"Keep a Journal: How else are you going to get a good look at who you were?"

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

A new personal best today...

...On account of the RAIN.

Boy, it's awful riding in the rain. The new bike has no fenders (yet) so I get spray everywhere! I started "operation drip dry" a while ago, and today was the first field test.

It worked. My rain gear doesn't really keep out the rain, but it does keep off the dirt. The baggies I had over my shoes to keep them dry did the job, BUT...

...You can't walk around much with baggies on your feet, the bags get chafed and ripped the more you walk in them. The effectiveness of the bags as spray shields goes down considerably. The only solution is to remain in the saddle for the entire ride.

I've never been able to climb to the top of the Nordel Bluff without walking at least part of the way; until today. I have probably had the oomph to climb the Nordel Hill for a little while now, but this was the first time I mustered the determination to DO it. Next Challenge: being able to ride all the way (ALL the way) up Wiltshire st.

Laurie answered a phone quiz about "transportation issues" in Delta and got a map showing all of the municipal riding, hiking, and equestrian trails in North and South Delta for her trouble. Must take Coral out riding, now that I have a decent map; we can go exploring.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Was reading an old post from last year in which I explained my reasons for using BC Transit to get me home from work after I did the bicycle thing to get there...

...this is, of course, before I discovered Don Holborne could give me a ride home every day.

Well, Don went and got himself another PT job with a Rona store in Vancouver, and my rides home got less frequent. BC Transit's (or should I say "Translink")fares went up again, and I got fed up paying 3$ per trip.

So I began riding home.

Just once or twice a week, at first. Now I do the two-way trip every day. I am doing a grand total of 175 km per week!

Riding is good. Sucks when the weather is bad, though.

When I wrote the post last year, I was still a little leery of riding home because of the time issue. I wrote, "I will need to get my time to work down around 40 minutes if I want to ride home in reasonable time." The assumption was that being able to make the ride there in 40 mins would mean I was in good enough condition physically to do the ride home again in an hour or so.

I was correct.

A few changes have taken place. I had a "mirror moment" a few weeks back. I saw myself in a full length mirror - 'au naturel' - and noticed that although my GUT is still with me, my LEGS have gone all hard and sinewy. I'm down about 30 lbs too.

I still have a ways to go, but the newly-found physical resources, coupled with the new bike(s) I have built, mean that I am getting very close to that 40 minute / 1 hour benchmark. I can even beat old men and children up most hills!

The new bike is a story in itself...

I got a couple of Raleigh Portage ATB from an ad that I posted in Craigslist.org. These were early 80's models - really just ordinary steelframed road bashers with 26" cruiser wheels and badly fitted cantilever brakes. I traded some parts with Dave Ferguson and built the 'male' frame (I got a matched set of his 'n hers)into a roadie hybrid. It had skinny tires, but also a triple ring crank, ATB pedals, and a wide-stance bar with bar ends. The combo of the roadie frame with the wide bars made for an almost upright seating arrangement, while still being able to hunker down over the bars for sprints. Altogether, a very comfortable ride, and about 10 lbs (!) lighter than my Schwinn ATB.

Problem: Remember how I said the Norco Kodiak was too small for me? Well, the Raleigh frame was just a leetle outside my comfort range when standing flatfooted on pavement. The top tube was pushing my ... Well, never mind. Spring cleaning had arrived by this time and I kept an eagle eye out for what I KNEW I would find: a complete 10-speed roadie that I could give a similar treatment to as I had the Raleigh.

Sure enough, a beautiful Canadian made 10-speed was 'ditched' by the roadside near NDSS. "Tour du Quebec" is a brand I've never heard of before, but it was in good condition and, most importantly, had a working 6-speed rear wheel.

The gearing on the 5-speed hub I got from Dave was all wrong. That, and the cogs were so worn I had severe slipping problems in top gear. I had 3 chainrings, but could use only 4 of the 5 cogs on the cassette; making this a "sort-of 12 speed". The wheel on the Tour has a six speed hub with barely any wear on either hub or chain. It is sooo nice to have a top gear again.

Unfortunately, the hoops I went through trying to fix that slipping 5 speed wheel led to a few mishaps. I tried swapping the chain for a (nearly) new one. I tried changing out the rear derailleur, and wound up with chain suck damage on what WAS a very nice Shimano Deore ATB derailleur. I finally put the 6 speed wheel on, and dug my old Shimano Altus derailleur out of the parts bucket it was banished to. I was up 'till almost MIDNIGHT getting everything just so. Managed to make the Deore derailleur un-usable in the process...

...Which brings me back to that 40 minute trip goal: In staying up so late, I overslept my alarm by over an HOUR. I finally peeled one eye open at 6:10 AM. Knowing full well I could NOT reach work on time, even if I left that very second, I still ran all out to get ready and ended up with a 6:21 AM departure. I arrived at the DC at 7:02 AM precisely. A 41 minute trip, and a new personal best.

But I still clocked in 8 minutes late...I could barely walk!

Saturday, May 08, 2004

Well, it's certainly been BUSY lately...

Mom called last week, another virus on her computer. I think I'll get her set up with ZAP if I can get rid of the worm that's on her system now. My own system has no floppies and the CD-R is giving me grief; most probably because KIDS have been fooling with it. I can probably fix the floppy problem by swapping it for a new one, and the CD by removing and re-installing it, but I just haven't got a 'round tuit' yet. I am also supposed to be sending that Cyrix 300Mhz case and mobo off to Donovan in Calgary. I have Don's address, I just need to dig it out of the files.

I seem to be a little generous lately. I noticed Quinn Marciel needed a good bike if he is to make the bike trip Dan is planning this July. I gave him Big Red, the Norco Kodiak that is (1) too small for me and (2) I am unable to sell. I hardly ride the Norco anymore, and the new hybrid is really working out. I plan to upgrade the hybrid this week, as well.

Our house is a shambles. This is because my wife got fed up with how it looks and has decided that it is time for a change. We have a nice new paint scheme (fixed the hole in the wall in the entryway too!), and a laminated hardwood floor is being laid in the diningroom/hallway; soon to be spread to the livingroom and stairway, just as soon as I get all the furniture moved and the furniture feet felted. (gad, I love alliteration!)

I am off this week to accommodate the yearly PNWTSD Festival. I will be babysitting Colin while Laurie and Coral are away in Everett, Wa. for the festival. I will get the @#$%&**! floor done and a few other items whilst she is away.

One thing I GOT to do is pick up Laurie's mother's day present. Not easy on a Sunday. I don't like shopping et al on the Sabbath, but I don't seem to have any other time to do it, and I don't really want to leave it until Monday. But I may have to. I will be out and about on Monday, as that is when I have to get that case and mobo shipped out to Donovan.

I MUST mow the back lawn, the grass is high enough now to lose a small child in. Since I will be looking after a small child all alone for part of next week, it behooves me to eliminate that particular hazard. I may even weed-whack. It just drains me, when I think of all the projects there are around here that need to be done. I STILL haven't finished my Laundry!

This laminate floor installation is beginning to be a bit of a bear. I started out laying the panels in the WRONG direction! I started with the hallway when I SHOULD have started in the dining room or living room! I did manage to match up the transition from the dining room to the hallway properly, but it involved re-laying about 20 panels. Luckily, these things come apart just as easily as they install; once I figured out the correct methods. I have managed to slack off the project for the last three days, and Laurie hasn't said hardly anything...and I KNOW she was expecting it to be done by now. One thing that has really held me up is the lack of a proper tool to cut the laminate. The scroll saw Granpa lent me doesn't do a very good job, and the radial arm saw, though it has a proper blade for arborite and laminates, takes too long to set up for each cut, though I am using it for long rips. A small hand hacksaw seems to give me the straightest and cleanest cuts, but it takes 2-3 minutes for each cut! This adds about 20-30 minutes to each session of laying panels, and the aggravation factor goes wayyyy up. What I need is a roto-zip or something like that. I'd go out and buy one, but I honestly don't know how often I would use it outside of this project, so justifying such a purchase is difficult. I WILL be using the radial arm for cutting the panels and nose moldings on the stairway, but that is more a matter of getting an absolutely straight and even cut for each step.

We had FUN. Tonight we participated in a Ward Activity: "Survivor - Delta Ward". Led by the Williams family, the event was well-staged and organized. Our tribe, "Haida", got penalized for leaving our flag un-attended, and again for getting caught trying to re-take it from where it had been hidden after we lost it. Busted! But for that, we might have been in the "Top Two" tribes and would have been onstage for the final Tribal Council Jury Vote.

TOLD ya we had fun...