Tuesday I went to Houston to tour some houses for rent. I started in the cities and flew through Atlanta to meet Stony, the real estate lady. She toured me around six different houses. The first and second were pretty nice with small back yards. The third turned out to be my favorite. A little more expensive but quite nice. The fourth and fifth houses were ruled out almost immediately. Both had a funky smell and weren't too clean and not really finished off. They were both pretty nice house layouts and could be nice though. The sixth and final house was the most expensive but it was super nice and very well finished with a big gated yard but I thought it was a little more than what we needed, at least to start in. I'll post pictures when I figure out which one we are going to live in.
Our puppy, Sue, is getting pretty big and he is coming along quite well. He sits and is house trained pretty well.
I'll also post pictures of the puppy when I have them.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
MS150
Last weekend was the MS150 in Minnesota. The ride was really great and there were over 3,300 people. The event started on Friday with a bus ride up to Proctor, MN, where the ride started off. We slept on the floor of a gym in the Middle school on Friday night with about 300 other people. There was one guy who decided to use his mechanical air pump to fill up his air mattress at one in the morning, much appreciated.
Saturday morning was pretty cold and we hit a little rain about 10 miles in which was cold, it may have been sleet. Then the ride got onto a long trail which we stayed on the rest of the day. We finished in Hinckley, MN on Saturday night for some camping at the Grand Casino. We arrived early and sat around for several hours, got a nice little massage, and then a pretty good sized storm moved and it rained for a while. The team I was "on", called Soar Buns, sat around under a tent and ate some dinner. Following dinner the weather was cold so Rigel, my friend who talked me into doing the ride, and I went to the casino for a little Blackjack. Thirty minutes after entering the casino we walked out with some bad yogurt and 75 dollars more than we entered with. Then it was off to bed.
Sunday morning was pretty chilly too but there were no clouds. After packing up and eating breakfast we headed out. There were a lot of people out already and we spent a while passing people. Rigel's crank came loose on the ride so I stopped and helped him fix it then we headed to the first rest stop where I told Rigel to have a mechanic fix it while I went to the bathroom. We got back out on the road and I soon noticed that Rigel wasn't with me so I turned back to find him. His crank had come loose again so he turned back to see if someone could fix it. Turns out he thought he could fix it himself and didn't have a mechanic do it. Then I got frustrated with Rigel and texted Lauren to remind me to not do events like this with Rigel ever again. After twenty minutes we were back out on the road and all of the sudden Rigel's crank was coming loose again. Come on Rigel!! I told him I'd wait for him at the next rest stop for a little bit but then I was going to go on. I got to the stop and Rigel didn't show up for like ten minutes so I went on without him. I decided to ride harder than I had been since Rigel doesn't ride as hard and the rest of the ride went good and fast.
The finish line was great with a lot of people and a big banner, and sort of sore buns, or Soar Buns if you will. Then we came back into the cities and I got a good steak dinner with Lauren's parents. Lauren went to a 4H horse camp so she missed out big time.
Saturday morning was pretty cold and we hit a little rain about 10 miles in which was cold, it may have been sleet. Then the ride got onto a long trail which we stayed on the rest of the day. We finished in Hinckley, MN on Saturday night for some camping at the Grand Casino. We arrived early and sat around for several hours, got a nice little massage, and then a pretty good sized storm moved and it rained for a while. The team I was "on", called Soar Buns, sat around under a tent and ate some dinner. Following dinner the weather was cold so Rigel, my friend who talked me into doing the ride, and I went to the casino for a little Blackjack. Thirty minutes after entering the casino we walked out with some bad yogurt and 75 dollars more than we entered with. Then it was off to bed.
Sunday morning was pretty chilly too but there were no clouds. After packing up and eating breakfast we headed out. There were a lot of people out already and we spent a while passing people. Rigel's crank came loose on the ride so I stopped and helped him fix it then we headed to the first rest stop where I told Rigel to have a mechanic fix it while I went to the bathroom. We got back out on the road and I soon noticed that Rigel wasn't with me so I turned back to find him. His crank had come loose again so he turned back to see if someone could fix it. Turns out he thought he could fix it himself and didn't have a mechanic do it. Then I got frustrated with Rigel and texted Lauren to remind me to not do events like this with Rigel ever again. After twenty minutes we were back out on the road and all of the sudden Rigel's crank was coming loose again. Come on Rigel!! I told him I'd wait for him at the next rest stop for a little bit but then I was going to go on. I got to the stop and Rigel didn't show up for like ten minutes so I went on without him. I decided to ride harder than I had been since Rigel doesn't ride as hard and the rest of the ride went good and fast.
The finish line was great with a lot of people and a big banner, and sort of sore buns, or Soar Buns if you will. Then we came back into the cities and I got a good steak dinner with Lauren's parents. Lauren went to a 4H horse camp so she missed out big time.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Race Report
Well the race in Wausau was pretty good, still cold but at least it wasn't rainy. The race started pretty good with a long run out to the single track being the WORS version of the Big Ring Challenge. About 50% single track and 50% shitty muddy uphill double track.
I started out moderately paced and then a bunch of people raced by just after the start which didn't bother me too much as the race was 17 miles I was pretty sure I could catch them again. So after the long run out we finally got to the single track and I started to pass people without actually riding super hard. There was one technical muddy rocky climb which most people couldn't clear so I passed a lot of racers there since it wasn't actually that technical. I kept a pretty steady pace and kept passing people and I finished in 4th in my age group and 34th overall. My legs were a bit worn at the end but it felt good to race again.
The MS150 is this weekend so I'll give a ride report for that and put up some sweet pics early next week sometime.
I started out moderately paced and then a bunch of people raced by just after the start which didn't bother me too much as the race was 17 miles I was pretty sure I could catch them again. So after the long run out we finally got to the single track and I started to pass people without actually riding super hard. There was one technical muddy rocky climb which most people couldn't clear so I passed a lot of racers there since it wasn't actually that technical. I kept a pretty steady pace and kept passing people and I finished in 4th in my age group and 34th overall. My legs were a bit worn at the end but it felt good to race again.
The MS150 is this weekend so I'll give a ride report for that and put up some sweet pics early next week sometime.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Back in Wisconsin!
Since it's been a while since I've written I suppose there will be quite a bit to put here, maybe.
I'm now in Wisconsin after a long drive up through Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and southern Wisconsin. We made the trip in about 32 hours with several stops for the new puppy and we stopped and slept for a while, too. So after about 7 hours of sleep in three full days I finally got to sleep and get ready to train.
I started a training program, put together by Kyle's dad, on Monday to make me faster than him (Alan). It's been going well, slight adjustment to training with a heart rate monitor but so far it's all good.
This past week was loaded with activity so it shall be summed up in list form:
Sunday
Max heart rate
Rode horses
Dinner with Mom
Monday:
3 hour ride
Grocery shopping
Tuesday
Intervals
Built horse fence
Friend's baseball game
Wednesday
Easy ride
Rock Climbed
Moved horses to my Grandpa's house
Thursday
Intervals (damn you Alan!!)
Arrowhead hunting
Weed whacked
Friday
Fun ride with Lauren and Mick, a guy we met while out riding
Bike rack from my truck into Lauren's
Lunch with Mom and errands
Today
Cold ass pre-ride for my first ever WORS race and it rained all day and still is (45 and rain)
Tomorrow
First WORS race ever, Wausau, Nine Mile Forest, sweet trails, hopefully it's not as cold and rainy as the pre-ride
This is the race course where there is a 24-hour race at the end of July. Yay!
I'll try to be more up to date with this... try
I'm now in Wisconsin after a long drive up through Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and southern Wisconsin. We made the trip in about 32 hours with several stops for the new puppy and we stopped and slept for a while, too. So after about 7 hours of sleep in three full days I finally got to sleep and get ready to train.
I started a training program, put together by Kyle's dad, on Monday to make me faster than him (Alan). It's been going well, slight adjustment to training with a heart rate monitor but so far it's all good.
This past week was loaded with activity so it shall be summed up in list form:
Sunday
Max heart rate
Rode horses
Dinner with Mom
Monday:
3 hour ride
Grocery shopping
Tuesday
Intervals
Built horse fence
Friend's baseball game
Wednesday
Easy ride
Rock Climbed
Moved horses to my Grandpa's house
Thursday
Intervals (damn you Alan!!)
Arrowhead hunting
Weed whacked
Friday
Fun ride with Lauren and Mick, a guy we met while out riding
Bike rack from my truck into Lauren's
Lunch with Mom and errands
Today
Cold ass pre-ride for my first ever WORS race and it rained all day and still is (45 and rain)
Tomorrow
First WORS race ever, Wausau, Nine Mile Forest, sweet trails, hopefully it's not as cold and rainy as the pre-ride
This is the race course where there is a 24-hour race at the end of July. Yay!
I'll try to be more up to date with this... try
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Graduation and Puppy
Graduation was last Saturday and the parents were in town from Wisconsin. Since I don't "officially" graduate until August I wasn't overly excited about it. It was pretty good and didn't take too long so that was nice. The ceremony was nice and there was barbecue after so that was a definite plus.
Beyond graduation the exciting news is that Lauren picked up the new puppy the we named pseu, after pseudo after pseudotachylite which is a sweet rock. He's really friendly and we've already taken him on a pretty long walk, I think he's learning to walk on a leash pretty quickly. We also taught him to go up and down stairs. He seems to be smart, we'll start with 'sit'. Trying to get him to not chew on everything.
He's an 8 week old Australian Shepherd.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
X-Bar
Since I'm waiting for some laundry to finish up...
Last weekend was the last race of the spring TMBRA series out near Eldorado. It was Lauren's first race and my first race in a month and a half. The three and a half hour drive took about four and half hours on the way due to crazy downpours and rain about half the way there. Apparently the race site had rain as well since the course was quite muddy during the pre-ride.
I wasn't sure how the race would go so my goal was to finish around the middle of the pack since I hadn't been able to ride and train much. There were three laps to the race and my first lap was pretty bad. One endo and one mechanical put me in seventh or eighth and once I got going again I knew I had some work to do. The second lap was pretty good, made up some time. The third lap was my best, I felt good and I passed three people in my class and finished in fourth place.
I ended up sixth overall in the series which was pretty good I thought for my first year in sport.
Lauren won her race and ended up 4th overall in her class! Congratulations! Heal up and get ready for some more racing this summer.
Last weekend was the last race of the spring TMBRA series out near Eldorado. It was Lauren's first race and my first race in a month and a half. The three and a half hour drive took about four and half hours on the way due to crazy downpours and rain about half the way there. Apparently the race site had rain as well since the course was quite muddy during the pre-ride.
I wasn't sure how the race would go so my goal was to finish around the middle of the pack since I hadn't been able to ride and train much. There were three laps to the race and my first lap was pretty bad. One endo and one mechanical put me in seventh or eighth and once I got going again I knew I had some work to do. The second lap was pretty good, made up some time. The third lap was my best, I felt good and I passed three people in my class and finished in fourth place.
I ended up sixth overall in the series which was pretty good I thought for my first year in sport.
Lauren won her race and ended up 4th overall in her class! Congratulations! Heal up and get ready for some more racing this summer.
Congratulations to Kyle for winning the Expert Class and good luck at nationals!!
I want to thank Lauren and Kyle for going to the sweet Bavarian restaurant in Fredricksburg on the way home and having Birthday dinner with me. I'm glad I could share my warm apple strudel with y'all.
Friday, May 15, 2009
A new-found respect for facebook negligence
I recently had a friend who was celebrating their annual celebration of birth so I partook in the typical festivities by writing my obligatory "Happy Birthday _______!!" on facebook. I typically try to get all of my friends who I think would appreciate and be semi-grateful of my blessing on their special day.
It wasn't too long ago when I came to the realization that I go through pretty significant phases of facebook addiction and facebook negligence. I typically don't find myself as a person craving the knowledge of what all of my friends from high school are up to but I do appreciate keeping in touch with some. I am definitely going through a phase of insatiable facebook addiction, however, I'm becoming bored with it and I see a phase of negligence coming on meaning, I hope you like my profile picture.
The merging of these two thought-streams occurred when I returned to my friend's profile page and realized I was the only person with a kind heart that wished this person a Happy Birthday. Lauren, sitting next to me, then mentioned there were more warm tidings of birthday wishes at the bottom of the page.
It is true, there are more wishes of a Happy Birthday, from last year, including mine...
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Sorry it doesn't show up too well, but that is me, twice. I am nothing but envious with a twist of jealous that I cannot bring myself to this level of facebook negligence.
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