SS

In keeping with tradition, the first Sunday after Thanksgiving is our day to snag ourselves a xmas tree. Mission accomplished. We went to a tree farm a half a mile away and sawed a nice 6 footer down. It looks real nice. The Wifey does a great job of making it look sweet. I have zero decorative skill so I pretty much stay away for that bit.

We had two turkey feasts. Erin’s grandparents on Thanksgiving and we made our own bird on Sunday. It was our free turkey from Weis for spending all our money there. I always use the Alton Brown method of cooking. If you’re a fan of the Food Network then you have to be a fan of Good Eats. I love that show. Anyway, our turkey was perfectly juicy. Very yummy.

I’m still having a tough time believing it’s actually a week beyond thanksgiving already when I feel like it still should be a week or so until Halloween. Crazy how fast time is rolling by. Little Jr’s due-date is just 4 weeks away now. I think the panic of not being ready for a child will soon grip me.

In the past two days I have delivered a home gym to Williamsport and Mifflinburg. In the parlance of The Kenny, “That works”. Nothing beats getting to leave the shop for most of the day. Tuesday I was on my own and Wednesday I was assisted by KHam. Kyle is having girl issues. Not like I’m the Love Dr or anything. Somewhere, somehow, Fred is channeling his superpowers from the great unknown on the female subject……maybe I can offer young Hammaker some advice.

I haven’t spoke of any hockey lately. Maybe because I’m still disgusted by how the Flyers have started the season. They’ve played better of late so it’s not unthinkable to see them make the playoffs but, really, what would another first round thumping prove? Get rid of the slow blue-liners (Hebe. What’s a blue-liner?) and let these young guys gel a little more and I think they’ll be just fine.

The Phillies missed out on a couple big bats but I think they need to worry about pitching more-so than anything else. They scored an assload of runs last year but also gave up an assload. One good starter and some better set-up relievers in the bully should do the trick.

I keep forgetting to mention how cool it was to see the younger Hebe completing his first ‘cross race. Way-to-go Eric! Should we look forward to trading paint in the B’s next year?

My plan for winter commuting was centered around a bike that I found out is not available until mid-January. It’s a single speed ‘cross bike. I want to try this fixed gear thing just to see what the buzz is all about. Well, being that I can’t get one for a while, I went to Plan B. Working in a bike shop for such a long time has it’s plus side when it comes to junk in the garage. Last year a customer came in with a Trek 5500 that he crashed. He blew out the fork and had just a smidge of underside headtube damage. I ordered him a crash replacement frame & fork and sent him on his way. Upon futher inspection the headtube damage isn’t really all that severe considering the sturdy alloy cups placed inside. So I kept the frame and hung it in the garage. Until now. I bought a matching Trek fork on ebay and dusted off the rest of the parts I needed to throw together a nice little single speeder. I ordered a fixed cog which should arrive today.

So far I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s definitely harder than a geared bike and I haven’t even made it fixed yet. Should be fun.

Pictures @ 11. L8

Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Karl Hungus

I had a good weekend. From what I gather from the MAC CX races this weekend were a tad on the muddy side. I can’t say that I’m disappointed that I didn’t race.

Instead I spent some productive time shopping on Saturday and then some productive time in the garage Sunday.

The Wifey and I started Saturday off with a visit to Cornerstone. I rode for a little over an hour then met her there. After coffee/tea we went over to Colonial Park for a little shopping. My shopping list for this xmas is a new digital camera and a new digital camcorder. We don’t want to miss anything once Little Jr arrives. So, I went to Circuit City and had a sales lackey run down the plusses and minuses. Now I know exactly what I want, I just need to wait until the sales start rolling fast and furious to get some good deals.

After shopping we went home and watched a good football game. Ohio State v Michigan was every bit as good as advertised. Although I disagree with a rematch unless SoCal or Florida takes a shit in the next couple weeks.

Sunday would be my day to get out and ride but I’ll be damned if I just didn’t feel like it. So I didn’t and felt good about it. I was in the garage figuring out some bike things. I need to move some product. At one point yesterday I had three bare frames hanging from hooks. I think I have it figured out now but I’m still not 100% sure. I want to get a new bike, heavily modified of course, for the purpose of commuting so it’s a matter of deciding what goes and how it goes; complete or frame & fork?

Short work week. I get a four day weekend coming up. If I do anything for PA States on Saturday it will be in a spectator capacity. Probably not even that. Sorry Zach.

Most likely I will spend Saturday whipping up one of our two free turkeys for a triptophan-fest Saturday eve. Aaahhh yes, that’s what I’m talking about.

I was laughing my ass off at all the Lebowski references in the MAC email list over the weekend. I wonder how many people have no idea WTF was being referenced? It seemed like more than a couple. Best movie ever.

Ouch! Again

Thanks to Gina Harshman for capturing these fantastic photos of me busting out my latest Break dancing maneuvers mid -race.

Frenchy Fuqua

I’ve waited to tell my Lower Allen story mainly to let my disappointment subside. I wanted to do well, just like any and every week, but, considering this is my hometown race held just 2.5 miles from my front door, this one was a bitter pill to swallow.

No points = no call-up. No worries. Only 50(??!!) B’s showed up so starting up front would have helped but not near as much as an 80 or 90 field like we saw at Charm and Granogue. Last year I started at least 50 deep and just picked dudes off all race long to finish 14th. Not a bad plan to stick with this year. I had a good start. I tucked in and followed The Really Fast Young Dude’s wheel for the first lap. Not a bad place to be. There wasn’t a ton of separation after one lap.

Lap two after the barriers on the way over to the pits two dudes in front of me were side-by-side and both bobbled and slowed opening a gap between the two. I darted through them, aggressively but certainly not in a dirty fashion. One of the riders thought I wronged him in some way and sprinted to catch me and proceeded to tell me, in these exact words; “I will beat the F-ing shit out of you if you ever touch me again! I don’t care if we’re racing or not!” OK. Keep in mind we’re in the second lap battling for 25th spot in a weekend B cyclocross race. He rode for Wissahickon. I don’t know for certain who it was but I know it wasn’t Chris, Adam, or Eric. Whatever. It was pretty much the most ignorant thing I’ve ever had spoken to me. I wanted to confront the dude after the race but with that kind of anger you never know what sort of shiv he could have wielded at me. Whatever.

Anyway, half a lap later in one of the zig-zaggy off-camber turns a different dude crashed immediately in front of me. I was setting up to pass him so I was probably closer to him than I should have been. He lost his edge and I went down and ran over him and then his bike which separated me from my bike in a flying sort of fashion only to land chest first on his now vertical facing front wheel. It knocked the air right out of me. You couldn’t have placed that wheel in a more perfect spot to do exactly what it did. I could only lay there and try to collect myself. I could barely move. I heard some grumpy racers trying get through yelling about blocking the way but I was pretty dazed. It seemed like minutes but I got up and checked myself and then my bike and got going again and realized that I could still catch some people but after a lap of riding around I was just totally out of it.

This is the first time I dropped out of a race. Made especially hard by the fact that this was the first race my Mom and little nephew DJ have attended and the countless other family and friends showing up to cheer. I was pretty bummed. All I have to show for it is a bruise on my chest about a foot long in the perfect shape of a CX tire. I guess we all have days like this, I just wish mine could have been somewhere else.

The Elite race was as good as I thought. I caught up with Matt beforehand to chit chat. I met him up at Serotta back in March. He mentioned that he’s selling his bike shop to concentrate fully on racing. Interesting to hear a 23 year old say he’s selling his business to race bikes full time. I hope he does well. He had decent results on the road this season and is certainly doing well this fall. 3rd place at LA and another win at HP following his win last weekend up in New England.

Leech had a nice race. Nate was pretty happy. Horner is funny to watch. Totally cruising and then gets to the barriers and looks like a mediocre ballerina doing little hops across the dance floor. It was cool to see him race. KHam badly sprained his ankle warming up and had to DNS. Sissy. VisitPaRay was good again in the B’s.

Mike felt pretty good about Saturday’s event. I haven’t heard anything but praise. Every year he seems to improve upon an already fantastic event. Nice job. Legendary.

I did abso-freakin-lutely NOTHING Sunday. Erin’s parents came over for some Football and dinner. The Steelers v Saints game was pretty damn entertaining. The Steelers running back, Willie Parker, nearly broke the team record for yards in a game held by? Our man, Frenchy. What a great name. I then grilled some turkey burgers w/ mushrooms, bacon, and swiss. A side of sweet potatoes and some baked beans. That was it. Day over.

I had another phenomenal massage this morning. I had to point out the two giant bruises on my right thigh to Deb so she could be a little cautious. Man, they hurt.

Chris mentioned that he’s seen a picture(s) of my crash. If I can find it I will certainly post it here as I’m sure it’s pretty amusing.

Ouch

Lower Allen CX. I worked a short day today with the idea of going over to the park and helping Mike tape the course. As planned I got there a little after 3pm and low and behold everything was done. Seems as though The Legend and The Really Fast Young Dude had spent all morning/afternoon knocking it out. Zach took a “sick day” from school to help out. Good kid. I like Zach. He’s very charismatic about bikes.

So, the only thing I really had to do was get in a few laps of the course to get a head-start on tomorrow. First of all, as noted in an earlier post at this very site, a couple subtle little changes have turned this course into a speedway. One area in particular is waaay faster now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still plenty hard, but VERY fast and super flowing. I think anyone who doesn’t like this race tomorrow is nuts. The only thing it really lacks is any kind of run-up/running section, which is fine by me. The sandpit is firm right now but I guess after a couple races it’ll get churned up some. Maybe a run/ride decision later by the B’s and Masters.

Unfortunately, on one of my recon laps I cut a fast corner a little too hot and took a serious digger in some greasy stuff. I must have slid and tumbled for 15 feet. All along my bike was under me and then on me and then under me again. It knocked the wind outta me and gave me a huge bruise on my right thigh. I felt like a turd head. I just cut the corner too sharp and lost my front wheel. I know now how to take it tomorrow but my right leg is getting tighter by the minute. Knucklehead.

I hope everyone has a great time tomorrow. Mike, once again, has poured a lot of time and effort into this day. Thanks man.

Simon

Lower Allen CX is just a couple days away. The B’s pre-reg is getting there but certainly nowhere near last years 76. Where did all those dudes go? I’m way more interested in the Elite field. No Trebon, Wicks, or Wells would at first thought give you the impression of a sub-par race. Not so fast my friends. I think Saturdays Elite race has the potential to be a MAJOR throwdown. Hebe told me that this weekends MAC UCI’s are the only UCI’s in the country. The big boys want to stay home and rest before another Left Coast GP Double next weekend. All the others are looking for those precious UCI points. It should be a phenomenal race. I really want to see this bad-ass mullet Driscoll is wearing.

Don’t overlook the CX debut of BBP, or otherwise known as The Brother Legend. Look for Eric in the C race. Go get ‘em Thotis.

I had a song in my head all day. It wasn’t one of those annoying songs. Well, it was, but not for the obvious reason. What TV program did I watch short little 5 minute skits of Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings? It was a show within a show. So, what was the main show? Driving me nuts.

Where’s Kenny?

Big big taste, part 2

I complained to the makers of Honeycomb about the change they made. I merely wanted to voice my disapointment in the taste change. Maybe if enough people bitch about it we can get our old Honeycomb back. These are the small battles I wage. Round one? Push. No mention was made in their reply about an avalanche of negative feedback but I did get my $3 back.



Hi Don,

Thank you for visiting http://www.kraftfoods.com/.

The formulation of POST, HONEYCOMB, Crunchy Sweetened Corn and Oat Cereal has indeed changed and I'm sorry you were disappointed with your most recent purchase.

Your experience is important to us. I'm sending you reimbursement to replace this product, via first class mail, which you should receive within 7-10 business days.

Our staff works very hard to provide the best tasting and satisfying products to the preferences of most consumers. Your opinion about the product is important to us as well and I will share your comments with our product development staff.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Kim McMiller Associate Director, Consumer Relations


I'm coordinating my next efforts as we speak.

Pig stomach?

Saturday was the first time I worked in what seemed like a month. It was pretty low key. Just three of us and frankly that’s all that was needed. I sold another treadmill. So far this season my success rate selling fitness equipment has been pretty high. I still need to brush up on the new lines we’re carrying. It got so easy the past few years having the same products available. Now I actually have to do a little homework to get the details ironed out on this new stuff.

Saturday night we had dinner at Erin’s parents. Good. We got home and landed on the couch for a good lounge.

Sunday I woke up feeling like I didn’t really want to ride even though the forecast was for a nice day. I stewed over it for a little while then decided to roll out my MTB. Yep, first time this year. In fact it has been almost exactly one year since I rode it last with The Legend over at Pinchot. I’m all for commemorating occasions such as riding my mtb so I headed over to Pinchot again. There are some decent trails there. Nothing in the way of climbing. Mostly rollers and flat stuff, but it’s still a good time. I saw a few hunters out scouting their turf. I saw a couple other mountain bicyclers tooling around as I did a big lap around the lake. All in all it was a fun time. My technical skill was lacking in spots but not as bad as I was expecting. A 29’r would be phenomenal over there. On my drive over I was tempted to stop at The Silver Lake to join all the other rednecks for a Hog Maw breakfast. Uuch! The sign out front said Hog Maw and the place was packed. I’ll pass.

Hebe-cross is this coming Saturday. I was over at LA last Thursday getting in some laps with a few efforts when Mike showed up in full Lilly work attire to show me the changes he’s planning for the race. It’s cool how just a few subtle little differences to the course can change the complexion quite a bit in certain areas. One section in particular will get A LOT faster. Should be fun.

Erin has been getting more and more comments about her belly size. Little Jr is starting to really claw and punch and kick to get out. The other night we were situated on the couch together where my leg was against her belly. I got poked hard enough that I thought Erin was trying to get my attention. It was actually Little Jr trying to get my attention. I can’t imagine having something like that going on inside all day for months.

Enjoy the week.

Medium Hot

Phew, I’m beat. Today was the first time in a month that I had a morning off from work. Granted, even on an early day I’m at work at 10am. Most people have a half days work in by then. I got out for a nice long road ride. 45 miles worth. Awesome day for it. I headed over and climbed Whiskey Springs Rd. I didn’t realize until I was almost over the top that I had a soft rear tire. That made me feel better about climbing like crap. It was certainly beautiful being out in the woods, sorta. The foliage is a bit past peak but still quite scenic. And that autumnal scent in the air is pure therapy.

Once I made it to work I saw some good news arrived via the UPS-tard. I’ve been hassling all of our bike sales reps to send us some branded goodies to use for the Lower Allen Hebe-cross. Evan from Trek kicked in a couple weeks ago. I think he might show up with the Trek tent, which would be real cool. Today Giant and Bianchi stuff showed up. Indoor trainers from Giant and bottles, t-shirts, and caps from Bianchi. The Giant trainer is pretty sweet. I use one. Not often but when I actually trick myself into riding indoors I’m glad I have a nice trainer. All we’re waiting on now is a goodie box from QBP which should arrive any day. They always send cool stuff. It’s real cool to have good people representing the lines we carry. Much appreciated.

I think I’ve eaten about 12lbs of Halloween chocolate since Sunday. I love that stuff. Chocolate is good for you, right?

I have tomorrow off. I can’t wait to wake up and have very little to do. No pressure to get anything done other than put another quality ride in and clean little Elwood’s shitbox. He needs to learn how to do that himself. Lazy ass.

A jar of magnificent salsa straight from BTI, a supplier of ours from New Mexico. Yum!

That Big Big Taste

I was EXTREMELY disappointed to open a fresh new box of Honeycomb yesterday to find the clowns who make it have changed the formula slightly. I very much love Honeycombs. It is one of the few "tastey" cereals that doesn't use hydrogenated oils. That shit'll kill ya, man. So I rip open a box and start powering down by the shovel full only to notice the taste ain't quite the same. I guess thy've tried to make it even healthier by using whole grains. I applaud their efforts for going healthier but damn it, not at the expense of that Big Big Taste. Oh well, there's always Honeynut Cheerios. Mmmmm.

It's November freaking 1st already! My how the time flies. No racing last weekend so I'll leave you with a couple pics from Wissy a couple Sundays ago.

mid-race - doing well - feeling good

and then this happened - a group of 5 just became a group of 4

I pirated these pictures from Andrew Albright, I think. If so, thanks. If not, sorry. Happy Dia de los Muertos tomorrow.

Change in plans

No racing this weekend. I pre-reged for Beacon and I was very much looking forward to making it down. Staying home is just a better plan.

On Wednesday of this week I sold over $5000 worth of fitness. Friday I had to deliver it all. Separate deliveries but that didn’t make it any easier. Treadmills and elipticals, some weighing in over 200lbs, going up steps and down steps. It seems like it’s never easy and getting heavier all the time. I’m getting too old for this shit. I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad to be old enough to say “I’m getting too old for this shit”.

At any rate, by the time Friday 5pm rolled around and Erin and I were ready to hit the road for Cape May for the weekend, I was feeling like crap and the rain had moved in. With Erin in the condition she’s in and me significantly weary the idea of spending the following 3+ hrs in a car fighting traffic and crap weather didn’t seem all too appealing. Given the forecast for a total crap day at the shore for Saturday and high winds for Sunday I’m not so sure the entire effort would have been worth it for a 45 minute race. Not like I’m in a points battle or anything.

So, we stayed home. Friday after I got home I was asleep on the couch by 6pm for a good 2hr nap. Then I went to bed at 11pm and slept solidly until 8:30am. That’s an unprecedented 9.5 straight hours of sleep for me. For the few people who know me well enough, they know I can’t stand sleeping. What a waste of time. The paradox of it all is I have no qualms spending an afternoon watching football on the tele. Go figure.

With all that sleep I felt like a new man this morning. Maybe The Mrs Legend really is on to something with those 12hr bouts of sleeping she’s oh so fond of.

The chance to actually get some stuff done today was very welcomed. Erin and I cruised down to Wallyworld this afternoon with my mom. Picked up a few things we need for Little Jr. We had Mex for lunch. Stopped at my sis’s on the way home to say hello to that gang. Shannon put some color in my hair, or more accurately removed the gray. She told me that industry “hair people” officially refer to my natural hair color as “mousy”. As in, the color of a mouse. Good to know.

We got home around 5pm so I spent the rest of the afternoon getting the garage cleaned up and semi-organized. I assembled Little Jr’s new stroller. I can’t wait. Then I took a quick shower and hit the couch for the Flyers game. I gave up on those jerk-offs when the score went 6-1. Might I add, while I have a difficult time rooting for Sid The Kid, the Pens have a ridiculous amount of young talented hockey players. The future looks bright in the Steel City. BTW, did anyone notice there is a Kessel in the pro hockey ranks? Nice.

Good luck to all my ‘crosser friends down at Beacon.

My Favorite Pagan Holiday

Today is an anniversary of sorts for me and The Wifey. Six years ago on this night I met The Future Mrs Kessel. I lived in town New Cumberland, which has one of the more fantastic Halloween Parades in the area. The parade route went right by my apartment so I made a ritual of dragging my dusty old couch out onto the sidewalk, with Legendary help, and had a party. Costumes were not mandatory but strongly encouraged. If only I could find some of those pics.

So, back to six years ago. I begged The Mrs Legend to bring her hot cousin (that’s all I knew about Erin at the time) to my party. Somehow, Amy knowing what sort of trouble she might be exposing her cousin to, showed up with Erin in tow. I was sporting my Gladiator costume that night. I’d like to think it was my witty charm and stunningly handsome good looks but I think what really drove Erin nuts was the costume.

At any rate, as they say, the rest is history.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

MAC double. Granogue followed by Wissy. I was really hoping to get at least one single series point out of the weekend. Saturday had the bigger field with 90. This was my first visit to this course. I’ve heard good things. My first warm-up lap was all I needed to realize this would be the hardest course I’d have raced on in my short little time racing CX. I started in the third row thanks to my series points from last year. I had no real plan other than to try to find a solid group and roll with it.

The gun goes off and we start. Mad dash. Some dude from behind comes by me on the right then cuts left so I grabbed his wheel and blew up the left side. Before I knew it we were at the front. And I mean THE FRONT. Once I realized where I was I started to geek out a bit and got off the gas. I knew that’s not where I should be. I want to be fast but I know I’m not front-of-the-race-fast. Of course I paid very quickly for the early pace and couldn’t hold anyone’s wheel to save my life. I just rode around until I got myself together. By that time it was too late to think about points. Ended up 31st. I must give credit to KHam for executing two flawless bike hand-offs in the pit for me. My XO-2 got glopped up good halfway through so I jumped to the TCX for a lap. Thanks to Kyle for cleaning my bike and helping me out.

I watched the start of Mike’s race and then I wanted nothing more than to be home. I hit the road and found Metalica quite soothing to the soul. I love that shit.

Sunday was Wissy. Erin came with me so there was no Lars & the boys for that trip. I made her listen to The Clash instead. I felt much better the entire race but I knew I was real close to missing out on points. We came through the barriers/run-up with one to go and I had Nystrom, Morgan, Brill, etc on my ass when I dumped my chain in a serious rookie maneuver. Just like that I go from second wheel in the group to chasing all lap to tag back on. I just didn’t have enough left to put up a sprint and I had that shitty feeling that it cost me. Points go 25 deep. You can guess where I ended up.

I did have a nice little conversation with Chris N while we were freezing our asses off waiting for the start. He’s got a cool blog with lots of ‘cross and a cute little dude named Thor. So we talked pregnancy/Dad stuff for a few minutes. Good guy.

So, no MAC points. Beacon this weekend. I did this race a couple years ago as a C. Loved it. I’m looking forward to it. With no points I’ll have to scrum for a start spot. Maybe that'll be better anyway. It might benefit my psyche to start in the back and pass some people instead of getting passed. We’re going down to Cape May Friday night to stay in Uncle Willie’s condo for the weekend. We’ll stop in Bridgeton for the race on the way home. I like it down there when it’s less crowded. Should be nice.

I had another massage this morning. Body Logic Therapy. I don’t have much experience with massage therapy but in the past two weeks I've had two terrific massages from Deb at BLT. Pretty amazing to go in feeling like crap and an hour later feel like a new person. If anyone within the sound of this blog has it in their means to fetch out supreme massage therapy I strongly recommend you track down Deb & Lisa at BLT.

I swapped commiserating emails with Nate today about the weekends races. My exact words. “I sucked. Plain & simple. I had fun though.” Somehow turning myself inside out racing ‘cross is pure misery for 45 minutes but pure ecstasy at the same time.

I had fun though.

The Wifey

Go Phillies!

I rarely speak of how fantastic my wonderful wife, Erin, is. I'd be sunk without her. I must be the luckiest clown around to have such a great wifey. Tonight she went shopping for Little Jr and found a Phillies outfit. Nevermind that Little Jr very well could be a girl. I'm sure she'll root for the Phils also. We're approx 7 months into this pregnancy journey and I must say it's been a real experience. Watching Erin go through the different phases of symptoms and physical changes. She's been pretty good with everything so far. I guess the real work is just beginning. 9 weeks to go plus or minus.

Baby Shower a couple weeks ago

My wonderful wife also puts up with the fact that its damn near impossible for me to take a serious picture. Even when I actually clean myself up and put nice clothes on I still deny her a quality photo. I suppose when Little Jr is born I'll have to start taking some nice family pictures. This weekends racing should be fun. When I said earlier that it would be fun racing for a single MAC series point (25th place) I wasn't joking. 83 pre-reged. Charm City had 88 total B's and I yanked a 20th outta my arse. Looking at the stacked field for Granogue on Saturday and I'd say if I landed 25th I'd be ecstatic. I can't figure out why Sunday's Wissy race has such a smaller pre-reged field. These races are only 45 minutes apart from each other. Either way, as with Charm, I'm anxious but eager at the same time.

Oh Yes

Like my new lamp?

Playoffs!?!

What an awesome fall day. I could get used to this. Might have hit 60. Got outta bed early. That always sets the tone. Had a good breakfast. A little internetting. Got my do-list crossed off. By the time 11:30am rolled around I was pushing off for a ride.

Two hours of good road riding on a day like today is pure therapy. Started off just a tad chilly but once I got going it was a perfect temp. I put a few hard efforts in. A couple shortish tempo efforts. All in all a pretty good ride.

I mowed the lawn for what will hopefully be the last time today. Looks good. After that The Wifey had me hang a shelf in Little Jrs. room. And just like that I was free to lounge the rest of the afternoon. I took full advantage and wore a good ass groove into the sofa. Beauty, eh?

The final pregnancy class is tomorrow night. Although I can say that I did pick up a few useful things the past 5 weeks I will certainly be quite happy to get my Monday evenings back. Last night Little Jr. was doing some serious working out in Erin’s belly. There was all kinds of poking and prodding plainly visible. It was really cool to watch but Erin was a bit uncomfortable since she was getting kicked in the ribs left and right. I think we have about 8 or 9 weeks to go. Can’t get here quick enough. Am I having a son or a daughter?

Happy Valley ain’t so happy today. Which makes me incredibly happy. I love it when they lose.

My ‘cross bike weighs 16.8lbs which means absolutely didley-poo when I can’t go fast on it. The winner of IC Lite was 2:30 minutes ahead of me yesterday. In retrospect that’s not terrible although I feel like I should be more up front than I was. In comparison, at Lower Allen last year I finished 14th and 4 minutes back. But 2:30 behind 4th. There were a lot of good ‘crossers behind me at that race which are now in front of me so far this year. I did have some home course advantage going for me but I still feel like I have some good rides in me in the upcoming MAC season.

Why does it take so long for race results to be posted? I have nothing to base my gripe on other than impatience. I know race promoters have a ton of work to do. Speaking of which, did I mention I liked the slight changes made at IC Lite yesterday. Slight enough that I think I almost enjoyed it. High-speed double barriers always help.

The Raiders suck.

IC Lite

I should have stayed home. 17th. Probably 40 or so starters. Whatever. I felt waaay better than Charm but the results sure don’t bear that out. Although 14th was actually behind me coming up the climb on the last lap. Fouche attacked and two others went with him and I had no response. So the number 17 probably looks worse than it was. It was another Brewer/Hesel sprint for the win. Hesel took it. The Really Fast Young Dude finished 4th. Nice ride Zach.

I stayed for the Elite race. Good show. Only 12 or 13 lined up and 7 of them rode wheel to wheel for approx 2 laps. Nate, Sean G, KHam, to name a few. SSWes had a really bad start and was hanging off the back of that group for several laps. Once he tagged on the group split into four and four. Sean G is a feakin beast. KHam made the front group. SSWes in group two with Nate. Somewhere in the middle Sean G opened up a good gap but dropped his chain in the sandpit. KHam and two others blew by but he calmly fixed his sled and bridged back up within a minute and kept on going. Straight through and off the front. Kyle started to fade with about 3 to go and looked to be out of it just about the time SSWes started make a strong move forward. Sean G wasn’t going to be caught but KHam put in a couple HUGE efforts to go from 5th to riding SSWes’s wheel fighting for 2nd. Last lap Kyle made another big-time pull up the climb just before the finish to gap Wes for 2nd place by about 5 seconds. Nate finished well in 6th.

Those last few efforts Kyle put in were pretty impressive considering he’d been racing for 50 minutes at that point. He definitely earned 2nd place. SSWes looked like death warmed over for the first 20 minutes. Helluva ride to make it back to 3rd. Nate looked super strong in the first 30 minutes. Once he lost the front it was tough for him to get back. Good ride. Probably shut it down a little towards the end to save some for IC on Sunday. Pretty entertaining race.

I got a call from The Legend out in The Nati. Leech was 5th, Hebe 10th, and Steevo 12th. Sounds like they were pretty happy with things out there. The big race is Sunday for those guys. UCI type big race. Let’s all Jedi-mind-trick The Legend into some UCI points tomorrow.

I’m now tired and ready for some couch time. Looking ahead I see a CX double next weekend. Given my current state of ambivalence towards ‘cross maybe I’ll actually enjoy fighting for 25th place. Stay tuned.

Passively

IC Lite. 95-5. I guess if the sky isn’t falling tomorrow when I wake up I’ll drive to PGF and race. I wasn’t particular thrilled with the design of last years course. Obviously the promoters have a slight issue with actual real estate to work with and perhaps they make the best of what’s given to them but I can still bitch about it, can’t I?

No Legend/Hammaker/Nate showdown like we at Holmes so richly desired. There has been smack dished out all summer long about whom would “gutter” whom and what not and so forth. A MABRA race would be the best place to bear witness to such a throwdown but The Legend has hit the road for the Nati with Leech and Steevo. I hope they do well out yonder.

Erin is waking up early Saturday to travel down to the Apple Harvest Fest with my sister. That’s one of those things I was drug kicking & screaming to as a kid that I’d actually consider visiting again as a grown-up. The sights, sounds, and most of all the smell of the Fest is apparently something I haven’t forgotten. I remember it all.

Now that the pain of being a Phillies fan is fading for another long winter the not so subtle ache of being a Flyers fan is punching me in the gut. It’s a long season, right?

Mow the lawn one more time this year? Let’s hope so. GOODNIGHTNOW!

The Perfect Storm

The phrase perfect storm refers to the simultaneous occurrence of events which, taken individually, would be far less powerful than the result of their chance combination. Such occurrences are rare by their very nature, so that even a slight change in any one event contributing to the perfect storm would lessen its overall impact. So, there it is. Copy and pasted straight off wikipedia. Very well defined. Now, allow me to explain.

Erin and I were down in Cape May this past weekend for her friend Jen’s wedding. Cool wedding. At a hotel smack in between Stone Harbor and Avalon. The ceremony was on the beach. Reception was in a very elegant banquet room. Real nice. Problem was this, the wedding was Sunday 3:30pm. Not Saturday. Both Erin and I had to work today. So, before we even arrive at this wedding we already have an idea that we’d like to be home by 9-ish. 3hr drive means we need to hit the road by 6pm. Easy ‘nuf.

Immediately we run into trouble. For what ever reason the ceremony doesn’t get rolling until 4. Quick ceremony and I’m feeling good about things again. Cocktail hour. Open bar. Yes. The Wifey is unable to booze so I take advantage and order up a Shiraz. The unfortunate side effect of cocktail hour is, well, it’s an hour. 5:30. People start to saunter into the banquet room. Intro’s, first dances, speeches, first course (Potato soup, my fave!), salad, and finally main course. We inhaled a very tastey meal and said our good-byes. Fire up the Volvo. Time? 7:07. Add 3. Something about best laid plans…..

Phase two of the storm. In case you live under a rock you probably know the Eagles played the Cowboys Sunday afternoon in Philthy. Since I’m continually disappointed by terrestrial radio’s music options I put on the football game. It was pretty entertaining to listen to it. I had no feelings one way or another about who won. As we’re blasting up 55 and the game was ending the thought occurred to me that my route home could get slightly cluttered by 70,000 drunken Eagle fans. Little did I know……

Phase three. We breeze across the Delaware and hit 95 North for a mile or two and then exit onto 476. It’s Sunday night. Why, How could there be any traffic issues? Did I mention 70,000 drunken Eagle fans? As soon as we hit the Blue Route, normally a fast stretch of highway that should take 20 minutes to hit the SureKill, blamo! A sea of brake lights greet me. I just about had a meltdown. Time? 8:30. Gas. Brake. Measured in inches. Slow. And I mean slooooow. At one point I did the math. Somewhere years ago I read that a reasonably fit person could walk at a 2.5-3mph pace. I could have dropped that person off and thirty minutes later that person would have still been walking ahead of us. Those thoughts didn’t take the sting out of the fact that I wanted to be in my bed but instead I was in traffic hell in Philthy-f-ing-delphia and there was no end in sight.

Finally we come to realize that the highway braintrust decided to close two of the three lanes of 476 for road work Sunday night around 8pm. Yep, 8pm. One solitary single friggin lane of traffic. Once we made it through the road work it was as it should have been, clear and free sailing. We spent a very efficient 62 minutes tarveling the 80 miles of PA turnpike. Home at 11:30pm. I guess I wasn’t too disappointed at 11:30 since I was convinced that I would still be on 476 for Monday morning rush hour.

There you have it. Any one of those three would have been easily overcome by itself. Not Sunday.

Tonight we had our tour of the birthing facilities at Harrisburg Hospital. I enjoyed it. By far the most useful info I’ve gotten out of the classes we’ve been taking. Last one is next Monday. My sister is going to join us in the delivery room for the entire labor/delivery of Little Jr so she also came up tonight with Greg and DJ to take the tour with us. I’m super happy she’s going to help us. She’s been thru it and will be invaluable for Erin and me during the whole process.

60-40 IC Lite. I did a couple good rides down in CM this weekend. Motivation has been hard lately. A major part of me just wants to fast forward to Xmas so I can start this “I’m a Father” thing. It doesn’t make going out and doing intervals any easier with that in mind. We’ll see how it goes.

Speaking of perfect. The Raiders perfect season is intact. 0-4. Is it too late to jump on da Bears bandwagon? Or am I a poser at this point?