Today is Uncle Burke's eighty-fifth birthday. The greatest friend and brother any person could pray for. I wish each of you could have had the experience of knowing this very unique man.

More Bikes

Greg and William gave cyclocross a try. Here are some photos of their race. Greg's shot is great! MERITO!!!! Photo credit to Pat Malach of Oregon Cycling Action.

Cyclocross

Tonight I competed in my first cyclocross race. Cyclocross is a type of racing where people race bikes on a mixture of gravel, dirt, grass, and mud and are "required" to dismount and navigate over or around obstacles. Tonight's race was the"Blind Date at the Dairy"-pretty cute. It is put on at the Alpenrose Dairy near Rob and Ann's place. Wendy, the boys, and Rob came to cheer me on-and I needed it! The race was much harder than I expected. I did two practice laps around the 1.4 mile course and barely made it to the start line in time for the start. The first lap was very hectic with about 100 riders on the course at the same time. "MASS HYSTERIA!! (name it claim it)" The race runs for 30 min + one lap that starts with the lead rider. Don't think too hard about it, it just works. Anyway, the race starts on pavement and moves to a gravel road. The gravel moves to grass with lots of hairpin turns. For added fun, there are a couple of mud hills you must climb and at least one requires you to get off and carry your bike up. Near the finish line there is a pair of barriers the rider must hurdle while carrying his bike. I also added a video of the race starring yours truly (cinematography props to Nate). The third clip shows me crossing the barriers. After lap one of four, I was totally gassed. Lap two felt better, but by lap 4 I was wiped out... literally. After crossing the barriers, I hopped on my bike, and as I turned the corner my bike went completely out from under me. Thankfully I was on grass, so I smoothly and quickly (according to Rob) got up and hopped back on in time to get passed at the last second by some dork. Oh well. In the interest of disclosure I have also posted video of the finish (again Nathan did Oscar-worthy work with the camera). Thanks for reading. Enjoy the video and the cheering. I sure did.

Happy Birthday to John!

Today John turns 35 and is now old enough to run for president of the United States of America. Tell me why you would vote for John in 2012. :)

I would vote for John because:

he is fun to be with
he is compassionate and thinks about others' feelings
he is happy
he works hard
he is a fabulous father
he has a love of life and enthusiasm that are contageous
he is a great friend
he is fun to watch/analyze movies with
he gives great advice
he is a great example and makes me want to be a better person
he is honest
he loves me, supports me and is my perfect match

Happy 7th Birthday Gregory!

Two pictures from Gregory's Birthday. The top is opening a Lego figure, and the second is finding his new bicycle. I don't think he had any idea it was coming so he was very surprised.

I like Greg because:

He is tough.

He is athletic.

He loves to learn.

He is a great friend.

He is smart.

He is handsome.

He plays well with his brothers and sister.

He is brave.

He likes to try new things.

He is a good eater.

He has great hair.

He is a great son.

Happy Birthday Gregory!