Warda '10

Last weekend was the Warda race and it was the first race for me as a Cat 1 racer. The weather was great and the trails were in great condition. It was nice to not have to get up super early on Sunday morning to make a 9 o'clock race time, 11 is much better. As normal the start of the race was a long open section until the single track, this was only true for Cat 2's, Cat 3's, and the Single Speeders. Thanks to all those Cat 2's that were still on the course that got us a shorter start. The raced started fast, kinda like I expected it would so I was set on not blowing up right away. I made it to the single track and I think I was in last place but I passed a couple of people but that was pretty much all I passed. The race was long and fast and I wasn't really sure what to expect. On the third lap out of four I felt a slight twinge of a cramp in my calf so I pounded some water and took it easy for a bit. The legs felt fine the rest of the lap. The fourth lap consisted primarily of staving off the cramps until the finish. I did succeed but the legs were pretty sore afterwards. No thanks to the neutral water feed that didn't really exist, could have used that. Oh well, I got 7th and I'm happy with that for a first Cat 1 race.


This weekend I also bought another Orbea Lanza from a friend of ours, I'm going to turn it into a single speed eventually. The conversion to a single speed might have to wait though until I pick up my Gary Fisher Cronus that I am apparently getting even though I was pretty much convinced the UT team wasn't going to order for me. Sweet!

Some Race Pics:

Other things that occurred:

Lauren got into Vet school at Texas A&M!! Yay for vet school! Boo for A&M!! She is excited and will likely start in late June taking an Anatomy class before the real thing begins.

Seu got to meet a cow, Longhorn none the less:

This will have to come in pieces (1)

Most Important First:

Last weekend was the first and second time I have ever road raced. The Walburg race was on Saturday and Kyle's prediction of cold and rain were correct. The race went pretty well, probably went out a little too hard but overall it felt like it should I suppose. I was at the front right away and soon after the start I settled in to the pack. The race was faster than I thought it would be but I hung with the pack until the end. I slowed down for a near crash near the end and the front of the group got away a little but I finished without crashing (my goal). I don't know for sure where I placed, I've been guessing around 30th out of 50 so I'll just go with that. It was a darn good training ride too.

The Pace Bend race was on Sunday and I was hoping the weather would be a little better. The start was good and I was hanging in the pack until some tard barn decided to run into me. I decided it wasn't worth crashing and went off the road. I didn't have to stop and I got back on the road but the pack had gotten away a little. I worked hard and eventually caught up to the pack and started recovering a little just as some guys about 20 feet (6.15 meters) ahead of me crashed going around a corner. Yay, off the back again. I worked hard to keep the pack at a manageable distance but they soon started to pull away and I was done. I finished the race 23rd out of 30 I think. It was a little frustrating, I see how that race could be fun but oh well I didn't crash. The weather did get better right after our race. Congratulations to Kyle for getting 2nd!!

Mountain bike racing is definitely way better and that begins with the Warda race this weekend!!

Other random things that have happened lately:

Neighbors down the street moved:

Seu met a chicken:
More to come...

I'm gonna write a blog this weekend...

Catchup

It seems I am always falling behind on these things. Oh well. Since my last post not too much new has gone on. I did make the trip home when I learned my Grandfather had passed away. It was a tough couple of days but somehow I actually rested a little.

When I was home I got to go snowshoeing up by my house and it was amazing. The snow was deep and there is a good cliff area that always has some sweet icicles forming. I will soon post some pictures I took when I was there.

Training for racing season is well underway and the miles are adding up. I did get a PowerTap wheel. It's pretty bad ass.

We might move to a different house and here is why: The owner of the house we live in now has decided to come home from Australia. They decided they wanted to move back into the house we live in now. They offered us two months rent if we could move out by February 1st. Well, then the landlord said they weren't interested anymore in moving back in, until today. So now they want to offer 1.5 months rent less $100 dollars for some application fee. I think they better up that offer a little if they seriously want us to move.

New Year, new blog

Last week was New Years and Lauren and I ended up hanging out with our friends Teresa and Cecilia and watching fireworks from the roof of their apartment building. It was pretty sweet, the whole horizon was exploding with little firework shows and every once in a while there was a great big one. Other than that I rode for about four and a half hours on New Years day, 2 hours on the road followed by 2.5 hours on the mountain bike. It had been way too long off of the mountain bike but it felt great to get back on. I think I also nearly killed Westley, a 16 year old I think I've helped get into mountain bike racing.

Here is a picture of the snow creation we fashioned:

Notice the crowd of little worshiper snow people. The theme god-figure was the giver of noses, notice the happy little snowman on the steps coming down with a nose and the little worshiper at the "feet" of the god-figure. The god-figure also has a "nose" in his hands but you can't really see it.

On Saturday, Jan. 2nd Lauren and I went to the first Saturday of the month activities and walked into this old junk pile between two buildings where a guy was selling things. I saw this sweet little sign and was gonna buy it but the guy wanted 5 bucks, a little too much.

Christmas and all that

Lauren and I went back to Wisconsin and Minnesota last week for the Christmas festivities. It was an eventful trip starting with the flight home. I, and Lauren, thought we were flying out of George Bush Intergalactic Airport (IAH) and it turns out we were supposed to fly out of Hobby (HOU). Stupid that those airports can't pick symbols that might actually distinguish which one is which since that are both International Airports. Thankfully, the lady that helped us wasn't already bogged down by the craziness that Christmas brings to airports and she helped us get to Chicago from which we took a bus ride home.

Further excitement came from Christmas at my Mom's house with my sister and her two kids.

The day after that, Sunday I think, Lauren and I met up with my friend Chris and we went skiing. Lauren and I are both pretty good skiers and apparently Chris had never skied before. We showed him the ropes, and how to fall. It was good times and we had Chris skiing some Blacks before we were done. Chris actually found out that skiing without falling is much more fun than falling continuously.

Monday we left for the cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) although we pretty much hung out only in St. Paul.

Tuesday we toured some potential wedding venues but we have not picked one.

Wednesday we had a joint engagement party with Lauren's sister and her fiance. It was quite a bit of fun, got to meet lots of people and then drive home in lots of snow.

Thursday brought us loads of nice packy snow with which Lauren, Buddy (Lauren's brother), Sasha (Lauren's sister's fiance) and I built a remarkable scene. Something sort of like this but not really. I will soon post pictures of our masterpiece.
We also had a big family Christmas at Lauren's on Thursday night, everyone was awed by the snow sculpture.
On a side note: Lauren's Dad hooked us up with iPhones for Christmas!

Friday we had Christmas with Lauren's family in the morning and then drove back to my house for Christmas at my Dad's. Getting pretty exhausted of Christmas by now but I persevered.

Saturday we had the big Barber family Christmas and it was great to see all of the family. I also saw my Grandfather who is quite ill, I sure hope he starts getting better.

Sunday we were supposed to fly out of Madison early (6:30 a.m.) but the plane was held due to maintenance issues. Oh well, we had iPhones to play on. Finally we got home about 3:30 - 4 and I raked the back yard. Random, yes, but our back yard sure looks good. Then we watched Idiocracy, dumbest movie ever made!

Sure

it's been a while since I've written and quite a bit has happened since then. The biggest news is that we got a sweet foosball table. It's definitely sturdy and I've been puttin' a whoopin' on Lauren ever since. Here is a picture so now, Mom, you can't say, "You never post pictures when you say you are going to!" anymore. Here are the pictures of the furniture we got:

Sweet foosball table!

Sort of a kitchen table

Big bookshelf

Little bookshelf and bike and desk. Need to organize a little maybe...


Other good news revolves around work, Seu, and Snow.



At work I've been in training for the past two weeks learning how to do geology, turns out it's pretty dang fun! Geophysics isn't so scary anymore and I found out people actually use Sequence Stratigraphy. Nice.


Seu, forcefully or not, was removed the breeding pool of dogs as of last Tuesday, he is still barking at a slightly higher pitch.


In case you didn't hear, Houston got snow last Friday. Exciting, right? We did actually get out of work early but not because the snow was piling up but because the already terrible drivers in Houston don't actually know what snow is so they drive around like the sky is falling, it could be also be caused when people see squirrels doing this. Chaos!


We did document this unusual occasion:


Notice Seu's look of displeasure, it's not from the snow or the cold.