Its ON!!!!

This morning I spoke with my new coach!  Yes, thats right a coach!!!  I have hired Jennifer Harrison from the Chicagoland area to help prep me for the upcoming season.  I am not 100% sure what I have signed on for, but I am looking forward to the challenges and having a coach again.  Now I need to get starting on planning some races.  I have a few in mind and Kate is thinking of doing a number of road races this coming year.  The biggest struggle that I will have to over come with the training schedule is being able to get the swimming and riding in as I travel for work.  When the weather is nice, I can bring the bike with me and ride outside.  However, when it is poor I will have to stash it in the car and ride a trainer in the hotel room.....not overly excited about this little tid bit, but again I am excited to have the challenges again. 
Living in farmville USA, I am also in need of some new trainer/treadmill movies to help pass the time as I get back in shape.  I have done a pre-coach weigh in, and let me tell you it is not a pretty number.  I am certian I can shed a few of these unwanted pounds early on.  Now if I can just stop the pizza and beer diet, I will be good.

Harvest Season

Over the past few weeks I have traveled through the Midwest, yet again and seen the last of the farm equipment in the fields.  It always amazes me the hours that America's farmers put in, the amount of land they tend and what it takes to feed this country.  Living in IA I see my fair share of corn and ethonal plants.  The trucks are lined up waiting to drop their crop and head back to get more.  Its a never ending cycle of commerce.
This past weekend was Christmas and with it brings time spent with family and friends.  However this season we were blessed with an unaccepted trip to Ames to take Lola to the ISU pet hosptial for a condition they are still not sure of.  Poor Lola has dropped about 15 pounds in the last 4 weeks and looks very frale.  When we arrived at ISU on Friday we were told that she would be ready to get the following Friday.  The wonderful folks at ISU got her back to health much quicker and I was able to head back to Ames yesterday afternoon.  She was super excited to see me when they got her out of "jail" and she looked a little healthier.  She has/had a cone on her head creating a 50+ pound lampshade.  While at the vet we were also informed that she will need to have eye surgery for an issue that is causing some pain in her left eye.  On the bright side, Lola now has a contact lens to protect the surface of the eye until she is healthy enough to have the procedure. 
At any rate, as I was traveling back home yesterday evening I couldn't help but notice the harvest was done, the fields were bare of crops and farmers were busy repairing machinery and prepping for the coming spring.  It always amazes me the amount of time and effort it takes to get the crops from field to table and I enjoy being able to watch this process in action as I travel the Midwest.

Epic Weekend

This past weekend was a balst! Kate and I loaded up the Mazda and headed to the wonderful world of Minneapolis. I've heard of this magical place in books and even seen photos of it, but didn't think in my wildest fantasies I would ever set eyes on this wonderlust!! After a short 3 hour drive northeast we had arrived at our final destination. It was all I dreamed of and more. They had sushi resturants on almost every corner; okay so that part is embolished but every corner Kate told me to head towards had a sushi establishment on it. Lucky me, I am a sushi fan and thankfully Kate allowed me to indulge. Make no mistake fellow followers, Kate is a HUGE sushi fan. Her favorite is still Norio's at the Fairmont Orchid on the big island. We stopped at this eatery twice in our 5 day stay, plus another stop to where Norio himself had been relocated to. After meeting Mike and Amy at Crave for dinner and drinks we went to get a solid nights sleep to prep for our morning of riding the 29ers at Lebanon Hills. We met a fellow triathlete friend and started out on the outer loop of the park. The trails and weather were fantastic. It was one of those days that I could have riden all day. The one downfall that was quickly brought to my attention, clearly a mountian biking newbie error, these folks all travel with beer and bloody marys!! When we finished the first loop and made out way back to the parking lot, a full fledged bar had developed in the parking lot. It was awesome to say the least. We set out for another loop and than off to, yep you guessed it, a sushi bar. After some fresh fish and a few beers we got cleaned up and went to watch the Badger/Gopher football and hockey games at The Golden Nugget. Sunday morning we packed up and headed to the river bottoms to get one last ride in prior to starting the drive south. The river bottoms is much less technical and a little less stressful for Kate. She is very new to mountain bike riding and still trying to get her wheels under her and feeling safe on her machine. The weekend was a total success and a much needed outdoor adventure as we've had many that have passed us by this summer.

Albeit sometimes a slow learner, not after Sunday's ride! Oh how I love a good Surly Furious

7 Months

So its been roughly 7 months since my last update....thankfully not much has happened in that time. I've been traveling around the Midwest seeing accounts, working expos and events and seeing parts of the country during my travels that I normally wouldn't see. I am currently getting packed (or at least should be packing) for Hawaii as I leave tomorrow morning to work the Ironman World Championships for the next 2 weeks. This year, Kate will be joining me at the end off the event for so much needed R&R!! It will be her first time to the island and we have done a ton of looking into all of the classic tourist things to do. I am most looking forward to some down time with her.


In the past 6 weeks I've been to Louisville and Madison to work both of the Ironman events, Des Moines for the Hy-Vee (and I raced as well) as well as Las Vegas for Interbike. Racing in Des Moines was my 3rd race of the season; and to train/prep for it, I decided not to have any beer for a week. I figured that would be enough training. And as luck would have it, it was. I crossed the finish line just like every other race I've competed in. Kate and the kids were there to watch and cheer me on as well. The only disappointment that I had all day was that they were in the finishing chute and I TOTALLY missed them. Apparently they were standing by the Mini Coopers, which I happened to miss too! Clearly I was dead set on getting to the line and calling it a day. It was a great race and an awesome course. I've done this race 2 other times (each time it was a different course) and this year it was moved back downtown. So in the 3 times I've completed this event, its never been the same. I was happy to see it back downtown as it made for a much more spectator/racer friendly venue.


The first race of the season was Kansas 70.3 and 2 weeks later we went to Lubbock, TX for Buffalo Springs 70.3. I was marginally under trained for both of these events, but again got to the line for each of them. Kansas was a blast as there were a bunch of others that Kate and knew racing it. Kate and I finished and got our medals from Chrissie Wellington and she called us out on our matching race kits. Buffalo Springs, well this was more of a death march than an event. Texas has/had been in a drought for a number of months so it was pretty dry. The ranchers were being told to keep their live stock in the shade and well watered, meanwhile roughly 1800 racers were out in 112 degree temps pushing their bodies to certain death. When I crossed the line of this one, I grab an ice cold Miller Lite and sat in the lake enjoying what might be the last calories of my life. Thankfully they were not. It took a number of days to regain proper hydration and to recover, but I had no other races on tap so it worked out well. Hy-Vee was a late in the game decision to do as Hailey was doing the kids race and I thought it would be fun to do as long as we would be in town.


So that is basically the last 7ish months, nothing exciting but that happens. I am going to try to make regular updates (I know I always say that) but hopefully I can stick to it this time.

I am going to have to prep Benny for the next 2 weeks while I am gone, he gets a little depressed

Still alive and kickin'

Good morning to the handful of folks that follow(ed) this blog. Its been more than a few months since my last post. Hell, its been so long long that Google changed all of my settings and I need to read the manual to figure out how to log in to it! And I am a poor reader, so you can only image how long it took. Apparently the log in email I was using is of "conflicting interests" now. I am not sure what that means, but I am assuming I am on the "poke, probe and prod" list with TSA now as well. I wished just once those people would let me pass with out having to talk to me. Come on guys....I am a good airline customer. Okay, so on my way to CA a few months back I had a knife in my bag. I am generally trying smuggle the left over water in my water bottle through and the latest was 3 new tubes of SBR Sports, Inc product through.....BUSTED! The life of an air traveler does have its advantages however. I enjoy to people watch when I am waiting for my plane and the odd balls that I see in the terminals are some times to much. Ask Kate, I will send Blackberry messages at Gatling Gun pace to help pass the time. I often find myself staring to long as to how people allow themselves to leave the house dressed in such a manner, or just simply laughing out loud. Now, those that know me, know I am not the flashiest of dressers, but I am not going to wear 2 different shoes, running shoes with khaki pants, a scarf, etc and head to the airport where you are under constant watch from the "eye in the sky"

Since my last post I have been around the country to some places that I have never thought I'd ever make it to; bonus of the job. I find myself thinking of how great a race would be in the areas I've been. Rolling hills, tree lined streets, flat smoothly paved roads, etc and wonder if they have any. Than as I get to the account to catch up with them, I find out that they usually do have a few races in the surrounding areas. This summer I will be putting the bike(s) on the roof of the car and riding, running and swimming whenever I get the chance in some of the these areas.

I do have a few vacations planned and am looking forward to them. Kate and I will be meeting the rest of the family in the Dells in a few weeks for our annual winter get together. This is a 3 day funfest at the indoor water parks, lots of laughs and usually an injury or 2 when my older brother thinks its funny to throw snowballs at me. I have a bit of a temper and it usually doesn't go over well, ha!! Than in April I will be heading to Austin for the MS150 ride with my Batteries Plus buddy and a friend that lives in the Austin area. I've never done a charity ride of this size and I am looking forward to it.

That's about it for now. I am planning on trying to keep this more up to date than I have been; perhaps even photos of where I am or have been. Plus, I have been granted access to my blog again....so that I got that going for me, which is nice!