Fresh Escape

Addi with her blue cotton candy moustache. We all went down to Maggie Moos's and had a little treat once I returned from HH100. The ice cream really taste like cotton candy. My favorite is the Cherry Vanilla Vacation, vanilla ice cream, brownies, cherries and caramel. I'm a Freddy's fan but they'd be in trouble if there was a MM's closer to my house.

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My Girls

Em's .5 birthday is fast approaching and Amie thought she'd take a few pics of the girls on Sunday.

My Silly

Addi's Em

As you can see, Addi is quite the proud big sister.

Better

Monday morning, again. I wish more days started with an S. I had a great weekend. Got a short little road trip in with Zachary, a race (full report to come), and then some quality time with my girls.

I often look at my life and am amazed at how blessed I am. Do you know what it's like to get to come home to three beautiful, blond hair, blue eyed girls? I DO! You know how good that first bite of Rodney's Pizza is, or that first sweet taste of Freddy's Custard is, well going home to my girls is way better than either of those things.
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Hotter n' Hell

This weekend is the Hotter n' Hell extravaganza in Wichita Falls, TX. My homey & teammate, Zach, and I will be rolling down Subaru style right after work. I'm looking forward to it. This is always a big race. It has lots of street cred and also a big turnout. This will be my third year to race it. Every year I have big plans of winning, so I can get that jersey, but I've failed the last two years. Both years have been a learning experience. What I learned the first year was, I wasn't as strong as I thought I was and that I have a lot to learn about racing. What I learned my second year was that I race stupid. I've spent a lot of time working on both of those areas so we'll see if it helps out any this year.

Last year Zach and I were racing for CRRC. He and I had really just joined forces a little earlier in the season and it was a great time to get some race miles in together as well as get to know each other a little better. This year, we're representing Bicycle Alley Racing. We started this team at the beginning of this season and began as a three man team, we are now eight deep and have some great new teammates. Jerry Willis, one of our recent additions, will be joining us in the CAT 3 race. Jerry is a great guy and I'm looking forward to chatting it up for 100 miles. We'll also be represented in the CAT 4 race by Andrew Chasteen, and in the Masters 40+ race by Phillip Wilson and Mark Trimble. It's going to be a great weekend of racing for B.A.R. It's going to be a little different in Hell this year as a cold front is moving through and it's supposed to be in the low to mid 80's.

As much as I'm looking forward to racing, I think I'm going to miss my girls even more. I won't be gone long but I wish I could take them with me. I'm not sure if they are my biggest fans or if I'm theirs. Either way I'll be thinking of them and can't wait to see them when I get home. That's just even more incentive to do well, if I'm going to be away from them, I mine as well win...right. Hopefully, I'll be home with jersey in hand.

The a.m.

I know that everyone is sitting at home wondering what my mornings are like. They are actually pretty eventful.

This morning I was able to sleep until 3:45 then it was time to rise and shine and to do it as quietly as possible. I slip into the bathroom and throw on last seasons bibs and a shredded base layer top and then tip toe out to the garage.

Today my workout was just a high cadence endurance ride. It's nothing special, it's done at high cadence to get your heart rate up but not overload the legs. I just went with shuffle on my iPod today and ended up skipping songs more than listening to them. So much junk on there. To make the time pass a little faster I through on the 2003 tour de france. It was the stage were Lance's bars get caught on the strap of a fans bag and he goes crashing to the pavement. No biggie for Lance, he still put 40 seconds on Ullrich.

Once my workout is complete I sneak back into the house and get ready for work and then out the door I go. If I do all that correctly the only sounds I hear in the house is the soft breathing of my girls.

Then it's off to my first stop of the day, the new Oklahoma Heart Hospital.

Good morning!
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Morning training ride this morning. Should be good, rolling with the Willis brothers and Trimble. Hopefully this gets me out of my two day slump. Dang, someone won the lottery recently i guess, it's back to 20 million. I knew i should of bought a ticket.

My Boo's

If you haven't met my girls you're pretty much missing out on a life changing experience. I'm pretty sure they are the most beautiful two little girls in all the land, not to mention smart (in more ways than just brain smart) and full of laughs and smiles. They are just what the Dr. ordered after a long day at work. What could be better than walking in the door only to be greeted by a big hug and kiss and hear "I missed you daddy."

There's been a lot going on at the Hodges house lately. We recently switched Addi's Mother's Day Out program to one she is excited to go to and we're happy to have her in. This one is highly recommended by a friend of mine and it actually has a set curriculum and two teachers for her class. I was pretty disappointed with our other one. It didn't seem like Addi was learning anything other than bad habits and she was never thrilled to go. We're now going to the 1st Learning Center at First Baptist Church. I'm really happy to have her in a church based program also.

Her 1st day at 1LC.

While Addi is off to school, Em has learned to sit up. She is almost a master at it. She's so funny. She smiles more than anyone I have ever seen, unless you try feeding her pea's and then you better watch out. She's not a fan of the pea. She is getting big so fast. We've found her tickle spot and if you're brave enough to risk getting your hair pulled you can raise her arm and blow right under her arm. It's pretty funny and you get a laugh out of her.

That's Addi's Em

I LOVE MY GIRLS!

I'm a cyclist and obsessive about my weight. So why is it that when i'm upset or depressed i just want to eat? Why can't they have a zero calorie zero fat good ice cream?

Twilight - The Moment

Yesterday, I set out bright and early for a few hours on the road. It was a perfect morning for a ride. The temperature was cool, nothing more than a slight breeze at times and the sun stayed hidden behind the clouds for most of the ride out. The roads were clear with the first car crossing my path at 6:52...almost an hour of total piece and quiet. I was headed north hoping to cross paths with Jerry & Tommy up around the Sod Loop.


As I wrapped around Draper and hit 89th Street I saw something in the middle of the road. I couldn't quite make out what it was at first. It looked like a dog but even from a distance it seemed too big to be a dog. It walked from one side of the road to the other and then back and then it just stopped a few feet away from the shoulder. As I got closer I realized that it was a dog or wolf or something but it was big. It looked like a Siberian Husky but it's coat was more like a rusted brown color with white on it's underside. I would say it's back was somewhere around the 3' mark. At about 200 meters out it stopped and totally focused all if it's attention on me and it had quite a bit of my attention also. I was gearing up for the sprint of my life expecting him to put up a pretty good chase. Then at about 100 meters out it was kind of like our eyes caught each other and they kind of stayed that way until I rode past. It's coat was damp from the wet grass from the rain the night before. It wasn't matted or dirty but kind of standing on end. It didn't move towards me as I passed only watched motionless. I never had to sprint and didn't even get that typical adrenaline rush when you pass by a chasing dog. That's when it came to me, this wasn't a dog or a wolf, it was Jacob Black. That's right, Jacob Black. You might know Jacob from the second installment of the "Twilight" book series, "New Moon." I won't go into much more detail than that because I don't want to spoil the movie for all you Twilight fans. New Moon is set to open on November 20th. Here's a trailer though if you wanna check it out.