Spring is near

Not much to blog about today. I had hoped to do the wednesday morning spin class today to squeeze a quality workout in since no other ride is in the works for today but after the whole fam felt like ka-ka last night, I figured it was best to get an extra half hour of sleep and get in to work early instead. Bummer. The above photo was from less than two weeks ago. I can't frickin believe it, there was so much snow that hiking without snowshoes was impossible (or at least miserable) and now, here we are with barely any snow left on the ground. Usually, I'd be psyched to see the snow go in the spring but given the current house situation, I was actually kinda hoping for a few more weeks of snow and crap so that it would keep people around here off their bikes thus allowing me to catch up quicker when I'm riding proper again. Oh well, just another way ma nature has me over a barrel.

Because it could get sticky

Overheard at my place of employ:

Me: "yada, yada, yada, I'm the best cyclist ever and I'm super studly because I ride in winter and did I mention yet today that I WAX my legs?(or something of that nature)"

Bora (name changed to protect the annoying): "yada, yada, yada, and while you were riding around in your latex..."

Me: " Bora, I guarantee you, I'm on a totally different kind of ride when I'm wearing latex."

Spring must be approaching

because there are two bikes on the car.

Yay!

Work

Ugh, work has taken the front seat, the back seat and the luggage and glove compartments so far this week so I've barely had time to think let alone blog. Thankfully, I was still able to squeeze in a few quality rides last week. They're still short rides in duration but I've slowly added intensity so hopefully come race season I'll have some top end speed, sure I might implode at the :45 minute mark but I'll look good up til then.

Over the weekend we kicked some serious house butt and installed all 18 window assemblies (somewhere around 25 windows total) and have moved one giant step closer to having a habitable house come summer. With that in mind, I'd better get crackin!

Orange movement

What happens when you have two bowls of squash soup for first breakfast (we had lots of leftovers and I didn't want it to go to waste) followed by a bagel with cream cheese and salmon (not lox, that's gross) and then a salmon steak for lunch (our salmon tends to be a bit more orange than pink)? You have an orange movement, that's what. At least that's what I'm guessing because I'd never look when I'm finished. Nope, not me. Never.

ThomP (see pic above) has totally got me thinking about getting the DT Swiss RWS quick release.

Last year I had a bit of trouble with quick releases loosening up on my El Mariachi unless I torqued them so hard I thought I'd break something (my fingers trying to release them). Anyway, the RWS essentially lets you tighten it by spinning the lever thus allowing the application of plenty of torque. This allows both a more secure connection PLUS (at least it is said) a noticeably stiffer assembly. Hmm, sounds pretty good. My only question is, how long does it take to loosen and secure the RWS in comparison to a typical quick release. If anybody knows, please let me know.

Commuting is great, commuting sucks

As all of you know (all two of you) because I whine about it constantly, the only riding I get these days is my twice weekly commute and maybe a ride to and from the property on the weekend. Thank god for the saddle time during the commute because otherwise I'd become such a grumpy prick that even fewer people would be able to stand being around me. BUT, I am so frickin getting tired of this commute. I've done just about every conceivable route that doesn't take me way out of the way and I still find myself bored as sin recently. The one good thing is that we finally have some bare pavement on the roads so I might be able to finally take the studded tires off the bike. Most winters the studded tires are only needed the day or two after a storm but this year we've had so much snow so frequently that there has been ice on the roads EVERY-SINGLE-DAY. The March sun is finally on my side though and clearing the roads nicely during the day. Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to throw the schwalbe big apple shod wheelset on the El Mariachi for this weekend.

That's all I have for now. Originally I had a marginally more interesting post up about orange poop (now we're talking!) but stupid blogger won't upload the photo. Maybe tomorrow.

I am the pack mule, hoo koo eee koo

On Thursday I finally found a pack combination that the Ergon BD1 simply cannot make disappear. Take that you haughty BD. Because of some time I needed to spend at the house after work I was forced to haul a dewalt driver with me. This little gem tips the scales at 5+ lbs alone, add in a craving for diabetes in a bottle (aka mountain dew) and other various necessities and you have a pretty heavy load. I must admit though that while the pack didn't make the load disappear like it usually does, it DID make the load comfortable. I know, I know, you're thinking to yourself, "rick is a total Ergon whore and sellout, you can't believe what he says!" and while technically the first part is true, the reality is that I'm an Ergon whore because the shit works so damn well.

the load

the mule

Also, I'd like to point out how much tougher I am than most of you wankers (two different links there) out there. The other day, for my morning commute, my "only off by ten degrees" weather station told me it was a balmy 22 degrees out. I figured, 'heck, that's practically shirt sleeve weather' so I put the balaclava away and rode with a cycling cap alone. My manliness compels you.

Family time

Last Friday the decision was made to take the whole day off and spend the morning getting some quality family time in. These days, more often than not, the construction of the new house dominates all leaving very little time to enjoy each others company. As much as we'd like to have a place to stay when we have to move out of our current place in May it seemed even more important to ensure that we'll still actually BE a family when that time comes, we can always sleep in a tent I guess. This has been a bumper year for snow (wouldn't you know it) and we've had no time to enjoy it so we decided to head out snowshoeing.

B-girl is getting big for her pack. Bonus workout for me.

If only she knew where that tongue has been...

Marcy's cross training

Little game we call "hide from the camera". I finally got her after about 10 pics.

It's been a while...

...since I've gushed about my Ergon BD1 pack but it is high time to do so again. Over the past few months it has been on my back for every ride I've been able to squeeze in. In the summer I tend to ride packless (unless I'm commuting or doing a looooonnnnng mountain bike ride) so it's been nice to spend so much time with the pack this winter. I'll be honest, I take this pack for granted. For each ride, I load it up (without thinking about what I'm throwing in there) and head on my way barely giving it a thought. The other day I was riding with what was probably a 10 lb load and part way into my commute I realized I had quite a bit of shit on my back and it was barely noticeable. When you get to a steep hill you notice the weight but on flats, the weight disappears.

On my way back from working on the house Friday my hands were freezing so I decided to stop at a store on the way home to warm the digits and pick up a couple of frosty bevvies. I tossed them in the pack with willful disregard for my well being and rode merilly home. Try that with a camelback. I dare you!

OK, maybe not

This morning's commute was supposed to include a little "bonus" time and miles (an extra fifteen minutes on top of a 30 minute commute! wowzer) but once out the door at 5:30 I could immediately tell that the body wasn't having it. I probably could have forced myself into the longer route and felt better eventually but it was cold, I was tired and I'm a whiny little bitch. Whatcha gonna do? Can't change who you are. Anyway, I figured that if I just headed straight in, I'd get to work earlier and that MIGHT mean that I could leave a bit earlier and I'd give the extension another try on the way home.

Thankfully, after many weeks of cancelled rides because of various factors (weather, appointments, house construction) this week is looking pretty good so far. I've already got two commutes in, I'll be doing a spin class tomorrow night at the local Y while Marcy and B do open swim AND Friday morning, we've scheduled some family time including some vigorous snowshoeing. Throw in some random ab workouts and home body resistance workouts and all of a sudden I don't feel like a total slack ass. I'm probably still slow as snot on a bike but at least I'm not wheezing like a fat kid in gym class at the moment.

One thing that I've realized about myself over the course of my life is that I only seem to be able to handle one obsession at a time. With a full family and work life I always feel like the raged ends of the day can only handle one focus. For years now that focus has been cycling. I'd eat, drink, sleep and breath cycling whenever time allowed. I figured it's grip on my psyche was indestructible but this winter has proven otherwise. Now, whenever I have some free time I find myself thinking about the next step on the house construction, does this sheathing contain formaldehyde? if I install this, what does it do to that? etc and very rarely find myself thinking about the upcoming race season or even this year's bike build (which will need to get crackin soon). I've also found myself passing up MANY bike rides on beautiful days in order to get a couple more hours of work done on the house. Sacrilege! Hopefully, when the place is done my brain will get back to where it belongs. I'm of course talking about taking sweaty pics of myself in nothing but bibs...

Happy Valentine's Day

Just another typical V-day in RR land.

Step one: slip into leather harness.

check

Step two: yada, yada, yada

Step three: apply battlefield bandage.

Happy V-day folks.

What have I gotten myself into?

In case I wasn't stressed and overworked enough right now, somehow I found myself volunteering to put on a 45 minute presentation at a local green building show in April. Somebody must have done a midnight lobotomy on me recently because this just doesn't make sense. I guess that when it comes down to it, I'm a decent public speaker (I sound slightly more intelligent than George W.) but I hate public speaking and I don't have time to properly prepare. If this were a wedding that I was the best man at (did that a couple of times) I'd prep by getting properly drunk beforehand so that no matter what at least I'D think that I did a good job. I don't think the expo is going to have a bar. Drat. Of course, the real reason I volunteered is that I like to occasionally step out of my comfort zone to keep things interesting (funny, that's the same reason I've decided to race single speed in the expert class this year) and to push myself to new (sometimes lower) levels. If I don't wet my pants beforehand I should be ok.

I'll be making the presentation on our house construction and the theories/idea's I have about how to make a house environmentally friendly without jumping on the "green" bandwagon. In fact, I've decided to not use the "green" tag anytime during the presentation. Hey wait, none of you reading this probably care about this junk do you? I guess I'll stop now. If you do want to see more, you can pop on over to www.knickerbockergroup.blogspot.com where shortly, I'll start to provide regular content about the design/construction and get this, I'm getting paid to provide content for that blog. That's right, I'll be getting paid for blogging. I'm not sure my employer realized just what he's getting...

Anyway, enough yammering, here are a few new pics:

A fresh rendering

curve of the roof

my brother being my brother. he's single ladies (shocking)

Does thinking about riding count as riding?

I asked myself that very question this weekend and sadly came to the conclusion that no, it doesn't count. My one conciliation is that I'd much rather have something fun and healthy to think about, like cycling, when I'm busy. The typical American thinks about potato chips and football, I think about crank shafts, racing schedules and my weight. Oh well, my smug superiority will get me through me thinks.

Up until last week my winter racing plans involved the Snowman Adventure I mentioned last week, the Winter XC and a new to me race on a hockey arena in Augusta next month (more on that when I get more info). Unfortunately, I just found out that the Winter XC is officially off for this year which is both a bummer and a relief. I was looking forward to heading over and trying to improve on my third place result of last year but I also knew that with little riding under my belt (and none on snowmobile trails) that I would suffer mightily. At least now I can focus on the silly, short events that require must less fitness and mental energy.

On a good note, I conversed via e-mail with the Winter XC promoter and it turns out that he's putting together a new race for next winter that will surely one up the two day bike race I'm used to. For next year he plans a 20 mile snowshoe race on Saturday and a 50 mile mountain bike race (on snow covered trails) on Sunday with the overall winner having the lowest accumulated time. Talk about a swift kick to the junk. Given the amount of snow they typically get in that area of Quebec I would guess that the 20 mile snowshoe would easily take 4-5 hours and many more if the conditions are nasty. Follow that up with a 50 mile bike race on barely rideable snowmobile trails (last year's 30 miler took me 4:23!) and you've got yourself a heaping helping of suffering and one hell of a good time!

Holy Hell

For this morning's commute I had planned to extend it a bit so that I could pad my meager saddle time but when I got up this morning and went for a jog with the pooch the bank in town was saying -3 f. Yikes. Mountain bike rides in temps like that are fairly easy to deal with but on the road with higher speeds and more wind it can be a different story. To top it off, I forgot to get the coffee going before the run so I would be coffee-less as well. This should be fun.

Once out the door and on the road I knew that the extended ride wasn't happening. No mojo and the freeze your buttcheeks together cold made my 1/2 hour commute seem just fine thank you very much.

The Answer

Finally, because the camera thingy gods and computer thingy gods and Marcy all got together and blessed me with their love and adoration, I can give the answer to last weeks' cringe inducing quiz. The substance in question was "drool" from one Mr. Pants.

Can't see it?

How 'bout now?

It seems that the Nerf football size tumor on the side of his head has kicked his salivary glands into overdrive so he's constantly drooling. Gross but usually not too big of a deal. This doozy had special magical properties though. It was thick, viscous and had a texture similar to glue rolled in sawdust. How appealing. If it wasn't for the fact that I was about to spend 8+ hours separated from the rest of the world's coffee makers I would have just chucked it and got another. Given the circumstances though, I was forced to close my eyes, cover my ears, yell "LA, LA, LA!" and flick it off so that I could pretend the whole thing never happened. Worked pretty well.

Several of you were close but nobody got right answer so I've decided to give each of you a fabulous concellation prize: a ziplock full of Chance's special sauce. Just send me your address and once I've procured enough I'll ship it on out. Be sure to have a hazmat suit and a vomit bucket ready.

Sorry, not quite yet

I was supposed to have the answer to last week's quiz in today's post but somehow, even though I'm 99.9% sure I copied the photo to my travel drive they don't seem to be there so you'll have to wait another day. Prozac might help.

This past Saturday, like all Saturday's these days, the plan was to work on the house from sun up to sun down leaving no time to ride. Thankfully, through some careful planning (and some luck) I was able to leave the Element (aka Construction Vehicle 1) at the property so that I could at least ride my bike to work on the house Saturday. It was a cool morning (maybe zero degrees Fahrenheit) but nice to shake the legs out a bit.

Here are the after pics. Scruffy facial hair and cold temps leave really leave their mark. (those are my safety glasses I'm wearing, no sense wearing my riding glasses there only to change into others!)



Yesterday, while in the outskirts of boston meeting up with some custom door guys I stumbled onto these beauties in a warehouse next door. I'd never heard of the Dutch Bicycle Company before but they have some pretty cool, and weird, shit over there. The bike geek in me took more pics of the bikes than what I was paid to go look at. Woops.

A dubious distinction

For the last two days I've been the first one into the office (6:15-6:30 a.m.) and the last one out roughly 11 hours later. Dark in, dark out. It doesn't get much better than this I tell ya. Of course I'm doing this so that I can take most of Friday off to work on the house so things will work out.

In actual bike news, Marcy and I have decided to participate in the Snowman Adventure. It's a two man (woman) team race where one person does a bike leg and the other does running leg and then the teammates sled to the finish. Sounds like a pretty fun time. Most people would expect me to do the bike leg since that is what I'm actually good at (theoretically at least) but since Marcy runs like the tin man three weeks overdue for an oil change I volunteered to eat the bullet. Suddenly all these early morning runs with Chance have some actual meaning.

not me in photo

Speaking of those stupid runs, yesterdays snow followed by rain left the roads in primo shape for some ass to pavement encounters. Today didn't disappoint. One second I'm running happily along, the next thing I know I'm thrown to the ground with such force that I nearly broke my wrist. There should be a law against running.

Quiz time.

Up for grabs is one gently used Thompson seatpost (don't ask me the size right now because I don't have it on me though I do usually keep a seat post in my front pocket for vanity reasons) to the first person to guess what the frig was on my coffee cup the other morning when I got to the property to work. Hint: it didn't come from me.

Disclaimer: No employees, family members or affiliates of Racin Rick or Dam Nelsons are elidgable for this contest. Winner is responsible for all shipping and taxes ($100 in the continental U.S.).

How a week slips away

Today, on my morning commute, it occured to me that I hadn't been on my bike in exactly a week, the last time I was able to commute. I was kind of distressed by the fact that it had gone so quickly and easily. Granted, it has been months since I've been able to ride regularly so this is a typical thing for me these days but it was still distressing. This time last year I'd be freaking if I hadn't done something bikewise in two days time. My, how things change! Thankfully, I was able to squeeze in a spin class on Monday, a bunch of 20-30 minute jogs with the pooch and some pilates/cyclo-core work so I'm not feeling like a total slouch. Come to think of it, given my lack of riding, I felt pretty darn good this morning including while climbing a couple of 20% grades that had me turning 30 rpms (I nearly had to wrap bungee cords around my knee caps to keep them in place) so maybe things will be ok come spring.

Of course my reasons for riding little are pretty good (unlike most of big mac America). 1. I'm really busy at work and that's a pretty darn good thing considering the economy is circling the toilet bowl. 2. we're really cranking on the house. We've got all of the roof rafters on now and if things go well will have most of the house enclosed in a couple weeks time. This is also a pretty darn good thing considering all we've paid for so far are materials (and through my connections, some of that has been free as well!) and the foundation. Sure, I've also paid a bit with my sanity and lack of free time but when all is said and done we're going to have a frickin sweet house that we'll owe no more on than the itty bitty ranch we were living in before.

I think it's time to stop bitching and realize that life is pretty darn good for me right now. I've got a good marriage, a great kid, a good job, a sweet house being built, a sweet bike being planned and the prospect of the summer ahead ready to be enjoyed.

Ok, all of a sudden my day is looking up!

Don't worry, I'm still alive

Very little posting recently here. Sorry. Life gets in the way sometimes (a lot recently) and you do what you can. Not much to report ride-wise here but I did go to my first spin class of the season yesterday. It's not quite the same as riding outside but it's a damn sight better than riding the trainer at home and with the right instructor, they can be real ball busters. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor but my perceived exertion level was pegged at 11 and by the end of the class I was a sweaty mess. Good stuff since it's looking like between Marcy and my schedules I won't be getting much riding in this week.

On a racing note, I pulled the trigger and ordered up a Salsa Selma for this coming race season. I guess there won't be any more hemming and hawing about whether I'm racing single speed or not now. With a new bike purchased, Marcy will MAKE me race it whether I want to or not! :)

Snowy Ride

To me, there is nothing like a ride in freshly fallen snow. Preferrably a nice dry powder. On Sunday, we got just such a snowfall on Saturday night/Sunday morning. We tried to do some work on the house on Sunday but when that proved somewhat fruitless I opted to take advantage of my newfound free time. Usually I'd be heading for the local snowmobile trails for a day like this but, unfortunately, where we're living now there aren't any nearby so I hit the back roads instead. Not quite the same but fun none-the-less.

If you listen closely at :14 in this one you'll here me do a "whoaaaaaaaaa" as I almost at shit. I swear, taking video while riding will be the death of me.

One thing that I'm definitely realizing about where we're currently living is that even though there aren't any huge hills in the area, there are scads of short but STEEP hills. Enough that right now, a 1:20 minute ride just about has me stroking out and begging for it to stop. If it wasn't for my pride (vanity) my single speeding ass would be walking some of those suckers. There is something about grinding up a hill at 20 rpm's that really makes you rethink your choice in hobbies. I'm thinking that my new hobby should be re-building knees because with climbs like this I'll be needing a couple stat.

Wrong in so many ways

Have you ever taken pictures of yourself to use on your blog only to have serious resignations about posting them? If you've been coming to this silly blog for a while you know that there are very few things that I won't post about (much to Marcy's dismay). But once in a while I have a pic that I want to post but can't bring myself to do so because of it's cringe-worthiness. Well, the other day Marcy took a couple of pics of me with my silly truckdriver beard that I was sure I would want to post, until I saw them. After a few days delay and much hemming and hawing I've decided to post one. First, to warm things up, I'll show you two pics I took while shaving my horrendous goatee.

First up, the truck driver you saw in the previous two pics but a little clearer this time.

Next up was this super cool porn stache.

And then finally, the pic that still sends shivers up my spine: (you have to click on the pic to get the full douche chills)

Considering my history, I'm not sure why this pic bothers me so much. Maybe it's the look on my face or the hairy, wooky like, legs or the fact that I haven't had a haircut in three months but whatever it is, it makes me want to curl up and die. Thankfully, I'm devoted to this blog and in desperate need of content so I'm manning up and hitting post. Please enjoy in moderation.

Need to fix some shit?

Is your shifting all jacked up?
Do you need to adjust your BB cups?
Creaks driving you crazy?
Come on, don't be so damn lazy!
Fix your bike fool.
Bikeman.com has the tools.
Quick, become a facebook fan
and save 15% man (I know, that was a stretch)
Do it quick, you don't have much time.
Sale ends January 9.

You heard right, become a bikeman.com facebook fan and save 15% on tools.

Running is dangerous

Recently, I feel like my life is getting back on track a bit. As mentioned before, we've moved into a new place and we're much more comfortable there so that helps but the bigger thing (for me at least) is that the move has meant that I'm getting much more exercise than I was for a while. I'm still not putting in multi-hour bike rides but with a combo of jogging with the pooch (have to do that twice a day now) and some commuting, I'm finally feeling human again. I'm definitely not training yet but it is nice to get consistant exercise again. Hopefully, once the legs start to like riding again (they feel very lead like right now) I'll be able to kick it up a notch and start adding some intensity. It'll be some time before I add any volume but at least I'll have some conditioning under the belt when things open up this summer.

The funny thing is, now that I'm running more I'm realizing how dangerous it can be. In a twenty four hour span I fell twice while running. Twice. I honestly can't remember the last time I fell riding (of course I barely remember riding so that might not be a fair comparison) but here I am falling while running on pavement. Nice, very nice.

Contributing to my new sanity is that I've somehow managed to string together rides three days in a row. The longest one was only 1:05 but I'll take what I can get since I don't think I've ridden three days in a row for 5, maybe 6, months. Yikes.

One of those rides was a commute from work yesterday. I had packed all my things in the morning before heading to work and THOUGHT I'd be all set for the ride home. Fast forward to the end of the day, I head over to change and quickly realize I had forgotten one critical item.

Good Advice

Got this little gem in the office the other day. It could simply be helpful reminders about how to properly move materials around the construction site OR it could be some mighty fine dating advice. Be sure to click on the image to get the close up. My comments are in red.

Get in line ladies

Notice any super manly changes?

The New Digs

Now that the whole fam is moved into our new digs down in the Habah life seems to be getting back to normal. Now that I'm not living at the office I don't get as much work done but it sure is nice to have a bit more balance in my life. I see Marcy and B more, I'm finally commuting to work via bike again, we have a yard for B to play in and I have a joggers paradise of roads and hills on the penninsula that we're living on. In the pic below, you can see the house location (the yellow push pin). Just below that is a maze of roads and lotsa hills. Between commuting a few times a week and hitting those hills twice a day, every day, on foot, I'm finally feeling like I'm getting back into shape. Yay me!





Yesterday, I pulled the trigger on some new parts for 2009's (hopeful) race bike. It feels like I'm being a bit premature since I'm not 100% sure I'll build a new bike for next year but Sram's Bikeman.com team sponsorship orders need to be in by Jan 2 so what is a boy to do? Hopefully, now that I have a new Reba, Juicy Ultimates, handle bar, post and a few other various bits coming I'll be more likely to actually build up a new rig next season. If the house stays in budget (knock on wood) I'll be golden.

B-lates

No matter how much I try (or at least pretend to) I can't seem to get out to ride much but I have been trying to fill the gaps with other activities. I've been jogging with the pooch more than is natural for me but at least we've got a good variety of roads and hills to keep it interesting. We've also had a bunch of snow recently and it is suprising fun to run in a white-out. You should try it sometime. With all of the snow, I've also been doing LOTS of shoveling. 6 hours worth from the last storm, that's a freakin lot of shoveling. Our neighbor joked with me that it would get me in good shape at least. Sure, if hunched over is a shape. When I find the motivation I also do pilates (gotta keep the tummy and buns toned right???). Of course, sometimes B wants to help, enter B-lates. With a little creativity, I can add her to my workout and up the ante on some of the moves. I figure that by the time she's 16 I'll be totally ripped.

We've been without internet access at our new place for over a week and my right eye was starting to develop a twitch. Theoretically the place has wi-fi but the reality is that it wasn't freakin working no matter how many times I started the computer and willed it to. Thankfully, though an act of pure genius on my part, I asked my computer geek brother to figure it out; and he did. So, as of today, we're up and running today. I was jonesing so bad for blog surfing that this morning after my first cup of coffee when nature called I had an important decision to make. Cut weight or surf the net. Thankfully, technology stepped in (and my sense of dignity stepped out) and it turns out that our wi-fi works from the first floor powder room. Marcy, if you're reading this, I'd suggest not using the computer this evening.

Did I Mention Binge Drinking

In my last post I mentioned the holidays and binge drinking and eating. Little did I know just how soon the binge drinking part was going to start. Friday was my company christmas party. It's always a big affair with food, drink, lots of people and mass amounts of debauchery (the company started as a construction company so it's pretty much an anything goes type party) and since it was on the same day as my birthday I planned to partake like no one's bidness. We were spudless for the night and within walking distance of our digs so Marcy and I got the very rare opportunity to get shitty together. Mission accomplished. Too much happened through the night to tell it all (or remember it all) but here are some highlights. Beer, much beer. Shots of tequila chased with jello shots. Shots given to us by people who obviously hated us because they were so rank followed by more jello shot chasers. About 18 more jello shots. Marcy getting spanked by one of my co-workers (I need to get the pic off her phone!). Stumbled home. Worthless pieces of crap all day Saturday.

There you have it.

Back in the Saddle

A corner has been turned, so to speak. Over the last couple of days we've moved into our winter digs, a care taking gig in Boothbay Harbor, which means a couple of things. 1. when I leave the office at the end of the day I actually leave the office as opposed to walking across the parking lot. 2. now that I do actually leave the office, bike commuting can begin again. Today was my first day commuting and it felt good. Sure is was only 10 degrees, it's all uphill in the morning, my lungs hurt, my legs hurt, my hands were cold and I was tired and hungry but it was still fun in a kick me in the junk sort of way.

The good news is that, with the holidays and binge eating approaching, I'm back into a somewhat healthy regimen so maybe I won't have to let my belt out a couple of notchescome New Years. Now, I just have to find the time to peruse blogs again. The other day, I had a few minutes to surf and I realize that it had been well over a week since I had checked ANY blogs. Sacrilege I tell you!

DZ is my hero

I can't help but think that if DZ and I ever met (and he somehow knew that I existed) that we would be best of buds based on his apparent twisted sense of humor.

Oh, and apparently we currently have the same hair style...

Just Call Me Ole Frosty

Like I said in yesterday's post, I finally got to go for a ride this past weekend. Typically I would have considered 1 hour on the road at a mellow pace pretty much a non-ride but since I hadn't ridden in close to two months it was just what my body and mind needed. The plan for the day was simple, I had to build walls for the house at my parents' place so I would head out early and ride as far as I could until Marcy caught me (in the car) and then I would ride the rest of the way with her. I was bummed to not be doing the whole ride but with the amount of time required (4-ish hours) my total lack of conditioning and the frigid temps (about 8 degrees) anything more than 1-2 hours would have been sure death for me.

The ride was nice but uneventful. As I mentioned, it was frickin-a cold but I was prepared with plenty of layers (man do I have the layer thing down pat, 8 degrees and I was warm but I wasn't bulky). It was a clear, bright morning and I was enjoying the ME time. As I expected, the legs and lungs weren't super strong so I took it easy but hot damn was it nice. After about 30 minutes I began to realize that I was accumulating a bit of frost on the porn stache so I stopped, pulled out the phone and shot this pic.

This picture right here is a pretty good reason to shave that son-of-a-bitch.

Shortly after, as I was riding through "Maine's Prettiest Village" past a cemetary with a white picket fence, I noticed the cool pattern the early morning light was making on the pavement so I turned around pulled out my phone again and got this disappointing picture.

I swear, in my mind the pic was much better than this.

Anyway, after about an hour, Marcy caught me and we were off to our next adventures (me framing, Marcy braving christmas shopping crowds and B hanging with my mom).

It's funny that in my head I thought I was handling all this non-riding pretty well and keeping my shit together but when Marcy picked me up to continue our journey she informed me that I need to ride more because I'm not fun to be around otherwise. Hmmm, my master plan is working.

I Rode My Bike This Weekend

News at 11.

I Give Up

Ok, that's it. I give up, no more riding for me. It seems that no matter what I do recently that something will come up and thwart my efforts to ride my bike. Take Saturday for example. I was to go to my parents in the afternoon to build walls for the house so my plan was to ride there, a solid 3 1/2-4 hour ride. (Lets forget for a moment how stupid it would be to do a ride of that duration when you've ridden a grand total of 4 hours in the last two months.) I felt less guilty/anxious about not riding during the week because I knew I had that kick ass ride to look forward to. Well, when the day came, I woke up feeling like shit but didn't want that to stop me so I slowly got ready, put my 18 layers of clothes on (it was hovering just below freezing) and headed outside. Once outside I realized how shitty I really felt and promptly turned around and changed again knowing that if I did ride I'd probably regret it. Sunday was out for sure for riding because of house stuff that was planned so I'm adding one more week to the NO RIDE board.

As a result of this no ride nonsense, while on my morning walk/jog with the pooch I decided to make the most out of that effort and start to push the duration and pace a bit more. I have to get the dog out anyway so I might as well add 10-15 minutes to the deal and get a better workout for myself. Chance won't mind either I'm sure. I won't be trading my riding shoes for running shoes anytime soon but I REALLY need to get some freaking exercise. Thankfully for me, I'm naturally a fairly slim guy so I haven't developed a gut or man breasts yet but my fitness is certainly in the crapper.

Once we finally move from my office apartment to the winter caretaking gig things will certainly get better since I'll be able to commute the 5 miles at least a few times a week and after what I've had for riding recently, I'll take it.

I realized this weekend that in all of the house/work related nonsense recently that I failed to get my Ergon proposal in. Thankfully I still have 4 days to do so and still have a chance for 2009. So Jeff, if you're reading, the app. is in the mail! :)

Gleasner Speaks

Sometime, during the summer, I yammered on and on about how a guy I've ridden with a couple of times was doing the Tour Divide race. Well, he did it, survived and was recently interviewed by a local news magazine. Here is the vid (hope it works).

Ok, doesn't look like it's working. Click HERE instead.

Tag, I'm it

I just spied over on Looney-Tunes blog that I have been tagged to list six random things about myself and pass the favor on to another six lucky souls.

1. I'm a redneck by birth, lived on a farm, hunted deer, threw cow poop, dad raced a stockcar etc but am desperately trying to break the habit.

2. My former nickname and current e-mail and mtbr handle, chiddong, came from a couple of guys in highschool who watched one of their parents' home pornos (shudder) and the name "chiddong" was used. Because they were swell guys it became my nickname. I couldn't shake it so I embraced it instead.

3. I played football and ran spring track in highschool and was pretty good at both. I tried to play basketball and baseball too but apparently I suck at those.

4. I was heavy into bodybuilding in college. I weighed 30 lbs more than then and (most of the time) had a lower body fat percentage than now.

5. I never flew in a plane until, I think it was, '97 (making me 23 at the time) and on that very first trip I missed a connector flight and had to sleep in (as in on a bench) of the Newark airport because every hotel in the city was booked. I'm suprised I ever flew again.

6. I'm an undercover agent for the IRS and am trying to find where all these "poor" bike racers hid their fortunes.

Ok, so the hard part is over. Now the question is, who to subject next.

Wheels
ThomP
Groover
Freye
Pete
Jeff W.

Sorry if any of you have been tagged already.

I almost rode yesterday

I know it sounds silly to be giddy about almost riding yesterday but it was the closest I've come to fun on two wheels in almost a month. After busting serious ass on the house recently, I decided to work Sunday morning and then take the afternoon off so I could get a ride in. Well, the morning work went a bit long and by the time I got back I was so tired that the couch and football were calling much too loudly. After some pigskin and a quick nap I at least felt good enough to do a mini cyclocore workout so as not to feel too guilty (too late!). Maybe next time I'll come even closer to riding.