couple of pics and an update. brynn is wonderful. heather and i are up a couple of times a nite to fead and change. thats when i am not working the next day at the fire staion, otherwise heather is taking a big bulk of the load.

no races the last couple of weekends, i bailed on the 360 teammates yesterday for the baldwin road race. feeling kind of yuky and run down and i was scheduled to work anyway. didnt want to burn time off work for a race that i didnt have down as an 'A' race and not feeling well either. so i went to work......go figure. it was a sunday and i got paid to take a couple of naps .....also ran a nasty car wreck on I-70....took us 50 minutes to cut a guy out of an overturned car. he literally had the car folded and smashed around him and almost had his feet pinched off by the crushed car around him..
tuesday nite crits have been fast and fun the last 2 weeks. finished 4th in the field sprint 3 weeks ago which was 8th on the nite. last week the average for the nite was 27+ for the 2nd week in a row. it was unusual again in that noone got up the road. not for lack of trying but everything just got chased down. so with the real 'big' boys not up the road, the last 3 laps were friggin crazy fast. i knew this was gonna happen so i just tried to hold on for dear life to some good wheels and hope to stay in contact until the final corner. i found myself just barely holding on to the front 12-15 guys on the bell lap. coming into the last corner it was all i could do to stay uprite and not pass out. first 5-6 guys were 20-30 meters up and i was dangling on to the next half dozen racers. the final sprint saw me pass about 3 guys before the line and noone coming around my wheel. i counted 11 wheels ahead of me at the line. so 12th was the result. not what my original goal was, but a good hard nite was in the books and i think a few recovery days were in order after the last 2 killer tuesday niters and 'tt' efforts on the previous 2 thursdays as well. 360 racing was again well represented. david hedjuk was 2nd on the nite and andy lucas was a couple of wheels ahead of me as well. cameron chambers was active all nite trying to get into breaks. plenty of other teammates doing a lot at the front setting tempo or chasing down breaks.

'Cross' is still the final goal, or i should say 'main' objective, so i have got a lot of training and work to do before september 28 th rolls around.

ive also got this kid thing to deal with......holy %#$^ i am a father!

more pics and thoughts about the new 'taylor'

so.....day five of brynn madelyn taylor coming into this world has come and gone. the posted photos are of friends muggin' up for the camera with brynn. everyone seems to be quite amazed at heather and i. for heather, its the amazement of how well shee handled the pregnancy and the birth of her first child and how well she looks just a few days removed from delivery. myself is aa different story. i think its that same sense of amazement these same friends of mine had when heather agreed to move in with me, then said yes to my proposal of marriage and the final straw being the actual going thru with the wedding plans. 'what could heather be thinking?' or 'what is she doing with that guy?' and yes, the perverbial 'that shlub must have a really big c#$@, to be with a hottie like that!'

yes.......unfortunately these are just a few of my friends, cycling and non-cycling friends, along with heather posing with brynn as well. jeez, you get a baby and a camera, and everybody is a Friggin' model!

oh yeah..... on morning of day five, heather allowed me to head out to blue springs, mo for race #2 of the heartland mountain bike series. somehow, after all the rain we've had the trails at landahl park were dry enough to race on. with only a couple of hours of sleep due to it was my turn to feed and change brynns diapers the previous night, i managed to just miss out on a podium and a small cash purse. 6th place in the expert 30-39 class was all i could manage, which actually was better than my expectations at the starting line. i was about 2 and 1/2 minutes back of 5th place and some cash. still managed to put an ass whupping on some friends and rivals but still just 3 to 5 minutes back from the guys that i really would like to be 'racin' with. the studnickis and prices', guys like that.

oh well...........more pics and useless antcedotes to come.......did i spell that word right???

hey all,
just wanted to post a couple of pics. i stated in a earlier email. to some cycling 'buddies' that the wife and baby are great! in fact 25 hrs after giving birth, heather was allowed to go home. she is a tough and beautiful lady! i am truly in awe of the strength and toughness it takes to give give birth. anyway...if anyone was worried about the progress of my training for the remainder of the road and mtb seasons and leading up to the 08' 'cross' season. its 6pm and a couple of hours after the family came home to the hospital. i am throwing the 360 team kiton and going out to ride for a couple of hours and get in some tt or Lt efforts.......if anybody was interested. again, the beautiful wife of mine didn't even flinch when i talked to her about my riding plans.

god, do i love that lady. and i am truly in love with my daughter Brynn Madeline

here is a couple of pics. heather will not be happy about me posting one of her and the baby, but they are both incredibly beautiful. andi dont know how the hell the picture of my mtb bike got in there?? oh well,

thanks for all the e-mails and here is to some dry weather and a margarita for heather!!

Bout' that time??

4:30 am update.
contractions are about 7 minutes apart. last couple of hours they have gone from 10 minutes down to 7, so we or heather is getting close. i am packing up car with heathers bag preparing to head down to ku med here in a little bit.

jeezus krimany..........we are going to be parents! is that legal????????????

updates to appear randomly.

later!

ps.....i am squeeging inch or two of water out of my basement from early morning damn thunderstorm. F#@#!!!!