The Marine (Recruit)

Well, on April 14th, Casey, my cousin, left for boot camp in San Diego, CA. When he first told me about it I was afraid for him. But, as I thought about it and talked to him, fear turned to pride!

He's a cousin, not a nephew. His Grandmother was my Aunt. My Mother's sister. And his mother, an only child, my first cousin, 5 yrs younger than me. She died in 1996. Leaving behind a small boy, to be raised by his grandmother, the best way she could. His father had died when Casey was still an infant. He didn't like being an orphan. I can't say that I blame him.

He and his grandmother came to Springfield to live, in June 1997. They had spent 6 months or so with my sister in Kansas City. That went badly. So, I moved them down here. Helped them set up housekeeping next door to me. That's how I found another good reason that I am not a mother.

He is very intelligent. And could find the damnedest ways to get in trouble. He could manipulate his grandmother, easily. And she was eager to make him happy anyway she could.
Me, he just pushed my buttons!

I didn't meet him til Aug of 1996. I guess he was already 9 yrs old. He was a hyperactive kid, with anger issues, and abandonment issues, also. But, he was very lucky, that when his grandmother died at Christmas, 2000, a family that he had made friends with in grade school, wanted to give him a home, and family. They provided stability for the first time in his life, and he was able to go back to the same school, with his friends, and teachers. Within months, he was a different child. I was amazed.

I know that I could not have done that for him. I've always been sorry about that, but I knew that I was not parenting material.

So he graduated from high school, and was working at the family grocery store. The Kauffmans were comfortable enough to provide for him, and his social security checks when into an investment account. That's how he got his first car. And that's how he and the Kauffmans oldest son bought a house together.

But, somewhere, he decided he wanted more. He wanted school. He wants to run his own grocery store. And, at some point, he decided he wanted to be a Marine. His recruiter told me that he didn't pass the test the first time he took it. But, he showed up after work every night to study, making an even longer day for his recruiter. That took a lot of drive. Something I never saw in his mother, but then we weren't that close. It reminded me of wanting college, and then pharmacy school.

I don't take tests at 8am on Saturday mornings well. So, my scores on my SAT and ACT where not that great. Now kids take classes to prepare for these tests. I just rolled out of bed, and tried to be awake and on time for them. When I got into the University of MO-Kansas City in 1969, it wasn't that hard to do. But when I decided that I wanted to go to Pharmacy school, everyone looked at me like I was crazy. My counselor ( you know--the person that is supposed to give you guidance in picking classes, and heading in the right direction) said; "You can't do that! Look at your scores on your SAT math section." Hey, that doesn't mean squat....I was barely funtioning during that test...geez. But, I showed a backbone, ( hey, who knew?) and said, I didn't care, and if he wouldn't help me, then I'd just do it by myself. And I did.

And I graduated. So, I kind of have a idea of what Casey was thinking. And I know he will complete the process. He says in his letters that he LOVES it. Loves Boot camp! What a kid. He's 20 yrs old. He'll be 21 on July 9th, before he graduates from boot camp, and becomes a Marine. I can't go to San Diego to see it. I have previous plans with someone, I didn't realize that he was going to do this, earlier in the year, when I was making vacation plans. Besides, the Marines kept changing the time he was supposed to leave for boot camp. Originally, it was supposed to be Feb.

We have an uncle that was a Marine. He was involved in Korea. Casey, didn't remember, or had never been told about this. He's named after that uncle. So my sister and I dug through Mother and Aunt Lorri's pictures, looking for the evidence of Uncle Rich's time in the Marines. We send some very special things with him to boot camp, to remind him of the other Marine in the family.

I am so proud of him. I really didn't think he had it in him. But nobody thought I had the drive to accomplish something I really wanted either. I'm sure he'll succeed, and it gives me something else in common with this kid, that I thought,I could never connect with.

High School

I have some good memories from high school. But I feel like I spent most of my time just surviving it. Being a teenager is tough. But last night on Facebook, I found a friend that I graduated with in 1969. Ted was one of the guys I admired greatly. He was so smart, and achieved so much, while I felt like I was just holding on by my fingertips. Well, he has continued to use his gifts, and I found out that he thought I was cute!!! Isn't that neat!?? I had a fun IM session with him.

I'm still quite happy with were I am in my life. Hey, I just upgraded my bike, new shifters, new wheels and rear cassette; Man, it's like a different bike....makes me feel like a better rider! But, connecting with Ted gave me something special. A perspective of myself from long ago. And it was great fun "talking" with someone that I knew from school. I plan on staying in touch with him, but I promise not to forward stupid jokes or chain letters....my sister does that to me! I hate it!

I connected with old friends!

I received an email from a young couple, that owned the first spinning studio that I ever walked in to. Matt is an racer, and his wife Kelly is a great spinning teacher! They are living in CA, now. Not far from 3 of the fires.

Matt has the dubious distinction of turning me on to Pro-cycling! He had no idea what kind of creature he was creating, when he helped me understand the 2004 Tour de France with Lance.
I've come a long way since then!

He never even saw my beautiful bike, and all the special stuff we did to it. He doesn't realize I have a framed poster of the 2007 CSC team on my wall above my computer. Or that I have an autographed Velo News cover of Floyd in Paris 2006. And he's never seen my collection of autographs, or the personally autographed picture of Brad Huff sprinting with Tony Cruz at Downer's Grove in Aug 2006, when Brad won the Stars and bars jersey, his first Pro year. And he doesn't know the story of me getting an autograph from Tony Cruz in Downers Grove, and then taking his bag to help him get to his room with his bike and luggage, and chatting about his new contract with BMC, and the demise of Discovery.

But Matt and Kelly, got to know me pretty well. And they will probably laugh, and not be too shocked about these new experiences I've had.

And I still take spin classes on a Johnny G spinning bike, too!!! But now, I only spin during the months that temps only get to 60 or 65 degrees and lower.

It's so good to hear from them. Maybe I'll get to see them again, sometime....their parents still live here in Springfield!

My Channel on Photoshow!

Okay, I've figured out some of this picture stuff. If you click on this link:
http://www.photoshow.com/members/cat2bike/my_channel
You have access to all the pictures I post. Which right now is only the race pics that I've taken.

But I have pictures of rides that I've done through the season, although they are not all worthy of "photoshow". So I will have to take the time to go thru them. I also like the ones with music, but I'm picky about the music...no lyrics, unless they are about cycling.

Well, this Sat, October 20th is my 56th birthday! I'm ready for the birthday, but I will be visiting my sister's crazy kid-filled house, spending my birthday watching one nephew play football, and being forced to eat birthday cake.
Now, i will admit, that this same nephew rated a rather nice 1 speed bike for his birthday last year. I got him a Redline single speed, with coaster brakes....he destroys bikes, toys, everything, so I didn't want to complicate it with gears and more than one hand brake. His brother, refuses to ride his bike, even tho' it still has training wheels on it, and was ready to give back his patch he earned in Cub Scouts, just so he didn't have to ride it....lost cause........
But he's the soccer player, and has played baseball for 2 or 3 years with his brother, so he's just not comfy balancing on a bike. That's okay, I barely learned to ride a bike when I was a kid.

I decided 3 yrs ago, I was going to ride a bike. In college, I had a boyfriend who would take me riding, and I enjoyed it; but when the boyfriend was gone, the bike was left in storage. And never ridden again. That, by the way, was in the early 70's.

So after 2years of spinning classes, and falling in love with Pro-Cycling as a sport; I was ready to ride on 2 wheels. All the learning to ride again, is very tedious, includes a broken wrist, and eventually, I bought an Electra Townie, because my feet could touch the ground. But I wanted to do more than cruise the Greenway trails. And by the end of that season, I knew a new bike was my big 2006 purchase.

So with fear of typical road bikes, tires too skinny, handlebars with drops, not used to more that 7 gears, etc; I was fitted and ended up with a cyclo-cross custom Serotta, with Jones handlebars that are like a semi-circle with a couple of extra posts on it, for a variety of hand positions. They put huge touring tires on it for me, and platform pedals. I spent the whole year trying to learn how to shift, and get over my fear of my new bike. My longest ride that summer was 25-30miles. Mostly I did, 10-15mile rides. That's after riding the dickens out of my Townie...but I was determined to ride a road bike.

2007 started with a new goal. 1000 miles by the end of the season. All rides after May or the first of June, 50miles or more. Except, of course, the training rides before work that where about a hour long. I FINALLY have learned to shift gears!! I no longer drop my chain 3 times while I'm out on a ride, and I didn't hit the ground this year...could've, might have, but didn't, me and the bike stayed partially upright! There was the time I fell in a ditch, but I was reaching for my bike, and was dehydrated and dizzy and had no idea there was a ditch there! I sagged the next 5 miles, by the way. So that doesn't count, cause I was on my own two feet at the time!

I'm pretty proud of myself. I also found a woman who rides about my speed, and I found that a lot easier on the long rides to have someone to ride with, than to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere by myself. I wouldn't give up. We don't mind being last and next to last coming in at the end of a ride.

This fall/winter/ and spring, I'm starting a strength training program. We just see if that doesn't help next year when it's finally warm enough to head out in the spring!

My sidebar mistake!!

If I could get the Stage 2 pictures off the side-bar, I think I'd be happy. If you click on "Full View" it takes you to my channel on PhotoShow, and you can see 3 of the stages there. Remember, my camera went dead at the Time Trial, bummer...so not really anything from stage 3 from me.

Experience the final Stage of the Race!

Okay, a little travel guide to go with the pictures.

I got there early, just after 10am. The race didn't start til 1pm. So they are still setting up for the race, and the vendors are unloading.

The spot I picked to stand, turned into the area for the officials cars to line up. Lauren, the voice of Race Radio, was presented with a crown as the UCI Queen. So the cars are in the way, but we get to talk to people who get to ride in the cars! I say "we"...it's amazing how you can bond with people that you line up with to watch the race.

I never made it over to the area where some of the Team buses have parked. That's where Slipstream, Disco, Healthnet, some of the bigger teams have their cars, trailers, and buses.

Honest, Levi was the last rider to sign in! Dave was yelling that time was close; " All riders to the sign-in area...." . They started lining up and announcing riders to the front before Levi even showed up!! That's how close it was!

I had the VIP for the day. All the food and drink I wanted. Free t-shirts, free water bottles, and watching on TV's. But I don't drink soda, beer or wine, so I was pretty cheap for them. I kept getting water every time I went dry.

You just can't see all the people from my pictures. I went up to Brent Hugh, the executive director of the MO Bicycle Federation, to talk about the race, and said I'd help with the doping controls right after the race. That was before I knew that Brad Huff was going to do a flip, head first over his handlebars! So I had to move closer to the area when the last lap was announced.

Then I had to sprint over to the Doping area, to keep people from taking pictures and getting to close to the racers. George was the first rider over there. We had a crowd. By the time George finished and went off for the podium, the people scattered too. Mike Friedman was a random test; and when he came up, I asked about Brad. He casually said, that they had got him on his bike to ride over the finish line.

When I was released from duty; I pulled on my Brad t-shirt, and raced for the podium! But, unlike the other stages, I was in the back and could barely see a thing. So I didn't even bother to take pictures. I was able to move up as some of the people starting moving around, or leaving the area. It was great! It was the best podium all week!!
After all the prizes where handed out, including Best Team, Slipstream, and thank God, Brad was up there with his bottle of bubbly, spraying his teammates!

But they held onto George, there was a special send off for the Discovery team. They had riders going all the way back to 7-11, Saturn, Motorola, Postal, about 5-6 riders announced. And then the team was brought up too, including Johan. It was so emotional, I started tearing up!!

I started talking to a photographer from St. Louis named Tosh. He's a friend of Brad's. And he sent me a couple of pictures of Brad and his link to Stage 6 pictures.

I talked to Kurt, the photographer I remembered from Downer's Grove, too. And then I say the guys with the Armadillo crossing sign, and the t-shirt! That was the running joke during the whole day, the stupid creature had become our race mascot!

When I got closer to the podium, I noticed the crowd behind it, so I thought I'd check it out. And there was our American Champion surrounded by a huge crowd of people. I was so glad I got my autographs in Lebanon(Stage 4 start), cause there was no way today!! But that's how I got a good picture of Levi with one of his fans.

Let me see if I can find Tosh's link to his pictures.....be back in a sec.....

I wonder if this will work:

Tour of MO Stg 6
by Tosh Yoshino
I think it will; enjoy his podium pictures!!

cat2bike