Congrats to Dad and Charlotte

Congrats to Dad and Charlotte for completing their first 100 mile bike ride. You guys are amazing!!! Dad and Charlotte rode very strong for the entire week. Basically they are both animals!!! We are really proud of both of you. HUGE shout out to all the people who supported both riders. Thanks to Mom for driving and being there for all the odd weird things needed or requested, also Josh for taking great pictures we can't wait to upload them on the website, and how could we forget Tami, Tami you are the best and everyone loves your sense of humor. Hopefully we can update this soon so we can see the pictures.

Tour of California Crazy Clan Style

Hey Family,

The Gundy's will be raining down on your peaceful lives this week. I (eugie) will be there on Friday morning. The rest of the group comes in on Sunday night. Captain will fly in on Monday evening.

Does everyone have an itinerary? If not let me know. Also change of plans...instead of staying in Reno on Thursday we are going to stay in Sacramento. The flights look better for this preggers there. This is going to be a great party!!! If anyone wants to ride just Monday and Tuesday the rides are local and you don't have to commit to the whole trip (joann).

Also I included a picture of my ever swelling belly. Okay I will see you all on Friday and then the Baby Shower on Saturday. Awesome!!!

Ginger

We will all miss her! She was a great family member with so much love. She had her flaws but they didn't matter much because of how wonderful and cute she was. She will always be in our hearts. She had just learned to bark and pee in the cat box. We are very lucky she touch our live and gave us love and kindness. She filled our house with joy and happiness. Belle had a friend to play with, it was so cute to watch them play together. She was a great loving animal and we will carry her memories for ever. Goodbye Ginger....

Gundy's Family Pix

Just wanted to share with you guys our little family picture.  Kiowa is not in it because she couldn't get up on the chair.  You can kind of see the swelling belly.  Its the best preggers picture I have so far. 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!! Thanks for all the countless hours of serving us, I know as young children we never said thank you. I know you probably were going crazy with taking care of the 6 of us...but we want you to know that we noticed you and all your hard work. We love you!!!

Joann, Daniel, Robert, Eugena, Charlotte, and Joshua

Daniel and Katie Head Back to Utah

Almost a year ago, Daniel, Katie, Parker and Maggie arrived at our house in San Jose from Utah with their luggage and great plans of expected accomplishments, adventures and experiences. During that time many of their expectations were met including a few they hadn't planned on. Overall, it was great to have them and even though it was a little cramped, we all didn't try to kill each other, too many times. Although we already miss them we can take solace in the permanent reminders of their stay with us, which over time hopefully won't be too noticeable. A year later, Daniel and family have decided to move back to Utah where the prices of just about everything is a lot more affordable. We hope the very best for Daniel, Katie and family in their new adventures in Utah.
-Dad
p.s. Tonie is keeping their bed warm for their next visit.

Seth's First Race of the Season

Yesterday my brother K-dog and I rode the Tax Day road race near Pocatello, ID. It was the first official Salt Sea Pirate showing of the season. After this year's long cold winter followed by a cold wet spring it felt really good to ride outside and get a gauge on how much I slacked during the winter. This was also my first race riding as a Cat 4, so I wasn't sure what to expect competition wise. They ended up starting the Cat 4 & 5's together which made for a nice large pack, about 50 riders. Starting with a larger pack was actually kind of nice because there were a lot of legs chasing down attacks and closing gaps. Once the race began k-dog and I tried to hang out near the front as we headed out into a 1.2 mile neutral roll out. After that we continued up a gentle 4.3 mile rolling climb up a canyon to the circuit. We would do 3.5 laps on the 7 mile circuit and the finish would be atop the climb on the 4th trip up. I love mountain top finishes, it always makes it exciting on the last climb. The climb up the canyon wasn't too bad, it was about 3 miles in length and averaged only 2% or so. Every time the group hit the real part of the climb (the last 0.8 miles, 5.5% avg grade) we would pick up the pace and shed a couple people. I felt really good each time we hit the climb on the circuit. By the 3rd time we went over the climb the group had shrunk to about 25 or so (notably missing was K-dog who spent a whole lap heroically chasing to try to catch the group after falling off on the steep part of the climb).

To get onto the last 0.8 miles of the climb we had to take a sharp 120 degree turn onto another road. I knew it would be important to be on the front going into that corner. From there the road turns sharply upward into a 8% grade. We were on the final approach to the climb and the finish. A couple guys attacked on the approach to try to break it up a bit, but we still went into that last corner 25 or so strong. I was sitting right in the front going into that corner so I hardly had to slow down. As soon as I came out of the corner and the road turned up I opened it up. I accelerated away and quickly put a good 100 feet or so on the group. I tried to settle into a pace and maintain my lead. Taking a quick glance back I could see a few guys that were making some ground and bridging up. It felt just like last year in Pescadero. I was seeing stars at this point as I tried to keep my speed. One guy bridged up and passed me, then two more. I was suffering, I actually don't remember a whole lot of details at this point, all I knew is that I need to keep going as hard as I could. I kept thinking "top 5, top 5, keep going..." One more guy started to pass me. I hopped on his wheel as a 5th rider came up. At this point we were only 100 meters from the finish. The three of us were together across the road, going max power for the line. It was our own mtn top sprint for 4-6th places. We were all within a wheels length as we crossed the line. Final result.....6th place.


It would have been nice to have been able to seal the deal and take the race, but I had a good race. 6th place is a pretty good result for my first cat 4 race and the first race of the season. It was nice to get some racing in my legs, its hard to simulate race-pace in solo training rides. They had my official time as 1:49:35, one second off the time of the winner (it was more like 5 seconds or so). I had a good race and a great time. I was also pretty pleased of my position in the race. I was near the front almost the whole race which made life a little easier when it counted. I need to learn proper timing. If I had waited another 45 seconds or so to attack I probably could have pulled off the win. It did feel good, like it always does, to make a decisive move and blow the race apart. I just get really antsy and excited and I let it fly too early (same thing in Pescadero last year). But hopefully I'm learning when to let loose and when to conserve. I almost wish the climb would have been longer to break it up a bit and separate the climbers some more. Rachel, my sister-in-law, was there to support us and take some pictures and she got a great one of the 3 man sprint at the end. Next up is likely the Bear Lake RR (52 miles, rolling terrain, windy), not my type of race to win cause it usually comes down to a sprint but will be a great race.