New Kid in Town

Well, I should have pictures of my ride up later this evening. I will be taking the starship voyage on it this afternoon, as Walt's closes at 2pm. A tempo ride seems like a great way to break it in.

Not much has been going on in the world of cycling. Some quick rides when I have time has been the name of the last few days. Beginning next week, I should have more time to ride. More on that later.

You should check out this link http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/dec05/dec31news
and scroll down a bit to the bottom. We are still finalizing our schedule, but it looks like Doug, Brian and I may be around for the infamous "Froze Toes"...That is, unless there is a Texas race that weekend, and we all feel up for the travel. Aside from that, we have planned Gila, Joe Martin, Tri Peaks, Elite Road Nats, Nature Valley, and Crit Nats. To fill in the gaps, we will be doing some of the regional races in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, while the veterans head out to swing punches with the big boys at the NRC events. So, I better quit writing and go ride.

Man, are we in season already or what?

K and I have been traveling every weekend for several weeks. I thought the off season was for relaxing, and definetly not leaving your house. We have been to STL, Indiana, Ft Smith Arkansas, and Rolla in the past consecutive weeks. Our latest trip to Rolla was good one. Even though we were away from home, we were still able to relax and take it easy.

We had some classic Belgian weather over the holiday, which was actually a great backdrop for each of my rides. Friday, I just took things easy for an hour or so taking in the new scenery. Saturday, I finished up my rest week with a 3.5 hr ride in the misty/foggy conditions; so far, it is on the top five rides of the year. We took Parker on a long hike on Sunday, and I did not throw a leg over the bike all day.

Monday, was another leg calming spin on the rollers, and yesterday I did some strength work before heading to Guthrie, through Ashland, and up north of town quite a ways. At 4.5 hours, my legs were pretty fried, so I spun home. Today looks like more Belgian weahter, a bit colder, but still seems ok.

As you can see, there was plenty of relaxing over the weekend: Parker and Paola took full advantage of the situatioin.

Somehow on Christmas morning, I got stuck in this goofy hat...no worries, it looks like K had it worse than me. Note to self, never agree to be the elf at the Bennett household.

Holy Crap

I am horrible at keeping this thing updated. I think I have SAD, and that definitely cuts into blogging time. There is a lot to recap, but I will give you some of the basics:

This evening, we hooked up with the Prozenbergers for some Mexicano. We haven't got to hang with them in quite some time, so it was nice to get back to our roots. Poots is doing great, growing, farting, and spitting up ever-so-often. Not really, he is incredibly cute! It is nearly disgusting. TJ, I am telling you, take Dill-weed to the mall or something and you are bound to come home with a chick.

Last evening, K and I headed over to our friends house for dinner. Wes and Anne go way back to junior high, just like K and I. They cooked us a fabulous meal: shrimp creole. It was good to relax and hang out with them. I think we may catch up with them back in R-town and roll around the rural roads.

Monday evening was the Walt's Holiday party. Most employees attended, and had a grand time. Seth schooled us all in pool, and we ate a bunch of food, and drank a few cocktails. At 9:30, I was ready for bed...which didn't come to me until shortly after 11.

The ride recap: Rollers. Plain and simple, I have been recovering from what I am about to explain.

This past weekend was Mercy's first training camp of the year. I packed up and headed down to Ft. Smith last Thursday evening. After a long stop at Denny's for breakfast, and a cracked out waitress who couldn't seem to get anything right, we arrived at the fitness center just in time to get kitted up and on the road. We were fortunate enough to have Brice Jones, a local Mercy Alumnus turned Jelly Belly Pro, lead our group rides each day. The weather is slightly warmer in Arkansas compared to BoCoMO, so our weekend outlook seemed great. Our first ride was pretty chill, over a rolling terrain; this ride absolutely killed me! Being that it was only my 3rd ride over 4 hrs, it definitely put me in the hurt box. Good thing the Olive Garden was near by our hotel.

Day two was said to be the big dog. With temps falling on Sunday to the upper 30's, we decided to get Gaylor out of the way. The group took a totally different route than Joe Martin does; Frankly, it is substantially harder. The ride was much more aggressive today, with tempo being launched at the base of Gaylor. Two flats, and two motor paced-efforts later, we had climbed over 8000 ft in the course of 90 miles. I cracked. It felt horribly good. I had not hit the wall that hard in quite some time. The funny thing was, consistent with how I feel during season, I still felt better than day one...Day 3 was looking up. Later in the evening, Brice's family hosted a party for the team. We had a great team meeting, a bunch of great Mexican food, and a pile of dessert. After our inhalation of treats, we limped back to the hotel and rested up for the final stage.

30's never came on Sunday. We rolled out and the temp was 50 and climbing. Secretly, the ride lengthend quite a bit, to nearly twice as long as I expected. The last day was absolutely beautiful. The roads were super rolly, with some crazy descents, and long grinders. We weaved throughout the river valley, and up over the adjacent ridges. I began going delirious at 4 hours. I had not had any food for the last hour, and my fluids were running low. Finally, after a little over 5 hrs, we stopped at a gas station where I pounded things I would never even think of eating on a normal day. My team mate Jason Martin saved my ass and hooked me up with the cash to make it home. The fitness center was in sight, at the 5:50 mark in our ride, with 108 miles stacked on for the day.

So, after the mix, I am really excited about the coming season. I just ordered a new vehicle, so expect pics soon. Other rides have included but not limited to rollers, trainer, CX, the good ol' road, and the carousel at the mall...

Thanks Micah!

Micah has disclosed important information to me several times since I have known him. The latest, is how to spell debauchery: you see, Micah has exceptional spelling and grammar, so I always look to him when in doubt...you may still see me spell it the Colonel's way (debotury), but hey, I am trying, so back off!

Over the weekend, K's parents came up and we went Christmas tree hunting...expect a pic or two soon. Parker came with, and went completely insane out around the farm...he also met his first donkey.

I have been riding quite a bit lately, mostly outside. The weather hasn't been that bad, that is until today. Somehow, I could not convince myself that it was ok to go outside, when the actual temperature was 7 degrees. Who even knows what the wind chill was?! Instead, Java and I watched Old School and rode the trainer and rollers respectively.

I have a trip to Indania this comming weekend for a family Christmas party. I emailed the coach at Marian in hopes of hooking up with some peeps for a ride. However, they are going into finals week, so it may be tough to find someone to blow the better portion of the day on a ride...I hate school. Speaking of school, I am about finished with my first of two classes. Time flies by when you bang your head repeatatively against the desk.

The weekend after next, I have my first training camp with Mercy in Ft. Smith. I am pretty pleased to head down there, as the weather has been much nicer. I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the guys, and getting in some good long rides.