Since then a lot has happened of course. Ben had his first Halloween and was a Gingerbread man at the church Trunk-or-Treat along with Ryan (of http://www.themengersponge.blogspot.com/) and Caleb Greene. They were exhibited at Patrick's Pie Shop. (www.beckyandpatrickg.blogspot.com/)
I also got another MTB race under my belt at the Piney Hills Classic in Ruston, my home race. I decided to do something different since I hadn't been contesting any of the rest of the Fall series, so I turned the Stumpjumper singlespeed and jumped in for my first SS race. I'd raced the Monocog a couple of times, but that was in the Sport class. The race was a lot of fun, and it worked out pretty well for me as I finished 3rd, my best finish since I won the beginner class at Ruston several years ago. That was maybe 2006?
I did some cyclocross racing in the TXBRA series, scoring one top-5 finish in cat. 4 and an upgrade to a 3. Most of my racing was chronicled in my articles in The Racing Post, which you can find current and back-issues of at http://www.theracingpost.us/. And yes if you happen to notice I am in fact riding a cyclocross bike, Raine and I sold off our road bikes and picked up a matching pair last year before 'cross season started.
Christmas was somewhere in there, too. This was Ben's first Christmas so of course it was a big deal, even though he had no clue what was going on. We drove our circuit around LA (Louisiana not Los Angeles, which would be L.A.) to see all the family, from Houston to Alexandria to Ruston to Mansfield and finally back to Houston. Of course it was great to see everyone for a while, and the 2 weeks off work didn't hurt my feelings either. I intended to ride the Excruciation Exam (85 mile MTB race) to wrap up the break but that didn't happen due to several factors including weather, lack of motivation, and a lack of friends to ride with to make the miles more bearable. So yeah I skipped it. Bummer. Turned out it was kinda muddy so maybe I didn't miss it after all. Try again next year.That brings us into 2010, and two months are almost past. Jan. 1st I got my first promotion since I entered the industry, I now hold the title of Sr. Engineer. I'm glad to be blessed with a good job at a good company and to do well at it. Ben is now past the 6-month mark with no signs of slowing down. He's growing big and getting to be a lot of fun. He loves to laugh and smile, getting more social all the time. He's nearing the crawling point, regularly pushing up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He has already learned to ride a trike, which I'm very proud of. He can't motivate himself yet, but we're getting there. Give it time.
Spring MTB season starts this weekend, and no I'm not at all ready. I've been riding about once a week lately, spending all my time with Ben and Raine and not regretting it one bit. I get to ride about once a week, usually on Saturdays, when I take the chance to do a long ride in preparation for the OC coming up at the end of March. That's my big focus for the Spring. I know I can just go finish it, but part of me wants to go burn it up and see how I can do. I need vindication after the flat took me out of contention last year. But, I'm traveling up and lodging with 3 friends, so part of me wants to group ride it with them and just have fun. We'll see how I feel the morning of, and what mood strikes me when the gun sounds. Hopefully I will do a better job of updating this instead of only giving updates every 6 or 7 months, of course I always say that so we'll see what happens.I have finally got myself an iPhone, so maybe I'll use it for more frequent updates. It was definitely a significant day in my life.
