Goodbye Ivan

I lost a friend this weekend. Ivan Mukasa was part of my son's Jr. cycling team. He turned 18 last April and was someone that Joseph really looked up to. Ivan had a cruddy home life, beyond the usual "Dad and Son don't see eye-to-eye." Let's just say that I took Ivan on several out of town trips to various locations in TX and never met a parent at any race. Everything I've heard suggests that abuse was involved. Ivan was a very kind young man, soft spoken and polite, as well as fast. Rarely will an 18 year old choose to spend time with 12 year old boys, but Ivan never complained about bad jokes or loud voices on any of our long car rides. He always had a kind word for another racer no matter how they finished. He was also a State Champion. Ivan had finally prevailed against his past. He had graduated high school, gotten a green card, and received a cycling scholarship to MidWestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. He was staying in the overflow housing at an apartment complex the weekend before classes started when he was found in the bottom of a swimming pool Friday night. Foul play is not being considered but there aren't any other details available. I still can't fathom that he's really gone. Like everyone else, I expect to see him riding around the corner any minute.
The grief is strong, not because his life was cut short. He lives a fullness with God now that the best parts of this life only point to. He has completed his final race and now stands a Champion. I pray that he will be carried swiftly to Paradise and that he will intercede for my family, especially Joseph. Ivan over the last few months had really come out of his shell and developed a role as a mentor for some of the younger riders. He mentioned to them that there were other riders who might think that they are too fast to ride with these kids, but that he thought that it was vitally important that he pass on all the experience that he could. I think that he just enjoyed the opportunity to be a kid. Joseph broke my heart in detailing the loss of Ivan. "Besides John, he's probably the only guy on the team who understands me." Tough to hear from a twelve year old. Kim cried as much or more than any of us.
Some things I will always remember about Ivan: his goofy Ugandan accent and big open laugh, the time he heard an announcer talking about primes and use the words "last lap," so he and another racer pushed hard for one more lap and finished the race two laps early, seeing him come around the final bend in perfect position for the State Championship RR last year and surprising everyone by getting fourth, seeing him cross the line 1st in this year's State Championship RR, leaving everyone behind with his powerful sprint. The next night, we went to grab some chow on the way home. We stopped at a Long John Silver's and Ivan noticed a Church's chicken next door. He met us at the Long John's with a ten piece box of chicken. Tom wouldn't let him eat fried chicken and he missed it so much. His consuming of that chicken was punctuated with long, this-is-really-good-food sighs. I will also remember seeing him about a week ago. We were just starting the Sunday afternoon ride and he came up behind me and placed his open palm on my back and stayed there for about twenty seconds. Then I looked over, he flashed his biggest smile, said "Hey Mr. Bull," and rode on ahead. Someday I'll catch up with you Ivan.

Goood Catholic Families

Last week I was on a business trip and mentioned to a car full of associates that we have six kids. Jaws dropped, eyes widened, air was gasped, the usual. Someone else in the car mentioned growing up with all the "good Catholic families" in their neighborhood having six, seven, or eight kids. A couple of folks mentioned that they or their spouses were Catholic. I didn't mention that I was Catholic, just that I married far above my station (true fact) and that my wife is a saint (so far, so good). I only have one sibling, a sister 19 months younger. We were never really close, so I would often ask my Mom and Dad to have some more kids, hopefully better ones, ones not as "bratty and spoiled," as I saw my sister. Mom would tell me many times that she would have loved to have had more, and then make some excuse as to why she stopped at two. I didn't know until my wife was pregnant that my Mom had gone through tremendous complications to have me and my sister. A high forceps delivery, internal tearing of muscles that I don't feel comfortable mentioning, a baby having emergency surgery at 28 days old to repair an unknown life-threatening birth defect, the death of her father five days before I was born and the mixture of emotions that I would never know him or his abusive tendencies. We have some friends who just had their fourth this year, and that pregnancy nearly killed the mom. She had her tubes tied and plenty else removed shortly later. These are faith-filled Catholics who know that the stroke that came with this child was God's way of saying "that's plenty." The issues my Mom dealt with were God's way of saying "that's plenty." I have a dear friend who has shared in his wife's pain of six miscarriages and no living children. They've given up on asking again for a child. And then I read this really beautiful piece on Good Catholic Families. Thanks Karen. I really need to remember these kinds of things. I take too much pride in the fact that God has blessed us with a vision of many children and then followed it up with no complications. But Good Catholic is as Good Catholic Does, not how many trophies they accumulate. My Mom and Dad having two was faithful and prudent and open and holy.

House for sale! No more!

OK, so we've got six kids, four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. That means two kids per room (not as bad as it sounds). And it means that all of them share one bathroom. Not a tremendous obstacle right now, but our oldest will be 13 in October and the next one is 10 and of a different gender. This projects as major conflict on the horizon. We will potentially have three teenagers using the same bathroom, sharing it with three younger kids. Not good. So the house went up for sale on July 31st, just before we left for vacation. On Monday after we got back, we got a call from our Realtor, Loyce Shirley. She said we had an offer on the table that was just what we were looking for. Basically list price and an extra thousand back for their closing. Zowie. I thought we had another month or so and that the offer would be for 3 to 5 thousand less. So then we have to find a place, and a home that I had looked at 8 MONTHS AGO and longed for and said "why am I looking at this on the internet, it will not be available when I can buy it," still had a For Sale sign up in its yard. We went over to see it and it's perfect. Upstairs might need a bit of updating, but downstairs is so much more than we could have dreamed. And it's got 5 BR and 3 bath. And it's 12k cheaper than it was in January. So we close on our home this week, maybe next, and we buy the new house just after Labor Day. It's only a couple of miles from our house right now so we can still see all our friends. So either God was up there tapping his watch saying "Uhm, Bull, let's get your house on the market so I can show you some tangible gifts" or it's like when Israel kept begging Samuel to have God send them a king. Finally God responded and gave them Saul. They got what they asked for, even when their asking was an act of unbelief, and the results were not what they wanted. Lord, sanctify my very asking. Help me to want that which you want.

Babies like the Elms

OK, so there's a couple more stories about Vacation... Sunday we went to the San Jacinto Monument. It's tucked in the middle of all kinds of factories and plants that make things like olefins and random smelly plastics. The park is beautiful, however. Plenty of trees block the view of all the gunk around it. And the monument is the monument. Pretty much the same as when I visited it as a 3rd grader on a field trip. The Battleship Texas is also there and it looks much better than I remember it. Not as much of it is open but what's there looks great.
Then on the way back we had a spate of dueling crying babies. We knew that stopping would calm them down only temporarily so we soldiered on. No amount of singing or holding-while-still-in-baby-straps would help. Finally we thought "let's try the CD player." The song on was by a band named The Elms, the song was Hey Hey! and the line of the song was "Yeah, hey, hey I! Hey, hey I…Should’ve tried - tried this sooner. Tried this sooner." And that was that, they both conked out before the line finished and slept the rest of the way. Needless to say we did not change the CD until after we got home. Our babies like the Elms.

Vacation

Ahhh... We just got back from our vacation Sunday night. It was very restful. We spent Monday cleaning up the house and getting in order to show. We have too many kids for that house and we need a bigger one. So on Sunday night, we had a realtor over to sign the paperwork to put it on the market. Loyce Shirley. Nice gal. Smart and experienced. We had talked to another realtor and while there was nothing wrong with her, it just didn't feel right, so I called Loyce. Glad I did, but more on that later. So we get up on Tuesday and start to pack, get out of the house around 1 or 2 and head off to Nacogdoches, TX. Affectionately referred to as Naco-Nowhere. My Aunt and Uncle built a house there (by themselves, no builder) after they took early retirement. I love being there. My cell phone doesn't work, there's about 8 acres, no one else around, no shops, lots of grass and trees and mud. Heck, the room we slept in doesn't have windows. Kim slept in until 10! The kids love it there, the babies were just glad to get out of their car seats and enjoy some room. Wednesday we drove down to Houston after having lunch with my cousin Josh and his wife Ashley and their new boy Will. He's about a month older than my youngest but he's built like a truck. Thursday I drove to the other side of Houston for work stuff. I don't know that I got that much work done, but I think I really laid the foundation for stuff I'm doing this week and beyond. It always helps to be able to meet and greet. Friday we just sat around. The weekend was jam packed and I'll post that separately. All in all, a great time. Too much time driving though. My back hurt all day Monday and the babies cried off and on. Next time we'll space out our driving a bit more.

State Championships

This past weekend, Texas had their Age-Based State Championships, the road and crit. Joseph was in the 13-14 group in both of them. On Saturday, we got up early and met with three other juniors from the team to trek out to a little town south of Tyler. Ivan Mukasa was entered in the 17-18 race and Joseph, John Ryan, and Redding Shelby were entered into the 13-14 race. The race course is dominated by the double hill that locals call "Killer." After a rigorous ascent, it flattens out a bit before it seems to go straight up. No, it's not as long as Cherry Pie, and in that, it doesn't kill you quite the same way. It crushes quadriceps with its stiff grade.
Joseph was not looking forward to the race that morning. I think he wavers back and forth about how much he enjoys cycling, which is completely par for a near-13 year-old. I'm similar in that I want him to enjoy it for it's own merits, not to please me, and yet I also hope that it will be something that we can share for the next few decades, father and son. So there's also the typical teenager hi jinx going on, the guys are talking about cycling and the competition and Harry Potter. Joseph got the new book that morning and started reading it on the trip. He finished it around 11 pm that night, by the way. I think he was looking to be distracted. He just knew it was going to be a hard day.
So we get there and set up. Ivan's race is first with the other boys all racing shortly after. I missed Ivan's start while catching up with other parents. Joseph's start was a bit off-kilter, he was in his small ring, bent over and almost sprinting to keep in the pack. I think he put too much pressure on himself. Then I went over and got a water bottle and a gel for Ivan, he had two 24 mile laps and I wanted to offer him a feed. It was hot, very hot. Baking oven, sweat dripping off your head into your glasses hot. But I realized that if Joseph didn't have any shade, I should stay out in the sun until he finished. Ivan came by and took on a gel, he was in a good position with a break of 4-5 guys. Then the 13-14 winner comes in, Michael Pincus from Pearland. I had been talking to his dad because Pearland is right next to Friendswood, my hometown. My folks live on the border between those two towns now. Michael ran away with his class. Redding was second a couple of minutes behind. John was third. Then came the rest of the finishers, one after another. At this age, the kids aren't keeping together like the "peleton" of older folks. They vary a great deal in skill and conditioning until after puberty hits for all of them. So the waiting began. And it went on for quite a while. I think Joseph finally came in over an hour and a half after starting. Not too far from two hours. I was there waiting for him and gave him a hug just over the line. He was crushed, probably embarrassed. It just wasn't his day. Last year he had done great things on this course, but that day, well, he just didn't have enough that day, and it hurt. They had already posted the results instead of waiting for him, so his name wasn't on the list. I could tell that hurt him. On a nicer note, Ivan hung with the lead group until the bottom of the last hill, then pulled away and won. He's the State Champion! When we were about to leave, Ivan was getting his State Championship Jersey and I heard an official reading off Joseph's name. He had come back to add it to the list. Thanks Steve. I know you did it because you wanted to have complete results, but you made a 12 year-old's day. I pointed out to Joseph that if he sticks with it for another 10 - 20 years, he might still be getting 8th place, but that will be 8th out of 50 riders, not 8th of 8. Most of the guys out here are really, really good.
That night we stayed in Jacksonville, TX (population maybe 15k). Not the nicest hotel, but we were able to enjoy the swimming pool and watch some cable TV. I think the time to decompress was good for Joseph. All the guys were in bed, asleep when Joseph finished Harry Potter.
Sunday we got up and trucked on down to Lufkin for the next State Championships, the crits. I had planned on visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Nacogdoches on the way, but Ivan's race started at 10:20, so we had to skip out on them. I forgot to call and inform them of this and they stayed in Nacogdoches waiting for us and missed Joseph's race (Sorry Uncle Bill, that was my mistake). Joseph, Redding, and I rode our bikes over to a Lufkin BK for breakfast, I wonder how many folks cycle downtown Lufkin? In the 17-18 yr-old race, Ivan thought that the guy off the front would get caught, but nobody worked to bring him back. One guy got impatient and bridged up and that was it, Ivan was caught with the pack. He ended up in fifth.
After that, I was working with Joseph on cornering and speed. I pointed out that Redding was faster than Joseph, let him go. In the same vein, let Michael Pincus go, he was faster than everyone in the race. And then there was Noah Williams, who placed 4th at Nationals and whose dad is a professional cycling coach. Don't pretend that you're faster yet. But there were three other riders in the race. One looked younger and, forgive me, like he had eaten too many cupcakes. The other was younger and someone that he had ridden a rally with a year ago. That's two racers that he would probably beat. Then there was a late entry girl who didn't normally race but realized that she would get a State Champion's jersey just for finishing. Joseph raced hard. He got lapped twice by Michael Pincus, who lapped everyone. He got lapped by Redding. He got lapped by Noah, but he came back against Noah while he was napping and made up some ground before Noah spotted him, and, surprised by Joseph's resolve, had to work to extend his lead.
Joseph got fourth out of seven, nearly lapping the last three competitors. Joseph's not on the same level as Michael, Redding, or Noah, but he's still got something. And I think he understands that a bit better after yesterday. I told him that I was proud of him, and I don't use that word with my kids. I tell them how pleased I am with them, how excited I am with their performance, how much I love them and all, but proud, that's something I reserve. And I was proud, I am proud.

Mark Shea set's 'em straight

Mark Shea can sound bafflingly pompous on his podcasts but his words always speak Charity. I go to his blog daily when I can. He's got an article in the Seattle paper on the newest Church Document that's causing such a riff in the press. There is a specific irony to the folks outside the Church by choice who object the idea that they are outside the Church, or that the Church says "Hey, y'all know y'all are outside, right?" There's even more irony in that folks are offended that Church is sure that She's the Church. Somehow a church who's a bit less sure would be more palatable. Who wants to join a Church that *doesn't* know all the answers? It's reminds me of a cartoon of a preacher who ends all his sermons with "Well, what do I know?" Not very reassuring.

Official Results

I know, it's the equivalent of pulling out pictures of my kids, but I said I would post results, so I'm posting results. It's not like anyone really reads this anyway.

From the 11th.
From the 18th.

Expect more results from this weekend. We'll see how he fares. Pre-registration is light, but it's always light. Hopefully Joseph will get a chance to catch up with Chris Breeding. We rode the Space Race tour together in April '06 and his older brother is registered for the race. So far, I'm taking Joseph and Ivan, another Jr. racer on Joseph's team. I'm also staying over for Sunday's race with those guys and with another Jr. racer named Redding. I might have to take a fourth, looks like I'm headed over to Bicycles, Inc. to get a hitch rack for four bikes.

This Week's Crit race

Joseph got third this week. One of the 16 year-old ringers from Stephenville came up and routed the field. It was windy, really windy. Joseph, being the oldest of six, decides that he needs to be the one that takes the brunt of it for a teammate. The teammate then spanks him on the final sprint. Ahhh, Joseph, hopefully this is a lesson. This weekend is a real doozy. Let's get ready. It's the State Championships, not to be confused with the State Championships in May, or the one in June, or the one in August. The one in May was a category-based criterium (a course < 2 miles that may have one lap or more, advertised as x0 minutes). The one in June was a Category based road race, advertised as XX miles. This weekend are the age-based road race and crits. Categories don't have ages attached, they are just based on experience and success, so you start as a Category 5 and work your way up. Joseph and I are in the same Category. Age-based is like it sounds. The course is one that Joseph raced last year and did OK. He wimped out on the hill, then finally finished it, then raced down the last 8 miles to catch fourth place at the line. He passed the guy in front of him literally about 300 meters from the finish, prompting a "Where did he come from?" Hopefully he will be able to build on previous victories and do well. "Do well," means top 5 in his age group, maybe top 8 depending on his competition. Sounds like a great weekend!

The Boy Did It!

For the first time, my oldest son got a first place in a bicycle race. Yes, it was only the local weekly crit. Yes, it was the Jr. race. Yes, the 16 yr-old ringers from Stephenville who normally place 1-2 stayed home. Yes, he was the oldest Jr. out there still in the Jr. race and not in the C race. But he won. He won fair and square. He won convincingly. He rode off the front and nobody could catch him. No, he's not ready to go overseas and ride in the Tour de France, or even win an average TX weekend bike race, but he's really making progress this summer and I'm overjoyed to see that. Depending on who he gets set up with, he has an outside shot at a State Champion's Jersey for the Team Time Trial next month.
The best part, he doesn't have a dejected, moping, "At least I wasn't last this time" attitude. He also can track back his victory to the work that he's been putting in lately, as well as the fact that he actually fueled himself properly. Hopefully this carries over to other races. Just that it gives him a vision of what success looks and tastes like. I'll post the link for the official standings when they get set up.

EPO, Te Quero!

OK, nobody but will understand this, but it's really funny. Even if you don't quite get all the French.

Performance Bike SOLD!

Forgive me fellow cyclist, for I have sinned. I have sinned against you and every other person who has ever given their local bicycle shop (LBS) their patronage. I went, and bought from, Performance Bicycle. Not just through the anonymity of the internet, with plain brown boxes arriving at my door, but I actually drove across town to their new shop in Dallas, walked around, and knowingly, willingly, purchased gear. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
I told myself "I blew a tire and my LBS doesn't stock Vredesteins. I have to go there." I reasoned, "With this $20 off coupon and the fact that it's a grand opening, I could save a ton of money." I consoled myself with, "Some of this stuff has got to be a loss leader, they will lose money on that. I'm actually helping my LBS." But in the end, $115 if my hard-earned credit is now owned by Performance Bike, actually Bitech, now North Castle Partners. And all I have to show for it is four Panaracer tires, three tubes, two cans of GU20, a set of skewers, two Michelin 16" tires for my 6 year-old, and two spare tubes for said 16" tires. DANG!! Yup, that was a haul of gear for the $$.
So now Performance Bike has been sold to some big equity firm. Someone told me that they also owned Nashbar and a trip to ICANN proved it. Both ip's track back to the same company. Someone posted a bunch of the online news about the buyout here. I guess it's OK news. The knock on online places like Nashbar, Performance, and PricePoint (which has more holes but better deals) is that they don't have a local presence. The knock on Performance Bikes shops, which I've also extended to REI, is that they don't support local racing or clubs. They want to sell you a bike, shake your hand, and let you walk away. You may come back, you may not. An LBS wants you to come back again. Maybe for an upgrade or a repair, maybe for more gear, maybe for a bike for your kid or with a friend. They want you to know all the folks who work there and they want you to recommend them to friends. But let's be honest, both Performance Bike and the LBS want to make money. Both want to pay their bills and feed their kids. The crucial difference I think is this. Most every LBS started with a guy who raced and burned out or hit a ceiling and said "what do I do now?" With the only skills they had being with bikes, they went to work in a shop and then one day, opened their own. So they want to pay bills and feed kids and race you. One day they want to pull on a jersey and lead out someone to victory or cross the duct-tape first.
So next paycheck, I'm going to go down and support someone's dream. I'm off to my LBS to plop down some dough there. Maybe $120 worth of penance will be enough.

www.projectbreathe.net

I forgot how I came across this guy. Maybe it was on the txbra.org forums, maybe it was something from 1lesscar or something like that. This guy, Matt Young, was doing 3000 miles in one month on his bike to raise $$ for Cystic Fibrosis research. He's got a girlfriend who has it. Turns out that he's an Aggie. Sweet. I go to his blog. Turns out he's going from Seattle, WA to right here in Ft. Worth. Sweet. Another reason to support him. Being my narcissistic self, I'm thinking I might know this guy from being the Vastly Popular Youth Minister that I was. OK, maybe not Vastly Popular, maybe just Mildly Recognizable. Then I click on his donate button and I see the names of the folks that are donating and I recognize a couple from my church. Maybe I do know this guy. Then he puts on his blog an open invite to come ride the last 50 miles into town with him. I'm interested. Then someone from TBI, my cycling club/team posts on our forum, hey, let's do this. So I get up at 4:30 Sunday AM to get to Sundance Square to meet the other folks from the team and travel out to Mineral Wells to ride in with him. I walk up to the guy and his GF says "Hey, I know you, I go to St. John's. Thanks so much for being here." Wow. Small world. And right then, I did feel small somehow. That's probably a good thing.
The ride was fine, I was not near the match for the hills that Matt or Bob Rowell (TBI guy) were. There was another TBI guy, Gerry, who I've ridden tons with, and a tri-athlete gal from A&M (Cheryl). Most of the ride was on Hwy 180 from Mineral Wells into Weatherford and the rest on the I-20 frontage road. The road was rough in places but virtually traffic-free. Matt and Bob and I opened it up after another cyclist turned in front of us near Aledo. That's when I bent a tooth on my big chain ring. Don't really remember how, I think I hit a pot hole the diameter of a coffee cup. Maybe I kicked something up? Anyway, my chain ended up wrapping back on itself in a curly-q twice. The chain locked up on me. Weird. After a three minute mechanical break we were on our way. Then, after Matt doesn't have a single flat in his 3000 miles, I get one in Ft. Worth. I have Vredestein tires pumped up to ~ 145 PSI, which is a lot. It wasn't a hiss, it was a gunshot. That was when Amanda, the GF, the reason that Matt was riding, gets out her bike and rides in the last few miles with us. It was nice. There was a bunch of Matt's and Amanda's friends and family waiting for us when we arrived. Plenty of cheering, balloons, and more cameras than I could count. There was even a bit of coverage on the local news that night. You can hear some folks from our church exclaiming quite surprisedly "Bull!" as we finished. I was just as surprised to see someone I knew there. But I guess that comes with being Mildly Recognizable.

Past Weekend, part II

OK, so I said there was more.

4) I was personally saddened by the loss of Elesha Debenport last week. Elesha was 5 and the daughter of Tony, who I was in the Corps with back at A&M. Yeah, only one semester, but enough. I hadn't been in touch but came across an article about her condition in the local paper. They had a caringbridge site set up to keep folks informed. She had been cleared late last year but the cancer came back and came back aggresively. Tony had prayed to have Elesha at his home before Jesus took her back to her final home and was blessed with several month of time with her. From what was written, Elesha was amazing. The last few days were painful, and frustrating as they waited. But the final end was peaceful and they were together. Tony has been through seminary and had planned on going to work as a missionary in East Asia before this illness. I took the whole family to the funeral. Emily took it the hardest. She just turned 10 and she's old enough to question why but not old enough to make it all fit, or even understand the emotions going on inside her. The kids all wanted to know, was that person in the casket really dead? Was that her real body? Tony had some great comments about his daughter and didn't have to stress where she was, or the hope that Christians have in such situations. I grieve for his loss all the same. And I hope and pray that I will never know the depths of his own grief.

Trying to connect the dots...

The thing that I kept coming back to is from the beginning. I don't spend enough time in prayer, or cycling, or with my kids, or reading the things that I need to be reading, or even getting out thoughts in this blog. OK, I know, join the club. Pass the cheese to go with my whine. But it seems like something is afoot. I really, genuinely miss the times from my young adulthood where it seemed every step I took was something new and special from God. Like I was still being led to something. Where I am now doesn't seem to be leading to something, it's just stagnant. Maybe this is the crux of the crisis of mid-life. But I don't want a new car or a new wife or to drop my job or anything. I just want to be led somewhere. And maybe the job thing might change, but I feel the need to find the void and gaze out at it. Sorry, that's the image I've heard attributed to Kierkegaard. Life is a featureless plain that stretches out in all directions. After traveling through it, you come upon the void. The plain just stops and there is nothing out in the void, except God. You don't see Him or hear Him, you just know in your gut that He's waiting for you. You have to jump off the plain and into the waiting arms of God. Folks call that Kierkegaard's Leap of Faith. I look back and see that played over and over again in my life. Right now things are too safe. Bills are being paid too frequently. We've got a Suburban out front for crying out loud! Maybe there will be more on this later. That's not entirely up to me, though.

Past weekend

I don't blog enough, I don't pray enough, I don't ride my bike enough, and I don't read my Bible. Anyway, enough of the pity party, that's now an official to do list. Here's what we got to do this weekend.
1) We joined the ranks of folks slowly killing the environment with an SUV. I hate to do it but we had to. Six kids + two parents = more butts than seat belts in either of our mini-vans. So instead of us always taking two vehicles to church or out to eat or to Grandma's, we'll be actually saving the environment by taking a Suburban! Got a nice one from Lynn Smith in Burleson at a nice price. As with any place that sells cars, you might get a nice guy or you might get a guy with previous convictions. From the folks that I saw at Lynn Smith, they seem to be a nice bunch of guys. Fairly honest for the profession. I also had a nice experience at Moritz of Ft. Worth, but they didn't have the Suburban I wanted for my budget. The guy who told me he didn't sing or dance did seem to sing and dance a bit at the end. I could dish dirt on two other places. Stay away from Bankston and Longhorn Dodge in FW. Just stay away.
2) There's another couple at our church that have six kids. The Tocci's. I won't link to their blog because that would presume too much. I introduced myself to them after Mass on Sunday. Really nice folks. They have the 15-passenger van and told me that they are going for 10 kids. My goal was five and we have six, so I really don't have any further goals in mind other than to please God.
3) I finished Jeff Cavin's biography. The beginning wasn't that great. Some of the later stuff was really good, though. The part dealing with his ministry in a Protestant church seemed thin. Thin from a detail standpoint and like he was a bit thin on his theology as a Protestant pastor. I think that may have been from trying to make Protestant theology seem incomplete, but he might just have wanted to gloss over that time to shield his former flock. I was envious of some parts though. Hold that thought...

Denton Crit

Joseph did well at the Crit race in Denton this week. Crit races are timed races around a short course. After a few laps, they determine how fast the leaders are going and count down the last five to ten laps. Figuring out who is what place can be very challenging when there's a bunch of young'uns out there, some aged 17 and able to hang with the big guys, some aged 10 and barely able to reach the handlebars. Add to the mix that Joseph was only really racing against the other 10 to 12 year old boys. And it was wet. It was raining off and on all morning. Very slick race. Joseph ended up falling at about four laps to go and lost about three places. If he had fallen at 6 laps to go he would have gotten a break and a free lap. So I need to teach him to fall earlier, or at least to go ahead and take chances early and be conservative late. As it turned out, they miscount his laps or something, he ended up 5th of 12 and I think he was more like 9th. Maybe 10th. I left before seeing the standings, otherwise I would have protested. Anyway, it was absolutely fabulous to see him flying around the course. He never gave up, he pushed himself the entire way, and he's getting faster. I'm excited for him. Kim and the rest of the kids got to come. Allison made a note-card sized flag out of paper that said "Go Jo!" and had a bicycle on it. There were lots of folks there hanging out and spectating. Great event, hopefully next year it will be dry. Got to see Joey Spragins of trinitybicycles.com. Chris M. of TBI was there but decided not to race in the deluge. I even saw a former "kid" from my wife's MS math teaching/my Youth Minister days. He's a Cat 4 who was sandbagging with the 4/5 race. Dan, you are a wimp. Almost as much as a wimp as Chris, at least you raced. We had some ice cream afterwards and everyone came home tired and cranky and wet and cold. Had to doctor Joseph's road rash with some Tegaderm. Great day. Fabulous day to be a dad.

HHH recap

Did the Hotter than Hell last weekend. Wimped out on the 100 mile, only did the 100 k, about 62 miles. Still whipped me. After about 45 miles I just ran out of power. Finally got some strength back after the 58 mile mark or so. Finished about the middle of the pack I guess. Probably averaged about 15 mph including all the time at rest stops. Took Joseph to race. We stayed over at the West Side Baptist church, thanks to Scott Eager for setting us up with a place to stay. Joseph accidently did 40 miles instead of 26 for his race, got a little sidetracked there. Needless to say, he finished about 35 minutes after everyone else. Great event, great time, went with some great folks. Ready to do it again next year.

Startle Grams: Cleaning up the Lord's house

Startle Grams: Cleaning up the Lord's house

Hey, let's go overboard so we can look less extreme than someone else! Straw man theory of theology.

Busted!

My seat broke. On my bicycle. Miles from home...
I've never broken a seat before, or a "saddle" as cyclists call them. This one just didn't like the fact that I am a clydesdale. 6'6" and 250 lbs. The saddle has a frame shaped like an A, with two cups holding the cylinders of the rail in back and another cup in front, on the top of the A. The cup on top split down the middle and when I got up out of my seat, the seat came up with me. Thanks to the guy who got me into cycling, office mate Chris M., who picked me up and gave me a ride home. The saintly wife was at the water park with the kids.
It was a nice seat. I didn't think I would like it but I really did. You can see a picture of a new one here. Yeah, it looks tiny, but it really works well, very comfortable if you can believe it. I got it used off of a local pro who was selling off stuff to pay bills. I had another saddle at home, but it's too padded. I feel like I'm bouncing when I ride. With the nice van in the shop I did 100 miles last week and 70 this week just in commuting. The van is back and fine, but I think I'm going to keep on riding. Maybe I won't be such a saddle breaker.

Last weekend's incident = this week's pain

So last Friday, I was asked by a youth in the church choir to be his Confirmation Sponsor. Nice guy, Jeff. Afterwards, we're going out to get a bite to eat, and a totally unconnected teen girl driver decides that some totally unconnected teen guys in a truck in front of us are cute. What else does a teen girl do when she sees some guys in a truck and thinks that they are cute? That's right, get in front of them and perform a brake check. Twice. We passed the first one but not the second. So now the "nice" van is in the shop. It should cost us about $1900 or so to fix. Paint will have to wait for another paycheck or two. So, in order to sustain family harmony, my wife and five children are using the "not-so-nice" van and I use my bicycle. It's only about 12 miles each way, but in my '92 Astro that's close to five bucks in gas a day. I was leaning towards doing this for a while this summer anyway, to get in some more miles. So I pedal, and I ache, and when the wind is just right and I'm on the downward side of the hill, I fly.