Family – let me know what sizes you want and I’ll order your copies.

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If you’re not familiar with Race Across The Sky, it’s a documentary about the 2009 Leadville 100, arguably the hardest one-day mountain bike race in North America. Riders start at over 10,000 feet and go to upwards of 12,600 feet. They put in over 14,000 feet of climbing in over 100 miles on mostly double track and roads. If you finish in under 12 hours, you get the coveted belt buckles. Very cool.

The race has about 1,400 starters and about 80% finish each year. Often times the elite slip away in a small pack, and this year’s edition was no different. Lance Armstrong and David Wiens (six-time winner) were the ones to watch, while many other famous MTB faces joined the seven-man early split, too.

I’m a sucker for mountain bike and cyclocross movies. I own most of the ones produced in the last ten years. But only a couple have I seen in theaters. Like seeing those in full glory, I was happy to be able to witness the swift cinematography of R.A.T.S. on the big screen. Only every once in a while did I find myself hoping (yet another) electric guitar solo would come to an end. Still, to think that this film was edited and released in 67 days is a true accomplishment.

My favorite moments:
- amazing views of the Colorado Rockies;
- getting to know the town of Leadville and the promoters;
- heartwarming tales from unlikely finishers, including a woman who has had MS since 1980 and another who was nearly killed by a truck while riding;
- Dave Wiens about taking second to Lance, “I was racing a guy who’s three weeks off of the Tour de France. Last year he was three weeks off of the couch”;
- seeing all the kids greet their dads and moms along the route and finish;
- all the people meeting their goals (and feeling the pain of some who were cut off);
- hearing a woman say “I’m glad” about her husband being cut off because she was freezing (it is funny in context).

Before and after the movie they showed a Q/A session with Wiens, Lance, the promoter, Matt Shriver and Travis Brown. I enjoyed hearing their take, and you could sense that Wiens is a very proud Coloradan, thanking all the people and promoting his area. Lance was his typical self as witnessed by a question asked about his take on the moving personal stories of other racers which he diverted into his own suffering on the climbs. Yin and yang between those guys.

LA also mentioned that a tour along the lines of the Coors Classic is in the works and likely for 2011. If only it were all off-road (I assume he was talking about the pavement).

Apparently the movie might be shown again, so if you missed it you’ll likely get another chance. You might even wait for the DVD – it’s a good flick for trainer days.

Not that I would know what that is living in Texas.

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And Wilco - I’ve been to dozens of shows in Chicago and San Antonio and Austin. They never disappoint.

We hit the Cedar Park Center once before the day of the concert as Stacey and I got to see the Texas Stars play their big brothers, the Dallas Stars last week. There isn’t a bad seat in the house for hockey, save for maybe the higher-up rows that have very narrow leg room (seriously bad).

Legroom was atrocious in the higher rows - something to keep in mind for hockey games. Credit: @DellServerGeek on Twitter.

As we arrived late for hockey a friend held onto our hockey tickets because the will call line had about 150 people in it. Odd, I thought. Usually those lines move quick. Must be growing pains.

But we saw the same thing when we arrived for the Wilco show - huge lines.

Little did we know we’d end up in them.

We had five tickets to the show, and three of them displayed a big X upon scan by the security guy. We were told they re-arranged the seating and we needed to head into a special line for “upgrades”.

“Upgrades? Hot spit.”

At first we were optimistic.
Then, as we sat in line longer and longer, pessimism set in - someone is trying to sugar coat a turd. Turns out we were right.

Liam Finn was the opener, and I can tell you the sound through the tiny PA speakers in the lobby was crap. I read his act was great. But we never got to see him – we stood in line for about 25 minutes.

Once we had our chance at the box office, the ticket lady took our five tickets and said “let me check them, I’ll be right back.” She took ten minutes, the line grew longer, people behind grew more upset - and then she finally came back. “Here you go she says. You’re all together.”

“That’s great news.
Wait. There’s no upgrade?”

We had the same seats. The ticket lady did a nice job explaining that Ticketmaster was to blame - something about extra barcodes. I don’t believe any of it – especially since they took no responsibility and blamed some other company. Our experience isn’t starting out too rosy.

As we enter we notice something a bit weird - there are Cedar Park cops everywhere. Not just a few and some other security. It appears the cops are the CPC security and they certainly outnumbered the people walking on the concourse. Very strange, we felt a bit like we were in jail.

Off to get a beer and find our seats.

“We’ll have Ziegenbock, three larges please.”

“We can only give you American beers in the large size, sir.”

Yeah, I know. Ziegenbock is a Budweiser product made here in the good ole USA and even uses the tagline is “Only Texans Get It.” But please don’t tell the people at the Cedar Park Center. We want them to think it’s upscale and made in Germany or something.

To make matters worse, the guy taking my money was trying to be funny by saying “that will be 2,100 pennies”. Here’s $21. Keep the change, jack.

My friends were calling me “that guy” because I wore my Wilco shirt to the Wilco concert, and fun and joking around was starting to invade our craptastic experience.

Image by: Pooneh Ghana via Flickr. Jeff Tweedy at Cedar Park Center

Then we find our seats – not good. We were stage right and close, but the speakers all faced forward so sound was off for us. Once we moved to a more open area, we began to enjoy the jam band love and wonderful lyrics that make up a Wilco show. But I will say I thought the mix left a bit to be desired. I know the boys are heavy on guitar, but I felt the rhythm section could have been louder. Could have been our location – others said the sound was good.

I have to say, though, I think most Austin Wilco fans stayed home. The CPC was maybe half full and Tweedy twice scrutinized a flavorless audience and during the “Jesus, etc” sing-a-long, the audience only made it a few lines in.

Jeff even said they’d prefer to play two nights in Austin rather than one. At the show a couple years back in San Antonio, he asked the audience “how many of you are from Austin?” About 80% screamed and Tweedy said “huh, that’s some valuable information there.”

Overall I had fun. My company and the music made the difference. The setlist was great, too:
Wilco (The Song)
Shot in the Arm
Bull Black Nova
You Are My Face
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
At Least That’s What You Said
One by One
I’ll Fight
Impossible Germany
Deeper Down
Handshake Drugs
I Can’t Stand It
Jesus, Etc.
I Hate it Here
Theologians
I’m the Man Who Loves You

Via Chicago
You Never Know
California Stars” (with Liam Finn)
Late Greats
Heavy Metal Drummer

Walken
King Pin
Monday
Outtasite
Hoodoo Voodoo

Despite the good music, I hope some people take note:

Wilco - stick to Stubbs. You’ll sell more tickets over several days and outdoors is always better for your great music and devoted audience.

Cedar Park Center - you have a long way to go, baby. I don’t think I’ll ever come back for music. And for hockey I’ll be sure to get my tickets in advance. You should maybe check out what other people think, too (here and over here, too.)

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Now that we live in Austin, we’re fortunate for a similar set up. Our extended family is here in town and San Angelo is almost the exact same distance for us to travel to see the ‘rents. The commute is a bit different - the Texas Hill Country offers views second to none (sorry, Gary, IN).

But it’s more than beauty along the road. San Angelo is a cultural hub of western central Texas.

To understand that fact you must consider the far western counties. Some have as many as 2,000 people in them (yes, the whole county). It’s barren, the land is cheap and there is dirt forever, interrupted once by gorgeous mountains.

By comparison, San Angelo is huge at 88,000 people. There are sports teams and shopping and nice restaurants – everything you might travel hours to experience.

There is a rich tradition of military use of the land around San Angelo, and Buffalo Soldiers were even trained at Ft. Concho. Livesotck is the primary money mover, including sheep and lambs and cattle.

I’ve made several cycling friends in San Angelo, and the state park is a mecca for nature lovers and mountain bikers who enjoy dozens of miles of trail that change with the seasons.

The Playground Trail offers nice views at the top.

I often find myself resting under big live oak trees on the north end and calling loved ones to catch up. It’s very serene.

We’re fortunate to have San Angelo and her rest-filled days, swimming-filled afternoons (see Katie and PJ diving here - Facebook login req’d) and peaceful nights. They help us forget the big city and lawn care and neighbors and bills and jobs.

And much like Allegan and Kalamazoo, San Angelo is a place that some people might not consider as more than just a stop along the road. But if you experience them in further depth, you’ll guaranteed to uncover a hidden gem that’s just waiting to be found.

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[note the edits are bad and I threw this together in 15 mins]

Hot summer fun with the Twins from joe doyle on Vimeo.

Later today we’re taking the kids to the Rock’n River Family Aquatics Center. It’s huge and the lazy river is fun (it would be even more kicked back in a tube and floating with a beer in hand!).

Oh, I almost forgot… to that little blond girl who always followed me around and wanted to do all the things that I did - Happy Birthday. We love you and miss you and can’t wait for your visit in October.

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So to make Friday a little more fun I decided we should go to Phil’s Ice House for burgers and a giant playscape. Here are the wee ones waiting for our dinner to be called. Whenever we go to a joint where they call names, I switch it up so they call one kid or the other. I think they’ll appreciate that some day.

If you’re a dad or have one, I wish you a Happy Father’s Day. I wonder where Stacey will go tomorrow and leave me with the lovely kids…

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Happy Birthday, Grandma Jean from joe doyle on Vimeo.

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The show was great. Heartless Bastards lead singer Erika Wennerstrom had a few special guests, including Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys who joined her for a duet (I forget the song - a classic you’ve heard). The band was spot on – only about three re-starts – and I enjoyed Mark Nathan’s extended riffs on a few songs. Erika wasn’t chatty and Stacey and I both found her short stepping stage presence to be endearing.

We ran into our friend, the Mayor of Avenue G – Bruce Turner, and new Twitter friend, Austin Kleon. Check out his sketches of the show - exceptional!

Austin, Bruce and Stacey chillaxin with some FREE beer!

Tune in to see the Heartless Bastards on this stage. No images of the Bastards, it was dark and I was enjoying myself too much.

Thanks to KLRU - we were as excited to see the Bastards as we were to be a part of the ACL experience.

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Check out the Flickr site for new images. I threw in the bonus pinball shot of the fam (below) for the helluvit.

See some of you soon!

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Here’s what they looked like this morning on the way to daycamp. Time flies when we’re having fun.

We love you, Katie and PJ. Happy Birthday.

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