FINALLY!

Well, it finally happened. I finally got the opportunity to join my new teammates this past Sunday in Prairie Grove, AR for the NW Arkansas Classic Road Race, which was my first race of the season. Zach and I hit the road around 4 a.m. Sunday morning for the three hour drive to visit our neighbors to the east. The trip down seemed pretty short as we talked about bikes, races and family life. I always enjoy the day trips on race days. Getting up early doesn't really bother me, I do it every day, plus, I really like the conversation. Zach and I have been day tripping since we started racing together late last season. Once we got close to Prairie Grove we stopped at Braum's to grab some breakfast. Pancakes, the breakfast of champions. FYI, Braum's will not let you trade you piece of sausage for another pancake. After breakfast it was straight to the staging area to pick up our race numbers and meet up with Ryan.


Prior to getting to the starting line there are always some very important decisions that need to be made. The biggest one is what to wear? It's like 36 degrees right now but supposed to be in the mid 50's by around noon. So, what exactly should I wear without having to shed clothes or freeze. This is usually decided by asking everyone around you and then in my case adding a little extra. Seems like I get cold easier now with my old age.

Now that everyone is all dressed, Zach, Ryan and I all made our way down to the starting line. I was stoked, it was great to see a lot of familiar faces. I was even happy to see people I'm not too crazy about. Just to be lined up there with everyone else...it was great. After roll call, we were off. This race is a 23 mile loop and we will be doing three laps for a total of 69 miles. I had already decided that I was going to race fairly conservatively and try to be smart about the moves I made...the exact opposite of how I raced last year. I knew with this being my first race of the season I couldn't be too certain as to how many "matches" I had to burn and didn't want to find myself burnt out when push came to shove.

The attacks started earlier than I would of expected. There were guys attacking early in the first lap. For this race, that is way too early. We still had someone cover the attacks, just in case, but they were short lived and didn't take too much effort. The good thing about the early attacks is they really help get things opened up. You get that initial burn in your legs and kind of prepare your body for what is to come. This course has a little bit of everything, it's got your flats, some rollers, a nice gradual climb and one fairly steep climb about 3 miles from the finish. This course is perfect for a break. If you can get with some guys who are willing to work you can have a successful break. There's a lot of blind spots on this course so it's easy to be "out of sight, out mind" and with those climbs mixed in it's easy to shell some of the weaker riders who might be mixed in with your break.

Early in the third lap Zach was able to position himself in a break that had at least one rider from each team in it. As his break started to establish itself I moved to the front with two Team Accelerade guys and we set a nice tempo pace. This bought a little time but with everyone knowing that could be the winning break we started seeing guys jumping around us to bridge up. The break was eventually reeled in and they rejoined the field. To me, and probably to everyone, that looked like the winning break. Shortly after that break was reeled in Brady, Fossil1, jumped and was immediately able to open up a nice gap but he was solo and there was too much time left so I didn't really worry a lot about it. Brady is strong and the guy can motor but I couldn't see him doing it by himself. Then a few guys jumped to bridge up to Brady, two of them being his other two teammates. When I saw that happening I knew I had to go. So, I jumped on and before we knew it there were like 13 guys in the break. It didn't seem to take too long before we were established and I started settling in. I knew Zach and Ryan would be holding tempo at the front of the field helping to buy us time, so I just kept pushing and trying to motivate everyone else to do the same. I love breaks. Next to winning a sprint, it is my favorite part of racing. You put yourself in a group of guys 5, 10 or 13 and it's you against the rest of the field. A game of cat and mouse. After about five miles or so I was totally invested in this break. I knew this was my chance and this was very possibly the winning break. The crazy thing about this break was that the team with the most to lose actually did the least amount of work. I didn't expect that at all. In fact, I would say that one member of that team did 90% of the teams work. It doesn't usually work that way. The main reason this break stayed off was because there were enough of us who only had one guy from our team in the break and we put everything we could into staying off. If we would of been caught my race would of been over. Something else that kind of surprised me was that no one tried to nail it up the last hill. I was prepared for someone to kill it there and was hoping I would be able to hang on. It didn't happen, we pretty much all climbed it together and then nailed it once we reached the top.

The big scare came shortly after that climb. The wheel truck pulled up along side us and let us know there was a group about 500m back trying to bridge up. That gave us the needed incentive to turn it up a notch and try to ride this one out. All I could think of was, "were in the hell is the 1K marker" at least once I saw that I would know how much further we had. My PT cpu was jacked up and wasn't reading right so I was just guessing the whole time. I knew that I wanted it over. As we came into the final stretch a few guys started to pick up the pace, I went with those guys hoping for the best. I was hoping to be able to catch Fossil's train and contest the sprint, however, that didn't pan out. When we hit the 200m mark everyone accelerated and I was able to match that acceleration but as we came up to the 100m mark I was toast. The sprint opened up and as I stood up to give what little I had left my legs started to lock up. I weighed my options real fast, 1) sit back down and roll it in for a top ten, 2) try to hook it up and sprint it out and risk my legs totally locking up and finishing last out of the break. I chose to sit down and roll in for a 7th place finish.

Overall I am happy with this result. Sure there are things I wish I could of done differently and hopefully I remember those things at my next race. I raced smarted this race than what I normally do. I'll be the first person to admit that I race stupid a lot, or did last season. My problem is I want to race and it's hard for me to just sit still and wait. I came to race 69 miles, not 200m. This was my first race this season and first race since Emily was born, so I really couldn't ask for more.

It's time to race boys!

Lucky #13 Days Old

Emily is now 13 days old and everything is going great. It's amazing to me, to look at her and see how little she is and to think that Addi was that little just 3 years ago. It's hard to believe really. I mean here you have this little baby who can't really do anything and totally relies on you for everything, and within three years that little baby will just about be able to do everything all by herself, especially if she's as independent as her big sister. Addi keeps saying to me, "I'm getting bigger" and "I've gotta get bigger so I can get married." I don't like to think about her getting bigger because it's kind of sad to me. She's only three and I'm already worried about losing my little girl. She's always going to be my little girl and now I'm lucky enough to have two little girls. As far as the getting married part, I've asked her to wait until she's at least five years old and he can't eat his boogers.

Amie is doing an amazing job of being a Mommy. She always has but I'm in awe at how well she's handled everything. She takes care of almost all of the feedings and diaper changes. I come home from work and I try to help entertain Addi, maybe change a diaper or feed Emily, give Addi her bath and it's just about time for bed. Amie has even been encouraging me to keep my current get up early bike schedule and makes sure I'm in bed early enough to get up on time and she takes the overnight feeding. I don't know what to say except, I am very proud of you sweetie. You are doing an AMAZING job and I love you.

As far as cycling goes, right now I'm readjusting to my schedule. I took a few days off when Emily was born and then I was sick and took a few more days off and it takes my body a little while to get back in the swing of getting up so early. Readjusting sucks! I'm kind of in a phase right now where it's really hard to be motivated until I get on my bike, which makes getting up early even harder because really I'd like to just stay in bed and sleep. I haven't had the chance to ride with anyone in a while and I haven't been to a race yet and I feel like my body is saying "you need to ride fast for what?" I'm trying to just stay focused on next weekend. I'm pretty excited for the N.W. Arkansas Classic. It's a great race and I love the course. If I can just stay focused until then it'll all fall in place because there's enough stuff going on after that for me to stay motivated. I was hoping to get in on the Tuesday night rides but Mark told me to hold off on them because it would jack my schedule up and my scheduled w/o's are more important. I agree.


I'm hoping for at least one win this season. As far as when or where, at this point I really don't care as long as it comes. Maybe I should carry a pacifier in my pocket and do a little tribute to my girls just like Sastre did in the 2003 Tour de France as he took his stage win. Mine would probably be one handed though, I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to go for the full on V.

Let's race!

My Girls

Over the weekend Amie and I set up our backdrop stands and lights and decided to put some of our stored equipment to use. Before Emily was thought of we had converted a room in our house to be Amie's studio. I didn't realize how much I missed that studio until we did our little shoot. That studio would allow Amie to take portraits of the girls any time she wanted without a lot of hassle. Just pull the backdrop down and fire up the lights and you're good to go. Amie did a wonderful job with the girls and I think the pics look great.

Here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

You can check out a few more here.

Sick of Sick

Yesterday was my first day back to work since Emily arrived. It was really pretty sad to leave. I really enjoyed my time off. It was a busy time, but it was great. Amie somehow was able to get me some pictures printed of the girls and very sweet back to work card. I still haven't figured out how she got the pictures though, she hasn't been out of the house except for her checkup, so that tells me someone else was in on it. But I'm not quite sure who.

On Tuesday night I sat down with Addi to talk to her. I wanted to tell her how proud I am of her and let her know what a great big sister she has been. It's really hard to sit still and talk to a toddler. I do hope that maybe she got a little bit out of it though. I couldn't be more proud of her. She has been a wonderful big sister and a help around the house. She is trying so hard to help take care of Emily. She tries to help feed her, she runs as quick as she can to Emily's side as soon as she hears make the slightest of sounds, she likes to hold her and give her kisses. It's amazing. It's like I spent a week at home and my little girl has grown up a little bit. Maybe it's because I'm not around her all day all the time but her vocabulary seems like it so broad right now. She is so smart and surprises me everyday with something new. Anyway, all that to say, I am very proud of Addison Lynlee and she is the best big sister in the whole world.

The reason I was feeling like crap is because I have bronchitis and sinusitis. It took me three hours at an Urgent Care center to find that out. First they did a flu test, then they checked me for pneumonia and took some chest x-rays, and bronchitis is what they settled on. So, at around 7 o'clock last night I made my way to Walgreens to get my prescriptions filled. Walgreens pretty much raped on these prescriptions. I don't buy medicine often so I'm not sure if there's like a secret password or handshake you have to do to get the "don't rape me" price but whatever it is I didn't do it. The pharmacist handed me my prescriptions and rang me up and after hearing the price I was like "holy shit. is that with my insurance? I sure hope this makes me better because I can't afford to buy more of it." I don't think that was the response he was looking for. Maybe I should of asked for a generic or something. Do they have generics of antibiotics? Anyway, I have the medicine now and hopefully I'll be feeling back to normal soon.

This week was kind of a light but intense week on my w/o schedule. So, I'm not missing a whole lot of time just yet. My plan is to hopefully be on my bike tomorrow morning and get a nice workout in and then maybe put a little extra time in this weekend and get most of it made up. I'm ready to be feeling better. It sucks losing bike time because of being sick. This wonder drug better make me all better! It's almost racing time so I can't afford to be missing my workouts.

Tonight I'll get to sleep in my own bed and see my girls...or at least I hope so.

Back To Work

I look like crap, feel like crap and am ready for some sleep. I could really use a shave and a shower. Tomorrow is back to work.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Emily is officially five days old today. It's been a fast and very busy five days. Everyday is getting a little bit easier and everyone is starting to adjust to the new changes. Addi was an angel today and was an excellent big sister. She's trying so hard and I'm really proud of her. So far, not an ounce of jealousy, she just really wants to be involved. She likes to hold and help feed her baby sister and at any given time you can pretty much find her just sitting in her Dora chair watching Emily sleep or swing. Addi is quick on the draw when it comes to diaper changing and hand washing, she's pretty much got those things down. Amie is starting to get around a little bit better today. I know she is ready to be back to normal. Until then, I'm trying to do everything I can to help her do as little as possible. I go back to work on Wednesday, so I only have one more day off and then my mom is coming over Wednesday and Thursday to help out. So, Amie's first day solo is Friday and I'm sure she's a little nervous but I know she will do great. Between now and bedtime tomorrow I hope to have the laundry totally caught up, our mobile picture studio set up and some baby pics taken and whatever else comes my way. I've saved every bike magazine over the last two months I have a subscription for and even bought the book "A Dog in a Hat" thinking I would have all this time to read...I was wrong.

Yesterday Amie & I had to take Emily back to the doctor for her checkup and everything is great. She has gained 8 ounces since she has been home.

After our doctors appointment I thought it might be fun for Addi and I to have some "Daddy & Addi" time. We went out for some delicious Rusty's Frozen Custard and then headed to 4th Street Park. We had a great time. I really enjoyed our time together. It isn't too often that I get the opportunity to take her for ice cream and the park.

So, what's going on in my bike world? Well, Saturday I got my workout in. It was 2X25's. The weather was beautiful and I was able to do this workout outside for a change. That was nice but it is so much easier to hold a high wattage on the trainer than on the road. There are so many variances on the road that you really have to drill it to keep your wattage up or else the downhills will kill you. But it was nice to be outside for a change.

For Sunday I had talked to Mark and asked him to give me a workout to punish me for not being able to race yet. I want to pay my dues even though I haven't been able to line up at the starting line. Well, he did give me such a workout and it sucked because my legs were toast. I'm not sure if it was the 2X25's from the day before, the fact that I haven't gotten much sleep lately, or just everything going right now but my legs felt like lead. I had a hard time keeping my cadence up and when I tried to push a lower gear my legs would start to fatigue real fast. Like I said, it sucked and I was pretty disappointed in myself. I did save the w/o and plan on doing it as soon as things kind of settle down.

This week we are going to attempt to get things back to normal and I'm planning on getting up bright and early in the mornings just like usual. I've worked really hard making sure I get all my workouts in and not taking much time away from my family time. That is still my intentions and I know I can do it. I totally believe that if you want something bad enough you can make it happen. I'm setting my focus on the N.W. Arkansas Classic Road Race in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to finally getting the complete B.A.R. team together (it's only been missing me), bumping elbows and seeing all my buddies again. I can't wait to be rolling in a pack and hearing everyone's wheels spinning around me.

So, as I sit here writing this I realize that not only is Wednesday the day I go back to work but it is also the end of my daily Daddy & Addi time every morning. For almost the last three years Addi and I have spent every morning together getting ready, eating breakfast and then heading out the door to work and daycare. It's been a priceless time and I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I'm going to miss that time. The hours of my work day are also changing and I'll be going in a little earlier in the mornings, hopefully I don't miss too much time with my girls.

Home Sweet Home

After two days in the hospital Amie, Emily and I were all finally ready to go home. When you're sitting in the hospital no place sounds as good as home. When Addi was born we only stayed one night in the hospital and we jumped in the car as soon as the doctor said everything looked good. Amie and I were both so ready to get out of there, neither of us really stopped to think what we would do once we got home. This time, with Emily we stayed two nights and used the second night to try to get caught up on a little sleep. Still, we were so ready to get home. Home is nice and there is no place like home. All of your comforts are at home. But it isn't until you get home that you realize how good you had it in the hospital. I mean, you have a nice big room, a button to push every time you want something, nurses who stop by at least every hour to make sure you are comfortable, someone to watch your baby whenever you need a minute. Don't get me wrong, I hate hospitals as much as the next guy, but it isn't until you get home that reality hits. There is no "Easy Button" when you get home. I was pretty excited to open the garage door and see my bike sitting there though. I'm pretty sure she was excited to see me also and she missed not having me home for our usual morning bonding time.

The best part about coming home was that our family finally got to all be together again. Addi had been staying the night with either Amie's folks or mine over the last few days and we really hadn't got to spend much time with her. I was excited to get to see Addi interact with Emily. Addi is like a toddler on RedBull around Emily. She is so excited to have a baby sister. It's so cute, she checks on her all the time. She's done really good and is already the best big sister in the whole world. We did have one near miss though, Addi was standing on the couch (yes, she knows better) and leaning on the bassinet looking in at Emily. Well, the bassinet is on wheels and it started sliding away from the couch and as it slid Addi started falling. She fell the short distance to the floor and bounced right back up to check on baby sister. Addi even gave Emily her kitty cat to sleep with. That's big!

Amie is doing great. I am so proud of her. It's almost like having the baby is the easy part. The hard part is everything her body went through before and after having Emily. Hopefully, each day gets a little better and as soon as she's ready I'll be treating her to a nice juicy steak and ice cold beer. Maybe a little Outback cheese fries are in the near future.

My mom is going to come by for a little bit Saturday and Sunday and help Amie with the girls while I get my rides in. I'm hoping the nice weather holds up for a couple more days. I haven't ridden outside in about a month and I'm looking forward to seeing some sunshine. I'm also hoping Addi and I can get outside with her bike. She's kind of been taking an interest in it out in the garage. So maybe, if I'm lucky, I can keep her interested in it long enough to make it to the end of the street and back. She's almost three so it's about time we get her training started. If Amie is feeling better maybe we'll be able to take a walk or something. I really need to get some yard work done sometime also. I kind of slacked on the yard last year and I think I'm gonna pay for it this year. So far, no weeds. Thanks Irish Green! Just fix up these flower beds and I'll be golden.

This weekend is the Salty Cow races up near Tulsa. Both days are great courses. I raced them a couple years back and enjoyed both of them. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend, be safe. I'll be there soon. I'm ready for a little B.A.R. action!

I'm out. I'm rambling. It's after midnight and it's been a long day. Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who came by the hospital to see us, made a phone call to check on us, sent a text message, or sent flowers. We appreciate everything. Good night!

Welcome!

My day started as usual. Up and out of bed around 3:45AM and on the trainer. This mornings workout was only an hour so it wasn't too bad. After I got off the trainer I cooked me up a bowl of oatmeal and then made my way to the bedroom to see what Amie was doing. I was a little surprised because the light was still off, so I thought she was still asleep. She wasn't but she informed me that the hospital had called around 5 and told her our induction was going to have to be rescheduled because of the number of overnight births. Both of us were bummed about that, we had spent all yesterday trying to get everything squared up and ready for some baby time. We kind of just hung out in bed wondering when they would get us rescheduled. Then about 5:30 the hospital called back and said if you want your 6:30 we've got some nurses coming in. So we scrambled to get ready and out the door we went just a little after 6 o'clock.

So, then what? What happened next?

6:30 - Check In
6:55 - We were in our room, they had all the monitors hooked up and Amie's vitals taken. Amie was already having some small contractions at that time.
7:00 - In an effort to get Amie's mind off of everything we scrolled through TV channels and found "Can't Hardly Wait." I haven't seen that movie in a long time and there really are some funny parts but I tried to keep straight faced because Amie wasn't in any mood to laugh really.
7:10 - 7:15 - They came in and got Amie hooked up to an IV to keep her hydrated.
7:25 - More drugs. They started the Pitocin drip. Pitocin helps to strengthen her contractions and YES it works.
7:31 - 7:36 - Our doctor came in and broke Amie's water. I didn't go through this but it actually sounds worse than it looked.
8:10 - Both our families started coming in around this time.
9:00 - The Anesthesiologist came in to start the epidural
9:12 - The first epidural dose was given.
10:45-11:15 - Amie went from a 5 to a 9. I'm not explaining what that means, but it was pretty quick once the party got started.
12:35 - Time to start pushing
1:55 - Welcome to the world Emily! Weighing in at 7.6lbs and 19 inches long.

She's B-E-A-Utiful! Everything went great. Amie did a wonderful job and was a trooper. Addi has already taken the great big sister role and I think she's going to be pretty protective.

Thanks to everyone who said a little prayer for us during this pregnancy. It wasn't always the smoothest but we made it. Those three words, "WE MADE IT", are huge.

The Day Has Finally Come!

Tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock Amie and I will be making our way to Norman Regional Hospital. We are scheduled to start inducing at 6:30AM. We're crossing our fingers for a short labor. I've got more to talk about but am slammed at work so I'll get to that another time. I'll have pics and reports posted here tomorrow throughout the day or whenever I have time.

Monday, Monday!

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate my teammates on an excellent start to the season. Zach and Ryan went down to Lago Vista over the weekend and came back with some great results. On Saturday Zach finished in 12th place. Sunday Ryan was able to bring home the teams first top ten finish, finishing in 8th place, and Zach was right behind him in 16th. Zach's front derailleur hanger toasted him on Saturday and had the guys doing an overnight repair to get him ready to go on Sunday. He was left with a very limited range of gearing that most likely cost him several positions in the sprint. Great job guys! Hopefully, I'll be there to lend a hand pretty soon. As you can see from the pic, there's no problem picking out B.A.R. from the crowd.

So, what did I do over this past race weekend? Well, we didn't have a baby. We had another tease yesterday evening but she's content just hanging out in Amie's belly I guess. It's crazy. You should see Amie's belly, I don't see how anyone could be comfortable in there or how Amie could be very comfortable. When Emily gets here I bet she will weigh around 8+% of Amie's pre-pregnancy weight. That might not sound like a lot but that would be like a 12 pound kid if you went by my weight.

Actually, this weekend I spent my time on my trainer. I was able to get in both my Saturday and Sunday workouts with my new best riding partner, the Rock 'N Roll. Saturday's workout had some threshold intervals mixed in and was a good morning workout. Sunday on the other hand was 4 hours, yes 4 hours, of going absolutely no where but still watching the miles tick by. That was actually the longest trainer ride I have ever done. I've done plenty of 2-3 hour workouts, but never 4 hours. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It still kind of sucked but as long as I get it in I'm happy. It was the least I could do for not being there to help Zach and Ryan at the race.

So, you might be asking yourself, what does four hours look like on the trainer? Here's four hours.
Movies:
1) Iron Man
2) Eagle Eye
3) Hancock

Music:
1) 3 Doors Down - Self Titled
2) 2Pac - Greatest Hits #1
3) 30 Seconds to Mars - A Beautiful Lie
4) Shiny Toy Guns - Season of Poison
5) No Justice - until my Ipod died

To Eat:
Kashi GoLean Chocolate Caramel Crunch Bar - 150 Calories
Jelly Belly Sport Beans, Cherry Flavor - 100 Calories
GU Espresso Love - 100 Calories
PowerBar Gel Blasts, Cola Flavor - 190 Calories

Beverages:
1 Shorty - 1/2 Diet Mt. Dew & 1/2 Water
1 Shorty - Water
1 Tall Boy - Water
1 Tall Boy - Cytomax - 90 Calories

There you have it. 4 hours in the saddle. Almost 23,000 pedal strokes and absolutely no coasting. Good times, good times. Hopefully, when my time to race comes, I'll be ready.