Pioneer Day Weekend

Megan got up REALLY early and went and ran the des news 10k. She was happy about the run until she found out she missed her goal of doing it sub 50 mins by 8 seconds. It was kind of a flashback to her Snow Canyon half last fall. The rest of us slept in since she was done before 7:00 am. We got in a nice hike with the kids and ran into a couple of these eating 10 feet from the trail. Cousin Afton wanted to ride the moose but wasn't sure how to get on it's back.
If you haven't been up a canyon lately, all of the wildflowers are in full bloom so hurry.Lit some stuff on fire and #4 had a great time watching it burn After the incident on the 4th of July, we ended up getting glow sticks instead of sparklers

Finally a "W"

As seen in an earlier post, i was really good at 4th place in my races.

I have been watching the Tour  lately and i am glad Megan talked me into the DVR, because being able to cut a 4 hour stage down to 60 minutes is really, really nice. Cavandish had 6 sprint wins with some odd victory celebrations/salutes.

Contador gave his signature pistol shot when he won his mountain top victory. 

It got me to thinking about what kind of salute i would do if i ever won a race. I was thinking of keeping a picture of my kids in my back pocket that i could pull out and kiss and then hold to the sky as i crossed the line, or maybe a pacifier that i could put in my mouth as i victoriously came across the finish line as a shout out to my youngest daughter. Unfortunately, those have already been done.

The other problem is that i never actually win races, so it would look weird that i show up to every race with a pacifier in my jersey pocket but never actually pull it out. It looks kind of lame if you do an lavish victory salute when you come across the line in 4th place.

When i went online to register for saturdays race on thursday night, there were only 7 guys registered in the Cat 3's. After my sound whooping last weekend by the Pros when they combined the fields, i wasn't in the mood for another 80 mile training ride. I decided that since it was a masters state championship race, i would race in my masters category which had

 almost 50 guys. 

I had a few teammates in my group and they helped keep the fast guys in check throughout the race. In the end, it came down to an uphill bunch sprint. I came around the wheel of the guy in front of me half way up the 0.75 mile finishing climb. I was thinking this was way to early and i was surely going to fade. I kept waiting and waiting for someone to come around me but nobody ever did. 

I was seeing stars at the line and forgot all about a victory salute.

 I have been working on a salute that has me unclip from both pedals and i lay on my saddle on my stomach and pretend that i am superman, but it is sort of tough with an uphill finish because you lose your momentum when you stop pedaling really quickly and then tip over.

There were no podium girls to give me kisses, which i guess is okay, because i would have felt like i was cheating on my Megan.

Actually there was no podium at all. Just an awkward guy giving out state champion medals from of the side of his minivan.

Capital Reef Classic '09, Then some much needed R&R at the Death Ranch

Bike Stuff Here:
I got my upgrade from a CAT 4 to a CAT 3 road racer a couple of weeks ago, but this was going to be my first race as a CAT 3.
Friday morning had an 8.5 mile individual Time Trial, Friday afternoon had a 53 mile circuit Race with some short but steep climbs and plenty of rolling hills to keep it interesting, and then Saturday morning, there was an 81 mile road race with a good 10 mile climb up to Fish Lake and then back.
The racing fields were small so they decided to combine the PRO 1/2 field with me in my newly upgraded CAT 3 field.
As a cyclist, i have occasionally found myself wondering how i would stack up to the guys that race in the PRO 1/2 field. After this weekend, I no longer have to wonder.
It started with the fast guys doing the 8.5 mile TT 2 minutes faster than me. I was OK with that because the TT it has never been my strong point and i don't love it enough to spend a lot of time getting better at it, although i at one point in my life could justify buying an actual TT bike and pointy helmet. The good news is, I did not take last place so that pointy helmet was totally worth it.
Next was the circuit race. When these fields go slow, they go really slow, but when they go fast, it is rip your legs off and leave you in a muscle cramped, whimpering mess on the side of the road calling for your mother. Just ask DC, he experienced it first hand. I got dropped on the 2nd of 3 laps around the circuit course. The good news, I did not take last place.Saturday morning, Megan took the kids with their second cousins once removed on a hike to find some petroglyphs while i did the Road race, which turned out to be a long, hot windy training ride for me. I did not take last place.The most difficult weekend of racing i have experienced, but it was really nice to have the family down there, as well as some random guy that was picking his nose in front of our tent. The temps in Torrey were only in the mid 90's instead of the 100+ temps they experienced up in the capital city, so i guess that was a blessing.
A couple of the guys in our field will be doing the Tour of Utah in a few weeks, so i shouldn't feel too bad about my performance....at least that is the spin i am putting on it to try and make myself feel better.This picture is proof that i was with the leaders at one point in the race.

Family Stuff Here:
After the race we headed up over a mountain to stay with Trigger and Regi. Almost an hour on a dirt road to anything paved and then a while longer from there to the nearest town.Time spent at the ranch with Trigger can only mean one thing,...

DEATH!

For someone that was a hardcore vegan only a few years ago, even going so far as to not eat honey because it was made at the expense of Bees, he sure swung to the other side of the spectrum. Working full time on a cattle ranch and now eating nothing but meat.

Last time we were down there, Trigger and the kids spent plenty of time gathering up bugs for a Bug Battle Royal. It wasn't really fair since they would pull off the rear legs of a grasshopper or handicap most of participants in some way to keep them all together and fighting. In the end, we found the army ants ate everyone.This year they approached it a little differently. Because the army ants were the defending champions, it was a matter of catching insects one at a time and then throwing them in a bucket and seeing how long they could last against a couple dozen army ants. The scorpions were the most entertaining battle, but in the end, they too were eaten.

The girls went with trigger to check the beaver traps. There were no beavers, but one muskrat was decapitated by a 30.30.
The girls made the comment that maybe they should have stayed at the ranch house, although they did start to get the hang of how things work down there.#1 told me when she grows up she wants to have a ranch and have horses and dogs that she can train for movies. She was totally in her element with all of the animals (except that muskrat)Cass-man is now potty trained and with no more catheters, and by potty trained, i mean he doesn't go to the bathroom in his pants. When you live on a ranch, the world is your toilet.
He already has callouses on his hands from working with his dad a few days a week.

We were down there when Regi gave Trigger his weekly tick search. You can see Tayler in the forground still a little shell shocked because Regi is VERY thorough with her search and Trigger is very open about his body.
I believe his exact comment was "Them lil' sonsabitches can burrow just about anywhere and i'll be damned if i'm gonna let one of them suck the blood from my arse."
#1 and #2 were having so much fun that we left them at the ranch and came home with hopes that maybe the Doctor will bring them home when he comes home in a few days. You can stay as long as you want when you have a pretend job like him.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!"

It is a glorious day around here.

#3 finally is riding her bike without training wheels
I don't think she has any idea how this could change her life.
There was some crying and some blood, but there was also some cheering and some laughing.

Independence day 09

What a great idea to have Friday the 3rd off .
That i way i can get in a 90 mile bike ride and not feel guilty about missing parades and fireworks on the 4th.Sure i still got in a short mtn bike ride on the 4th, but that was after the triathlon we did as a family and after the Parade the girls were in but before the neighbors BBQ and then the other party and then later, the fireworks.
Megan ended up beating me by about 10 seconds in the triathlon even though i wore my super aero helmet and cool triathlon shirt and rode my TT bike.
After doing the triathlon on Saturday Morning, it reconfirmed by belief that the farthest anyone should swim is from the back of a boat to the end of the water ski rope.
#2 is the smartest kid in her class, or so her teacher told her when she asked her. But those brains don't always apply to street smarts. Like when you are doing sparklers in the street in front of your house, the smart kids were all wearing shoes. #2 was not and stepped on a firework. We have been told that 2nd degree burns usually don't scar.

As the Simpson's counsel us:
"Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it."

#4 turns 1 and we finally get around to giving her the ceremonial first birthday cake