Dog gone

Well, my time with Kona is up as she now lives with Cari's new partner up on Redwood Road.

She was the first dog that was really in my life, and despite a kinda rough beginning (with me getting adjusted to a new puppy that ate and dug everything I seemed to be concerned about), I truly grew to love the yellow dog...

The past few weeks were something of a bonding time for her and I-going so far as to let her sleep on the bed nightly with me. It was comforting to know she was in the house and generally around.

Much like many things that were seemingly going to be a larger part of my life, she is gone and I will miss her.

Later Kona Bear.

Fathers Day

Today was pretty sweet, I saw Jake whom I no longer see most of the week and we spent some quality time together. MOrning was skink hunting on Veeder and then a trip back down the hill to home.

We were heading to lunch with my dad and family so we hooked up the Kidz Tandem Ward was letting me borrow. After a little seatpost modification, we were off. What can I say but WOW! It was so cool cruising with Jake toward downtown. We really had a blast and cousin Kaleb loved seeing us ride.

After lunch we messed around on the new river front while Kaleb chased us, then it was time to mosey to the library to check hours and when the next book sale was.

Jake had a blast riding and we'll be out on it again next weekend as we are helping with the Napa Downtown Grand Prix--a bike race benefitting his school.

I have to say, being Jake's dad is a life saver--makes everything else happening in my world (both good, bad, chosen or not) pale in comparison.

Happy Fathers day Dad, David (soon to be), Stephan,  Stevo, Kirby, Peter, Johnoss, Otto, Bumpa Bill, Grandpa Roughley...hope you all had a great one.

Wildcat

Jefé flexing while Curtis studies map

Saturday headed to Santa Cruz with Curtis and Andrew to do a little adventure race/ride. It was called The Wildcat and was like an Alley Cat with a lot of dirt thrown in. 

Met up with Jeff and Cam and Brian in Santa Cruz and started racing/riding around 12:30---finished around 4:30!

It was pretty crazy-you had to follow a map and hit places all over Santa Cruz, collect utensils, eating vessel and something to share as well as play Bingo along the way. Oh yeah and ride a lot. I borrowed A. Brooks' Ibis Hakkalugi which I am attempting to procure from him (for over a year it seems) and had a blast. 

VERY fun. Got to meet a lot of great folks and ride in new areas I had never been.

VERY challenging trying to keep up with my group of way faster riders--mostly out of fear of getting lost as we had like 4 maps to review and follow as well as find check points.

In the end we were all on the bluffs over the beach, drinking beer, eating really good fresh stew and pasta and sharing stories of the day. 

I would love to send a huge Thank you to Josh and crew for putting on a great event!

Pics on Flickr.

Retrotec SS Progress

About 7 months of waiting in line and scraping $ together have finally come together...the SS is tacked up

Last weekend I was able to help cut and bend tubes for my future Retrotec SS. Really cool as well as nerve-wracking!

Just sold off a bunch of parts from my old SS (Avid SD Ultimate brakes/levers and My King non-disc SS wheels fetched mucho dinero on eBay) to finish off the $$ needed as well as pay Steevo for Pink King Disc wheels...now I just need to figure out disc brakes (leaning toward Shimano XT)...

Now I have to finalize the color scheme, which will definitely be some shade of pink (in fulfillment of a legacy that began almost 7 years ago when Chris and Matt talked me out of painting my Ventana El Fuego that color)...

Pretty cool. Now the dilemma continues-should I sell my Ventana El Toro fame?

More pics on my Flickr (also  swiped and placed on Curtis' Flickr)

BMX Track

Last Sunday we headed over to the BMX track. As a dad I am at odds with myself-both wanting to see Jake rip it around course, while at the same time biting my fingers as he goes "too fast". Well he rocked it out there! Totally at ease over bumps and on berms, it was incredible. After 3 laps and a dad mandated rest, he was off again. This time disaster struck... and not in the course itself. Jake was crossing through some weeds and dirt clods and took a digger-right on his face. Poor little guy had a drop of blood in his nose, a drop on his tongue and a slightly scraped chin. I held him and made sure all teeth were intact and he was OK. After a few precious minutes he started to come around. We still rested and then he wanted to go again. I strongly cautioned to go easy, but then he was off! His little cranks are so close to the ground, he sometimes hits the top of jumps. A few times getting tossed to the side. One of which was kinda painful, brought out a few tears and then he said "I'm OK" and was off again. We ended before folks got too tired (me included) and on the way home stopped for an ice cream at Foster Freeze.

Riding is fun. Riding with your son is better than anything on earth.

here's a really choppy video (taken with my Canon Elf) to try and show you how much he rocked...(sorry about side-ways, freakin' Blogger won't properly upload my rotated movie).

Isetta Trip

Here's the next out of order post...day before Vintage Car races, I headed out to Pengrove and Sonoma with Curtis in his 1956 BMW Isetta...fun day in a crazy little car. Everywhere we went it got smiles and waves...

More pics on Flickr

Even more pics here (Courtesy of Shaun Ponds-Lancia Owner)

Vintage Car Races

A lot been going on lately. To be honest, I am at a loss for words. Blame it on the heat. Blame it on the new living situation. ...Actually no blame to assign, just re-adjustment thats hard on everyone...

Anyway, in the interest of maintaining, I have been keeping myself and Jake pretty busy. 2 weekends ago we did a marathon Daddy Day with a trip to Infineon to watch vintage car racing and then racing home to attend reptile club to show off Henrietta.

Here's some pics from Infineon and such...

Jake and I in the stands rooting on the loud cars...

Jake was rooting for this yellow racer to win...and it did!

Jake posing with one of his dream cars..a Mustang!...The other one is  a VW Bug.

More on Flickr* (Some are Jake's as he had camera duties too)