Ice + Tree = OUCH, What a day......

Man it was cold yesterday morning, as in it was 9 degrees when we hopped on our bikes and headed into Minor park. Once we got rolling and warmed up it really wasn't too bad. I was having a good time but reminding myself to be careful on the icy parts. Should of known better to start thinking that because as soon as I let my focus slip I hit a patch of ice and slid just enough to hook a tree with my pedal. Now that tree wasn't very big but it sure stopped me on a dime, and over the bars I went. No that big of a deal, or so I thought. Got back on my bike and started riding but couldn't get clipped in, seems half of my pedal broke off! That's a new one on me but trees will do that. Then we get back to the car and I get that wet feeling on my knee, that usually means blood but there's no mark on the outside of my tights. Hmmmmm, seems the brake lever must of hit my knee because there is a nice slice mark in my knee cap. By time I got to the shop it was a bloody mess. Today I'll just gimp around and see what tomorrow brings.

Curly in action at his schools open house. They did a few songs from their upcoming music program.

Yesterday Curly got sent to the principals office for the first time. Actually I'm kind of surprised it took him this long. It's not that he's a bad kid, far from it. It's just that he is so full of what if's that you have to wonder what 's going to happen when he tries one out at school. So yesterday was the day, he and his buddy decided to see what happens when you clog up the toilets in the boys room. He didn't manage to flood the building but he did get caught. Probably not the best idea to be talking between stalls about what you are doing if you don't want to get caught. Anyway....he gets hauled to the principals office and proceeds to tell her, in detail, how he attempted to clog the toilet. He also told her about how he tried to do it in First grade and it didn't work then either. His principal was all most amused by his honesty but a little concerned by the fact that he didn't see what was wrong with his little experiment. I should of reminded her that this is the kid that mooned her at a school concert before he even started school. Oh well, today he's spending the day in the principals office and with the custodial staff. I guess he will be slipping on the rubber gloves and help cleaning the bathrooms. Should be an interesting conversation when I pick him up from school this afternoon.

Maybe I'll give the trainer a try and see if I can get the knee to bend............probably feel better than walking.

Weekend Olympics

Watched the best Cross Country Ski race yesterday that I've ever seen. The Men's 30K pursuit was awesome, a long race that starts off on classic skis and then switched to skate skis for the last half. While I was watching the race it really reminded me of a bicycle race, attacks, breakaways, blocking, just about everything. In the end there was a solo break and Pinky and I were cheering for the Swede to make it but he got caught just before the finish. But it worked out for the swedes, one of the teammates that was blocking came through with the win while the guy that got caught hung on for the bronze!

Got out for a good ride Saturday, started out on the Starbucks ride and then took off and did my intervals. Rolled back through town with huge snowflakes falling and got home just in time. Today was just a long day on the trainer, good thing I taped some Supercross, Drag Racing, and Nascar.

More snow and cold in the future, hope there's more Cross Country coverage on tv.........

Happiness is a clean(and quiet) bike

Finally cleaned my bike up from the last few rides in the woods. Seems like the only time I ride it is when it's stupid cold and at those temps it's tough to wash it outside. But, I had to do it. The last two times I went to Minor Park my brakes were squealing so loud that the dogs outside the park started barking. Geez, even I couldn't stand it and started using the front brake........until it started squealing too. But now it's all good, clean and quiet. Now I have to wait for it to freeze again to get out and ride.

The ongoing battle with Mathgeek over the Speculoos continues! I tried to hide it at her request but she told me my skills at hiding suck. Definitely some spoon marks in there. I've got to admit the stuff is addicting. I did find out that you can get it from a place in San Francisco but it's a bit pricey at $17.00 for 2 jars. I still think it's worth it!

I've been watching the Olympics the lately and last night's coverage was pretty awesome. Lot's of thrills, spills, and skills! I also have been watching the Cross Country skiing during the day. Makes me really miss my days in Cleveland where we had groomed trails and 20+ days on the ski's. Tonight the fight is on......mathgeek wants to watch skating while I'll be looking for something with a little more speed.

It's the little things.....

When we were on Portland for the USGP and Nationals Lil' boy brought some goodies back from Belgium with him to share with the crew. I absolutely loved the Speculoos spread and the chocolate covered wafers and mentioned to Lil'boy that it would be cool if he could bring some back for me. Since he came back from Worlds he's been buried in homework and tests but he found some time to stop by the shop with with a goodie bag from Belgium for me.

Check it out! Not only did he get me some awesome food he also got me some hats from the new World Champions fan club. Now Mathgeek is totally hooked on Speculoos but that's another story.
















I really wish the would import Speculoos into the US, this stuff is awesome!
















The new bike is pretty close to being done. With the weather like it is I'm in no rush.

















Got out for a nice group ride today. Started with 10 which is the biggest group so far this year. Nice to get back on the bike after being off for the last week. Hard to say what tomorrow will bring, snow, rain, maybe..... cold for sure. Might be time to head for the woods.

Bangles

I'm really at a loss for words on this one. I've been sitting here for a while and I'm just not sure where to start......... Bangles came to us shortly after our first dog passed away. My brother said they had a Lab that they needed to find a home. Seems my niece had allergies to the dog and we should of seen that as suspicious. But we were happy to get a new dog so we brought her into our home. We soon found out that she had a bit of Marley in her and lets say, she was a bit challenged mentally. No matter what we loved her and even more so when we had kids. They would torture her and she wouldn't even whimper, even after they stuck their fingers up her nose when they were tiny. She was with us through most of our 10 years in Cleveland and made the move to Kansas with the family. Through the years the kids grew up and Bangles grew older. Even in her later years, when her movements got slower she was all ways up for chasing the ball and playing with the kids. But now she is gone, and we will all miss her terribly.

Rest in peace my friend, rest in peace................

Snow and it's Derby time!

Woke up to light snow this morning with a forecast of a inch or two. Naturally the weatherman was wrong and we ended up with 6-8 inches instead. Now I've been scrambling to get the Pinewood derby cars ready for tonight's race only to find out that it was announced at the end of school that the races were cancelled. What!!!!!! The snow has ended and the roads are ok! Turns out that they decided to hold the races anyway so off to the races we went.

Pre-race, wondering how our cars are going to work. Stuck the wheels on just before we left the house.

There are races for each of the Cub Scout packs but there is also the Open class, the run whatever you dream up, no limits..... here you have the rock car and the guitar car. Both weigh about 2 pounds.....hmmmmmm rock and steel. The weight limit for a regular derby car is 5oz.

Turns out the rock was actually too heavy and it was slow. The guitar was actually pretty fast.

This one wasn't fast but I don't think that was the plan.

Here we have three scoops of steel balls in a steel bowl. It was close to 3 pounds and pretty fast.

Ummmm yea.... really not sure about this one. Definitely a kid designed car.

Curly's car in action, I swear, the less work you do on a car the faster it goes.

Pretty cool track, even has computerized results.

Good night for the Price boys, fast cars and good times!

Happy boys!

Now if it would just stop snowing..............

It's Pinewood Derby time!

Yes, it's that time of the year again, just before NASCAR gets started the Cub Scouts roll out their own cars and race. This year the boys designed some pretty simple cars so naturally I decided to wait until the last moment to help them cut them out. Curly went for the two tone paint job and a arrow shape.

Pinky's design looked more like an airplane wing. It was going to have a Elvis theme but artwork got messed up and he decided to do something else. I'd take a picture but it's still in the paint shop.

Practice runs were Monday night and naturally we went all Nascar and ran our cars in primer. No need to give away our speed secrets early! Yea right......like I said, we are running a bit behind. The race is tomorrow night and the paint is still drying but don't worry, we'll make it.

This one is for KB in Lincoln. I told him all of our snow was gone but I was wrong. Still a bit south of town in the ditches. Still it's way less than they have up there. Looks like tomorrow is going to be a messy one with a bit of snow. Wonder if I'll be able to get the MTB out in the fresh snow.........