Sing this Anthem

Took me a while to get this one together.  It's about 85%, but close enough to snap a photo.  Can't wait to get it on the trail, although I think the rain will make that tough for a few days. 

Giant Anthem X 29er Advanced Carbon

She's a real thing of beauty.  Just over 5 pounds of delicious 29er.  Get some.

Tuesday Night World Championships 2012 in the books

So another year has gone by and the Tuesday Night World Championship races have finished.  They are always challenging and most of the time fun, even though this year has been a disappointment for me personally.  I never quite found my crit legs, and I didn't do any crits outside of the Tuesday races.  My off road racing did not suffer, but racing in general has been on a distant back burner this year.  I have logged less miles and certainly less training miles in 2012 than in any year since I started racing in 1979.

I did not race the Lost Valley mountain bike race this past Sunday, either.  That was going to be my last mountain bike race of 2012, but I will call the Cape Girardeau race the last one now.  My attention is now called toward cyclocross and the Bubba series.

Eli will be 16 years old in less than 10 years.  That's when I intend to take racing seriously again.  Watch out!

Eli and the Yard Sale

Just went out for a ride with Eli and he took a digger in the middle of the street.  He's been riding a lot more aggressively lately and I was afraid that this was coming.  Man, I'd take the fall for him if I could, but then again, he has to get up and keep riding on his own.  Can't do that for him.  And he did ride home on his own.  He's a tough guy.

March toward "Ward Cleaver-ism" is Nearly Complete

Mustang convertibles sure are fun.  And I'm going to miss mine.  There is only so much cash to be able to feed that thing, and there are three kids that need stuff, like shoes and toothpaste.

So I present to you Sensible Shoes.  My friend Todd may take exception to that term, because he is the past and present owner of THE sensible shoes automobiles.  But, I'll take partial ownership of the name and call it good.  Since picking this up at the dealership last night, driving through stoplights, subdivisions and on the highway, I'm averaging 31.7mpg.  That same little ritual with the Mustang netted about 20mpg.  All said and done, I will pocket about $200 a month versus the ownership cost of the convertible.

If you see me driving this gem through your town, just call me Ward.

Kid stuff

I'm late to the game, but here is a funny photo of the boys on their first day of school this year.  They've gotten so big.  And, just like in years past, look closely in the window behind them.  Yep, somebody is watching.

Bad Blogger goes to Colorado, uses it as an excuse for bad Blogging

 Kids in front of an old steam train in North Platte, Nebraska.

 Eli manning the controls in that steam train.

 Kids standing around on Highway 80 whilst an accident is being cleared from the road ahead.  There may or may not be someone taking a leak in the grass.

 There may or may not be someone taking a leak here, either.

 Big rock at Red Rocks Amphitheater.  Beautiful place.

 Tyson is dwarfed by one of the tall rocks at Red Rocks.

 Deanna supervises as Eli and Tyson drop down the seats at Red Rocks.

 7400 feet high in the mountains while visiting a gold mine.

 Cool waterfall in Idaho Springs.

Bad convenience store name.

Small Noisy Animal

I stepped out of the shower yesterday, dried off, and began to groom myself for the day when I heard a loud rumbling noise.  I paused a second and tried to figure out what it was.  Did something get caught in the dishwasher?  I stepped out of the bathroom and saw Rosco, spread-eagled on the floor, snoring SO loud.  So I took a photo.  If I knew how to use the video function on this phone, you would be able to hear what I heard.  As it is, you'll just have to imagine this little dude sawing BIG logs.

Eli and All Star Baseball

Eli finished his baseball season the other day with the All Star game.  He's gotten really good at hitting, both coach-pitch and machine-pitch.  Proud of you little guy.

Vintage Big Shark T Shirt

This is one of my favorite Big Shark Logos during the many years of cool logos.  We need to bring sexy back and print more of these! 

Many thanks to Kirk Ranson.  You rock.

Hills with the Boys (Men)

Way back when, because I love climbing on my road bike so much, I used to do many of the killer road down in Jefferson County and Franklin County.

In fact, I used to live in Fenton, about a mile from the Pink Elephant.  A weekly ride used to be out to the covered bridge on Old Lemay Ferry.

After riding with men like Andy Hunsaker and Chris Ploch on those same roads yesterday, I realized that I used to be a good climber.  Now, I simply make it up the hills.  No more than completing them.  And I realized that guys with big, strong legs are hard to stay with.  And riding in the rain is pretty fun when it's warm.  We rode for 3 hours in the rain and it was darn cool.

Only wish I was in better shape to enjoy it.

A little Felt Carbon Action

Beauty, eh?

Summer Photos of our Kids

 Flannery Allison has done such a stellar job of capturing our beloved little ones on camera.  Eli looks so darn happy in this one.

 I love how she has caught the ball just leaving Tyson's hand.  This one is good enough for a coach to analyze his pitching skills!

And of course, she can extract the beauty of our little princess Hanna.  Underwater, no less!

The not-so-little Slugger

 Saturday was another big game for Eli and his team.  They are now into machine pitch, and some of the kids had a rough time.  But most of the Giants were doing just fine.

 Eli lines it up.  He whacked it good this time around!

Team photo time.  Eli was more pleased than the others about this.

The Nap Expert

This dude can search out softness anywhere, anytime...and get a helluva nap going.  Hats off, Rosco!