It has been a while since I have blogged and there have been way too many life events to cover in a single blog so I will fast forward to the last 3 months. On March 4th Diana and I became grandparents to a wonderful 8lb 4oz baby boy...Zebulon Lee Wyatt. We are both very excited and are looking forward to spending time with Zebulon Lee. More BIG news to come hehehehe.

I have been recently diagnosed with a root aortic aneurysm which is distorting the aortic valve causing severe regurgitation. This has been confirmed through an echocardiogram, ct scan and TEE. The next step is a surgery consultation to schedule open heart surgery.

The aneurysm  has been a developing issue and has now caused the regurgitation to be severe so intervention to correct the issue is next. I did find the diagnosis process quite interesting ie during the stress test the techs kept commenting on what a high level of fitness I had and according to time spent on treadmill etc I had the fitness of a 30 year old. I kept thinking to myself my fitness level is the lowest it has been in years so how could it be comparable to a 30 yo. I am at a loss to explain how someone with severe regurgitation could exceed in a fitness test. I have found Asheville Cardiology to be excellent, although I do think the diagnostics are based on the average person and not on someone that has competed all their life. Does this make a difference....I am not sure but it should be taken into consideration.

Adventures...open heart surgery and grand parenting are about all I can handle this year!

News From the Farm

The farm is doing well, Jack is in the beanstalk keeping an eye on things. Jack does not say a lot but seems to be more talkative after I have had a couple of Belgium beers. He does a great job of scaring off crows and various other varmints. Jack also keeps a good attitude about his job. He always has that goofy grin, regardless of what comes or goes, hot cold, rain, clear always the same grin. A great guy to have around.

The beans should be "coming in" in a couple of weeks. I like fresh beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn bread and milk. This is an awesome meal and has to be my favorite summertime treat.

The blueberries need some rain, but the raspberries are delicious. I only have enough to pick and eat when I am in the garden, nice snack while I am working.

That's about all the news from the farm. I may let Jack do the next Post. He told me he had an idea on the use of the common hoe.

Not much happening

Not much has been happening the last few months. I did not do Snake Creek Gap this year because of scheduling conflicts. I have done very little riding outdoors and have gained quite a bit of weight. Diana and I did take a weekend and went cross country skiing. It had been years since we had been cross country skiing. We had a great weekend and it was an awesome workout.

Below is a blog post I started at the end of cross season.

MUD SWEAT AND GEARS

December 12 2009 concluded another year of the Mud Sweat and Gears cyclocross series. Dwayne Letterman henceforth known as the course Maestro and Eric "THE" Wondergem do an awesome job of organizing and putting on this event. The venues , courses, entertainment and people make this a first class act. Thanks to all of the people that make this possible.

The series was well coordinated by not having races on consecutive weekends allowing the racers to venture off to some of the larger events. By larger I mean more people racing in each category.This is helpful for those that plan on going to nationals where riding at high speeds and bumping elbows is a must have skill. Thanks for this consederation guys!

Three course venues were used this year-Kingston, Bristol and Johnson City. Each venue offered its own peculuarities and for the first time that I can remember the weather was also a factor. We had dry, rain, sleet and snow hot and cold.I do admit I enjoyed it all.

Great job guys and girls!!!

sswc grande finale

I know this is VERY late but this is the last report on the "BIG ADVENTURE" to the west coast for the SSWC. I am not sure what time we got up and going on Sunday the day of the race, but I do know it was chilly and rainy. My original plan was to do the masters 45+ and then the SSWC, but due to the weather and my lack of motivation I decided to forgo the 45+ and focus my efforts on the SSWC.

We arrived at the venue which was Portland International Raceway, parked the car and then went our separate ways. The plan was to mingle with the crowd watch my friend Murray race then meet back at the car for our race. Everything went according to plan and we actually met earlier than planned and sat in the car and watched it rain.During this time we changed into our race kits and assembled the bikes in preparation for the big event. The time for the big event drew nigh, we hopped on our trusty steeds and made our way to the staging area. The staging area contained people in all sorts of costumes and some with hardly a costume at all. I could tell this was going to be a very interesting race.

The starter made us lay our bikes down and walk ~20 yards turn around and proceeded to tell us the particulars of the event; ie if you had 1$ bills you could pay and take a short cut, or if you were female you could take the short cut without paying. Once this was done the whistle sounded and we ran to our bikes hopped on and began racing. The race was a blast. The mud was ankle deep and there were some puddles of water that were deeper. I have never had so much fun racing. My mud riding skills were not the best, and I totally got my butt kicked here by Cara. I must say I was quite surprised to see how well she rode the mud, although even with these skills and the short cut I was still able to beat her.

In Summary: