Bad things Happen in threes???

Well if the saying holds true I will be in a cast this time next week. After Kelly's broken wrist, Bernie must have been feeling ignored, and decided he wanted a cast for himself. This weekend Bernie was limping and bleeding on his left paw. We stopped the bleeding and he seemed to be walking better. Yesterday afternoon he was really limping and when I attempted to look at his paw he snapped at me. This in not normal for the loving Bernie so we knew something was wrong. It turns out that Bernie tore a nail very high on his paw and it led to an infection. He is now on doggie painkillers and antibiotics, along with the wrap he has to wear on his leg. Just like Kelly he can't get it wet, but is able to hop around on it.

Kelly Go Boom!!

Saturday was not a good day for Kelly. We had just finished handing a new light fixture in our bedroom (this was a first for me, and went really smoothly). As we were trying to figure out where to point the lights, Kelly stood up on a chair to make an adjustment, and the chair went out from under her. The next thing I remember was Kelly on the ground and her wrist pointing in two different directions. Needless to say it was broken. After a visit to the emergency room, Kelly was placed in a temporary cast. We were thinking surgery, but after a trip to a orthopedic specialist, a large needle with novicane, and some painful adjustments, and a cast up to her entire arm, surgery will hopefully be avoided. She has to go back next week for more X rays to determine if the bones are setting correctly before they can make a final decision about surgery.

Nice Job!!

My good friend Mike just finished his first Ironman distance triathlon at Ironman UK. He put in a very respectable time. I can't wait to hear a full report, but he must have gotten a 2nd or 3rd wind for the 2nd half of the marathon. check it out.

http://ironman.com//events/ironman/uk?show=tracker&y=2007&race=/events/ironman/uk&bib=374

Nice job, Mike!!

Knocking the Cobwebs Out

Today was my first cyclocross specific workout of the year. I headed over to my local practice course to work on my cross skills. It seems each year I start out the season a little more comfortable than last. I felt really good on mounts/dismounts and much more comfortable on high speed corners. The first race of the Chicago Cross Cup Series is on September 23rd, so time is a ticking. Oh yeah, I am the head promoter, and already have some ideas running through my head for an awesome course at Jackson Park. I have one section that we will be calling the Spiral of Pain if we can get it to work out. I also been told that the Park District is installing a curb along the access drive that we normally cross twice, so I need to get out to Jackson Park and check it out. Hopefully it won't affect things too much. I probably shouldn't worry, since it is cross, and it might just be one more obstacle to deal with during the race.

Rock N Roll Lifestyle-Day 1

This weekend was the annual Lollapalooza weekend for Kelly and I. This is our 3rd year attending the event in Chicago. The weekend started early for Kelly as she headed down to the festival at 11:00 on Friday. She wanted to check out The Fratellis who were playing an early set. Kelly gave them mixed reviews, but she did mention they were having technical difficulties. I got down later in the afternoon in time to hear The Rapture. This is our 4th time seeing them, and they always put on an awesome show. This year our friends Mike and Becky joined us for the festivities, and got to experience the freak show that is Lollapalooza. Mike mentioned that he was amazed there was this many hippies still left in the world. They made it down in time to hear Satelite Party, which is the new band of Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrel. The guy really is nuts, and it is amazing someone his age still has so much energy. Satellite Party was better than expected and played some Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros. The highlight of the weekend was the last two acts of the evening. It started off with LCD Soundsystem, and was followed up by Daft Punk. LCD as usual put on an amazing show. Mike wasn't that familiar with LCD before the show, but was an instant fan afterwards.

The night ended with Daft Punk. I wasn't sure what to expect from them, but a massive pyramid with two robots inside sealed the deal for me. Here is a link to the Daft Punk Set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIDSP_8TUzE

24 Hours of 9 mile = sore

This weekend I was in Wausau, WI for the 24 Hour National Mountain Bike Championships. I was supposed to be competing on a four man team, but a last minute injury required us to race as a 3 man squad. This meant a couple additional hours of riding for me, and the rest of the team. Unlike last year the weather was perfect, and we were ready to roll. Adam Clark got the festivities going with a blazing first lap, and had us in a good placing to start the day. I was next to go, and my first lap would be my first lap on the course. A good portions was the same as last year, but with a couple of additional singletrack sections that made for some sweet riding, I was a little hesitant in some of the tech sections. A couple of the sections were really bumpy, and as the day wore on took a toll on everyones back and wrists. I took one fall on the first lap on a blind corner, banged my hip pretty hard, but was back up and riding fairly quickly. Right after falling, I was passed by this guy. He was flying and went on the a really impressive finish. After my lap I handed off to Adrian Redd and we were on our way to our first time through the rotation. Next time through we decided to double up and go out for two laps each of the 14 mile loop. This was seriously tough, but I think it worked for the best, as it gave us some extra rest inbetween race efforts. By my night laps I was definitely fresher than last year, probably due to the additional rest. Kelly was asking me, "what you do between laps?". I told her that you pretty much sit around, eat, stay hydrated, and relax. With the team format it is really hard to sleep, as the time between laps doesn't allow for much more than keeping the tank full. The night laps ended up being a ton of fun. Night riding is all about focusing on the perfect line, and the rocks that scared you during the day, disappear into the darkness. It is really an amazing experience. My last lap ended up finishing at 5:30 in the morning. At this point our team was worn out. Missing the fourth rider finally hit us. We took a couple hours off, and Adam went out for a final lap. Our placing wasn't great this year, but we rode hard, and along with the two other XXX Racing-AthletiCo teams, we represented the best that we could, and had fun doing it.

Day 6

Today was the day we got in over our heads in the back country. The day started off nice enough with a Blueberry waffle, and some coffee. Our plan was to take the gondola to the mid mountain and start our hike. From the mid mountain we were to hike to 12,700' to the Wassatch Connection trail that went off the backside of the ski resort down to a valey, eventually leading back into town. On the way up we ran into 3 guys coming back down the trail. We mentioned we were heading to the Wassatch Connection, and they voiced concern about their being snow on some of the sections. We told them we thought we would be okay, and continued on. As we jumped onto the trail we ran into a few small snow crossings, that had pretty good footholes and weren't too scary.

As we continued on we ran into a snow crossing that was fairly steep with no footholes. We looked at the crossing, thought we could make, and started the crossing. I got about 3 steps and realized I had minimal traction, and sat down to figure out a plan. By this time Kelly had made here way out on the snow. I told her to try and head back off the snow. About this time I lost my footing, started sliding on my back, flipped over on my stomach, heading towards a large area of rocks. Right before I hit the rocks, I flipped over on my back again slid another 20 feet, and eventually slid off the snow onto some super loose rocks. After checking to make sure all my parts were still attached to my body, I looked at Kelly and told her not to move. At this point she was going nowhere, as she had her nails dug into the snow. After trying to figure out a plan, Kelly finally lost her grip and slid about 15-20 feet. Luckily she was in much more control, and didn't slide as far as myself. The slide also put her in a position to make it to the edge of the snow and onto the rock. At this point she had to make here way down another 20-25 feet on the really loose rock to an area where the snow was narrow, and she could make it to the side of the trail where I was. A half hour later she was able to cross to my side and our near death experience was almost over. We stil had to make it back to the trail, and the hike was barely starting, but we were off the snow. Looking back at the snow crossing, if I had slid another 10 feet, the snow passage opened into a 100 yard wide snow field. I would have slid 300 yards, instead of the 25 yards that I did. We were both really beat up after the event, with a ton of cuts and scratches.

That night, Kelly and I didn't sleep at all. The both of us kept playing the situation over and over in our heads, and how we could have been smarter, along with how it could have been much worse.