Great Thrill and Huge Chills

Last week I took a pause from mayoring and campaigning and spent time taking my daughter to see colleges in Indiana and Ohio. Our favorite was one of the "Public Ivies" Miami of Ohio, my wallet however was not consulted on the issue, or else someone would be enrolling in the College of Lake County.

We also went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art which was quite interesting, I saw an exhibit of contemporary art that was excellent, the daughter wanted to see an exhibit on Dior.

One of the highlights was my two laps on the famed Brickyard, home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the most famous race track in the world! I went to the museum and got the tour of the grounds as well! The picture is from the tour which costs $3 for a one lap trip of the track, I liked it so much I did it twice!

Triple 7's

To bad we don't have a place to play the numbers, because I bet this one get's a lot of play today ! Oh wait we do have a place....the Illinois lotto stores throughout this fine town. Gee did you think I was going to say somewhere else?

Big bath tub races tomorrow! I am racing the other Mayors it seems! Not sure how I got conned into that, anyway its at Beach Fest at 4pm.

The Americas Cup

I have been enjoying the America's cup races on the VS network these last few weeks. The Swiss boat and the boat from New Zealand are closely matched and the best of 9 series is tied 2-2 with race 5 today! I crew for a friend of mine on Long Lake in C-Scows and have a great time (past sailing posts are here and here) sailing. So I really get a kick out watching this stuff. The coverage on TV is amazing with tons of on-board remote cameras for some great coverage.

My Dad took me when I was very young in the sixties to see the America's Cup races when they were being held in Newport off Long Island, New York so I always have a fond spot for these races! Anyway these are some of the best races I have seen in a long time.

Save the Date...Bike Racing in Lake County

Last year there was a great day of Bike racing at Prairie Crossing, lots of different age groups raced over the course, and it was lots of fun to watch. This year the event is taking place on August 4th

It's a fast, flat horse-shoe shaped 1.1 mile course! There are all sorts of age group and gender related races throughout the day with the professionals riding last around 4pm.

If you want more information go here.

Frosty Footrace Was Quite Well Attended

The race went off! Snow and all, the park district did a nice job of having a clean route. I walked, but within 200 yards I regretted wearing my snow shoveling Timberwood boots. Those boots were NOT made for walking!

Why may you ask am I showing you a picture of my protection detail? Well since I immediately realized I was not going to keep up with anyone, I walked at a pace that would prevent blisters. Therefore I quickly fell to the back of the pack, where these gentlemen kept traffic off of the straggler (me).

They had some great inspirational comments for me, like "is the guy ahead of you walking with a cane?" He was walking with a "walking stick" not a cane I told them. There was some other banter as well, that we shall keep off the blog to protect the temperamental! I finished dead last!

The Round Lake contingent did quite well, Michael Blum got second in his age group, Mike Vanata ran his first 5K ever in 25 minutes, which is excellent. Race volunteers were Sherry Perkowitz, Dale Multerer, Deb Jones, and many others who I can't recall right now.

Save the Date-- Frosty 5K is February 25

Pictures from the Bike Race

Had a really interesting time watching the bike racing yesterday. Ran into Trent Gillette at the race, he was there to bang on the noise makers. Also saw George and Vicky Ranney, and Dennis Sanquist as well, oh yeah, some guy named Sean, he appeared to be Trent's chauffeur. The pictures are pretty indicative of what was happening, however the one with just one rider in it was the winner crossing the finish line of the Cat 4 race! I almost missed it.

More Bike Racing Today

Interesting day today, I am going to see the 1 day Inaugural Grayslake Cycling Classic at Prairie Crossing in Grayslake. It's Chicagoland's newest and most unique criterium, featuring a fast, flat horse-shoe shaped 1.1 mile course! There are all sorts of age group and gender related races throughout the day with the professionals riding last around 4pm.

I have often thought the village of Round Lake should sponsor a race, although my thinking was a 5K run through Round Lake's neighborhoods, the logistical problems are bigger then you would imagine. How do you cross Fairfield, and 120? I think it would be cool to race right down Cedar Lake through Bright Meadows, Madrona and into Lakewood, or then up to Valley Lakes. Although that might be a 10K. The other thought I had before one of the parades is run the Round Lake Mile...start at Washington and Cedar Lake and run north of Cedar Lake right over the hill and down into Round Lake Beach. Be kinda cool with all the people lining the route waiting for candy. I tried convincing the park district about that one, but no takers there!

I also thought of a beat the Mayor race for charity, but that might be to charitable, judging by my slow run this morning!

The Fish Tank Gets Wired!-- Plus Secret Mayoral Plot to Take Over Revealed!

The fish tank has been wired! For those of you following this exciting project you can see some of the progess here. A thin steel wire is being wrapped around the building, the cable appears to be about the width of your mouse cord. That's a lot of wire! Here is a close up of the wire. If you followed the link to my brilliant racing stripe post, these are the racing stripes!

Once the wire is wrapped around the water tower elite craftsmen will begin to work a mosaic pattern into the side of the building, it will look exactly like this building, except my face will be replacing the Chairman's.

Finally for those unaware of my sense of humor, the above was a joke intended to amuse.

The Giant Fish Tank has Racing Stripes!

The 2.5 million gallon water tank is taking form. If you track back to this post you can see the internal scaffolding that was built to lay the concrete shell. I have been told that the wood scaffolding inside has 6-8 spots that if you yank on at the same time the whole wood frame work collapses and then the wood is carried out through a 2 foot service door!

Who Scheduled All This?

Ran at the track already in preparation for next weeks Illinois Masters Championships. I am currently watching the prologue of the Tour de France which will ease the transition from my World Cup obsession which only has 5 games to go.

So today I am judging the Madrona bike decorating contest (which seems appropriate for the opening day of the Tour de France) at 10, then racing back to watch the England vs. Portugal Quarterfinal, then off to race sail boats at 1 then back home to watch the Brazil vs France Quarterfinal.

Then its off to 2 neighborhood block parties, and if that's not enough I am judging in the 2nd Annual Venetian Night on Round Lake and then enjoying the fireworks afterwards!

Happy Fathers Day to Me!

Three years ago I bought a fractional share of a race horse named Time for Karakorum that was renown for seeing the top of the stretch in first and then letting all its buddies run right by it so it could finish last. 12 losses in a row with one in the money finish made me an unhappy camper. However I was able to trade my share for a unraced 2 year old filly named Karakorum Starlet last year. She raced 3 times last year with two seconds, then took 4 months off to relax, and then about 3 months ago she started racing again and has won 2 races and finished 2nd as well.

Today in the 7th race she won a non-winners of one allowance race at Belmont race track as the 3-5 favorite and she won easily for her second win. Now that's a fathers day present! I was going to post this earlier but I decided to wait until the race was over so it could be "real news"!

Opening Day-- Sail Boat Racing on Long Lake

Yesterday was the first race of the season on Long Lake. We finished 5th out of 10 boats. Considering we lagged around in last place for the first quarter of the race, but we finished well, gaining a place at every mark. For those of you who may recall Bill Schmidt and I won the Friday Night Series last year. We won a few races last year in the 19 boat fleet as well as breaking quite a long streak of losses. It was good fun to compete again!
I spent the afternoon walking a few neighborhood's talking to people and seeing what's on their minds. Heard some interesting stories and answered quite a few questions about village issues. I then spent the rest of the afternoon with Bish and Fran Krywko eating franks and burgers and enjoying the air conditioning.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!!!

On behalf of the village I hope everyone has a marvelous Thanksgiving day. I am getting an early start on burning the calories I will consume by racing. I am running in a 5K race in Crystal Lake at 8:00 am sharp hosted by the Hillstriders Running Club at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake at 8:00 a.m. sharp. There is no registration and the entry fee is any non-perishable food items which will be donated to the Crystal Lake Food Pantry.

For those of you who know I am goal oriented I want to get under 28 minutes. Which is roughly a 9 minute mile pace. The course is flat but it is also a path, so it might be muddy which is not good but you deal with the hand you are dealt. Cool weather is conducive to going fast (relatively speaking in my case) so all signs are pointing upwards.

Sailing Trophy Arrives Unexpectedly

Last night Bill Schmidt and I were presented with the William Schmidt Sr. Trophy which goes to the winner of the Friday night racing series at the Long Lake Yacht Club. We were awarded this trophy at the annual dinner held last night in Antioch at the Antioch Country Club.

What made the trophy special was that the trophy is in memory of Bill Schmidt's dad and Bill Jr. was the first winner of the trophy way back when. However this is now the second time Bill's name is on the plaque. We keep the trophy for a year, and I snuck out of the celebrations first and commandeered the trophy for myself for the winter. I owe it all to the boat and the skipper!

I had no idea I was winning anything until a few days ago, so this came as a surprise, because clearly I would have blogged about this momentous event much sooner!

You Know I Love Racing!

I have always loved racing of any kind, and have been a big fan of bike racing since a close friend of mine in college was a big racer, and I was always impressed by this training regimen and how fast he rode. The Outdoor Life Network shows the racing live early in the morning, and then replays the race throughout the day, I am addicted! Lance Armstrong is bidding for his 7th Tour de France lifetime and 7th in a row, no one has won more then 5.

In the picture above Ivan Basso of Italy, overall leader Lance Armstrong, of Austin, Texas, Jan Ullrich of Germany and Floyd Landis of the U.S., from right, pedal in their ascent of the Pailheres pass during the 14th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Agde, southern France, and Ax-3 Domaines, Pyrenees mountains.


Sunday's race has 6 mountains and finishes uphill over roughly 130 miles with 30 miles of mountain climbing! (5 of these mountains would be the equivalent of riding up Hart's Hill if Hart's hill were 3-5 miles long.) I can't wait. The race ends next Sunday in Paris after more then 2000 miles of racing over 23 days.