Sundays are great

After 3 days of eating, drinking, and such a lazy Sunday was at hand. We had just spent Turkey day and the day after at the casa de Schwartz in Des Moines where Ellen completely ruled the roost. I got out to ride on Thursday morning at the 9th annual Turkey day ride at the best off-road trails Des Moines has to offer before returning to Stacey's parents house to gorge myself on Turkey and beer.




The guy on the right, running up the hill in the speedo and the GW mask, is my buddy Squirrel, whose blog is linked to the right here. He is the man behind the annual Turkey day ride in Des Moines. The rider, Scott Sumpter will be referenced later in this post. (Yep, these are the kind of dudes I hang out with.)


Friday, Stacey got out to shop all day and I kept the kids at the house by myself, which turned out to be very peaceful. No really, it was. For some reason the kids are always angels when I have them to myself, not sure why, but I don't really analyze it. It ain't broke, so why fix it.

Saturday I left Des Moines early to go to race my bike (one of them) at the Jingle Cross Rock cyclocross race. The last 2 years I have done this race, I've raced in the beginner category. Last year I placed in the top 10 and had a lot left at the end, so I upped a class this year. I placed fairly low in the next class up, but I'm not in the shape I should be in so I was happy with my results. I've had a friendly rivalry develop since I started doing this event with a guy from Des Moines. He is an aquaintence of mine from RAGBRAI's of the past. His name is Scott Sumpter, the rider in the photo above at an earlier cyclocross race that I did not attend. He is the guy who keeps the cycling population of Iowa together with his website, bikeiowa.com. We both placed very close together and had a good time riding this Motherfucker of a course. Afterwards we all watched the rest of the races together on the top of the huge hill we had earlier been required to run up during the race. The good part about watching, is that we could drink plenty of beer while watching. In fact, Scott and his friends and wonderful significant other brought a keg of Fat Tire to the top of the hill for all to enjoy. I didn't want him to have to roll that thing back down the hill full, so I did the best I could to help them empty it.

I was supposed to go back on Sunday to race again. Cyclocross races are usually 2 day events. But I was really wanting to chill with the kids and Stacey on Sunday. Sundays are kinda sacred to me. Back when I was a kid in high school, my parents always made sure we spent time as a family on Sunday. Even though we were always busy with sports and jobs and stuff, we always at least ate a meal together on Sunday. Maybe that's where I get it. Anyways, I got up with the kids this morning to let Stacey sleep in a little. Plus, like I said I wanted some time with the kids too. When you're at extended family things, seems like the only time you spend with your own kids is when they're being shitheads. So I got up and there was snow on the ground, just like the weather man said there would be. Ellen was pretty awestruck with the snow at first. She sat on the bay window for a while looking out while I made her breakfast and a pot of coffee you could stand your fork up in.

Ellen playing on the bay window checking out the snow.

After the kids ate and Stacey got up, I had given up on racing today, but still wanted to get out and ride. Nothing like making the first tracks on snowy singletrack. Stacey agreed to take care of the homestead while I went out and played for a while. It was beautiful out there.

The Karate Monkey pointed down some beautiful singletrack at Beverly Park

A skinny little bridge I decided to ride over despite the conditions.

Of course, my camelbak has everything I need in it in case of an emergency.

Family Feud - Xmas Decor edition

We can't seem to agree on Xmas decor in our house so I'm asking for your help.

It is my firm belief that Xmas decor should be fun first and foremost. Stacey and I had a Stalemate argument on this topic in Menards on Saturday. I want cheesy fun stuff, she wants simple and tasteful. My kids don't want simple and tasteful. They eat yogurt with their hands. They don't care if their shirts match their pants (neither do I incidentally), comfort is the key.

It all started in my Mom's living room almost 2 decades ago with the silver and gold Xmas tree. Sorry Mom, but this is important stuff. It's been downhill in the Xmas cheer department ever since this atrocity appeared in the living room. All the fun handmade in school ornaments and the souvenier vacation ornaments were banned to the "other" tree like a 2am booty call. As if to say, "I still want you around, but at my convenience, oh and I don't want anyone to know about you either, so don't ever just drop by without calling first." Only oranments of silver and gold are allowed to adorn this tree. Oh and presents wrapped in anything but faux precious metals will be bannished as well, so friends and relatives, if you want your gifts to adorn the big stage, you must comply with this motif. Where's the fun in that? Where's the tradition? What's next, Pizza for Xmas dinner? (Nevermind that I don't think I've been to a church since my wedding, other than other weddings or funerals, that's not important here.)

For me, it's all about the kids. I want them to laugh and smile at the lights when we get home at night. And I'm one of them, I'll admit. I like snowmen and Santa's and I still giggle when I fart.

So please weigh in on the poll you see to the right of this post. Your opinion is (not really) important to me in this matter.

40 miles in the cold

My buddy Norbert and I hopped on the commuters and rode into the wind 2o miles or so to a little town called Center Point. Supposed to be a good little pizza joint there, so we figured what the hell. Wind is coming hard from the NW and that's the direction we're headed. Figured we'd work our asses off getting there, and enjoy the tailwind home after grub and some beers. The pizza ended up living up to its reputation. The beer selection is what you'd expect from a small Iowa farm town. Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite, MGD, and Old Style. So, Old Style it was. Another friend of ours, A.J., met us there but she drove her car (wuss). Even though the wind chill was at 9 degrees, it didn't feel that cold. Legs are feeling it from that headwind out there. Good stuff.

Recovering

I can't do it anymore. Stacey and I spent the weekend in Dubuque and partied like we used to. Mom K had the kids, so we took advantage. Really tore it up on Saturday night, so Sunday was very painful. Stacey was super-mom on Sunday. Chased the kids around all day while a sat like a sack of shit on the couch. If the Bears had played better, I might have snapped out of it, but to no avail.

Got back on the bike last week and rode in to work today. Ribs are feeling much, much better. I've been meaning to throw a shorter stem on the commuter bike, so I did today thinking it would take some pressure of the bars as well. Seems to help. Put new bar tape on too. Something I've been avoiding, but needed to do badly.

Christmas is coming. Mara and I are going to Menards tomorrow night to pick out the yearly addition to the yard lights. I'm going to let her pick out some of those lights you stake in the ground along the sidewalk. Stacey wants something tasteful, I of course want something cheesy. I figure it's only fair to let the kids pick.

Out of Commission

Seems my little injury isn't getting much better. Ribs still hurt. Plan on calling my sis tomorrow for some advice (doctor or tough it out). Doesn't hurt when I sit at all. Hurts when I stand and take deep breaths, hurts like hell in the front when I lay on my back and forget about laying on my side. Donating the ramps and selling the bike I have built up to handle that kind of riding. Stacey wants a new sofa anyways. Gotta get these ribs in shape to ride the Thanksgiving ride in Des Moines.

Had Monday off to recover from Sunday football. Got a couple of truckloads of leaves out of the yard. Fired up the snowblower just in case, but may have to mow one more time. Looking forward to putting out the lights and cheesy stuff for Xmas. The kids are gonna love it.

Halloween and those crazy Bears

Stacey and I asked Mara a few weeks ago what she wanted to be for Halloween. It started off being a cow, but the final and most consistent answer was a silly pumpkin. Luckily, we were able to find it and a Bumblebee costume for Ellen. Getting them to pose together proved to be futile, so we tried to get a couple solo shots:


Mara the silly pumpkin


Ellen the grumpy Bumblebee

Mara completely understood the concept of Trick or treating this year. We started off down the street with both kids in the wagon. Ellen really didn't know what was going on. She thought we were headed to the park. So when we at the intersection, when we went straight instead of turning to go to the park, she freakin' lost it. That was the end of her Trick or treating, hence the grumpy Bumblebee tag. Her and Stacey headed back with the wagon to attend to the candy bowl, while Mara and I continued soliciting more candy on foot.


Mara and I knocking on doors

All in all, Mara did a great job and had a lot of fun. She came out of her shell quite a bit that night, speaking to adults easily and politely. I was impressed. Later that night, we had to cut both the girls off from their candy intake. The sugar high was evident as numerous laps were being run around the house.

Great Grandma and Aunt Dani came by on Saturday. They all went to the park while I hung around the house. Later the big girls left me with the little girls so the big girls could go out to lunch.


Aunt Dani and the girls in the playhouse


Sunday was a great day with a painful ending for me. We didn't do much in the morning. Played outside a little, but stayed inside most of the morning. Stacey got a quick lunch of appetizers ready for the game only to find out 2 minutes before kick-off that it wasn't televised. Shit, guess we should've bought that Sunday ticket. Oh well, it was off the the garage for me. Unfortunately I'd be listening to the game on the radio without my little cheerleaders. These are outfits Aunt Sandy and Uncle G sent a while back. We finally got a chance to get them into them and take pictures. The game ended with the Bears in the W column, but it was ugly. Me being in the garage turned out to be really productive. My garage is as clean as it's been in a long time.



Mara and Ellen in their Go Bears dresses



The painful ending came with me playing around on my bike in the driveway. I built these ramps after a trip to Decorah a few weeks ago. I just finished the landing ramp yesterday. It doesn't look that tough from here, but having never really gotten into doing stunts before, the height of these ramps and degree of loft you get from the launch ramp is intimidating. What you see on the video here is a successful attempt, what you do not see is the attempt previous to this one, yes previous. On the attempt previous to this one, I had the ramps about 2 feet further apart. I hit the launch with too much speed and got all crooked in the air. Ended up overshooting the landing ramp and landed front wheel first on the concrete subsequently diging the handlebar into my ribs and my helmet into the pavement. I knew I had to get up and do another jump even if it was a small one or I'd never try it again. I filmed it because my buddies Ken, Cole, and HoJong are fired up about riding these ramps and have a lot more skill doing so than I. My ribs hurt like hell today, I don't think they're broken, but they could be cracked or at least bruised pretty bad. Too old to be doing shit like this, but I can't help it. Click the video to see it.