Not Fooling

Just another rainy crappy Monday. The rain has got me down, work has got me down. I can deal with the rain but work is getting to me. The thing about work is that they are starting a new dress code. To me that means that I have to start wearing Dockers and polo shirts with Health dept logo while I test gas pumps and scales in factories. I don't mind but I'm going to ruin pants left and right. Looks like I may have to hit the 2nd hand store to keep up with keeping pants in work shape. This all changed because a few of the personal that work in the office all day didn't think that wearing shirts that are mid drift cut, sleeveless, show cleavage ( I didn't mind this one ) pants that are to tight or show there butt cracks was OK in the office. The top boss didn't like any of this so he is making all personal in the Health dept now wear only pleated pants and polo shirts, or button shirts with a tie. My boss said that they were thinking of the staff that stays in and not us that go in the field and that we are lumped in and that they aren't making any exceptions to the new dress code for now. I bought some new pants today and now I'm just waiting for my new shirts from the city. This just blows as I liked my Carharts as they wore forever and cleaned up great after getting trashed every day at work. I guess if I like getting paid and I do, I wear the pants and shirts that they want. Oh well I will be the best dressed gas meter tester in the state. Have a great Monday. Later..

Time to move it outside

The last gate on the indoor bmx season was dropped today. Nate took a 3rd in age to a World Champion and a Nationally ranked racer today. He is right on there wheels but just needs that last part of the puzzle. That is just racing bmx and nothing else and the traveling to every race around the country. Or just relying on his speed and skills and beating them every now and then. He is going to hope for the beating them every now and then and racing his big boy bikes. He also took a 4th in the cruiser racing against 19-33 year old racers. He is funny as he makes the main and pushes these old guys and sometimes pushes them out of his way.

I made the main out of a full rack again and took a 5th by just a tire width. After the race we helped move the bleachers and tore up the gate. On Wed I'm taking half a day and helping tear the rest apart. Theo came today and just maybe we have another bmx racer. He is going to try it this summer and see how it is. I may lend him my cruiser and 20 if needed to get him rolling. This summer Nate and I are going to race the bmx more as the price of gas makes it the wise choice over driving to the track every Tuesday. Time to eat. Later..

Moto video

Here is a video of one of the guys at the Moto Cross show that Nate, Theo and I went to. It was a cool show and the seats were right in the middle in the 3rd row. Enjoy the show. Later..

Riding the day away

Today Nate, Theo and I headed to Kenosha to ride with the kids. We were joined by Mitch, Gage, Jeremey, Jerry, Lori, Bdog,, Lenny, Danny, Dan, Jeff, Bob. It was a nice stroll in the back country of Kenosha. About 15 minutes in Lenny was bonking so he let the air out of his front tire and we had to stop and wait to fix that. He finished strong though. We then got a little heat from 4 dogs and had to ride around them as they were running along with us down the middle of the road. We out ran them and then is was smooth sailing until the turn around for the kids and the others. I thought about turning around and maybe I should have as I went with Jerry, Jeremey, Bob and Lori for some more abuse. We went to the Lyons and hit the hills and that put me in the hurt locker and shut the door. Those hills are a tad longer and steeper then the ones around here. I rode my pace and they were nice and waited at the end for me, thanks guys. We then turned into the wind and road it home. I sat on the wheels and I have to say thanks as they pulled me home as I was cramping in the bad leg. I was able to ride them off but it still hurt. I have a long way to go if I think about any longer rides then 3 hours right now. Well at a pace that the fast guys go at least. Danny and Lenny and the others were nice to get the kids back and they had a blast riding with the group today. Thanks guys for getting them back as I went in for more pain.

Tonight Nate, Theo and myself are going to the Moto Cross show at the Bradley center. That should be a fun time. Tomorrow Nate and I are racing the last day of indoor bmx for the season. Theo is coming along to see what the little bike racing is about. I think that he will like it and who knows maybe he will try it down the road. Well time to get ready for some freestyle Moto Cross. Later..

My next ride

I seen this and I'm going to get me one. It looks nice and the Monte Carlo is getting to be 7 years old and the Boy is going to need a ride so the Monte Carlo will be his. I like this cross over vehicle and the space will be nice for bikes and gear. Oh yeah the kids to. Later..

The Punks are Home

The kids are back and they are all over the Wii upstairs and Jessica is dancing all over the house. I do have to say that it is nice to have them home as the static around the house is nice.

Tomorrow I'm going with Nate and the kids for a ride in Kenosha county area. The kids are putting in a few hours and then the rest of us are going to put in a few more. I hope that the sun is out and the temps are half way decent. Have fun on your rides. Later..

The end is near

The end of the peace and quite is almost over. Cece has been cleaning the house and going through the kids things while they are gone. There was a ton of crap that she had to get rid of. I never knew that they had so much junk in their rooms and dressers. Well there is plenty of room now. The purple Heart better bring a double wide to haul it all away.



I just got back with the computer as it was acting up so I had them up the RAM so the programs had more room. It just never ends with these things. It should be ready for awhile now I hope. I just have to stop the kids from going to a bunch of stupid sites and making short cuts to them all.



I hope this snow ends so we can get out on a few training rides soon. Later..

Chequamegon

Just looked on line and they cashed my checks. Nate and I are in the race again this year. Hope it goes well for the rest of you. Later..

Empty house

Cece, her Mom and I just went to Apple bees and had dinner and then they went to a opera. Thanks again Cece for not making me go to the Opera. Now I have the house to myself and I'm just chilling. No kids and no wife telling me what to do for a couple of hours. Man this is cool.

I'm hoping that the snow holds off as Nate and I need to get a few more times on the bike outside. But I'm not worried about Nate as he seems to hold his ground in all of his races, it's me. As far as the race season this year I have not decided if I'm going to race that much in the WORS as the comp tears up my leg and body, the sport race is the perfect length but the others have a gripe if I stay there. So it may be the year to come to the races and just support Nate and pull the bike out for a few and no overall worries. I may do a few WEMS and BMX this summer only. I'm getting old and the body needs a break any how. But I will see you on the road and trails as the Boy needs to still ride hard. Later..

Back 2 Reality

A view from the lake up to the cabin.
Cece can't walk with snow shoes.

A view of the place walking up our drive. My dad buried Maddie as we were snowshoeing.

Nothing like the American flag over the Eagle.
Nate and my Dad looking at the damage from their crash.
My Dad making sure that all the kids got the same amount of money from the egg hunt.
The girls are happy with the Easter gifts my parents got them.
Where were the deer during the hunting season. All doe so I wouldn't have shot any ways.To funny Cece falling on the lake while walking in the snow shoes. Good thing the Boy could pick up butt out of the snow. I had to show it again.

Today was back to work and it sucked. First I go to the lot where my van is parked. I park the truck and walk to my van and as get to the driver side the entire side is smashed in. I think wtf happened to my van. Well I know someone hit it. I look on the ground no pieces form it laying on the ground so what happened did one of the snow plowers take it for a drive or just hit it plowing and not know. Well the lady next to me was waiting for a jump as the idiot who moved her car during the snow left the lights on when he got out. Well the guys pull up and I ask if they know what happened to my van. One guy laughs and says yeah it was me that hit it Friday. He said he was moving snow with a front end loader trying to clear out the snow along the side of it. He said that he was just lazy and didn't feel like moving all the cars. He thought that he cleared it and started to turn as he was backing out and then he just smashed the side. Same idiot left the other ladies lights on. See they hire anyone to work for the city. The door, fender, grill, bumper and lights are gone. He filled out the accident report Friday so I took it to the city body shop and got a loaner. They said it would take about a week. I hope so as that the van is my office on the road. It is just not the same. No kids makes the house nice and silent. Later..

Happy Easter

Today Cece and I are heading back home and the kids are staying up by my parents for the week. They are going to bring them home on Thursday as they have a few things to get done down by us. It will be a nice quite time at home without the 3 punks running all over the place. Heck with Cece off there would have been a house full of their friends over and loud kids every where if they were home. So it is nice that the kids are staying up here with them. My brother heads back home tomorrow as his school has class starting Tuesday. No break for them as they are a farm area and the school gets out early in the summer as our kids are still in school then. Time to load the truck and get ready for the drive home. Have a Happy and Blessed Easter. Later..

Crazy 1

This morning I got on the spin bike and my Dad walks in and gets his boots and coat on. I asked him what he was up to. He said that he was going to get a ladder out and go up on the roof to shovel off the 2 feet of snow still up there. I got off the spin bike and talked to my brother and he took off to make sure that he didn't fall off the roof on us. Nate and Wade got the shovels and did the snow clearing for him.



Also today my Dad and Nate took off on the 4 wheelers as I was walking down the drive. I figured that they were going to get the mail at the end of the road. The ride to the end of the road is about 3/4 of a mile. So I went in and waited of them to get back. I sat there for about 15 minutes and was wondering what they were up to. Well they finally show up and go right to the garage. I head down and the 4 wheeler my Dad was driving was dirty and the windshield was broken. He said Nate made him go fast. I looked at Nate and he said Uhh Uhh Grandpa was going like 30 -35 and the plow hit the snow bank and he went flying off and landed in the middle of the road and I almost ran him over and my 4 wheeler went over the snow bank and flew into the woods. They said it was lucky that Nate didn't run him over and that his reaction was great as he just missed him. They turned my Dad's 4 wheeler back on it's 4 wheels and pulls Nate's out of the woods. We fixed the windshield and then assessed the damage and he has to order new winch switch. All good now.



We then washed the 4 trucks and waxed Wade's this afternoon. Got the inside of my truck vacuumed out from the winter mess. Now we are sitting back and Watching the Wisconsin game and having a few Fat Squirrel's. Hope they win and Marquette can pull it off too. Have safe and Happy Easter. Later.

Oh yeah we are still looking for the snow hoe's.

Do you hear that?

Sitting here at my parents place in the middle of the woods in Rhinelander. You step outside and you don't hear a thing. No cars, sirens, nothing not a thing. Well you hear the kids fighting and yelling at each other every now and then but nothing else. I love it.

Well after the Beat Down ride Nate and I got home showered. We loaded the truck and then we were on the road in less then 40 minutes as Cece and the girls had everything else ready. I was a uneventful drive up as we wanted to out run the snow. I managed to keep the red and blue lights off my tail by keeping the speed to a nice 5 over and the fools that didn't caught the attention of the State Patrol. I have driven late may times and never seen as many State Patrol out from 10pm till 1am in all the years of travel. I seen at least 8 from Milwaukee to Wausau with 6 of them pulling someone over that just flew past me Why drive faster as I would have only gotten there what 10 minutes sooner maybe? Or get a ticket and get there 30 minutes later and 180.00 poorer and 4 points less and higher insurance premium. I elect the 5 to 7 over and just enjoy the fact that each kid has a Ipod and personal DVD to keep them silent. We got here about 12:45am and unloaded the truck and then sat around and talked for about and hour and went to bed.

Now just sitting here and getting ready to go outside and shovel some snow off the ice for a place for the kids to skate. They may also snow hoe as there is still about 2 feet of snow in the woods. We may try to get the snowmobiles out if time allows also. Time to get out and clear the ice. I hope that we don't get to much snow at home as Nate's friend Kyle is going to clear it for us as we won't be home. If it is over 10 inches I will have to double the pay for him clearing my walks. Have fun shoveling. Later..

Upnorth bound

Nate and I went on the Beat Down and now the truck is loaded and off to Rhinelander. Later..

So Soon

One more day of work and then up to my parents for Easter. This is a picture from Christmas a year ago. I hope that there is not as much snow but some would be nice so the kids can snowmobile, snow shoe and maybe ice skate.

It has been nice this week as I have been able to test gas pumps. That always makes the days at work go faster. I did notice a couple of gas stations that had unleaded for $3.21 today so that is a good thing with the trip to Rhinelander in the truck.

No BMX practice tomorrow means that the Thursday beat down is now on. We will be starting the ride at 5:30 for the first couple of weeks and doing the short route till we get more light. It looks the weather should hold out tomorrow so see you at Hales corners Wheel and Sprocket for the ride. Later..

Double flat

So I get up early this morning as I had a meeting that I had to go to. It meant that I started an hour early and got done an hour early. I like this meeting stuff as it lets me have the chance to get a training ride in early and be done sooner. After picking up the punks from school we got home and Nate and I got on the rollers for a pyramid cadence workout. Into the first pyramid I noticed that the rear tire was going flat. Got off and put on the spare wheel and then got back on. Again we are pushing along and then the front starts to go flat. I got off the bike again and then got the spare front wheel and put it on. We finished the workout with no more issues. Then Maddie got on the spin bike and did her workout as I changed the flat tires. I noticed as I changed the flats I noticed that the rim strip had moved over on a few eyelets causing the tubes to get small pin holes. I realigned the rim strip and I hope it stays put this time. Now I'm sitting her eating a big bowl of Extra Cheesy Gold Fish. Later..

Short week

I have off this Friday for Good Friday the first paid holiday since January. I took a few days off 2 weeks ago to volunteer for the kids school trip to Trees for Tomorrow but man I'm looking forward to a long weekend. Plus after this weekend it will be racing every weekend with either Nate's road races or our mountain bike races ( WORS, WEMS NORBA Nationals and 24-9 ). Oh yeah there will also be some track racing, bmx racing, cross races in the fall. That means racing every weekend and and races 2-3 times a week starting in May. So hello to the last long weekend in a long time.

I hope that there is still a little snow up north in Rhinelander as the kids are staying for the week after Easter with my parents. The way it looks right now is it may just be ice skating as the snow may be gone. Who knows maybe that may not happen if the snow on top of the ice ruins that. My parents get home tonight from their 2 month winter stay in Florida and I will get the update tomorrow about the snow and ice. They are supposed to get some snow tonight and Friday as I drive up. Just my luck. Time to get the punks ready for bed. Later..

First 2008 Race for Nate

Today was the first race for Nate in Kenosha. Sorry I forgot the camera to catch a few shots of the boys racing. There was 17 kids that towed the line for their race. It went off and Nate and Gage were boxed in and a kid got off the front and Nate tried to pull it back but then 2 took off and bridged to the kid that got away. Then after a few laps Gage and Nate took off when one of the stronger kids pulled in to the wind and dropped him and then a group of about 5 then tried to work together to pull in the other 3. It didn't work and then for the field sprint Gage ended up in 5th and Nate in 6th and then I think Mitch rolled in 9th. Zoe did her first race ever and looked great. She finsihed 4th and was just a 1/2 of a bike length from finishing 3rd. She will be killing the others real soon. It was a windy cold for the kids but they did well. I hope it gets warmer soon as the kids next race will be the WCA Sheboygan race. That gives us a few weeks to get some hard training in for Nate as the bmx has been full time for the winter. He will be ready as will the other kids. After the kids races Jeremey, Jerry, Danny, Jeff, Matt and myself went for a nice spin in the country roads around Kenosha. Then we watched the 1/2's race and headed home. Now time to read the paper and relax. Later..

First group ride

Did the first group ride from wheel today. Had a good group of about 15 of us. As always Joe was nice to go to the front and pull for most of the ride making the first ride much easier. Had a bunch of new faces on the ride which is nice to see. Just one incident on the ride as Jeff crossed a wheel when he turned to look back after Joe pulled off the front and he hit the pavement. I think he may have separated his shoulder. I guess that is better then breaking anything. Again the group from wheel in Hales Corners leaves at 5:30 on Thursdays and 9:30 on Sat. Tonight is the auction for some fun buying crap you don't need. Tomorrow is the Kenosha race for Nate and then a ride with the Goat, Jerry and Danny after his race. Later..

2 gears and 2 riders

Nate in front pulling me along.

Picture of my shadow on the ride.
This may be on of the last rides on Nate's single speed as he is out growing it. The seat post is at the limit and beyond now. I may have to buy him a new frame and franken bike a new single speed for him.
Here I'm dropping the punk. Not really he was riding no handed most of the ride and I looked back and made him chase for doing that.
He is some of the County of Milwaukee job security. The plow guy destroys the curb and then the guy who makes the curb replaces the curb. Money well spent.
He is a great picture of the centuries old seminary main building along the lake front.

Today was a great ride outside for the first time since Russell's New Years ride. How time flies when you aren't riding. Well see you at the Wheel ride tomorrow. It leaves at 9:30 am. Later..