Lost And Found

Trails were in pretty bad shape, with lots of crunchy ice. Evil served me well. It was great to ride until 6pm with it still light out. I could get used to this, but lose the icy trails. 21/13.4

I know I promised, but here is the old kitchen floor.
And the new kitchen floor.

I'm doing it just like the pros. I'm over budget and behind schedule. A couple of weeks ago the renter said she'd like to move in the 1st of April, so I've got a little more time to finish it all up. Lots of little detail work that doesn't look like I've accomplished much, but still takes plenty of time.

I lost my point and shoot. I looked everywhere for it, twice. It's been missing for at least two weeks. So Friday I ordered a new one, which will be here Wednesday. Yeah, you guessed it I found the old point and shoot today. Looks like I'll have a couple of point and shoots now. Where was it? It was in a bag of new electric sockets and switches. Glad to have my old friend back, to be honest.

Reversal

Rode Saturday like Sunday and Sunday like a Saturday. Roads were in much better condition today with temps more than 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. I got to get Amy all dirty and freckly again. She's not having any problems staying on my wheel, even on the hills. She's getting stronger as I get older.
We took off for Excelsior. That first 15 miles was pretty tough for me. I finally started feeling some strength in my legs and enjoyed the road from Excelsior to just north of Wayzata. We stopped briefly in Wayzata, and when we started up again it took about 10 minutes of riding to shake off the chill. Then at about 10 miles from home, I told Amy I was starting to bonk. I got the legs shakes. Pulled into my home, and everything looked edible; chairs, leather bound books, silk flowers, pencils...fortunately I entered the kitchen first...helmet was still on and I was eating. A sigh of relief was heard from all my chattel.
Obviously, it was a tough ride for me today, but it was great to be out. 48/15.0

Sun In The Trees At Harriet

Icy Dicey Cold

2 below to start. A bit on the harsh side. Water bottle was frozen solid by Wayzata. I wasn't quite frozen solid at Wayzata, and the hot chocolate thawed out what had frozen. I like that feeling.
No wind out there, but snow was coming down greasing up the roads, which kept us a little on edge.
Skipped the extra credit and headed straight back for home. It had warmed all the way up to 3 above. I'll be out there again tomorrow. Maybe a little longer. Nice ridin' with Amy again. 38/13.7

No Bike Today

Looks like 3 of us tomorrow, and it's going to be cold.

Not Much Of A Week

One ride this week. Just not feeling up to much. Maybe I'm fighting something off, but the only symptoms are aches and lethargy. I mean that could just be age.

Anyways, over the years I've collected some shots of people on bikes, or just bikes without a rider. Here's a few of them....just for the fun of it.

Some of theses might be a little offensive to people. I hope not, but I thought I ought to warn you.
These are in no particular order.

Home-Made

Threw the old hairy leg over the saddle and got my ass back on the bike. Not a whole lotta umpf tonight. The quads are very sore, from what I don't have a clue, but they've been complaining for a couple of days now. Considering that we got over a foot of snow on Sunday and Monday, I was surprised to see that the paths were clear down to the pavement. Amazing the power of the late February sun. 21/13.4

Roasted Tomato And Red Pepper Soup, With My Made-From-Scratch Rolls.
It's What's For Dinner

Hmmmm

Another day off the bike, or at the gym, with no good reason. I have no idea what it means.
Kitchen floor install done today. Looks good! Pics to follow in a week or so when it's all done.

I walked into the hardware store this morning, and was asked, "can we help you find anything?". I responded with, "I need some finish nails... not Swedish, Finnish". You think that's bad? They laughed!

Caught this sunrise a week or two ago. I think it's one of the prettier I've seen.

UNCLE!

Spent a couple of hours shoveling snow that was more than a foot deep. I'm going to pass on more of a workout than that today.

Nasty Fast

I wish the title described my speed today, but, alas, it just refers to how quickly the storm hit.
The radar looked a bit ominous when I hopped on the saddle, but nothing was falling out of the sky. However, by the time I got to the Mississippi (6 miles) snow was blowing across the trail. Studs and Evil were my companion so I felt pretty confident I could handle it. Evil was solid and sure. The only problem were my glasses. The snow was accumulating so quickly on them that I had to stop to clean them off 3 or 4 times in maybe 10 miles. I couldn't take the glasses off either, because the snow was that little pellet kind of stuff that stings when it hits your face. When I took my glasses off the snow hit my eyes and I couldn't keep them open to see.
Stayed on the roads. I figured there would be fewer ice patches hiding under the new layer of white there than on the paths. The few cars that were out were very courteous and seemed to even understand my dilemma. Didn't quite get 2 hours in, but I'll take that with this storm. 21/13.3

Celebrating Britney and Ethan's birthdays this evening. Brit turned 28 on the 18th. Eth will be 30 on the 26th. They're all coming over here. I made a pot roast, chocolate pie and rolls.
I hope they can make it despite the 5 inches of snow on the ground already.

Eth (2) and Brit (a month or so)
A couple of years later

Solo Saturday

Had a hard time deciding where and what to ride today. Amy's in Chicago and Steve is faking a broken ankle (3 places my ass). Only 12 degrees out there when I left. I figured it was over-kill, but I opted to ride with Evil and studs, instead of "C". I'd already changed two flats in less than a week, and Steve going down was...it was on my mind. And I knew it wouldn't be a high mileage week anyways with tomorrow's storm coming...all that played into my Evil decision.
There was some ice on the roads, but nothing that warranted my armada. Nevertheless, I got 3+ hours in the saddle, sore quads, and humbled on Christmas Lake Hill and at Purgatory Creek Ravine. 48/15.4
I gotta say, Evil is a fine machine.
And I missed my friends bitchin'....just don't tell them that.

This is what caused Wednesday's flat. I pulled it out of my Conti Contact last night. Ahhh the single life....changing flat tires on a Friday night. (It's a piece of wire)

Fridays Mean Chocolate Chip Cookies...

...and a day off the bike. Mighty cold and windy out there today made it mighty easy to stay off the bike. Looks like winter is going to take another swipe at us.....bastard!

Calhoun Tonight
Taking His Sled Down
One Wheel
He Had Studs On His Tire

Sun's Down

All Is Well

A good week of riding. It was all roads, road bike and the warm temps didn't hurt either. 21/15.3

Lake Calhoun
Had to say goodbye to an old friend tonight. Another flat. All the sand on the roads plays havoc with the tires. That's two flats this week. This is my CO2 pump. I've had it forever. It has gotten me home countless times over the years never failing me. Even tonight on its last breath it got me home. The gasket finally wore out and only allowed part of the compressed air into the tube tonight. Goodbye old reliable friend.

Some incredibly great news regarding Taylor. My son posted this story and video on his blog.

http://blog.russellohana.com/2011/02/individual-progress.html

Weight Matters

Yesterday I noticed my rear tire was riding a bit spongy. I made a mental note to check it out when I got home. There's no such thing as a mental note at my age, and pulled out my bike, ready for the ride today, only to find the rear tire flat. Insert swear word here__________!
Instead of changing the tire I put an old Ksyrium wheel and road tire on "C". I could not believe how light that wheel was compared to the wheels I've had on "C". My speed reflected the reduced weight with a significant improvement, from Monday and Tuesday. Weight matters! 20/15.4

Things are winding down on the remodel. I still have a couple of weeks worth of work, until it's all finished up. One more day of prep work and then it's just floor install and finish stuff. Except for the done deal when I'll show the finished work, I promise, this is the last post about my lack of home improvement skills. And again, I hate to admit it, but this has actually turned out to be fun.

This is the notorious wall gap.
This is what I want it to look like.
This is what I did to fill in the gap. Cut a 1 1/2 inch strip from some left over counter top. This strip will run to the window where I've still got to find a fix for filling that gap.

Bathroom floor yesterday.

Bathroom floor today after repair.

Maybe But Probably Not

Winter has released us from its claws, for now. My fear, being a born-and-raised Minnesotan is, that winter is just toying with us and will take another snowy, sub-zero swipe at us, before it gets bored and goes to play with the southern hemishpere.
Lots of murky brown liquid all over the roads, and now on my Lake boots and "C" bike.
Sunny and 40's...I'll put up with the salty boots. 21/14.1

One of the problems with buying a foreclosed home is, there's usually some kind of sabotage by the previous owner. I've run into several instances of this. Holes in walls is what I dealt with today. I had considered a different approach to fixing these holes, but had some extra sheet rock left over so I decided to try this. It only took about 30-45 minutes. I squared up the holes and revealed the studs so I'd have a place to attached the new sheet rock, cut it to size, screwed it in place, then just spackled the hell out of it. I'll sand it up tomorrow and see how it looks. Plan "B", which use to be plan "A", will still be easy to implement, if this doesn't turn out satisfactory.

This side of the wall has a textured finish, so I purposely left bumps and ridges in the spackling trying to keep the repair looking as much like the rest of the wall as possible.

This is the backside of the kitchen counter top that goes below the window. Yeah the one with the wall variation of an inch and a half. I'm building up the back splash so I can add material to fill in the gap. I'm almost starting to enjoy this.

My Bike Is My Valentine

Took "C" out for a Valentine's Day ride. It's perfect for the warmer, sloppy conditions and I love being able to ride a road frame and components. 21/14.5

A buddy went down today. Broke 3 bones in his ankle. Season's over and it hasn't even started.
Be careful out there.

Thaw

Hey, how 'bout that! My rides do make people smile.
Sorry about the blur Steven. You are just to fast.

I was still feeling yesterday's lack of giddy up, then about Excelsior I got a little kick back. That may have just been the tail wind though.

It was only a few days ago when I was thinking, I gotta get out of this &%$#ing cold weather. Today with temps in the upper 40's I was quite content to be where I am. Lots of fun feeling a little spring in the air and in my legs. "C" bike preformed well, and seemed to relish the salty, gritty, watery road spray that accumulated all over it.

I sure am lucky to have such good friends to ride with. Thanks!

42/16.6

Temps got that white stuff turning clear and splashy.

Warmth

A little less clothing, a little more mph, a lot warmer, and a few more miles.
I didn't have the giddy up today, but with the great conditions, and great friends it just didn't matter.
Along the way out to Excelsior we picked up a stray cyclist. Seemed nice enough. Played well. He peeled off at Navarre. Never found out his name.
As per ride rule "we stop for flats and mechanicals", we stopped for Amy's flat. In truth, we had already stopped before she knew it was flat. Where were we, you ask? at a bike shop. She had the mechanic do it. So that's what it's like to have your own sag vehicle.
Steve peeled off early too. He had some lame excuse like a dinner party, or something, that he needed to get ready for. Pffft!
Amy and I kept on in search of February rollers. Not only did we find some, but we found, at least I did, that those rollers hurt. That wound up using all of what little giddy up I had to begin with. Still had 30 miles to get home.
It has been several months since I've been that far away from home on a bike, and man! did it feel good.
Riding along a quiet country road, no yellow line, no cars, just bright white snow lining the black ribbon of asphalt, the sun broke on us. Involuntarily the words, it doesn't get any better than this, came out of my mouth.
It was a hard ride, for me, today, but Oh! was it ever nice. 62/16.7

"C" Bike Before Ride
"C" Bike After Ride

Nice Sunset Tonight