The Racing season is Moving Along ...

... and so are Judy's treatment and convalescence.

Last weekend we spent two days at Flat Rock Ranch, close to Comfort in Texas' beautiful central part. For the ninth year in a row we worked the STORM Hill Country Mountain Bike Challenge, which celebrated its 10th anniversary. The weather cooperated, and it was one of those weekends that blur work and fun. But isn't that the way it is supposed to be anyhow?

Overall, it was a fabulous, well-run race, with only two injuries that required incident reports (but that did not appear to be so serious that we had to involve ambulances or helicopters). We had an unfortunate situation with a course marking that confused some riders, but all-in-all it couldn't have been much better as the weather cooperated and everybody seemed to sport a smile (especially when ice-cream man Lindal came by with yet another round of free popsicles and crunchy bars!).

After her chemo, Judy didn't feel all that great this weekend, but she still pulled her share of work. In the photos you can see her giving the countdown in the Time Trial to Kyle J. (whose mother, Kathy, sent us these three photos) as well as Eric F., the ever-smiling Junior whose brother Ian has been ripping up the open Single Speed class.

In two weeks we'll be at Double Lake, near Houston, for another round of mountain bike events.

Jürgen

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all of you!

Judy is playing bunny this morning with a whole basket of home-made Easter eggs that she is taking to her church. Not only do they look great, but they are yummy!

We are at home this weekend, in between two weekends of races. Judy is going to have her next chemo on Tuesday, so she's enjoying these days of not feeling crummy. Last night we had a fabulous spread of tapas, and tonight we'll carve into the ham that I am planning to slow-smoke this afternoon.

We'll update you next week how round #6 is coming along.

Jürgen

(PS: If you really want to see these Easter eggs in all their glory, click on the picture and get a close-up view!)

70.3 Ironman New Orleans

This past weekend, Judy and I were for four days in New Orleans for the inaugural 70.3 Ironman New Orleans. As Head Referee I was responsible for the fairness of an event that with 3,000+ participants was the largest in Ironman history. Wow!

Everything came off fabulously at a superbly organized race in a spectacular setting. Just imagine the racers finishing right in front of Jackson Square in the French Quarter! Judy did a great job keeping the Pro women's field in check during the bike portion of the race, which is our main responsibility. I stayed with the Pro men, and our remaining six officials did a fine job keeping the so-called age-groupers fair.

It wasn't just all work. We were able to spend time in the French Quarter and on Bourbon Street, listening to a beautiful concert, eating muffalettas, begging for beads, and drinking Abita beer (I more so than Judy). It was our 20th anniversary weekend, and the Hilton (where we stayed courtesy of race director Bill Burke) had a bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us when we arrived.

Judy was beaming pretty much the whole time. At one point she told me that she hadn't felt this good in more than a year, and several times she said that she wasn't barely thinking of the cancer. Her attitude was just amazing: Hard working as always, energetic, fun-loving, and happy. What a wonderful weekend we had in the place where we had honeymooned 20 years earlier. We can't thank Bill enough for insisting that we'd work this event—he and I had talked about it last November at the 70.3 World Championships in Florida, when I told him about Judy's condition. He'd said to me, "I want you to come out and have a good time." And he was a true friend this weekend, too. Thanks Bill and Ashley, his right-hand assistant!

Even the plane ride was fun as we were upgraded to First both ways on the DFW to New Orleans portion. Our loyalty to American Airlines does have its perks.

We're back in Lubbock, and Judy had her lab work done yesterday. All systems are "go" for the sixth round of chemo next Tuesday. We're getting closer to the end of this part of the treatment.

Happy Easter to all of you!

Jürgen

Judy and her buddy Fats Domino in the French Quarter.











What a spectacular finish in front of Jackson Square.

Next Chemo Not Until April 14

Well, the blood values have spoken: Even though Judy's red blood cell count is up her platelets and white cells are not ready for another round of chemo just yet. Judy had her routine lab work done this morning, and the verdict was that chemo # 6 will most likely come right after Easter.

In a way we're glad about the delay since we're going to fly to New Orleans Thursday evening for the inaugural New Orleans 70.3 Half-Ironman, for which I am the head referee. Had Judy received her chemo tomorrow, chances would have been good that NO would have been less fun. We're looking forward to working this race since—drum roll—Wednesday (yep, April Fools' Day) is our 20th wedding anniversary and we had honeymooned in the Crescent City. So, for us it is not just a race (a big one at that!) but also a return to the past.

We'll let you know how this trip comes along. As an early gift from American Airlines we received our upgrade notification last night, meaning we'll be flying in style on the short hop from Dallas.

Jürgen

Transfusion Day

After Judy's blood values still had not recovered sufficiently from her last round of chemo, the doc wanted her to have another transfusion. She went to the hospital this morning, and when I got out of school she still had the last half bag (of three) to go. Around 4:30 p.m. we were home, and now she is resting. The transfusion made her nauseated and she had to throw up a few times. Poor little thing! She looks even tinier when she is not feeling well. We don't know yet when the next chemo will happen, but we doubt that it will be next Tuesday, the day before our 20th anniversary.

Let's hope that this "outside assistance" is going to perk her up a little.

Jürgen

Might as well have some FUN!

Judy's hair is doing funny stuff: after a period of falling out and becoming patchy it has decided to grow, just a little bit--but in a funky way. So Judy decided that it was time to have a little fun, and with the help of her biggest supporters she was given a purplish mohawk yesterday. The color is very temporary, and we already had to touch up a little this morning.

We didn't go to Waco this weekend for the race, as planned. Waco had torrential rains, so the Outback Blowout was rescheduled for next weekend. Since I will be in Germany for a few days with my dad, Judy will have to work the race by herself. We were able to snag one of the last seats on AA (think spring break and all the flights being full!), and she'll fly to Waco on Saturday morning and come back on Monday morning.

The worst of chemo #5 is behind her, it seems. This morning she is going to have her routine blood work done, and we'll see whether her booster shot of Aranesp last week has had the desired effect.

For those of you who will be in Waco next weekend, check the color of Judy's hairdo as she may go for something different by then.

Jürgen

Judy is an Official EPO Doper!

The word today was that Judy's blood values are fairly anemic, but Judy insisted that before going for yet another transfusion she wants to try other ways to boost her red blood cells. So, she received a dose of some EPO-like stuff, and we're hoping that it will have the desired effect so that Judy won't have to spend a day in the hospital for a transfusion. The platelets are low, too, so overall please send any rusty nails, scrap iron, or yummy veggies our way. :)

We'll get through this, too.

Jürgen