KBS Rockburn Cross in the Baltimore Sun

Janene Holzberg from The Baltimore Sun wrote a nice story about the Rockburn 'Cross race. It's in the Howard County section of today's (11/6/08) paper. Nice photos too, including the one of Thor and I posted above. You can check out the story & photos here. The word is getting out. Cyclocross is taking off.

Gavin - had to post this one

batteries on the charger

Chilling at the beach
Outer Banks NC
Eating, drinking (too much good beer), sleeping
Digging in the sand
Floating in the water
Having a ball

The only riding has been loading a kid on a beach cruiser euro-style

and pedaling from the house to the beach.

I did my first run of the year the other day and it felt pretty good.

There was also a nice 80 minute massage on Monday. I felt high as a kite walking out of there. Always a sign of a quality massage.

I'm always amazed how my whole attitude feels after a vacation off the bike. Motes get topped off and my hunger to ride becomes ravenous.

Body and mind are rested. Quality family time. A week+ not chained to a desk. Everything is back in balance and I'm ready to do the work to get ready for 'cross. It's as much mental as it is physical.

Diet
Ride
Run
Stretch
Rest

I'm hungry.

Team AFC is flying fixed at RAAM. Follow their progress here and here. They are an inspiration.

whiskey for breakfast

Bikes were ridden. Good food was eaten. A lot of stuff was packed into a short weekend, though family harmony was preserved.

Trails on Saturday - I don't know if it was the pollen or my lungs are broken, but I couldn't get a full breath. On the steep climbs the legs felt strong, but after 30 seconds they weren't getting enough oxygen. That makes for not-so-good sensations. Bummer. As with most days when I'm not feeling it I played around on the logs, rode some skinnies, smelled the flowers (maybe that was the problem), and crawled up the climbs. It's hard to not have a good time when riding the mountain bike.

On Sunday I had steeled myself to ride the rollers and watch Fletch, but a window in the weather and schedule opened up. I got out on the fixie on wet roads in the wind with W for a rolling conversation. Dang, that was a nice ride. Loosened up the legs and gave them that nice feeling that is somewhere between sore and supple.

1st dentist appointment followed by swim lessons for mr. Thor. all good in the hood. who knew that those things could be so much fun? money quote, "I was swimming like a whale shark".

Finished shoveling mulch and planted a new crepe myrtle out front. SS mtb muscles were helpful since the dirt & mulch were wet...and heavy.

Watched Thor's new favorite film, Les Triplettes de Belleville, several times.
What a great flick! After repeated viewings I have a new appreciation for the story, the animation, and the twisted humor.

Sunday morning was supposed to be a date mtb ride in the morning, but the rain crapped on those plans. Instead of whining about it we cancelled the babysitter and had a fine morning. Fresh coffee. Whipped up an amazing batch of crispy waffles using Trader Joe's Swedish pancake/waffle mix. The cherry was actually getting cycling.tv to work so I could watch de Ronde in the kitchen. I almost cracked open a beer after the koppenberg, but wimped out and stuck to the coffee.

time is an illusion

Waking up before the rooster to ride is easy to do so that I can hang out with these guys after work.

from spitting up to sitting up...


to rocking our world! ;-)


Gonna be toughening up the gearing on Rita for Baker's Dozen.
From 32x19 currently to 34x18 or maybe even 34x17. Whatever it takes to justify all the chains I stocked up on recently.

I'll be in the SS Solo field with a goal of more laps than beers. My ass will tell me when it's time to stop riding and start drinking. That should be a win-win for me.



Back at it tomorrow morning. Wheels rolling sometime before 5:30am. Gigglewatts, donut stress scores, functional lighting threshhold, and all the other fancy bike riding buzzwords.

Coffee is my friend.

working hard or...

Wednesday was a good day. I took a vacation day to handle some pressing business.

A little bit of this...




A little bit of that...




And a whole lot of mulch shoveling...


Plus a nice family lunch at Chipotle. I wouldn't mind doing this every day...even the mulch.

031508_17071.jpg

031508_17071.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

030408_1547.jpg

030408_1547.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

Bigwheel dh runs

jump zone

021708_16261.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

Cake@noelle's b-day

I'm the dude, man

At dinner last night we heard a new one.

"Holy crap! That's a big green bean"

Another recent addition is "Dude".

Kids are like sponges.

brotherly love

134_3406
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

happy child

133_3394
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

I was organizing some photos and found some good ones, including this shot from Christmas Day.

Aside from not being very interested in napping in his crib he's a happy child.

He seems to like sitting in his big brother's chair.

If I'd known it was going to be this kind of party...

Last night...errr yesterday at 5pm the local chapter of 'Crossers with Kids convened at our place for a New Year's Eve get together.



The McDonald's, Harshman's, and our collective broods hung out for beers, Thai carry-out, desserts by Tina, and repeated viewings of the tractor dvd. Sean & Thor had fun playing with trucks and polishing up those sharing skills. Good times and an early night. I, for one, am happy to be up early and not hung over this morning.

The only bummer is that our plans to hit the trails today are not happening. It's just too wet and muddy out there.

Happy New Year!

ABC

abc's at two-and-a-half

winter chill

122907_11101.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystro

That time of year.
The winter chill.
Warm temps this morning allowed us to play in the yard getting muddy and working up an appetite for lunch.

Chipotle. mmmm.

Mel's riding and the kids are napping so I'm sitting in bed with my feet up watching the '06 Koppenburg 'Cross. Lotta cats crashing in this race. I'm not sure we really know what a technical cx course is.

Can't get enough. I'm enjoying the break, but I'm already thinking about next year...and what I've learned this year. I need to sit down and put some of those thoughts in words so that they stick. One big one that comes to mind is about gaps. Knowing when it's ok to leave some space and when it's critical to tighten up the gap. It's crazy how quickly a 10 foot gap can become unbridgable when it occurs at the wrong time.

Been enjoying riding the fixie the last week and that's what I'll be doing later. I'm not even sure I'll ride a bike with gears this Winter. It's fun and it makes me stronger. Win-win.

Rolling party

Birthday ride

Melanie was a Christmas eve baby. Despite the best intentions her birthday has often been overshadowed by the holidays.

This year will hopefully be the start of an annual tradition, the birthday ride. Though a lot of people were already out of town for Christmas we got a great crew out to ride and celebrate.

John (old bashturd), Perkins, Harshman, Auer, and Morgan joined Melanie and I while our babysitter took over kid duty.

With temps close to 50 and good trail conditions we were bound to have a good ride...and we did. I end up doing a lot of my rides solo. That's fine, especially when I'm training but I really love a good social group ride. Sharing a nice trail ride with friends is satisfying. I think it helps me to better appreciate the quality of riding we have here.

We sampled tasty trails (and plenty of logs) on both sides of the Park over two and a half hours before returning home. Once there, we dug into yummy bowls of chili, complemented by corn bread, cupcakes, and recovery beverages.


Fun times. In fact, I think we'll be doing more of these chili & beer rides this winter.

Happy Birthday Honey!

da boyz

This photo of the boys was taken back in September. I just came across it again while doing some organizing on flickr and I dig it.

So...I've been enjoying the beer and the cookies of the season and not riding. It's only been 10 days and I'm ready to get back on the bike. I know that it's good to take a break, but I get stiff and sore when I don't ride...and cranky too. I'm going to have to saddle back up soon (like maybe tomorrow morning) just for sanity's sake and to lessen the guilt of drinking a beer every night.

Last night we hit Pub Dog with some friends for Pizza and Beer. Dang it was good. Gotta love a place that brings out 2 beers every time your order 1. Best part was Thor dancing, playing shuffleboard, and generally entertaining the entire bar after dinner.
He didn't want to leave.

Tonight the plan is to put some white bar tape on the fixie. Nothing says pimp hand like riding a fixed gear bike with white bar tape at 5:30 in the morning in December. Or something like that.

121607_11321.jpg

121607_11321.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

Trains

At the dinner table

121307_18011.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

caught by the cold

112207_13471.jpg
Originally uploaded by cbnystrom

The entire house has been fighting a relentless cold for over a week now. We had been planning on doing the big Thanksgiving Day ride at Avalon, but there was no way we could make it work in our condition.

60+ degree temperatures at 8am made it tough to stay inside and the jones to ride on such days is a powerful force. After our midday Thanksgiving meal, Mel's Mom agreed to stick around so that we could get out for some sort of ride.

We weren't moving fast and we left a trail of snot behind us, but we had a nice time out in the woods. The colorful display of Fall foliage was split between the trees and the trail making for a visual treat that Hunter S. Thompson might have envisioned on a psychadelic excursion. Our timing was perfect as a cold front blew in towards the end of our ride. Cold wind and drizzle chased us back to the warm phlegm-factory that is our home.

Later that evening while exploring the internets Thor and I put away some chips and salsa with an orange juice (him) and a Clipper City Heavy Seas Category 5 Winter Storm Ale. (me) The kid has a strong appreciation for the finer things in life.



This morning we rallied to make the trip into Charm City for the Holiday Festival of Trains (and arrival of Santa) at the B&O Rail Museum. We had a ball watching Santa arrive by train and even got to take a train ride ourselves.



The B&O is a fantastic museum housed in an old roundhouse full of a variety of vintage trains.
Good stuff.

Now, back to being sick...but I can't help but get out for some kind of ride on the trails today. The rain never really happened so conditions are still excellent. I think I'll take the geared mountain bike out for the first time in months so that I can take it easy.

Probably no racing for me this weekend since we're all under the weather, but I'll be back for Reston and Rockburn to close out my season.