Costumes were worn, bikes raced, pictures taken.  This is my favorite picture from the weekend.

  As an unemployed person, it is important for me to have goals.  My goal for September 10th was to get tickets to see Jane Goodall, and then later attend two back to school nights.  Also, go to the gym.  Maybe donate blood.  But really the tickets were the main thing.  Ok, back to school night was the main thing, but if you think attending back to school night at two schools with overlapping schedules is hard, you have no idea what I got into with the Jane Goodall tickets.

A couple weeks ago, I saw that tickets were going on sale on September 10th.  I set a meeting on my calendar with two reminders.  I made sure I was home from the gym (goal accomplished) and in front of the computer at 9:50 for the 10:00 am ticket sale.  (Tickets were free, but you could only get two – I talked Jane Goodall up and down at breakfast to make sure one kid would be really into in and one would feel like they weren’t missing out like the master mother that I am.)

So I was logged in and ready.  I started trying to buy my free tickets at 10:00.  I probably got about 50 error messages before I got through 2 times but the captcha thingy wasn’t accepted.  Then I started trying on my computer and my ipad at the same time.  Sometimes I could choose seats but then there was no “next” button.  Sometimes I got an “Okay” button but then the screen would crash.  I probably chose my seats 30 times only to have the screen time out, or get an error message, or be told the seats were no longer available.  I saw a message  on twitter and facebook that CU was having some technical difficultues after half an hour, but I kept trying until a full hour had passed.  I called the box office and got a message that they were closed.  

I can be determined, but after an hour I decided to try a different tactic.  I rode my bike to Macky and I asked if I could get tickets there at the box office. The guys I talked to said that they were using the same software and having the same problems.  A decision had been made to cancel the sale, and start again Friday at 10:00.  There was an older gentlemen there at the same time who mentioned that the experience had been very frustrating.  (Understatement.)  I asked who was gettting the tickets, since I kept losing the tickets in my cart.  The guy I talked to said, “No one has been able to get a ticket.  The tickets you saw grayed out when you tried to select them were reserved seats.”   He said there were 900 tickets that had been reserved since before the sale started. I left not really believing that because of how many times my seats had disappeared and I was wondering how many seats Macky even had if 900 were reserved.  (2052).

Alas, I’ll try again tomorrow, I thought, as I biked home.  I didn’t get far because my chain fell off and I spent the next hour and 45 minutes pushing my bike home, and then finally almost carrying the 700 lb albatross the last 4 blocks as the chain became wrapped around the back wheel.

So imagine my surprise when I got home and read this on facebook:

“We apologize for the inconsistent communication regarding the Oct. 1 Jane Goodall event. The ticket vendor Vendini experienced technical difficulties during the time of ticket distribution. While the ticketing system was down, we discussed moving ticketing to the following day. Unfortunately, Vendini came back online and did not stop distributing tickets despite our instruction to do so.

Tickets for the Oct. 1 Jane Goodall event are sold out. Options are being explored to expand the audience for the event.”

Yes, i know that they decided to move the even to Coors, which seats a bunch more people.  No, I don’t know when tickets will go on sale.  Yes, I know I should just get a job, and that I should have asked Dave to pick me up in the car instead of walking home like a sweaty weirdo.

Kids love their sports, and regardless of whether it’s football, baseball, or cycling, kids are going to find role models.   And that is great, because there are so many opportunities for discussion about life choices.  Who doesn’t love those teaching moments?

The crazy thing about being a cycling fan in Boulder, is that you aren’t so much watching the sport from afar as with football and baseball.  Luke races his bike, and one of his cycling coaches was an Olympian.  Professional cyclists race in the same events he does, they cheer for the kids, and he gets to meet cyclists all the time. Luke has ridden with Tommy D, and we know someone who knows  Rory Sutherland.  (We have been huge fans since hours before he won Stage 6 in the USA Pro Cycling challenge. )

Many of my tens of readers (hi Mom! hi Dad! hi Aunt Linda!) may only know of  the cyclist who is on Oprah, but Luke doesn’t watch Oprah, so let’s just be thankful for that.

So, there is a lot to be said for the positive influence of all the cyclists we have met in terms of encouraging Luke, inspiring Luke, and giving Luke real skills and knowledge to perform well in races. But what happens when kids start to emulate lifestyle choices?  Well, I will tell you.

Here is a picture of Luke meeting Alex Howes, who was very friendly and motioned for Luke to come sit next to him and chat when he could see that Luke was shy about approaching him.  Very cool.

Here is Luke two months later.  Eerily similar haircut, don’t you think?

So what happens when Luke idolizes professional cyclists?  He gets more fashionable.  I love it.

Today was the first cyclocross race of the season where Jack didn’t complain at all. I think it may have to do with the “dirt that felt like peanut butter” that was everywhere.