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.