One Month

Gus just passed the one month mark. He is doing well, still eating and sleeping like a champ. He is a little pork roll and still looks a lot like Kai. We've been toting him around with us all over the valley. He never complains about anything and has done a remarkable job of sleeping through all kinds of noise - including his brother hooting and hollering right next to him. He is a grunter and snuffler, but also lets out the occasional coo as well. He's shown good strength already by lifting his head off of our chests and off of the floor when he is having a little tummy time.

Kai is absolutely charging around. He has been obsessing over his new bike - and all bikes in general - kind of like his dad. Katie and I did a mountain bike trade out day down at Hartman's in Gunnison and we were letting Kai ride his Strider (bike) around the parking lot. He would ride up to every new group that arrived, point at their bikes and shout "BIKE!" He wipes out, gets up and dusts his hands off, and then gets back to riding. He has become sweeter with Gus and is very independent when Gus is most needy. It is so great to watch him do his thing. He is a ham, and it is amazing to see his personality develop.

Katie and I are loving the roles we play. She has pushed me to become more active in the process - which has been critical because I seem to have a tendency to slip into reading something and being disconnected. I am currently typing one-handed because I am holding Gus with the other. I don't know how I could shut out this life. Gus is falling asleep in my arms, Kai is wheeling around in his toy car (blaring electronic songs) while looking to mooch more food from Katie.

We had dinner with friends last night. A couple we like a lot are having a baby in August. A couple other couples that have been together for a long time seem to dance around the topic - if it is brought up. One friend said "I'm too selfish to have kids right now. It's why we have dogs." I don't think anyone is right or wrong here, it was just that observing friends who I used to get viking-crazy with and the state of our relationship right now. There is a part of me that wants to tell them having babies is the greatest thing in the world, but maybe they can see it by the way Katie and I raise our boys and let them interact with our friends.

I have been blown away with the amount of riding Katie and I (mostly me, though) have been getting in. Katie rode Sunday and Monday and I rode all three days of this Memorial Day weekend. Hartman's is in great shape and, as always, I get to ride hard and travel down memory lane. I still call out to myself sections I have named after old friends or notable crashes, and sometimes after nothing but a whim that passes through my mind whenever I roll through a particular section of singletrack. I am grateful that Katie is so positive about maintaining an active lifestyle. This is definitely a part of my dream for the family that, like the best relationships I have in my life, we stay active and enjoy positive, fun, and healthy experiences together.

Anyhow, Kai is getting ready for school. Gus is back in his papasan, and it is time to chip in to get this show on the road. Graduation is on Friday and I feel so much better than I did last year at this time. There are a lot of factors in that, but mostly it just feels great to enjoy this time of year - especially because I think it stopped snowing.

I keep promising myself I will write more. Either in here or in my journal. Doesn't matter, just got to write. My life has not slowed one bit, and now I have two young sons and a wife that are so vital and integral to my existence. It just takes the first step - every journey begins with one step. So I can get some ideas down. Maybe nothing fresh, but the more the words get down the greater the likelihood of good ideas coming out. I feel really inspired right now by the life around me. Waking up every morning with the early sun and watching the sprouts of green making its way through the matted, decaying vegetation from last year. The last of the snow will likely be gone by tomorrow morning. The rivers are fup to their banks and the mountains are still buried in snow. Our home is filled with the sounds of children. Kai playing in his crib and Gus grunting and suckling in his bassinet by our bed. It is all powerful stuff.

The singletrack in Gunnison is dry and perfect right now. I have been logging a fair amount of miles on my road bike, but last weekend I was finally able to get back on the mtn bike for some Hartmans riding. The road bike has been great. Every day i watch as the snow retreats farther and the grass gets greener and greener. The prairie dogs scramble for their holes when I approach. I spent most days alone, but Rusty Thompson also has been getting out there with me, too. There is not much variety in the riding at this end of the valley - you ride down towards Almont (south), a very gradual downhill, inevitably with a tail wind, then battle back against the slight uphill and the headwind. It is way more about maintaining cadence and listening to your body tell you how much it is willing to take.

I know that the only reason I am getting to ride is because Katie is willing to let me get out there. It is a lot of work to manage the two boys, but Katie has been awesome about cutting me lose to get on the bike. For me the bike riding is not training or preparing for anything in particular, it is something that I just love to do. When I got on the dirt last weekend the sensation of climbing and descending the technical trsils filled me with so many feelings: nostalgia, happiness, challenge, pain, giddiness, fear, gratefulness, and love. The miles and rotation of the cranks and wheels only tell a small part of it. The bike is an instrument of so much goodness. It is a barometer for self-understanding. When you have to listen to the cues your body gives you while negotiating the lay of the land, it brings a deeper understanding of who you are. It helps me understand who I am, anyhow.

So I have been on the bike, and I have been spending good time with the boys and Katie, and I have been working. It has been a nice time at work as well. The kids are filled with positive energy and the staff are all fired up about returning to next year. Both Bud and Jenner are done with CBA, but it is for sweet advances in their careers, and I feel like we all had a good year of learning from each other and filling ourselves with more experiences to help us become better coaches and humans. The prospect of running the program with Christian again is really exciting. I am anxious to have the responsibility and privilege of running things again. Christian and I have worked so hard over the years to build the program, and I want the opportunity to continue. Having the ability to build a program from the humble beginnings we came from has been a dream.

So there is a lot of really positive stuff going on right now that seems to be drawing me to write about. Now I just have to keep the journey going.