While Visions of Radiant Tubing Dance in His Head

A sure fire way to tell that I'm stressed is when the day's trials creep in and disrupt my sleep. I've always been a sleepwalker of sorts. I don't usually wander around the house at night but I do occasionally do weird shit (usually in the bedroom) in the middle of the night while I slowly come out of my dream state. Sometimes I figure it out on my own, sometimes Marcy snarls at me through gritted teeth to get back in bed. On a side note, never, ever wake your wife in the middle of the night. Not for anything. I don't care if the house is on fire, if you want to survive the ordeal, I suggest you carefully wrap her in a blanket and carry her out Fabio style.

Anyway, I used to have my sleepwalking episodes much more often, like the time when I was a kid that my mother awoke one night to me peeing right next to her head. Or about 10 years ago when Marcy awoke to me crawling around on the floor, from window to window, searching for the person who was shooting at us.

Anyway, back to the story. Super stress seems to make me sleepwalk and yesterday was one of those days. I was frantically preparing for a client meeting to happen today and that, in and of itself, would typically be enough but I had the added "fun" of needing to prep the first floor radiant tubing for today's concrete pour. Before encasing radiant tubing it's important to pressure test it for leaks because no-one wants to cut into a concrete slab to find a pinhole leak. I had borrowed the fittings and tools that I needed to do the job. Unfortunately, once to the house I realized that the crimper that I had been given was the wrong size. Several frantic phone calls later I was able to find another to borrow from another mechanical contractor (it pays to run in those circles I guess) and was able to get the job done just as it was getting to dark to work.

Apparently, I took that stress with me to bed because on several occasions last night I awoke to find myself checking the tubing. Another side note here, how great of a pick up line would that be? "Hey baby, how would you like to come back to my place and pressure test my tubing?" That's a double slap, guaranteed. I may try it this weekend and find out.

Getting My Act Together

If you've been reading the blog for long (and judging by the numbers, if you have been, you won't be here much longer!) you know that this has been a tough winter for me. Work is super busy (which is awesome) and we're currently building our dream house (which is even more awesome-er, maybe even the awesomest) so it's left little time for keeping my other shit together. Ride time has been slack but by being creative and not bailing on any rides, I've been able to keep some reasonable weekly hours for the off season (4-8). Where I've really fallen off is in my diet. When time is tight, it can be hard to eat the right thing and when you're stressed (at least when I'm stressed) I tend to eat crap and drink much. I've slowly been weening myself off the sauce and trying to make small changes in the diet to get back on track.

One sure fire way for me to control my eating is to eat lots of bean based foods. The above "soup" is an example of what I enjoy. Yesterday morning, while waiting for B to wake up, I literally threw this together (basically three types of beans, spinach, peas, canned tomatoes, couple cloves of garlic, some beef broth and some various seasonings ). It's healthy, tasty and most importantly, keep my ravenous gut satiated. By my calculations there is roughly 10g protein, 20g carbs, 15mg sodium and about 15000 grams of fiber per serving. Lets just say, this soup keeps things REGULAR. Nuff said.

Speaking of keeping things regular and getting my shit together (pun alert!) I've started carrying this calendar around with me everywhere in the hopes that I'll finally get my season training planned out.

It hasn't happened yet but with the help of LW Coaching and Road Bike Rider . com, I'll soon be getting my workouts together (loosely at least) for the season. LW's "Time Crunched Expert" plan worked pretty well for me last year so I'm hoping to build on that this year.

Get the Funk Out

maybe I should change my blog name to "The Sandy Chamois"

my taint trembles looking at this.

Another week gone and I'm still trying to find some balance in my life. I have been able to squeeze in some respectable hours (for me) recently, cramming in rides ranging from :30 - 1:30 whenever I can and trying to up the tempo a bit so that the legs know whats what when I start doing "real" training rides instead of the "junk" miles I've been working on so far. To be honest, while my riding has been junk as far as training goes, they have been serving a real purpose; keeping me sane. With our house move-in date quickly approaching, I find myself with precious few moments to myself to unwind and as the week progress' I get closer and closer to climbing up the nearest bell tower with a high powered rifle. Quick jaunts on the road bike (that's right, I've transitioned from the el mariachi on the road) are all that's keeping me from ascending those stairs.

The Ergon pack carries baby toys too.

Last week, I finally took a look at this years' Maine Mountain Bike race schedule. Unfortunately, it looks like several races have dropped off the calendar. I'm bummed but not surprised to see it happen considering the dwindling numbers in recent years. The one bright side, for me at least, is that there is only one spring race in the schedule and then the rest picking up in July. That should give me time to get my arse in gear for a late season comeback.

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.