Dang it, had 3/4 of the lengthy weekend recap written when my internet crashed for some reason as yet unknown to me.

So the short version is - Philly. Had fun, Chris announced, Fr Tom had his first mass, we all got wet.

Longer version - Friday was pretty, and Chris rode the Manayunk Hill Climb TT. .6 miles up the famed (in cycling circles) Manayunk Wall. Think of the steepest hill you've ever driven up. This is steeper than that. I waited to cheer for him about halfway up, where the wall just really starts to kick up. I watched one rider making his way up the hill, look up, see the increase in steepness, and just turn down the nearest side street and go home.

Saturday was...not so pretty. Got up early and went with Chris to the Philly Art Museum for the Lance Armstrong TT. As we got there, it really started coming down, and stepping out of the car, my interest in running along Kelly drive waned quite a bit. But we got Chris set up in the feed zone that was set up for the next day for USPro. Basically it's a tent set up as stalls so the pro riders can get water from their team managers. Or in our case, the stalls were used by the TT riders to stay relatively dry while riding their trainers to warm up. Worked well! Fortunately the rain passed, somewhat. After talking to John V, who coaches Chris, and did my training plan last year, I felt guilty enough to do that run. Kelly Dr is a beautiful stretch of road along the Schuykill river. It's where the boathouses are for the rowers, and it's a well maintained green area.

Friday night, Chris & I made a bargain. If it rained on Saturday, I was taking the car to Fr Tom's first mass. If it didn't rain, Chris was going to race at Bluebell. The mass was beautiful. It was held at the Church where they have St John Neumann's shrine. The church was amazing. And I got to see my brother for like, 3 minutes. Whoooohooooo!

And Sunday was the big day. Chris had been invited to help David Towle announce at Lemon Hill at USPro. Big coupe! It was a lot of fun, he did a great job, we got a chance to see a lot of people we know from cross races and road races, and overall, it was a really good time! Dave was really nice, and Chris helped with all but the last 3 laps when another big name announcer took over after his stint on the Manayunk Wall was completed. I gotta admit that after 6 hours, our drive home was really quiet though. :)

And now...back to work!
- posted by cam @ 7:13 AM