Jansen's 18th Birthday.....Lindner Style!

 

 

Jansen and I had planned to head to Arizona to ride with some friends over spring break, but I mentioned building a climbing wall this spring and Mitch at The Gear Revival, our favorite place to shop in Atlanta  http://www.thegearrevival.com/ , had the t-nuts all ready for us, so it felt like we were meant to stay and build!

 

 

So, I canceled our AZ car rental and found a basic design for a free-standing wall on the internet and Jansen re-worked the plan to fit the height and width we desired.  He added braces and worked out all the measurements an angles. 

 

We were looking at a climbing height of 18 feet and width of 8 feet.  I hoped to have it up by Jansen's 18th birthday and we could have a bonfire and night climb.  That gave us one week!

 

 



 

We started by removing two trees that were in our space....

....and we took out the fence, too.....oooops.....

Then we were off to pick up two loads of lumber.  Home Depot rawks!  (making good use of the bike rack)

We built the lower frame first and carried it easily to the backyard near where the wall would be raised.  Then we built the ceiling frame and Jansen drilled 234 holes in the plywood panels and I gave each panel three coats of clear stain.

Then it was time for me to go to off to work, while Jansen placed 234 t-nuts in the holes.  (oh, yeah, I'm sure his back was sore)  Next, he attached the panels to the ceiling of the bouldering wall, since it would be too high for us to reach with ladders, once it was at it's full height.  We left the panels off the lower wall to reduce the weight of the wall when lifted.

The ceiling was heavy, but we managed to slowly carry it to the back and place it near the site of the wall.  (see the chickens in the lower left corner, helping us)

 

We made a quick run to REI to pick up a crash pad with our discount/dividend, then ran next door and found.........

 

this little gem.................nothing to do with climbing, but it was super fun listening to our one album!

The boys tested the crash pad that night from the back deck.  Oh, yeah!!

 

Now it was the second weekend and time to put the braces in place and raise the wall.  We connected the two walls and Jansen placed as many braces as he could, then we waited for Shey to get home to help us move it in place.

Shey, Everett, Jansen and I spent the rest of the evening slowly raising the wall.  Jane stopped by and brought us a gift from Wayne.  Yum!!!

 The wall was super heavy and scary, but we did it, just as it was getting dark.

The next morning.

From the front.

Jim stopped by with his climbing pants on and tried out the wall.  He helped place some panels and had birthday cake.

Placing holds.

Now it was bonfire time!!

Family and friends.

Jafer.

Jansen.

Shey

Pizza, coconut cake, pumpkin ale ice cream.  Hangin' by the fire.

 

 

 

Jansen put a ton of work into the design and construction of this wall and he did a magnificent job!  His work ethic is amazing and he is so much fun to hang around.  Climbing at night was a blast!!  Thanks so much man and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

Bob Dylan + Old Crow Medicine Show = Damn good song!

 

Bob Dylan started it, Old Crow Medicine Show finished it and this has always been my favorite of cover of "Wagon Wheel"!

 



 

And here is an original......

 

 

Growing up.....



 

 

 

 

 

These guys are grown and touring now!  



The Pankratz Family

My oldest brother, Keith, lives in Germany, but was bringing his family to visit Mom and Dad in TX.  We haven't seen them in a couple years, so we were all excited to get a chance to fly to Boerne for a quick visit.

The weekend started off like this:

 And ended like this!

Keith & MiNa married 19 years with their sons Kevin and Ethan
Kris & Amy married 24? years with their daughters Rylie and Kinleigh
Mom & Dad (Roderick and Allison) married 49 years!!!!!!
Shey & Kari married 22 years with our sons Everett and Jansen


Well, Mom and Dad must have done something right.  They set an amazing example for us to follow and I am so happy to be a part of this family.  They are the best parents and grandparents you could ever have.



Keith, Kari, Mom, Dad and Kris

Kinleigh, Rylie, Kevin, Everett, Ethan and Jansen

Rylie, Everett, Jansen, Kinleigh, Kevin and Ethan

The grandchildren are lined up in order of age.

Rylie has graduated from university and is working in Boerne as a graphic designer.

Everett is attending university and works at our bicycle shop on the weekends.

Jansen and Kinleigh are 3 days apart, are both seniors in high school and will attend university in the fall.

Kevin is in grammar school and can build some amazing things with legos and is very computer savvy.

Ethan is also in elementary school and is not only learning how to juggle, but is quite a talented athlete.

It was so much fun to visit with Keith and the boys!  All the boys were busy collecting bugs, leaves, rocks, playing hide and seek, tag and going for walks to catch up on all they have been doing.  I wish we had more time to spend with Rylie and Kinleigh, but perhaps next visit. 

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Shey rides the Huracan 300

Shey drove to Florida to ride the Huracan 300 again this year.  We had a great time last year and enjoyed the route.  This year the route would be backwards with minor changes, but Shey felt he could take a good bit of time off his record from 2012 even if he wasn't familiar with the track.

Jason was going this year, too, as well as Eddie.  So, he would have great company to hang out with at the campground, which is reallly nice. 

Everyone had a great ride and Jason, Eddie and Shey played leap frog at times and caught each other at times.  Shey had chaffing from the shorts that had been so muddy a few weeks before.  He had only washed them twice and the silt leftover rubbed him quite sore.

The deep sand was crazy again this year.  There were alligators, interesting Floridians, a night river crossing and cooler temperatures.  (cold for Florida)

His legs felt really good in the end, but there is nothing better than doing something epic with great guys and the three rode in together rather than sprinting for it. 

The funny thing is hearing the outside world of soccer mom/dad sports leaking into the mountain bike world and fussing about how they should have sprinted and there should be only one winner.....well mountain biking makes it's own rules and there are few times in life when you can perform as a pretty amazing athlete and have friends by your side.  Take it when you can, I say and enjoy it.  There is much solo about mountain biking and we love it, but I think facebook and forum posters mistakenly think we care more about their ideas of what a race should be than we do.  We just ride what we do, make decisions on the fly, soak up the outdoors and thank the universe for allowing us to do so.

Congrats to Jason, Eddie and Shey on a job well done and a little broken record to boot!

Love you all!

Kari L.

Jansen Salutatorian and SAT

We found out that Jansen was not only Salutatorian, but also STAR student, which means he has the highest SAT score at his high school.  His graduating class will probably be about 400 students.  Everett and I were going to breakfast together and as we walked by a newspaper stand he said, "Hey there's Jansen".  Cool.  

We have been touring campuses.  GA Tech

 Emory

And we will visit Rochester soon.


Only a few weeks left.  I can't believe it!  I have told the boys a million times, but we are so thankful to have them in our lives!

Jansen has been so much fun to have as a son.

He works hard at everything he does and he is kind and fun to hang around.

He has totally been swamped with work this year, but I hope we get a chance to take off on another adventure soon!

Very happy for you and proud of all you have accomplished, Jansen!!

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Home Projects and Racing (of course)

I wanted to paint the french doors.  I thought I would take the plastic grid off to paint and a couple screws were stuck, so I asked Jansen to get them out.  He did and the whole window fell out.....luckily it didn't break....and luckily Shey was not home!

I hate painting so I put in some great tunes:

And had this guy bring me some yummy iced coffee.

After painting I printed and hung some new/old photos.  Here is a cool duo of the boys riding mtb in 2004 and again in 2012.  We have had so much fun together!!!

When I finished with the doors, the sunny day was calling.  So, off on a gravel road ride with Jim.  Fun!

 Andy Johnston promoted the Winter Thaw series of races at Yellow River this year and the first two were COLD.  That last one was sunny and warm.  Wes was on spring break and stopped in to race.  (not on that bike)

 Jansen and Everett ran and hiked while Shey and I raced, then we hung out in the sun.

 Shey

Jafer

Me

I smell new shoes!

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Southeast Bike Expo 2013

The Southeast Bike Expo was a hit again this year!  The number of bikes available for demo was AWESOME!  

Everett worked at the Specialized tent and they had demos flying off the racks!  Jansen, Shey and I took advantage of the cold weather on the first two days of the event to ride several demos before the crowds would hit on sunny Sunday.  I loved the Scott and Jamis 650b that I rode.  Plus there were bamboo bikes and fat tire bikes.

 Frisbee champions were out en masse!!

 But, these guys were there, also...........

 Bikes of all shapes and sizes!

 We even ran into the Sock Man!

 Snyder Cycles was there showing the big companies how it should be done.

 Cleve and Not Cleve made it out to hassle the crowd.

It was cool to catch up with Eric, since the boys and I didn't hit any cyclocross races this year.  He is a great industry rep and can answer any questions I throw at him.

 Jim invaded the Thomson tent and acted like a rep.

Anyway, it was a great weekend for demos.  You had a huge selection of bikes from at least 12 different manufacturers.  Can't wait until next year!

Shey and Jansen are 1 hour into a 6 hour race at Tribble Mill.  I am home nursing Indy after his surgery.  Everett is working at the bike shop.  Hmmm, 6 hrs of playing in the woods sounds like much more fun than 3 hours of trainer!

Jansen is to the right of the tree on the far left and Shey is three guys to the right of him.  Best of luck to them both!



Kari Lindner

Indy goes under the knife....

Indy and I have matching lumps.  I have a cyst on my wrist and he has a huge mass on his leg.  He needed to have his removed.

But first, he wants a tummy rub.

Our first visit was full of anxiety and we both cried, but the veterinarian was cool and took good care of Indy.  Now it was time to schedule the surgery.  I dropped him off on Friday morning and when I called that afternoon, they said all was well.  Jansen went with me to pick him up.  He has a hot pink bandage......everyone thinks he is a girl!  Poor girly-man.

He was pretty doped up when we brought him home.

He passed out immediately and then woke up several times during the night, but is doing okay today.

The only bummer is that I had to skip racing with the guys today, because it would be too cold for Indy to come with us for a six hour race.   But, I have a trainer, movies, pizza and beer.  It will be a good day.

We should get the test results from the mass in a couple weeks.

Kari Lindner

Why you should check the weather forecast.

We all planned to go to Pete's cabin this weekend, but Everett needed to work and Jansen had a ton of school/scholarship work to do, so it was just Shey and me.  Cool, that doesn't happen often.  I didn't check the weather, but assumed it would be cold.  Before we hit Ellijay, it started to snow.  Shey was less than thrilled, I was really excited!

Grumpy

We couldn't make it to the cabin due to the icy road, so we parked down the road and carried our stuff up on foot.

Pete's cabin is awesome and the small heater heats the whole place up in no time!  The hot tub was awesome with snow coming down around us.   It snowed all night.

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and headed out on our bikes.  The trails are only a couple miles down the road.

Shey hit Green Mt then Stanley Gap.  He said there was 5 inches of snow at the top that no one had touched!  I wandered around Green Mountain, some fs roads and Aska trail looking for new loops to ride.  It was an awesome ride.

I met a hiker out here with his dog.  The dog was having a blast in the snow!

Great weekend!
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This is what happens when we are gone:

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