy dudes with bikes worth more than my car. I guess everyone just does their own thing. But I was SO damn nervous!!! I think the show of cycling bling gets me thinking bad thoughts....

Anyway....I'm in the 4th row and when the whistle blows, I hit the gas hard. My goal is try and get to the dirt in the top 20 or so guys. Considering that in the 4's lots of guys falter on the "all so important clip-in" this seemed a reasonable goal. Things started stringing out really quickly though and groups started to form. I think I was sitting in the second or third bunch.

Ran into Rich just off the pavement on lap 2 or 3 (can't remember...) and he was running....it was HIS chain that I had seen on the pavement 200 yards prior. I knew he was in the hunt and offered him my bike (that may be against da rules??) but he declined. Guess he didn't realize that we both run Eggbeaters...

By lap 4 I'm sort of at that spot where I'm really tired, but also wondering if I can push the pain away and catch some more guys (insert State Farm commercial here) when I roll up on Mike Cook and a few guys. Cookie is fast so I'm pretty psyched that I'm here. BUUUUUT, I lack any sort of finishing kick and when we hit the pavement at the end of the bell lap, I don't get a top 25...ah well, something to work on, right? 27th for the day 1.

Day 2 was tough-first time I've raced on consecutive days and the course had some new stuff. A pretty steep run up (but the footing was AWESOME so I didn't lose too much time each lap) was added as were a couple of wicked slippery turns. I felt like complete ASS on the first couple laps but then started feeling better....until lap 4, the long uphill by the baseball field when Scott the dumbass decided to try and downshift under pressure. POP goes the chain and ZoomZoom goes the 8 guys I'm racing with....by the time I caught back up with them I was shot, and yep...once again we hit the pavement and I've got no snap. DFL in the sprint and 31st on day 2.

All things considered, I'm improving and I'm happy about that. Had I not blown my chain at Quad 'Cross I would have been top 20. Gloucester fields have 120+ guys in them so at least my number of top 25% on Colin's site will no longer be bagels!

See ya' in CT this weekend! No Canton for me....Meghan's cheering squad's last football game is Sunday and I have to be there!

Quad 'cross mechanicals

So the first real race for me was yesterday over at Middlesex Community College in Bedford. Nice to be local, and it was my favorite kind of riding--sloppy and muddy, the way 'cross should be. We had an awesome showing of MRC'rs there, including Mr. Lowry who was getting married later in the day (dude, that is true dedication!!). Steen, Cort, two Todds (only one raced....dude, c'MON), Ric, Rob, Coley, GD, GFG, Jim, Bill, others I'm surely leaving out....a great crew nonetheless. However, in a way that must have been a good foreshadow to today's financial "news"....there were too many mechanical failures for the good guys....

1. Right in front of me, Bill rolled a tire.

2. Same race, I blew out a chain and had to run half the last lap, instantly losing 15 places.

3. Jim broke his saddle on lap 2 and had to race on one cheek.

4. Cort rolled a tire...he was sitting second wheel looking REALLY comfortable, then when I saw him again he was about 7th and on Todd's bike.

5. And not to be outdone, Rich somehow managed to rip a hole in his skinsuit in a place that 'cross racers don't want to rip holes.

This was a fun course and definitely local for me (I love races that are 20 minutes from home).

Well, the season has definitely kicked off. I was pretty pleased with how I was going for the most part. I'm pretty sure that Ric and I were sitting in the top 20 or so going in to the bell lap. I hit the gas on the straightaway and felt like I could pick off another guy or two before the finish. I had heard some unsettling clickety clicks when shifting and said a few quick prayers that the crappy shifting was due to the mud and not a chain ready to blow.....

Ah well...it's bike racing and this stuff happens. Important for me that I felt good in the 3/4 masters and I'm psyched for the season. Bike maintenance tonight and Wrentham on Wednesday!! Let's prayer for more rain!!!

The politics of the book bag...

So I have a wonderful, amazing, delightful seven year old daughter. Her name is Meghan and she is one of the four most beautiful things in my world. One of the most interesting (and frankly hysterical) aspects of being a Dad is paying attention to the things that pop up in everyday life that other folks would likely consider white noise.

Just such a thing is going on now. I am calling it the 'politics of the book bag'. Meghan, like most kids her age, are 'required' these days to lug more crap to school on a daily basis than I ever was. Therefore, she has a book bag big enough for her to sleep in. But it's a couple of years old and just isn't cool anymore. Now her buddies are lugging around sling bags or messenger bags (HA! I used a messenger bag when I was managing a bike shop 10 years in Minneapolis to carry my crap to work everyday...maybe Dad is more hip than he gets credit for...). Being a bit of a gear head, I am certainly sypathetic to Meghan's plight. She's lucky there I guess--she wants what she wants and I know the feeling.

And since Grammy is subsidizing the effort, she may as well be the coolest kid if she can. So after putting about 250 miles on the VW going from store to store (REI, EMS, Hiltons, Bean, you name it, I've been there) to gather a collection of bags for Meghan to judge (there's less pressure on Project Runway I swear to god...."LL Bean Classic Messenger; you're OUT!" Can't you just hear Heidi Klum banishing that poor thing to the return counter???) she's settled on the Timbuk2 Classic below. Have to admit, it's a pretty cool bag for a 2nd grader. Now if I just get her off the training wheels.....

Thuggery

Well, just got the photo CD from 24 Hours of Great Glen and there are some beauties....here's the goods...great, great time and I'd like to get one (if not more) MRC teams for next year.

One of me on the last lap....completely destroyed (and no more remotely clean MRC gear left to wear...)

Now BBJ, in full effect

Here's Art, enjoying the bling factor...

And last but not least, el Capitan, Giant Frame Guy, the engineer (even has the WPI jersey to prove it....

No Blunt for me.....

...the party was awesome. She was Totally and Completely surprised and we all had a wonderful time. My wife maybe too good of a time. We had to make a couple of "pitstops" on the way home; I felt bad for her. But her buddies bought her a few shots and she obliged. And then paid the price.

So I didn't make to Springfield for the Blunt Park race. I haven't even looked at the MRC site to see how the boys fared....I'm still bummed, but it's a long season.

CX, BABY!!!

So the quandary of quandaries.....

First 'cross season of the year is Sunday. And it's in Springfield--I grew up there. And it's at Blunt Park--my high school is right next door. Sure thing right?

Well, my beautiful wife recently turned 40 a couple weeks ago, and we're going to dinner with some friends to celebrate. She's likely going to tip back more than a couple; and dealing with 3 rambunctious little kids with a hangover isn't fun.

So I have expressed my wishes to get to the Blunt. I haven't pre-reg'd though. It will be a gametime decision early on Sunday.

OOOOOOOOOOOOh, I really want to go.

24HOGG to CX

Will post photos when we get them from the event, but Ca$h Money Thugs did alright--8th in sport and 20th overall. The Ditch Diggers WON the beginner class going away. We are in for next year, this thing was a fun event, and one pretty much tailor made for a hard tail (Gewilli turned some laps on a CX bike and had some fun with it, so I'll try that next year as well). Nothing broken per se other than my shoes getting destroyed (fingers crossed that Lake will either repair or replace these, cuz with CX season coming up, duct tape can only do so much!)

Now on to the real season. I am hopeful as hell to be able to get to the opener at Blunt Park in the 'field this Sunday. Dinner for my wife's 40th with friends on Saturday so I need to be good. But if she goes for the gusto and needs some respite from screamin' kids in the morning, it's not exactly fair to bail at dawn for a race. As I said, fingers crossed. If I cannot make this one, there's plenty else out there.

Need to get going on road intervals though. Haven't done much and I need to tune the top end if I want to earn some upgrade points this year......CCC need some help planning that!!!

Are we in Seattle???

Sixth straight day of RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNN!!!

We're running out of ways to keep the kids occupied--got half way up the trail to Arethusa Falls and the sky just opened up...Ryan got friggin' soaked in the baby backpack (doesn't make us bad parents, does it???).

24HOGG is going to be an absolute muddy slogfest. I am going to take the cages off as I'm figuring this is going to turn into a 'cross race. Any technical climb isn't going to be rideable....

Brad, have a new one for your next review: Gritty McDuffs Vacationland Summer

The First Camping Trip!

We took the kids on their first camping trip and it was a pretty big hit. Despite the fact that Ryan (just turned 1) had a tough first night sleeping in a tent, everything else turned out great. We stayed at Lafayette Campground at the base of Canon Mountain. I love the area, possibly my favorite hike of all time is there (the Little Haystack to Lincoln to Lafayette summit hop), not to mention two stout ice climbs (one I've done-Mt. Flume, one-the Black Dike...someday). For the first real hike for the children we opted to take them to Lonesome Lake which is on the way to the summit of Canon. Meghan (the 7 year old) flew up the hill. Caitlin (only 4) managed to hike on her own (no carrying at all) to the lake and Ryan snored on my back a good way up. Cait was pretty beat so I ended up carrying her back down (with Ryan still on my back....Dad was a bit beat himself when we got back to camp).

On day two, we took them over to the Basin and hiked up to some falls--though we were in the rain, everyone had a good time and the woods provided good cover. Ryan crashed on my back again (all of our kids love the "baby backpack").

Here's some photos....the next trip is being planned!!! Probably an easy beach trip to Welfleet!

Winners and Sinners

So this evening we ventured over to JHB in Natique (many thanks to Steen for taking good care of us) for some dinner, Gold Spike IPA, and logistics discussion surrounding the 24 Hours of Great Glen, the next goal of the season. What was quickly discovered is that each MRC team clearly has differing goals. Bad Brad, GFG, Art and I are all looking to be pretty competitive. We're going up there to try and ride smart and place. Our comrades have other ideas. Steen, Lowry, Bauer, and Jorge are bringing a keg, and Todd is coming up to help them drink it. So it's going to be the MRC Sinners and the MRC Winners....the question is which title applies to which team???

First trip to the Bronx...

Took the opportunity for a rare weekday afternoon game to bring Meghan down to Yankee Stadium for her first game (a 2-1 thriller won by the good guys in the bottom of the 10th). She had only previously been to Fenway and (like her mother) her first reaction was, "Wow, this place is BIG".

I love that you can only get Yankees stuff at the shops around the Stadium (conversely my first "official" Yankee hat was purchased at Fenway during a little league trip); saw these beauties at Stan's and felt compelled to capture them:

As a fan of the Bombers, it's fun to see the other side of the rivalry when I'm in NYC. Other observations:

1. It is 2.5 hours from my parents driveway in Springfield to the bat in front of the Stadium-about the same amount of time to get to Fenway from Stow, including traffic, parking 5 miles from the ballpark and paying 40 bucks to do so (17.00 to park in the garage RIGHT next to Yankee Stadium).

2. 8.50 for a Bud Light is ridiculous, but at least they bring it to your seat.

3. No obstructed view bullshit like at Fenway.

4. New stadium that will be amazing opening next year (I won't hold my breath for the same here; though being able to afford a game at the new Yankee Stadium may require a part time job).

While I'm no Mets fan, I need to get down to Shea--never been and it's closing this year too!

New life for the old girl...

When I first really got into riding, post college, it was in trail riding. I have had this bike since 1997, and it was my second "real" bike (my first one was an M2 Stumpjumper). This past winter, I sort of "re-discovered" how much I love riding off road and have been spending more time on this old rig. The issue is that the parts are wicked old and things are starting to simply fall apart-virtually everything on this is circa '95-97.

So I'm trying to do some sensible upgrades-the first was a replacing a Judy XC from '95 with Arlo Englund Total Air cartridges with a slightly used RockShox Reba from GFG who is now sporting a brand new 29er. All I can say is Wow. What a HUGE difference this thing is-no more pogo sticking down the single track. The steering is a bit off due to the increased travel but I can deal with it. With the new fork I also put on a new headset so the front end is Ok now.

The shifting, however, sucks even with new cables and adjustments....I think the 1996 8-speed GripShift is just breaking down. My buddy Norm may be willing to part with some X.9 shifters and rear derailleur and if I can manage that expenditure, she should be ready to roll for 24 Hours of GG. If I ever get lucky enough to stockpile enough newer parts I can theoretically make the jump to a duel suspension bike next year....it's a pipedream but still....

Note to Rich....hang on to those CrossMax disc wheels, I want to get on your payment plan!!!

...it may be a bit early but....

I'm thinking about cyclocross....a LOT. The Voodoo is on the hook in my home office, so I gaze at it often. I've got the best fitness base now that I have ever had (about 2k miles so far). The first two big goals for the season have been accomplished (and I rode better than I had thought I would), and I've got one more biggie to start planning for (the 24 Hours of Great Glen in early August). So now that trail riding is going to take on more priority (I want to do one or two MTB races as well), it oooooonly makes sense to get on the cross bike too.

I have to say that one of the coolest aspects of joining MRC is the BIG group of folks that are as into 'cross as I am. I think we'll have upwards of 15 people in the red, white, and blue kits every weekend with lots of strong folks challenging for podium spots. My goal is to snag a few top tens and earn upgrade points.

So I'm going to start adding a 'cross workout per week (probably before work for an hour) so I can get used to the bike again and really work on my skills (which suck).

....and perhaps one of the funnier cartoons of the year-enjoy!!

B2B '08

When I first signed up for the Harpoon B2B ride (146 miles from South Boston to Windsor, VT) I was a bit hesitant as to how effective I would be. The course profile (over 6000 feet of climbing) and the length of the ride had me really concerned. I decided that I would get as many long rides (>70 miles with lots of climbing) in as I possibly could given the constraints of life. Let's face it, with 3 small kids, multiple centuries are difficult to get in.

I think the plan worked out well, as I felt strong throughout the day. Save for the last ten miles of the day when psychologically I was just ready to be done, I rode well. I was able to maintain consistent pace up the looooooooooooooong climbs (I think the "new" one was about 10 miles long) and tuck in behind trains of triathletes on the flats. My max speed on the descents was over 45 mph. I had a slight computer malfunction, so I'm not sure how long my ride time was nor what my average speed was. I seemed to be the strongest (along with Jay) on the overall ride among the UMass guys....I was able to spend some time with Ian and Gary of the MRC crew...not sure how the 22+ mph guys were doing....Cort looked to be having some difficulty when I ran into him at the second rest stop at mile 110, but knowing him he probably rebounded and crushed the last 30+. Vic and Jim looked not the worst for wear when I saw them in Windsor.

I think a big key for me doing well was much more disciplined eating and drinking....I was eating something every hour and hitting the Heed bottle every 15-20 minutes and the Perpetuem bottle every 45 minutes. I had one bit of cramping toward the end (inside the last 10 miles or so) but was able to soft pedal for a bit and get back in a groove. No cramping on a humid and long day with lots of hills was just great and a sign that I was doing something right this time around. On all of the PMCs and other centuries that I have done in the past, cramping has been a problem for me.

I'll be back next year it was a great long distance ride. Penny and I managed to get totally and completely lost trying to find our friends' house in Ludlow, VT (to capsulize, the road had both odd and even numbered houses on the same side of the street, their house had two numbers, 477 and 881, and the numbers were out of sequence-we went past 881 to 1093 only to then pass 439...gotta love Vermont back roads....). The house was built in the late 1700's and doesn't have a flat floor in the entire place! I went down to the dirt floor basement to check out the structure and was amazed to see load carrying beams made of bark clad trees! The property is gorgeous with a little frog pond in the back, a big sweeping deck and wild flower beds all over. Many, many, many thanks to the bartender at the Burger Joint in Ludlow for feeding us a 10:30-we were famished and he hooked us up big time.

Time to start transitioning to the mountain bike with the next big event being the 24 hours of Great Glen. Hoping to have Rich's fork on the hard tail for that event as he is building up a new 29er. I have heard that this course, unlike Pat's Peak, is a bit more suited to hard tails which should be a welcome respite....

Oh, one last thing....was that the greatest clutch putt in the history of pro golf yesterday by Tiger or what?????

Pre B2B

Well, here we go....the week going into the Harpoon B2B-145 miles....without question my longest one day effort. I'm a bit nervous, but shit, it's just a bike ride, so I'm going to try and enjoy the day. The weather forecast looks to be perfect as of now with a high of 79. There's a bunch of MRC'rs heading in for this event, though varying speeds....Kimball is planning to do the 22 mph group (!!!!!!) as is Koch. Not sure what Cort's signed up, likely the same. I'm hoping to go for 18 or 19 average, we'll see how the endurance goes.

Went out to Wachusett with a couple of friends this past Saturday....~70 miles and 4000 ft of climbing....good effort though I started to feel it toward the end. Followed that up with a 50 mile ride on Sunday on the MRC loop-ran into Kyle on Oak Hill and we headed over to the bike course of the Firm 1/2 Iron race going on through Lancaster and Harvard. While the legs feel generally good going into this weekend, my back hasn't been right since Pat's so I'm taking a couple days off of the bike. Going to try and get the chiropractor to straighten me out Friday.

Pat's Peak

Six hours on a mountain bike is a long time to ride. Six hours on a hardtail mountain bike on pretty rough single track makes for an epic ride. Went up for the Pat's Peak MTB Festival and decided to pin on a number for the six hour solo with a few of the MRC crew-Billy D., Art, Bad Brad, and Rich "GFG".

Pretty happy with the end result being 8 laps and 40 miles and 14th place. I rode the last 3 laps on a pretty tricked out Trek Fuel trail bike. It was my first time really having at it on a full suspension bike and I have to admit that it was amazing. I was absolutely a better rider and I could fly on the descents! Had I been on that rig from the start I could have done another lap for sure. I felt better after the third lap on that bike than I did after 5 laps on my old bike. So much for being the old cratchedy soul rider....riding courses like this on a hardtail is simply playing against a stacked deck, it's as simple as that.

Next big objective is the Harpoon ride next weekend. I feel pretty unprepared given that I only have one century under my belt thus far, but several rides of 70+. I'll be in a group and will keep it sensible for the majority of the ride. It's 140 + with the climbing all pretty much at the end so I'm just looking to get to Windsor without wanting to throw my bike in the river!!

Well it's been a while since the last posting....the first two weeks of May I was flat out with finishing up school-I am now officially an alum of the Carroll Graduate School of Management! It's sort of like quitting a part-time job. I ended up with a 3.7 gpa which is just a tad better than my undergraduate achievements....I think it took me two semesters to get a 3.7 at UMass!! I'm planning to have some fun with the kids this summer and try to relax a bit.

On the bike front I managed to complete my first two road races evah-did a couple of the training crits over at Wells Avenue and they were a lot more fun than I had originally thought they would be. While I know that everyone has "best intentions" in these sorts of races there are definitely a few sketchy riders out there. In both of my races we had some near disasters due to some questionable bike handling. As I say I know that this isn't intentional--I seem to be pretty comfortable in the pack zipping around in circles. Of course these races are short and fast, so we'll see how well I do on a more technical course with more distance thrown in. Fatigue has a way of sapping skills.

This past Sunday, I managed a top 5 (I think, may have been 6th though?). Vic and I were the lone MRC'rs in the C race with a group of maybe 30 guys. The first half of the race seemed pretty uneventful with a couple of fliers but nothing substantial. Vic took off with about 4 to go and he was looking great. I cruised to the front and tried to slow the group down a bit and let him stay away but the NEBC guys weren't having it. We caught Vic with about 2 to go. I was feeling pretty strong as we came around the last corner; Vic told me to go for it so I dug. Unfortunately, I possess no sprinting powers and couldn't quite catch the winner--next time I'll try to start a second or two earlier. In the B race the MRC boys cleaned clocks: Cort, Michael, Jim, and Paul controlled it pretty much from the beginning. I think Michael snagged a prime or two, and Cort won the race. Jim and Paul buried themselves on patrol. Watching these guys work together was SO instructional for me. It's good to learn from 'mates.

I also have a couple of objectives coming up-the Pat's Peak 6 hour solo MTB race is this weekend and I am bit nervous but hoping for a good result. My overall mileage has been pretty good so far this year but I haven't had as much time on the trails as I would like going into this. And six hours on any bike is a long stretch let alone ripping through the woods. We have a good bunch of guys doing it--Bad Brad, Giant Frame Guy, Art, and Bill will be representing the MRC, so we should have a good day.

Then in a couple of weeks following is the Harpoon B2B ride....140 miles in one shot. I am looking at this to be an endurance ride, nothing more. I just want to finish it with a smile and not absolutely hate life. Unfortunately I have only one century under my belt right now, had hoped for more. I might be able to squeeze one more in, but it'll be difficult. Saturday's race should definitely help with that regardless.

One VERY cool thing to note is the season's first 'cross race will be at Blunt Park in Springfield in late August. The park is adjacent to my high school, so we should have some family present for that one. We'll try especially hard to grab a top-ten and keep the rubber side down for that one!

My iPod possesses magical powers....

This past Friday I witnessed magic. And I am not talking about the kind of David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty vanish sort of crap either. I'm talking about the kind of magic that just makes you smile and wonder! The kind of magic that makes peanut butter and fluff just....go together. Uknowhatimtalkinbout....

One of my customers who shall remain nameless was pissed. His network had crashed hard and while a significant portion of the fault likely lay with "others" this was not the time to point fingers. He's been a good customer and needed to vent on someone. Enter your's truly; part of my daily obligation to my company is to get the crap kicked out me in just these sorts of occasions. Sound like fun? I think we're looking for a few good punching bags, submit vitae here...

So here I am looking forward to a beautiful weekend (about friggin' time by the way...) of some good long rides, goofin' off with the kids, and getting some heavy duty yard work done, when I get the word that the network is down.

I jump in the car and head to the headquarters site essentially preparing to get my ass and my head handed back to me with a plethora of, shall we say, illustrative metaphors for how much my company sucks. So in an attempt to ease my troubled mind, I plug my iPod in and for the 40 minute drive to my customer's site I was hit with the most amazing stringing together of tunes that she could muster. It started off with Rankin' Full Stop and led into this cacophany...

-Peace Frog (Widespread version--amazing) to
-She's Leaving Town (Mudsharks...great California ska band) to
-Shambala to
-54-46
-Live Fool to Think (DMB)
-Tangled Up in Blue (Creek's version)
Sheryl Crow's version of Not Fade Away bled into
-the absolutely killer Lovelight by Phil and Friends.

I was so amazed that my iPod on shuffle could completely remove the thoughts of impending doom from my head!!!

The customer blew his stack and I just took it all in stride, because my iPod is magic. And that's all I have to say about thaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Mileage is starting to ramp up....I've been averaging a bit over a 100 miles per week which given the crap weather has been something to be proud of. The Harpoon B2B ride is in June so I need to get at least 3 century rides in before then. I haven't been running at all though, which I am somewhat bummed about. While I never really enjoyed running per se, I did enjoy getting better at it as time went by. But let's face it, riding a bike is just way more fun!!!!

On the home front, my eldest has really taken to climbing-so much so that she's now asking me at least a few times per week to go. Our philosophy has been to try and get the kids into all sorts of activities and see what sticks. Admittedly I am not crazy about going to dance recitals but I could watch her rip off climb after climb all day long. It is also great to see her get really competitive with herself about it. All good stuff!!! Nnow of course the 3 year old wants to go chase the big sister....I guess not a bad problem to have!

Training with Hannah Montana and the Easter Bunny

Good week on the bike, managed to get close to 200 miles in (and only one 5 mile run, but my achilles is feeling a whole lot better...). Was out for 40+ with Kimball, Cort, Jim, Vic, and GFG for a cold and windy morning ride on Saturday. It is the first time I'd ridden with Steve on the road and the notoriety is well-placed. The guy was on a 'cross bike (with knobby tires mind you), and pulling at 20+. Animal!!! Cort, Jim and Vic are to be highly commended for riding from H2O-Town all the way to Stow (about 25 I'm guessing?) into a stiff head wind to join the MRC crew for our 40 mile "spin" and then all the way back home...they must have done between 70 and 80 miles all told which is just awesome. I followed Saturday up with a pre-Easter 50 mile solo ride and got smoked on the way home by the same headwind that the Watertown boys faced on Saturday....just with no one to help out!!! All in all I am pleased thus far. Cort's advice is to try and get no less than 3 centuries in prior to the Harpoon B2B ride in June, so I need to map those out this week, get them on the calendar and commit to them.

On Satuday I took Meghan out on an indoor climbing trip--she just got her first harness and she really is enjoying it. We had to "rock out" to Hannah Montana all the way there and back...I wonder what music I was into when I was 7? I highly doubt it was anything as cool as Ms. Cyrus that's for sure. Megger knows all the words to all the songs....and insists that I have it on my iPod (which I do....). Perhaps the funnier aspect is her 3 year old sister, who is quickly coming up to speed on the lyrics as well.

Y'day we were all out to the 413 for some Easter fun--spent a wonderful day with my folks and the kids got to enjoy all the "goodness" of Easter....while I'm not a deeply religious sort you just have to wonder....what exactly does a candy carrying adolescent rabbit have to do with the Ressurection??? Did he live in the ground beneath the cross? I never did quite get that-maybe I should have paid more attention in CCD???

OH YEA, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Sorry about that....hope there was fun to be HAD!!!!!

Well the roads were in great shape today, so I opted to take the road bike out (I had been riding my 'cross bike with road tires on it through the winter) and MAN what a difference. So much smoother....I felt more at one with the bicycle and smoother through my route. I have a really sweet road bike, one that I'm not worthy of, but whatever. It's a custom built Seven Odonata that I got before the kids were born (back when we had a few pennies to rub together), and it's just such an awesome ride. Managed to ride about 35 at tempo pace (which I'm pretty sure for me is about 80% max HR, but I could be totally wrong on that....need to check that to be certain). In any event, I averaged about 18.5 MPH with a HR running between 80 and 85%. I think that's probably too hard for this part of the season but I was having fun and it felt good. I can get back to the slow and steady tomorrow!

On the school front we had our group presentation last night, and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. There were definitely some stressful moments toward the end (I just hate leaving things til the last minute) but the group pulled together and delivered a quality project. My Saturday class (Wireless and Mobility Business Strategy) is going to be a lot more work than I had planned on, but the class seems to be filled with a solid group of people. I had taken an earlier class with this professor and she knows her stuff so I'll be better off for the workload in the end. Only about 7 weeks to go until graduation-I'm totally psyched to finish up. It's been a pretty long grind, that's for sure. But it'll ultimately enable me to move on in my career and get to doing something more interesting and fulfilling personally. While I generally really like the people that I work for and with, the job in and of itself is pretty dull. I'm excited to try something that will make me think more.

Looks like the weather is going to suck tomorrow so I'll probably get a run in. I was getting some pain in my achilles the last few times out, so decided to take a week off from running and I seem to feel better. I'll plan to go for an easy 50 minutes and try to find some dirt to run on...I think the pavement is starting to bite back a bit since I've only been running on it since I started running in the first place.

The Wells Ave crit series started up last w'end, and I wasn't able to race (due to the aforementioned school project). We're heading to the 413 for Easter this weekend but probably not until about lunch time, so if they're having the races, I can probably swing it. I'm pretty nervous and anxious to try road racing but it'll be fun!!!

OW!

The last couple of runs have been somewhat frustrating....I'm up to about 5-1/2 miles now and I'm out about 40-45 minutes. Adding some time and distance each week was fairly easy the first month or so, but the last couple times out I'm just spent coming back in toward the house; my achilles have been feeling a bit tight as well, though I suspect that is the pavement telling me to find more dirt to run on...will keep at it a bit and hopefully it'll pass.

On the bike front, I'm learning a lot from the guys in the club...this past weekend's ride was fast, but only really brutal for me on the climbs. As this is really my first year of somewhat structured riding it's important to try and remember that this year is about building a base-as Bruce mentioned, can't frost the cake before it's baked.

On the school front, I have a friggin' group project/presentation due this coming Monday and an all day class on Saturday so this week is going to be really busy. I'm planning to ride to and from class on Saturday so that will give me 50 for the day, and then hopefully I'll get out for another group ride on Sunday.

Training has been slowly building in volume these past couple of weeks, and I'm happy that I'm getting outside more-riding indoors just really gets dull!

I've continued running through the winter, and I'm up to a little over 5 miles. My running sessions have been as much at base heartrate as possible, though when I'm going up hills it's pretty difficult to keep it low. Overall it's been pretty interesting to feel the body adjust to this addition to training. The first few times I was out hurt really badly-I mean I could barely walk afterwards. Now it takes about 5 minutes to warm up and then I'm on sort of a familiar easy pace. With spring coming, it will be a challenge to keep running twice per week but I'll really try. It's all about building base fitness through springtime and this is adding to it.

On the bike front, I managed to get 3 hours of base mileage in on a wet and chilly Saturday. I went out and did the Concord-Carlisle loop twice then spun home. The only soul out there was a guy on a TT bike in the rain--that's pretty hardcore!! On Sunday I was out with a bunch of the masters riders from MRC and it was fast as hell--again. I was better able to keep up overall, but the pace on the hills is frustrating. I always thought I was a decent climber based on an ability to drop other friends, but with these guys I'm the one bringing up the rear...I guess my "other friends" are just slower than me!!

Stuff diet

In addition to getting real sick of riding my bike indoors this time of year, I always get a case of the pre-spring cleaning jitters...I'm a fairly restless dude most of the time and when I've gotten a workout in, I'm caught up with work and school, and there's no real house projects that are imminent, watch out--it's time to start taking stock of the accumulated stuff and start purging. I suppose we could refer to this affliction as stuff-lemia. I MUST throw extraneous crap out, and nothing is safe. As can be imagined, I tend to enjoy some rather expensive hobbies: climbing, cycling, golf, home projects requiring expensive (and wicked fun) power tools. I have accumulated a box full of "extra" bike parts when I decide that something new and shiny will make me faster (never happens, I still suck), have enough climbing protection for an 8 pitch ice route (oh yea, there aren't any of those where I live...), etc.

So I'm trying to pare down my crap to what I consider to be more spartan. One suit for work coupled with a couple of blazers and dress pants. As a salesperson, this is more than enough and I can only wear one suit at a time, right? All the oldish and out of style ties? Gone. Baseball hats that I hadn't worn in 6 months. See ya. T-shirts from 5 years ago? Right into the rag bucket. My closet is looking fit and trim, with plenty of room to spare. In fact, I have room to store extra bed linens (don't EVEN get me started on that one). I still have a bunch of cycling jersies that I don't wear anymore but a lot of them are somewhat of a memento from an event, so for now, they stay. But next spring, they'll probably be jettisoned.

Same with the workshop--I went through my toolbox the other day and was astounded to find four (!!!!!) of the EXACT same size and shape philips-head screwdriver. My cycling parts box turned up 3 flat handlebars, two worn cassettes, old-school canti brake levers for a mountain bike, two old pair of busted SPD pedals, and some mostly worn 700cc tires that I keep for my trainer. Gone, gone, gone.

I went through my climbing closet and sold a ton of gear that I just won't use anytime soon (like the 5500 cc Osprey pack--let's face it, I won't be doing any week long backpacking trips anytime soon, especially with 3 little kids). So in simple terms, I have simplified. Now I must fight the urge to replace the crap I have gotten rid of with new crap-it's a rather uplifting feeling to be honest--a life uncluttered! I am also moving this attitude in my work-I am doing my best to reject paper and rely on the digital age. Contracts, proposals, and school work-all on the computer, backed up to the external hard drive. Investment account statements are now viewed online, no need to send me the paper. If I could only get more companies to suppress paper bills and just send us an email that would help even more!

As the primary chef for the family, I have taken this to the kitchen as well-that block of Chicago Cutlery that we so desperately needed 10 years ago? The big boning knife that gets used ONCE per year by my father in law for turkey carving at Thanksgiving? He now owns it, gave him that and the fish filleting knife that hasn't been used in 3 years-I use my chef's knife and my serrated knife only. I also have a small paring knife. Everything else has to go. Do we really need seven wooden spoons? Nope. Two potato mashers, 20(!!!!!) plastic cups for the girls, or that absolutely RIDICULOUS ceramic cow thing for pouring milk??? No, no, no. All gone. Amazing how much less kitchen space we need when we're not storing crap we don't use or need!!!

NOOOOOOW for the tricky part. It seems that my beautiful, blushing bride has a deep dark secret: she's a pack rat. While I am trying to shed things that I firmly believe we don't need she's sabotaging the cleaning!!! A new challenge--I guess I won't be so bored after all!!!

It's all about the base

With another half foot of snow on the ground, I was up early this morning planning the day's activities with the kids, and I figured I would update some training notes as well. My season's goals are to improve on CX-so what that means now (and a big thanks to Cort for the sage advice) is base, base, base. I had been doing 5 x 10 minute steady state intervals a couple of times per week on the trainer but have been told that's not smart right now. So with all the snow (and no XC skis in the quiver yet) I'm paring the work down to 90 minutes on the trainer at 65-70% HR and watching a movie. Yea, 90 minutes on the sit and spin machine is a lot, but it's also a bit therepeutic-or at least that's what I keep telling myself. But even Maggie (the 12 year old border collie mix and faithful companion on many a moutain hike) looks at me strangely when I pass the 60 min. mark.

To mix things up a bit, I've also added running to my repetoire-I'm up to about 5 miles now and I'm managing that in about 45 minutes. I had planned to do a St. Patrick's Day 10K road race back home in Western Mass., but have since had to bag that as I have an all day Saturday class the day of the race. Which completely sucks. Running for me is by no means fun, but it's putting some base mileage in the bank and it's working out different muscle groups. It's been all pavement miles so far and I'll look forward to hitting the trails a bit in the spring-it has to be more interesting. Next year I want to add XC skiing to the mix-I took our 7 year old out a few back and she really enjoyed it; so much so that I had to buy her a little beginner set which she plows around the yard in now! Another family sport is born!!!

On the climbing front, I think I've finally discovered a new potential partner for swinging the ice tools-my buddy Brad was up for an outing over the Superbowl weekend and he had a ball doing it. He's ready for some easy multi-pitch, that's for sure!

Well, time to finish up my coffee and head out-to shovel!!! Big shout out to Levi and the Astana boys-this year's ATOC should come down to the wire.

Bathtub politics

Anyone that has young kids can probably relate to this: the relatively constant bickering between siblings over seemingly ridiculous topics. This morning as I was heading out for a couple hours of base mileage on the road bike my lovely bride was trying to get my two daughters in the tub to get cleaned up for a day trip to the Discovery Museum.

As soon as I heard the first squeal from Caitlin I knew this was going to be another 'interesting' fight amongst my girls. Cait wanted the right side of the tub and Meghan wanted the same. If you've read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" then you may remember that men like to solve problems, and women like to talk about problems. Believe me brother not only is that the absolute truth, it is in the genes. I immediately went into problem solving mode and was promptly corrected by the 6 year old that I should just listen to her problem!!!! Amazing, I'm already being corrected by the youngest of women in my household!!!

So I went out for 40 easy miles and felt pretty good. Got home just in time to clean up and put on the Colts-Chargers game. It was the first time that my little boy and I got to watch a game together just the two of us (he's just 6 months old and rarely away from Mom's side). What a nice peaceful day we had watching Norv Turner pull out the victory. Congratulations to the Chargers, but let's face it, the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl.

Happy New Year!

Well, I've started mixing some short runs in with my limited riding time-I have been more faithful to the trainer than I have been in the past, managing to get in three rides per week though I can really only stand to be on the thing for an hour max.

My first day out running was a joke-I thought that a few 15 minute "intervals" split by 5 minutes of walking would make sense for the first time out. While the fitness part of this is fine, my legs took an absolute BEATING. I couldn't walk the next day. So I took a couple of days off to recup and then tried again; but the second time I cut the intervals down to 10 minutes, and did only two of them with a 5 minute walk in between. I definitely felt much better the day after (though I don't feel like I'm getting a great workout just yet, my legs apparently need to get used to running). I still have time to build up to an hour before the St. Patrick's Day run, and my only real goal is to have some fun with my sister and not hate it the entire time. Maybe then I can get her out on the bike a bit more.

In other news, Meghan (the illustrious 6 year old in our brood) has completed two successful alpine ski lessons. We're really proud of her and she seems to be having a complete blast. Thus far team sports don't seem to be much more than a social outlet for her; she seems to enjoy individual sports more (tennis was her favorite last summer). I guess at this point the only thing that really matters is interest and enthusiasm though the comaraderie of team sports was always really fun for me when I was a kid.

Well time to go hit the trainer for an hour and then hit the sack.

See you on the road!