Christmas Vacation 2012

Susan, Charlotte and I had a great Christmas vacation. 10 days out of the office, great times with the family, and no one got sick!

Charlotte playing with her new water table from Grandma and Grandpa Meredith

Charlotte and Grandpa at the Flint Children's Museaum

Charlotte and Mom making Christmas Cookies

 

 

The Butterfly Pavilion at the Detroit Zoo

Colorado State CX Championships

Charlotte gives us love, but she also gives us bugs. I was feeling pretty so so leading up to the weekend, and was not planning on racing. But I started to rebound on Thursday and decided I would give it a go. I did not have a great performance, but I am glad I showed up. A really well designed course, great competition, and a bunch of sloppy mud made for an excellent time. I finished 22/32 in the 35+ group. I had a nasty side stitch half way through the race which prevented me from putting in anymore hard efforts, but I was still able to maintain my position. I am already excited for next season, and to earn some points earlier on so I don't have to start in the very very very back of the group.

In other news, Friday night the family headed over to the Botanical Gardens to look at the light display. It was very impressive, and Charlotte had a good time. She even walked almost the entire garden, requesting that we carry her only a few times. On Sunday we met Erin up in Boulder for dinner and catching up.

Great Thanksgiving Holiday

This Thanksgiving I was/am grateful for my in-laws. They came out to Denver to spend the holiday with us. This is great for two reasons: We don't have to travel back to MI with Charlotte in November and December which is very difficult, and they are great to have around. The only down side will be when they leave, and Charlotte will miss the full attention of her Gram.

On Wednesday we went to the railroad museum in Golden. Here Charlotte learned that trains go "Choo Choo" and verbalizes this perfectly. We rang the bells on the train, and she loved playing with the wood trains on the tracks. She also enjoyed watching the incredible model train display. The detail of the display was intense to say the least.

Thursday Susan and Jan prepared a feast which simply overwhelmed the 4 of us. Butterball turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, green beans... we quickly filled our belly's to the brim, then topped it off with homemade pumpkin pie and whip cream.

Friday Joe, Jan and Susan took Charlotte on a hike in the 64 degree sunny weather. I squeezed in quick mountain bike ride, and managed to meet them back at the cars just as they were finishing. Friday night Susan and I took Charlotte downtown to watch the lighting of Union Station. Charlotte had fun watching the Rockies Mascot, but did not have enough courage to have her picture taken with him/her. Afterword we took a stroll down 16th street mall while Charlotte was delighted by the horse drawn carriages.

I raced both days Saturday and Sunday, taking the win on Saturday bumped me out of the Cat 3's into the 35+ Open field. It was not an easy win as I beat second place by a mere 4 seconds. However, we were a minute ahead of third. Sunday had a small showing of only 10 guys in the 35+Open field, and I managed to pull of 4th place. I had the fitness for third but not the skill. I get getting gapped going through the barriers, and could not make up the ground on the final lap.

All in all I can imagine a much better holiday.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

After weeks of slowly climbing the ranks through the 35+ Cat 3's I finally pulled off a win on Sunday. The course was far and away my favorite course of the season. Lots of elevation change, off camber loose turns, and 90% single track made it a mountain bikers dream course. However, if you were not clear of the pack from the start, it would make for a difficult ride, as passing could be difficult on about 60% of the course.

Castle Cross - SM35+/35+ Cat 3 Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.
I was in the top 5 for the first lap, and as we began the 2nd lap, the 2nd place rider went down creating a gap between us and first place. I was able to close the gap on a technical descent, then make my pass on the ascent before the next section of single track. And that was it! I did not see the rest of my field for the rest of the race, and continued to work my way through the 35+ open field.

Definitely my best race of the year, with only a few minor mistakes, and one dropped chain. 

Santa, Ice Princess, and CX, thats how I rolled this weekend.

What a fantastic weekend! Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I have a beautiful smart fun wife, and a great kid to boot.

Saturday was a warm, but windy CX race down in Parker. The long straights into the wind made working with others not an option. However, I the lead group was never able to make a gap on the field. The course layout was great for me, with three tight twisty sections for recovery followed by straights were you could put down some power.

On the last lap I tried to bridge up to first place, and got within striking distance with half a lap to go. Mr. Frost made a small mistake and I passed him never looking back. I was finally in first place, and just wanted to make no mistakes to get the the final straight to the finish. I did just that, and rode as hard as I could, but was passed in the final meters before the finish to take 2nd.

On Sunday, the wife and I took Charlotte to the mall to see Santa. We arrived a bit early and took Charlotte to the indoor playground where she had a great time! We made our way over to see Santa, to find a very short line, but the gates were still closed. The Ice Princess came and let us in, she let us know that the photographer had not yet arrived, but we could visit with Santa and take our own pictures! Susan and I did not have the foresight to bring a camera, but at least we had our phones.

Schoolyard Cross

Yuck! This was the least fun I have had at a cyclocross race this year. Thick peanut butter type mud made for very slow going, so slow that I am pretty sure there was only one point on the whole course I needed to touch my brakes. And the "dry' straights were so bumpy there was almost no acceleration or recovery.

I had a great start and was in second place when we entered the first set of barriers. These barriers were short and meant to be jumped. I have still not practiced bunny hopping my bike this year, and went ass over kettle on the first barrier, forcing me to fight my way back up to third place. However, I would gradually slow down and get bumped back to 6th place. I was unable to ride on Friday and paid for it race day. I could not get my legs to open up, and could not grab onto any wheels.

Susan arrived home Saturday night, and on Sunday we took Charlotte to Monkey Bizness. Being less than a mile from our house we opted to ride our bikes. Charlotte had a great time! However, the place was jam packed with kids, and she could not play in the larger part of the facility. Just too many bigger kids running around. She was pretty tuckered out, and fell asleep in the trailer on our 5 minute ride home. Apparently this was enough of a nap for her and only slept another 30 minutes for the whole afternoon. Needless to say she went to bed early Saturday night.

CO Cross cup fun

Yes, this is what I call fun! Mud, snow, loose turns and short power sections. This Saturday had it all. I felt great today, and should of finished better than 6th, but I had way too many mistakes that fitness could not make up for.

I finally have enough points to get a front row call up, which I totally blew by missing my pedal and by the time I got clipped in I was starting at the back again. I was able to make good on the first lap and worked my way through the field and on the second lap could see the leaders. However, I cut another riders rear tire with my front while trying to take an inside corner and went down.

Again I would chase back up to 4th place on the final lap, when I got tangled up with 5th place and fell down again. This time it cost me 2 spots and a 6th place finish.

Susan is out of town for a few days so hopefully I can secure a babysitter for a few hours on Saturday to go race. With 10" of snow on the ground today it should make for some extra sloppy fun conditions.

In other news we had a great time with Charlotte this weekend. On Saturday we took her to the botanical gardens for a day of the dead festival. They had lots of arts and crafts, and ceremonial dances in full costume. However, there was not much for Charlotte to do, and she lasted about 45 minutes. On Sunday we took her to the Children's museum for trick or treat street. For Charlotte's very first trick or treat I though she was going to shit her pants! I led her up to a booth will a full costumed person inside handing out treats. I don't think she knew it was a person, and when they said "Hello" she dropped her pale and ran away as fast as she could. Susan and I laughed for about 10 minutes after that. Charlotte eventually got the hang of trick and treating and had a good time.