More Wind. More Cross. :-)

Another fun day at the races. :-) Today started out pretty nice. Sun was out, mid 50's, races to watch. Then the wind picked up and yikes! It was windy today but a lot of fun. We met more riders (probably way too many in one day) and had another fun day. I think we've got the names but putting them back to faces will be interesting next weekend for sure. This afternoon we watched it rain/snow(!?!?) while we watched a movie. It was a quick shower but man, it's not even November yet. I'm so not ready for the cold snow stuff yet.

Here's a couple pics from today...

There's more out on Flickr and make sure to check out the xXx Racing site for more.

Got home tonight and had a message from my Aunt. Mike is off at boot camp in San Diego and we're heading out there for graduation in January. His dates kept moving back but now graduation is going to happen the weekend of my birthday and I'm thrilled! It should be a great weekend. It looks like we'll fly out Wednesday and be there until Sunday. I am already looking forward to the sun and the anticipated break. Winters are chilly here and work is already picking up so a long weekend seeing Mike graduate will be an awesome birthday present. I can't wait! I got to read his letter and letters his way are welcome along with goodies but no candy. Power bars are okay. I think I might try sending him some Jelly Belly Sport Beans. Ha!

Things this week were pretty quiet. I was sent home early everyday to make sure I didn't overdue things. Monday included a flickering light above my desk which drove my head insane. Tuesday they wanted me to head home way earlier than I thought was needed. Apparently I was looking rather "white" so it's no wonder I went to bed early. The week got better for sure but this dang virus thing is still hanging on. Tomorrow it's a call to the doc. I'm all for letting a virus running it's course, but over 3 weeks? Really? Hopefully it's nothing but since the light headedness and dizziness came back after the meds were gone, it's worth checking out - again.

This next week is going to be packed. Work is starting to pick up and the small lull we had the past couple months looks to be gone. Month end at the end of the week and Mgr leaves for HI so there's a lot to tie up before he heads out. Very jealous and I have only myself to blame since Tim is there and a visit would take nothing more than a phone call and a plane ticket. We also have our volunteering afternoon on Tuesday. We're headed over to the Chicago Food Bank to bag food and help out. Always a feel good day when you can get out and help someone.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!!

Another Fun Cross Day

Another week has come and gone and I have little idea where to. Checked in with the docs again a couple times through the week and now we are on a high dose of meds which seem to be eliminating all of the symptoms of the dizziness but what a roller coaster. The meclizine makes me pretty tired and I'm on 150mg of that and the predinsone pretty much wires me up and I'm on 60mg of that. The kicker is that he has me on it for 5 days and then off cold turkey. I'll be calling him on day four as I know the med well enough with all the years of my dad being on it that it is not one to just stop taking, even if for only a few days. But in the meantime I just wait to see which one hits me first through the day. I'm either wired to go and running around doing stuff all over the house, or I'm snuggled up with a blanket wondering if I should take yet another nap. The good thing is that at least now there are no spinning rooms, no dizzy spells, and I went the entire day today with out feeling light headed or feeling like I just lost my balance. So that is great.

After not sleeping much last night (took a dose of predinsone too late and it stayed with me till the wee hours of the morning) I was running later than I wanted to today. But, still got up to see the Cross race in Carpentersville. It was another enjoyable day outside and it seems like every week we are meeting a few more people and we're having fun cheering on Mike and the xXx Team riders. After the race Mike came over and he said he finished 10th. Great stuff. He moved up to Cat 3 a couple weeks ago and it seems each week he's moving up in the placings so that is cool. We think it must be with the help of the cheering of course. :-)

A couple pics from today...

The guys were going along the side of the hill giving it full gas to the flatter part of the course.

There were two lovely barriers to hop over on the way up the incline.

Mike fully exerted himself with this climb. ha ha!

Fun sand pits. Kids playing on both sides cheering for mom's and dad's as they rode through the play area.

More pics can be seen HERE.

After the race we grabbed some lunch. Jane and I both thought pizza sounded good so pizza, with a salad for our appetizer, it was. Good stuff on a chilly day. From there we went baby clothes shopping and headed over to say hi to Theresa. The "IBS baby" is still in the hospital getting well enough to come home but Mom & Mike were both home and doing well. The baby's room is painted and cute and tons of planning is being worked on. Nothing like being told you have IBS and then go into the ER from pains and getting told you're having a baby - today. He is a cute little thing and we can't wait to meet him when he gets home and they all get a little settled. Huge congrats Theresa on the cute little one!

Spinning Rooms and Cross Fun :-)

It's been a few weeks since I've updated the blog but I've racing and life certainly hasn't stopped, which is a good thing. :-)

Just over a week ago, I ended up in the doc's office suffering from extreme dizziness, headaches, loss of balance, and unreal nausea. The doc called it labyrinthitis but I say it is the worst hang over feeling in the world. And as I joked later in the week, the worst might just be, never getting to enjoy the party that might lead to such a hang over the night before. It sucked.

I spent several days just hoping the spinning rooms would stop moving and that I might be able to eat a lunch versus sticking to shakes as at least those I knew I was keeping down. I feel for anyone that's had vertigo and I really feel for those that have it over a week. It hasn't been any fun. All the doc recommended was sleep and Bonine. Thanks. I ate 2 boxes of the motion sickness pills over three days in attempting to keep the spinning to a minimum. It helped but never took it away. And for sleep, I think I slept more in the last week than I have in the past six months - seriously. I generally don't sleep much for many reason so to find myself sleeping close to 20 hours in one day was off to say the least.

Things have been getting better everyday but things still aren't "normal". I'm finally able to watch TV, be in the computer, and I'm sleeping more normal hours. I still have some bad dizzy spells and I get bad headaches following it but laying down seems to help it go away. I've been off work a week and will be working from home for a day or two. When I last spoke to the doc she said it could be a few more days. I'm hoping it just goes away.

Last Sunday, with out realizing how bad things were, I headed out to a Cross race with GG and Theresa. Woke up and waited for the dizziness to stop and then I was feeling okay so I figured why not. :-) We headed up to DeKalb for the 2nd Chicago Cyclocross race. We got there and unlike a majority of the road races where I've met great riders like those from Jelly Belly and Garmin, we knew no one. So it was a little odd. We cheered on the riders but GG and Theresa were not having quite the fun I had hoped they would. Between races we were walking around and I saw one of the riders from xXx Racing and he looked somewhat familiar so I went up to say hi. Turns out he was at Downers and that's where I had seen him before. It was fun meeting Mike and it now gave us someone specific to cheer for so GG and Theresa had much more fun during the 2nd race we watched. And it didn't hurt that Mike came in 2nd in the race so that was exciting too. :-)

Mike avoiding a fallen rider on a down hill section at DeKalb.

In a rare event, I handed over my keys after the race for GG to drive as I was just not up to it. There were a few times during the race that if someone didn't know me, they might've thought I was drunk. The whole balance thing started to give me issues and just a step up or down a hill bothered me. I was ready to be home. We stopped for a bite to eat and headed back to GG's where I laid down and slept for awhile. When I got up I felt good enough to get home and that's what I did. Went home and straight to bed.

Once I got my pics uploaded into my flickr account I dropped an email to xXx to share the fun of meeting Mike and cheering him on and to let them know I had some pics they were welcome to. Luke emailed back and so did Bob. I also got an email from Mike and I shared that with Theresa and Jane. It was fun to meet a rider to cheer on and the girls had a good time and we planned future races to check out.

This weekend Theresa was busy but Jane and I were looking forward to going again. So we headed out to Hawthorne. In the email from Mike, and per his entry on the team site, he was moving up to the cat 3's so we went earlier. We found a spot near the nasty ass hill the riders had to go up twice on each lap for pics and cheering. As Mike came by he had a huge "Hi Nikki" which was fun that he knew us. We cheered him and the team on and then moved up to the top of the hill and cheered for even more riders as the hill wasn't easy. The view from the top was great as we got to see them come up twice and could see the whole course. On a beautiful 80 degree sunny Sunday, it doesn't get much better. :-)

The dreaded hill the riders had to go up twice each lap.

Almost to the top for the 2nd time, after jumping the barrier at the bottom.

Of course I got light headed before too long so we left a little earlier than planned but still had a good time. As we drove out I saw a rider with an xXx tee on and tonight, per his email, it sounds like the good luck Jane shouted to him as we passed, it was Bob. His first Cross race today and he said he lost it in the mud pit so we are bummed we didn't check that part of the course out. :-) All good stuff and xXx Racing has new fans for sure as thus far, starting back at Downer's when I met John and Nico, the whole team seems very friendly and fun. We look forward to meeting more and cheering them on at more races. I love the guys I've met this past year and to now be getting to know a local group is just loads of fun. No reason for the season to end when we have some many fun people to meet and cheer on. :-) Check out the pics I've shared at the team site. They're on flickr and on the team's main page. Good stuff.

Some Cycling Updates...

So I know it's been a little while since I've blogged but life has been busy for sure. Since it's been a bit, I wanted to put up some good reads and huge congrats to some...

HUGE belated CONGRATS!!! to Daniel Holloway! I started following him earlier this year and had a chance to meet him at Elk Grove. Then got to see him again at Downer's and at the Tour of Missouri. He recently had a pretty awesome time on the track and rode to a few medals. Huge congrats to one of our great younger talents and newer rider for Garmin. He's very friendly and very talented! I hope you check out his site and if you get a race - cheer him on! Both the Garmin site and Lyne's Podium In Sight site had write ups so I hope you check them out. Back at Elk Grove, I had told John that Daniel was one to keep an eye on for great things and he most certainly has made it look like I had a clue as to what I was talking about. Huge thanks and even bigger congrats Daniel! Way to go!!!

In Cross news, since I'm new to following this year - huge thanks to Drew and Jeremy - check out Jeremy's new diary at VeloNews - Crackin' a curse and kickin' it with Clinton. Jeremy had a pretty good weekend as well - (VeloNews) Powers and Compton win in Cincinnati and Compton and Powers win in Ohio. And for those of us that like pictures - (CycleCross magazine) Powers and Compton Repeat in Ohio. Great racing Jeremy!!!

The Garmin guys have also been doing well over in Europe. Make sure to check out the team site and read up. For many, the season is pretty much done but for guys like DZ, Meatball, Euser, and Farrar (to name just a few) there are still races to be done. I have to admit that Facebook has been pretty fun to follow riders and friends but I must say, I hope it doesn't keep the guys from writing diaries and updating their blogs. Most of those are directly from them from their views and are great for some laughs from time to time.

You know I love reading stuff from Michael Barry. This is from last week but I'd hate for you to miss reading from him - Attacks, crashes and goodbye kisses. And before that diary, Will had a diary as well - Sometimes off the bike can be more tiring than riding...

And of course, I have to mention the GREAT job that Maggie is doing on Christian's Fan Club site. I'm trying help with links to older results and the many diaries that he's written over the years but my help is nothing to the work that she has put into it. Being the long time fan that I am of C's, it's a pretty awesome site to have out there. I'm thrilled she's letting me be a part of it! Make sure to check it often for updates, great photos, and entries!

Sad call to get...

Two weeks ago I got into work and had an email to call my cousin. Sadly it was with news that my Grams had passed away. The funeral was nice and I think because she was 89 and lived a pretty full life, I was really okay with her moving on to a better place. The next day at the cemetary was a bit harder for me. Having dad buried in front of her and Grandpa certainly didn't make for an easy morning. Miss them all. God bless us all to live life to the fullest with few regrets...

Esther (Janko) Gosse, born May 20, 1919 daughter of the late Charles and Olga Janko, formerly of Kohler and currently residing at Morningside Health Center returned to her Lord on Thursday, September 25, 2008.

Esther married the late Marvin Gosse on August 26, 1939 at Trinity Lutheran Church Town of Wilson. He preceded her in death on April 16, 1978.

She worked for the Kohler School System until retiring in June 1984.

She is survived by a son, Roger of West Virginia and a daughter, Rogene (Kenneth) Bruckner of Kohler. She is also survived by eight grandchildren, twelve great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by two sister-in-laws, Virginia Janko of Sheboygan and Betty Gosse, of Oostburg.

She was preceded in death by her husband, her son Robert, and one grandson and one great grandson, three brothers and two sisters and three brothers-in-law.
Esther was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church in Kohler. Esther had been active in several organizations at the Church.

Funeral services for Esther will take place on Monday September 29, 2008 at 7:00pm with Rev. Robert Steele from Bethany Lutheran Church in Kohler officiating. Family and friends may call at the Novak-Ramm-Ziegler Funeral Home, 1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan on Monday from 3:00 until the time of service. Burial in the Woodland Cemetery, Kohler.

A Memorial fund has been established for Bethany Lutheran Church.
The family wishes to thank the staff at the Morningside Health Center for the excellent care provided during her residency.