Vacations Suck

I can’t wait to get back to my cubicle.

Jessica and her ‘callipitter’ that I brought back from my run

Meow!

Couple of cats at some people’s house a mile from my place.

Say Cheese!

Two Speeding Tickets in Two Days

Funny thing is, I wasn’t in a hurry for either of them. They just put up some new 25 mph signs near my neighborhood (but not in a residential area), and are cracking down on people left and right.The first one I got on the way to work I was doing 40. The deputy was really cool and said they weren’t out there to bust anyone bad, but just to get their attention. He wrote me up for 9 over - one point on the record and it doesn’t affect insurance rates. 40 bucks.

The second one was coming home from my 12 mile run in the sub-freezing darkness. My brain was numb. This time it was on our side of the river which is a different county. This deputy was not in a good mood. He clocked me at 35 in a 25 and wrote me up for the full amount. 72 bucks and 4 points on the license. Great.

Guess I can’t complain since it’s been about 15 years since I last got a ticket. Just need to slow down on that stretch of road - hard to do because it drives like a 35/40 road, and I’ve driven it that way over 4500 times in the last 9 years. Hard to teach this old dog…

HAPPY 2007!!!

Long time no post… I’m getting a fresh start for 2007.

We ZOOMED into the new year today. Went sledding at the park and enjoyed all of the snow we’ve gotten over the last couple of weeks. Natalie turned into a radical big-air monster and put us all to shame with her jumps.

I finished up the year with 5600 miles of riding, and 148 miles of running. I really liked the running I did, and want to do it a lot more. I ran three miles today, first run in almost two months because I’ve been struggling with a knee injury (ITBS). It seems to be under control now thanks to some PT and a really good massage therapist. It felt sooo good to get out and run again.

They cleared the paths around our neighborhood with some bobcat’s (small front-end loader), so the running was actually decent - though it was strange having snow piled up shoulder high on both sides… So I guess a new year means setting some goals. Eating-wise (big slacker last year), I’ve been doing great the past couple of weeks and actually lost 5 pounds over the holidays. Whew.

I think I will make running my main focus of 2007 as far as physical activity goes. Cycling has been great and I love it, but I felt like I pretty much coasted through last year - which still got me some decent results, but it’s just not the same anymore. I can’t keep fighting to stay on the razor’s edge of super-fitness like is necessary to be competing for a top finish around here. So, I will still race this year, it just won’t be the end-all for me. I think running will be better in terms of flexibility time-wise with lots of stuff going on in the family and with the kids. Plus, I feel ready for a new challenge, something that will push me like nothing else has. Another factor is that after trying to run, I could NOT believe how badly it crippled me. Doing 5000-6000 miles a year on the bike for the past 3 years did wonders for my cardio fitness, but left me pretty soft when it came to doing anything weight bearing. Gotta toughen up, boy!

It’s been a long time since I’ve feared not being able to finish a race, but now with the ideas of running an ultra-marathon that I have going around in my head, that’s exactly how I feel. I’m specifically targeting a 100k (62 mile!!) mountain race in August. It’s a monster, right in my old backyard (Utah). Tons of mountains, dirt, rocks, heat, etc.

Considering the fact that I started at 3 miles today, I have a loooong way to go. Should be fun!

Let the season begin!

Wow, it’s been almost 6 months since my last race. A lot has changed since then, the main thing was moving to a new team - Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport. The main sponsor is a physical therapy clinic, and I go back a few years with the owner. When he called last September and invited me to join the team, I really had to give it some thought. I enjoyed my time with SEAR and made a lot of good friends there. We fought hard together all season long and won the Best All-Around Team competition in our category. With my teammates support, I was able to come in 5th place in the Rocky Mountain Road Cup (points series) despite not competing in a couple of events. But… after going for a couple of rides with the RMSS guys I could tell they had something good going and decided to make the leap. It’s turned out great! They’re a super bunch of guys that are very supportive of one and all. We each have to fulfill a 15 race commitment, so we’re all fairly serious about racing and suffering together. It’s a lot smaller group than my last team (35 vs. 100+). The attitude of the team is outstanding, and it’s really cool to have such close contact with our sponsor - it feels like we can really make a difference for their business. Much different than the faceless corporation that donates a few bucks to geeks on bikes.

Anyway, tomorrow is the first race of the 2006 season. I started my training year on November 1st, and have put in about 2000 miles since then. I’m anxious to put those miles to use…

Goodbye XL

Did some closet cleaning today. Jettisoned 3 HUGE bags of clothes. These were the lawn and leaf size jobs… I had gotten very good at picking up nice shirts on sale/clearance over the past several years and had built up quite a collection. Problem is, they’re all extra large - and I’m wearing mediums now. They’re like circus tents on me - time to go. Kinda sad, but happy at the same time. Oh, well - dangers of the occupation…

P.S. - hit the Goodwill store in Littleton if you’re looking to score some good deals on lightly used, well cared-for, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren button down XL shirts.

I said fossils, you dig?

During our trip to Utah, we took a side trip waaay of the beaten path to a place called U-DIG Fossils. It was quite a drive to get out there, including 20 miles of dirt road, but the weather was great and the kids were EXCITED.

The travel channel had done a feature on this place that we just happened to see while flipping channels one day. Seemed like a pretty cool concept. Lots of fossil-rich rock, you just need to come split it apart. It wasn’t cheap - $80 for the family to dig for 2 hours (sounds short, but was plenty of time). The memories and fun that the kids had was priceless.

The fossils are mostly trilobites (invertabrate marine animals). No T-Rex’s… The rock was limestone/shale that consisted of several layers. So it was fairly straightforward to split if you hit it just right - then peek to see if there was anything inside. Natalie found several small specimens in the parking lot right after she got out of the van. It was going to be a good day!

It turned out to be some pretty hard labor, chipping rock and hauling it around in 5 gallon buckets - and there were some stretches where it seemed like you weren’t going to find a thing. Then - jackpot! A discovery was made.

In all, we came away with around 5 shopping bags full of fossils. Lots of small, imperfect ones, and a few really nice ones. All the kids were successful in finding a bunch and were very proud of their share.

The drive home had a little bit of drama as we happened upon a Range Rover that had rolled a few times. Turns out a family was going out to dig fossils and their teenage sons were a few miles ahead in the Rover. Going waaay too fast on the dirt road (we had been doing 50-60 ourselves). The parents and rest of the kids were following in a van and had just gotten to the scene a few minutes before we arrived. Thank goodness none of them were hurt very badly. I was pretty scary looking…

Chicago trip

I had to go to Chicago for a few days to do some work. Luckily, I was going with a few other guys and we were able to have some fun while we were out there. We finished up a little early on the last day, and were able to head into the city. It was beatiful weather and we enjoyed kicking it out on Navy Pier. The highlight was a ride on the Sea Dog. It’s a large speedboat that had TWO turbo-charged 2,000 horsepower engines. Oh, and an EIGHT HUNDRED gallon gas tank!! Kick the tires and light the fires!!!

The feeling of speed wasn’t quite as extreme as I had anticipated, but boy, did that shoreline go by quickly…

Damn stuff

Ok, will the person with the Voodoo doll of me please put it back in the drawer and quit letting your dog chew on it and toss it around?!? Geez, enough already…

So, I normally don’t write with much of a negative slant, but I’m just getting my butt kicked lately. Permit me to go into whine mode.

I guess it all started about 4 weeks ago. I got sick with a cold/cough that has put a damper on my performance racing-wise. Not in a huge way, but enough to make it kind of a downer - especially considering how much hard work I put in over the winter. Guys I was regularly thumping are starting to close the gap now and even pull ahead. Around 2 1/2 weeks ago I was riding up in the hills and had a bee fly into my jersey. I actually didn’t notice it until I heard the buzzing. I slapped around a couple of times and thought that was that (see, I was on my record-breaking ascent of High Grade and couldn’t be bothered to stop…). A few minutes later, more buzzing. I pulled over and unzipped my jersey and flapped it around until the thing took off, clipped back in and immediately resumed hammering my way up the hill. A few days later, I started scratching my right shoulder blade and felt several bumps that shouldn’t be there. I checked in the mirror and had a cluster of 12+ bites in a two inch area. Damn bee. Well, I don’t know if it was some sort of venom, a reaction, or just how I slept, but I now have several huge knots in the muscles just to the inside of my shoulder blade that haven’t gone away for over 2 weeks now. Even as I type this, I feel the fiery burn in that part of my back. I’ve tried heat, massage, pills. Damn knots.

So, I’m in all-out scramble mode as my 4 year lease on the Jetta expires soon. So much to fix and get taken care of. Tell you what, don’t ever do a 4 year lease. 3 years max. Get the thing turned back in before it falls apart. Better yet, buy one and maintain it… This last year has been a lousy one for things going wrong with the car. Anyway, I have made/canceled/moved more appointments in the last week than Donald Trump’s secretary. Juggled estimates on scratches, dings, dents, gouges, and brakes. Then, right at the start of one of my busiest days, a piece of my tooth decides to break off. Damn tooth. Into secretary mode I go, making appointments with the dentist, checking insurance, moving everything else to accomodate the dental appointment - thankfully they had a cancellation and could get me in quickly (wasn’t in any pain, whew).

After the dentist put a temporary crown on my tooth, to the tune of $535 (damn dental insurance), I took the car over to the body shop to get my insurance estimate/adjustment done. Turns out, that after I pay the $250 deductible, the insurance company is paying a whopping $117. Why did I even bother filing a claim?!? Damn car insurance. I thought for sure the repair would be closer to a grand.

Now the hubcap story. The hubcaps on our van have slowly been disappearing over the last few months. Too many on-and-off’s for tire rotations, etc. The clips start to break and get weak, and one by one, they bail. Quitters. Well, I finally got around to ordering a brand new set. Put them on and a week later, one is missing. Damn hubcaps. We’re driving down the road a few days later when my daughter in the back seat shouts that she sees one of our hubcaps bouncing through the weeds alongside us. Another one gone! Damn, damn hubcaps. Nowhere to stop right then, so I pulled over and hunted for it while I was on my way to the body shop today. I had to park at a very steep angle since there was no shoulder and left the car running while I looked up and down for a couple hundred yards for the hubcap. No luck, still MIA. As an added bonus, once I got back on the road, my car started chugging and the check engine light came on. Barely made it to the body shop. Damn, damn, damn hubcaps.

It’s a beautiful day, and my car appointment finished just before lunch time, so I brought my bike so I could get in a ride over my lunch hour on my way in to work. The ride was going ok, I put in a few hard efforts and am finally starting to be able to drive my heart rate up high again, then I was doing about 30mph down a hill and BOOM - there goes my rear tire. I hit a crack/hole in the cement road and it totally blew out the sidewall of my tire. My 2 week old $50 tire. Damn cracks. Fortunately, I had a Clif bar in my pocket and was able to use the wrapper as a tire boot to prevent the new tube from poking out of the hole in the sidewall and blowing again. As I put some air in with my CO2 inflator, I stopped part way and took it off to check the blowout area to make sure everything was seating correctly. When I pulled the inflator off, the valve was leaking a little bit so I closed it while I checked the sidewall. Apparently, my short-term memory isn’t so good because I then proceeded to try and reinflate my tire with the valve stem closed. That caused some major heartburn with the inflator and blew a foam-rubber gasket out of the chuck. I picked it up and worked on getting it back into place for a few minutes, and had a few bites of Clif bar while I was at it. Something tasted a little different, but I didn’t think much of it until I looked at the bar later and saw big globs of grease (transferred from the gasket, to my hands, to the bar, to my mouth) on it. Yum! I was pretty hungry, so I just ate around the greasy parts…

Damn.