Back from Albuquerque; CA-125 steady

With a few days' delay, here are a two pictures from last weekend's trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Judy, Emily, and I left Lubbock on Friday morning and made the 300+ mile drive from Lubbock. We hooked up with Alan and Martha, who drove in as well, and on Saturday we went up to Sandia Peak where we hiked in the cool air and enjoyed the tremendous vistas of Albuquerque some 2,000 feet below. Emily experienced her first-ever picnic after our hike!

Alan and I enjoyed the beer at Kelly's, Il Vicino's, and Marble Brewing (and I for my part had a chance to visit the rather new Hallenbrick Brewery and Vicino's taproom on Friday, before A&M showed up). Albuquerque is definitely a hop-head's paradise!

A few days earlier we had received word that Judy's CA-125 has been holding essentially steady over the past four weeks, dropping from 103 to 101. Maybe after this current round of chemo it will finally drop into the double digits!

For this weekend we're planning nothing but the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs here in Lubbock, where I will offer my services as bike mechanic during the expo on Friday and Saturday and then put on the head referee's shirt for the race on Sunday; Judy, of course, will referee as well. The temperatures are supposed to be soaring again, just as they have been over the past few weeks—mid to high 90s. Uff!

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The Monkey Cake

So here it is, unveiled two days before little Allie's birthday: the Monkey Cake that she wanted her JuJu to make for her!


Two-year-old Allie most likely is not going to surf the 'net before her party on Saturday (which we will miss because of a little bit of R&R in Albuquerque), and I'd think that her parents, Wes and Susan, won't let the monkeys out of the sack, either.

Judy loves making these cakes, and every time she spends untold hours on one I am just absolutely amazed by her talent. She worked on the icing-based monkeys for an evening or two, baked the cake this morning before work, and then iced and decorated it all after a full day at MHMR. Now it's 9:30 p.m., and we haven't even started dinner yet. But she knows that Allie will be tickled, and that's all she needs to make it through another tough day.

And Noah, just in case you see the picture, you'll be pleased that your very boy-like fashion advice of two blue candles was followed. (Of course, you also suggested that all the balloons and all the party hats be blue as well, but that seemed just a bit too, well, blue. To be four again....)

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A week off from chemo

After three straight weeks of treatments, Judy is off this week. Yeah!

The photo above came from our good old friend Lee in Dallas, who used to coach Judy during her racing days and whom we see once or twice a year either in Las Vegas when we all room together at Interbike or when a race takes us to the metroplex and we have a chance to catch up. Lee, who is still one bad dude on a racing bike, decided to put this decal on his new team bike. As he wrote in his e-mail to us: "She has given me the inspiration these past couple of years, hence the pink computer that I ride, and now I thought I would share with people who it is for!"

Needless to say, Judy got all teary-eyed when she read Lee's sweet words.

On another note, I'm finally back home for a while. Last week, right after Memorial Day, I had once again flown to Quebec, where I completed my Doping Control training for the UCI. (The picture below show me with my instructor, Louise L. from Montreal.) I made it home late last night. It was a very interesting trip, and I hope that my performance was satisfactory. For once I could make good use of my languages as in one day I conducted four doping controls in four languages. Now, that's what I call fun!

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What a great Memorial Day weekend

Judy and I spent our Memorial Day weekend down south, first as part of the officiating crew for the UCI portion of the Mellow Johnnys mountain bike race, and then with part of Judy's family at a private lake close to San Saba.

Our time at the lake was definitely more memorable than the race. Judy had a chance to hold her little grand-nephews (or whatever Conner and Leslie's twin boys are in the genealogical order--she's holding Carson in the above pic), catch up with Mike and Candice, get good laughs from Mark and Anne's one-liners, and enjoy the companionship of long-time family friends Gary, Debbie, and Travis. Throw in a bit of kayaking on the lake and a lot of relaxing (even if we stayed for only 36 hours), and it was a great weekend.

Right now I am off for a week to Quebec (again) for anti-doping, and Judy is enduring another chemo treatment. Enjoy the pics as they show why we go through all this.

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