Night Terror

It wasn't really night terror, but last night, I woke up in the middle of the night, a few hours after going to bed with thoughts of what wouldn't work at Rise & Shine. The list was relatively short, just the loose ends that I don't have complete answers to yet. Nothing major, nothing that will keep me from opening the doors on Friday, but enough to make me lose sleep.

The shop is really coming together nicely. I know what I am doing, I have put out some good food and coffee drinks, although I need to work on my cappuccino skills still.

Sarah and her mom were in the shop today helping put the final touches on the place. The window seat looks complete with a cushion and some throw pillows.


Deb is really good at picking out colors and fabrics.


The curtains at the back counter will do a really good job of keeping things dressed up and hiding overstock of cups and such.


There are a couple panels left to be hemmed and hung, but putting the fabric up on the walls behind the counter will make a world of difference.


I'd love to pretend that serious life changes don't happen until I am open for business Friday and then every day after that . . . every . . . single . . . day . . . but the changes happened the day I committed to opening the shop. Let the adventure continue!

In Your Spare Time

I'd recommend not taking on this activity . . . switching a Rancilio MD50-AT to manual function. My shop grinder (purchased for a whopping $100 on Craigslist) had an automatic feature where there was a main power switch, a start button and micro switches that started the motor upon four pulls of the doser lever and shut off when the entire hopper was full, two pounds of beans later. It no longer functions that way. Now there is an on/off switch, end of story. Why would I do such a thing? It is a pain when you don't want a hopper full of grounds, which you really never do. It was also a pain when the motor would unexpectedly kick on, at 450 watts, it is a torquey bastard and pivots the entire grinder.

So how do you make the top wiring diagram look like the bottom one?


The answer is patiently follow wires around and start dissecting.


That's what the wiring looked like to start with. I had to pull the switches out of the grinder body and label everything so I'd know how to put it back to the original function if necessary.


This relay does stuff that I don't really understand, but I followed wires around and figured out what wasn't needed.


Half the wires in the grinder are no longer connected to anything. I wish there was something useful to do with them, but I am not that smart.


The jumbled mass of wire got stuffed back in and the bottom cover screwed back in place. The other rearranging I did was to put the on/off switch on the right hand side so you can use the same hand you use to pull the doser lever to switch the grinder on and off. It only made sense that you'd hold the portafilter in your left hand and not juggle it around. I think that counted as work, I shouldn't spend so much time working . . .

Sleep . . .

. . . it is a beautiful thing. I went to bed last night at 8:35, pushing aside all work related things that could possibly be done to try and get caught up on good, old fashioned sleep. In all the running around to get things ready lately, I feel like I have been burning the candle at both ends. I slept in until 7:00, laugh as you might, soon, I will be back on the wake up at 5:00 AM program which is going to hurt for a while.

Preparations are coming along at Rise & Shine. I have some more kitchen utensils that were needed since everything there was pizza specific. I have signage on order and on the way so in the near future, passing by, people will be able to tell that the shop is there. Over the past week, I have played the roll of painter, junior trim carpenter, hack plumber, cash register programming specialist. I am really looking forward to the day when the majority of my activity is devoted to running the cafe/biscuit kitchen as opposed to everything involved in setting it up.


I have some much needed incentive to stay on top of training. Above is the Blue AC1SL, the team ride for next year. We have a whole bunch of new sponsors lined up for this coming year and some new additions to the team. I hope I can hold up my end of the "being fast" bargain!

Variable Conditions

They got snow last night and one by one the lifts and trails are opening.

Snowing in the hills, but our fearless captain is keeping it full speed ahead.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T Seth Rubin

Where Does the Time Go?

It seems like days go by between my blog postings. I haven't had such long periods of time away from the computer for a while. I have more distractions on the way since I will have other blog responsibilities in the near future. More to come on that.

Today, I made it down to Mike's house for testing to set what will hopefully be the low bar for the winter fitness. I was just about where I expected I'd be with the exception being my weight. For anybody looking to lose weight, I recommend starting your own company and taking on most of the tasks on your own. One of this week's activities, besides running down pricing, putting the finishing touches on the shop, and all of the other items to be taken care of, was to get the chalkboards ready for menus.


Why yes, that is my kitchen . . . The weather has been so cold that I really couldn't paint anywhere else, but inside the house proper. The garage was way too cold and the basement wasn't too much better. I opted for the brush/roll on chalkboard paint this time which made painting inside an option. The two boards will be mounted horizontally and somebody else is doing the writing since even my typing is barely legible.

Let's go back to the "how cold was it?" question . . . it was so cold that the supply and drain lines to my espresso machine inside the house (in the unheated back room) froze overnight. Fortunately I heard the pump struggling first thing this morning and took the heat gun to the tubing. It was -9 according to the internet this morning. I took Dempsey out for a walk and ended up running to stay warm. I'm over this whole winter thing.

Brrr

With all the action over at Rise & Shine it has been a bit of a struggle to keep up with riding bikes and training. Add to that an arctic blast and a layer of snow and motivation is once again challenged. I am still in pretty decent shape, but I can tell when it comes to the intervals on the trainer that I am a level below where I have been in the past, even for this time of year. I am determined to try to find that motivation and get back to how the workouts should feel. Good thing I had the hardest indoor workout on the menu today. I got it going and just ignored as much of everything else possible, taking advantage of the steady action of Premier League Football. The workout is done and I will feel it for sure tomorrow.

Now that I have that part of the day out of the way, I'm going to head over to the shop and get in my barista workout and practice making some biscuits. Pictures to follow probably on the . . . ehem, cough, sputter, choke . . . Facebook page . . .

Licensed

It is official, I have a legal "Retail Food Standup" establishment, licensed and everything. I'm surprised the license doesn't give me special powers given how many hoops there are to jump through. The question that struck me as I was leaving the Wally E. Webb Building was why the city cares if I have a lease agreement for getting the license. They don't check for it come renewal time, they just take my money. I was very, very tempted to take a picture of the people waiting for service and the counter devoid of any city staff. I am not sure where they go, but they don't seem to have any sense of urgency for getting the job done. They are all easily replaced by a little thing called the internet . . . hop to!

I spent some quality time at Rise & Shine with Craig and Jason from Pablo's getting some more Barista 101 and making sure my Fetco brewer actually worked. Good news it that it works and it is now calibrated to the brew profiles that they have found best suit their coffees. It was a very sad moment when I had to empty the 1.5 gallons of coffee into the sink since even I can't drink that much on my own.

The shop is really starting to come together nicely. I did a little more touch up work on the paint job. There will be spots that I find later on down the road that will never get fixed, but I'm doing my best to make it look perfect.


The comfy corner should be a popular spot for those choosing to enjoy their beverage in house. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the colors selected and the general layout. I am curious to see what it will look like with people passing through.


This space feels somewhat empty right now, but I have to keep reminding myself that once you put a person in the window seat and traffic by the espresso machine for drink pickup, it will be pretty full.


Speaking of espresso, here's the Rancilio in its new home. It got the seal of approval from Jason who verified that despite its lack of bells and whistles, it can hold its own. I have to do some grinder modification because the automatic function on the MD-50AT is a bit of a pain. I looked up the wiring diagrams and figured out what all can be bypassed to make it function like the manual version. I'd prefer to grind what I need and turn off the grinder as opposed to having it run until the doser's hopper is full and then turning on again every four pulls of the dosing lever.


I need to do some clean up and debadge the Fetco thermal pots. I will not be serving decaf drip coffee. If somebody wants it, I'll be perfectly happy to make a decaf espresso drink, but I'm not even going to make provision for that until later. It would require dedicating a grinder to the stuff. I get to play junior plumber and add a sink next to the hand wash sink since you can't wash things in a hand wash sink without making the health inspector really mad. There will also be a grinder next to the brewer to grind the 8 oz. of coffee required for a full batch.


I went to "shop" the competition a little bit to get an idea of what people are willing to pay. Pulling in $4.25 for a coffee and milk drink with some flavors seems crazy. My menu won't be anywhere near as extensive, I will just offer the normal and sane coffee drinks. If people demand fluff, I will cave, but the demands must be significant. I have some sort of standards . . .

You Win Some . . .

Today was the first round of inspections for my "Retail Food Standup" license over at the shop. I passed the health inspection since there was very little to see other than an existing, licensed commercial kitchen. I failed the fire department inspection for small issues that will be remedied within the week so I should be able to reinspect on that one and get the public safety inspection before the end of the week. With any luck, I will have my license by the end of the week as well. That will take one of a million tasks off the list prior to opening. Amazing how many people have their hand out when it comes to getting a business started. The city gets their cut numerous times as does the state . . . when am I gonna get whats mine's!?

Thanksgiving is done and gone, but the leftovers are still aplenty. If you take a look at the tweet from Rise & Shine, you'll find the first go at the Thanksgiving leftover biscuit. It was good for the few seconds it lasted. Steve was kind enough to pass on a recipe for turkey soup which fit exactly what I was looking for with ingredient #1 being "1 picked over turkey carcass" and boy did I ever have one of those. The dumplings weren't exactly what I was expecting and if I were to make the soup again, I'd probably revert to the tried and true dumpling recipe I have used in the past. I would still add the parsley since it complemented the soup nicely.

I was able to extract the wishbone from the turkey carcass before putting bones to water for soup. What is the ruling on this wishbone pull, who wins?


I will use a few more of the leftovers for some turkey fried rice and the perennial favorite "stuffing and cranberries on a spoon" but after that, I'm really never eating again.

I got home from working today to find a couple escape artists had gotten free so I hauled the solid dog jail out of the basement. Ellie has been breaking through the soft sided crate that Dempsey chewed up long ago.


Pretty cute for a bunch of hooligans. Dempsey has to take a short break from his usual running and frolicking since he has a boo-boo on his foot from playing too vigorously this morning. He really, truly has a rough life.

No, Seriously . . . I Mean It!

I have a great list of valid excuses for not keeping up with blog posting. I give you the first one . . .


I hit my head a little while back, leave me alone, my brain needs to heal. Not really, as you can see my helmet did its job and protected what little functioning brain I actually have. In all seriousness, I have been meaning to get a few more pictures up. Going back in time, I was in NZ and have photo evidence.


This was yet another look from the team car in the caravan. At this point in the race, Mike Olheiser was up the road with the rest of the leaders and on his way to taking the stage win on Stage 8. Mike has had a pretty spectacular season, what a great way to cap it off.


And of course, when you win stages, you have other duties like signing autographs. It was really cool to see how the Tour of Southland impacted the communities it passed through. Everybody was out on the road to watch the race go past. In most towns any school we passed had a gaggle of children out front, cheering the riders on.


I did make it to the beach in California while hanging out with Pinkerton. It was a slightly overcast day so there was no swimming in the ocean. Laguna Beach is a cool little beach town with all sorts of shops, restaurants, and whatnot with great people watching. It also has the steepest one block hill on the planet.


I tried to track down some topographic info for this one, but had no luck getting good numbers. I am going to go out on a limb and say this was at least 25% grade for the one block. Meanwhile, back at home . . .


Here's a shot that shows the painting at Rise and Shine in progress. The palate is distinctly different from what Basil Doc's was. I told Mike that there was no additional charge for selecting a very basil-like set of colors. We did all the paining, including the light fixtures that were forest green and hanging down a little far from the ceiling. Before:


After . . . well, one of the fixtures was in place for this shot. I picked up some 12" downrods as opposed to the 24" that were there originally and rattle-canned everything a nice aluminum tone. I don't have the best skills when it comes to spray painting things, but I got the job done and the lights are much less obtrusive now.


All of the time spent at the shop has cut into getting things done at home. I did get the panels back on the Astoria which will remain the "home" espresso machine for now. I am going to list it for sale in the hopes of picking up a single group machine that I could use as a backup for the shop. It might be more useful if I had a machine that I could actually pick up and bring to the shop if needed. Any takers?


The powder coating worked very nicely for both machines. The Rancilio Z11 can be seen at Rise and Shine, starting January 1, 2010. I am in the process of getting the final details taken care of, the little things like restaurant license inspections, sales tax licenses, and whatever else comes up. It will be nice to open for business and get to a point where my schedule becomes somewhat regular. It has been quite the adventure so far and thanks to Melissa at Studio Harris, there is now a look to this whole thing . . .


I spent part of the day wandering the Crestmoor and Hilltop neighborhoods by the shop. There are plenty of potential customers within walking distance, it will be my job to capture that potental otherwise Dempsey might have more meals like this:


With the 70 degree temperatures yesterday afternoon, he decided a snocone, minus cone, plus grass sounded like a good treat. The dog continues to amuse me with his antics. Hopefully he will put up with the new schedule which will mean walks at 5:00 AM. Hopefully I will too!

Slacking . . .

. . . but not really, just on the blog front. I had a few days in NZ post race and made the most of my relaxing time which was a good thing since life seems to be non-stop now. Mike and I hung out on Monday after the race at Sue and John's house out in the country. Everybody we met through the race was great, it was a pleasure getting to know some people who put a good chunk of time, money and effort into bike racing. It is nice to have some people to stay in touch with in case they come here or I go back there.

After a long flight of trying to sleep and half watching movies, I landed in LA where I was met by Pinkerton, now a resident of the OC. I got in a few more days of relaxation with some work mixed in. I hadn't seen Pinkerton since he moved and it was good to catch up. I got the tour of the area which looks to be strip mall hell for miles, but there also looks to be some good riding. We hit the beach for part of a day and I have pictures, but have to find my camera/cord so I can get everything posted.

When I got home, it was straight to work at the shop, getting things ready for opening day. Deb, Sarah and I did some quality work last weekend getting started on painting. I have some good before and after shots to put up, but when it comes to picking paint colors, it is almost like Deb missed her calling . . . my sister is talented. We got very positive feedback from everybody who saw the work in progress. I still have to finish some touch up and paint the ceiling, but it is all coming together nicely. The space should be nice and cozy once it is furnished and decorated. It is very exciting and a little daunting to have complete control of a business. In the past, my work experience has involved a lot of looking at the clock, wondering why it is still only 9:05 and starting the countdown to quittin' time. Now there is plenty to be done and I find myself wishing there were more hours in the day. We'll see what I think a few weeks into actual operation, having some 5:30 AM - 2:00 PM and then some, 7 days a week under my belt.

I'll try and get back to the regular updates . . . so much to tell, so little time to use my words . . .

Stage 9 - Invercargill

Everybody made it to the end of the race, safely and without major incident. The winds picked up the closer we got to Invercargill and the race shattered as soon as we turned into the crosswind. Mike made the front group as usual and stayed out of trouble towards the end. Some guys ahead of Mike on the GC missed the split so he moved up a few more places to finish 11th overall. Aside from the downside of not being able to race, it was cool to watch the team as the guys quickly adapted to the riding style and wind down here. We often had everybody in the mix in the front groups where the racing was going on as opposed to the back of the race where everybody was in survival mode.

There was a big awards ceremony at the rec center attached to the velodrome, all facilities paid for by the Invercargill Licensing Trust which essentially taxes all alcohol, restaurants, etc. and dumps money back into the community. My biggest question was how many drinks did it take to build the velodrome . . . anyone?

Stage 8 - Lumsden

Slacking on the photo updates, but Mike won the stage after putting himself in the right place at the right time. He made it into an unlikely to succeed break containing mostly top 10 GC guys. Both he and Stefan were in the split and had to do their fair share of work to establish the gap and stay away. Great result for Mike and really icing on the cake for an incredible season.

Stage 7 - Te Anau

Riders keep melting away in the climbs and crosswinds. All four of our guys stayed in the first chase group in the stage, finishing 20, 21, 22, 23 on the day. One of the race favorites blogged about not doing well because of lactic acid build up . . . well, that's what happens. He went backwards on the climb and fell down to forty-something overall.

Te Anau is a lovely little backpacker outpost. I took a run along the shore of the lake after the stage was done to stretch the legs out. I seem to be healing up quickly, but my shoulders are still really sore post crash.

Tomorrow is the last day of racing with two stages taking us back to Invercargill for the finish. More to follow . . .

Real Quick

I put a few more pictures up on the album for the trip, check it out here. The last few look somewhat repetitive . . . seam them together if you want the 360 degree view from the top.

Stage 6 - Crown Range

Today was some what more relaxed in the caravan with a distinct lack of crosswinds. The stage was generally uphill with a good number of rollers and little climbs on the way to the final climbs of the day. We tried to get a couple guys up the road, but nothing doing. There was a strong break up the road all day that stayed away to the finish, but the guys did a great job staying out of trouble and getting up the hill better than those whose strength is riding in the gutter, in the wind, on the flats.

A few quick pictures before bed . . . getting to the top.


The view from the top . . .


The weather took a turn for the worse as soon as we got close to Invercargill.


The good news is that Mike has moved himself up into 15th on GC after his 7th place finish today.

Stages 4/5

Today was windy, no two ways about it. The first of the two stages started out in town and had the requisite sprints within the first 5k. As soon as the race got out of town, the wind started splitting the field. Over the course of the stage, things came back together a number of times. The view from the van was interesting at times, but at other times we were so far back in the caravan that we couldn't see much of what was going on. Most of the main field came back together to finish just off the back of a group of four, by 32 seconds. Post stage, it was time for quick recovery since there was about a two hour turn around time.

The second stage of the day had some hideous winds with crosswinds that really split the field quickly. A group of the main GC contenders got off the front in the first windy section and built a lead quickly. The second group on the road never made up much time on the leaders and really lost time in the last 20k when they stopped working. That enabled the third group (including Greg and celebrity rider, Floyd Landis) to catch back on. There was definitely a shake up in the GC, check it out online.

I have some pictures, but I'll wait until later to dump them . . .

Stage 3 - Gore

Today was actually a perfect day for racing bikes. The sun was shining and the breeze wasn't anywhere near what it was yesterday. I got a shot of Kevin's wheels from yesterday and he was lucky to have escaped with the minimal scrapes he had.


But everybody got off to a good start from the velodrome this morning. There is a trust that taxes all liquor sales in Invercargill and the proceeds have to go back into the community which results in projects like the velodrome, the olympic sized pool, and some other great facilities that you would not expect in a small town at the bottom of the world.


There was another hectic spin through town with some early sprints that got things going. We only say one guy fly off the bike on his own without taking anybody else out. It seems silly to go that nuts when you have 165 km to race. The view from the van was somewhat limited but on occasion you could see more of the race than the van in front of you.


I did get the opportunity to take some other pictures of scenery and whatnot. You can check out the photo dump here. It really was pretty riding through the country side on the way to/past/back to Gore.


The hills really remind me of what we saw in Austria, minus the Alps in the background. There are some mountains we will head towards in a couple days that are more rugged than rolling. Obviously there are sheep all over the place, but there are a lot of cattle, horses, and other. The most impressive sight is the massive hedges that are planted along property lines and other spots for a wind break. There are the usual Lombardy Poplars that you see at home and there are evergreen trees that get cut so aggressively that they form a dense hedge that would block even the stiffest wind.

On the racing front, everybody got in on the action today. Mike went for the early move about 24 km in, but unfortunately nobody wanted to play. There was a break of four that stayed away for a good portion of the race, but in the last 20 km, they were brought back. Kevin and Stefan gave it a go in the last part of the race, but again, nobody really wanted to let things get away. In the end, a group of 5 did slip off the front with 4 of they staying away until the end. Mike moved up a spot overall (assuming they correct the results) into 20th.


A random parting shot . . . that was the turbo egg beater we made the final hop on, the one that didn't have enough room for all of the bikes that were supposed to come with us. Tomorrow is another double stage, reports to follow.

Stage 2 - Bluff Hill

It was windy as a mofo this afternoon, even more so than this morning. We headed through town on a ceremonial, parade tour past all of the cheering school children. After a quick pause at the end of the neutral section, we got going full bore as guys went after the early sprint points. There was an early crash that I worked my way around and then a few kilometers where guys were trying to shake it loose in the crosswind. The first few efforts didn't really feel so good, but I stayed tucked away as best as possible, switching to the second echelon when necessary to get back in to the group.

Robert was doing his best imitation of onboard navigation, telling us how far out turns were and what to expect. A group of three got off the front fairly early on and were followed by a group of four. I got to the front of the race to stay out of trouble and decided to put in an effort to bridge to the group of four. I spent some time in no man's land before deciding that braving it in the wind alone so early on wasn't the best idea. We made it through one of the many, short crosswind sections and made the turn to a stretch with the wind at our back. I was sitting pretty much smack in the middle of the group when somebody up front stacked it up. Apparently he hit a bump on a bridge and lost control. Everybody else around locked it up, some guys blew tires, and lots of guys fell down in front of me. I thought I was going to be able to stop, but there were enough guys falling just in front of me that I hit the stack, went over the bars, hit pavement pretty much face first.

Given the circumstance, it could have been far worse. I knew as I hit that my nose was not going to be in good shape. I felt the snap and knew the blood was flowing. I was surprised that I hadn't scraped my face on the cheese grater, chip seal surface. I hit the ground and did my best turtle impression as guys and bikes piled on top of me. I got up, spit out some blood and radioed the team car. I got back to the car, switched to the spare bike and rode to the ambulance to see if the race doctor wanted to say anything.

The race was neutralized because of the sheer numbers of guys involved in the crash. Almost half the field was up the road, with half stuck at the crash scene. We rode back up to the rest of the race. The combination of my crash and the increasing wind speed (up to 85kph/52mph gusts) really didn't inspire any semblance of confidence. If you can't hold a wheel and ride in the gutter at sub race pace, you are going to have issues at speed. Under conditions with lesser winds, I probably would have been fine riding. I would have lost time for sure, but I would have been able to race another day. Unfortunately my race was done.

My teammates did well staying out of trouble for the most part. Mike and Stefan hit the climb with the main chase group, Greg got caught out in the wind on one of the more aggressive sections that split the remaining field. Kevin had bike issues after the crash and couldn't get into his biggest gears to keep up speed in the tailwind sections. Mike was our top finisher at 20th place, but with plenty of racing to go, everybody is still in it. Tomorrow is one of the long stages, I'll be in the team car helping out.

Stage 1 - TTT

After a beautiful morning with sunshine and all, the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in just in time for the start of the team time trial. Not a bad effort for a bunch of guys who have never ridden together. We had a couple surges and mishaps. I made a mess of one of the corners and spit myself out the back and just pedaled in. After 15 teams, we are sitting in 7th place. The weather keeps changing and winds shifting so who know how the final results will shape up.

Cord

I pulled the cord out of the bag to put some pictures to the words. Yes, it did snow in Denver, a lot.


It wasn't snowing in LA at all, shocker. Greg and I took advantage of our free time at the airport and stood in a sunny parking lot before heading to our terminal to wait some more.


We have some luxury accommodations in Invercargill and it turns out that one of the sponsors has a restaurant that is providing food on a daily basis. It really isn't too rough.


Everybody was on a bike today and we rode to Bluff to check out the hill at the end of stage two. The profile online really doesn't do the climb justice. I forgot that I had an 11-23 on the wheels I was riding which made the hill more of a crusher. I'm looking forward to doing it with the correct gearing instead. I will be losing time, I can guarantee that, but my teammates should be in good shape if we can get them to the bottom of the hill safely after the 2,000 intermediate sprints.


This morning was not very windy at all as we headed out of town and south towards the town of Bluff. Apparently the southernmost McDonalds in the world is in Bluff, we didn't go check it out though.


This is the view from the top of the hill in Bluff. We start at pretty much dead sea level and head up to a bunch of feet above sea level (I think it is approx. 970'). We rode back to Invercargill and did a quick lap of the TTT course before getting back to the hotel for lunch. I'll have a full report when we get to racing tomorrow.

Bike Location

The latest word is that our bikes got put on a plane to Dunedin. From there they are being trucked to Invercargill. Unfortunately the airport is closing for the day and the truck is dropping them there. Apparently the owner of our motel knows truck drivers and is trying to intercept . . .

In the meantime, we are trying on the new clothing. There is one clothing manufacturer in New Zealand, Ultimo. It seems to fit decently and the kit looks pretty sharp. There are tour sponsored shorts that we are supposed to wear unless they don't fit and we get a medical exemption. I'll start taking pictures at some point, but for right now, I am too lazy to get the cord for the phone to download them.

Whoa

News flash . . . it is Saturday in NZ. I'd wear my Halloween costume, but it is in my bike bag.

Another Country

I added a new stamp to the passport and I'm pretty sure the toilets flush backwards, but I haven't checked.

Everybody is in Invercargill but we don't have bikes because a) Stefan's bike didn't make the connection from Austin to LAX b) the plane from Christchurch was too small to fit all the bikes that were supposed to come along. Supposedly they will show up later this afternoon. We have today and tomorrow to get adjusted and stuff. Tonight, we are going out with the kind folks from Jackson Plumbing for some welcome to town drinks.

With one internet connection between six of us, I'll be able to get on every once in a while for updates if I have the energy. Now where is that bike . . .

Step 2

We actually made it out of Denver after an hour and change of sitting, de-icing, etc. LA is much warmer and sunnier. We are waiting on the rest of the teammates, but we aren't sure if Kevin made out or not. Once we get on the next flight, we are trapped for the next 13 hours. Thank goodness for exit row seating, hope for good in flight entertainment.

Step 1

We made away from the house and to the airport with minimal hassle despite the snow. The bikes were checked and we got gouged by United as expected, but there will be some protest on that one since their code share partner Air New Zealand doesn't charge. The ticket agent told us we couldn't walk the bags to the TSA, but the sky cap walked us down and the bag inspectors were quite friendly and scanned the bags without opening them ... bonanza! That's half the battle I reckon we'll see what the bags look like after a full day of travel.

Stupid Snow

The delays have started at DIA and the flight we were originally on just got canceled. Fortunately we moved to an earlier flight to give ourselves more options for getting out. Unfortunately we didn't go for the 8:00 option, giving us more outs.

Yup . . .

I'm pretty sure I am all packed and ready to go on the New Zealand adventure. Hopefully changing to an earlier flight will help us avoid any issues getting to LA and connecting to our Air New Zealand itinerary. With any luck, my over stuffed bike case won't be destroyed in the process of getting most of the way around the world, but it is airline service we are talking about. For sure, the weather at the bottom of the world is better than it is in Denver right now. I'm off, I might be able to blog from the airport and maybe even from NZ. If not, just remember I will be watching toilets flush backwards. Think about it . . .

Shiny

The coffee equipment is all starting to come together nicely. Nothing like a giant stack of pizza boxes to dwarf some sizable equipment. I can't wait to get back to town after racing and start getting things all set up, but having the ability to brew 22 1.5 gallon batches of coffee an hour is astounding.


I got the panels back from the powder coater yesterday as well and got a chance to finish cleaning the Rancilio before putting it all back together.


This picture really doesn't do any justice, but the red came out very nice and the machine looks sharp and ready for work. There are a couple parts and pieces I will need to track down eventually and it will be important to have a parts kit ready just in case once I am open for business.


I have gotten used to the electronic dosing controls on the machine and I have to say it makes it easier to dial in the grind when changing beans or adjusting for weather conditions (it has to be done, I swear). I am heading over to the shop tomorrow to meet with the roaster I selected for my coffee. They have plenty of experience setting up and operating coffee shops so I want to get their input on equipment placement before getting an electrician in to wire everything. That just about puts a wrap on the business side of things for now. I get to focus on racing for the next week and change, followed by some time on the beach doing nothing. Then it is back to work for real.

Delivered

I got a call this morning from Midwest Motor Express at about 8:00 saying my freight would be delivered between 10:00 and 11:30 so I headed over to the location. I spent a little while taking more measurements and figuring out what fittings I would need for the water filtration system. When the clock turned 10:01, I heard a truck out front. I was shocked that the freight company hit the first part of the delivery window as opposed to the last five minutes.

The used coffee brewer seems to have arrived without damage. There are some signs of wear and tear from it's previous life, but nothing too terrible. There are plenty of ways to cover up some of the superficial stuff and brand the machine with the Rise & Shine logo when it is done. I put in a call to a graphic designer I worked with ages and careers ago to see if she would be interested in helping me out. Melissa at Studio Harris does great work and I have no problem giving her bits of guidance and thoughts before stepping back and letting her do her thing. I have a few other business related items I want to take care of before getting out of town, but for the next few days, I will be putting things on hold to focus on the next task at hand.

I stopped by Mike's house for a fitness test prior to heading to Tour of Southland. It will be interesting to see where my fitness is when I get done racing for six days in a row (followed by a few days sitting on the beach). I will likely be much more fit than any Novembers past. I am definitely ready to race now and I will likely be adjusting and racing into form over the first couple stages. Maybe I should start packing or something.

Estimated Schmestimated

I was diligently watching the delivery schedule on my freight shipment coming from Milwaukee. The website said the estimated delivery was Friday, October 23 and I knew my window was 7:00 - 11:00, but what I did not know was that estimated delivery doesn't mean squat in the freight world unless you pay for a guarantee on it. My waiting on Friday morning was for naught, although Mike and I did manage to move things around the shop and create some more space/openness in the cafe.

Friday was also supposed to be the delivery date on the powder coated panels, but there was an issue with one of the trim pieces so they wanted to strip and re-coat it. I suppose that's better than delivering a crappy product. I can't wait to get it back and get some pictures taken. I will likely list the Astoria for sale to see if I get any nibbles.

The time to get ready to leave town has snuck up on me somewhat. I leave for New Zealand in less than a week now and I still have to pack and pull together some last items. I think I figured how to get all of the bike stuff into a case, including two wheelsets . . . we'll see if that works out tomorrow.

Yesterday, Deb and I had the low country boil party at her house. The totals for food were relatively astounding. We had 16 lbs of shrimp, 15 lbs of potato, 18 ears of corn, and 7 lbs of sausage. It would not have been a problem if we had a few more pounds of sausage or some more corn since those disappeared pretty damn quickly. The weather held out for the party and it wasn't too windy to make use of the fire pit out back at Deb's house. In the wake of the carnage, we were only left with a couple pounds of shrimp and a good quantity of beer and good beer at that. I made use of the leftover shrimp tonight, making a shrimp and grits concoction. The grits were pretty standard cheddar grits, but the shrimp had red onion, green chili, garlic, wilted spinach and a white wine sauce. When I stop riding after Tour of Southland, it will be trouble.

I forgot to wander around with the camera during the party, but here's the shrimp waiting for their bath.


Potatoes a' plenty . . .


Seven pounds of sausage, minus a couple pieces that Dempsey safety tested for me . . .


Corn season is pretty much over, but we managed to scrounge up a few good ears . . .


I made two kinds of cornbread, cheddar and cheddar/green chili. We had to do some safety testing on those too.


What's a party without rice krispie type cereal treats?


Today the snow was back so I was relegated to other activities like couch surfing and some gutter cleaning for Melisa. I hope it is warmer in NZ, but there is a good chance it won't be.