Just like riding a bike...

I performed a bit of Don Giovanni this evening at a student/faculty concert and it was just like riding a bike. Boy, I'm getting the itch to sing in an opera soon to get all my blood flowing again! I'll have to work on that...

I've been investigating a helmet light to pair with my NiteRider MiNewt X.2 Duals I bought at the Boone 24 a couple of years ago. It is dark so early (what, about 4:30 pm these days?) that I am having to ride in the dark. The X.2's are working great, but on singletrack it's nice to have a light on the helmet so I can turn my head and see what is coming up. At the Boone race, the NiteRider demo truck let me borrow a helmet light and it was a great system to have both the handlebar lights and the helmet light. I'll keep looking for something in stock and within my budget.

My X.2's...



Today was off the bike (outside of walking the dogs in the neighborhood). I will do a little tune up tomorrow afternoon after our auditions all morning for prospective students who are here for the weekend. I'm looking forward to Sunday's Dirty Du up in Des Moines. Temperatures will be dropping from the low 60's to the high 40's, so it will be chilly out there on Sunday.

Fall Weather Delights!!!!

I certainly cannot complain about the fall weather we have been having lately. I just don't like it getting dark so early as it means if I am going to ride the bike after work, it will be in the dark. I've got the battery pack all charged up and ready to go for some night riding out at Lake Ahquabi, but I haven't had time to get out there yet after work. I've been sneaking in fall rides during the day when I can on the new trail bike....



I've got to get this thing out to the Black Hills to hit the rocks. In the meantime, I never really thought I would have this much fun around central Iowa on a bike with so much travel thanks to the 4.7" up front and in the rear. I am running an older Octalink XT crankset on it, I ran into the problem everyone else is having on the RIP when trying to run a 44T big ring with an XT crankset and a 50mm chainline. Forget about running it at 47.5mm chainline with that size ring. It doesn't work as there are clearance issues with the yoke. And the 44T fits with a 50mm chainline, but the chain will get stuck between the ring and the yoke after a few suspension movements. Odd, but Niner says all works well with a 51mm chainline. I don't want to go that wide due to Q-Factor issues, so I swapped out to a 38T big ring and all has been well. I'll swap the 118mm spindle for a 113mm spindle to get my 47.5mm chainline and narrower Q-Factor back this weekend. There is a 30/40 ring combo available from a guy in Texas that was designed for the XT crankset, but in an effort to save $155 I'll run my 22/32/38 set up for now. Or maybe I'll drop the 38T and toss a bash ring on there.

The RIP eats up anything I can throw at it. I put my favorite all around Fire XC Pro tires on it and have been tearing through the fall foliage and having a huge grin on my face while doing it.

I'm going to race the Des Moines Dirty Duathlon this weekend with a student of mine who will do the running portion. I just did not get any time to train for the run this year and trail running takes a lot of different muscles than pavement or track running. No visions of placing well, we're just doing it to help Capital Striders and CITA raise some funds for trail development.

I'll race the old standby this weekend...



Max even gave it the sniff of approval on Sunday while we were cleaning the garage floor...



I'm trying to track down a leak in our Mercury Villager mini-van. It must have a clogged drain hole or hose somewhere as water is getting into the interior (and it does not smell or taste like anti-freeze). I've got an appointment on Friday morning to find the culprit. I did manage to back into it last week as my son parked on the opposite side of the driveway and as a creature of habit, I was expecting it to be where it wasn't. Not much damage, just cosmetic scrapes on both my Element and the mini-van.

Phone is Fixed and Football is Finito!!!

After dealing with Mediacom for nearly a week, they fixed our phones today so we have telephone service once again. Talk about a headache...

Speaking of headaches, on the opening offensive play of the playoff game last night against Marshalltown, Zack suffered a concussion on a completed pass after the defender tackled him immediately after he had already thrown the ball. Down he went backwards and slammed his head on the ground. He was slow to get up and appeared a bit dizzy. As the game went on, his headache increased and he was confused at the coaches play calls and not running the correct plays due to his confusion.

Finally, the offensive coach asked him if was okay and recognized something wasn't right. They pulled him at the start of the 4th quarter after Zack was totally confused. He spent the rest of the game on the sideline holding his head and plugging his ears because the noise was too loud for him (and his headache). That's when we finally realized something was wrong with him. Although I saw him get yelled at a couple of times in the first half and he seemed a bit out of it on the sidelines. Now we know why...

We took him to the E.R. for safety's sake today where the doctor confirmed the mild concussion. No need to mention reading up on concussions in football and the dangers involved. Wow - it is scary!!!! I'm glad his head didn't hit again before he came out of the game. It was a very one sided game as we lost 49-14 and Marshalltown is now 10-0 as they advance to the second round of the playoffs. They were impressive from top to bottom with a very exciting offense.

Zack will heal, but he is not to do any athletics for at least a week. He seems better this evening compared to last night and this morning. It was our conversation at breakfast that had me recommend the E.R. visit. He was not very coherent and with all the concussions I have had from cycling, I recognized his symptoms. Luckily, he is doing better this evening. So it appears we have survived those crucial first 24 hours. Thank goodness...

H1N1, Football, Fall...

Well, that was an interesting week.

Alexa came home Tuesday night not feeling well at all. She ended up with a high fever Wednesday/Thursday/Friday which we tried to keep down with outside forces (ice, cold cloths, Ibuprofen, etc...). It finally broke late Friday afternoon and dropped to her normal temperature by Saturday morning. I played Mr. Nurse most of that time since I was on fall break from Simpson. That was phase 1, now she is in phase 2 which is a nasty sounding cough. She went back to school today and spent Sunday and today getting caught up on everything she missed. Was it H1N1? Who knows, but in discussions with the Doctor over the phone, they didn't want her coming into the clinic for fear of spreading it and the symptoms were close enough to possibly have been it. I'm glad she is feeling better and getting back to school.

She found out today that she made the Opus Honor Choir. 2 girls from IHS made it this year - Alexa in the alto section and another girl made it in the soprano section.

Zack had his best outing as QB on Friday night against Urbandale. He was 11 for 16 with 2 TD's, no interceptions and I think 147 or so passing yards. We lost the game, but Zack improved. Congrats to Urbandale on the win and their season as they have not made the playoffs since 1999 and one of their running backs set a new school record for career yards during the game on Friday night. Indianola enters week one of the playoffs with a game Wednesday night at Marshalltown (9-0). We are missing some key players due to H1N1, a one game suspension for poor sportsmanship and some injuries. Zack is keyed up for it, but we shall see what happens. Regardless what happens in the playoffs, he got some great experience the past 3 games at QB against tough teams like Dowling, Ankeny and Urbandale. That will prepare him better for next season.

Fall is here. In fact, the first frost this weekend along with some high winds and heavy rain yanked most of the leaves off of the trees in the last few days. There are not many leaves left to fall, but it is the season for chili, pumpkins, squash, hot cider, etc... . Yummmmmm!

Congratulations to one of my students (Joe Doering) who won the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) voice competition on Saturday at Grinnell College. He bested all the other college student entries (age limit was 19 - 26) and advances to Columbia, MO for the regional competition in January. If he wins that, he moves on to Nationals. He had to sing 30 minutes of music for a panel of judges who chose Joe as winner over all of the entrants. One of my former students named Sarah Larsen won the MTNA in Iowa a few years ago, so it feels good to have another student claim that prize. Simpson had another student win the 18 and under voice division and will advance to Missouri as well for the regionals in her age division.

I am spending the next 2 weeks getting some of my students prepared for the regional NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) auditions in Rock Island, Illinois. We leave on November 6th for that 2 day event.

Le Nozze di Figaro...

All the hard work of the past 6 weeks comes to fruition this weekend as the opera I am directing opens tonight at Simpson. The good news is that we are sold out for all three performances of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Because of the sellout, the past 2 night's dress rehearsals had an invited audience since there were no tickets left for the weekend. We wanted to open it up to students, faculty and patrons who were too late in line to obtain tickets for a performance.

The students have worked diligently the past 6 weeks and have learned from the experience of taking on the experience of singing a four act grand opera. As stage director, there is a lot of problem solving that goes along with a production. The dramatic interpretation, choreography, helping the singers with their acting, sets, costumes, lighting, props, fixing things that get broken, delegating jobs to assistants, working around schedules, etc... . In short, it's exhausting - but well worth the exhaustion. I have been going on 4 - 6 hours of sleep every night for the past 3 weeks and am amazed my body has adjusted to that. The lack of sleep all ends this evening as I will be able to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I actually got 7 hours last night as I have fewer things to worry about now that all the rehearsals are finished.

I will miss Zack's football game tonight, but Mozart calls....

Fall Football....

Zack was the QB Friday night against Ankeny and for his first full game outing, had a decent game for his first start. He was 6 - 13 passing for 80 yards including 1 TD pass. Two of the passes not caught were right in the hands of the receivers, but c'est la vie. He asked one of the receivers why he didn't catch the ball that was thrown right to his chest and the receiver replied "I wasn't sure if you were passing it to me or somebody else." What?!!! Oh well.

This game was a real defensive battle and the final score doesn't really show how tight the game was until the very end. The score at half time was Ankeny 10, Indianola 3. Zack's touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter was followed by a high snap from the center for the extra point kick causing Zack to have to roll out and go for 2 extra points since there was no time to get the snap back down on the ground for the kicker. Unfortunately, the attempt was not a successful conversion as the receiver was covered by 3 or 4 defenders and the ball was batted away.

We entered the 4th quarter with the score Ankeny 10, Indianola 9. Ankeny failed to convert a first down and was forced to punt. Our punt returner misjudged the high, angled punt and fumbled it off of his chest in the red zone which Ankeny recovered and soon after drove in for a touchdown. That fumble was a huge game changer. Rats!!! We had good momentum on both sides of the ball right then and there and the fumble just seemed to zap all the momentum out of everyone. The remainder of the 6 minutes was a back and forth attempt to move the ball down the field and Ankeny's defense was just too tough as they contained the run. Ankeny drove down the field one last time and ran a nice sweep in the red zone for the running back to get in the end zone untouched. Final score 24-9.

Zack was pleased with his performance and was more than happy he got to get in there and play. He got sacked a few times, so had the usual Saturday morning aches and pains from a night on the football field. He just wished they had run more passing plays - especially some of the shorter routes to mix up the offense and keep the defense guessing. Ankeny had the run contained, but the coach kept calling for the run. The other QB played special teams and wide receiver as it seemed he was not injured. It sounds like they may be sticking with Zack at QB, but we will see. Zack certainly is ready for it. The upcoming games are not easy games as we face Dowling Catholic this week and Urbandale next week. Urbandale has the same record in our conference as we do, so perhaps that game will be a nice close game where things come together to round out the season. Dowling is tough. Final scores from the Dowling games seems like they are toying with each and every one of their opponents this season.

QB is Zack!!!

It's official, Zack starts at QB tonight!!!!

It has been a long wait for Zack with minimal playing time this season, but he gets to show his stuff tonight. It will be in the 40's or cooler at game time as the cold front rolls in from the northwest. Brrrr!!!!