screwing it up some more...

just another thing to think about... from AFP via discovery.com: how human activity worsened the effects of the tsunamis...

and if you haven't already, go donate some money to the relief efforts...

is there any amount that i can donate that will feel like enough? is that possible?

for the birds...

my brother's team is out of the tournament, so today we drove 45 minutes southwest to myakka river state park... took an airboat tour to see the gators, but there weren't many about... the best part of the day was the bird walk, a 100' boardwalk out into the lake in a shallow area frequented by wading birds... for my first shot at shooting birds, or any wildlife, i think these are pretty good...

Tampa Sunbowl - Day 2

Tampa Sunbowl - Day 1

First day of the Tampa Sunbowl... My brother's team won their first game 4-2 and tied their second 0-0... here are a couple of my favorite shots from the day...

christmas at schaeffer farms...

christmas was, as it should be, good, with the family gathering for dinner on christmas eve this year, since my parents and brother had to fly down to tampa for a soccer tournament on christmas day proper... despite some chaos cause by my sister getting called in to work in the afternoon we had a great evening... warm and inviting in that great and intangible way that christmas is supposed to be...

i stayed the night at my parents and after breakfast, as they were getting ready to head to the airport i started to get ready to ride... they live a couple of miles from schaeffer farms, and 2 days of sub-freezing weather held he prospect of good riding conditions. i finally got up there around 1 and it was quickly apparent that conditions were not the best... in spite of the temperature staying below freezing the sun had warmed the trails enough to soften the surface of the more exposed parts of the trail... i stuck to the more sheltered parts of the trail and rode for and about an hour and half, huffing and wheezing in the winter air, alone... completely alone... for the only time i can remember i rode a full loop at schaeffer without seeing another soul... just a deer, some squirrels, and a few cows...

flew down to tampa today to meet up with my brother and parents... i haven't see my brother play for almost a year, so i'm looking forward to watching the games... i've also been tasked to videotape them to help with the college application/recruitment process. hopefully it'll be easy enough that i can get my dad to handle the camcorder for a couple of the games and i can shoot some stills...

capitol cross classic

I've been meaning to post these for a while, enjoy...

West Virginia Wilderness...

Help protect mountain biking in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest...

more slacking

yeah, another week of blog-slacking... pretty boring week: work/gym/home then repeat... looks like there's some decent riding on the horizon this weekend... fountainhead tommorow morning, with a potential pre-ride detour to shoot the implosion of the old convention center if i get up early enough... doesn't look like you'll be able to get close enough to get a good view... if the weather holds up for sunday, i think we're heading up to the 'shed...

various...

yeah, nothing here for a while, but there hasn't been a lot to write about... no riding last week, but The Hackensaw Boys played at the State Theatre on friday... great show, as usual, and finished with an all acoustic song at the end... the band had the house turn off all the mics, came right up to the edge of the state and we all crowded up and just stood and listened, in awe... i've never heard a crowd so quiet...

VO2Max test on saturday morning to get my heart rate zones to help out with training for next year, then Mitch & Amy's annual holiday cocktail party that night... fun, as always...

sunday... dry and sunny, a great day for a ride... but i was not riding, i was at work... we had to do a disaster recovery drill for one of our products... thankfully, it all went pretty smoothly and we were done earlier than expected.

time to start thinking about riding this weekend...

'cross weekend wrap

after yesterday's 5th i was looking forward to todays race in reston.. i've raced there before and the course has always been pretty hard, lots of climbs, plus a couple of technical sections and - most importantly - not that muddy... even after yesterday's 5th, given the amount of climbing i wasn't expecting a lot, maybe a top 20... probably go out strong at the start then slowly drif backwards for the rest of the race...

the course was pretty similar to the course i rode there last year, but with an extra trip up one of the climbs and a gravel pit and technical section... did a couple of pre-ride laps to check out the climbs then rode down to the start to line up...

the field was big and the start was pretty typical for me... i ended up in the top 20, hanging at the end of the lead pack... the 2 laps i slowly moved up, eventually getting into a group with kevin dillard of NCVC and a couple of other riders starting the 3rd and final lap... kevin came by me coming across the dam and so do another couple of riders... held close to the tail of this group around the flat section and then we hit the final grass climb... i attacked up the climb and passed and dropped the rider right ahead of me and make the turn onto the road for the finish... chain into the big ring and a couple cogs smaller in the back for the fast road downhill to the bottom of the finishing climb... get aero and keep pedaling and i'm within a couple yards of kevin with a 100 yards to go. sid lea is up with kevin but he sits up - turns out it was chain issues. i start to accelerate and when i hit the flatter section of the climb and put the gas down and come by kevin... coast across the line and drop the bike on the grass and collapse for a couple of minutes... don't know how many riders were ahead of our group, but i figure it's 5-7 so i'm pretty sure i'm top 10... took a while for the result to be posted, but i ended up in 9th in a 48 rider field...

mabra cyclocross...

blogger ate my first try at a race report... short story 5th of 32 and i've got no idea how that happened... i'll re-write the longer post when i'm back from tommorow's race.

not much to say this week... rain on tuesday night killed the wakefield 'cross practice and the powers that be canceled the MORE thursday night ride to give the trails at wakefield a break and some time to dry out. picked up a new pair of specialized mountain bike shoes from City Bikes on tuesday night then spent some time on the trainer.. cross training at the gym wednesday and thursday.

had lunch with my grandmother on wednesday before taking her to the airport to catch her flight back to the England... being over here i feel that i don't know much as i should about the family history, so getting to talk about her life made for a great lunch and i got to catch up on news about the rest of the family back in England...

MABRA cyclocross championships this saturday at Lilypons and the Capitol 'Cross Classic at Lake Fairfax on sunday... looking forward to both.