Not Much Blogging Going On

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been fairly busy and have had the pleasure of spending a couple of weekends with the little man. These weekends include party times at 3am, and plenty of naps during the day. Here are a few pics for my readers. And yes, his eyes are that blue. Nothing here is photo shopped!

Got Wood?

Halloween marked the opening day for duck season. I have to be honest, I wasn't as fired up as my dad and brother. My experience with hunting is walking or sitting in the freezing cold winter of Nebraska, and watching Geese fly way over head, or Pheasants cruising just out of range. We were all awake by 4:30 am and on Lake Quitman by 6:00. It was cool, but not unpleasant. The lake was spewing fog into the air, a nice effect on the morning of halloween. My gear included hand me down waders, borrowed jackets and cycling clothing that works well for the outdoors. My Remington 870 express has seen a lot of shells go through it, but I love that gun and I am good with it, so no expensive automatics for me.

We were loaded down with the four of us, Kota, guns, enough ammo to start a small war, and 48 decoys in my dads duck boat. We found a nice little cove to hunt out of with natural cover, seats and a great view of the lake. Setting up decoys was easy enough and we settled down with minutes to spare before sunset (when you can start shooting.) As we were sitting there waiting, a couple of wood ducks flew into our decoys. Kota wanted to go check them out so bad she was shaking! They disappeared before we heard the thunder from Lake Fork made by all the hunters there. Not 10 minutes after sunrise we saw some Wood ducks coming in. Everyone else worked the calls and I waited. My dad yelled "take em" and I stood up and blasted the lead duck. My adrenaline was pumping and I was ready for more! But since this was Kota's first hunt too, we settled down. She did an excellent job on the retrieve, even though she didn't see the duck come in! A year of work finally paid off for my dad. When she brought it in it was a beautiful drake wood duck. One shot, one kill, one retrieve, one fun morning. I was nice to Kota for the rest of day since she was nice enough to swim the cold water to get my duck!

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful as most of the ducks are still up north. I had the only kill for us, but considering most of my stuff was borrowed and stolen, the duck was all of ours! When we get enough duck meat to eat I suppose we will take a weekend for dads special duck recipe. Most of all, I enjoyed hanging out with "The Guys," and generally acting how men act.

Thanks for reading. And please vote YES or NO on the beard! I hate it.....

A Weekend With Little Man

Sometimes we all need a good cry. Well I got mine on Sunday when I had to take Lucas back. I seriously haven't cried in a while and I guess I was due! Unfortunately he was sick again so it was a long weekend, but we a had a great visit again and managed to get through the weekend unscathed. That boy might have been sick, but he still doesn't know how to slow down. He was constantly climbing, crawling and bawling. I kept telling him "you might feel a bit better if you would slow down for a few minutes."

Saturday night I basically pulled an all nighter so I was a bit tired on Sunday, and just chased the little man around all day. I apologize to all the Whichita Fallsiens that I haven't seen when I go to visit. One of these times he won't be sick and we will make the rounds. Extra thanks to those that come visit us (Adam and Ellen), and for our most hospitable host (Mike).

I will end my post with this. I know my family has the cutest boys, maybe I am biased, but this boy has got to be cutest of all the little boys worlwide!

Brake-ing Even

I must say that I am bummed to have completed my last/third race of the season. While some people are nice to point out I won the field sprint for 5th place, in reality I was dropped from the lead group after collecting the first $50 prime, and then won the field sprint for 5th. Check out The Adventures of Francis for pics and a full report! Oh ya, I named this mini post Brake-ing Even because in three races I broke even on entry fees, gas, and prize money. Something I have never done in one season! Congrats to Francois on his first P12 win. That kid was flying around those turns! I could only brake and stare as he rode off into the rain.....

In the Nick of Time

Lots of people were asking how my first races back went, so I thought a post here would be best. First of all, thanks for all the inquiries. Some of you really know me and know how hard it is for me to not race. Let me say its been a long three years! Last year I did about three races, and only a mountain bike race the year before. Of course I am always riding, but riding for fun and riding to reach goals are different, and I prefer the latter type of riding.

I was nervous on Saturday but the (money) places went 25 deep, so I started with the goal of snagging one of those spots. The course was amazing. Very technical, up and down, a true crit course in my opinion. I knew after a few warm up laps that the wind and hills would make it a race of attrition, and I was right. There was no sugar coating on my first race back. I sat on the back a lot, lacking confidence in my handling and really unable to put the effort to get near the front. That and Stefan constantly drilling it! I hung on for dear life and pretty soon people started popping. I stayed with the main field untill about six laps to go and blew up on an uphill section. I thought to myself "Pull it together man! There can't be more than 30 guys left..." I recovered a bit and managed to stay on the lead lap and finished... 24th! When they say "never quit" sometimes it really pays off! I was happy having reached my goal, especially knowing I am far from competitive. I was a happy camper, tired, but happy.

Sunday was nice because we raced early and it was cooler. I finished 8th on this course a year ago, but the big boys were missing then. I wanted to basically finish and just get in some much needed speed work. The course Sunday again showed my lack of endurance and I got dropped after getting held up by a wreck (I was cooked anyway) at around seven laps to go. I cut my losses and pulled out to watch the finish.

It was great seeing all the guys from the Falls, and "My people" at the races. It's an atmosphere unlike any other and I surely missed it! It was just like old times with my Dad, I quickly put him to work and was glad to have him along side me. Next year is going to be loads of fun, and I can't wait for the early season races! Thanks for reading, and as always thanks for the support from everybody who believes in me!

Stay tuned for my next and last race of the season in Texarkana.

Dirty Diapers and Barking Spiders

I finally got to spend the weekend with my baby boy! Nothing makes a Dad more proud than when his son smiles at him like he was never gone. We got into our routine pretty quickly, the only difference was that he is mobile and gets to where he wants in a hurry. We had fun staying with uncle Mike, watching cartoons, taking lots of naps and destroying magazines. We didn't go outside much with the rain either.

On a couple of our attempts to get some fresh air however, we came across some rather interesting creatures (I would imagine for a little guy.) Uncle Mike and Lucas first stumbled upon a lizard trying to escape the rain. This got Lucas' attention real quick! Unfortunately Lucas pulled his tail off in his excitement. The Reptile struck back by threatening to crawl up someones diaper. Lucas jumped, quite surprised by this tactic and ran the lizard under the rug. The lizard was then released back out into the wild, I am sure feeling good about his escape from near death.

That would have given us enough laughs for one day, but luck was on our side. A couple of hours later, Daddy came across a Walking Stick and thought "lets see what the boy thinks of this!" Lucas was reserved with this odd creature and though he didn't mind the bug walking on him, he had no intentions of pulling his tail off, this guy looked a lot more dangerous.

We both felt we had a successful day of adventure, even for being stuck indoors. I hated to take him back to his Mom, and wonder how my Dad did it for so many years. I am grateful I got a couple of good days of fun though, and some fresh memories. Lucas is a thief of hearts, including mine, and anyone who has met him knows why! Thanks uncle Mike for letting us hang out at the pimpin pad.

A Word from Lucas657u

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New Job

After two and and a half years since I graduated, I finally found a job where I can utilize what I learned in College. Unfortunately/Fortunately I will be moving back to East Texas. Although I will miss Wichita Falls, this is a good opportunity for me. No worries though, I will be back here occasionally to visit the little man. Its not possible to completely escape the giant magnet of Wichita Falls.

Makin' Rounds

Lucas and I have had a busy month. Nana came down a couple of weeks ago and we had a real nice visit. Lucas got to spend quality time with her while I tried to get a little sleep, which worked out well for everybody. Like every visit though it was too short, and we will be looking forward to another visit soon, maybe when Lucas' first she cousin comes along. This past weekend we took a trip to see Granny and Poppy. Click here to see some more awesome pics of the little stud from that trip. One thing about the boy is that he is a huge flirt. I can't hardly take him anywhere and he starts smiling at the girls. I am glad that he is a happy/easy baby, except when sitting in that stupid car seat for hours. You can't see crap from that thing.

I am excited that July is here because that means Tour de France. It has been a really good race so far, and I think its going to be interesting to see the battles in the mountains for the win. Makes me want to race again... Enjoy the pictures of the little man!

Jumper

He gets fussy when nobody is watching him jump. Maybe my readers can help me out?

To my "Lewis" Lovers out There

Here are the most recent pics! Three months old already. There are way too many good ones so I just put a few up. I hope everybody reading has a great week.

Ghent Wevelgem and The Queen

Round one of the Classics week was not disappointing at all! A Belgian pulled through with a sweet victory in Flanders yet again. Stijn Devolder once again strung the race out, “let” a couple of other poor souls go on the attack with him, then dropped a grenade on them going up the Muir. The guy used a tactic similar to this last year also. Instead of a grenade on the Muir, he used a smoke bomb on the Eikenmolen as his breakaway was getting caught. My pick Heinrich Haussler outfoxed the peloton again and snuck in for second. I scored a few points at least. Speaking of points, I saw this link for “fantasy cycling” and almost clicked on it. After a moment of thinking I saw myself as a couch potato cyclist wanna be. Maybe I am bitter, or just full of myself, but I wouldn’t participate in that nonsense because I would much rather be out racing with those guys, not pretending to manage them. And since I have limited time to ride, I won’t be spending it on that!

Ghent-Wevelgem is a mid week Classic in Belgium. It is not quite as long as the other two, or as intense, but it is still an important race. The only thing I know about this course is the Kemmelberg. This climb is as tough as any in the Tour of Flanders. There are three ways to go up (or down) and I personally think they go up the easy way, and down the dangerous way. Last year they went down the cobbled section, and I think this year they will be descending the narrow sketchy road. Having ridden all sides, I personally would run them up the narrow steep side to string it out, thus making the descent down the cobbled side a little less dangerous. Take your pick I suppose. I pick Mark Cavendish to win either way. This 23 year old chap is unstoppable.

Paris-Roubaix is the Queen of the Classics. Held in the Northern part of France, this is the most unforgiving race there is. It’s called the Queen probably because it’s such a ridiculous race, it must have been spawned in the time of Monarchies. My Dad and I have always loved this race, and have always secretly wished we could suffer like those guys. Well, I got a little taste of what these guys go through in the Summer of ’05. Here is a little journal entry from one race I did.

The French

This past Saturday was my first race in France, a UCI 1.12 called Circuit du Pevele. This was its 59th year in running! Apparently, the French are notorious for starting races late, and today was no exception. As any Belgian will say, “Once you cross into France, all logic goes out the window!” And that indeed was true! Imagine 180 cyclists, all hopped up on adrenaline just waiting for the start gun. Games faces on, announcer yelling some unknown words into the microphone. Now, ask these cyclist to let a car through! Or better yet, two! Now the guys [lined up] at the back seized their opportunity and tucked in behind the upcoming cars moving forward, thus repositioning myself and other angry racers from the top 50 to the rear 50. Ands that’s were I stayed. Throw in a Ten Kilometer “nuetral” roll out, a 600 meter long cobbled section 1.5 Kilometers from the start, and the race is over before it even starts! Well, it was for me anyway. I however endured torture for another 2.5 hours not wanting to be a quitter. I learned what it was like to have battered hands from endless passes over two 15th century cobblestone roads. The only hill in the race was the best part of the course. I wondered how the pros do 260 kilometers of this, and if I would ever be able to. Well, if I don’t, this entry is all that I will have and every time I jam a finger, the following day I will remember what it was like in France, when all of my fingers felt that way.

-Another DNF for me, but to my credit there were only maybe 50 guys in the race when I pulled out. It was a brutal day! -8/01/05

My memory is a little hazy, but I believe that I did another race in France (bringing my total to 3). I don’t have it on my list for some reason, but below is a picture from this race. It was the only one I did with the national team, which was a shame because that Jersey was so much nicer than than crappy ones we wore. This was clearly before the race. I seem clean and not angry about getting my rear end kicked yet. It was sunny, dusty and I distinctly remember the two dogs we found after the race that were stuck together. At the race from my journal entry, it had rained that morning. I remember flying into the first cobble stone stretch at about 50K an hour (31mph for you non-racers), puddles, mud, slick roads and riders flying every which way. Somehow I made it through. It was one of those, close your eyes, grit your teeth kind of moments. But this is how every race is over there, and Paris-Roubaix is even faster, longer and crazier. I am getting really excited for Sunday. This is going to be the year that an American wins this race for the first time. George Hincapie is going to take this race by the horns, wrestle it to the ground and give it the peoples elbow. All American cycling fans are willing him to win, we want him to win more than he does! When he wins, he will retire, and tell the French to take their inhumane race, and stick it deep up the forest of Arenburg.

The Classics

I apologize to my avid Lucas readers, but this coming week presents one of this biggest weeks of the year in cycling. The Spring Classics are finally here! Since I spent a good bit of my time in Belgium on these same roads, I thought it would be fitting to have a “Blast from the Past” post.

I think one reason why I love the Classics so much is because I raced sections of these courses over my three month stay in the Summer of 2005. Bicycle racing is sort of a mini model of life. No matter how hard it gets, you must never give up. Sometimes everything goes really well and you get the victory. Then suddenly out of nowhere, you run into a car at 25 miles per hour. Much like other sports, watching cycling is a release from the daily stressors of life. Watching others suffer, create drama, and ultimately triumph is a basic human need. The Spring classics represent life’s most difficult struggles. These racers suffer for hours in the harsh conditions of northern Europe. They prepare for months for these few chances at glory. In the end however, only one man, the strongest man, will overcome the obstacles of this mini life and win.

I am going to compose two posts over the next week. Each post will describe one or two of the upcoming races. Then, I will show you why each race is special to me. I wanted to do this because I had dream the other night that I was in Belgium this week to see the races. This is the next best thing. I hope you enjoy!

La Ronde van Vlaanderen

The Tour of Flanders is the World Championships of Belgian cycling. To Belgians, this is “The” race. All other races in Belgium try to model after La Ronde. Belgians grow up racing on these roads and they know them like the back of their hand. It makes it hard for cyclists from other nations to make the final in this race because it is the Belgians backyard. No American has ever raised there arms up in victory in this race. Some of the best cyclists ever, have never won this race. My cycling hero Sean Kelly never won this race, but came close several times.
Although I didn’t actually get to race on the climbs, I did do a couple of training rides over these short intense hills. Some of the famous climbs I went over included the Wolvenburg, Paterburg, Taaienberg, Leburg and the Bosberg. In training, these climbs are very steep. Some of them are cobblestone roads and are hard for us mere mortals to even ride up, much less race up.
The race starts in the “Touristy” town of Brugge (Sunday April 5th ,) which is right near the coast, and finishes in Meerbeke 260 Kilometers (about a 160 miles) later. I lived about a 10 minute bike ride from Brugge when I was in Belgium. I also did several Kermesse Races in surrounding towns. The Photo Below is proof that I finished one in Beernem! I also finished the fourth Kermesse I did in Torhout, a town La Ronde goes right through. I have a good idea of how this race would feel like, and I know that even to finish this race takes a very special/lucky person.





I guess that’s enough of my reminiscing, Its time to pick a winner! I am going to pick two winners. One logical winner and one rider I want to win. My Logical pick is Tom Boonen, the local Flandrian, favorite and two time winner of the race. Since my favorite La Ronde Champion (Alessandro Ballan) is sick, the person I would like to see win is Heinrich Haussler. This German has displayed vast improvements this season. He nearly outfoxed the pure sprinters at this years Milan San Remo. A victory for him might give German cycling a much needed boost in these rough times. Please post your picks in my comments box! If you don’t know, click here for a list of favorites. Stay tuned for more!

Me Me Me Me Me

" Hello everybody!"

"Daddy is too slow and I wanted a new post about me. So thats what I am doing! Also, Nana and Aunt Amy didn't get to make it down this past weekend because of a blizzard, so I wanted them to see what I looked like this weekend."

"We had a good weekend but I was sad because Mommy had to go to work, and I was stuck at home with Daddy, and the ever present Ransom. We stayed inside Saturday because it was cold and we watched a movie called 'Marley and Me' (its not out untill Tuesday! Hehe!) Daddy cried like a big baby and tried to say it was because the movie was too long. He is such a liar sometimes!"

"Oh ya.... I had another doctors appointment on Friday, and can you believe they stuck me with more needles! I'm not a pin-cushion! The doctor made fun of my triple chin, said I look healthy. I weigh 11lbs 6oz now and my noggin is officially huge (because im smart!) I decided to show off for doc and held myself up with my arms for like a minute. He said most babies don't start that for another couple of months. I do it all the time though. I also have strong legs, dad says 'look at his quads!' That night we went and ate dinner with a bunch off Daddies cycling buddies. They foiled my plan though and took turns holding me so Mommy could eat. I started eating cereal and a little apple juice, foiling my other plan of not sleeping and having gas so that I can be fussy."

"Oh well... all is good on the home front. I hope everybody is doing well and enjoys reading my post! I am a two month old infant, and I am a PC."

Lucas

"It is now 11:06 and I am still awake! I tricked daddy into giving me the cereal like two hours ago! What a sucker! Here are some more pictures of me if you are interested. Good night."

You know your good...

You know you take good pictures when the people at Wal-Mart say "Ya ummm..... you are going to need a copywright agreement if you want to have copies of professionally done photos made." After some arguing, the girlfriend got away with the pictures. Go Granny (our personal photo-phographer)! Here is a picture of what all the fuss is about.... It is a sweet picture.

We also got news that Lucas and Ransom will be on a monthly newsletter for the low cost animal clinic in town here. I believe there is a picture of those two in the photo album from a previous post. Yup, we are making it big time! Before you know it, the little man will be staring in feature films like "Ransom and Me." Meanwhile, I will become one of those parents that obsesses over making my child the next Gerber Baby. Here is a tongue twister, Gerber Baby Buggy Bumber. Say THAT five times really fast!

Monthling

Maybe I should get some better one month pictures taken, but these were too cute to not use them on this post. Lucas loves bath time. He thinks that rubber ducky is the one because he makes bath time lots of fun!

I am a little delusional, but I hope its good reading anyway. This bathtime was particularly special because towards the end of any normal bathtime Lucas likes to "warm the water" when it starts getting colder, if you catch my drift. I guess we took him out too early because he ended up "warming" me up along with several other items in the bathroom. Somehow he missed Mommy...

Click here to see a slideshow of Baby Lucas. He is already changing so much its unbelievable. He is growing fast and staying healthy. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will be adding pictures as he gets older and changes.

Mommy is getting better and has been letting me sleep so I am not a zombie at work. I have also had a good week of training. Maybe I can do crit soon!

Lucas Cale

After months of not posting anything, I have something thats worth posting. Its crazy to think that the last time I put anything on my blog I had just found I was going to be a Dad. That day has already arrived (About 3 weeks early!) Lucas continues to "surprise" us, and has already shown us that he is going to do what he wants. Since I now have a little man who I am sure will provide me endless material for a blog. Without further delay I give you Lucas Cale Wyrick.....

Weight: 5lbs 11oz


Length: 18 3/4in


Time of Birth: January 27th 4:51 a.m.