Ridin' in the Rain

Molly emailed and wanted to catch up this weekend sometime. We hit the horse park on Friday and she couldn't make it, so we planned on Stone Mt on Sunday.

Rainy Sunday. I love to ride in the rain. There is nothing better than a putting on dry clothes and a soft beanie after a rainy ride or a long cold ride.





Kindle carpooled with us and Molly caught up with us after her run. Mo slipped me her yummy baked treats, which are the best in the world and totally worth the trip to Stone Mt.!!




This was a cool ride for Kindle, since this was the start of it all for her. Her first road ride with the girls was at Stone Mt. on a cold evening. She has made many circles around the mountain since then!

So, we rode a few laps, then came home and hit the sofa!

Building the Salsa II

Jansen cracked his Salsa at camp this past summer, so he's moving into Shey's old Salsa for the winter.

He has spent the last two weeks building it up. It's cool that Shey and Eric have shown him so much about bike wrenching and he can build and work on our bikes for us.





Notice the super cool pink Middleburn cranks.







Sweet red Cane Creek headset.






Big Foot socks for the serious mechanic.

Indy is always around to help out.

Now the other three of us need to get ours together.........

Christmas = gas mask

The Bettys gave us a nice Christmas gift.

A monster egg.

We are fortunate enough to enjoy our close family and friends throughout the year and we are thankful for them every day. I can't express how amazing our friends and family are. They are always helping us with whatever we need and their support is constant.

Our Christmas drive:

On our family drive this year, I actually parked in a parallel parking spot. Yes, I know, I stink at parking, but there was no one around. Bam! Right between the lines....the guys were so surprised that I had to take a picture.

Our Christmas walk with the dogs.

I am thankful every day to have two super cool teenagers to share my life with.....and here is one in a gas mask.

Cool pocket watch... now he won't have to ask Adam and Lamar what time it is every 3 minutes.

Shey is so fine.......

Looks like we ran out of wrapping paper, according to the note:

On His birthday, I always make sure I have done what I can to help out his children for the year, then I ask Him to tell me what else I can do for them. (through church, the soup kitchen, the shelter, community service and cycling) He never fails to give me a list.....a LONG list. Here we go again!

Weekends are good!

I forgot the camera on Sunday, so I will replace with retro pics..........

Saturday: All four of us hit the road for a fun ride together. I'm using Everett's cross bike, as I am without a road or cross bike for now, and I like it a lot. I turned back to make it a two hour ride, while the boys went on for three. On my way back, I saw that one of my favorite dogs was 'not moving on the side of the road' and that was a bummer. I wish these guys were treated with more respect and as part of their owner's family.






Sunday: Aimee, Kate and I met in Roswell for a trail/run hike. After a couple hours, we walked to Kate's favorite BBQ place and pigged out. Yum! It was nice to catch up on things other than Sorella. (I can't believe we are on our fourth kit order and division III club of the year!)







I am hoping our next in-town adventure is a trip to Trader Joe's with Mo..........

Everett's Gallery

One of the cool things about living in Georgia is that you can make really great clay in your own back yard.

Clay, mixed by the boys, to be used as mortar for a stone wall in the garden.

Everett mixes his own clay for his sculptures.

He can make these small, building bricks.

I love Everett's imagination.

And his sense of humor!

This is a combination of three famous pieces.

He like to use a wide variety of mediums. (I love this one)





Including blacksmithing.

And Halloween Costume design.

Join the Circus!

Jansen bought a unicycle a few weeks ago and has been riding it in the back yard.

Our yard is very slanted, so it's been interesting to watch him learn to ride it.

Just after he said that you "really couldn't fall that hard on a unicycle" he slammed the ground pretty hard. But, he lands on his feet most of the time.

The chickens move for him, but the goats get in the way whenever they can. I mean, hey, you might as well make it a complete circus, right?

Note: pajamas all day long around here!

Grocery Shopping Can Be An Adventure!

First, let me say that we have Kindle to thank for the large numbers of B women racers in the cyclocross series this year. It was her active recruiting that saw 14 women on the line, ready to battle it out on the course.

Second, I also need to let you know that Kindle can get a little sidetracked..... alot of the time.


So, I texted her that I was running to the store to pick up a few groceries and I could swing by her house if she wanted to go.



We got to Kroger and locked up our bikes, then hit the Starbucks before the apples.

I am almost finished picking up "a few things" when Kindle gets really excited because they have a really good deal on these hams. Not small hams, but kinda big hams.

I tell her that there is no way I can fit one in my bag, but she is welcome to carry it in hers. She agrees and we pick up the 6.5 lb ham!


We weighed the bags when we got home. 20 lbs for Kindle

26 lbs for me. We will cherish the ham forever and Kindle was paid in fresh eggs from the backyard for courier services rendered.

The Moral of the Story? Don't take Kindle shopping unless you are prepared to carry a big ham!

Faster Mustache Santa's Little Messenger Race 2008

Some guys/gals came together a few years ago to create "Faster Mustache". This is a very cool group of cyclists who commute, ride for fun, race xc-track-road-cross and love everything cycling.

Their interests are varied, but each one that I have met has been incredibly fun to ride with and talk to.



So, one of their guys, Jason, has created this awesome Toys For Tots alley cat race in Atlanta. The info is here: http://toys4tots.fastermustache.org/

The race starts at Hurt Park on Edgewood Avenue. Jason hands out manifests and the guys/girls all race to pick up the toys.

Jason had everyone head to Outback Bikes for their first pick-up. Then, they could pick up the rest of the toys in any order.

The riders carried the toys back to the Elliott Street Deli & Pub, where a complimentary, frothy beverage was waiting for them.

Mike, at the pub, makes a mean turkey club sandwich and loves to share the history of the 100+ yr old building with you.

(pay no attention to the scary mermaid)

The cool thing is that people can buy toys to donate and they don't even have to take them anywhere.

They shop, enter their toy on the FM site, then sit back and relax as a messenger stops by to pick it up. Very cool idea, especially with this busy time of year.

The boys and I have not done one of these races, so we just scoped it out and rode the toys, we brought to donate, over to the pub. This was in the same area as the ING Marathon, so I did recognize some of the streets.
Once we rode around a bit and saw the sites, we chilled out at the pub and visited with the riders. I have seen Ben at so many races, and finally got a chance to talk to him. Very cool guy.

These two guys are really nice. Guy on left: I got to race single speed with him twice this year. He was fun and extremely nice! (hope we get to duke it out again next year!) Guy on right: bought a 2 feet tall stuffed penquin for the event and said he rode by someone who had the penguin's feet sticking out of his bag and over his head. He was nice enough to give us the low-down on all the in-town cool happenings, so we may head back that way soon to check it out.

All in all, I was glad that we skipped the cross nationals this year and headed in-town for this event. I hope we are able to help these guys out more, next year and increase the number of toys.