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.
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