Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Pennies from Heaven

In two weeks, my little girl, Maya, will be 3 yrs old (4Sep). Hard to believe time went by so fast. It's true of what people say about your kids growing up so fast. I remember the day my wife and I looked at that pregnancy test stick in the bathroom, in our one bedroom 4-plex apartment downtown. We were flat broke, but extremely happy to have a child.


Maya is truely amazing. She..(current date: 26oct05)... can speak Spanish. My wife taught her since the begining. Maya talks to Gretchen in spanish, then when she can't get what she wants, then she talks to me in english for the same thing! It's already started, umhhh. Anyway, she's pretty smart and gets bored easily, gets her in trouble.


Mason will be 1yr old on 18nov. Same as my spiritual b-day. He's definitely much more mellow than Maya. Two different personalities. He's had more fits lately. Maya can make him laugh more than anyone.

more pics to come.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Minden NV Criterium/Road Race


July 30-31, 2005.

Minden is a small town located just outside of Carson City, NV, about 30 miles southeast of south Lake Tahoe. This was only my second crit and my first road race, and a hard one at that. It's the Masters District Criterium/Road Championships. Categorized by age group (i.e. 30-34yrs, 35-39yrs, 40-44yrs, etc.) . I'm 35 yrs old. But all category levels 1-5, and i'm a 5 (beginner). So needless to say, it was fast!




Coach Myron (w/ red helmet) staying strong in the pack





My team was there, LuzViMin, but only 5 of us, out of 12 members. Our wives and kids came as well, which made it more enjoyable. Plus they can see how exciting it is, sometimes boring just sitting around waiting for race time.





Tom (65yrs) had a 3rd place podium finish. Great job.








THE CRIT RACE:
I always get nervous just 5 minutes before start, but relaxed before that. I got to the line and just waited for the start. I didn't get a chance to survey the route, corners, and straightaways, so the first lap was kind of a surprise. not a good idea. The field was about 40-50 riders, with ex-pros and semi-pros, and i'm a cat 5. Can you say "fast"!

The wistle sounded and away we go. There was a 5 man breakaway by the second turn and the field was slow to pick them up. next thing you know, we're going about 30mph on the straight. A few more turns and there was the "chicane", a quick right/left turn. Stressfull feeling of turning at 25mph with 20 riders around you. Up the street then back to the startline. Lap one done.



Then the speed really picked up, avg 25-30mph, by lap 4-5, i was whipped. I hit top speed of 35.2mph. By lap 6, i was trailing in the back, and each turn was harder to bridge the gap, then another rider and I were finally dropped from the main field.





We worked together for another 2 laps, the the referees finally pulled us off the course because the rest were coming up behind us.

I lasted about 15min out of a 1 hr race. time: 16m 32 s, max: 35.2mph, dist: 6.8mi, avg: 24.6mph, 6 laps + 2 laps.

Overall, I felt good keeping up with the big boys.

THE ROAD RACE:
This was a much less stressfull feeling than the crit. I raced the open cat 3/4/5 group instead of my age group, after being blown away from the crit. The course was an 11 mile loop with 850ft of climbing. I had to do 4 laps (6 laps for 35-39yrs).

At the start was a downhill for 4 miles, but then were 2 hills. That's when the field broke and the strong riders were up and gone. The rest of us just went on our own pace. I managed to get a group of 6 to work with for the next 3 laps. Still hills were hard. we got lapped by the first strong group at the hills, and they were cranking! They went up those hills fast. I still have much training to do.



I finished the race! good feeling. time: 2h 21m 48 s, max: 40mph, dist: 46.09mi, avg: 19.5mph, 4 laps.

good weekend.
jl

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

A Day in Lake Tahoe

On July 30, 2005, my family and I were on our way home from a bicycle race in Minden NV, near Carson City, NV (my next blog).


On the way home, we were in South Lake Tahoe and decided to take the north route home back to Sacramento. Beautiful drive along the lake. We stopped at Emerald Bay vista point and a beach in the north area. Awesome way to relax after a stressful weekend of racing.

enjoy.
jl







Maya and Mason. (Mason trying to eat rocks)















Gretchen trying to keep cool w/ the kids














By Emerald Bay