Sunday Wrap-Up

Two big Sunday events to report on this time - first, I finished Thera's new bed and we got it set up this evening. Thera had been using her daybed for several years, but she's sprouting fast and her head and feet could touch the ends of her bed when she stretched out, so we decided it was time for new sleeping accomodations. Krista went and scoured Craigs List and found a four poster bed frame, which I dutifully went out and bought, then refinished (as mentioned in my last post). It was worthwhile work, but I'm glad to be done. The past week has been a whirlwind of bedding, pillows, pillow shams, ruffles and so on and so forth (Krista - not me, I failed interior decorating years ago). Finally today we got the last pieces and I had enough good weather to paint the bed. By evening it was dry so I assembled it and Krista got it all set up. It is quite the beautiful girls room and we're very happy with how it turned out. Mostly... Krista has decided that the green in the comforter is too light and we need something more sage green like the pillows. So it HAS to go... Anyways - pictures attached. Let me know what you think!

The other BIG event is - it's my favorite time of year again! It's time for Cyclocross practice. For the uninitiated, cyclocross is kind of a mix between road cycling and mountain biking. The bikes look like standard road frames, except they run larger, off-road worthy tires. And unlike a road bike where you use standard caliper style brakes, Cyclocross bikes use cantilever or disc brakes because there is a lot more clearance for the wheels - good for muddy conditions that would clog up and stop a normal bike. The courses we ride and race on are a mix of paved roads, open grassy fields and wide mountain bike paths. At several points in the course there are either man made or natural barriers that force the rider to dismount, pick up the bike and leap over the barriers, run up the hill, slog through the sand - whatever the obstacle happens to be. Well, the racing season starts in October, so we had our first practice session today. A large group met up at Little Mulberry Park in Auburn, GA and we headed out for some skills drills, and a few easy laps of the course. Then the hard work started. We lined up for three 10 min. race pace intervals with 10 minute recovery periods. Since the terrain is so varied, and mostly on grass it's really not possible to rest or soft pedal to try and recover. You're on the gas from the start to the finish, so it's a real gut check and a great test of where your fitness is. I started well, and was actually quite surprised and pleased at the fact I was riding right up front with several of the guys that have always been very strong and extremely fast. I was riding well within my abilities and did not have to dig too deep to keep the pace. As a comparison, this time last year I was completing the intervals a good 30 to 45 seconds off the pace. A good start, and I hope that I can further improve my fitness level so I can be competetive in this year's race series. I'll be doing a lot of work on skills this year, too. There is an art to riding Cyclocross well - you have to be able to dismount the bike smoothly, hit the ground running to clear the obstacles and then leap back into the saddle and get clipped into the pedals and start riding again - all in one smooth, efficient series of motions. The really good riders can just flow through the obstacle sections. Riders like me look like they're working too hard. Practice, practice, practice. No one had a camera today, but maybe next week I'll have a few pictures to post. The one below is from a race last year - it gives you a good idea of what we put ourselves through.