Crazy Dog

Sometimes she looks completely psycho, but anyone who has ever met her knows otherwise. Goofball.

Workout

Sleep Intervals: On a couch or chair, curl up into a ball and drift off. While asleep, wake up to the crying of your baby every 2-3 minutes. Do 6-10 of these starting a new one every 3-5 minutes after warming up. Heart rate will vary from resting rate to Zone 4. Cool down by watching Italian soccer highlights, stretch.

Things change when you have a baby. I haven't ridden for 3 weeks. I'm gonna try to run and ride a bit next week. Sleep would be great too.

Autumn

First hard-freeze of the year overnight. The leaves are dropping so fast it sounds like it's raining.
It's time for a new camera. The batteries last about 10 minutes and then die. Managed a couple of shots before the shutdown.

Week 1

Jen wants to take his picture with the gorilla to see how much he grows. So, here's the first one, at 1 week old.
Zoe is really into Owen. She can't see into the bassinet but her nose comes right to the edge. Anytime Owen makes a sound, Zoe goes over to check him out, then she comes to get me to let me know he's doing something. She's snuck in a few face licks when Owen's been on my lap. She's a good big sister.

Home!

We finally got to bring Owen home last night. If felt so good to not have to go back to the hospital today (especially not having to walk through the cloud of cigarette smoke to get in the main entrance). I will miss the nurses who took great care of us, but not the chairs I had to sleep on. Thanks to the doctors, too, but we all know the nurses do the gruntwork.

Oct 21st

Sunday has been a good day for Owen. His IV was removed last night and he's been eating better. Jen was discharged yesterday but we spent the night at the hospital so we could feed him and hang out. The doctor didn't do rounds until after Jen was initially sent home, so we don't know when Owen can come home, but we should have a better idea later this afternoon/early evening after the doctor is by.

Zoe is going crazy, wondering why we haven't been home and why I keep coming and going. She got to smell a baby blanket yesterday and was pretty excited. I'm sure they will be best friends.

Owen

Saturday was a little better for Owen. He's been feeding better and a little more alert. We are staying at the hospital tonight to do feedings. I'll update tomorrow after we have a chance to talk with the pediatrician.

Friday's Owen Report

Little guy is still a sleep machine. He did wake up this morning and tried eating for 10 minutes. Then around 11:30 he was a little more active and ate for about 20 minutes, so that was encouraging. His glucose levels are now in the 80's and his breathing is better so they took off the pulse oxymeter. Still has the IV and is on the monitor, but he's improving. Jen's being discharged tomorrow, but we will still be at the hospital quite a bit until we can bring Owen home (which will probably not be for a few more days).

Thanks for the phone calls, emails and visits. Jen will try to catch up on emails in the next few days. I will try to post some more photos tonight, depending on what time I get home and how tired I am.

Baby update

Things are still about the same with Owen: sleeping constantly and still not eating. He did try a bit, but promptly fell back asleep. Hopefully he'll wake up a bit tomorrow. Mom's okay. Pretty sore from the surgery and pretty tired, but gradually getting back to normal. She says thanks to everyone who has commented or emailed.

Owen

Can you tell I'm smiling behind the surgical mask?
Owen's been sleeping most of the day. He had a rough start, so it's not surprising he's tired. I know Jen and I are. He's got an IV hooked up to his head (which looks way worse than it is) to make sure his blood sugar levels are correct.

Owen Harold Van Ert

30+ hours of labor, 2-1/2 hours of pushing with no luck, so Jen had a c-section. Found out the umbilical cord was wrapped around him several times and kept him from coming out the natural way. Everyone's a bit tired. Jen and Owen are doing well now, recovering.

8 pounds, 1 ounce
20" long

Still Waiting...

The stork appears to be in a holding pattern. Today is the due-date, and so far no signs of delivery. We have an appointment tomorrow and will schedule a day to induce if necessary. So, he's coming out one way or the other in the next few days. Stay tuned...

No Baby Yet

Still no action on the delivery front. Today the doctor said if he's not here by Tuesday it's time to induce. Monday is the due date, so we're still on schedule, but Jen wouldn't mind getting the pregnancy part over with asap.

Groß in Deutschland

Apparently I got some work published in a German book on logo design. I'm trying to get a copy of it to see what they selected (should be nice and spendy between the Euro conversion and shipping). They said they are also interested in one of my websites for an upcoming book in 2008. Prosit!

http://www.zeixs.de/logo.html

Nursery Update

After enduring another IKEA adventure (love the furniture, checkout line not-so-much) I got the replacement part for the crib and put it together. Picked up some mobiles, rugs and a couple of toys. We've got a rocking chair to put in here and an awesome ceiling lamp I need to install, then all we need is the baby. As with everything I do around the house, Zoe supervised.

Nursery Update

No more races + rain + impending due date + coffee = progress. I got the nursery painted, trim and baseboard in and the changing table put together. I'm going to replace the window trim and someday refinish the ugly floor. Crib has a gacked headboard, so I gotta make a trip to the big blue box (Ikea) to get a replacement. Gonna pick up some cool stuff for the room while there.

Photos

Two of Dana's photos from Saturday. Gotta say, I think she should be the official series photographer. Her shots are great and she moves around the course to get different perspectives. Dana's shots really capture the spirit of the events and she posts monster resolution, non-watermarked files for FREE! Go Dana!
Check them out here.

MNSCS#10, Jail Trail

Season finale in St. Cloud. It was a weird race for me, as I really didn't have much to race for points-wise, and I pretty much just came to ride.

Race starts and I get my best jump off the line of the year. I was where I wanted to be towards the end of the prologue, but soon realized it didn't matter as there was a waiting line to go into the singletrack. We came back through the start/finish to start the first lap, and Jamison was right behind me. My goal was to pace him into the singletrack and let him get around me. He went by and I let off the gas a bit to recover.

I was riding much better than I had the week before when we came to preride, but it didn't matter as several singlespeeders and a few others wouldn't yield the trail. Pretty much the rest of my race consisted of being stuck behind someone in the singletrack, working like a dog to pass them in the doubletrack only to get stuck behind the next guy. I'd have paid an extra $32 for one big, nasty climb just to have a place to drop some people. Flat and twisty is not my thing.

Last lap I'm still feeling pretty good, but in the expert section a guy goes down right in front of me and jams me up. 5 guys go around us and I'm screwed. (Not blaming the dude, it's a super tight corner with a handlebar width to fit through, I didn't make it the first time through either.) I fly as fast as I can through the final loop and try to finish strong. I can hear someone right on me so I gun it. I took a corner way too hot but somehow pulled it back before nailing a tree, and got a "Nice save!" from the guy behind me. I was able to hold him off at the finish, but it really didn't matter. 15th place. 8 places separated by 30 seconds (traffic jams killed me). Jamison had a nice race, I think he got 6th.

So, I think I'll end up 5th overall for the second year in a row. Congrats to Brian and Jason for killing us all year and to Kevin for coming on strong at the end. Despite just missing out on my goal of top 3, it was a fun year. Looking forward to 2008.

Shanghaied

Top design is mine (view of 2 one-liter boots + insert), bottom is a recently-discovered Chinese knock-off in a 2-liter size. Nice.

Theo Wirth

Rode Theo Wirth yesterday for the first time. It's definitely a single-speeder's course. No climbing and nothing really technical (at least on the "A" loop, I didn't hit the "B" loop). There's a rock section (photo above from MORC) and a few other little rocks and log piles, but it's mostly tight, twisty singletrack. It's fast and pretty fun. If I lived closer I'd probably ride it more, but if I'm going to drive somewhere to ride (which I have to do no matter what) I think I'd probably go to Leb, Battle Creek or Elk River instead. If you need a place to go crank out laps and work on cornering (my main reason for checking it out, based on Jamison's advice), or don't have time to drive to one of the "destination" trails in the Metro, Wirth is good place to get a quick ride in. MORC did a nice job, as usual.

B to the ONK

Rode from Woodbury, through Afton to Prescott, back to Battle Creek and Woodbury. 50 miles. Felt great climbing the Coulee, then started feeling bad. From Prescott the rest of the way back I was in major crisis mode. I just had no energy whatsoever. I could spin and for some reason I could still pace on the climbs but I had no acceleration or tempo. I felt decent at Lebanon Hills on Saturday (other than bouncing off the rocks), so who knows. It turned into a death march for me. I inhaled a Clif Bar and bottle of Endurox in about 30 seconds once I got back to the car, so I'm going to chalk it up to not eating enough. Two chicken mole enchilladas, beans, mountain of ice cream and liters of water later, I feel better. We'll see how this week's rides progress.

Bees

Racing is hard enough without being attacked by bees. Left ankle is so swollen I can't bend it. Right one is gaining on it. Lot's of people got stung, some of us multiple times. I've got several. They must like the taste of Accelerade and PowerGel. Ray Nickles got nailed. Check out the Mickey Mouse hand here.

MNSCS#9, Laddie's Loppet

Most technical course in the series, hands down. Top and bottom photos are from the infamous "Lakeside Drops". It doesn't look like much from a photo, but it's about a 12-15 foot drop that goes straight down to the edge of the lake and takes a 90 degree left. If you manage to not go over the bars before the bottom, you've still got to make that turn or you go into the drink. Naturally, it's the number one spectator spot on the course. The vultures are out in full-force, waiting for the endo. Personally, I think this is the easiest drop on the whole course. It gets a whole lot scarier back in the woods, with steep, twisty drops between trees and over roots and rocks. Fortunately I made it through the paparazzi both laps. I didn't fare so well on some of the other sections. I went sailing over the bars once but managed to grab a tree to keep from killing myself. I spun out on a couple of technical climbs and I got off and ran 2 incredibly technical drops on the backside of the course both laps. There are no style points, so I'd rather run instead of crash.

It's a tough course, did I mention that? Guys were flying, falling and flailing everywhere. I finally got into as much of a groove as I could and got a gap. The lead group was gone, but I didn't have anyone right on my ass, so I could relax a bit on tactics and focus more on riding. It seemed to help as my second lap was much better. I cleared pretty much everything I tried to ride and knew where I was better off doing some cyclocross. I had some issues with my pedals, which cost me some time but at this point the podium was gone anyway. Somebody must have kicked up a beehive, because I got stung at least three times on both legs. Feeling the burn had a whole new meaning. It actually woke me up a bit. I let one guy pass since I knew I'd hold him up but other than that, I held my ground. I was able to finish strong and somehow wound up 5th.

Not bad considering how poorly I felt and rode the day before. I was 90% sure I was going to drive back home on Saturday, I just wasn't feeling it. I got maybe an hour or two of very interrupted sleep in the tent on Saturday night. To make matters worse, there was a power outage in the buildings and the Xcel Energy trucks were out digging and working in the campground at 4:00am. The only reason I even lined up was because I had already paid for it. My plan was to stay upright on Lap 1 and see if I had anything in the tank for Lap 2. Adrenaline is a powerful drug. One race to go, and since Kevin won today, I'm now in 4th. If Ryan shows up at St. Cloud, I'm pretty much looking at 5th for the season. Oh well.

Kudos to the Richards family and Maplelag Resort for the best event of the season. The course is masochistic, but the hospitality is unbeatable. Getting a call-up to the starting line was pretty sweet, too. Thanks to Skinnyski.com for the photos. That otb shot is an instant classic. Glad it wasn't me getting posterized.

When it rains...

Snapping a rear derailleur last week wasn't enough, so I had to smack a tree and tweak an XTR brake lever at Elk River on Sunday as well. Luckily, Curly was able to bend it back into functionality again, so I didn't have to shell out for a new one. If you're looking for good mechanics, go to Now Bikes in Arden Hills and ask for Mike or Curly.

Mini Man Utd kit

My wife rules! Baby's gonna be rockin' the full-on Manchester United kit. Real deal, direct from the UK. Awesome.

24 Hours of Afton

No race for me, gotta focus on the MNSCS. Got a few pics tonight of the first 2 laps. Curly, busting out the wheelie. Brian from Peace Coffee is drilling it on lap one. Clayton and Matt are rockin' it solo (and giving me crap for not doing the same). Jeremy near the end of lap one. Gnome base camp. I wish I was racing, but I'm happy to be sleeping in my own bed tonight. More photos and updates tomorrow.

MNSCS

Despite a complete meltdown at Afton, a disappointing race at Red Wing and an exploding derailleur at the Powder Monkey, I'm sitting in third. Ryan will definitely bump me to 4th and Kevin will probably bump me to 5th. I'm skipping 24 Hours of Afton and doing the last two MNSCS races instead. I've still got an outside shot at Top 4, plus we've still got team points on the line.

DNF

Derailleur Not Function. Duluth Not Favorite. Did Not Finish.

Second year in a row I've crashed out of this race. Guy in front of me goes over a log pile in front of a bridge. He knocks a log loose (which comes flying towards me) and goes down. I avoid the log, get around him and onto the bridge, but my momentum carries me too far left. Back wheel slips over the edge, derailleur snaps and I go down down hard onto a shingle covered bridge. Bike is toast and my arm is shredded. I was 5th place in the middle of Lap 2 and feeling good. I had about a 2 minute gap on the guys behind me, and I was reeling in a couple guys in front of me. I'm still pissed off today. I know there's nothing you can do about that kind of stuff, but it's frustrating as hell to finally be feeling good and riding well on perhaps the toughest course in the series only to have your bike explode.

So, weekend summary:
Saturday pre-ride: gash/dent shin on rock (the kind of pain that makes you feel like puking)
Driving-5 hours, $50 in gas
Hotel - $175
Meals- $50
Race - $32
Derailleur replacement/hangar repair (if hangar can be bent back) - $250-300
You do the math, I don't want to know.

Then driving home, driver's side windshield wiper literally explodes. There's metal scraping the glass and I can't see. So we had about a 20 minute detour to deal with that. Then at North Branch there's an accident so we are stop and go for about 15 minutes. I haul ass and make it to the bike shop in Shoreview at 4:58 and they are all leaving and have locked up for the day. Best day ever. Oh, I won a Trek baseball hat and a Giro water bottle at the race, so I guess that makes it worthwhile. Best $600 water bottle ever.

Welch photos

Some more pics from Sunday. Thanks Dana!

MNSCS # 7, Welch

Always fun to race the former NORBA national course. We prerode on Saturday in a monsoonal downpour, and most of the course was unridable. It rained more Saturday night, so I feared the worst for Sunday. The course was actually in pretty good shape, with some muddy spots where you had to run up.

It was a mass start of 98 riders that starts up a climb. I didn't want to go too hard on the prologue lap, but I didn't want to get stuck in any traffic jams either. So I found a good tempo and hit the singletrack about 10 back. I passed a few people who went too hard and by the first big climb on lap 1 I was doing okay. Some of the singletrack was still greasy, so the first lap was all about trying to find the best lines through, and knowing when to get off and run. I misjudged a couple of sections which cost me a bit. Then came "the Wall". This is a super steep climb straight up the ski run. I couldn't find a dry line through it so I had to run the middle section. I was able to recover a bit in the singletrack and was settling into a good pace, feeling good on a technical climb when my front wheel suddenly went sideways and I went down. No injuries or mechanicals, but it cost valuable time.

As I rolled through for Lap 2 I was in 14th overall, with no idea where I was in my age group. I was really suffering on the first big climb, but managed to pass a couple of guys. Had to walk part of the Wall again, but was able to ramp it up after that. I got passed coming out of the singletrack and played leapfrog with another guy for the last half of the lap. First guy held me off, but I was able to pull away from the other guy on the last climb and passed a singlespeeder on the downhill switchbacks. 5th place in my age group, 13th out of 98 overall. Next week, Spirit Mountain.

Photo from Skinnyski.com (thanks!)

Disco is Dead

If the most dominant team in cycling for the past 9 years can't find a sponsor, who will be next? I'm hoping this trend doesn't trickle down to the local club level. But right now, who can blame anyone for not wanting to be associated with the embarrassment that was the Tour this summer?

24 Hours of Afton

I think I'm in. I have to decide by tomorrow to hit registration cutoff or else the price goes way up day of race.

Doors

I've got 5 out of 6 doors installed, and one side of the trim. It looks so much better already. I have to notch out the last door jamb to fit the attic stairs. I'm not looking forward to that.

Todays Doper Update

TDF winner Alberto Contador has announced he will be giving a press conference on Friday. Will it be Floyd Landis all over again? Story on VeloNews. Andrey Kashechkin tested positive for homologous blood doping and was suspended from Astana. Astana is making T-Mobile look like choir boys. I'm still waiting for Kloden to get busted.

Am I crazy?

I've been having serious thoughts of doing the 24 Hours of Afton solo. The sleep deprivation would be good training for when the baby gets here in October. Am I crazy? We'll see how my next two races go. I will probably not decide until a few days before the race.

2 Months to Go

Zoe keeps sniffing Jen's stomach. I think she knows somethings going on.

35W Bridge Collapse

http://flickr.com/photos/s4xton/sets/72157601157770382/

These photos are unreal. Having driven over this bridge literally thousands of times, it definitely hits home. Especially considering the what ifs. What if my wife would have left work just a bit later than usual that day and her bus drove over the bridge at 6:00 instead of 5:00? Or what if I hadn't exited before the bridge since I was running late on my way downtown Wednesday? The last 3-4 times I've driven down for the Hill Ride on Wednesday evenings, I've pretty much flipped a coin as to whether or not I should take 35W to downtown or take 280. The last time I took the bridge, traffic crept from University to the Hiawatha exit, so this time since it was already 5:45, I decided to exit on 280. I made it across the river on Franklin Ave right about 6:00. God only knows what would have happened if I had just kept going south on 35W, just as I had so many times before.

On our ride, I kept hearing people's cell phones ringing, but thought nothing of it. Heard lots of sirens, thought nothing of it. When we rolled back to Minneapolis on River Road and saw masses of people out walking, I thought there must be some kind of event going on. Once back at the Birchwood at about 8:00 I heard the bridge had collapsed and there were dozens of cars in the river. As I made my way out of Seward and across Lake Street I saw entire neighborhoods gathered in front yards listening to their radios. State Patrol was out in force on 35W north of 36, shutting down the freeway and setting up detours. My cell phone was useless with the volume of calls, and Jen was at home wondering for 3 hours which way I had taken downtown.

I got home around 9:00 and Jen gave me a big hug when I walked in the door. I saw the footage on TV and then heard what time it happened. That's when it all began to sink in. Absolutely insane.

Holy Sh!t

My wife's bus was on this bridge an hour before this happened. I was driving down 35W on my way to the Birchwood for the Hill Ride at 6:00. I decided to take Hwy 280 to avoid the traffic by the Metrodome. I'd like to give a shout out to my guardian angel.
Photo from NY Times