Waiting

Hard to be patient...anxious to see/build/ride the BadgerCX. Been spinning the 29er some but mostly on the pavement these days. With rain, high river and these unseasonably warm temps not much local trail riding.

Holiday food has been dangerous.

Wild Weather

Just over a week ago, same evening: near sunset there's a rainbow. Later the same night? Northern Lights. Very cool. Road trip between.

Warmer than crazy this week. Not to loose out on the great opportunity it was a nice long road ride Sunday. Another three hour trek. Sweet. Don't get low 40s and some sun this time of year.

Given the weekend schedule I may end up doing some epic trainer rides this weekend.

The other night, the trainer episode was broken up by watching Offroad to Athens. If you haven't seen it, good soundtrack makes it even better.

Tagged

I've needed to take care of my 'tag' for a couple weeks.
Here goes:
1. Three other majors along the way: Engineering, Landscape Architecture, & Industrial Design. Attended three colleges/universities while at those majors
2. Cycling is my first 'real' sport
3. Debeaked chickens (long before college)
4. Pale & Amber Ale's are a real favorite
5. In a seeming minority who like black jelly beans and ginger (not together)
6. Tooled leather for over a decade

I'll be reaching out to tag a half dozen.

Good weekend of riding

Almost temp extremes this weekend. Yesterday was a high of about 25 and 15mph winds. Making it low teens for wind chill. The route: flat and windy. Open fields. Good long ride.

Today the temps were up to 40, sun made a repeat visit. Winds too. Took a route that was more sheltered. It certainly was nice out riding today. Got in six hours between the two days. Legs are a bit tired. LJ came up for a ride today, my tired legs slowed her but it was a nice day to be out.

2007 Started this week

That's right, you don't need to go look at your calendar, I know it is still 2006 on there. But as far as how this past year went for me...I'm putting it behind me. Did the State CX final race last weekend. Why? Not because I was all trained for it (let alone in shape for an hour of hard riding). It had a whole lot more to do with finishing up a pretty rough year AND giving me a fitness check / motivation to start working on 2007.

It would give me a way to look ahead, a physical marking point. What better way then to go to a cross race? Lots of people there I hadn't seen in a long time, people cheering for you and encouraging you no matter how you're doing. Plus, when you're riding that hard you aren't able to think about anything else. Sweet!

Raptors

Big weekend for raptors around the house.

This cool fella spent 45 minutes hanging out here. Normally he'll make quick visits but this day maybe he thought the song birds would forget he was there and come to the feeders anyway. Sharp shinned hawk. Neat.








Here's one that isn't so neat. While I was off to the CX race, D-man was riding his mtb at the local trail. Thought he heard the chain slapping the stay...seems it was the ti giving way. He came out of it really lucky since he was going pretty slow up a grade. Sure shook up his riding companion, a friend of ours who was out on just his second mtb ride.

!2 Days of Christmas Remade

LJ has been doing a big renovation on the bathroom in her new digs. Started out simple enough when she found a couple of bad boards in the bathroom floor. It turned into a full-fleged reno when she picked up a whirlpool tub at the discount shop. She recently sent this over and it seems appropriate in this season to share it.

12--Runs of Romex
11--Feet of plastic
10--Marble tiles
9--Feet of ducting
8--sheets of plywood
7--Screwdrivers laying
6--sheets of drywall
5--Sq ft of mosaic tile
4--feet of heating mat
3--2x6's
2--Lighting fixtures
And a giant bathtub out the living room at last in the bathroom!!!