Mountain Bike - Spring is in the air...

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So I've got this old GT Aggressor 1.0 that I've had for years--and loved. I've been upgrading the components on it for some time--I've documented some of that here on this blog.

I love my triple triangle--I really do! I don't know that you could damage the frame if you wanted to. We've been through a lot, that bike and I.

But it's old.

And it doesn't have the disc brake mounts for the rear wheel.

And that's pretty much the deal right there.

And, since I upgraded the fork, it's a bit tall for my liking.

I don't know though...

Is a disc brake setup on the back-end all that important to me?

One thing's for sure: I worry too much about stupid stuff.

It sure would be nice though.

Rainy Day Ruminations...

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Two nights ago, before heading to bed, I turned on the TV and flipped over to the Universal Sports channel. There were re-broadcasting Monday's Boston Marathon. I had a bunch of friends running that race and while I was at work I kept up on their progress via the World Wide Web. Later, when I had gotten home and had more time, I learned that both Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher had placed 3rd overall in their respective genders.

I wasn't really surprised with that--an American hasn't won Boston for quite some time--1983 for the men with Greg Meyer and 1985 for the women with Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach.

Still, Ryan and Kara were big-time contenders to finish first at Boston this year. Even more amazing, in my mind anyways, was the fact that this was Kara Goucher's second marathon. Ever. Her first was the New York City Marathon back in November of last year where she also finished 3rd.

While Ryan Hall dropped back from the leader somewhere in the Newton Hills, Kara Goucher maintained her position in the lead pack until the very end. Only in the last mile did she drop back, and even then it was only a few feet. Ultimately she finished 9 seconds behind the winner. Ryan Hall finished 58 seconds back of the men's winner.

Both performances were amazing. Ryan's average pace for the full 26.2 miles was 4:57! Kara's was 5:49! I couldn't go a single mile at that pace without keeling over and throwing up a lung, a kidney, and my liver. 4:57!

I've got 4 kids--3 of which ask me occasionally when I'm going to BQ so that we can go to Boston. Yes, they've all assumed I'm going to drag them right along with me. And I will. Many of the stories I've heard from my friends who have been highlight what an incredible experience it was having their family there with them. I couldn't imagine going out there alone.

But I'm getting old and I'm not as motivated as I ought to be. I really need to be able to run 7:30's (26 of them) to qualify and I'm not there.

Running is a metaphor for life. I'm sure there's a metaphor out there somewhere that I ought to apply to running. Between the two metaphor's, maybe I'll get it right. Someday.

My Disneyland essay...

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or, How I spent Spring Break…

or, What I did on my first vacation in who knows how long…

First things first. Single fathers should never—ever—take 600+ mile trips with their 18 and 21 year old daughters. You will say things that you’ll wish you never had. And even if you don’t, they’ll hear something and turn it into something you’ll wish you never said—even though you really never said it.

Kidding...!

Still, it was fun. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

The last time I was at Disneyland was 10 years ago when we were in California for my great-grandmother’s 100th birthday. My baby girl was somewhere around a month or two old. That’s all I’ve allowed myself to remember. She was due to go back. I was due to go back. We were all due to go back as a family. Well, mostly.

The oldest and her baby (my grandkid) ended up coming with us at the last minute and I’m so so so so so so glad they did. We had a ball. And that grandkid of mine is so so so so so so stinking cute! She looks just like me!

We drove down to St. George Friday night and spent about 6 or so hours napping in my brother’s in-law’s house. It’s good to have family who have family who have a house you can crash in once in a while. Up and on the road by 5:00 so we could be in Henderson, NV by 7:00 for breakfast at the in-law’s of my sister. It’s good to have family who have family that will feed you breakfast!

From Henderson we drove to Corona, CA where we stopped for lunch. Some of us ate at a Taco Bell, some at a Subway, and some at the Mad Greek. Some may have gone somewhere else, but I don’t know for sure. We had about 3 hours to kill until our hotel rooms in Anaheim would be available—what can you do in Corona for an hour or three? Fortunately, we didn’t really have to find out. A quick call to the hotel revealed that one of the four rooms was ready. And off we went.

I don’t recall much more than that about our first day there. I think we ran over to a In and Out Burger joint for dinner and then later we had a family meeting to discuss the next morning’s events and schedule.

The next 3 days were spent inside Disneyland and California Adventure wandering around, riding rides, chasing kids, and getting sore and tired feet. Seriously, walking around Disneyland for one day hurt my feet and legs more than the 50k I ran on Antelope Island 3 weeks ago!

I enjoyed Star Tours. Got wet on Splash Mountain. Experienced whiplash on the Indiana Jones ride. Was impressed with changes on Space Mountain. Heard more than my fair share of It’s A Small World. Loved Pirates of the Caribbean. Screamed on Screamin’. Felt totally cool on Soarin’ over California. Got a little claustrophobic on the Nemo Subs. And a bunch of other stuff too. All right along with the best company a guy could ask for.

I haven’t done anything with the pictures yet but I will. There’s about 100 of them I need to sort through.

The baby was a perfect angel the whole time. Most of the time. She was jabbering quite a bit on this trip! She met goofy and one of the Fairy God-Mothers.

Wednesday dawned and we headed home. This time I had the two older girls, the grand kid, and the boy. If traveling 600+ miles with your older daughters is a bad idea, traveling with them and your teenaged son is even worse! We had a blast even if our patience was running a bit thin.

The snow really started to fly as we left Beaver, UT. Had to stop at the gas station at Cove Fort to clean the ice off the headlights. Ended up staying there for a bit while the weather let up. Don’t know that it actually did, but we took off anyways and found the weather greatly improved up the road a bit. Ran into more snow at Nephi, UT and drove through near white-out conditions from there all the way home. 30 to 40 miles an hour and the snow just kept coming. Woke up Thursday morning to find about 5 inches outside and many trees and branches in the area had broken or fallen under the weight of the snow.

It was good to be home though. Really good. Still, I wouldn’t have minded staying in CA a few more days—soaking up the sun, hitting the beach, visiting good friends…

Oh well. There’s always August.

I so love my kids!