saran wrap

so i had all this stuff i wanted to write about from the weekend- water park, cross race... and all i can think about right now is i hate fucking saran wrap.

good stuff

thanks russell. i woke my kid up laughing.

dang

i hate my camera. actually its just me. i suck as a photographer. i can only center well- and who cares if you have a digital, you can edit that shit. however i did take awesome pics with my slr. i just never remember to get them developed.
my lame attempt to get my bike photo page going... how fucking boring is a wall! i wanted to go outside... but mother nature, i hate her. anyway, it's missing a few bikes, some aren't finished (minor details), blah blah blah. if i ever get motivated i'll repost them clean and done.

do you believe in ghosts

i actually shed a tear on the way out to palos this morning. it was the day of the poker ride. while pregnant i always thought to myself, well when i finally pop this kid out, at least there is still the poker ride. of course i'm sick. like lung sick. an asthmatics nightmare... no way could i head out in 30 some degree temperatures with rain. i'm glad we headed out there though. singletrack was unrideable and the double track was almost as bad. but i'm still bummed. i kept saying to myself, too bad we didn't have yesterday's weather, then i had to remind myself again that i was sick.
i'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination. i'm not even sure if i consider myself spiritual, but i do feel i am to some degree. we used to always say that casey was watching spirits when she was a baby because she'd always be looking off somewhere smiling and kicking her legs n stuff. well zoe does that too. i joke with her that the spirits must be making faces at her because she'll be cracking up while i'm changing her diaper, but she's totally not looking at me. so tonight i'm sitting on my bed with zoe and the dog. i start joking with her about it again as she's looking off into the corner cracking up. so i say zoe are you playing with the spirits again, right after that behind our bed, a piece from carbon's cage made a noise, almost like somebody moved their hand across the bars. creeped me out. my mind tells me it was just a coincidence, but i can't help but think what a strange coincidence.
i think i read somewhere that the soft spot on their head had something to do with it. like it was a window to the spirit world. that's why after age two- i think about when the soft spot closes- their staring off into space cracking up ends.
not sure if i believe it, but it does catch my attention.

33

it's my birthday today. i actually had to do the math.

ho hum

these two are always up to no good...





















i'm waiting on wheels to finish building a new rig. john and i have to pick a day to do photos.
nothing much going on.
chicago cross series starts on sunday. the twin's first bday is sunday.
i've got a new set of wheels coming for my road bike so i can put force on. i may have a look 555 frame on the way. we'll see.
house is a wreck. its just clutter. we have way too much stuff.
i don't really have anything to write about, that i can think of anyway... i just felt like i should post or something... i'm going to bed. wow, it's before 11. yawn.

beautiful day for a ride

my heart wanted to go fast, my brain said no. my plan was to take it slow so i'd be able to finish. as the race went on i debated if i'd rather finish or see how fast i could go. i'm glad i kept to my goal to finish. i'm not even sure if i could go fast. i had little goals along the way like get to the finish before the elites catch you and cleaning the roots of all evil (killed it on the last lap). i finished 2nd to last. i wouldn't have cared if it were last, i still would have finished.
my fitness was, well, not there. my technical skills were rusty. by lap two they were starting to come around. by lap three i was railing turns and bombing the hills and catching air. i cleared roots of all evil. and then the equalizer killed me good on the last lap. this is me after making it half way up the first time around (my bike rules):

















i'm glad nobody was there to get a pic of me on the last lap. i could've cried it hurt so bad. i was a millimeter away from cramping with every step. i want to thank the smoking guy for the encouragement to get my ass to the top. the race was everything i expected. i'm not disappointed at all. i would have course loved to have done better, but i'll worry about that for next year.
john had a good race. he took 3rd age group.

race fans

tomorrow is sheboygan. w00t. i'm excited and full of dread at the same time. weather looks to be perfect, couldn't ask for a better day in october. i have to go try on my d'arcy gear... not sure if it fits... and if it does, i have to make sure i look good in it. this is very doubtful.
zoe is finally sleeping, casey is downstairs watching jurassic park and i'm sure john is assuring her dinosaurs are no longer real. sometimes i can't believe we let her watch certain things. we are bad parents. family guy will come to a halt real soon as she's been starting to ask questions.
john finished up his cross bike today... pics real soon (i know i know, yeah right). i did nothing to any of my bikes. i'm a total slacker. building some new wheels for the rig, the stock wheels are lards. i would have preferred pewter hubs, but black will have to do. i need an orange king headset... i'm still pissed they dissed purple... and even more pissed at myself for not buying one.
race report after the race sometime i suppose.
cross racing starts next weekend. i love watching it, but sometimes the travel isn't worth it.

friday

it's 3 o'clock on friday. i've been total slacker for the past hour or so. catching up on blogs and looking at whatever on ebay. thoughts were about sheboyagan, will sara ever answer my emails and the typical debate on my next frame. i'm thinking ti. i have a hard time with the cost, but it has always been in the back of my mind for years. we'll see, the pricetag is killing me, i totally can't afford it, but really i shouldn't afford half the shit i do...
i'm thinking of ditching out early. casey is spending the night at gramma's house tonight. hopefully zoe will be in a better mood than this:

rain

so it hasn't rained in like almost a day. that's pretty sweet. i'm hoping it doesn't rain in like the next million hours cuz that's how long its gonna take for the ground to dry. stupid rain.
if i were in shape i wouldn't mind if sheboygan were a mud fest. but seeing as i'm not, it will suck butt if its muddy.
went for a ride yesterday on the path... did i blog this already? i can't remember. anyway, my ride, it started with me in the basement pumping the tubes on the sycip. poor sycip. tires were at an unregistered pressure, she was super dusty and she still had like 06 parts on it. how awful. i had to steal pedals off another bike to take her out. i popped out the front door and the bike felt perfect. that bike is awesome. i keep trying to get my spot to feel like this bike. actually though, thinking about it, i haven't tried that hard.
i headed to the golf course. it was kind of late and i wasn't sure if i'd make it back in time doing the long loop in my condition. it was weird, i have been riding the sass which is rigid and the rig, which is now rigid (pics some day), all the time. by all the time i mean rides with casey, ride to my moms, etc. anyway, while on the sycip i had to lock it out because the sid was driving me crazy because it was like working. i am 100 % certain i won't feel this way offroad.
so i did a few laps... it was fucking walk-a-dog night. there were probably 22 dogs on the path. seriously. retracto leash nightmares.
it was awesome to be out on a beautiful evening. there was water everywhere. the singletrack along the sides of the trail were under water. the grass on the side of the trail looked like swamps. this one section of paved trail was about 3-4" under water, maybe more. i slowed down to go through it hoping to see fish or something. i seriously looked. it was kind of depressing seeing how wet it was as it pretty much meant i wouldn't be offroad in a long time. but at least it wasn't raining then.
while riding most of my thoughts were about sheboygan and at what point i would cry. before sunday i'm hoping zach and sara make it here to chat this saturday. they haven't seen our big baby yet, nor have any of us seen each other for that matter since hmmm... alpine? shit. it's funny how time is referenced through bike events. anyway, we were talking about picking up some burritos and catching up on things...

gravity rides everything

dang. check out what's going on now:














house is shaking from the thunder and at times it appears it's daylight from all the lightning. the sump pumps are kicking ass and taking names as we speak.
some kind of rig in the works... post up pics when its done (yeah right). john is still finishing up the spot. we need a dog fang and cable hanger. funny how two of the cheapest most minor things are holding up this custom build.
my sass still needs the steerer cut, spot needs the steerer cut and possibly some J carbons, sycip needs ultimates and 100mm stem, lemond needs headset and possibly new fork and stem, surly needs the bars retaped and of all things the rig is done with the exception of possibly having to swap to a longer or less of a rise stem. if i do all this minor bs i might take pics.
sheboygan this sunday. i can't wait to see how bad i do. john says, so just go to finish. real funny, what did he think my plan was in the first place! i'm a little disappointed that i haven't been out to ride in the past couple weeks. nothing has fallen into the place the way i'd like. not really complaining, just love to ride and really miss it. perhaps sheboygan will wake my muscle memory and kick my lungs into gear just to have them go back into offroad retirement for the winter. i'm sure to come home with some new bruises to my body and my pride, but i'll live.
i need to get to bed earlier, this midnight bullshit is getting old. my fault, i can't even blame zoe anymore, she's been sleeping for like two hours.
it's still storming! i'm surprised casey hasn't come downstairs like freaking out...