Mandatory Vacation

I'm off of work this week and looking to ride. Let me know if you want to hook up. My schedule is pretty flexible.

Ethics

Last year, my company hosted a film festival to promote ethics and encourage employees to get excited(!) about ethical issues. Our company is an aerospace/defense industry manufacturer with many locations across the country, and no one from Lincoln had ever submitted a film before so a co-worker and I decided to enter. I have a good friend with directorial and aesthetic talent (as well as an HD camera), so once we had an idea and a location we were ready to go.

Our film was selected to be a finalist and we, along with all the other finalists, received a complimentary weekend trip with our spouses to our company headquarters in Charlotte. Anyway, much fun was had and our film was selected to be the winner. Here it is:



This year, its time to defend our trophy. We're getting together to talk ideas and strategies for this years short film sometime in the next week. Any good ethics related ideas? It's all about having a good story.

P.S. The character from last years film can be seen in some great short countdowns produced by the same friend and for sale on his website. Lots of great media available there for use in church services or elsewhere.

Check it out. Nothing ever goes right for me him.
Thanksgiving, my personal favorite
Christmas
Valentine's Day
Mother's Day

Home

Well, after many months of waiting, we are finally going to be home owners. This isn't the same house that I posted about before, but instead a foreclosure in a really neat neighborhood in the northwest part of Lincoln. Our closing date is July 16th. We are very excited, and will likely be posting many pictures and updates as the moving and settling process begins. For now, here are a couple pictures (click to make bigger...you know the deal).

If The Clothes Made The Man...

I'd be faster. Thanks MWC! And thanks to the wife for my birthday present.


I signed up today for the Cornhusker State Games mountain bike race. I wavered a bit about what class I should enter, but I ended up choosing beginner. The race is just 6 days before Laramie, so 10 miles of racing sounded better for my preparation than 15 miles. Plus, as far as XC racing goes, I am still a beginner with only one under my belt.

Half a Hundred

Today was the Psycowpath race at Ponca State Park. I decided it wasn't worth the money and time to drive up solo for just an hour of racing because ultimately these XC races are just a secondary goal for this year.

With my real goals in mind, I set out this morning for a long ride with no plan other than to ride to Branched Oak State Recreation Area and check out the condition of the trails. It was an absolute bluebird day with no wind. The ride out was great, except I was chased by 3 dogs, one of which was a very large rottweiler. To this point, I had never been chased by a dog on a gravel road, so I really wasn't sure what to do (any tips?). I was able to ride away from them, but I'll admit I was pretty scared by 2 of the 3 dogs.

I got to the Area 1 campground at the lake about and hour and a half into my day and rode straight to the trailhead. The trails were just about perfect from a moisture standpoint, but they were way overgrown. I decided I didn't really want to be sweaty, itchy AND full of ticks so I turned around and headed back to the campground. I contemplated heading home at this point but I wanted to get some more miles in and I was feeling really good so I decided to keep going. I had already determined that I was going to head home on a different route to avoid the crazy dogs so I needed to come up with a new plan. I refilled my water bottles and headed out to do a lap of the lake.

I am usually meticulous in my route planning so heading out blind was a bit of an adventure. I chose several roads that didn't go through the way I wanted them to, but I ended up at home just the same. Right at 4 hours total time on the bike and a new personal record for distance ridden on my mountain bike at 50 miles (close enough for me). My nutrition and fluid intake was pretty good and my legs felt strong all the way to the end. Heres the map:


I've found that I really enjoy these longer rides in the country, but I am ready to get some singletrack riding/racing again. Next race on the schedule is the Cornhusker State Games, July 20th at Branched Oak; should be fun and hot. I think the early registration deadline is Monday. I need to remember to sign up.

I also found out today that I am officially off the waiting list and onto the roster for Laramie. Its time to get serious about training. I'm glad I banked this half-hundie today instead of driving to Ponca.

Since You've Been Gone

Crazy weather throughout the Midwest has wreaked havoc on my racing and training plans over the last month. We've been spared the severe flooding that Iowa is experiencing but we still have received 16.5" of rain in the six weeks since I posted last. Several races were postponed, cancelled, or altered because of this unprecedented amount of rain. The Branched Oak 12 hour race was one that I was really looking forward to, but Robb and I had to make an executive decision not to race in the mud. Bummer.

Due to these circumstances (and others yet to be mentioned) I only did two big rides during this time. The first was the Platte River Riot 6 hour Marathon race on May 18th. I obviously wasn't racing to win, so I went out with only the expectation to ride for as much of the 6 hours as possible and to learn some things about myself that would help in preparation for the Laramie race. I probably sat around a little bit more than I should have, but when it was all said and done I did 5 laps (roughly 1000 ft of climbing per lap), one less than I had hoped to do. The good news is that my nutrition plan worked great, and unlike in the past, after the race was over I was cogent and ready to eat the free hamburgers and hot dogs provided by the Cycleworks folks. As usual Tom got some great pictures. Here are a couple, check out his site for the rest.



Two weeks later Robb and I headed out for a long ride up to Branched Oak. I have always wanted to ride out that way, and I wasn't disappointed. Heading east-west by the lake, the hills were much bigger than what I was riding east of Lincoln. Very fun, and an area that I will be exploring much more often in the near future.

And We're Back

Well, a month six weeks later and my blog is back from the dead. Lot's of new happenings, lots of rain, less riding. Look for some posts in the coming days summarizing whats gone on.

P.S. I didn't really want to get into it, but the reason for my absence was that Google mistakenly took my blog for a spam blog. Google's a big company and when you are trying to make an internet omelet of the size and quality that they're going for, sometimes you have to take some eggs away for six weeks. Anyway, its good to be back. Thanks Google!! (no sarcasm intended)