The Warm Up Begins

A change of 37 degrees from this mornings temp to the high of 31 degrees this afternoon. Stayed off the bike today. I'll have a hard time sleeping tonight, because of the excitement about riding in some warmth. Pretty pathetic to consider 30's warmth.

I spent the day at my property in Delano. I was planning on finishing at 2pm, but lost track of time and didn't leave until 4pm. Here's some more of the progress I made. It's slow...I'm slow, just not real confident about what I'm doing, but, so far, things are turning out pretty good.

Got the sheet rock cut to size and put up under the kitchen window. Then fit two more cabinets in place.
Had to cut out some holes for hot and cold water, and the drain.
Built up the cabinets to receive the counter top.

The bottom of the cabinets are flush with the wall. The top of the cabinets have a gap difference of an inch and a half along the wall, from the stove to the corner. The corner being flush with the cabinet.

It was 4pm. I'll think about how to deal with that over the weekend.

Over

Temp was only 6 when I got home, but the trails were calling. I missed the bike. Trails were great, nice and tight. The studs crackled over the ice, crunching and squeaking on the hard packed snow. I have to admit though, I didn't find myself wishing I'd been on the trails any earlier in the week. Maybe it was the sting in my fingers and on my face. Can you tell I'm looking forward to the warm up. 21/13.2

I took this shot last year up near Scandia, but did some editing to it yesterday, and this is how it turned out.
Drove up to Mora for my abstracting business today, and got this shot.

It Was Close

I almost hopped on The Evil One and took a 6 degree spin. If the weekend's and next week's temps weren't looking, literally, 5 to 6 times better, I would have. The gym is getting it done for me, right now. I'm losing the weight I want to, and the elliptical is keeping my hams and glutes ride ready. Another hour and a half.

Finished up cutting to size and installing the counter tops. Making the cuts were quite nerve racking, for me. I didn't want to mess it up. I finally had to yell at myself, "Get Your Hairy Butt In Gear!" because I was stalling.
Turned Out Pretty Good (big sigh of relief)

Not Bad For Cut By Hand (circular saw)

Below is some of the prep work I've done over the last couple of weeks. I'll be installing a floating floor over my patch work as soon as all the cabinet work is done.

Removed bad sheet rock and filled in some insulation gaps. A sink cabinet will go under the window right after I fit in the new piece of sheet rock.

After the kitchen I'll move on to the bathroom, with a new sink and toilet. It'll just be new flooring throughout the house then, and it'll be ready for the renter. The plan is to have it done by the 1st of March.

The demolition of the old kitchen, and ripping up the living room carpet was a lot more fun than installing everything. When you're tearing stuff out you don't have to be nearly as precise.

Thanks for indulging this brief hiatus from cycling posts.

Sun's Out I'm Not

I'm tired of the gym. I guess I'm more tired of the cold. Another sweaty day in the gym where there were at least 65 more degrees than outside. I'm already dreaming of this weekend's rides.

Nothing To Do With The Bike Warning!

Some of what I've been working on at my property in Delano. I built up the cabinets in prep for the counter tops. This section should be done tomorrow, then on to the stove and sink section. Lining up perfect cabinets and counter tops with imperfect walls is frustrating. Oh, and I've never done this before.

I'm Going To Wait It Out

Rumor has it warmth is on the way this weekend. Sorry, I just couldn't get the old hairy ass out in single digit temps. It's been like that for all of February. I don't know... I do know it's been a long hard winter, for me. I need some warmth. Did some sweating at the gym...hour and a half.

30 Is Enough

Plenty of tired to go around today. Amy was sounding pretty ambitious, to me, when she suggested a ride around Lake Minnetonka. I figured I could make it out to Wayzata. I wasn't sure I could pull off more than an out and back, though.
The wind (breeze) seemed a lot tougher than the 3 or 4 mph it was putting out. And yesterday's hills were mountains today.
It basically wound up being a ride of commiseration, exulting in yesterday's achievement and drowning our muscles in lactic acid today. Evil and studs again. 30/14.6 Amy had more miles.

Road Salt On The Lakes Post Ride

Pushin' It

Temp was 13 when I woke up, and the concern over too much ice kept me off "C" and back on Evil with studs. Old and conservative....what can I say.
Foggy and frosty, five of us took off on the same route as last Saturday, until Wayzata when I opted for a little extra credit. I didn't really exercise any democratic benevolence either...just did it without asking or telling anyone. The route change meant two more hills, and five more miles. We played hard. The studded tires were humming over all the potholes. One rider succumbed to the dreaded bonk. A Facebook post from him was as follows: In Deephaven having lunch. Response from Steve: I should have joined you.
Yeah, it was a little insane out there. Taking on a hills and a roller or two felt pretty good. Definitely felt better than last week. Temps never made it out of the 20's.
Great friends, strange topics of conversation, hard, hard riding got the post ride endorphins freely flowing. Pushed it today. I hope I don't get pushed back tomorrow and Monday. 55/16.6