I am picky...

I know that will come as no surprise to a few of you, but man, I hate being so picky sometimes. I hate being so involved. I hate obsessing over things when I know I should just let go and let things play out more often. Take Max’s first practice last night with his new team. First off its in another town… that has its own league. Its really not that far, Hutto is about 15-18 minutes by car but the other two kids practice in Pville, about 5 minutes away from the house and on the same practice fields. With two practices a week for all 3 players, practices only on weekdays and all coaches avoiding Fridays, you can see how its tough to be in two or three places at once. Anyway, back to my obsessing. Hey, its my blog. ;]

So were was I? ...Practice in another town, and then we get there and it turns out that the coach is coaching two teams in the same fall season, A U8 and a U9 team. I then find out that he is practicing them at the same time as one group. I am thrilled about none of this. The really tough part for me is that he seems to be a good coach. I liked everything I heard and all the emphasis he wants for the players are all things I would have pushed. Everything I heard from him for us parents was spot on as well. The drills he had them run were smart and focused on touch and ball control. All very smart drills. I was just licensed as a U8 coach in Texas only a few weeks ago so all the characteristics of that age player is still fresh in my mind and the guy was spot on. To top it off, I think he was Coach of the Year last year in PAYSL for his U8 team. Most of those kids now make up Max’s U9 team. I am going to Field (prep) Day on Saturday and see if I can speak with the PAYSL U9 boys rep and see what he thinks about it all. I was ready to step in and coach this fall but now I am wondering if Max wouldn’t develop better under someone other than his dad. They have a tendency to tune me out… ;]

I should just let go, let them play and enjoy watching them. I know that, but its just hard to do. Last year I had mini-practices with them a couple of times between their regular ones and they had fun, but I wonder if I didn’t push them into it. So it ends up that it’s a tough thing to try to instill interest for something in someone else. I need to sit back, offer support and quit trying to get them more excited about it. I love the game and always have, I just cannot make them love it until they are ready. They are getting there.

I know they all have drive. Luc can hike and climb with the best of them and he ends up being pretty durable on the kayak as well with little to no complaints on long days. Karah puts her head down and finishes practices that are almost twice as long as the boys are and with a whole lot more running. Max and I go on bike rides and that little fart has tons of endurance, all with no complaint. I think I am on the right path with them, I just need to be patient. I know better and I am not trying to live out another sports experience through them, I just want them to enjoy the ones they are currently in.

OK, other things. I have been on the bike pretty much every weekday for the last few weeks and I could swear I am starting to feel some “firming” up underneath my insulating layer(s). I am starting to feel really good on the bike and the form is coming. I have been mixing it up by riding my regular racing bike some days and my fixed gear on other days. Differences, well my regular race bike has 20 speeds and my fixie has only one. My regular race bike has two brakes while the fixie has one on front. I can coast downhill on the regular bike and I cannot on the fixed gear. It is aptly named a fixed gear because that is all you have, one gear, no freewheel and you are locked to the pedals. Oh it only sounds insane. It ends up that you notice just about every hill in Austin when you only have one gear. You have to suffer up the hills when you cannot shift the bike to an easier gear. The uphills are tough but the real fun begins when you go downhill on a fixed gear. You have to pedal as fast as the wheel carries you. The average guy pedaling around the hood is probably pedaling at about 50 revolutions per minute. In cycling that is his cadence. A decent cyclist usually averages 80-90. The fixed gear rider going downhill can sometimes end up with a cadence of around 150 or so! I tend to start feathering the brake at those speeds. The fixed gear is a bit of a torture machine but it yields lots of fitness if used consistently. It makes you pedal a round circle and you end up taking the “flat” spots out of your pedal stroke. Was that too much information?

Jim and I are planning another kayak outing for September. I think its going to be a guys only trip and we are looking at the Mason area running the Llano river. We were looking at doing Colorado Bend down to the lake but it ends up that the driving part of getting boats to and from was just not worth it. Not enough roads and none in the right directions. It is what you would call “rural” out there. Mason definitely has some possibilities and there are a couple of outfitters that can help us with shuttling of boats and such. This will be a fun trip as I have been on this river in the past. Back when I was a single guy, my roommates and I used to drive out to Mason from San Angelo and rent canoe’s and spend the day on the river. We did that several years. It was always a blast so I cant imagine that it has changed all that much in the last 15+ years. Has it been that long (since I have been single)? Heh. ;]