It Could Only Be J-Rad

…that would guilt me into updating after joining the legions of tweeting-blog-quitters.  I mean, what the hay, man?  Pot to kettle, you know the score. 

A good bit of radness has transpired since last I blogged.  Kelly and I had a night alone in Park City.  What can I say, it was great.  We are generally pretty cheap, so to stay in a hotel and eat out (at a restaurant) was nice.  On the other hand, I was in a hotel two days later and only ate at ristorantes for a week, so I’m pretty over it at this point.  It’s a lot different when it’s for work,  you know.  N.E.way, again, we are pretty cheap so it was fish n’ chips for dinner and since it was a touch chilly, we were the only ones on the patio.

From there, we picked up the girls (thanks again, grandma!!) and I tried to make the most of my time with them before boarding the slow boat to Las Vegas.  Las Vegas, for those who are not bi (lingual) is loosely translated as The Vegas.

Anyway, the girls are out of the tub now, so I’ll have to finish this up, ummm, some other time.

Whirlwind

So, Kelly’s folks are in town.  For those that have not been keeping up, they have a house here that they have been saying they are going to move into for 3 or 4 years.  Still hasn’t happened, but it’s not rented at the moment and with Kelly’s dad’s recent retirement, they are able to spend a good bit of time here fixing it up between renters.  Anyway, the point is Kelly’s mom rang yesterday and suggested the girls stay at their place for the night.  Kelly and I decided to go all out and get a hotel in Park City.  It was rad.  We were hoping to do something similar for our anniversary about six weeks ago, but it didn’t work out.  For the record, this was the first time Kelly has spent a night away from the girls.  And we have never taken a vacation that did not involve staying with extended family.  And the only nights we ever stayed in hotels before kids were at races and the wedding night.  Not that I need to justify it to you!!!!!

Anyway, we had a good time, and ate some good food.  Now doing laundry and what-not as I hit out for the bright lights of Vegas(baby) tomorrow.  Yes, a full week in Vegass for Interbike…  I will miss Kelly and the girls, but I am excited.  I don’t remember looking forward to it previously, so I’ll take that as a good sign.  Mostly looking forward to my annual mountain ride at dirt demo and the crit (assuming I can make it!), but it is nice to catch up with some of the old crew who I don’t see so much any more, as well as just getting out of the oficina.

If the whole bike industry thing doesn’t work, I may take up stripping.  It is Vegas, after all.

Anyway, back to packing!

Tasteless?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently some have found this tasteless.  I, on the other hand, think a sense of humor is important in death, so I like to think Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Kanye West and Taylor Swift are all getting a kick out of this.

Trying to keep the blogging form up as it will surely dip during Interbike next week.

EDIT: In case that didn’t disturb you, there’s this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/the-7-most-inappropriate_n_286223.html

Thanks, Parke.

Kid Hard

The Hardwood is doing the industry and pro crits back-to-back at Interbike.  I gave it some thought, but have to schmooze it up at some dinner, and it will be tough to get out in time.  No way can I make the industry one, but I think the pro race is do-able. 

Anyway, the point is that we can all learn a lesson from Big Dave on being tough.

And the lesson is, you should be tough.

Facebookers already saw all this.  What’s become of the blog?

Non-Selection

Inspired by a post over at MissingSaddle, and the lack of posts here, I decided to do a post on non-selection.  While the author of the MS article is dealing with it for the first time(!), it’s a road I’ve been down more times than I can count.  Here’s a few off the top of my head:

TTT at junior nationals 1993.  I made some serious progress this year, considering I had pretty much gotten dropped at every race I had done previously.  I trained with the TTT team all summer, but when the decision was made on who to cut, I got the axe.  The rest of the team was 17-18, and I was 16, but it sucked.  On the plus side, this is the same trip where I figured out I had some ability as I went something like 7th in the RR, 12th in the crit, and 20th in the TT.

  

  

  

  

  

  

Collegiate National Crit Championships 1997.  Less than a month before nationals, I won our conference crit championships.  2 weeks later, I won a local Pro 1-2 crit.  The last spot on the team came down to me and another fella who had not won a race that year.  The coach of the team came in to my hotel room and said,

“I think you are riding better, but so-and-so is a senior and you’ll have your chance”. 

Ummm, okay, glad we based that on merit then.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philadelphia US Pro Championships 2001.  Ooooh, this one stung.  I saw my name on the start list and everything.  Then, got the call a week before the event. 

“It’s not in the budget”.

I would’ve paid my own way if they’d have told me earlier or even given me the choice.  I never understood this call.  Some guys went that hadn’t finished well in a road race all year and I was doing well in all the road races and was 10 years younger than these guys.  Luckily, this was all documented in a movie!!  It was difficult to do some 90 minute local crits when you have been preparing for a 156 mile huge race.  On the plus side, I had my best result of the year at the Pomona Valley Stage Race (now San Dimas), coming 3rd on G.C., while the other guys were on the road.  It was a hard year, and the only one I can remember where I didn’t win anything.  On the other hand, I probably learned more about winning races than any other year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please note that while I didn’t agree with these decisions, I’m not bitter about them.  Rejection is part of the game, and makes you stronger. 

**The first couple pictures are not from the actual event, and may not even be from the right year.  They were the closest I could find on this computer.

Rest in Peace, Doug

My good friend, Doug Roether, passed on today.

Cancer.

An incredibly good guy who will be missed.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So, Jeff and I have been taking the dogs out running in the evenings.  Yeah, just two bros taking their identical dogs out for a run.  Nothing wrong with that, right?

Since I already put it on Facebook and Twitter…

The World Lightest (Production) Wheelset