Happy Christmas Everyone!

Happy Christmas everybody! We had a really nice Christmas here. Frank, Mary and Alex all got here safely shortly before the big man in red on Christmas Eve. We had a nice morning of presents and a Christmas Day walk in the woods over the road, before Frank cooked us a delicious Christmas dinner. The afternoon was given up to the Bondathon on the TV, and the the traditional, inevitable Trivial Pursuits, won this year by Summer...next year, it will be mine....

The kids had a great time, and got all they wanted from Santa. They are still enjoying playing in the snow, although we are starting to look forward to it clearing. Hope you are all enjoying the festive season, and thanks to all who sent us cards, gifts and good wishes.

Winter wonderland!!

We've has a lot of snow over the last few days - it looks like it might be a white Christmas!! Here's a few pics of the kids playing in the snow:

Ailsa making a snow angel!
Is that my good scarf??

Present ideas for Drew and Ailsa

Hi all - for an easy solution to gifts for Drew and Ailsa, click on the two links for Ailsa and Drew. There is a choice of books and toys and they will get sent here direct from Amazon.

Here goes:

Ailsa's list:



Drew's list:

Our First Thanks Giving

On Thanks Giving we all went up to Longmire on Mount Rainier. We really earned our dinner by going on a very hilly 5 mile hike! When we returned from our walk, we were all very ready for our turkey and pumpkin pie. A couple of pictures from the trail...

The future of 'cross!!

Drew and Ailsa took part in their first bike race on Snday in Tacoma. They were both great, and both much faster than their Dad. I think I might try those training wheels, though...

Seattle Cyclocross # 7 Spinker - now a Cat 2!!

Last race of the season for me and my last as a cat 3. I felt fine before the race, started well and just got slower and slower. I'd like to think it had something to do with being ill last week, but I'm not sure it has. Anyway, it wasn't my day. the course was pretty flat with no mud or sand to speak of, but there were a lot of fairly tight 180 degree turns, some of them quite tricky with loose rocks and stones. I got out of the gate fine, and probably lay about 5th or 6th after the first lap, but then just went backwards, and ended up 17th :(



Still, I've had a good season, starting off as a cat 4, and ending up as a cat 2, so I'll be making up the numbers next season with the 1 and 2's. I know I'll take a good thumping, but it's a good incentive to be in good shape for the start of the season, and the longer races should help to bring my fitness on.

Highlights for this cross season include a bronze in cat 3 at the sate champs, and a win in cat 3 in the Starbucks Grand Prix. Best mountain bike result was a win in the Indie Series final at Greenwater in the sport category. As for the road, I think my best result was was taking silver in the cat 5 state champs after being in a crash in the last 10 miles - that and 3 wins in 3 weeks in the cat 4/5 at Pacific Raceways.

I don't know what next year will bring, but this one has been a good one all round on the bike. Right now, it's time to get a job!