From 30 to 57 to 93

I've written before about how young my father was when he died, now I can only hope that I have the longevity from my mother... she celebrated her 93rd birthday yesterday.

It's been interesting seeing her going through the many changes in life that have been the past 30 years. From being a work-at-home mother who cooked meals for some of the single factory workers to being a factory worker herself and then marrying again and ultimately burying another husband. And living on her own, in her own house, doing things her way.

"So... happy birthday mom! I think the next milestone will be "95".

Oma's 90th birthday party

Getting ready to head to Ottawa for the Provincial CX championships

The Nationals were a blast to cover and having them local meant it was a snap to get to them. The awesome weather made for a great day too... here are a couple of photos from the day that I like. There are galleries on both PedalMag.com and VeloNews.com if you want to see more (and on KraikerPhoto.com of course).

Pepper Harlton

Emily Batty

The new champions (Batty and Sheppard)

This weekend it's the Ontario Provincial cyclocross championships. Not local (Ottawa is about a 5 hour drive, 6 in the camper), not warm and toasty (it snowed in much of Ontario yesterday), still going to be a blast. I've reserved a spot in Jackie's driveway for the weekend, sure hope I have lots of propane in the tank to keep the heater running!  The cycling season is almost done here... it's been a great year, I wonder what's in store for the next chapter.

Finishing Touches

The first bamboo bike built in Toronto is almost finished... and the doc-vid is being worked on. Care to suggest the audio track to use? It's a no budget video and so I haven't heard back from Peter Gabriel on getting permission to use his wonderful music. I'm thinking Mr. Something Something would be a good choice...

Up Next: 2011 National Cyclocross Championships

November... time for the CX scene to get serious and at the national level it doesn't get more serious than contesting who will get the honour of wearing a red and white jersey for the next year. This Saturday will be that day and it will mark the second time Toronto has hosted this event in as many years.

Last year it was Wendy Simms and Chris Sheppard who came out on top in the elite races with Evan McNeely capturing the under 23 title. The line-up for this year looks good and so does the weather... it will be interesting to see who's got their training right and can bring the hardware home. A recap of last year is online at the 2010 National CX Gallery where there are a few photos to look through.

For this year, expect local stars like Emily Batty, Andrew Watson, Peter Mogg and more to be contesting the front of the race. I'm looking forward to being there! Here's a sample from the 2010 CX action, hope you can make it to the races (key in this to get your GPS pointed the right way: "*PINE POINT PARK, ETOBICOKE" )