Silver cowbells!

Jonathan Page: silver.

Katie Compton: silver.

And Danny Summerhill: silver.

That’s right. The Americans showed their faces in all the races at the cyclocross world championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, taking surprising 2nd places in the elite men’s, elite women’s and junior races.

Coming back from a badly separated shoulder this fall, Page dueled with defending world champion Erwin Vervecken of Belgium in the closing laps. Vervecken beat him by taking a better line at a key moment. Read about it at Velonews and Cyclingnews.

American champion Katie Compton powered her way through the field from a bad starting position into the lead group. At one point two Frenchwomen, determined to drop her, got away, but she fought back, catching one and closing hard on the other when the finish line came too soon. Read more at Velonews and Cyclingnews.

Virginian Deidre Winfield rode to a quite respectable 32nd place – not too shabby considering she’s new to cross and is also a new mom. Look for her next year.

This is the best performance ever by Americans in the cyclocross worlds. I wonder if the mainstream media will pick up on it. Maybe the New York Times will. My guess is the Pilot won’t, but I plan to go in today and suggest it to one of the sports wire editors.

Rider down/a sad day for punk

Brent Liles of Social Distortion while riding a bike. Read about it in the Orange County Register.
RIP.

American silver at CX worlds!

American junior Danny Summerhill won the sprint for second behind Beligian Joeri Adams at the Cyclocross World Championships despite a crash two laps from the end. Read about it at Velonews and Cyclingnews.

As for me, I went for a mile-long run with Ellie this AM, continuing to baby my tender hamstring. She smoked me. The hamstring is still squealing. It’s still not right. It’s been 22 days and I’m getting frustrated.

The last beer

Enjoyed the last Magic Hat Roxy Rolles tonight after a cold ride home from work. Smooth drinking, delicious. Shame it’s a seasonal, I could drink more. Discovered this “hoppy amber ale” sometime before Christmas at Total Wine in Ghent. Bought one 6-pack and went back the next day and bought the remaining case. After Christmas, Total Wine was out, but I found another case at Gene Walters. Wish I could find more.

My cousin Ryan, from Maine, turned me on to Vermont’s Magic Hat Brewing Co. a couple of years ago, particualrly its Blind Faith pale ale. Magic Hat recently started distributing down in Virginia, but I can’t find Blind Faith. Not much on their popular No. 9 – too sweet.

Magic Hat puts little sayings and witticisms in their bottle caps. Interestingly, the cap from the last bottle said: “Break the Cage of the Digital Age.”

Reminded me of the Second Life satire site I learned about today: www.getafirstlife.com. Check it out. It’s hilarious.

Getting published

Eleanor and I each got a little something published in a way in the past few days.

The Virginian-Pilot’s Daily Break ran a book review Ellie wrote on Tuesday. Click on this thumbnail to read it:

And this photo I shot of Mike “Crazy” Hosang at Ciclismo Cross at Bryan Park in Richmond this November was included in Velonews.com‘s weekly photo gallery. Mike races for Team Tripower in Virginia Beach.

The gallery can be seen here at Velonews.

A dreary weekend’s fun

The cold, wet blanket that draped itself across Virginia didn’t supress our fun this weekend. On Sunday we headed to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News and had a blast. The girls liked the fish in particular and I played with our Canon Digital Rebel, trying to take some natural light pics in low-light conditions. Most shots didn’t work, but here’s what did or what I liked for whatever reason.

Audrey and Amelia at the tank.

This is an example of what you get when you mix very low light, a largely automatic camera and a child and two rays that won’t hold still!

Millie was fascinated by the rays. I gave into the flash to be sure to get one good image, but lost the ambiance of the low light.

Yes, it’s out of focus; yes, both Millie and Michele moved; but I love this image for the joy it captured.

Audrey and the big honkin’ catfish.

Millie and the trout.

On Saturday we went to Ellie’s swim meet at the Y in Suffolk. The image below explains a lot about her meet. She swam 50 meter freestyle, breast and butterfly as well as her first 100-meter individual medley. She did great in the IM, but her goggles slipped on her dive.

She toughed it out though and finished in about 1:55. Great first effort. She finished the day as the freestyle anchor for an 11-12-y-o mixed medley relay team. There weren’t enough older kids, so her coach bumped her up. She must have a lot of confidence in Ellie. El was nervous, not wanting to let down the older kids, but they delivered her a healthy lead and she easily kept it for first place!

I had a low-key weekend. Decided to take advantage of the cold and rest my hamstring, which is still bothering me.

Poet in the house

Earlier this year, Ellie blew Michele and me away with a poem she wrote for PTA arts and letters contest called Reflections. The contest’s theme this year was favorite places. She wrote about a stream behind a cabin in the Poconos we visit with Michele’s family.

The Stream

Under the bridge,

a stream you will see.

It whispers to me,

“Am I magic?” it asks,

“trapped may I be,

looking for the sea,

ever so longingly.”

“Yes,” I answer back,

“Yes, you are.”

– Eleanor Dinsmore

The poem won 1st place in her elementary school for upper-grade writing. We’re very proud of her. She also won 3rd place for photography with this photo, which reflects her love of soccer.

A lemonade stand in January?

Eleanor and her friend Annemarie set up a lemonade stand at the end of the block yesterday morning about 10am. Michele and I thought they were nuts, but the girls sold $20 of lemonade in about two hours. Not too shabby.

Hard to believe, as the temperature plummets today, that just yesterday it was in the 70s. I’m already missing summer in January.

Go Deidre!

Deidre Winfield, who took me, K-Dog and Marco to school last Sunday, is now in Europe and rocking with the best women in cyclocross in the world. She was 18th and the top U.S. finisher in the World Cup #10 in Nommay, France, on Sunday. Check out Cyclingnews’ profile of her too.

Jump, jive and wail

Audrey and Amelia in the jumper.

Some friends of ours kindly gave us their inflatable jumper once their son outgrew it. It’s the source of endless joy and occasional agony.

Some other shots…

Earlier, Millie (she of the wildly curly hair) and I went for a spin on the trailer bike. We rode to G-Pa & G-Ma’s in Larchmont to drop off a tin and pick up Audrey’s Dora doll. Then we rode back to Ghent and went to the bank, the grocery store for some apples and around the Hague before riding home. She enjoyed her hour on the bike with her Daddy. (photo from G-Pa)