The Bauer Family

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...