Bike Man

Adam's in his final quarter of MBA school and his schedule is pretty light so he's had a lot of time to go cycling. April and May have been overwhelmingly sunny, too, so he has been in heaven (so have we)! He's racing category 4 now, a level up from what he started at in California. He's done 3 (I think) races so far and we followed him along to 1 so we have documentation. We left early enough to not care about getting dressed (see: children's pj's) and drove south 2 hours to Elma, WA.

The race started from the abandoned Satsop nuclear power plant, a power plant that never was. The story is that billions of dollars into the construction of the plant (in the 1970s), public opinion soured and halted the project. It would costs millions just to demolish the reactors, so there they stand (you can read more here). They are hulking monsters. I couldn't stop staring at them and taking pictures. They terrified and fascinated me. When we read later about the fact that they have never even been used, it added to the eerie feeling of the place. 

Goo, enough with the goosebumps! Back to the bike race! Preparation is very important.

Moral support is very much appreciated.

(See? I couldn't stop taking pictures!)

Noah's a big fan of crawling up stairs.

Here we go!

That #18. So hot right now!

 H

 See you in 2 hours!

Meanwhile, what to do with the children while we wait? Throw rocks in puddles, of course!

Take more photos of the facilities, of course!

Get in the car and follow the cyclists, of course! (This was not planned. I had to get the kids in the car because it was freezing outside. We drove around the countryside to kill time and happened to be following the race course. We found Adam's crew on their last lap as they zoomed past us, so we turned around and followed them to the finish.)

42 miles later, Adam is a happy camper. He finished well and had a great time!