Lug Bros. Ride & More

What would a trip be to Michigan without a Lug Bros ride? Last Monday Dad and I went for a ride around Lake Cadillac and Mitchell. Dad kept pulling ahead, which I put down to his riding more modern technology than I was, as I was riding the Schwinn Paramount, which is almost as old as I am, and Dad was on his brand new Cannondale (although if you combine the age of the ride and the bikes, both of them come out to be 60 years old). It was nice to ride around the lakes, but we did have to take a slight detour on the way back to avoid the 20 mph winds coming off of the lakes.

The other pics are from my ride yesterday after work. I rode from the library in Charlestown so that I could ride some of the roads in that area that I like, but that I have not had a chance to ride in awhile. It was a near perfect day for riding, as you can see from the first picture, lots of big clouds, a little wind, and about 78 degrees. The second picture is from one of my favorite climbs in the area, it is not too steep (at least the first part) be kinds of snakes around a long ridge just east of Charlestown before throwing up a pretty steep last little section, all in all it was a 27km ride that took less than an hour.

Some more Michigan pictures

These are just a few more pictures from our trip up to Michigan. Sam with his parents at the picnic that we had at a truck stop on our way up and then a couple from a hike we took on Monday out at the ISD trail system (where we go cross country skiing). The flower in the picture is a pink ladies slipper, one of the wild orchids that grows in Michigan.

Sam at Lake Michigan

Here are a few pictures from Sam's first trip to Lake Michigan when we were up in Cadillac for Memorial Day weekend, with our friends Cat and Charlton (who actually took these pictures). On Sunday we went to Gwen Frostics and then went to the Elberta beach.

Sam did put his toes in the water quickly, but did not like it much as the big lake was still really cold.

Highlights of Stage 12

Here are some of the highlights from stage 12.



This mostly follows Lance Armstrong on his ride.



This one is of Stefano Garzelli (who finished 3rd overall) and Danilo de Luca who was leading at the time.

Giro d'Italia Time Trial Route

The route of the first time trial of this year's Giro ran along the coast of Ligure Sea. I had seen a few photos of the course on the various bike websites that I read, but then today, I found this photo of one of the town that was on the route. Thought that I would add this post to the collection of posts that could be called "wish I could ride in Italy." Towns and villages like this amaze me, I would assume that they would slowly fall into the sea (or quickly I guess if hit by an earthquake), but no, they cling to the end of the cliffs for centuries.

For those who care, today's 12th stage was won by Denis Menchov of the Rabobank team. Levi Leipheimer finished second, and moved into 3rd overall. Menchov also moved into the Maglia Rosa jersey, as the overall leader of the race.

Late Spring Ride

These are a few shots that I took today on my ride, which looped up around Sellersburg and then came back to Utica via country roads between here and Charlestown.

Tuxedo II

Here are the promised pictures of Sam in his tuxedo suit. And for everyone who is wondering Sam "Bond" prefers his milktinis shaken, not stirred.

Sam and Pop's Excellent Adventure

Kate, aka Mom, was working, so it was just Sam and I holding down the fort here in Utica today. We did go and see Kate at the library this morning and then ran some errands. Sam fell asleep this afternoon and I got about a 23 minute ride in one my trainer, until Sam woke up and informed me that he had other plans for us.

After a grey, rainy morning, the sun can out this afternoon, so I decided to take Sam and the dogs for a long walk. We got all set to go and headed out down towards the river. We then turned north and followed Upper River Road out of town and out to the grassy bank by the river below Quarry Bluff. We then turned around and came back into town. It was Sam's longest walk in the carrier and the little guy was pretty tired by the end of it. As I write this, he is asleep in his cradle.


Our main view for most of the walk was of dog butts, oh well.

I swear that he actually did have fun on the walk, even if this picture says otherwise.

Looking up at the cliff

Dad and Son

Sam in his Tux

I promise that we will get more pictures up of Sam in his tuxedo from Luke and Jamie's wedding last week soon, but here is one that turned out well.

Sam Laughing

Sam has started to laugh. Here he is laughing at the Cat-in-the-Hat. Kate said that he was laughing alot more before she got the camera out. When he was on camera, he got a little shy, but still had a few chortles to share. Yesterday he was laughing with Nona and Grampy.

The first time that Sam laughed was about two weeks ago, and he was so loud he scared himself and started to cry, but now he is obviously enjoying himself.

Ishida Cycles

 
 
 
 


Having no adorable babies to post about, I'll have to stick to cool cycling shops. On Luke's recommendation I checked out Ishida Cycles in the far west of Tokyo. I was in the neighborhood for a school excursion to the zoo and I stopped by on my way home. Talk about a classy bike shop. It was like the Louis Vuitton of bike shops. Nothing but the best. Colnago and De Rosa frames, Rapha clothes (I'd never heard of that company, but it's top of my list now), and enthusiastic staff. It's not far from the Ghibli museum, so next time you're all in Tokyo let's make it a double header.

Mystery Man

Please can anyone tell me who this disguised guy is?

Yet another Sam video

Sam is starting to grasp objects when they are handed to him, and he has discovered his Totoro rattle that he got from Aunt Tomo and Uncle Dan. Here he is, showing Totoro who is boss.

Birthday Ride

Happy Birthday (well, yesterday) to Dad, the big 60, and to think you don't look any older than 59 years and 364 days.

So, to celebrate Mom and Dad when for a ride around the lake a couple of times. Nice to see Lug Bros. jerseys out.

New Bikes

No, not new bikes for me, but Mom and Dad's new bikes that they bought down here in March.

Mom got a Giant and Dad got a Cannondale. So far they both have really like them.

1953 Giro d'Italia

The 100th Giro starts on Saturday, and in appreciation of it, here is silent footage from the 1953 Giro of Fausto Coppi (who won the race 5 times) climbing the Passo Sella.

New Sam Videos

Been awhile

So, it has been awhile since I posted anything up here, and sorry to his fans, but there are no pictures of Sam in this post. But I promise we will put more up soon.

Sam continues to grow and change daily, doing many new things. He had discovered his thumb and hands and now does comfort himself by sucking on them. This week has seen a lot of changes for us, as Kate went back to work on Monday and we all have had to adapt to a new schedule. Overall it has been a good transitition. Sam likes going to Nona's and while it is very hard for Kate and I to let him go, we are adjusting to having both of us back at work, as have the dogs. But Kate is certainly looking forward to having 3 day weekend starting today.

I have been riding when I can and when the weather permits, including the ill-advised idea I had of trying to ride really early one morning (4:30 AM) to get a ride in outside before the day started. While the ride was fine, it certainly was a strange experience being out on the roads that early (the last picture on the page is a poor attempt to take a shadow picture from this ride).