How Those Brackets Are Doing

So I've been out of town for awhile and I did not take the NCAA brackets with me. I didn't think I would have time to update – and I did not. So, one of the first things I did today was pull out the brackets and see how the girls and I did on picking the weekend games.

So here are the standings heading into the Final Four weekend:

Sean: 166
Veronica: 121
Emily: 67
Julia: 56
Lauren: 39

While I have a 45-point lead on Veronica, it is by no means a given that I have the bracket title wrapped up. There are a lot of potential points still for the taking.

Veronica has two teams remaining: Connecticut and North Carolina. She has picked them both to advance to the championship game, with North Carolina taking the title. This means she has the potential to earn 64 more points.

I have North Carolina, Connecticut and Louisville Villanova – with North Carolina predicted to advance to the championship game (and lose). So my potential point value is 16 points.

Emily has Michigan State left and has picked the Spartans to advance to the title game (and lose). So she also has the potential for 16 more points.

Lauren and Julia will not be able to score any more points. They both did a great job of picking the early rounds.

Last year, Veronica won the title after Emily was the early leader. Emily, Veronica and I have all scored more points than we had last year.

Tornado Time In Omaha

This does not look good.

Radar images from KETV Monday afternoon at 4:45 p.m.

Radar image from KPTM Monday at 5:33 p.m.

Windy Ride

This is the view I had for much of Sunday's ride.
I need to get my bike in the shop. It is making all kinds of strange noises. The latest squeak forced me to bail on a ride that was already going south (literally) Sunday.

I met up with Brady and Mike at Crane Coffee and we headed into the teeth of a strong south wind. I was hanging just fine (we even gained a guy - then lost him) until I heard a strange noise from my back wheel. I tried yelling to Mike and Brady but they couldn't hear me. By the time they realized I was not with them, I was nearly 200 meters behind.

I ended up stopping and checking my back wheel, thinking I had a broken spoke. It turns out the spokes opposite the freewheel are loose, so that's one thing I will have to have checked when my bike goes in the shop this week. It cut my ride short, but that was fine. My legs were pretty toast from yesterday's race and I didn't really want to ride into the wind much longer.

It's Bracket Time!

The brackets were filled out by phone - not an easy task.
A year ago, I started a little tradition with my five daughters: filling out NCAA Tournament brackets. We had a little explanation of how the numbers next to the school names coincided with each team's seeding in the 64-team field. In the end, Lauren didn't fill out a bracket, saying it was "too hard." A few weeks later, Veronica (who was two years old at the time) came out the big winner - correctly picking Kansas as the national champion and running away with the mythical family championship (with 114 points).

Here is how points are awarded:

First round win: 1 point
Second round win: 2 points
Sweet 16 win: 4 points
Elite Eight win: 8 points
Final Four win: 16 points
Correctly picking the champion: 32 points

Unfortunately, as of this writing, I have not seen the girls since Jan. 15. So filling out the brackets was done by phone. This time, it was Olivia (our last-place finisher a year ago) who didn't want to do a bracket. But everyone else did - including Veronica. Here's how that conversation went:

Dad: "Veronica, I'll say the names of two teams and I want you to pick the one you think will be the winner."

Veronica: "I love you, Daddy."

Dad: "I know, Veronica. Thank you. Pittsburg or East Tennessee State?"

Veronica: "Pittsburg."

Dad: "Oklahoma State or Tennessee?"

Veronica: "The State."

Dad: "Florida State or Wisconsin?

Veronica: "Dad. We're having popsicles. Mine is orange."

(After a few minutes)

Veronica: "I'm going to hang up now."

Dad: "Just a few more to go, Veronica."

(After a few minutes)

Veronica: "I'm tired, Daddy. Talk to Emily."

Eventually, with some coaxing (three separate times), Veronica completed her entire bracket. The other girls seemed to have a fun time - many of them recalling the teams they chose last year ("Butler" was a favorite). This year, they liked the sound of "American" and "Stephen F. Austin" and seemed to pick a lot of "hockey" schools (Michigan, Michigan State and North Dakota State) - which isn't always a good thing. They also chose California (probably because I have spent a lot of time there this year).

How are things going so far? Well, our little "Bracketologist" continues to amaze. Through the first round, Veronica had correctly picked 26 of 32 winners - including the upsets by Dayton and Western Kentucky.

So, using the system outlined above, here are the point standings heading into second-round games (Saturday second-round games are not included):

Veronica (age 3): 26
Emily (age 12): 23
Dad (age 41): 23
Lauren (age 10): 19
Julia (age 8): 16

As for their Final Four picks, you decide who has the best chance in the end:

Julia: Tennessee, Gonzaga, Louisville, California.
Lauren: Louisville, California, Minnesota, Michigan.
Veronica: Connecticut, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville.
Emily: Michigan State, UNI, Duke, Michigan.
Dad: Louisville, Connecticut, Duke, North Carolina.

Back In The Saddle

My race number included the number 16
– fitting since I last raced 16 years ago.
So I took the plunge today and ventured back into the side of bicycle racing I had not experienced since 1993. The decision to race Saturday in the Twin Bing Classic originated with Craig Harding, Team Type 1's regional team director, and was finalized when my brother-in-law, Jon Brooks, told me "you should do it!"

So there I was, early Saturday morning, getting things ready to go. Harding and Nancy Stirek picked me up (thanks!) and we made the 90-minute-or-so drive north to Climbing Hill, Iowa.

My expectations for the race were pretty simple: finish, don't crash and have fun. The Category "B" race was only 42 miles, but advertised as "having plenty of hills." Geez, they weren't kidding. The climb out of town to the finish line (about 3 km) was a gradual uphill with a steep kicker (10 percent, perhaps?). I knew getting dropped right off the bat would mean starting the climb at the front and slowly going backwards.

Two funny things happened before the race. First, the registration folks were thoroughly impressed with my pre-printed athlete waiver (thanks PDF Pen!) - which nearly caused them to forget to collect my $20 check. The other "classic Sean" moment came as we were getting ready to line up. The 72(!) people in the field were staged, then lined up on the road. I told Craig to hang way back (I think he was a little nervous about doing so, particularly since I hadn't been at this for some time) and then we'd dash up to the front. And that's precisely what I did - riding through the grass, around a mailbox and to "pole position" for the start before you could say, "Boo." Mission accomplished.

That first climb, though, was a leg-breaker. Or more precisely, gut-wrenching. I was warmed up - or so I thought - but didn't feel good at all. I was pretty "blocked" and went from front of the line to right at the back once over the top. It was going to be a long day. It got longer when the group I was chasing missed a right-hand turn. Five miles later, we figured out we were going the wrong way.

From there, we chased back to get back on course. It wasn't long before we hit more hills and I was off the back again. UGH. Roller after roller put the hurt on, but it was getting warmer (probably up to about 50 degrees) so that was nice. Eventually, I caught the remnants of my group and worked together with them as we got back to town.

Heading out for a second lap of the course was pretty much out the window, though, as I didn't want the race officials to be there until 4 or 5 p.m. waiting for "Mr. Slow" to make it around again. So I did my good deed for the day and told the officials I was "retiring" and headed back to the car. (Click here to see the official results.)

I met a lot of great people and it was kind of nice to be a little incognito at a bike race (as much as I can lay low). Of course I'm a little tired, but have some great memories.

It was pretty chilly at the start.

Kitted up and ready to go.
(Yes, I need a Louis Garneau helmet.)

Check out the lead vehicle for the "A" race.

Were You Watching?

You have to wonder how many people were starting to tune in to the Big East Conference basketball game Thursday night (that went into the wee hours of Friday morning) as word spread on the Internet and Facebook. The six-overtime game between Syracuse and Connecticut was epic. It didn't wrap up until 1:23 a.m. EDT.

If you've seen the Buffalo Wild Wings commercial where the fans don't want to leave the restaurant (the bartender has a control panel under the bar to force overtime), this was a real-life version.

Consider some of the facts about this "instant classic" between the Orangemen and UConn:

- This was the second-longest game in NCAA history - regular season or post-season.
- One player was on the floor 67 of the possible 70 minutes.
- Syracuse didn't take the lead until the sixth overtime - after last leading in regulation, 71-69.
- There were a combined 208 shots taken.
- Syracuse made 40 out of 51 free throws - including 23 of 26 in the overtime periods.

Oh, and did I mention Syracuse finally prevailed, 127-117?

I'm Back

One of the all-time great cycling journalists, James Raia, gives me a little shout-out in his latest column.

Read it here.