5 kids, 24 hours.

So, I didn't go do the state time trial this weekend, opting instead to take my two boys, their two friends and my 6-year-old niece to a renaissance fair and then camping. I know, I know... your first thought is wouldn't pedaling as hard as you can for an hour in the wind up and down Norfolk's hills been easier?

Perhaps, but not near as entertaining or rejuvenating. I find when I'm feeling a little weary, nothing is quite as good a pick-me-up as getting a young person's view of the world. Case in point...

It turns out my niece, who has more pink than anyone I know and is a walking, talking embodiment of "girly," LOVES to fish.

"This is a full-size rod, let me help you with the cast."

"I know how to do this, Aunt Sydney," as she snatches the rod away, listens briefly to the instructions, and makes a perfect cast.

She did admit later, however, that in addition to catching fish, she sometimes catches people standing nearby. We all gave her a little extra clearance from then on, but she did great and caught two fish. One was too small to the keep, the next, too alive, I guess.

We were nearing the time to go and she still hadn't caught one. All the while, my youngest, Kyle, and his friend Andrew were catching something every 5 minutes. Disgusted, Anya vowed not to leave the lake until she caught one. At about 7 minutes to battle time (where I convince her to go despite her not meeting her goal) Fortune smiled upon us and she got one - a large, beautiful bluegill. She was thrilled and was carrying it and her pole back to the tent and talking about showing it to her mom.

Then I told her the boys were cleaning their fish at the lake and would help her. All the sudden she stopped and looked at that fish, a terrible sad expression took over her face and she said, "It's so sad to kill such a nice thing."

"Throw it back and let it get bigger and have babies, then you can catch it again sometime," I answered.

Her smile returned and we removed the hook, tossed the fish back in the water and returned to the campsite. I have to admit I was relieved. I'm a good one for doing what needs to be done, but when it comes to cleaning the catch, it's not my favorite thing.

The boys also had a good time. Erik and his friend Eric, climbed trees, made a fire and hunted frogs. Kyle and his buddy, Andrew, did a lot of fishing and all the boys played "hide and go shank," a game all about sneaking up behind each other in the dark and pretending to slice the throat. Boys. What are you going to do?

They all wanted to stay a longer and do it again, so we will, but next time, I'm bringing all three of my poles. I almost lost my serene attitude during the pole shortage bickerfest.

Longo 2nd in stage 3

http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/may08/mthood08/mthood083: "The first real road stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic was a circuit race climbing up to the Cooper Mountain ski resort, with the women climbing to the top four times. While a break did form early on the group was all together on the final lap. France's Jeanie Longog-Ciprelli continued to be a one-woman team, attacking multiple times before and on the final climb. However, prologue winner Joanne Kiesanowski (TIBCO) would not be denied another yellow jersey, as she sprinted for her second stage win followed by Longog-Ciprelli."

Congrats to Kendi Thomas and Amanda Miller

One of my Team Rev Racing teammates, Kendi Thomas, took 2nd in the overall at the Division II Collegiate Nationals. And, my friend, Colorado State's Amanda Miller, who I'm gonna try to beat at Quad Cities, was 4th in the Division I overall. A HUGE congrats to both of these young riders.

Jeanie Longo takes 15th in Mt. Hood Prologue

This is pretty cool... Jeanie Longo, a great cyclist, and by that I mean GREAT in the renowned, historical, bar none kind of way... took 15th in the 1.7 mile prologue. At age 50 this is no mean feat.

Lincoln's new bus routes and schedules go live 6/5

I'm pleased to announce Lincoln has updated it's bus routes and after checking them out in some detail, I think they're a vast improvement. Not only do they reach further out, but they run every 30 minutes, which will make it much easier to catch a bus and get where you need to be on time. Hopefully, now that gas is getting so high, more folks will take advantage of our public transportation if they don't opt for a bike. What would be really cool would be a few buses with bike racks so folks who don't want to get sweaty on the way to work, could ride home.

Top 10 Ranking

Pretty cool, huh? Too bad we aren't able to afford to go to more NRC events. Be kind of fun to see if we could move up a few spots.

Joe Martin - NRC

Well, in short.... it was a highly educational weekend. Team Revolution came out pretty good with 2nd in the Team General Classification (GC) and with places 7, 13, 15 and 18 in the individual GC. We probably could have done much better had I been a smarter manager of my energy resources and not essentially squandered the solid 7th place spot secured in the stage one TT. Not going to go into any detail here. Been over it plenty with the people who matter most. Anyway... even though the competition wasn't what it was last year with a huge chunk of the super tuffs at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon, Joe Martin still had many of the top cyclists in the nation and having 4 of our 5 riders in the top 20 was a solid start for our new team.

racing updates #26

Gabcast! racing updates #26