Reclaimed Weekend

So with the insanity of Saturday's schedule (my wife left the house at 9:30am and returned at 9:30pm), there were enough things going on that one person couldn't possibly make it work.  And then it was her turn to work on Sunday and rehearsals that the girls needed to get to that meant hanging out and not racing.

There was an opportunity to get out and pedal on Saturday morning before doing the kid exchange and going to indoor soccer with the little one.  But I skipped it.

We cleaned up the back yard.  Leaves were off the trees, and well it was a gorgeous day and my oldest and I burnt all the small twigs and sticks that have built up in the twig pile and raked leaves in the back yard.  We dumped out our year old worm bin (55 gallon) and spread the rich black soil around the base of the maple.  The webber kettle grill worked well enough to make ash.  The stick pile burnt up nicely.  And heck, how often do you get to play with fire with your kids.  Fun.  And the weather was brilliant.  After a couple hours of raking and stuffing leaves into barrels we grabbed the left over pizza put the grate over the coals and had some wood grilled pizza.  Out side.  In the sun.  W/o any biting insects.  Just a begging dog.

It was pretty f'n awesome.

Then the soccer game, it is nerve wracking watching the youngest play.  So much potential.  She was a brick wall as a defender.  Defined objective: "don't let the ball go past you and kick it back down the other end." Their team finally started scoring goals.  And the opponents didn't get a goal until she was sub'd out.  She was WAILING the ball down the field.  Proud dad.  She's got a bit of work to do on offense and what not but she was also pretty worn out after back to back birthday parts going into the game.  Who knows if soccer is her thing or not but she doesn't suck, and she's not even 7 yet.  I think I can make both sterling M35+ and her game (if i don't dally on saturday).

So my kids haven't really taken to bike racing.  Oh well.

Sunday was similar - both days I caught the second half of the Euro Pro CX race (great video quality this weekend) and then headed outside.  Sunday was front yard time.  Rake up all the extra leaves and head into ballet rehearsal.

Today I took hold of the opportunity of an empty schedule this Morning and I took a few minutes of mental health playing with a bit of CX.  Note: Schwalbe Marathon tires at any pressure don't turn well on wet grass down hill with a skim of slick mud under the blades.

On the plus side India Point Park is, in every way, perfect for CX clinic work and skills training.  So ideal.  Not enough space for racing but there's solid elevation for shouldering drills and run up techinque, plus off camber turning and sterling like barriers.  Long flat grass sections for on and off drills and start drills.

Couldn't be more perfect.  And I like teaching this stuff.  My weaknesses aren't generally the fitness and speed side and I'm not quite cornering like the elite guys but I'm certainly not a cat 4 by a long shot.  Since I teach techincal shit on a regular basis, this no different.

A short bit of time turned into a bit more than a short period of time.  oops.

Hauled my barriers and cones and floor pump using the trailer today.  Certainly get more respect from the traffic when towing a trailer, even if it is empty.  And holy hell it is a solid workout.  It slows everything down quite a bit, esp with the mesh front (the clear rain shell makes it more aero).  After a weekend of no racing this monday is not a sub 100 HR day.  And with Thanksgiving coming up well there won't be much riding that day or probably friday so I've got to create some stress-response adaptation while i can and some how prep for Sterling.

The Damn weather forecast looks like it will be trying to entice Litka to race with mild temps.   I so love that race when it is 20 degrees and f'n cold.  So much better there when it is cold. But it will be what it will be and we'll make it work.

I wonder if Tom is out there today doing the monday course walk through design with his spray paint, tweaking the famous sterling course into some more awesomeness.  How many dismounts this year?  Stairs?  Horse Jump? Barriers at the bottom of the off camber? Can't wait.

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