Cyclocross season has started!

This weekend was the beginning of my race season. Saturday it was dry until we lined up to race. It poured buckets and thundered during the race. The course turned to mush and was incredibly difficult. I get great experience by sprinting well in the start and basically leading the field the first lap. I took a teammate with me as we gapped the field, but I faded badly to 6th of 21. My teammate ended up winning, so my effort was worth it. We literally rode through a streams that appeared and what was like a small pond. Amazing how the race course can change when you dump 0.25" of rain on it.

Sunday was a different course, faster, still sloppy in places, but more suited to my skills. 16 starters and somehow I chased down a couple guys, incl a teammate, and I WON THE RACE!!! My teammate was 10 sec behind me for second. Great result for us and the team. Podium pictures were taken on other people's cameras. Not the toughest field, but incredible weekend getting to be in the lead of a race for a lap and learn to think about the race differently. Then taking the lead from someone and holding for a lap and not doing something dumb and crashing. Very different things go through your head when you are chasing guys ahead of you vs when you are in the lead!! I even had time to throw up and hands and celebrate. It was awesome!!!


Note TOP name!

Podium baby!!

After race on Saturday in pouring rain. Just a little muddy.

This was DRY before the race started! Talk about a quick change!

Me in the back on Saturday after I pulled the first lap for my teammate in front (who did win 28 minutes later).

First lap on Satuday with me in front. It really is me.

Labor Day

Scott and I enjoyed our long weekend. We went to Lake Wilson with the family and had a great time. The kids were really fun to watch together; we got a kick out of seeing them interact. Here's our morning photo shoot:

All smiles

Oh my! Are those shoes I see?

Pardon me, let me get a better look at those shoes.

No, thank you.

No!!

Tears.

Some remorse. Or maybe she's just not sure what the big deal is.

Aunt Bec and Boys

Our sweet girl

And here's our bag loving kitty...AKA big cat in a little purse.

End of Summer

We've been a bit lax in updating, but we have been busy. We had a good summer with work and time to travel. One of our fun travels was to Ashley's wedding in Atlanta. Good times and a beautiful bride. What more could anyone want?

Our favorite bride and groom with our patriarch.

Betsy and D at the church.

Austins

Kelly G, Brian, and me

JH taking pictures with Nana's camera

the cousins

M and his daddy.

The weather has been pleasant lately and school has started, so I think our summer is over.

Race day!

Yup, my sorry butt raced today. 40k (25.3mi) time trial. Just me against the clock.

I did the course last year with poor fitness going in and I was dead last with a time of 1:13:10 (avg 20.7mph). Today it was 10-20mph winds and 90 degrees. The wind was a headwind to crosswind (came from ~2 o'clock) all the way to the turn around. It was rough at times. Hit the turnaround at with my avg speed from last year, so I figured with a tailwind, I should be a minute or two faster than last year.

I felt pretty good until ~8 miles left when I think I stopped sweating. I drank a LOT of fluid over the last couple days. I also started to feel my legs chill, which is bad. Anyway, I powered through and stopped the clock at 1:08:48 (avg 22.1 mph). Much better and very happy about it. Then I had to slog 2 miles back into a headwind to get to my truck and icy cold water.

I was 18th of 22 or something. Not last by several minutes, so that is good too. Not good overall, but I am also not in peak form with all the aero equipment in the world. It was just to test myself. I think my experience helped today as I rode smarter than last year. Done a lot of time trials and races, so I think it helped a little.

As long as I don't go off the bike for a while (like 3 weeks in Mexico) this summer/fall, I am on track to be in good shape for cyclocross season starting in October!

Scott's bday, which was a month ago.....

So I'm all blogged out and Bec wasn't any help. Been allbusy not going to work much and biking a lot (only 1 broken wheel and 2 times I needed to get picked up becuase things broke).


I've finally attached some pictures from my 33rd bday, which was many days ago.

The delicious meal that Bec mostly made. I made the fried tomatoes, NOT them green tomatoes that weirdos eat, but actually sweet ripe tomatoes that taste good.



The great bunt cake.


Pumped about the cake.



The tape ball!!!! Not cool Bob and Susan, not cool! Funny though. You just wait!



Me and my new theater system!

I conquered technology! Got it working pretty quick actually. I even figured out why the old DVD player was messed up. Only took me a year.

We went to Savannah GA for a few days of relaxing. Here is the lighthouse on Tybee Isl (3 hrs beach time before it got too crazy).

We were the only folks staying at the B&B the one nigth we bucked up for a nice place, so we got upgraded for free to the biggest room. It was about as big as my apt was in Vicksburg. A sweet suite.

We also visited my old study sites where I did my Master's research. A few things changed, but the big live oaks are still there.

In the end, we had a ncie time in Savannah. My work travel over the last year built enough points that we stayed on the riverfront for 2 nights for free:) We walked the squares and walked and walked and walked. Had a 2pm beer during a thunderstorm, and ate great! Sad to come home.

We are off the lake in a week, so more get away!!

Garden shots

Just a couple garden shots from last week. Things are blooming nicely and the gaps between stuff are going away.
More recent pictures have yet to be taken, but I have been meaning to show off the goods.

Federally endangered Tennessee Coneflower



some white coneflower

coneflowers (several species)

primrose

prairie coneflower (native to middle TN)

coreopsis??

Bergamont mint. It's about 4-5 ft tall. NOT edible. I tried it.

Austins in Nashville

The last weekend in May brought a special treat...the Austins came to Nashville. (Actually,there was a whole convention of Austins, but only three stayed at my house.) Grandma, Grandpa, and Judy spent a lovely weekend here before heading back home. We had a great time with them. They arrived on Friday and Betsy and boys came up for the day, too. The weather was pretty cooperative, so we had a chance to play inside (with Uncle Scott's cars) and outside (in the sprinkler.) Also, we watched all the trains that went by. They make a lot of noise.

This is Grandma and John "taking a nap." Not too much shut-eye happening.

John and Mark playing in the kennel.

John-dog and Mark-dog crawling out of the kennel. Now, you may think they had to play in the kennel because I don't have any kids toys here, but you're wrong. They play there because it's cool. See, all the cool kids are doing it:

Mark having a snack at/under the table on the porch.

Deep thoughts about the sprinkler...

John jumping through the water.

Sprinkler= good times.

Mark loves the water, too.

Swinging high...

Swinging not so high.

On Saturday, the ladies headed to the Hermitage.

This is Gma and Judy at the back of the mansion.

Judy at the Jacksons' tomb.

View of the back of the house with kitchens and smokehouse. That's Judy by the dinner bell.

Earlier in the week, Scott and I went for a quick hike at a wildlife area near us. Our pants were covered in ticks by the time we finished, but the walk was very pretty.