California - Arizona Connection

It has been a busy several days since Christmas. Between friends coming over, travel, and visiting friends, I have had the opportunity to put in some serious miles over a couple of great rides. The 21 with Cassie, 55 on Christmas over some of my favorite SoCal rides, 15 for a recovery, 50 with Jens and Dan up to McDowell State Park, and 15 in Goodyear by our old house in 40 degree weather. I took today off and am hoping Christine will get out for a little bit tomorrow. Then it is time to clean and pack the 4Runner for the trip to Portland. Talk about stress! It is just hard leaving the family.

The legs are feeling stronger with each ride. I just need to start working on core and cardio in order to get my weight down. The first ride is in March in Solvang. This won't be the 5 hour century but it will be a good indication of where to work for the next several months to prepare for the rides in July and August.

Check out www.javapolitan.blogspot.com to see our family activities this holiday season.

Double Nickle Christmas

It was another beautiful day in SoCal – perfect Christmas weather. The kids let us sleep in till after 8 AM. Santa helped us out by leaving some gifts that took a little extra time to assemble/build/figure out. This was a wonderful Christmas and I am so thankful for our friends and family that made it so special. These types of days are the ones you think about and they bring a smile to your face.

I got out on the bike for 55 miles of riding with a lot of up. It was in the neighborhood of 3K worth of climbing. I combined a few of my favorite rides for this my last ride in the area for a while. The weather was perfect for the ride and the scenery gorgeous. With fewer cars on the road due to Christmas, the ride was less stressful than normal. It felt good to be out on the road.

Changing gears…

A Christmas memory: In 1988, with my parents still in Germany, I spent Christmas with my grandparents in Portland. Two notable “lasts” occurred that Christmas season. This was the last time I saw my Grandpa Permann and my O’Pa Permann. I can remember sitting at breakfast with Grandpa, having fried eggs, bacon, and crab salad. Grandma telling him it wasn’t good for him and then he’d let Grandma know what he thought about the doctor’s dietary recommendation. “All I want to do is have some good food with my Grandson,” he’d say. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of this time with him, although I got a nice Canon camera that Christmas.

Another memory of that same Christmas was a morning at O’Pa’s house. O’Pa was in his early 90’s. We sat and talked about school, sports, and other things. Then he asked if I wanted some Egg Nog. Sure I said. He made it old school style – more like Egg ‘N Grog. O’Pa was born in the old country, the Crimean Peninsula in Russia. He had fought in WWI. A different time than 1988 but he got this great kick out sitting talking to his great grandson and having an Egg Nog. The picture here is from that day. So, with every Christmas, I remember my O’Pa by getting some Egg Nog and having a glass, regular style.

“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.” -Jefferson

Way to go Alex!

Just wanted to offer up Congratulations! to my nephew - he is now a Ranger. Way to go Alex. It was rough, it was tough but you had the stuff to make it through. Wear that tab with pride and remember what you learned. Good on ya!!

Cruis'in with Cassie

Yesterday morning I got up to ride and to my surprise, a few minutes later Cassie came down stairs saying she could not sleep. So, what the heck, I invited her to go for a ride. After she decided that it wasn't too cold, she had some breakfast and out we went. It is always nice to have a partner to ride with. It gets old just hammering all alone in the cold and dark wilderness. We had a great time together. We ended up going over 21 miles in about two hours. We rode from one side of Simi to the other and back. There were some hills and she pulled them nicely. Heck, she was riding in bigger gears than I normally ride up the hills! I am going to have to keep her on the bike.

While we are riding, I remember a conversation with JD about triathlons. She likes to swim and run. If I could get her on the bike, maybe, just maybe, well have to see. I need to talk to her more about it and get her more time on the bike.

We, well, I am looking forward to this week. Not only is it Christmas, the Dunfords are coming to visit and we are going out to Phoenix for a wedding and to visit some more friends. It will be like a whirlwind tour before I leave for Portland. I haven't decided yet when I am leaving. It will be either later in the day on the 1st or early AM on the 2nd. It really all depends on how much I get done before the Phoenix trip. A lot to do and not much time is left. Ooh well, it will all work out.

Back to being BYU

The headline at www.espn.com reads "BYU rocks Oregon in Las Vegas Bowl." It was more like an artillery barrage than a stoning. The first quarter was the feeling out and figuring out period. At the beginning of the second, the die had been cast. It started with a field goal and ended with the games MVP diving at the pylon for 6.

The last BYU bowl win came in the 1997 Cotton Bowl against Kansas State. We were in LA, watching it with Jack and Charlene. BYU was ranked #5 then and the game a bit more nail biting. What made this so sweet was the wait and the pain of the last few years. Kudos to Bronco Mendenhall for bringing back the traditions at the Y: the uniforms, the passing game, the bend but done break 3 - 4 defense, and the MWC conference championship.

So all y'all Cougars out there, please join me.

"Rise and shout, the Cougars are out..."

Tis the start of the season...

With December comes the start of two seasons - the Christmas season and my cycling season. We put the tree up today to kick off the Christmas season and this week will mark the beginning of the cycling season. I have a few goals for the upcoming season. Let me put these on paper for all to see:

• Sub 5 hour century
• Eight century rides this year (don't all have to be organized rides)
• STP in less than 11 hours
• Get to 195 pounds
• Ride the "Hotter 'N Hell Hundred" with Hogg and Trickle - all of us under 5 hours

The last one is a teamwork goal. I know if we all prepare well for the ride, working together we can get to sub 5 hours on the century. We probably could have done it last year but we all got carried away in backing up our yaba da doo's. Let's get it done together this year. Don't get me wrong, this won't diminish the amount of trash talking, um, excuse me, the motivational literature posted on the various blogs. Let's go.

I got my other laptop back, finally! I was looking through the files and saw some pictures. I need to copy all the personal stuff off so I can get the hard drive sanitized before selling the laptop. So, if any are interested in a Dell Inspirion 5150 Laptop with a mobile Intel Pentium 4 - 2 Ghz processor with 512 of RAM and a 40 Gig hard drive, let me know because I plan on selling it.

Here are a few pictures from the last little bit I thought to post, mostly of family.

Christine with some of her friends before leaving Texas.

Us and the Dunfords before our treks West!

The kids at Bob's house in January.

Ride for the Roses in Austin, October 2005.

The new J - O - B.

Trickle's first ride.