One Arm Post

So today I am posting with one arm. You may be thinking thats kind of weird, but due to the circumstances it will have to work. Other than a bike race a visit to the ER and trying to do everthing with one arm June has been uneventful.

     So lets get started with the biggest news. Michelle, myself, and Peanut headed up to Tulsa on Friday the 10th of this month for the Tulsa Tough bike race. My race started at 8:30 that night. The night started out pretty good I was feeling pretty good in the pack and was able to move around whenever I needed to. My goal was to sit in until we got close to the end of the race and try a move then. Well with 5 laps to go the opportunity presented itself and I attacked with Ben from BOT to bridge up to 2 guys up the road. We stayed between the groups for 2 laps then it was groupo compacto. With 3 laps to go I started to try and position Nick and myself for the sprint, but the weather started to change. It started to sprinkle and the course began to get slick causing a pretty good pile up with 2 laps to go. I then decided since I wouldn't be there for the sprint anyways I would just take it easy and finish. With 1 lap to go the conditions got worse and the 30 guys or so in front of me started crashing left and right, so again I slowed my speed to stay safe and live to race another day. Well that was about the same time everthing went south I rounded an uphill corner and before I knew it my front wheel was sliding out. and I didn't have a chance of saving it. I struke the ground with my left shoulder taking the blow. As soon as I stood up I new what the damage was a broken colar bone.

Obviously this didn't work.

I made my way to the medical tent and received some information on how to get to a hospital. Michelle rushed me to the ER and they confirmed the bad news. I had broken it diagonally from the top outside to the lower inside of the bone. Therefore I am stuck in this sling for 2 to 4 more weeks.

Failure of the Power Balance led to this

The major pain from the break and crash are over and I am just stuck with the arm being imobilized for a while. I start to hurt around 3 in the afternoon, but manage to make it the last few hours of the day. I am allowed back on the trainer and as much as I hate that contraption it is all I have at the moment. Michelle has been taking great care of me and putting up with my complaining better than I can.

Which leads to trainer time

       The crash kind of threw a curveball in to the rest of the plans we had for this month, but we are enjoying the time at home. Mitch and Sarah are coming in town tomorrow an dwe are excited to see them. Michelle and Sarah are going to go shopping while Mitch and I go eat at the heart attack grill in downtown. Then we are all going to meet up to enjoy a Texas Rangers game that afternoon. They are headed home on Sunday and we will be headed up that way at the end of the month. Michelle is going to visit her family for the weekind of the 4th and I am headed to Colorado for the week.

Until the next post I will leave you with some pictures, most of them are of Peanut because I take her swimming at lunch everyday. Have a good day and thanks for reading. Also one more big thanks to my wife for taking care of me.

  

The Past Few Months

Over the past few months we have settled in to our new home and entered into the next wave of bike races. Since March I have done 2 stage races, a few road races, and a few crits. So I will start in March and work my way to the present.

-March-
Michelle and I headed up to Tulsa for the Salty Tall road race and crit on the 12th and 13th of March. I was excited to head to this race to get to race with all the guys from the team. We also got to see my family which was a lot of fun. Saturday was a road race that covered a hilly circuit we did 3 laps in very cold temperatures. To make this short our team missed the winning break and myself, Scotty B. and Momo ended up chasing for the last 1.5 laps to bring it back together for a sprint. We worked hard to get it close but in the end we didn't end up with much to show. On Sunday we had a crit and the weather was a little nicer. Our team tried several moves, but again we came up short in the end. At that time it was still early in the season, but I was very satisfied with my current fitness level.

 -April-

April started off busy with a race in Texarkana it consisted of a Road Race and a crit. There was a low turn out, but it was nice to get 2 hard days of racing in. I finished 5th in the road race and 3rd in the crit. Michell and Peanut went with me and it is always nice to have them along to chear me on. Keeping with our busy weekend for the next weekend in April we headed back up to Arkansas to enjoy family, friends, and our team race on Sunday the Lincoln Road Race. I got to pick up my MTB from Phat Tire Bike Shop and enjoyed riding it on Saturday with Doug, Cindy, Scott, and Caleb. That evening my parents had everyone over to grill out and catch up it was a blast. Here are a few pictures of us riding on the new trails in NWA close to blowing springs in Bella Vista.



My New MTB Garry Fisher Super Fly



Doug and I hitting up the trails



Caleb Scott and Cindy hitting up the trails



The next weekend was a big crit located here in Dallas and Caleb came down to race that weekend. It was a great venue with a dog park that overlooked the race course. Michelle really enjoyed being able to leave Peanut in the dog park and enjoy my bike race. We raced there Saturday and Sunday. I rode hard, but didn't have enough in the tank to finish the race either day. I guess better luck next year.

At the end or April we headed back to Texarkana to compete in a stage race that consisted of a Road Race, a Time Trial, and a crit. There was a low turn out, but it was nice to get 2 hard days of racing in. I finished 5th in the road race and 3rd in the crit, 4th in the time trial, and 5th overall. I was very pleased to see that my form had been coming around nicely with Joe Martin Stage Race being the next weekend.

-May-

May started out with me traveling up to NWA to compete in the Joe Martin Stage Race, unfortunately Michelle was not able to go with me since the race started on Thursday and she couldn't miss work. I headed up on Wednesday and got there in time to enjoy a easy ride with my dad and Caleb. Thursday morning I work up and headed out for an easy one hour spin with Scott, and Caleb, while we where riding we found this truck, and thought about how nice of a sponsor that would be.



New Sponsors?



That afternoon I headed down to start my Time Trial. Scott, Ryan, Patrick, and Nick where all racing with me. This was the first year for myself, Patrick, and Nick to do the big boy race. I wanted to break 10 minutes in my time trial, but finished just outside of that with a 10:02. I was the 2nd fastest on the team, but more importantly faster than Scott was. After the Time Trial we headed back home to rest and relax before the big day tomorrow. Friday morning we started out at 10 for a 110 mile road race. My legs felt decent, but it took me a good 2 hours before they really started to come around. My goal was to sit in on the group for as long as possible and try to hang on going over Mt. Gaylor on old hwy 71. Well I made it to Gaylor in the group, but as soon as we hit the bottom of the climb which was at mile 80 my legs cramped. I decided to ride my own pace up the hill and try and catch on over the top. I ended up riding a good time and got really close to catching the group at one point. I caught Scott and we road over the top of the mountain together with 3 other guys. At the top we had lost 4 minutes on the group and new we didn't have a chance to catch back on. We rode the remainder of the race trading pulls with everyone in our group until we reached Dixon street and that is where the real race began. Scott and I where racing against each other this weekend and had to sprint it out to the finish line up the hill. It was fun to have our own little race going. Saturday we had a 86 mile road race and boy did we suffer. We did an out route, 3 loops, then back. My goal again today was to sit in and try and finish with the group. I made it over the hill the first 2 times fine, but the 3rd time up I got into some bad positioning and couldn't hang on to the group. I ended up finishing 3 minutes behind the group, but more disappointing finished 3 minutes behind Scott. On another note a want to give a big thanks to my parents for coming out and giving us some feed on Friday and Saturday there is no way we could have made it with out you guys thanks a ton. Sunday the last day, but probably one of the hardest crits in the country. My goal of the day was to beat Scott and finish with the group 2 things that would be hard to do. The crit started out fast, but the suffering started out harder. About halfway threw our 80 something starters had been dwindled down rapidly. With 5 laps to go I popped off the back, but chased back on over the next two laps. I think the only reason I could do this is because I saw Scott suffering on the back and was trying to stay close enough to beat him. With 2 laps to go I popped off the back again and chased as hard as a I could. I could see the group and see that Scott was right there. With one lap to go I could see that Scott had popped off the back and new that I had a chance. I chased hard and caught him the last time up the hill. Finished the crit about a minute off of the group, but I beat Scott. Overall I had a good weekend and pushed myself as hard as I possibly could. We started out with 96 competitors on Thursday and finished with 60 something on Sunday.

This past week was pretty relaxed Michelle has been doing crossfit and I brought Peanut to work with me a couple days. She enjoys getting to go to the lake at lunch and swim as you can tell from this picture.





Peanut enjoying White Rock Lake



Next up for us is a big race this weekend. I have a Tuesday night MTB race and then Crits Thursday threw Monday. Doug and Cindy are coming down from NWA along with Nick from Conway to race this weekend. I will try to post an update next week. Until then thanks for reading and enjoy this nice weather.

Slacking on the updates, but we are alive.

It has been a few months since we have updated, but we are alive which is a good thing. Therefore I will leave you with a short overview of the past few months.

January

• I turned 26, man I am getting old.




Michelle's Birthday Gift to me New Road Shoes she really loves me!!!


• I went to our BMC team camp in NWA and had a blast hanging out with all of the new team members. I got my butt kicked due to the lack of fitness, but was surprised that I did as well as I did.
• Peanut finally got her snow and had a blast running around and flinging it all over the place.



Peanut on a ride with me in the Snow. She had a blast

• Mitch and Sarah came down to visit and we went to Billy Bobs to enjoy some 2 steeping and people watching. We also ate at an amazing steak house in the stockyards it was a blast.



Mitch and I outside Billy Bob's
On a side note I'm not sure how to rotate these picture's so either turn your monitor on the side or turn your head its your choice.



February

• Our washing machine house broke and leaked about and inch of water on the floor in the laundry room and the pantry. Luckily Michelle had just moved all of the paper towels off of the floor so nothing was ruined just made a huge mess.
• Michelle's parents came down to visit for a weekend. Her dad and I hung the cabinet in the laundry room and it looks great.
• I did my first race of the season in Mineral Wells Texas. It was a lot of fun to be able to get away for a weekend and see a little more of Texas. I had a crit Saturday morning which I placed 16th in then a TT that afternoon which I placed 15th in. On Sunday it was a 75 mile road race with some super windy conditions. I ended up finishing with the group around 20th or so. I think I finished 15th for the weekend, but I had a lot of fun. Thanks so much to my sweet wife for handing me water bottles on the Road Race i couldn't do it with out you.
• Michelle's eyes finally healed and she started making lasic appointments. She has been messing with her eyes for 2 years so it has been such a blessing for her to finally have them cleared up.

March

• We went to Bentonville the first weekend in March and got to see our family and a lot of friends. Saturday we went shooting in the morning and had a blast. Michelle shot really well and we had a blast even though it was freezing cold. After shooting we went to the Market Place with Mitch and Sarah and enjoyed jalapeno cheese fritters, cheese dip, BBQ chicken, chicken fried steak, and our favorite a Peanut Butter Chocolate mess. That evening we had a bunch of friends come over to my parents house to celebrate my favorite mother in laws birthday. I think she turned 30 so it was a big deal. Sunday we went to church and Sunday school and it was so good to see all of our friends that we haven't seen for several months. After church we went to Pinnacle for there Sunday brunch it is one of the best things you could eat and of course I ate way to much. After lunch we made the long car ride back to TX and got ready for the week.

This weekend we are heading to Tulsa for a bike race with most of the BMC team. This will be the first race with all of us there so it should be a blast. My parents and Michelle's parents are going to get to come over as well so it will be good to see them. I will try and post some pictures from the race this weekend. Until then have a great day.

This past weekend

My parents came down this past weekend to help us out a little around the house and to provide us with a little sanity among all the commotion. They arrived Thursday night for diner and we enjoyed some fresh tacos and showed them around the house. Friday evening my dad and I started working in the garage around 4 and worked until 9 and only stopped for a pizza break and a run to Lowes and Michelle's favorite yogurt shop. We got up the next morning and started working again for a total of 9 hours that day in the garage. We hung cabinets, peg board, and bike racks to help organize the mess. We made a big batch or homemade chili that night and it was delicious. Peanut enjoyed helping us all day as well. It sure was nice to see them and we had a blast. We appreciate all of there help and look forward to seeing everyone this weekend.

This week has been really nice here around 80 degrees a couple days so I got to get out on the bike at lunch and enjoy the great weather. So far we have had a very mild winter here and I am looking forward to that helping me out with my training.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Long Overdue Update

Since our last post we have done a lot of different things, Colorado, moving, starting new jobs, and what not. We have had a lot of fun over the past 3 weeks and are excited that our lives are starting to get back to normal. I think Peanut is excited to have a yard once again. One week more in that apartment and we may not have survived. I guess I will start at Thanksgiving and work my way up from there.

This Thanksgiving we went to CO again as we did last year. Unfortunately Mitch and Sarah didn't get to come, but we still got to give them a hard time about it while we where out there. We headed out on Saturday morning to stay the night with Doug, Cindy, and Carlie at Doug and Cindy's cabin. The drive was much better from Dallas to there then it is from AR to CO. We had amazing views as we made our way North in New Mexico. I found a little ski shop on the way there in Fairplay CO so we swung in to check it out. I had already decided I wasn't going to buy any skis unless they where a great deal and lucky for me I found some. I have been wanting some skies with a wider underfoot on them and finally found them I got a great deal and got to ski them everyday and they are awesome. Anyways we made it to Doug and Cindy around 6:30 and enjoyed some sweet potato chili with our friends. Tyler is currently working in Keystone this winter so he came out to the cabin that night to eat with us and go skiing the next morning. Everything was going as planed Sunday morning so we headed out to ski. Michelle and I where riding with Tyler over to Breckenridge a little early so we could get all of her ski stuff picked up. On the way down the mountain we ran in to a little problem.

With all of that being said everyone ended up being ok and Tyler is driving around with a beat up car. Michelle and I ended up going down to Silverthorne that day and shopping at all the local ski shops we had a blast hanging out while Doug, Cindy, Carlie, and Tyler hit the slopes of Keystone. Later that night we all got together and ate some great Mexican food. On Monday we could check in to our condo so we headed down to Breckenridge and skied all day while we waited on the rest of the family to get in town.

We had a blast skiing and it was great to get to ski with Michelle for an entire day. Later that night we Tyler came over and got to enjoy a glass of sweet tea something he hasn't had since he moved to Keystone for the ski season. I think it was long overdue because he ended up drinking 4 glasses that night. We had a lot of fun skiing over the next few days with family and friends. On Thanksgiving Doug, Cindy, Carlie, and Tyler came over to join the family for Thanksgiving dinner. Big Bob, Granan, Bert, Katherine, Lindi, Emma, my dad, my mom, Michelle, and I rounded out the bunch. We had a great meal and laughed way to hard. That night we had a little pool tournament and I am sorry to say that Doug and Cindy are the champs until next year. Michelle and I got to ski a total of 5 days 6 if you count sliding on the ice with Tyler on Sunday. We headed back to Texas on Saturday to pick up Peanut and sign on our new home on Tuesday.

We signed on our new home on the last Tuesday in November the moving van was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday the 1st of December, which is the day that Michelle had to start her new job. I was in charge of directing the movers on the location of all of the furniture and let me tell you it was an adventure. It ended up taking them 4.5 hours to unload during that time I had Peanut helping us out with everything in the back yard. The most important thing to get moved in and set up was the bed. I hadn't slept in our bed in over a month and I was dying to get a good nights sleep. We have been painting furniture in the garage and we are getting close to having everything unpacked it seems like it is taking forever.

We also went to Lowes this past weekend and got our Christmas tree we are excited to have a tree it makes it seem a little more like home. I also so a sweet Lambo parked in a handicap spot like Tyler said its like a Cat 3 mountain bike racer riding a superfly it just doesn't make since.

That's all I have time for so I will catch you up later.

Moving!!!!

Sorry its been awhile since I have posted last. Its been really hectic around here.  We didn't get the house in Fate that we originally wanted and decided on. We found out that some one beat us to the house in Fate. We were bummed but in the end it was a blessing. Then we decided since I got the job in Heath at GMR (YAY! more on that later) that we wanted to live close to my job because I could go home at lunch and check on the dog and not have a long commute. Not a lot of people have that opportunity so we figured we better take advantage of it. So Wylie was out. Let see...the weekend before last I flew down to Dallas for the first time on my own.The flying wasn't bad but the looking at homes was quite a disappointment. We didn't find anything that we liked. I have never been so discouraged or scared that we wouldn't find a home. That was probably the first time moving to Texas really got to me. I remember the next night my quite time was about trusting in the Lord. Man I sure felt God speaking to me that night. I just gave it all up to him. If we didn't get a house then we weren't suppose to get one. Later that following week Will found 3 homes he liked and one he really liked in Fate, TX. So he flew me back down on Friday to check it out. We found our house that weekend!! God is so good! What makes it more amazing is that the family that lived in the house we bought is moving to South Carolina and has to be out soon anyways and they already had the inspection done and everything fixed after the inspection. So we can move in and get everything completed even sooner! Which is perfect because we have to be out of our house in December! The house has a great backyard (first one we have seen like that in Fate), great front yard, a 3 car garage, space between the neighbor homes, and so much more. It had everything we wanted. It was such a God thing. I have never felt so at peace once I gave it up to him. And look what he did...he gave us the perfect house and location! So I am moving down to be with my husband this weekend with the dog. We will be in his temporary apartment until we can move into the house around the end of November. This experience has been quite that an experience. Its been a good one though. I have never felt so close to God as I do now. I just have never had to trust him with so much before. This is out of my comfort zone but I already know that God has big plans for us. So I am excited! I have a lot of pictures I need to post of the house and I am hoping to be able to do that next week awhile I am in Texas.
So this is my last week at Acosta. My last day is Friday and all this weekend we are packing up and moving down to Texas on Sunday. Its going to be quite the weekend. I will let you all know how it goes next week. I will also have post more updates on other events that has gone on next week as well. Sorry this one is so short but I have to get ready to go to the Dentist...no fun there. God Bless!

Fate or Wylie?

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a great week so far. I thought I would update you all on whats going on. Last weekend Will and I narrowed it down to two homes. One in Wylie and one in Fate. Both are great homes but both have something the other doesn't. Such as the one in Wylie has a huge backyard with a great back patio while the one in Fate has a small backyard but has a ton more storage and kitchen space than the home in Wylie. So its a toss up right now. We change our minds on which house we like constantly. Once I hear back from a possibly job opportunity it will help our decision making a little easier...or so I hope.
My parents came up with me this weekend to Texas to help me look at homes. My mom and I looked at 17 homes on Friday and then we looked at our top 5 or so with my dad and the rest of the clan on Saturday. It was great having my family there and being able to show them around where we might live. My mom was so awesome that she gave Will and I two date nights while they were here. They went and stayed with her sister in Arlington to visit and told Will he had to take me out. So he did! We had our first date night probably since August last weekend. It was so nice to go out for dinner just the two of us and catch up. The first night Will took me to Koyto (its like shoguns) and it was sooo good! After that we went to a awesome yogurt place and walked around on the pier at the harbor. It was awesome! We had a great time. The next night we went to Luigi's and had some incredible Italian pizza! It was so good. We got a large pizza with drinks for $17 it was a steal of a deal! We had so much fun just hanging out and going over the homes we liked. It was so nice not to have to talk over the phone. We just were able to talk to each other face to face. We needed this time together badly. We hadn't really had the chance to go over all the changes, job possibilities, or how each other was doing with it all till now. My parents are so awesome!

This week Sarah, Elizabeth, and I have been able to hang out! Its been a ton of fun! I love my girl time! We went and walked miss peanut yesterday and then we went to Hobby Lobby to pick out some frames for our chalkboards! We are making some cute chalkboards to put in our kitchens. It actually seems pretty easy to make so we will see. We got all the stuff to make it yesterday and we plan on putting them together tonight! I will post pictures and how to make them when they are done! All I know is that all three of us girls together walking around Lowe's asking anyone if they knew where the sheet metal was, was probably pretty out of the ordinary. haha. Hopefully they turn out nice! Last night after we went to Hobby Lobby and Lowe's Mitch and Sarah made all of us some Sour Cream Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and turkey bacon. Oh it was delicious! If you have never had Sour Cream pancakes you must try them! They are hard to beat!

Today I am going to play in the Colgate Office Olympics at Memorial. We are playing kickball. I will admit I am a little nervous about making a fool out of myself but who cares when you get out of work at 12! Sweet! So will have to let you all know how that goes on my next post.

This Friday I am flying down to Texas to look at our favorite two homes again and hopefully make a offer on one. Pretty crazy that we are already getting to this point. I never thought we would. Picking out a home is also a lot harder than I thought it would be. Its hard to think about the next 4-5 years of your life that will be spent in that home. You have to answer a lot of questions...such as is there enough room for family to visit...is there enough room for when we have kids...is there enough kitchen space to handle more than two people...is it a big enough back yard for the dog...will we be happy in this house for the next several years...is it a safe area...is it a area we would want to raise kids in...and so many more questions. We have gotten to where we just might have to flip a coin to decide! :) I know God is in control and that he will lead us to the right house. He knows whats going on and which house is the best for us. I just have to keep reminding myself that I should worry because if we follow what God wants us to do we will be blessed no matter what. I will let you know next week what we end up deciding on next week! Have a great rest of the week!