The Bauer Family

Once again Christmas was the busiest time of year yet very fun and rewarding.  We had Christmas Eve with Michelle's family here at the house.  We went to church at the Burt Methodist Church and they had a very nice service.  We then came back to the house where we had Panda House food warming in the oven.  The family arrived and we had a nice meal together and fellowship.  The kids got to open a few presents also. Christmas Eve excitement!   Micah!   Mom and Dad.     I was surprised that no one stayed late.  Everyone was gone by 10pm and we got the boys in bed so that Santa could arrive.  We were up till about 1:00am and got to bed.     So Christmas Day arrive early as Brendan woke us at 3:00am.  We sent him back to bed and he woke us at 5:00am.  Again we sent him back to bed.  He came down again at 7:15am and we got up.  We started coffee and a fire while Brendan woke up JJ...

So Christmas is almost here.  Things have been very busy here since Thanksgiving.  Many things going on at work and with the family.  Several Christmas parties and other things.  JJ's concert was cancelled and their Christmas vacation started two days early.  Craziness from what happened in Connecticut last week.  Our thoughts and prayers have been with those families.  I have not been on the bikes since the day before Thanksgiving.  Will start a training routing on New Years.  I would like to do the Barry-Roubaix in March.  I did the inaugural race and have not been back since.  I really enjoy gravel road riding and this race is really growing into something special.  It sold out in 9 days and then the promoter announced that they will finish the race in downtown Hastings and kept registration open.  This could become the biggest race in the state!  Good luck to Rick and his team, they do g...

So we all survived Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  Thanksgiving was a lot of work, but all worth while to have the family here and celebrate what God has so graciously given us.  We were only missing Scott and MacKenzie as they were with their dad for the holiday. Carving one of the Turkeys     Preparing beverages.     It was a great day with everyone.  Micah had prepared a letter that he read to all of us.  It was very touching and from the heart.  Before we knew it time was up and Michelle and I were heading for bed as the boys spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa.  Watch out Black Friday.     Friday morning came early, I did not sleep well.  I made some breakfast and we were in line at Sam's Club at 6:30am for the opening.  We got in on the first wave and starting picking out our goods.  We were done at 7:30am.  Next stop was Walmart then we spent a great deal of time at ...

So we all met at Island Lake today for a ride.  Everyone showed up as planned and the day was beautiful.  Close to 60 degrees, sunshine and the trail was in great shape.  Kyle had his new race bike from his sponsor CycleFit.  We also learned today that CycleFit will be opening a shop in Saginaw.  JJ was having a hard time so I rode with him for the 10 mile loop.  We finished in just over an hour. JJ was pretty much cooked so when the others got back he stayed at the car and we did another 5 miles.  The new bike rides great.  I have been having an issue with the chain getting hung up by the chainrings.  Not sure if this is a frame design issue or not?  I want to ride it again before I go to a single chain ring in the front.  I really like running a three inch travel fork versus a four inch.  The bike handles much better.  I only took a few photos and I will try to post them tomorrow if they are worth while.  All for no...

It is Wednesday morning and we woke to heavy fog.  The weather has been like this for several days.  I took some extra time off this week to get things done.  Did laundry all day yesterday and some work outside.  Today we are going riding at Island Lake, there should be seven of us.  Hoping to make this an annual thing.  Haven't rode with some of these guys in a year or better.  JJ even said he is going.  The prospect of food is to difficult for him to resist.  This will be a good opportunity to give a final review on the new mountain bike.  Check back this evening for more.

So the bike racing season is over and I have taken time off the bike, but not away from the bikes.  This is the time of year they get cleaned and changes are made.  So some of the bikes have been updated and others are taken apart.  I made some changes to my race bike and hope to ride it the day before Thanksgiving.  Will try to get some of the guys together for a mountain bike ride.  I came across a guy trying to trade his Reba Race fork for a rigid carbon fork.  I just happened to have what he was looking for and we made a trade.  We both got a good deal.  Can't wait to try it.  I then made some changes to my gravel bike.  Not done with it, but it will be good for now.  I will post pics and give reviews when I actually get to ride both of them. I  cut wood all weekend.  We discovered Brendan had head lice after a call from MacKenzie's dad Scott.  That led to a lot of laundry on top of everything else we had g...

So we made it to the campground with plenty of time to spare only to find that the gate was not open.  This is the second year in a row that it was not open on time.  We were told it would be open by 7am and it was not.  Fortunately we were one of the first in line and had enough time to get ready and make it to the start line with time to spare.  Oh yeah, it was snowing and would not let up till the afternoon. Ready to go.     We took off and started making our way through the pack.  We were doing good and then we started to have some problems.  I heard a noise and the pedals on the bike started to hang up, Brendans pants got caught in the chainring.  I back pedaled a bit and they came out.  A short time later the sand and moisture started to cause problems with the gears.  We lost the chain a couple of times on climbs and the gears just did not want to work right.  But we stuck to our plan and crossed the fin...

It is 5:43am on Iceman morning.  I am the first up and having coffee.  Will head down to breakfast soon.  It is 34 degrees and snowing.  It may truly be Iceman this year.

So today is the eve of the Iceman Cometh Challenge.  We were all prepared to leave at 9am today.  But things can change quickly.  Around 4:30pm on Thursday a page went out to leadership at work announcing that the CAP survey would take place at the lab at 8am on Friday.  Well, seeing that Michelle is a lab manager our plans went up in the air.  Giving the importance of this inspection we knew it was best that Michelle be there.  So we continued with our packing and Michelle went into work for the inspection.  She managed to get out before lunch and we were on the road by 12:30pm.  We arrived at the expo at the Grand Traverse Resort around 3:30pm and headed in.  The expo was in a different location this year and was packed.  JJ and I got in line to get our packets and as we went through I managed to get a few deals from vendors and a couple of freebees.  We got our packets and continued to roam around for a while.  I got a new...

I woke up Saturday morning early as always with a full day planned already.  I started a fire in the wood burner and woke JJ up.  He had to be at the high school by 7:40am.  Got breakfast going and I got him to the school.  The Marching Band was heading to Central Michigan University for Band Day.  This was an all day event for them culminating with the band performing on the field with the CMU band at halftime of the game. I got back home and Michelle and I did some work and then we bundled up Brendan and I took him out on the tandem for our last ride together before Iceman.  Iceman is Saturday, November 3.  It looks like 4 of the top 5 tandems will be returning to the Slush Cup.  Should be a good race. After the ride one of Brendan's friends invited him over for the afternoon.  Michelle dropped him off and then we headed for CMU.  We arrived at the stadium got parked and headed in.  We rented stadium seats (best $5 you can spe...

So today we had another party for Brendan's Birthday.  We also celebrated MacKenzie's birthday today (hers was yesterday).  We had Michelle's parents here also.  This was about the 6th birthday celebration for Brendan.  Michelle made some really cool cakes for the two of them.   Brendan's Turtle Cake     Mackenzie's Owl Cake   Everyone arrived and we had a great meal and watched the Michigan/Michigan State game.  Very close game with Michigan pulling out the win in the last seconds.  There was cake and ice cream and the traditional Happy Birthday song.       

So I got to the start line in time this year.  There was light rain this year for the entire race.  We started and I felt good from the start.  Once over the initial climb it is very fast and I was spinning out and unable to keep up.  This put me a little back in the pack, but not to bad.  About 2.5 miles in several of us got stuck behind three slower riders in the single track.  When we finally got in an area we could pass it put us a ways behind the leaders.  I pushed hard and definitely made the right tire choice.  Things got hard in the last 1.5 miles as you come up the back of Crystal Mountain.  I had to dismount several times on the climbs.  I finally got in the last stretch and flew down the downhill.  I made the bend for the grass climb to the finish.  I passed three riders in this section.  Michelle was there at the end cheering me on!    It is over.     I really enjoyed the race an...

Woke up to rain as expected.  It is around 37 degrees.  Looks like rain all day.  A little sad because I really wanted to ride tandem with Brendan.  Guess I will be on the SS by myself.  See you after the race.

We are on our second annual trip to Crystal Mountain in Northwest Michigan for the Peak to Peak Mountain Bike race.  It was a very nice ride up and the colors were incredible when we got around Cadillac and farther north.  We checked in and got our stuff unloaded and then hit the trail for a short trail ride and preride of the course.  Brendan and I were on the tandem.  It was our first off road ride on the tandema and it was great.  Michelle and JJ rode the trail also.  This is a great trail system up here.  Not to technical and very flowing.  We got to a road crossing near the end and I gave Michelle and JJ the option to take the pavement back which they did.  Brendan and I took what was the tougher route but more difficult.  So we climbed the back of the mountain and had a blast flying back down.  Brendan and I picked up the race packet and still got back to the van before JJ and Michell.  We packed the bikes ...

Tomorrow is Brendan's 7th Birthday.  On Saturday we celebrated with my parents here at home.  We will be going to see the big mouse tomorrow on his Birthday. Next Monday we will take him to Kokomos with one of his friends.  On the 20th is the family party where we celebrate MacKenzie and Brendan's birthdays together.  I will post pictures after it is all done. Opening Presents   Grand Dad relaxing.   On Brendan's Birthday we took MacKenzie and him to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate both their birthdays.  Mackenzie's birthday is the 17th.   Mouse Love!   To be continued.  One party left on the 20th.   

  So fall arrived quickly and a lot of things have happened over this last month.     JJ and I celebrated our birthdays.     Brendan started soccer.    JJ started Marching Band.   Brendan and I held a Lion!   School has also started and the boys are both doing very well this year.  JJ started Drivers Education and will be done with the first phase next week.  I have been off the bike for 2 weeks now and will be changing that tomorrow.  Brendan and I will be riding the tandem at Peak 2 Peak in 2 weeks.  This is in preperation for the Slush Cup at Iceman.  We need to get JJ on the bike also to prepare for Iceman.  He will not be riding at Peak 2 Peak this year.  I guess this is all for now. 

So the boys were doing the Junior Rock at Ore to Shore again.  We got there with plenty of time to spare and got them ready.  This would be the third time they were doing this race.  Ready to go!   So we did a little more up and the boys got to the starting line.  There were only 3 boys in JJ's class and 52 boys in Brendan's class.   JJ's at the start line.   So the race started and the boys were doing well.  JJ started several minutes ahead of Brendan and I.  So I did not know how he did until after we finished.  Brendan started out great but got hit by another rider about 100 yards into the race and he crashed hard.  It took him a while to recover, but he did and started to pick up the pace again.  Around the halfway point he ran into the back of another riders bike and crashed again.  He went down hard and was really dirty after this one.  It took him over a mile to snap out of it and he started t...

We got back from vacation on Sunday, August 12 and got busy unpacking and catching up at home and work.  I lost track of time and am now catching up here. Day 7, Race Day We woke up to perfect temps and beautiful weather on race day.  I got coffee going and got showered.  Then it was time to get the family up and head out for the race.  We made a quick stop at McDonalds to get them breakfast and it was off to Lakeview Arena for the race start.  People were starting to role in as we arrived and I got the bike and myself ready to go.  Racers were starting to gather at the start line so I got up there and got my spot claimed. On the start line.   The race went really well and I got in the lead group from the start.  As soon as we hit the climbs I got relegated to 3rd place and knew that I could not stay with the leaders.  I then battled with a couple of riders for a while and then fell to 4th place.  I would not get back on his wheel ti...

So today was going to be an easy day and some rest for tomorrow's race.  So Raymond called around 10am and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride.  We set off for the South Marquette trails from the hotel around 10:45am and had a great ride.  We rode a small section of trail and then went on the gravel service road to attempt to climb to the top of Marquette Mountain.  Well we hit around 1025 feet and called it quits.  The grade was pretty steep and with the race tomorrow decided it was not a good idea.  We even took it easy going down hill so we would not crash and ruin the day.  So I made it back to the hotel and got cleaned up and we all headed out for lunch.  The four of us went to the Border Grill.  The food was ok, just an unusual set up for ordering, etc.  Just wouldn't recommend this place.  Thought it was going to be more like Qdoba, which is one of my favorites.  So then we were off to the beach on Lakefront Boul...