Monday…wha?

On Saturday, before I knew it, I was sitting in a pew at a Catholic Church attending a full Mass and watching people take their first communion. My daughter was one of them. She wore a black suit, with a white clip-on tie, and red Vans. She wasn’t joking, that’s her style. I haven’t been to church in a long time, and the cynical comments were flying. “A building of blind faith and cash collection” was my favorite. I found it to be funny that the name was St. Pious…oh wait, did I spell that wrong? Hey, I know it's easier to pick an establishment apart than to believe in it, so we got our respectful schwerve on and rallied out of respect for the Priest and his kool-aid drinking followers....man, somebody please stop me.

Post ceremony, D and I skipped out on the Lake Road for a 2 hour road ride. Ahhhh, that’s the religious experience I enjoy. Nature, baby.

Wake up Sunday morning feeling ready to hit it. I found a Danish speaking live feed of the Amstel Gold race at 6:15am and watched the last 45K. Matched the live video feed with the live text feed on Velonews, and I was dialed. Nice win on the final climb for one of my fave riders, Philippe Gilbert. Antagonist, protagonist, whatever – the kid drops the hammer and you can’t accuse him of “sitting in”. That set the tone for the day. Mission – clean house.

Me and D hit it for about 3 hours, and Lyza pitched in with an effort only matched by that of a cat learning how to fetch. In other words, a few minutes of effort followed by a lot of “am I done yet”. Hey – at least she picked up the dog poop, swept the deck, cleaned her room, and called relatives who gave her communion gifts.

Apres the cleaning fest, it was soccer time. Lyza and her mates kicked the crap out of the opposition which Big Steve would find hard to believe considering he witnessed our first game last week. It was largely because two slug kids didn’t show, and I recruited Lyza’s best friend Nate – the next Steve Nash – to play on her team. He’s like a buzzing bee of activity, a fantastic athlete, and he brought the whole team up to his frenzied state. By the end, I had to pull him off the field because the opposing kids were getting frustrated with him on the field. Before our second game, this kid on the other team was asked by one of our kids “do we play you next?” – his response was “Yeah you do, so get ready to lose”. The kid is 8. WTF?! I know he went home mad because Nate said to him after the game “you better rethink that because you LOST!” Crazy to see the shit talk going down in micro soccer games. Then again, the glamorization of NFL and NBA trash talking funnels down to kids. I probably don’t help either, because I dish it hard too.

Finally, it was all about me. 2.5 hours on the MTB was just right. I made it up to 8,000 feet in elevation before running into more snow banks than trail. However, the riding was fantastic. Stream crossings, creek crossings, mud, slick rocks and roots, followed by dry stretches and into the garage with a mud covered frame and legs as the sun was setting. It was one of those rides that sticks in your head for a while after – I didn’t want it to end. Shorts, short sleeve jersey, spring riding. Yeah, just right.

Whiskey dreams mean sleepless nights ahead this week. I hope to be celebratin' Saturday 'round 2pm.