Race season '10 begins with a bang and some roadrash

I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to blogging (most of my blogging attention recently has been devoted to my other blog) , but with the advent of race season yesterday, i figured i better get on it. We ushered in the 2010 race season with lots of excitement, some serious hunger, and a few bruises and scrapes. First off, Zach came out and did his first race. He did pretty well, hanging in with the group until the last lap when the pace got too fast. But considering he hasn't ridden a day outside since last fall when he almost called his wife to come pick him up after the artist convinced him to ride double the distance he was used to, he did well. And ever the fashionista, he got himself some nice Sidi shoes with flourescent green trim to match his skull candy green kit. Although he may not have won, he did get lots of compliments on his shoes.


In our race i was feeling a little better than i expected considering i'm a bit behind in my training (and a bit heavier) this year. I had put some good efforts in during the first half of the race and had gone mid pack to recover for a little before the end of the race, when a rider beside me went into some gravel on the side of the track, overcorrected, then came right into me. I thought i was going to make it through, just stay "loosey goosey" as T-dub says, and you'll be ok, i told myself, but unfortunately he tensed up and before i knew it he had gone right into my wheels. It's a weird thing to find yourself hitting the ground and then look up to see other people and their bikes flying over the top of you. All in all about 7-8 of us went down. Fortunately my bike didn't get damaged and besides some minimal road rash on my shoulder and ass and tears to my kit, i fared pretty well. There's a saying in bike racing, "it's not if you're going to crash, it's when," and i'll gladly take this as my crash for the year.


T-dub raced well. In the past, crit racing has not been her strength. Ever since she got side swiped last year by a guy in the oval and ended up with a good bit more road rash than i've got, she's been a little gun shy to get in and really hold her position.


She tends to dangle off the back until the yo-yoing has taken it's toll and she gets dropped. But i was happy to see about 15 minutes into the race that she had moved herself up and was doing a great job holding a position in the front of the group. After finding herself at the back again after the first ten minutes she told herself, "no way, i'm not going to do this again," and pushed herself to move up. She's definitely strong enough, it's just a matter of feeling confident enough to move up and keep in position.

On the way home i wanted to get a little more time in, so i talked T into riding a little further south with the artist. We had a little miscommunication about just how much further south we were going to ride, and she became a little upset because she was starving when it got longer than she expected. There's a saying, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," but i actually think a more accurate saying is, "hell hath no fury like a hungry woman." We made it home after tacking on another 50 minutes to our ride, and T was so hungry she didn't even bother to change or take her helmet off before making some food. She went right ahead and cooked up some tasty pasta with zucchini fully dressed in cycling clothes. I thought maybe she had kept her helmet on so she didn't hit her head on the hanging pans, but that's never been an issue before, so i surmise, in actuality, she was just really, really hungry.


The artist raced well, getting a fifth place. Three guys had pulled away and kept a gap and so the artist came in 2nd in the field sprint. Not bad either for a guy who says he hasn't done any intensity training yet this year.

New Year at the Baker with Trigger and the Suburban Cowboy

Since T-dub is in AZ getting faster i decided rather than stay at home eating myself back to Cat 5 racing form i would go with the suburban cowboy and his family down to the Baker to see Trigger and his family where i would eat myself back to Cat 5 racing form. Hanging out with Trigger and the SC i pretty easily ate enough to solidify my holiday weight gain to put my solidly in the clydesdale class for next racing season. Unfortunately they don't actually have a clydesdale class for road racing, and as the artist will happily attest, i'm far too chicken shit to amount to much of a mtb racer, so i'm not quite sure what i'm going to do. But i digress, the real story here is about my time at the Baker looking for a bull that i'm not even sure really exists.
Trigger told the SC and I on Christmas that he had to find a bull that hadn't come down off the mountain and wanted us to come down over new years and help him see if he could find it, and then we could celebrate new years out in the the pristine, clean air of central utah. Knowing that T-dub would be in AZ over new years i agreed to go. I always enjoy playing cowboy too and the Baker is situated right in the middle of God's country, so Trigger didn't have to twist my arm too much. The SC had a "board meeting" he had to attend the day we were supposed to leave, so we spent most of the day waiting for him to finish up, then finally got on the road around 4:00 (ok, the SC might have actually finished around 2:30 and i was trying to finish some time on the bike trainer before we left knowing the feasting that was going to take place, so i delayed us the last hour and a half). We rolled into Emery around 7:00 and Reggie fixed us up with some delicious pork taco salads.



The next morning we got up early to help Trigger with his chores so we could head down to the Baker, and i was greeted by Dally's new litter of pups.


I picked the one that i want and sent a pic to T-dub to see if she approved (under the condition of course, that the puppy stay on the ranch with Trigger and he train her to work cattle).


Then we went and helped Trigger feed the mares.

With the mares fed and the rest of the chores done we loaded up the horses and kids and headed south for the Baker. We only got stuck once briefly in a snow drift, but managed most of the way without much incident. As soon as we got there we saddled up the horses and went out to look for this bull who was supposedly still up on the plateau. Trigger thought he had a good idea of where we was, so we started our search working our way down one of the slot canyons just north of the ranch.



We rode down the canyon till it dropped off a shelf a good 50 feet, then worked our way out of the canyon up to the the top of the plateau where we continued our search for the bull under all the junipers. He wasn't there either. Eventually we stopped and had some lunch then made our way past "lollipop" and "penis" rocks (unfortunately i don't have a pic of either of these since my camera battery died in the cold), and back to the ranch. We never did find that bull, but we got a good ride through some beautiful country. The view from the edge of the plateau out over the desert with Solomon's temple to the left and the Henry Mountains off on the far horizon was incredible. You forget how amazing clean air is when you live in a valley full of smog all winter.


You may have noticed that i mostly have pics of Trigger, and not many pics of the SC. There is a reason for that. Trigger forbade me from taking pics of the SC. You see, the SC was wearing a hat that kind of looked like someone had caught one of those sockmonkey puppets and skinned it then turned it into a beanie. Trigger was adamant that no pic of anyone wearing such a thing riding his prize horse, Boonwhite Dancer, be made public. In fact, you'll notice in the above pic of the SC on Boon, the SC is actually wearing Trigger's hat. But i did manage to sneak this photo of the SC in his glorious ode to suburban fashion.

If there was any doubt about the appropriateness of the suburban cowboy's moniker left after my previous post about our adventures with Trigger, this fashion statement will surely lay those to rest (as did the results of the poll taken after that adventure where you, the majority, overwhelmingly voted to call him the suburban cowboy, which is clearly confirmed by his most recent wardrobe choice). The great irony of this (there is always some irony when the suburban cowboy is involved), is that on our way back to SLC, as soon as we hit Nephi, the suburban cowboy insisted i take my cowboy hat off the dashboard were i had set it so i could put my head back, and wear it until we got to SLC. Even though he had worn a skinned monkey sockpuppet on his head all day the previous day, once we were back to the "suburbs" and in the presence of other humans, he insisted we wear our hats lest others think we were just posers driving that "King Ranch" special edition Ford F-150.

As for the rest of New Years, we had a great time playing cards . . .


and brought in the new year by pounding the Martinelli's apple cider.

The next morning we got up to another great, crisp, clear sunrise. . .


Then we went outside to watch Trigger kill some things before we left.



He says if he doesn't kill the rabbits they'll eat his hay. i think he just likes an excuse to shoot anything he can; that's a pretty small bunny and an awful lot of hay.

Happy New Year!!! We missed Willy, aka "Jim Craig" who unfortunately had to pass New Years shopping with the girls in Vegas.

and the winner is. . .

. . . not these two! (In fact i don't really even have an explanation for this).


I know many of my faithful blog readers (both of you) have been waiting with great anticipation to hear who won the Fall Harvest Smackdown. So, at long last, i am here to announce the winners. And they are:

The bradleys!!

Yes, although there was some stiff competition from Cait "dirty mouth" C-hill and Team Mo-fizzle, the bradley family swept all five categories: best appetizer, best salad, best main course, best beverage, and best dessert (or something like that). It was reported that Team Mo-fizzle was heard uttering threats and waving middle fingers upon their departure, but other reports have suggested they have already begun preparations for the floggers upcoming "Cookie Party." Determined not to walk away without a victory again they have secretly been developing and testing new recipes. In fact they have been so secret about this endeavor they even disinvited their own flesh and blood from the Swenson/Wiles/Romoero annual holiday cookie cooking day, an event she was really looking forward to.

The main course spread.

The appetizer spread.

The dessert spread.

Team Fashionistas "nipple cheese cake."

The "scurvy pirate" preparing her dessert.

Ms. Brenda sampling the goods.

Two of the toughest critics giving the cheese spread and salsa a go.

The capitalist and the small rabbit, whose mashed potatoes overwhelmingly won "best appetizer," which speaks to how good they were since the presentation was, well mashed potatoes in a bowl.

Team Mo-rizzle (i mean mo-fizzle) awaiting the results.

Hudson thought it was a Halloween Party!

The Artist's no. 2 double fisting the drinks!

Team Fashionista casting their ballots!

The Suburban Cowboy delirious with excitement (or he just ate too much).

No. Four trying to steal one of my butternut squashes.