It's been a while...

Wow it's been a while since I posted here. Things are good....really good. I cleared my colonoscopy and do not have the FAP that my brother has. No FAP means no polyps which means no cancer. I was pretty freaked there for a while and really am viewing things differently. It's good to be home, good to have a loving wife at my side and great to have a family around me. It's awesome.

My summer plans were to spend as much time with the girls as I could and so far I've achieved that. With the economics the way they are we're not doing as many trips as I had hoped but we're still having fun so that's what counts.

I'm still riding, still running, and still working out. Things are in a good balance right now which is really nice.

I just ran into a really cool female rider that I wanted to mention. Her names Liz Hatch and she seems like a really cool person from her blog, and the articles I've read. It's neat to see someone my girls can look up. She's pretty, rides hard, she doesn't mind getting dirty and doesn't let up. The exact kind of women I want my girls to be when they get older. I doubt she'll ever read this but thanks, thanks for giving them a role model. Check her out at www.lizhatch.missingsaddle.com

Happy May Day....

Well it's May and we're almost half way through 2008, before you know it Christmas is going to be here. It's a beautiful day today that's for sure and I got out on the Heckler and spun around Santa Rosa Plateau today. Nice breeze and actually a tad bit cold for the first half hour. I got in about 90 minutes of riding and cross pathes with a few other bikers. It must've been Horse day out there because there were more horse riders than I've ever seen. Everyone was nice and I walked the bike around them a few times and all in all everyone was quite nice. It was an easy exercise day and quite relaxing really. I was supposed to take the day off completly but I just woke up and had to ride!

So I mentioned my Brother in my last blog and I'm happy to say he is out of the hospital and staying in a nice place provided by his employer for another week. It looks like he'll be home sometime next week! That is very cool news. Unfourtantly there is a downsize, it's my turn! Yep I get to go in and get a colonoscopy and there is a 70% chance that I may have the same problem that he has. I got my consult yeterday and while the doctor was optimistic that I'd be fine...no one really knows until they go in and check. I'm a little freaked by it but I'm surviving. I have 5 weeks until the procedure and while I know the procedure isn't that big of deal there are a combo of things that have me edgy. That means I have five weeks to enjoy the outdoors, continue to work on my conditioning (if they go in and have to remove my colon I believe my conditioning may be the thing that gets me back on my feet faster!) and enjoy the family. To be honest the job has taken a distant third for right now. I'm working and doing what I need to but my mind is not really in it right now. I'm sure once I know things are good and I'm clear I'll be able to get back into it!

Well its nearly another week down. I hope everyone has a great weekend and if you have tendency to pray, a shout out to the Man up stairs would be appriciated! Thanks and keep the rubber side down!

It's Just One of Those Days...

Actually its not been a bad day or anything like that just feelin' a bit tired this morning and lacking the energy to actually do what needs to be done around here. I did get a ride in for the first time in like 4 weeks or so and that felt a bit refreshing. I continue to lose weight and I'm down to 200 now and I've dropped about an inch and a half off the waist line! It takes a lot of work though; My average week looks something like this.
Monday: Chest/Back and 40 minutes on Exercise Bike (followed by 8 hours at work)
Tuesday: Ride/Run/Climbing at Threshold Gym
Wednesday: Shoulders/Arms/Abs 40 minutes on bike
Thursday: 8 hours at work followed by run/ride
Friday: 8 hours at work then Legs/Abs 30 minutes on bike
Weekends I work but usually take the days off from exercise.

It's pretty crazy and for a week or two I was waay over trained but I backed off a bit and have brought it back up slowly and watching my nutrition a bit better seems to have leveled things out a bit.

I'd like to take a minute to send a shout out to my brother who is up in Washington right now under the knife having his colon removed. I know he's in for some rough weeks and months ahead but I want you to know bro that things will work out and you'll be right as rain before you know it!

That's it for me. Sorry about the lack of pics and flash but things have been fairly low key in my world. Just hanging out, training (not sure for what yet) and hanging with the family.

Take it easy world and as always keep the rubber side down!

First Daddy/Daughter Day Hike...

So I came up with the brilliant idea of taking my 7 year old twin girls for a quick jaunt in the Santa Rosa Plateau. I had figured with all of the rain we had earlier this year that the Vernal Pools would be full. So I packed up a couple of snacks, a couple of water bottles and the camera before picing them up after school and off we went. It was a beautiful day with a few scattered clouds and some light sun. The temp was in the low 70's and the girls had a blast. They wanted to jog a bunch and were probably a bit loud but all in all it was fun. We did just under 2 miles and the girls are already asking for a longer hike. This is all in prep for our first daddy/daughter overnighter in June! Here are some pics of the girls at the trail head and some of the scenery we got to see.

A Happy April to all....

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd drop a quick post to wish everyone a happy April. Spring is here, Baseball is underway and the weather has been great. What more can one ask for!? My girls turn 7 today and I'm really blown away that 7 years have already flown by. It's amazing, truly amazing.

In DirtNerd news I've been getting out and doing a bit of trail running which has been a nice change of pace from the bike. (104 rides in a year is going to be harder to achieve than I thought!!) I took a whole week off of the bike to just get a break and change gears a bit. I ran three days last week for about an hour at a time which at my very slow 11 minute mile means about 5 miles or so. The gym work continues and I've dropped a couple of pounds and feel like my waist is a bit smaller. My Measure day is coming up soon so we'll see how things work out. With all of this running, working out, climbing and riding I think I may be a bit over trained so I may need to back off a bit. I'm doing 4 to 5 days a week right now and I've been a bit tired and a little moody (may just be issues at work but who knows) so I'm going to shoot for more like 3 to 4 days instead to give myself one more day of recovery. We'll see.

That's about it for me lately, just working (ick), exercising and playing with the kids can't get much better than that! Take care all and keep the rubber side down.

Just a quick Happy.....

Just a quick happy whatever it is you're doing today. I was just involved in a quick discussion where not everyone celebrates Easter and it got me to thinking a bit so I decided to post a quick Happy Easter/Ostara/Spring/Sunday/23rd day of the 3rd month of the year 2008! I hope that you are where you wanna be doing the thang you wanna be doing and having a blast with whomever you've decided to share the moment with. Take care one and all and remember to keep the rubber side down!

A New Rides first real ride...

So I took the Bottlerocket out for its first real pounding. I met up with the crew from STR at the Fontana 4x course and started rocking. The bike felt great and so did I. Thanks to Willy for adjusting the rear mech, I spent like an hour trying to dial it in and he did it in nearly 2 minutes! Man I've gotta start working on the whole mechanic thang. As always it takes a few runs to get the confidence up but towards the end I was starting to really feel flowey and in tune with the bike. I really think this may be the bike I race on in next years 4x. I know its heavy at like 40lbs but it didn't feel that heavy when I was riding it. It felt just as flickable as the hardtail and fit under me really well. You can totally compare these pics with the first few pics back in decemberish and see how much more confidence I have just in the lean on the berms if nothing else. Well that's it for now folks, as always keep the rubber side down!

I love the pictures and all the photog credits go to Sharky of STR. The guy with the real good lean on the Bottlrocket in green accents is Todd aka Destroyer and his ride was the inspiration for mine. Great rider and an even greater guy. Thanks Todd.