Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

A Great Weekend

This last weekend was the "official" beginning of the road race season here in Georgia with the 13th Annual Brooks Omnium being held just north of our little burg. More importantly it was also the tenth anniversary of the best decision I ever made, namely that of marrying my wife, who not only happens to be the most wonderful person in the world but also the most stunningly beautiful (blessings follow blessings they say). I had decided to forego the racing to spend time with Kathy over the weekend doing something to celebrate our live together thus far. However, between her having oral surgery, the busy-ness of having to run a campus ministry and the lack of appropraite facilities we couldn't quite come up with a plan. As the days to the event dwindled we decide to spend the time together near home and plan something more extravagant for May when our lives will settle down a bit.

So, with that in mind, we decided to head down to Pine Mountain for an evening and a day in the vicinity of Warm Springs and Callaway Gardens. We spent the evening in a really romantic little cabin near Pine Mountain (I highly recommend Pine Mountain Cabins for those who'd like to get away for a bit-Google it) and the day looking through Antique shops in Warm Spring and riding our bikes around Callaway Gardens enjoying the time together. It really was one of those cheesey, romantic times that you see in the movies where the couple goes from one improbably cute activity to another, all the while smiling and laughing. We were pretty worn out by the end of the day but the time was wonderful. Getting home Saturday evening allowed up to spend some time with the dogs and unwind.

The following day I went up to race the time trial for the Brooks Omnium. If I ever had a question that I have the greatest wife, it was erased when she not only agreed to let me go race on our anniversary weekend but actually encouraged me to do so. So up we went with boys in tow. The weather the day before had been perfect but Sunday morning was much cooler with a strong wind blowing out of the north. It would be at my back going out but in my face coming back. Upon arriving I also found out that the course would include Griffin's hardest hill, the Futral Road hill, a 5% 3/4 mile climb in the last quarter of the TT. So I warmed up, got ready and when my time came I was off with a good start. I flew on the way out averaging around 30 mph. I didn't make up much time on my 30 second man, however, as he seemed to be cranking as well. I figured that the wind was going to be a bit of an equalizer and any gains would be made on the second half of the course. Once through the turn-around we were into some low rollers and I began to make up some real time. I also began to push my heart rate right up to lactate threshold which was a bit higher than I wanted. As we made the left turn to hit the climb I was beginning to worry about how hard I had gone out. I motored well up the first half of the climb but I began to falter on the second half. My HR was over 180 and I could really feel the burn. I didn't want to explode but I could let up too much. I made it over the climb and reset for the short descent and last mile run tot he finish line. My HR recovered a bit and I was able to power into the finish. I didn't feel like I ridden a good race since I hadn't caught my 30 second man. That's the first time I hadn't done that ever and I wasn't sure I had even made up much time on him. I was very surprised to find that I had, in fact, won the race with my rabbit taking second 8 seconds back. A good start to the "official" season.

After the race we went back home and crashed. All the time out in the sun the day before had drained us both and I was exhausted from the effort of the TT so Sunday was definitely a lazy day with lots of napping, a little NASCAR race watching (almost as good as golf to nap to) and a good bit of time spent enjoying each other's company.

Really a wonderful weekend, even if it wasn't all that restful. As I spent time reflecting on Sunday I was amazed that it has been ten years since that day in Salt Lake when we decided to embark on this journey together. Like any marriage there have been plenty of ups and downs and we've both made a lot of mistakes. But more that the mistakes, there's been lots of love and support and encouragement. It blows my mind that Kathy is so supportive of all the strange dreams and impulses that I have from this crazy bike racing thing I seem to be doing to openning our home to a bunch of college students week after week. A lot of women would deeply resent the intrusion of their extrovert husband and his campus group into their home but Kathy has welcomed us with open arms. A lot of wives deride their husbands' attempts to participate in sports usually reserved for those a good bit younger than I am but Kathy keeps telling me to go for it. If I get to Nationals this year or next, it'll be, in large part, because of her encouragement and support through the training and the racing. Yesterday I was talking with a fellow racer at Dauset who I hadn't seen in a while. He dropped off the face of the earth because of a divorce. I'm not sure what all the causes were but I'll bet, in part, the whole thing was a result of not marrying as graceful and encouraging a woman as I was fortunate enough to.

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