today was a day that was heavily fueled by caffeine

this may get a re-read... but now
I am going to finish this beer than catch some zzzzzzz

today was a day that was heavily fueled by caffeine

lots of caffeine
frequent caffeine
a wide variety of caffeine filled products
morning coffee... more morning coffee... generic morning coffee... red bull... coca cola... diet coke...
variety and quantity


last night I felt some soreness in my right knee
dam moby and his midnight start at the 930 club friday night!
the knee was not sore from dancing
from standing when I should have been sleeping
there was no room for dancing... it was standing room only and it was not quite dance music

I treated my sore knee with a couple of beers
I was not in bed early
I was not in bed late
I slept soundly... I closed my eyes in the night and I opened them and it was morning
it was morning and it was time for me to get ready to race my cyclocross bike at Charm City

my bags were packed and my bike was ready
I was excited even if I was not ready
excited and nervous all at the same time
a strong mixture of wanted and unwanted emotions
pre-race jitters are part of the equation

in the morning I walked the dog as lisa roused the kids
back with the dog and the kids were still slow out of the gate
in an effort to make the morning rise and shine a bonus I made some eggs, egg on toast sandwiches, and microwaved some cheddar cheese in a rolled tortilla as a super quick quesadilla

with food on the table I moved my car in front of the house and loaded up several packs and several bikes
one bike for me and a bike for each of the boys
although I have a second cyclocross bike the pitt bike is not normally part of my routine
well... now that I think of it... this may be the first time that both these bikes were ride-able at the same time

the boys did not eat much
it was good for me to have something more than a banana
the body needs more than a banana and the caffeine variety pack

my breakfast was packed to be eaten on the road
by the time the car was loaded with bikes and people we were on the road fifteen minutes behind schedule
a schedule that was created without much free time
we arrived with enough time to register and spin around the parking lot
the original schedule was set for pretty much the same.... but since we were late all those tasks had to be achieved in less time

the details of the day may come in another report
in short it was a good day on the bike with some serious confusion tucked in the middle

I started on the third row
I raced to finish as if I started in the third row

a solid start and nothing sloppy and stupid
the body and the bike were behaving as they should
not particularly spry
but there were no complaints about me trying to push things

on the race course with three laps to go I caught site of my wife lisa headed away from the course talking on the phone... she appeared to be crying
on the phone and looking pretty emotional
I scanned the area around her... she only had one of our two boys
Dean was at her side... Grant was no where to be seen

I yelled to lisa and lisa yelled back

Lisa yelled back to continue racing that she was fine and had it all under control
my mind raced in all the directions that your over protective mother would have gone
I thought about what might have happened and what I should be doing
although I did not know if Grant was missing or hurt I felt that anticipating alien abduction may be premature
so I continued racing... but tried to assist where I could

when ever I saw a familiar face I tried to shout some nonsense about trying to get on the megaphone to located a small child
the entire lap went that way
my focus was on the crowds trailside
then at the start of the next lap after a very sloppy bunny hop over the mini curb when I saw Grant

Grant was with two people that looked that they were responding to a lost child situation
then there was lisa
pretty much one turn ahead
I shouted and I pointed
mother and child were reunited

we have all been that child lost in the supermarket

with mother and child together again I was able to get my head back in the game
not too many spots had been lost

with my head back in the game I tried to make up some spots
no luck
with my head back in the game I tried to fight off all the people trying to make up spots behind me

my body held off so that I could make it to the finish
from the finish I went straight to my family

lisa was settled in with the boys
Grant was playing some application on lisa's iPhone
Dean was reading
we talked about what had happened early
then we talked about the kid's race

the kid's race never happened
the boys took a few laps around the course but neither of them wanted to race
Dean was suffering some soreness in his arm that was effecting him on and off the bike
while Grant at five has a stubborn streak that can not be fought
so I focused on photography rather than the kid's race

I looped the course with the camera
cheering on the Masters A
those guys looked like they were having a whole lot of fun out there
those guys looked like they were going through a great deal of pain
all of them were going really fast

when the Elite Masters crossed the finishline we headed off to the car
we drove back to DC then out to the suburbs to jump in my dad's backyard pool

it was a good day
more words to come