Rattle the bells!!!

It's that time again....

2008-09-23T14:15:00.003-04:00

But it feels strange.... it's too hot!

Well, maybe it feels strange b/c there's 4 of us now. It could be b/c Pete took the big leap and upgraded to the later Elite races, or because in addition to lunches, naps, hydration, diaper changes, and warm ups we're now selling Embrocation out of the back of our car?!

Either way cross is here and we're emabrking on our first big family trip up to VT this weekend. I'm hoping the kiddos sleep, Pete has great races, and nobody calls DSS.....

Wish us luck!

Spandei

2008-02-22T14:23:00.003-05:00

Soooooo, although we're in between race seasons I still find myself saying "excuse the spandex" far too often.

See Pete's become the super commuter since changing jobs, so when friends come over and need to use the loo I have to say "sure just excuse the spandex!"

So here's the question.. should I be saying spandex or is the plural for spandex spandei?

I dare you to trust me

2008-01-17T12:08:00.000-05:00

That's all. "I dare you to trust me" not many people have to say that (or hear it!!). Poor tortured Pete...

Names

2008-01-06T14:36:00.001-05:00

I think a lot about names. Cool names, bad ass names, boring names (pete smith), pretty names, etc. Jan often asks me "you though of any new names yet", for the expected baby that is. So I spend a fair amount of time thinking about names, the meaning of names and trying to analyze whose name means what to me. My mind often wanders to cycling though... Who has the best name in cycling? Boonen is pretty cool. They've given him a cool nick name, "boom boom boonen". Sven Nys is quintessentially Belgian (congrats to him on his 5th national championship) which in itself rules! Matt Roy. Two first names... Then there's the super-hero of cyclocross, Jeremy Powers. Oh, and the apropos Johnny Bold. The best nick name is probably "stanimal". "friggin' diarrhea" (Dario Frigo), Mario Cipollini's name is great due to his flamboyant personality. Michael Boogerd aka "boogie"... ewe! Bobby "Youlick" Julich. "Popthebitch" you know Yaroslav? Marco Velo, translates to "Mark Bike"! Riccardo Ricco (suave). And who can forget Dick Ring? 'nough said.

But I must say, my favorite cycling name is Lars Boom... No nickname needed. He's a bad ass cross racer, has history with mullets, and just won the Netherlands Nationals...

It's been a white winter thus far...

2008-01-03T09:27:00.001-05:00

Hope it warms up for future commutes to work... Cold weather and snow have been the story thus far this winter. Im loving my daily commute to Newburyport, but today the temp was 3 with 25 MPH winds. I wimped out and opted for the unenvironmental, but warm commute in the Focus. Booo!

Yes, that is an icicle hanging from my eye brow.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

2008-01-02T20:43:00.000-05:00

YES SIR!!!

2008?!

2007-12-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

So here we are, that infamous week between Christmas and New Years. A time of "what next" for most. Christmas is over, the traveling to holiday parties, shopping, wrapping, baking. cooking, cleaning, planning..... everything that filled the void that Cross left in mid December.

New Year's Eve is no longer a big fete for us with Beans and one on the way, but it will be great to have another day off of work and to continue to recover from 4 days of Christmas!! It's amazing to look back at everything that happened over the last year. It went by so quickly but so much happened. Last cross season Ella was a tiny little peanut, content to lay in her stroller, the sling, then the baby bjorn when she was finally big enough! Pete raced on very few hours of sleep, and we lucked out with great weather(well for spectating anyway :)!). November came and went, and so did my job. My company sold and we decided I would try the stay at home mom gig for as long as we could survive. I was relieved b/c I could not imagine handing off our little Ella to a stranger so I could go to a crappy job and wait for the day to end. Pete was relieved too, I think.

The spring/summer brought a new season, and a now mobile/solid food eating Ella with a new set of planning involved in our weekends of racing. She was still happy to sleep in the stroller most of the time, but the car time was getting to her! Summer brought our first road trip, Mountain Bike Nationals in VT. Ella did great, slept in her pack and play, enjoyed the breweries that we checked out, even went for a swim in the pool in one of the few hours that it didn't rain!

By the time cross season came this fall she was an all out walking/running/falling machine who laughed at the prospect of being wrangled into the stroller so I could see more than one section of the course! MUCH different than her first cross season, but we adjusted. There were even some races that she took a nap during the race so I could actually see what was going on. Another season and another road trip! Ella was now 1, and we headed down to Delaware for a weekend.

By this time we knew that another baby was on the way and any trips for the 2008 season would have Pete flying solo! The amount of pictures/video I got to take was about 1/2 of what I usually took, but towards the end of the season Ella even started to ring her bell and clap right after the racers went by. Right before the last cross race (the day Pete returned from his trip out to Oregon).

I went back to work part time, the good old funds need replenishing before baby #2!! I'm glad that I got another race season in before having to worry about prepping for daycare/work on Mondays after long days of travelling and packing/unpacking!

So I guess this brings us to 2008. Who knows what it will bring, but I'm sure it will be a year filled with fun, excitement, lots of planning, lots of packing, and lots of chasing (hopefully just for me, not Pete!). Word on the street is that Pete is going to lay low during the road season while we adjust to our family of 4 (yikes) and try his legs out at the track. Hopefully we'll adjust quickly, maybe it's unrealistic ....but that's the plan. Cross season '08 will see me with a 2 year old and a 6 month old. So it should be pretty amusing watching me chase Ella around with a baby in tow. It will be here before we know it!

Happy New Year!

Hitler's farts lead to insanity...

2007-11-02T13:32:00.000-04:00

So, this has nothing to do with cross or even cycling, but...

I was thumbing through the Boston Herald (yes, the paper version) yesterday and discovered quite a strange headline. Sandwiched between a butchery advertisement and a health club coupon was an article detailing the phosphorous expulsion of one Adolf Hitler. The snippet outlined how Hitler had turned to veganism in an attempt to reduce his own noxious gasses. He was so embarrassed by the scent of his ass gas that he swore off meat and made a transition to an all vegan diet in order to lessen the extent of his offensive odoriferous output. Much to his chagrin the voluptuous veggie volume vaulted his vile ventilation to new heights (duh, veggies make you fart, idiot!). Hitler then hired a "doctor" to help him with his problems. Like any good doctor massive amounts of medication was prescribed, some of which contained arsenic rendering Hitler's thought process vegetable-like. Medical experts think that these medications may have lead to Hitler's mental instability and eventual insanity, thus Hitler's farts resulted in his ultimate insanity. What a douche!

Really?

2007-11-01T12:12:00.000-04:00

Do you actually like watching?

You should see the looks on their faces when they ask, it's priceless! When we were in Granogue a woman playing with Ella looked at me and said "as far as spectator sports go this would be at the end of my list!". She was there to see her son-in-law for her annual race, and was obviously less than pleased.

No, I've been going to 2 races a weekend for the last 4-5 years of my life because my husband wants me to. Fortunately my mouth is much friendlier than my brain. I told her that we even drove 7 hours from Boston to watch this race! (with a big smile of course) That really put a contorted mug on her face.

But even my friends/acquaintances often ask me that, and I wonder how well they know me. I don't do things b/c I should, or am expected to. I love watching cross races and cheering on those brave (and fit) enough to get out there each and every weekend. Maybe it's because I received a ridiculous amount of support throughout my athletic endeavors. I really do mean ridiculous too. Whether it was my mom and dad on the sidelines of every soccer and basketball game I ever played, trekking to Canada, CT, NY and finding people to stay with my 4 sisters while we were gone... or my entire family coming out to Worcester on a week night (sisters and all) and cheering like mad people at one of our night games.... all the way up to my father clipping articles from the local paper to send to the basketball coach at Clark even though I was being recruited for soccer, because we met her while on campus and he thought she should know of my achievements. (So embarrassing!)

So do I like watching my husband and his friends compete and be so passionate about something that most people don't "get". I love it. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I get so proud of him! I'm thankful that he has something to be passionate about (other than beer, chocolate, and Ella). I often wonder what people do on the weekends without having a race to get to. Seems like we would find something else to do, but seriously would I rather do housework all weekend or go to a cross race? Seems like an easy question to me!

-Janet

Imacu-national Conception

2007-10-31T10:07:00.000-04:00

Jan thinks this is TMI*. It's a fun story, and such an amazing feeling to father a child. I just wanted to share / brag once again. Don't fret the blog is rated PG at worst.

The national championships always come with a feeling of excitement, great anticipation and a sense of adventure.

During the weekend of competing in my 1st Cyclocross National Championship Jan and I were lucky enough to have conceived our wonderful little Ella bean. It was only several months later, after some careful calculation and reflection that we realized this. And does Ella loves bikes! The whiz of the freewheel and rattling of cowbells, buzzing about in those early days of embryotic development is deeply ingrained into Ella's pleasure center. As evidence, one of Ella's favorite activities is cruising around the parking lot while grasping my handlebars and sitting on the top tube. She literally cheers for cyclists riding by the house, and yells "Bi, Bi" (she doesn't quite have the "k" sound yet) when I lug one of the bikes out of the basement.

Well, it seems as though we've done it again. This year's Mountain Bike Nationals were held at nearby Mt. Snow, VT. I made it my early season goal to upgrade to the expert class, qualify and compete in my 1st mtb national championship event. I was successful in all accounts and despite the rainy week leading up to the race, had a very fun and memorable week up north. Once again, after some calculation and reminiscing Jan and I figured that we once again conceived the week of nationals... Yup. Jan is prego once again! She's due in mid April and we are very excited to give Ella a little brother or sister to play and bike with. We can only hope the next baby shares our enthusiasm for adventure, travel and cycling!

Who knows, maybe I'll hit track nationals next year...

*too much information

-Pete