4luvandlife

friday the weather report looked great for the weekend. saturday morning i went in to swimming lessons with Henry during a beautiful May morning at 9:30 and walked out at 10:30 to completely overcast and a funny, stormy feeling breeze. what's going on? got home to see that storm clouds produced in seconds at some point and were about to hit the twin cities. Henry was now sick (he worked so hard to keep going at swimming lessons) and laying in bed. B and the boys were not going to the Freewheel Frolic. i packed up and headed out in a driving rain and lightning. i had heard from a friend at the race that the sport start was postponed but nothing cancelled yet. got there and saw two lightning strikes nearby. went to register and the steel at the starting chute was layed down wisely. sport took off about 1 i think. expert at 2:30 with us in comp 5 minutes behind. i have got to get better at staging because i was still in the 3rd wave when my wave (the 2nd) took off. you would...

riding this morning i was thinking that it doesn't get much better. this week has been a beautiful May week after some good rain last week. everything is green and hydrated, it is warm at 6am (depending on who you ask, i know B would not agree with this), and 4 to 500 people are all coming down on the Freewheel Frolic on Saturday for the first race of the year. Wyatt says he wants to race his trike and he also wants to know who is pushing him, Mom or Dad? Henry has been a bit of a zombie this week with a fever. don't know if he will be toeing the line. this morning's gorgeous ride: 73 minutes, 18.8 av, 23 miles

things to be nervous about in the change from Sport to Comp class this year: -later start time (1:15 instead of 11) cutting into Woo's nap time and making racing even more of a challenge to fit into a family. -more distance (around 18 miles instead of around 13). how do i stay alive for the extra lap? -more technical sections designed to kill people (maybe not kill you but make for an embarrasing photo posted later that week). just wanted to write these down to get it out and to look at it later and see what was overcome. another note, i did a lot less lifting this spring (as in none) thinking that it may be a waste of time. it isn't. some upper body strength definately helps. not much is needed but i think once or twice a week for about 30 to 34 minutes will make a good diff. can't wait to see the look on Woo and Henry's faces after this weekends Freewheel Frolic. today's morning ride: 68 minutes, 16.8 av, 21 miles

Sandwich 50 yesterday. 50 people, 50 miles. 7 7 mile laps. got there with B and the boys about 8:30 for the 9am start. 50 racers all started by touching a fence and then on go ran around a playground and then back to your bike to ride a short prologue. this may have been my favorite part of race because Wyatt yelled, "go daddy go!" the whole time. i could hear him almost the whole way. i got back to the start from the prologue and Wyatt was there yelling, "go daddy go!" over and over again. pretty sure it doesn't get any cuter than that. the look on his face was great. i could see his smile and dimples from about a mile away in the morning sun. i got into the course and it was greesy as i heard, also very tight as i had heard. i was taking it very easy as this was my warmup and i have been riding about once or twice a week for a while. i had 50 miles coming and i was being very conservative. i got about half way through and was starting to warm up a...

the other day i heard the term "racing into the season" and i could relate. it is very ironic that i signed up for a 50 mile race on may 9th (longest to date has been 15 or 16) and this year has seen the least Spring miles in the last 3 years. it is nice though. takes the pressure off. just go out and have fun over about 4 hours on what sounds like some nice single track. back to the basics. and that's good.