Wasting Time

I think I got a BlackBerry just because I come very close to going insane when I have idle time. I can now keep it together waiting in line at Kroger's since I can check email and text the kids. I have four hours to kill right now while I wait for the girls to finish dance and even having my lap top hardly takes the edge off the fact I'm wasting time. I could go home but it is an hour drive each way; it's a judgement call. I have errands I can run so I guess I will stay put on this side of town.

I had to work really hard to get the kids out of bed in time for church this morning. I don't remember questioning the merits of religion with my parents like my kids do with me, but I'm sure mom and dad knew what I was thinking and they were just too horrified to discuss it. It's always chaos Sunday mornings and today the kids had to pack their bags for dance before we left. We went from church to dance and now I'm at Starbucks. This is going to be a long, drawn out post with no real point because I am board and jacked up on coffee. It will likely get buried with all my other unpublished posts that have no point, or make me sound bitter. I suppose there is always some type of a point and really, I'm not bitter, just anxious.

Alright, I now have only 3 hours and 45 minutes to kill. What is eating at me is I happen to be only 5 miles from my parents' house. They are in Florida but one of my bikes is in their garage here in Michigan from when I exchanged it for their car half way through my ill timed ride last Sunday. It is beautiful out. I could have very easily thrown some riding clothes in the truck this morning and rode after I dropped the kids off at dance. I haven't gotten the hours in riding this year as I did last year, and blowing chances like this is just unacceptable. Last night I compared screen prints of my February 2009 riding hours to my 2010 hours just to torture myself. I clearly need to work harder. I have long since given up my goal of placing in an Expert race but I don't want to embarrass myself. Hum...when one's stated goal for a race season is not to embarrass themselves, it might be time to reconsider what the heck they are doing racing in the first place. I started racing BMX 30-some years ago which morphed into road racing then mountain bike racing. I think I forgot how to just ride a bike.

Public Service Announcement

I just noticed http://www.iceman.com/ announced that online registration for the 2010 Iceman Cometh Race starts Monday, March 1st at 11:00 (EST). This is a very cool race I encourage everyone to sign up for. It is limited to something like 3,700 racers and it fills up quickly. And now that I posted this on the Internet, I’m confident the two or three people that occasionally read my blog will cause it to fill up that much faster.

In addition to the Iceman, I really wanted to do the Lumber Jack 100 this year. In December I told everyone who would listen I was going to do this race. I emailed people I ride with to remind them when registration was and posted something on Face Book to make sure no one forgot to register. I forgot to register. It filled up in just one day. That’s okay, I’m not sure I am capable of racing 100 miles anyway. I better not screw up registering for Iceman.

Losing Weight Part 3

Earlier this month Em let Allie and I hang out with her and her friends at Toco Bell. Anymore this is a honor. But Toco Bell didn't sound appetizing. For a bunch of reasons, I have no appetite at all, which is very cool because last year at this time I was starving myself like a high school cheerleader trying to get down to my racing weight. And the flu this weekend pushed me right into my ideal weight range. If only I can get the flu a few more times between now and the Yankee Springs Time Trial in April, I will have an excellent power to weight ratio.

This morning one of the mechanics asked me if I was working out because he said my shoulders looked broader. I am not quite sure how I feel about getting a compliment like this from another guy but whatever, I just want to do a good time trial.

Worse Day of the Year Ride

I was really looking forward to the Worst Day of the Year Ride yesterday. It was very nice out and I am trying to be a little more social. More people showed up for this ride than I expected.

I wasn't feeling great. I was achy all over but I worked out very hard the day before so this made sense. I think I have my riding clothes down to an art but I had the shakes. It was suppose to be just a social ride but I was really working hard to stay in the group I latched onto. Bill was the only person I knew in my group, but looking around I didn't think I should be trying this hard to keep up. It felt like I had the flu but that was impossible because I don't get sick. I haven't gotten sick since I lived at my parents home some 25 years ago. Sure, the kids had the flu this weekend, and I didn't bother to get a flu shot this year, but I couldn't catch it; I am immune to such things. About 15 miles into the ride I realized I really did have the flu. There was no way I was going to make it back. I was only a mile from my parents' house so I gave it everything to catch Bill, gave him the keys to my truck so he and Dan could get back, and told him I was going to get my dad's car and drive myself home.

I made it home, barely, and curled up and waited to die. So this is what it's like to be sick. Kind of sucks. The kids are just getting over the flu so they were content to just stay on the couch which worked out well for me because I was in no condition to interact with them. I was waiting for Bill to stop by with my truck so I could drive him to his house. I didn't know how I was going to do it, I could hardly move. I woke up around 8 PM and called Bill to see where he was at. He told me he dropped the truck off at my house and rode his bike home since he figured I was in no condition to drive. He was right and has no idea how much I appreciate that.

I called in sick for the first time in my life. I am watching Canada take on the USA in Curling. I have hit rock bottom.

Back to Normal (?)

I put my Yakima rack back on my truck. I am driving Bill (AKA $40 Bill) and Dan (AKA Cyclo-Dan) to the Third Annual Worst Day of the Year Ride. This is a 28 mile ride through Ann Arbor that somehow involves chili and beer. This ride was originally scheduled for January 23rd but it got rained out. Trying to schedule, in advance, an organized group ride on the worse day of the year is a fickle thing.

The weather has been great lately. Renee invited me to ride with her and a running buddy at Island Lakes today. They ran the trail earlier in the day. Whatever. The trail was great; snowmobiles pressed the snow into a perfect riding surface. The sun was out, no wind, and it was 28 degrees. Any warmer and it would be slushy, any cooler and it would get a bit dicey. Tomorrow could very well be the best day of the year.

Matt's blog inadvertently talked me into riding outside last winter. I had a great time and I think I was a better rider in the Spring because of it. This year I got a little soft and needed Bill and Renee to coax me off my trainer and onto a trail. I feel much better now that I am out and riding.

I know this sounds sappy, no, not even sappy, just stupid but putting the rack back on my truck made me feel...normal. I feel like I am my blindly optimistic self again.

Everything Can Be Fixed

Allie and I went to Borders last weekend. Thousands of books and she picks out one that explains how things work: vacuum cleaners, the I-phone, etc. She is so much going to be an engineer. While Allie learned about the internal combustion chamber engine, I looked for a Valentine’s Day card that wouldn’t come across as sarcastic.

Allie’s book took the mystery out of how things work, like the I-phone. When looked at carefully, everything can be fixed. My truck is back up and running. The garage door works better than new. The furnace is warming our house as it is suppose to. There has not been any sign of lice in our house since my neurotic cleaning frenzy two weeks ago. Everything can be fixed but sometimes the energy required to fix something is better used by cutting your losses and starting fresh.

Typical Friday Night at the Wagner's...

Trip to Block Busters for a DVD and a trip to Urgent Care for Emilie. I need to think about this for a minute, but I don't think we went one week this year without a trip to the hospital. I find myself addressing the doctors by their first names.