Friendsgiving

When the beautiful Mrs K and I agreed to host Friendsgiving for Eli and his buddies, it seemed like a good idea.  I mean...it sounded like something I'd want to do when I was 13.  Eight 13-year-olds in a modest sized house.  So fun.  So.  Fun.  Wait.  We agreed to this??

The Good and The Bad Sunday

Starting off the day, I was able to put my handyman hat on and get to the task of replacing the front porch light.  The globe had broken on it some time ago so it was really, really sad looking.  14 years, I guess it put in it's time.  Good riddance to it and it's normal light bulbs.

We replaced it with an LED light fixture.  Not expensive, plenty of light, and no more bulbs.  To me, it's a win-win.

 Later in the day, the beautiful Mrs K and I drove all the way the hell up to Fort Bella Fountaine for a cyclocross race.  Now...I had done this course before.  Twice.  And both times I was sorry I did it because it was a power course and that's just not my style. Pretty proud of my slow start, letting 5-6 guys lead the way.  Not so proud of my slow middle and end, which wasn't a part of the plan.

Mrs K cheered and heckled me, but that only helps so much when you're just plain slow.  I managed to hold a couple of fast guys back, but mostly I rode the race by myself, close to the back of the A race.  I've struggled with racing the Masters race versus racing the A race.  I don't feel like I belong in the Masters race, so I've taken my beatings this year in the A's and it has taken a toll on me.

Onward and upward, as I always say.

Happy Birthday to the Beautiful Mrs K

It's wonderful when you can plan a weekend around your loved one's birthday.  We thought we'd done a good job of it, but the night time mountain bike race we had planned was cancelled.  We had other options, though.  Loading our mountain bikes up for an afternoon of riding trails was a good one, but what you can't see inside the hatch of the furious Focus is the Beautiful Mrs K's cyclocross bike.

Faust Park has never been one of my favorite cross race courses.  But that didn't deter Deanna from going all in and doing the A/B women's race there.  It was a long course, with lots of pedaling and a fair amount of up and down...a power course, which is why I shy away from it.

She was riding strong and we were very proud that all of her mountain biking has helped her skills so much.  I got a nice workout riding along the course heckling her.  Not really heckling.  I offered to get her ice cream when she was done and she snarled at me like a rabid raccoon.

45 minutes at full gas is hard for seasoned crossers, so you can imagine that she was pretty chapped by the last lap.  She got second, just in front of an old friend.  They were both knackered but seemed glad that they did the big girls race.  After the finish, we loaded up and drove to Greensfelder and did some mountain biking.

When we got home, we both swore we were done for the day but it was only 6pm.  So we decided to go to the Chocolate Bar and ate big ass brownies and drank some wine.  Isn't she just a hunka burnin' love?

Not to leave well enough alone, we packed up early Sunday morning for some good ol' Cliff Cave riding.  The trails were primo, and we took it easy to enjoy the wonderful weather. 

 We took a few minutes to pause and take selfies before I headed off to work.  It was just that kind of day outside.

While I worked, Deanna slaved away, making her own birthday dinner.  It was like some kind of cooking show, topped off with Grandma and Grandpa bringing Ted Drewes frozen custard to compliment the home made carrot cake that Eli made for his momma.

Another weekend goes by, and Eli has no choice but to again have his mind blown by how awesome and active his parents are.

Some days you bite the bear, other days the bear bites....

Cyclocross racing, or "extreme masochistic behavior" as I like to call it, is a funny sport. And 23 guys showed up to race the "A" race today.  Many of them brought their "A" game, too.

I'm guessing I didn't bring a good game today.  I may have brought Twister or Scrabble or Uno.  But I didn't bring my cyclocross game today.  I started fast, big surprise.  And I kept getting passed with no answer.  Pity, since if the ground had been totally dry, it would have been a very technical course.  Mountain-bike-ish, maybe.

 Alas, it was a bit soft, which added to my misery.  I must praise the layout, nonetheless. 

 I kept trying, heart rate pegged, seeing cross-eyed.  And kept getting passed.

I look like I'm hauling ass here, but I'm really just encouraging riders to pass me.  I must have had a big sign on my back that said "pass me, go ahead, it's easy!"

When I wasn't getting passed, I was riding pretty well.  I feel like my bike handling was doing me proud.

By the end, I was getting pretty lonely.  11 people in front, 11 people behind.  I pushed to the finish line like it meant something, because that's just what we are supposed to do.  So I did. 12th place, I think.

Insult to injury, in the first 1.5 seconds of the race, just as I was producing 1.21 gigawatts off the line, my inner thigh clipped the empty cable guide on my China-carbon frame and produced a rift in my epidermis. I couldn't stop to look at it, as I had a lot of getting passed to do, so I didn't quite get how much of a rift it was.  Turns out, it's quite a rift.

Onward and upward, I say.

Stranger Things... or Mrs K Goes Cyclocross Racing

It had to happen sooner or later.  The beautiful Mrs K finally pinned on a number and raced the Cyclocross race at Creve Coeur today.  It has been a long time coming.

There were extenuating circumstances, of course.  Every time we show up to races, she gets encouraged to race by our friends and racing buddies. Old Man Tom in the left of this picture finally got the ball rolling when he accepted Deanna's challenge that she would race if he would race with her wearing a dress.  Done and done!  Thanks Tom!

She took the course like a champ.  And Tom looked great in his fashionable clothing.  It was a tough course, too.  Slow grass, technical switchbacks.  And elevation, oh was there elevation!

Three laps of the course was pretty grueling.  But I guess our mountain biking and working out has paid off.  Our whole house has been sick, including her, but she didn't let it stop the good times from rolling.  And she didn't let the fact that her cyclocross bike is actually a mountain bike with road handlebars.  Hey, we are nothing if not resourceful!

 Well, she did have a few choice words to go along with this grimace in the last lap!  

While she didn't raise her arms like a professional cyclist does when she crossed the line, it was a big win for us.  It's been 9 years (and a lot of physical struggles!) since she last raced a road bike, which is quite different than cross or mountain bike racing.  Tough woman right here!

(Eli's reaction to Mom's race quite literally blew his hair up)