60* to 30* (and snow) in a Flash

Friday afternoon (in anticipation of what weather was coming) Dale, Nate, Micheal Peirce (new to the group), and I hit the roads. Micheal is a multi All-American XC and mile runner at SBU and has ridden for the last year or so; he has a huge engine and at 140 lbs is a load on any climb. Nate and Micheal had only a couple hours to ride so we looped them back in and then Dale and I hit the roads west of Bolivar to finish with 3:50hrs. The temps and conditions were great and it was hard to believe the potential for snow and freezing temps were less than 12hrs away.

Ian spent the evening at a friend's birthday party so Deb and I took Jim, Linda, and Jake to eat a little Mexican food. Afterwards it was a couple games of Spades (guys dominated) then off to bed (around 1am that is as COD was on the agenda

Saturday morning we woke (late) to cold temps and some light rain, but not as bad as anticipated (yet)... I spent the morning watching MSR while we lazied around the casa. At noon we loaded up for SGF for Ian's ball game. It was starting to rain pellets of ice but as we got closer to SGF it turned more rain. Ian's crew played their best game of the season and won pretty easily. After the game Ian found his favorite place to eat - Rivals. TV's with nothing but sports with flags and jerseys of several teams (not to mention the huge helmets and bats and the TVs in the floors). Jim and Linda joined us; we'll be back.

On our drive back to Bolivar the roads became increasingly icy and snow started falling. Deb and I headed to a Sunday School group fellowship/dinner and enjoyed an evening of good food, conversation and cards (7 Up 7 Down). The drive home was interesting as the snow/ice was accumulating. By evening's end I am not sure how much we got, but a pretty decent amount. Ian stayed the night with the Appleby's.

Sunday morning continued cold and wet/snow. We loaded up and went to church and upon getting home Deb and I tackled the guest bath remodel job. Wallpapering and hanging new fixtures were the day's task and by night's end it was all done (and quite well I must add) and a bonus it that Deb and I are still talking to each other. Up this week is putting in the tile floors.

This week is Spring Break for the boys and since Deb and I are working nothing in particular is planned. Jake has track practice at 9am every day this week so Ian came in with me and worked on our Office NCAA bracket rankings for a couple hours before hitting the gym with me for some 'noon-ball'. You can tell from the picture below he was hard(ly) at work (the pic also reminded me I need to hang my Hincapie piece.



Jake's leg is back to 100% as long as he stays off the track (corners are killing him) so coach is doing his efforts in open grassy fields and plans to get him on the track only at meets. Will be interesting to see the results. We hope to meet with a 'stride' specialist this weekend in STL and let him analyse his corner running.

Was able to grab a 1:30hr ride with Dale last night after work. Despite the full sun there was still a chill in the breeze, but tomorrow is supposed to hit mid-60s so D Hwy hill intervals will be 'toasty'. This weekend we are heading to STL and I'll have a choice between Lost Valley mtb race or Great Forest Crit (both on Sunday). I like racing mtb's, but if STL gets the rain forcasted then I will skip the mud-fest for the crit, but if it's not too wet I'll mtb' it. I race at LV last year and really liked the 'roadie' style mtb course, but this year they have added quite a bit more single track; since I have not ridden ANY off-road stuff this year it could be interesting to watch me bounce off of trees.