Ride Time

I have the joy that is my monthly fitness test on the schedule for this afternoon. Especially during the winter months when I don't get to ride outside after work, it is nice to find out what exactly the trainer workouts are or are not doing. After a few months of being at pretty much the same level, I am expecting change this month. Unfortunately during the off-season, that change is usually a slide towards less power since you can only do so much on the trainer and maintain for so long. It was nice while it lasted . . . at least my fitness doesn't fall off as quickly as the stock market on a Friday.

This weekend is suppose to warm up a little bit, for Saturday at least. I'll be headed up to Boulder for another ride with the teammates, some of whom I still have not ridden with. A change of ride scenery will be much appreciated since I feel like I have been doing the same few rides outside when I get the chance.

Between home projects and working on the website stuff, my weekend should be relatively full. I was able to update some pages last night and take some steps towards being able to publicize it. I get to practice my Photoshop skills and stretch my design muscles and help craft a lasting impression for those visiting the team site. Speaking of . . . Hutchison is making some lasting impressions of his own, talk about dedication! He doesn't even own a Subaru.

I almost forgot, after finding out that Go Fish has all you can eat sushi and apps on Tuesdays for $28, we decided to give it a try on a regular night to see if the concept was even remotely less terrifying than one might think. It wasn't half bad. The service was very good, the specialty rolls were exciting and new, and I lived to tell about it the next day. I will have to go back after not eating for a week to get my money's worth. That's a wrap, let's call it a week!

The Bad and The Good

I keep hearing about layoffs in the news and figured somebody has to be keeping a tally. It turns out I was right and the total for 2009 through 1/28 is 151,352 pink slips handed out.

I have friends and acquaintances in just about every job sector out there from construction to tech to other. Nobody has warm, fuzzy feelings about job security and who can blame them? It isn't like you can leave one job and transition easily into something else. Everybody has half an eye out for themselves or somebody else on the job front. There is the notion of weathering the storm by hiding out in the academic world, but what does that really get you besides more debt at this point? Unless you know what you are doing, an MBA is essentially the newest college diploma in the sense that everybody and their third cousin has one, rendering it meaningless and just a bit to get you past the rough screen in the application process. I digress . . .

On the brighter side of things, I took a look at the race calendar for 2009 and made some reservations for out of town races. I'm all set to stay in scenic Albany, WY for the Dead Dog Classic Stage Race. I booked a luxurious cabin (not the double wide this time) at the Albany Lodge. I also reserved my room at one of the non-manky hotels in Salida, CO for the hardest omnium in the state. Last year, the start list read like a who's who of American Cycling. I am getting excited about the season, with any luck, I will do enough work on the website tonight to add a link. Here's a teaser:

Complex

Trying to start up another blog site is difficult. We should have some actual team information available to the world in the near future. Wading through the ins and outs of Blogger and Wordpress doesn't make for light reading. I thought this stuff was supposed to be brainless.

Shiny

As another cycling season approaches, we are coming close to the date when everything shows up shiny and new. This year we will be on the Ibis Silk SL again for the team bike, the only difference will be custom paint.


From first glance, I'm going to have to make the official statement . . . these things are going to look sweet. There will be some special parts and bits, above and beyond the stock bike in 2009. We should have some TRP Brakes on the way.


Red, like the picture says should fit the color scheme quite nicely. I won't go into the wheels unless there is any design change for 2009. The team wheel will be the Shimano 50mm carbon tubular. It has been a great all around wheel for the races in the hills, the plains, and crit courses.

Aerus will round out the selection for the non-stock bits. They are providing bars, stems, and seatpost in a tasty carbon finish. I can't wait until the new bike shows up and I can start training again. This time off is going to take its toll, but what's the sense of training on an 'old' bicycle . . .

That Which Does Not Kill You

Amazing what happens when you combine two relatively innocent words. Space . . . there are so many things that can be said. It can relate to the scientific, the physical, the mental and emotional. Who doesn't love a good crawl, be it a stroke in swimming or a trip from bar to bar to bar?

I spent some quality time in the crawlspace on Sunday and if I didn't contract the Hanta Virus or somehow shorten my lifespan significantly, I'll be amazed. It was dark, dusty, cramped, and the presence of crunchy, old mouse carcasses should have served as a deterrent. If they couldn't survive down there, what makes me think I could? There were two purposes to my visit to the no man's land beneath the back addition; to brace the floor so it wouldn't feel like a diving board anymore and to insulate to regulate the temperature inside the back room. I came up with a couple other tasks to be completed while I was wedged in there, helmet mounted light on, legs hanging out . . . There were some places I could see daylight. Silly mice could have walked out the way they came in, instead of up and dying. I also removed the random light bulb and can of fruit punch, unfortunately neither had a date.

You know it is bad when you feel like you have to shower after the experience, using undiluted bleach for soap. I guess I am exaggerating slightly, but when it is all said and done, I hope to never enter that space again, walking, crawling, or otherwise. The floor is now well supported and the rush of cold air is nowhere near as strong as it once was. I managed to insulate the remainder of the ceiling and walls without killing myself. I should hurry up and get to the drywalling part since I'm sure the 1/2" drywall will significantly improve the structural integrity and more importantly prevent me from finding something else I really want to fix.

I made the mistake of violating my 40 degree rule when it comes to riding. I joined the group ride down at Chatfield on Saturday morning despite the temperature. I only briefly lost feeling in fingers, it all came back eventually, but there was a stretch where I couldn't shift because I didn't have enough sensation to distinguish between the parts of the lever. After a pretty big week on the trainer, riding out in the real world didn't feel spectacular, but I knew that might be the case. This week is going to be relatively light and I have my next fitness test on Friday to see what's what and where I'm going. The ACA calendar has been released, I know what I am doing every weekend through the end of August now.

Just in Time

Now that the mid-winter burst of spring is over, it is going to get cold outside again, which means it is going to get cold in the back room again. Good thing I got started on insulating last night. With a few batts in place, it was already a little less drafty. I was quickly reminded why I hate being anywhere near fiberglass insulation. Even coming close to think about touching the stuff makes my skin itch/prickle. I had on gloves, long sleeves, etc and could still feel the biting sensations.


It is all one step closer to drywall and finishing off the space for "real" even though I know what is under the surface and it horrifies me. Speaking of under the surface, the other night, I pulled the sight glass from the Astoria as one of the other small projects on the machine.


The assembly is supposed to have a little red ball that floats and shows the water level inside the boiler. There was some crud built up on the inside of the glass preventing the ball from moving freely. I cleaned it up, made sure it all went back together properly and reinstalled it. The ball promptly dropped out of sight and the glass filled with water as I filled the boiler. I figured the ball was stuck in the bottom elbow, never to be seen again.


This morning, it decided to join the party as I went through the ritual to make the morning coffee. I think there might still be an air bubble or two in the loop between the top and and bottom connections to the boiler, but this is a start. The real trouble begins in a few days when I get a hold of some real coffee beans. What came with the machine were great for practice, but in the words of Joey Brenner, "Yuck, these beans are gross." He has a wholesale account with Amante which is nothing but trouble. By this time next week, I'll be well on my way to being over caffeinated.

Let There Be Light

Nothing like a warm afternoon to get some work done around the house after work. Yesterday after the workin' day was done, I accomplished a couple tasks on the to do list. One was setting a fence post for the new gate on the south side of the garage. This will let me put my trash can back in the corner and deposit it in the alley on the assigned day.

Since I painted my trim pieces for setting the light fixtures by the door of the garage the day before, I figured I would put up some lights to give the backyard the warm glow and needed light for traversing the 40' from the back door to the garage. I think it came out pretty well. Someday, I might take the stickers off the windows and give them some treatment to give the garage a more "lived in" look.


I also decided it was time to shed a little light on the espresso machine in the back room so I could actually see what I am doing in the wee hours of the morning when I pull the first shots. As you can see below, I still have some insulating to do, some drywall to hang, and another half wall to build . . . all in good time.


The light above is one of a pair that will be hanging when all is said and done, one for the coffee area and one to light the way to the basement. So far it is a great improvement over the bare bulb that was hanging on the brick wall. It might almost be too bright in there, but we'll see once the remodel is done.

My work as a junior electrician is almost done. I am still waiting on my motion sensor for the garage lights. Per my dad's recommendation, I hunted down a dual-zone, dual-bright unit that provides everything you could want and more. There is a downward facing sensor that turns the light on when you open the door from the garage as well as the one that will pick you up walking towards the garage. The dual-bright function kicks on at dusk and provides low level lighting until the sensor is activated. It stays in this mode for a set period of time after dusk, before resuming regular motion activated operation . . . pretty slick.

Now to play junior insulation installer . . .