Full Service Station

1st weekend in the new skinsuit taking the "W" at
the Franconia Sculpture Park CX

The past weekend at the USGP Wisconsin was kinda like a full service station.  Annie, Penelope and I left for Waterloo on Friday night for our wonderful weekend accommodations at the Moran's for USGP #1 in Sun Prairie.  We stopped for dinner at the Norske Nook and shortly after Penny was asleep for the night and easily transferred to the crib until morning.

Penny and Rowan 

Micah and I headed to the course to pick up our registration and check out the expo so I could find the Trek CXC set up for the weekend.  I found the team managers and went back to get my equipment from the car. This is when it became like pulling into a full service station for the first time.  You know, when you get out of the car to pump your gas and the attendant says "no, no, I got that".  It is strange because I have always done it by myself and feel guilty for having someone else do my work.   I came back and my bikes and wheels were quickly grabbed by the mechanics and checked over.  I got kitted up and they asked what wheels go with what bike. Which bike is the "A" bike and "B" bike and what pressure I wanted in the tires.  These are things I do like 20 minutes before I race so it was a fantastic surprise to have full on pro support.  I rolled a couple laps, they adjusted pressures and then went to set up a trainer only to get "no, no I will get that, get a bottle and some food and relax".

warming up

Penny with her team beanie and Honey Stinger waffles

"A" and "B" to the millimeter thanks to
Bicycle Fit Guru and bike builds by Penn Cycle

I had full support in the pits for all races and some at start and finish with warm clothing.  The 35+ races were really the focus with the elites being an added workout.  I was lined up in the cheap seats (60th) for the 35+ race and rode my way into 16th which is good enough for series points and should put me in the 2nd row at Ft. Collins.  CJ, Fisher and Roeser were 5th, 6th and 7th in the race and were also in the first 3 rows for the start with great results from last year.
The Saturday elite race I had the best possible non-UCI point racer call up with a 33rd and held pretty well at the start and slowly went backwards finally pulling out after 25 mins to save it for the next day.

Sundays 35+ race I was still in the cheap seats but started well only to have the race stopped because of a bad crash which turned into the race being cancelled.  This also meant I had no excuse not give giv'er in the elite race. I was pretty uninspired after the let down of the cancelled race but I made til 2 to go and got work done which is really all that mattered.

Trek then sponsored the after party with a DJ, frites and New Glarus beer so we hung out and gave Penny dinner so she could sleep all the way home.

It was an awesome weekend and pretty great to be treated so well thanks to Trek, Bontrager, SRAM, Honeystinger and all of the Trek mechanics and employees. Also to Annie for watching Peanut all day while I was busy racing and being pampered.

3 years

I cannot believe it has been 3 years already since I married the most beautiful, wonderful and caring woman in the world.  I have such a great family.  Happy Anniversary Honey!

Family photo for Penelope's 1st birthday

1st birthday-Belgian Style

Penelope, my beautiful, precious daughter, turned 1 on the 7th.  There was not a better way to celebrate a fall birthday than Belgian/CX style with waffles and a new bike just in time for CX season.  Oli, from the Bikery Du Nord brought the Waffle Van and served up some wonderful Belgian waffles with chocolate, strawberries, bananas and whipped cream.  He also had the espresso machine fired up.  The only thing missing was the beer.

She liked the whipped cream the most

New bike, time to start learning her dismounts

smash cake

The smash cake was very uneventful, we had to get it started and she wasn't into it.  She is definitely Daddy's girl and skips the sweets.