Top of Utah Half Marathon

Another fun weekend vacation in a crappy 1 star motel to attend a race of some kind.If you can't read the giant sign that was made, it says "WOW, MOM!"

The #1 fans gave out lots of sweaty high fives at mile 9.

I have commented to Megan several times about how biking is superior to running and you can easily tell by looking at the peoples faces that are doing each sport. Runners almost always look like they are in pain and on the brink of death where cyclist, on the other hand are usually smiling and look like they are having a great time.
In this picture, Megan made a conscious effort to make it look like she was having a good time.

It's amazing the lengths she will go to to get an hour and forty seven minutes to herself. It was a new PB.
In order of appearance from left to right:
1.The Clydesdale who decided to forgo any running the whole week before and instead supplemented his training with several homemade cookies every night instead.
2.The wife of the clydesdale who did a great job on her first ever half marathon
3.axl rose's much faster and much cuter female counterpart
4.The bake-a-holic
5.the suburban cowgirl who finally got a pair of real running shoes
6.the running sixpack who is 9 weeks great with child
7. the sucker husband that had nothing better to do on saturday morning.

Don't Let the Door Hit You on Your Way Out

I have read a few accounts lately of how mothers cry when their kids go back to school.
I think there will definitely be tears shed at our house today.... tears of joy!

More Bike Races

Saturday I took part in the 1000 warriors race from Park City to Snowbird.
I was feeling good for 92 miles, but missing all of your feedzones will eventually catch up to you.
I was on track to get in around 20-25 minutes faster than i did last year until i hit the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon, and then it was lights out. A climb that usually takes me a little over 40 minutes took around 85 minutes. That's what happens when you have to get off your bike every mile and go and stand in the shade and stretch your cramps out and try to stop the dizziness and stars.The next day, we went downtown and #3 did her first bike race. After learning to ride her bike a few months ago, she figured she was ready to race her bike. She did great and got a free hot dog, a waterbottle and a medal at the end.
Since we were already down there, we figured we would stick around and watch the pros race.
Zabriskie drilling it in a 4 man break, wearing a plain jersey after being fined for wearing the wrong clothes earlier in the week.Jose found this picture that someone else took of #4 being dropped from a helicopter at the downtown crit.

When a friend of mine had his first baby a few years ago and they went in for a check-up with the doctor, he asked the doctor when he could start throwing the baby up in the air. The Doctor replied with a horrified look that it was never ok to throw your kids. I wish you could have seen the look on #4's face because she loves it, just don't tell our doctor.

Some days you're better off staying in bed

The corner a dodge neon came fish tailing around into my lane almost hitting me head on



The gas station we sat in for 30 minutes drinking hot cocoa trying to stop shaking so we could get back on our bikes and ride the rest of the way home


The clouds that eventually dropped rain and hail on us with winds strong enough to blow Eric off the road








The souvenir of hitting a wet spot doing 30 mph around a corner

4 Canyons Day 'o Fun Take 2

It was so much fun last year that we did it again this year.
Last year i fell short of 13000' of elevation gain by a few feet so this time i made sure to go back down one of the canyons a little bit and come back up.

I added a few miles, a few hundred feet in elevation gain and shaved 4 minutes off my time.
The weather was much cooler this year and i wasn't expecting to have my teeth chattering as i descended the last canyon at 1:30 in the afternoon in the middle of august, but they were.

Lots of people came for parts of the ride but only, jose and jj were there for the whole day 'o fun.
jj's comment after we started down the descent of the last canyon was something along the lines of "i don't know whether to hate you or thank you."

Advice for kids III

This is the last batch of advice cards i did for the kids just before they got out of school.

My new Cyclocross Bike for this Season

With all of the heat lately, i have been getting very excited about cyclocross season this year.
My new cyclocross bike arrived yesterday.
I got it dialed in and i am very excited to go and rip some laps on it.
It came in a little heavier than i thought it was going to be but it is still nice and clean and ready to be abused. See the picture below.



I know that some of you are thinking "Someone with 10.5 bikes, two of which are cyclocross bikes can't complain"
by no means am i complaining, but this is not something cool to spend a large sum of money on.
It's like when your car needs new tires. That is not something fun to spend money on.

My brother in law Kevin needed to replace the tires on his last car, so instead, he just bought a new car.

Buying a new car or a new bike=FUN

Buying a washer and dryer or tires for your car=NOT FUN

Monday Mornings and Dead things

In my neighborhood, monday morning is Garbage pickup, which means when i go out for my monday morning ride, i hold my breath and pedal as fast as i can until i am out of the neighborhood.One of the joys of riding a bike is the constant, communion with nature. You are so much more aware of your surroundings on a bike than when you zoom passed something in a car.
For instance, when you are riding a bike and enjoying the beautiful scenery, and then you smell the unmistakable stench of something that has died and has been rotting in the hot sun for a few days. You just can't get that in a car.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

When deciding on a hike for this week, the girls all thought Donut Falls sounded good.
They were all quite disappointed when we got there and it was just water falling over the rocks.
No glazed or chocolate anywhere. Who names these hikes and why do they lie so much?
So much love to give trapped in such a small body