Today, Mike and I rode the 100 mile Delta Century, put on by the Stockton Bike Club. The Delta Century was the first century I ever rode but it hasn't rated as one of my favorites. That's not due to any fault of the wonderful organizers and volunteers; it's just a bit too windy, and today was no exception.

Mike and I headed out from Jessie's Grove at 6:30 this morning. It was cold but Mike forgot his arm-warmers... so we both went without. After I was done patting myself on the back for being such a noble friend, Mike uttered, "I wouldn't have worn mine". Cold as it was at the start, we knew it wouldn't be cold for long. As soon as we took our first turn headed west we were met with... surprise... wait for it... a... headwind!



This year's ride took a different route than it did the last time I rode it. The first rest stop was at mile 26, in Courtland, which was perfect place for it. The ride took us along many of the windy delta roads. The second rest stop felt pretty quick at mile 38, at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. After that stop we quickly got going again and caught up to a group of other riders that were riding pretty fast. We jumped on their line, along with a few other riders and pushed hard for about 15 minutes at 20-22 (in a cross wind) until Mike and I got dropped like a bad habit; it was fun while it lasted.



We looped back to toward Courtland for the lunch break at mile 63. Yes, that's the same Courtland that hosted the first rest stop way back at mile 26. We actually rode the same stretch or River Road and Washington Ave three times.

After a ferry ride across Steamboat Slough and and more and more headwind, we finally got back to Walnut Grove for the final rest stop at mile 78. Almost all of the last 20 miles was with a tail wind so we got back to Jessie's Grove pretty strong.

This was Mike's first 100 mile century and rode great given the wind.

Overall, it was a good ride. Although, at the start of the day, I preferred the Mondavi start location of years past, Jessie's Grove proved better at for the end of the ride. The volunteers and organizers were great and very friendly. The food at the rest stops was very good, certainly better than the food at the Primavera. The added touch of the pillows and blankets on the grass at the final rest stop was a very nice touch (I believe those were from a generous local guy and not part of the club). The post ride meal, catered from DaVinci's, was awesome. With tons of shade and a DJ playing music and asking trivia.

Four counties... San Joaquin, Sacramento, Yolo and Solano.

100 miles today... and 9,345 total miles for those counting.

Check out the pics here.

April in Stockton... you know the routine. Asparagus Festival! This, the 23rd one, was held in beautiful downtown Stockton on what felt like the hottest day of the year. Emily and I arrived at 6:45 in the morning to register for the 5k Spear-It Fun Run.

This was the first organized run either of us have ever did and felt good out there, not stopping or walking at all. When we approached the water station Emily even suggested we slow down a little and let the group ahead of us go through and get their water. This way, we would miss the mess of the bunch and get our cups without stopping... what a smart idea.

We completed the 5k in 33:35. I've ran faster but haven't ran at all since December. It sure was a far cry from my first attempt at running a mile in 2006.



So, besides the 5k run, I tried deep fried asparagus for the first time, we saw some amazing frisbee dogs and met Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook!

Check out the pics here.

Check out last year's Asparagus Festival.

I recently posted about my goal of riding my 10,000th mile by July. So far, I recently crossed over the 9,100 mile mark... I am almost there. Given that great weather is ahead, I see no problem smashing my 10,000 mile goal.

To celebrate the miles, I started taking a picture every 100 miles. No matter where I am, when I cross each 100 miles, I take a picture and send it to Flickr. Enjoy.



If you see me riding through Stockton, Lodi, Tracy, etc., and see me taking a picture while I'm riding, get my attention and say, "cheese"!

On Sunday, Mike and I rode the Primavera Century. We got an early start out of Stockton and pulled in to the parking lot in Union City a couple of minutes after 7 AM. I rode the 100 mile route in 2005 but Mike and I decided to ride the 100k.

Mike and I both immediatley noticed that all of the departing riders were wearing long pants. We both neglected to bring long pants. "We'll be fine." I kept saying. We checked in quickly, got our 100k route sheet and headed out! We caught up with a couple of guys from Alamo and had a few good laughs as we rolled through Union City, Fremont and Milpitas. It was a little chilly outside but I was pretty happy that I didn't over dress for the day.

After the first rest stop and just as we approached the first climb at Calaveras road we saw a couple of guys riding fixed gear bikes. Wow, those fixies are amazing! These guys were easily 20 years older than me and were in amazing shape! Mike stayed with me for a minute or so until I punched ahead. I felt great and was happy to be climbing again! I waited for Mike at the top and we headed back down the other side together.

As we got to Sunol I was feeling great. I still ride a triple (52/42/30) but have been considering converting to a double for some time. After climbing very well up Calaveras in my middle ring I told myself that I would avoid the smallest ring all day.

About 30 minutes before Mike and I rolled in to the Sunol rest stop I got a text message from Dan on Twitter. Oh what fun Twitter is. I only recently decided to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, thanks to David at the FredCast (the internet's premiere cycling podcast!). I love Twitter and have been playing around with tracking keywords via text message. Besides tracking 'Stockton' and 'Lodi' I also started tracking 'Primavera' a couple of days before this ride. All I got was a bunch of stuff in Spanish and had to eventually untrack it. It was my tracking of 'Pleasanton' that introduced me to Dan. This guy flew through the 100k course! His stats were incredible... gave me chills reading it.

After a slight climb up Dublin Canyon and the final rest stop we approached my favorite part of this ride: Palomares Road. Here's a pic of the view in front of me.


This climb was tough but I was able to keep it in the middle ring the whole way up. Again, I felt really good on this climb and marched up the hill gritting my teeth and sweating bullets the whole way. When I got near the top the other riders that were waiting and cheering helped me crest the top. As soon as I could see the top, I stood up and pushed to the top. I waited for a few minutes and then went down about a mile or so to find Mike. I was happy to find him working hard to get to the top and after letting him rest for a a brief spell, I paced him up to the top. Mike often kills me on the flats but will freely admit climbing is not his strength. Given that, I was amazed at his perceiverance and proud that he pushed to get to the top the way he did.

Here's the top of Palomares looking down on the road I took to get here.


On the back side of Palomares, I flew down and enjoyed the prize of a fast descent, topping at 35 MPH! It was a good ride back in to Union City. After we loaded the bikes up we headed to the school for the post-ride meal. I was dissapointed with the food here. The food was just ok but was craving a Pepsi. I normally don't drink soda but have been used to a post-ride pop. Not at this ride. Water, gatorade, lemonade and instant tea (yuk!) were the only options. The lasagna was good but the bread and brownies could have doubled for hockey pucks.

All in all, I really enjoyed this ride. Very clear road markings and decent rest stops. A very, very nice course with great views and awesome hills. Check out the few pics I took here.

Final stats: 64.8 miles / 13.4 MPH

Primavera next year? Absolutely! Maybe I'll even do the 100 miles again. Next big ride - The Delta Century (100 mile).

Check out Dan's blog entry here.

Mike and I went to game three of the ECHL playoffs last night to watch the Stockton Thunder square off against the Las Vegas Wranglers. The Thunder took an early lead with the first goal and then even got up to a 0-3 advantage. The cheers were quieted by the end of regulation when the Wranglers scored three unanswered goals of their own. We played a tough OT period but just couldn't score, even with a couple of power plays! The Wrangler finally put us out of our misery with less than a minute left on the clock. The Thunder are now down 3-1 and need another win to stay alive.

Check out the pics here.


I also took a couple of videos. The first one is the of the first goal scored of the game, the second one is one of a flying puck (not sure how well that comes across on YouTube).

Happy 4th Birthday to the youngest member of our household. Sashi Noir Beckwith turns 4 years old today.

It seems like only yesterday when Dawn and the girls took me to see her. "Just come see her, Dad" said Emily. "If you don't like her we don't have to bring her home" Makenzy added. Well, we all went to see her and it worked... there was no way I was telling them no.


June 2004


It isn't just Sashi that is growing up fast... look at the girls!


Look at her now... at four years old.

Happy birthday Sashi!

When Mike and I found out that Deal or No Deal auditions were coming to the Sacramento area we knew exactly what we had to do. So, I believe, for the first time in our adult life, we dressed alike (just like twins do) and headed up the Folsom.

After nearly seven hours in live, we finally got our 15 seconds to sell ourselves. We did enough to get past the second round, which afforded us the opportunity to wait for another hour or so for a second round of interviews - again another 15 seconds to shine. Although our presentation was pretty good, our audition ended there with a "don't call us, we'll call you".

Our sister was also there and was give three interviews. She already promised us that we'd get to be her supporters if she gets on the show. Good luck Missy!

At least we got to round two!



Click here for the pictures.

Easter came early this year, and the awesome spring weather joined it. With JR, Megan and the rest of the Texas Beckwiths in town (well, in state is more like it) we had lots of opportunities for pictures. Easter turned into a three-day weekend celebration with everyone meeting at the Havens house on Friday, then our house on Saturday and then our annual Easter bash on Sunday.

Check out our pics here.
Friday


Saturday


Sunday


Remember, bookmark our Flickr site as we sometimes publish random pictures between events.

Makenzy turned 9 last weekend which meant that she got more parties and more cake than any child needs. Last weekend, on her actual birthday we ordered her favorite take-out (DaVinci's), rented a movie (The Last Mimzy) and had cake. Then, this weekend, she had two more parties.

First, Makenzy and some of her friends were treated like princesses at Panda Girlz. The folks at Panda Girlz really put on a great party for Mak and her friends. Hair, make-up, nails, followed by a fashion show, karoake and crafts made for one of Makenzy's favorite parties ever. If you have daughters you should check this place out.



Party number two was pizza for the family and our favorite family pizza joint where the kids (and some of the adults) quickly went through handfuls of tokens on the redemption games. I wonder if the major casinos help fund the redemption game manufactures, to help turn today's youth into tomorrow's slot machine addicted gamblers.

Check out today's pictures here.