Shivwits! What did you say?

 

Stuart was looking for someone to do the Fall Tour de Saint George again this year. I wasn't really excited to do it. But, mainly only because it's the third trip down to Saint George in four weeks. I decided to do it anyway. Stuart says he probably would have bagged it if I hadn't gone.

We drove down Friday evening and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa again. It turned out to be a very nice day. Weather was supposed to be a little warmer. As it was I had to wear a vest and arm warmers and was still borderline too cold at the start. But, all that stuff came off by the end of the ride.

The climbing is worse than my glossed over memory told me. I did okay though. Got a flat right at the summit before dropping into Veyo. It took me 11 minutes to change the tube. So, at the feed station in Veyo I didn't stop and the one near the Shivwits Indian Resevation I decided to stop only very briefly to pick up a couple of snacks.

Right at the start I saw a couple of guys on a carbon Calfee tandem. They made a joke to everyone in general about their being dropped now. But, we would be fighting for their wheel later on. I didn't see them again until the steep downhill at the 18 mile mark just outside of Veyo. They went screaming past me. I made a goal to catch them.

About 17 miles later, just after the second feed station I finally got on their wheel. I stayed with them until the feed station at mile 52. Riding behind them helped a lot I think. I left them behind after the feed station because they were taking the 100 mile route and our paths were splitting soon. As it was they didn't catch up to me before the routes split.

They had the metric distance riders move onto the river bike path for about 5 miles which was interesting. My knee started to hurt me and ached for about the last 10 miles or so. Stuart says it's the IT band. It's probably because I haven't been stretching.

I finished in a decent time considering my flat. Came in 2nd out of 18 in my age group and 13th out of 100 overall with no one older coming in ahead of me. I averaged 12.4 MPH for the first 1:10 (the climbing), then 22.24 MPH for the rest of the ride.

Stuart got off course again. I'm not sure he will be doing this ride next year.

Reunion Weekend

I haven't been to a High School reunion since 1996. It was fun enough. Our 30 year reunion really didn't materialize until late and then was scheduled in the fall. So, they probably didn't have that many out of staters like me.

This last weekend Friday night was Homecoming weekend at BYU. A couple of years ago the social club CDU (of which I was a charter member) had a get-together and even though I don't live very far, I didn't go. So, I decided this time around to go and take the whole family.

It was fun enough. They had a band and the young kids were dancing and it was loud. The band (the Spazmatics) was very entertaining to watch. But, in my opinion the whole idea of a reunion is to visit with one another. It might have been better served to start the band later in the evening.

It was fun to see some people. I visited with Orell Anderson, his wife and a friend and briefly with Doug Futtrell and Steve Kovalenko, Matt Balkman (Steve wasn't there,) Mark Van Bloem and a couple of other people I just met there. Also ran into Karen Marriot from way back in my WADC days. There were a couple others who were there that I would have liked to chat with but missed them somehow. Laney ate herself sick on the soft serve ice cream and topping goodies.

Overall it was fun-ish and maybe good for the family to attend. Might wait awhile before doing another one of these. But, I realize now that I really am fairly shy and introverted. My family is very much the same way. Ailsa and Jensen felt no inclination at all to try to join in the dancing with the young kids. I've either ruined them or given them a great gift. Time will tell.

Then Saturday I got a bike ride in kinda early and then Lenore and I drove down to Saint George so that all the kids and their spouses (sans Aron and Cheryl who couldn't make it) could surprise Mom for her 80th birthday. It should no longer be a revelation how much Lenore and I can enjoy one another's company when the kids aren't around sucking up the bandwidth. We had a very enjoyable chat on the drive to SG. Made the drive go by faster. We averaged 80 MPH and scored just under 30 MPG. That's kinda nice.

We wanted to surprise mom so we staged at the Fairfield Inn. Then we learned that Sean and Jenny hadn't accounted for the time zone difference and were going to delay us some. So, we went over to see mom and dad. Mom was surprised and that was fun. Kim had compiled a really nice scrapbook with pictures and remembrances for mom. We chatted until our dinner date at Buca. Meanwhile Sean and Jenny and Clayton did arrive.

Buca was very nice. I didn't feel anxious for the situation at all. Dad seemed to be able to hear well enough and all seemed to have a very nice time. We had some dishes that I haven't had before, Pollo Glorioso, Pollo Carbonara (completely different than my dish, but very tasty just the same,) and Penne San Remo were the ones I enjoyed. I sat next to Ed and he showed me pictures from their trip to Italy in August.

We all went to mom and dad's ward for Sacrament meeting in the morning and then took some pictures to document the occasion.