The cross race was a blast. It was very muddy and the wind was blowing at 40mph with gusts of 60. In the beginner class Most people got in 3 laps with the conditions. I met my goals of finishing and not finishing last. It was funny that me, my wife Julie, and Julie S decided that this would be our fist cross race and we finished in order. Julie S, me, and my wife Julie. I think we all met our goals for a first try. Next year I’ll try to get in better shape so I can beat a few more people.

After watching the cross race in Newton last Sun my wife wants to give it a try. Trying to be a supportive husband I said “why don’t we both do it”. There is a beginner class at the Spooky Cross that is “only” 30 minutes plus 2 laps. It sounds great! That is until we went and rode the course at Newton. I’ve only been back on the bike for about 6 weeks with 1 or 2 rides a week. Nothing big or challenging. Julie my wife has been on the bike all year. I did 4 laps and thought I was going to die. She did 5 and thought it was tough. We continued on the road and finished with 10 miles. Both of us thought it was one of the toughest short rides we had ever done. With only 2 weeks to get ready it is going to be a challenge. Our only goal is to finish. We decided not to compare our results to each other since she has the fitness and I still have some of my old mountain biking skills left. Hopefully it is a great time for all. I’ll update how the experience went.

A couple of weeks ago I was scanning the Specialized closeout page and ran across a great deal on a frameset. They found a bunch of 2002 and 2003 S-Works frames. I got a 2003 Team S-Works aluminum road frame with a full carbon fork and seatpost. It has the tiger stripe white and black paint. Should make a great bike. My plans were to buy the stuff to build it over the winter but I am getting some great offers for parts right now. Who knows. It may be ready to ride before this season ends. Keep watching for updates.

After a couple of tries my friend Joe T talked me into playing B league hockey for the summer session. Of course they combined A & B so I am playing way out of my C league experience. The fun thing is even though almost everyone is quite a bit better than I am they make me feel like I fit in. The puck gets passed a lot more and the people on my team seem to want to help me get better. So far we are 2-0 but the really good teams await. It has been really fun and I hope it continues. I am also looking forward to getting back with the people of C league this fall. Another great group of people that are fun to play with.

We entered the postseason as the 5th seed out of 6 teams. First round we beat the 4th seed 3-0. Great victory for a team that started 0-5. 2nd round we played the #2 seed and lost 3-2. Next we play a consolation game against the first seed that lost 2-1 in a shoot out. Congratulations to Alien Mike for making the championship game as a 6 seed. Now if we can win this Wed. we will finish 3rd. Good luck to all the teams still playing.