UCI Race

Hey team!

I was very inspired by the race. Tanner and I have talked about getting bicycles, but they are so expensive. And I am super nervous about getting hit by a car, I already broke my foot twice, I don't want to do that again.

Anyways. Richmond really did a good job of putting on this race. It is a big deal, one of the biggest races in the year. I won't bore you with the details, since no one else follows cycling. But the winner hear gets the Rainbow Jersey, which signifies they are a World Champion, and they wear that in all the races for the year.

We went to the Opening Ceremony. It was nice. There was a parade of flags. Speeches by a lot of politicians about how awesome Virginia is, which I could have skipped. We mostly went to hear the Richmond Symphony for free, which was really nice.

This was our view 

Parade of flags, representing all the nations which had cyclists at the event, they were carried in by local school children 

Look, me and flags!

The symphony, as the evening got darker 

The race course went right by our house. The street our building faces was open to traffic. But if you look out from our apartment toward 2nd, that street was blocked off and part of the race course. Then on the other side of the block, Broad Street was also part of the course.

It made driving tough. But it was so fun! Every time we walked anywhere we crossed the course, or walked along side it. While I worked all week I had the races live streaming so I could listen at work, then they would go past me out the window.

Women's Team Time Trial finish. It was so emotional. I was right after the finish line, so they all got off their bikes and celebrated. 

Here they come! I think this was the Men's Team Trial 

This was the Men's Individual Time Trial. It was super exciting. The favorites didn't do very well, some injuries and other issues. Here I am cheering on the man who won, Vasil Kiryienka, he was the second oldest rider participating, he is 34.  The other top two finishers were up and coming riders. 

The big event was the Men's Elite Road Race. It was super exciting and competitive. The crowds that turned out were big. The rain held off as well.

There was a TON of noise coming up to our apartment. The Eritrean community had a block party right behind our building. They had music playing and a mega phone, they were dancing, the whole bit. 

This is Broad and 2nd, packed with fans. 

Broad and 2nd again. The course turns the corner coming toward you. So there were fans waiting for the riders. Also this was one of the few places you could cross the course, so lines of people. 

Broad Street! The cyclists go up Broad, through the feed zone, that you can see here. Then they come back down Broad in the other direction later. So I got to see them twice on each circuit. Also, those are the same boarded up buildings behind them, oh well. 

USA feed zone, in between the riders 

Walked up to the finish, you can see the blue leader board across the road. Big crowds. 

Crossing the race course just beyond the finish line 

I liked it here, everyone was watching the jumbo tron to stay caught up with the race, until they passed us, where we could cheer them on

said jumbo tron 

Closer to the finish line, big crowds. Lots of flags! 

Tanner took this from our window!! I am second left from the tree, red shirt. This was the leader of the men's race at this point. 

The entire three man breakaway group, One of them was American Tyler Farrar, so there was a lot of screaming and clapping 

The entire peleton goes by. They were so close, you could really reach out and touch them. It is a really different feel for how fast they are going, being right by them. 

Helicopter coverage over our block

This is where I watched the finish, on Broad, by my house. It was shady, and I could hear the jumbo tron

The staff from the feed zones would watch the jumbo tron between circuits too. Sagan was a big fan favorite, as seen by the flag someone put up that morning 

All watching the jumbo tron, really fast and competitive finish

Just some interesting things, staff working, really getting out into the road with supplies and other stuff 

The staff really crowd the peleton

 I wasn't on the finish line, but I did get to see the rest of the Slovakian team celebrate 

It was fun. A lot of big name cyclists were in town. I also heard French, German, some kind of Dutch sounding thing, and Japanese spoken by tourists walking around town. The race course was really good, and got a lot of praise. Not to much crime or any weird things happened. The crowds were a bit erratic, some days not as big as they might have liked. But the last weekend really picked up.

A lot of riders and teams commented on how nice people are here. We have found that to.

I loved learning more about women's cycling, I have only followed the men's elite events before.

Bonus crazy fans! The son is in front, almost behind the pole. He had the same suit as the dad, but with a giant stick of hoof bells, so you could hear him and his dad coming. If you can't see, his suit is a pattern of  Norwegian flags. 

Very officially registered in Virginia

We just got our drivers licences in the mail! I am not going to post photos of those, since that seems like a great way to get your identity stolen. They are kind of ugly, compared to Washington's.

But here is photo of Tanner installing our new licences plate. I installed the front one! I didn't make him do all the work.

We got a cat!

Hey blog fans,

My work got busy, and teh UCI World Road Championship Race came to town. So I haven't been posting much. We have been sticking close to home mostly, so there was nothing interesting to report on. I will make a post about the bike race when it finishes this weekend.

There was one interesting development.

WE GOT A CAT!

He came with the name Craig, we think it is funny, and both like human names for cats, so we are keeping it. Not sure if he is Craig Nakagawara Bevans, or Craig Bevans Nakagawara

We have been talking about doing this for a long time. I wanted a dog really, but I kept bringing up the issues of getting a cat or a dog with Tanner. He has never owned a pet, and was really nervous. He takes everything so seriously that owning a pet seemed like a huge undertaking. He didn't know how to do it all perfectly. But I kept at him, he talked about cats with people we know who own them, and he loves cat pictures on the internet. We had a great time babysitting Tommy, his friend Evan's cat.

So when we moved, he found a place that was pet friendly. We decided we should wait until we were unpacked and settled in. Last weekend we went out to use a gift card from Laura and Kai to buy some cat supplies. We stopped at Petsmart to see some cats in tier adoption center. There was one I really liked. Tanner decided we should just go over to the SPCA. They have a really great one, not far from us in Richmond. I am still not 100% sure why he decided we should just over that day.

Red Ridge Pet Market. This place is like a little Mud Bay. All brands I either worked with or knew of. The staff were friendly. One girl talked to us while she faced cans. And the smells! Pet food and bully sticks, the smell really takes you back.

He knew we could look around at cats. When we got there it was obvious they would let you walk home that day with a cat. So we filled out the paperwork, so that a volunteer woudl let us hold some cats. Soon enough we both sort of realized we would be going home that day with a cat. So it was sort of surprise.

As we walked in one of the volunteers said she recommended Craig. He was in one of the open rooms, where a few cats could all climb around together. He was gorgeous. His little name card said he was a Personal Assistant. There are six personalities of cats there, to give you an idea of basic traits. So when we finally got to go sit with cats, we sat with him first.

He was awesome. We met a few other cats. Talked about it. Let Tanner stew for a while. He felt like there was probably no great time to get a cat, so we might as well get one now. When we told the volunteer, some others heard us, and everyone was so excited. Turns out the whole staff love Craig, and were so happy we were adopting him.

So we have a cat!

It has been really stressful! He started panting in the car, which I know is really bad for cats. And the road race is in town! So we had to go way out of our way to get back to our neighborhood, around the closed roads. The race is on both sides of our apartment, so I couldn't drive to our parking lot. So Tanner had to jump out of the car and run up to the apartment. Then I parked and we hauled all the stuff back to the house.

The previous owner was a 70 year old lady, who was moving to Georgia. So she donated his tree, a carrier, a bed , brush and some toys too. So we didn't have to buy a lot of things.

He wakes up Tanner in the night by sitting on his chest and chewing his fingers. He gets into our stuff, and I need to cat proof a few more places.

He is also really awesome. He is one, he had only had one previous owner. He uses the litter well. He is fit, and really soft. He likes to hang out with us, and lets us pet him, but he doesn't really cuddle. He loves to play, and we can throw around balls and walk around with a string forever and he loves it.

It still feels like we are baby sitting. I think we both need a little time to bond with him. Also we need to establish feeding times and other routines. But we are glad we did it. It is fun to get to play with someone. 

Watching me while I work

Pocahontas State Park

Last week on Labor Day we went for a short hike.

We wanted to go somewhere close, so we drove half an hour south to Pocahontas State Park. It is pretty big, and has a lot of things to do. There is a lot of parking, and it wasn't full. But the park seemed crowded, I can't imagine what it would be like totally full.

They have an awesome swimming pool with a big splash area for kids. There were tons of big families at the outdoor grills and picnic tables.

There is a river and a lake. So there were paddle boats for rent, and people were fishing, canoeing and kayaking.

There are mountain bike trails. There were bikes on our trail. All the riders were vocal, telling us they were behind us, and how many more cyclists were still behind them. There are also trail specifically for bikes, that have signs asking people not to use them. All in one park!

Then there are hiking trails. They were well marked and obviously used a lot. We did a 2.5 mile loop. There are also longer trails, up to a 14 mile loop.

Some of the trees had signs put up by a local nature group, it had a QR code, so of course Tanner had to stop and try to scan it. Also, his hat

Sandy soil 

This was interesting. A few years ago they had a spate of tornadoes and then a hurricane, and a lot of trees went down. So there are areas packing with these baby pines, and other areas with baby poplar

Major differences and thoughts

It was 84 degrees and above 60% humidity. In the trees there was hardly a breeze. So we were very sweaty, much more than we would have been in Seattle.

Everything hear is just so much older than the west coast. The park has multiple homesteads and farms that have been found by archaeologists. Most were noted and then left alone. But there is one small cemetery left, that is just off the path.

The interpretive sign said this was from the 18th century. It wad dedicated to a woman, Fannie, who died in childbirth and her child.

Otherwise, you know, a state park is a state park. It is really nice that it is so close and we are planning on going back.  We are really excited to go back in the fall when the leaves are turning, it will be even prettier.

This shirt is old and now a "hiking shirt", but man, that looks really unflattering

 Also, the park is called Pocahontas State Park! So far they seem really honest about Pocahontas, that is not her real name, she was a young teenager when she married, and she left for England and then died there before she could come back home. I did not sing any Disney songs while hiking, but I thought about it.