Big Dog Parade 2008

This is my new favorite Santa Barbara parade. Fiesta Parade & Summer Solstice have nothing on the Big Dog Parade. This is what parades should be: Silliness and costumes followed by a party at a beachside park. This was yet another adventure that would not have been enjoyed without my mentoring.

I Maddonari 2008

As many of you know, I am a mentor to a young boy through Hospice of Santa Barbara's "I Have a Friend" program. In addition to how happy it makes me feel to give back, I also gain the benefit of doing really cool stuff that I have lost touch with as I have gotten older. I Maddonari falls into that category. I will never post pictures or the name of the child I mentor due to confidentiality reasons, but a lot of the cool stuff I get to do is with him.

On a sad note, just before the event, the legendary Father Virgil Cordano passed away the week of the event. I know Father Virgil as the priest who did the liturgy services at Marymount, my private elementary school. I am not Catholic, but found him to be a really inspirational person, able to balance spirituality and fun in a way that made him an icon to Santa Barbara. He will be missed.

Jan's Wedding

In May, I was happy to attend the wedding of a co-worker of mine, Jan. She has always been the office "mom," not to mention a fabulous mother to her son, who she's raised as a single mother. Now that her son is grown, she has found a wonderful man who makes her incredibly happy. I love this story, as we sometimes get wrapped up in the idea that love and weddings are for couples in their 20s. How cute that their kids got to walk them down the aisle?
Cheers to the happy couple!

Shop Night Out

This year, it seems the bike shop has decided that having more social events is important. Conveniently, a brew house has opened up across the street from each shop. It is like the universe is calling for Bicycle Bob's Happy Hours. Check out these pics from a May outing.

Santa Ynez Race

It's been a while since I've written, let's get caught up:

The Firestone (not really Firestone anymore, but whatever) race was held in May this year, and boy was it HOT! It was in the upper 90s when Roger finished his race at 10:30. By the time the pros were out, it was well into the hundreds. Georgia Gould, undefeated in the series so far this year, was taken off the course on a stretcher after suffering heat exhaustion. There was no way I was sticking around for that, but Roger hung out and got some great pictures of the pros (there were few spectators left at that point). He also returned Sunday to take some pictures of the Sports. Platinum had a great day.

Sam & Melinda at El Cap

On Saturday, May 10, 2008, we were pleased to attend the wedding of our friends Sam & Melinda. It was a non-traditional wedding held at El Capitan State Beach, with the reception to follow as a big beach party. We know Sam through the bike community (He has worked at Bob's with Roger and was one of the original team members of the race team now known as Platinum Performance), so there were quite a few familiar faces at the wedding, like Luke & Tiffany, Dr. Dave, Mike & Tiff and Kim.

After a beautiful, personal beachside ceremony:

The couple held their "receiving line" in a flower filled meadow at the end of a nature trail:

And we spent the rest of the afternoon toasting the couple and enjoying all the sun & surf that makes Santa Barbara great. A big thanks to Sam & Melinda for making my first visit to El Capitan special (can you believe it, I've never been before?!).

Ojai Criterium

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the Garrett Lemire Memorial Criterium/Circuit Race in Ojai. It was Roger's first road event of the year, and it happened to be over 90 degrees in Ojai. Roger normally likes the heat, but combined with a tough course and not much racing under his wheels, it was a bit too much and he dropped out. We stuck around for about 1/2 of the pro race, as some pretty big names/teams showed up, including the infamous Rock Racing squad.

It was my first time spending any sort of time in Ojai and I really enjoyed our short, hot visit.