The Punkettes or Death Squad 2500

The big boys get to race under the Death Squad 5000 label, the girls have Punk Rock Cycling, so what does that leave for a couple of pumped up 10yr old girls (hey, we will be 11 in April).

We took the girls on a bike shop shopping trip this weekend and the girls soaked it all in. Since we don't live in the mountains, Tom's hope of having them on skis 40+ days a year isn't panning out. Fortunately, the girls really enjoy riding their bikes. Tom has convinced them of riding a day of RAGBRAI with him this summer (on the tandem). Thus we had to work on getting them the proper attire.

They had the shorts, gloves and helmets, but needed shoes and jersey's. We found a good deal on a couple of jerseys at Bike World and then headed down to Rassy's to get some shoes and socks. As usual, Sterling went out of his way to take care of the girls. They liked all of the attention and found some fantastic shoes. Now Tom will be teaching them the finer points of clipless pedals (on the tandem only for this summer.)

They were so excited about the purchases that they had to play dress up once we got home. I have to admit that it was great to see them so pumped up. I hope to bring them out to the PRC rides on the tandem as they were really jealous that I got to ride with the ladies last Wednesday night. This is what you will see chasing you down in Denmans this summer. If you see these looks, just pull over because they will likely use your body as a berm or a jump. Come on....just look at the intensity.

Modeling is not always serious business.

Back in the Saddle Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iBs-rClCWs&feature=related
I loaded up the road bike and joined the PRC girls (and a few guys) for the Moffit lake loop. It was a nice and slow ride as they were scouting the ride for future large group rides and were talking through the logistics. That was fine by me as I was just wanting to get some miles in the legs and test the lungs a few times on the hills.

Finished with around 25miles and then met Rick and Courtney for some tacos at Giffs. Apparently we just missed a few of the normal taco ride guys.

Thanks for the comments on the previous post. My legs feel good, but the better plan is to stay in the Sport class for the 1st race or two and see how I feel about moving up.

I hope to get out on the bike again on Friday and then Sunday. Saturday is looking cold and snowy at this point.

Spring Fitness or lack of......

About 3.5 weeks to go until my first planned race of the season at Sylvan Island. I'm somewhat disappointed that I haven't kept the fitness that I gained last year. On one hand I'm 10 pounds lighter than last year and not that far behind in mileage. I just don't feel like I have any training. I feel like I still have very strong legs and a good solid base of fitness. If we get some good weather then I can get some sprints in to get the heart used to high beats/minute.

My real dilema is which class to race in....normally I have raced in the sport class. I believe that I need to move up to help grow the sport (a thought for another future post). Can I survive an expert race early in the the season with little training? Can I get into shape to compete the rest of the year? I certainly don't expect to be pushing the front group, but I don't want to be DFL either. Is there much competition for the 40+ expert class? Maybe I should singlespeed it ;)

Suggestions?

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Spring Break recap

Our trip to Seattle/Bellingham was a blast. It was a quick trip (Thurs-Tues), but it was probably the correct amount of time. We spent the 1st few days with my youngest brother Tim in Renton. The last few days with the middle brother Todd in Bellingham. My parents also drove out from Montana, so it was like a minature family reunion. The best part was watching the kids enjoy their cousins. Kelly and Lily are Todd/Kristina's girls and our girls really enjoy visiting with them. In this pic, it is Kelly, Zoe, Maddie, Lily, Hannah.

We took some time to take a family picture. Many attempts and this was the best that we could do with a self-timer. In this pic, left-right, top to bottom: Tom, Holly, Hiliar, Kristina, Tim, Zoe, Grampa Tom, Gramma Dee, Austin, Todd, Hannah, Lily, Kelly, Madison.

A highlight of the trip was driving down to Olympia to see my gramma (my mom's mom). I last saw her at christmas 07 and wasn't too sure that I would see her again. She has been blind for the past 10 years or so and age is catching up with her, but it was great to have a short visit. After the visit, we met my mom's sisters/husbands and kids at a restaurant. Another great way to make the most of our short trip to the west coast. It was great to see everyone!

Hannah and Zoe

Madison and Zoe

More pictures from the trip on our Flickr page.

Spring Break - return trip

It was a good 5 day trip to Seattle to visit family and friends. We packed an awful lot of visiting into this trip and it was great to see everyone.
Hannah decided to catch up on her sleep on the Seattle to Mpls leg.

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Spring break in Seattle

1st day of spring break in Seattle. It was a nice sunny day and after arriving we went downtown to the flagship REI store. This is a pic of Maddie on the 65ft climbing wall. She did good but her sister made it up higher. We are here until Tuesday and will be visiting most of the relatives.

High School Cycling Clubs?

I'm probably preaching to the choir on this subject since many of the readers are active CITA members, but who has thoughts and ideas or time to assist in getting this off the ground?
To re-hash the basic concept, I would like to create high school cycling clubs in the Des Moines metro. I counted 14 schools in the CIML + DSM Christian. I've talked to several people involved with various schools and think that if we pushed the enviromental/community support potential that we could get this off the ground.
What I need if for people to step-up and volunter to take on an individual school.
I'm traveling for the 1st half of March so I will be trying to organize a kick-off meeting for around the 20th. When I get home and have full internet access, I'll post to a wider audie ance via the normal Yahoo user groups.

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