Happy New Year!

PNWBuckeye 2006 Year In Review

January: The year started out great as my beloved Steelers finally won their 5th Super Bowl. I have been a Steelers fan for 30 years and was super happy that they finally won #5. It was made even sweeter due to the fact that they beat the Seahawks so I got to display my Steeler joy to all the hometown Hawk fans....Too bad, so sad for you.

February: The close of the football season doldrums was blunted by the Winter Olympics, made even sweeter due to the fact that I could actually watch cool events on Canadian coverage.

March/ April: The start of the racing season was finally here. The early spring road races in the PNW remind me a lot of the spring road races in Ohio which I always enjoyed. The highlight was a 3rd place in an 80mile road race. Jonny Sundt, myself and 2 others broke away from the field with 30k to go and held them off. Usually I get last in the break so to the dude who got 4th: you really can't sprint! The other highlight: I got asked to join the Benaroya Research Institute Team, a great group of guys who know how to race their bikes. I also raced my first stage race since 1999 which turned out to be fun even though it meant I had to ride a time trial. Low point: 40 degrees and pouring rain for TST with snow in the feedzone, the place where I pulled the pin and crawled into a warm car. Hands down the worst racing conditions I have ever experienced in 25 years. Ugh.

May: I flew back to Ohio for my father's surprise 80th birthday. It was the first time in a long time that myself and my 2 sisters were together. Needless to say the parents were quite happy and it was a fun trip.

June: I lined up on the start line for a beat down in my very first NRC stage race as a rider. I have directed teams at quite a few of these but never raced one. So I decide that my first one will be Mt. Hood with a zillion feet of climbing. Brilliant. Needless to say I made all the time cuts and got to the last stage pulling the plug in the feed zone so that my 2 remaining team mates did not have to wait too long for my slow ass to finish. Good experience though. Also managed to sneak into a 5 man break in a local crit and true to form got last in the break.

July: I finally got to see what the Cascade Classic was all about after usually spending the month of July at Superweek. This year I served as Guest Director for the Priority Health Pro Cycling Team and although I had nothing to do with it, I can say that I got my first win as a Director at an NRC stage race as Tom Zirbell rode his blonde mullet to victory in one of the road stages. This was also the site of the infamous helmetless, Ipod listening to, motorpacing session behind Pru-Dog's Bu coming down Mt. Hood. (contact El Gato for more details). July also saw the inaugural Silverdale Criterium that I helped promote. Look for more money in this race next year.

August: Thanks to a moron who will remain nameless (he rode for Broadmark) not knowing how to maintain his track bike and who dropped his chain (for the second time that evening) right in front of me and the field in the points race at Marymoor, I ended up with a busted elbow that required surgery. Season over. Grrr.....

September: My friend Paul and his wife Lori came to visit me and my lady for a week from Detroit. Paul and I used to race together back in the nineties. He bought a new CSK from me and was inspired to do some more racing. He timed his trip to be able to race in the 2nd Annual Blackberry Criterium that I helped promote and managed 2nd in the cat 3 race. The race itself was a success boasting a $5000 purse for the Pro 1-2 and looks to grow even bigger next year. If you are smart, you will do this race next year, if you are dumb, you won't.

October: I got to start riding on the road again after 2 months of being off the bike. I also got to see the Steelers start to dig a hole for themselves that by season end they were unable to dig out of. At least the Buckeyes have been kicking ass. I also got to have cataract surgery in my right eye. Talk about a short and sweet procedure. Needless to say I was the youngest patient there by about 30 years.

November: Me and my lady traveled to Florida to spend a week with friends at....Disney World, the land where commercialism has gone wild. We visited all 4 theme parks (Epcot: cool; The Animal Kingdom: not cool; MGM studios: not that cool; and the Magic kingdom: cool in that this was the Disney I remembered as a kid, got to see fireworks over the castle, ride Magic Mountain (which is a very cool old school coaster) etc.). This was also the month of my 39th birthday so next year I am officially almost old. Oh yeah...The Buckeyes beat that team from up north, again and are playing for the National Championship. GO BUCKEYES!!

December: Needless to say, I rode my ass off in December. Why you ask? Because I like riding my bike and I could, that's why. Even though it has been one of the wettest past 2 months in history I still managed to log quite a few miles in preparation for next year.

All in all it was a good 2006 for me and my lady. The busted wing sucked quite a bit as did my eye surgery but who well. I got some decent results on the bike, got on a good team with guys I like riding with, got to visit my family and I have a job that is fun so no complaints from me. Here is looking at an even better 2007!