Happenings review…

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, not because life has been slow, actually quite the opposite but finding the time between happenings to write about them seems to be the crux.

So here is a “happenings” review of the past 3 months or so…

Family:

Between my work travel and Corie going solo for some family vacation in August over the past 2 months we haven’t seen too much of each other, but even after 4 years every day with Corie gets a little sweeter.

Corie and I @ Sammy's Bikes on our way to a wedding last week

Last month my sister Julie who resides in my old hood Fresno, CA came out to Chicago sans husband and kids for the first time ever to join my oldest sister Janine (Ohio) for an extended weekend of pre-1999 Selph family fun.  

The siblings, Janine on the left and Julie on the right.

Work:

Over the past two months work travel has taken me to the Philippines, London 2X, and Toronto2X. I am hoping that Q4 is limited to around 30k miles or less but who knows with RIM ramping up for the supposed BB10 launch I might be living on United for the rest of the year.

                

Travel Quiz: Identify this flight… where in the world can you take off at 6am and land at 6pm the previous day? (Clue: one location is a U.S. Territory)

In general my industry is still struggling but thanks to my international focus I can rely on non-U.S. centric economies to keep my supply chain full but when your company trades in USD and things are tight I am finding it hard to get some of my projects completed and into the market place.

Cycling:

As many of you know I picked up a MTB sponsorship thru a work contact in Indo, so for the past three months I have been discovering the world of “the baggy shorts guys”. I have yet to race XC but hopefully next year I can get out for at least the Palos Meltdown.  

My team finished up the road season two weeks ago with a solid showing at the first fall fling race held at the Pella-drome, unfortunately schedule conflicts kept us from racing the rest of the series. It was during that race that I pulled off my very first successful long distance bridge. I made it up to the winning break long enough for them to spot me tucked in and gassed it hard enough to snap me right off the back again having not yet recovered from my effort, doooh!  

Dustin and I chasing back the first break of the day during the fall fling

My title sponsor Sammy’s Bikes set me up pretty with a new Colnago World Cup CX bike that I am excited about getting more proficient on. My first CX race of the season (and 3^rd ever) was last Sunday at Hopkins Park, the second stop on the Chicago Cyclocross Cup. Even if it was my 3^rd CX race ever any competitor will tell you that getting you’re a$$ handed to you in a race is never fun. Due to my road USAC license I have to race CX in Cat3 or higher regardless of my experience so because the Cat3 event is often too early for me to get to post church my only option is to race the Pro 1/2/3 race with all the big boys. If I can make enough races and improve my fitness I’m sure I will earn my place among them but for the moment my learning curve is pretty steep!  

Last min update: I wrote the above last week and as of this posting I got to race at the Dan Ryan Woods CX race on Sunday. I am happy to report that my first lap on the very open and power hungry course was screaming. I managed to place myself mid pack after staring in the back and felt great! Heading over the last set of barriers before the finish a poorly tightened rear quick release gave way causing my rear wheel to drop out of the stays! I managed to get the wheel back in and tightened up but b/c of my rush I unknowingly messed up the disc break alignment and road the rest of the 50 min with a dragging rear disc. I did however make up at least 10 of the 15 positions lost during the mechanical and improved my finishing place significantly over last week’s race. Getting better…      

Next on tap are a few CX races and maybe a product review or two…