Life always gets in the way of living it seems

In what seems to now be my monthly cycle for posting (the months go so fast), here is an update to cycling life.

I drank a lot of coffee during the month of January.  Shelly bought me the Starbucks refillable tumbler for Christmas.  So, I made one or two trips to the coffee shop everyday.  Oh, and if you notice, even Starbucks is on the 29er kick.

The logistics of having a family with 3 kids, a spouse, a job, a spouse with a job, a church, an extended family, an extended church family, and trying to train for the coming cycling season (OMBC opener is just about 8 weeks away now!) is exhausting.  As you can see below, the kids agree.  Lots of days I get to bed by 11pm and wonder 1. why I am so tired, and 2. what did I accomplish?  Training?  Well, that isn't happening.

February begins with a high every year though as the 4th is our wedding anniversary.  This year marks 17 years hitched.  I was excited to take Shelly to dinner at the newest restaurant in Athens, Sol, a Cuban fusion place that opened in the old Salaam location.  I don't know if it was really the food was great, or if I was influenced by the fact that I was at dinner without any kids!  Just us.  Doesn't seem to happen much anymore.  The food was really quite good.  Based on a good friend's recommendation, I had to get the chicken and yellow rice (Arroz con pollo).  Too full for dessert and they were not set up yet to make a nice Cuban coffee, we headed home where Shelly's folks were watching the boys.  Oh, forgot to mention that Brock and I got sick the day before and were still feeling pretty pathetic on the 4th.  Life always gets in the way of living it seems.

Good news of January and February is that I have a limited number of miles on the trainer.  That is because the weather has been fairly mild for a south eastern Ohio winter.  Lots of sunny and 40 degree days means road riding.  No trail riding since the trails aren't frozen, but miles none the less.  I did rejoin Team Athens again (figured as long as they let me on the team, I better join).  Looking forward to some more riding and racing this year.

Happy Riding...

Saturday

A little UEFA soccer and some indoor rolling, that is, at least until Brock woke up.  All the windows and the wood stove made it feel like a summer ride.

No Time

Most days I feel like I am living the Guess Who song, no time.  And everyone just wants more.  Work has asked me to put in more hours.  Church is asking me to play guitar more.  Ethan is playing basketball and practicing 2-3 times a week plus games.  Brock is so stinking busy, if you turn you back on him for 2 seconds, you don't know what you'll find when you turn around (like on his belly on the island counter top).  I am way behind on firewood for the year (luckily it has remained fairly mild thus far).  I am planning to finish part of the basement into another bedroom to move Michael into so we can move Brock out of our bedroom and into his own room.  I had to turn down playing soccer after a friend asked me to join their indoor team, just can't commit the time to play.

Typical Saturday: drop off Ethan for warm-ups before his first game at 9am.  Run to the gas station, grab some milk at the grocery store, pickup a package at the post office, and be back to the school by 9:30 for his game.  Home around 11 and replaced the furnace blower.  Grabbed a bite to eat and put in a quick 17 mile road ride.  Dropped Ethan off at grandpa's at 3 and stopped to get a truck load of firewood.  Home around 5 and showered and in town to get a sandwich and drop off Michael at the winter homecoming dance by 8p.  Back home, get Brock in bed (a chore in and of itself) and back to the school at 11p to pickup Michael.

Anyway, with the weather being mild for an Ohio winter, I have put in some miles outside instead of just on the trainer.  Speaking of miles, I finally looked at my 2011 log.  Managed 1,665 miles, 107,700 feet of climbing, and nearly 92 thousand calories.  Not too bad, more than double what I did in 2010.
Folks got me a near rear tire for the Masi, a floor pump, and a rechargeable taillight (Serfas USL-5R) for Christmas.  I'll try to write something up about the taillight.  Shelly also got me a 900 lumen headlight (bright!).  Now if I just had the time to get some night trail riding in.

Not a real blog post without pictures, right?

Christmas Eve's Eve OU ball game with Ethan.

The shadow proves the sunshine.

I love this old barn.  Ride past it all the time.

Glove and jacket weather.

Updates in Photos

Black Friday meant I got to take Ethan and Brock to the big park in Wilkesville.  Weather was crazy nice.

We finally started getting some eggs from our new chickens.  Mmmm, fresh happy eggs.

Finished off the pre-deer hunting week Saturday with a trip to Lake Hope for a ride with the new SLX brakes.  What a difference.  Single finger stopping, modulation is excellent, quiet, they don't drag.  Been a while since I was on the trail, too long.

Obligatory picture of our Christmas tree.  Thanks to Shelly, it got put up and decorated.

Newness

Got a new camera at work so I can shoot detailed photos of parts for the many reports I seem to be writing lately. Of course, no time at work to shoot so I can get familiar with the camera. Had bring it home to do that. On the plus side, I got to play around with to taking shots of my new disc brakes (Shimano SLX M666 with XT rotors) for the Monocog Flight. Pictures taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX5 on apature priority, without flash.

Enjoy.

Life Updates

Today is a strange day.  Looking back over the last week and wondering what took place, why I am exhausted, why my back hurts so bad...

Last Friday, November 11, 11, while we were honoring not only the US Vets but also remembering Eric's life on the anniversary of his death, we received the phone call that Helen Pidcock had just passed.  Helen was like a grandmother.  I say like, though she called us her grand-kids and we called her our adopted grandmother, we were not actually related.  Helen was just 92 years old.  She was as mentally sharp as I can ever remember and if it wasn't for her failing body, you would not have know she was a day over 50.  She was a colorful person.  Not only her personality but literally.  The inside of her house was painted in almost fluorescent colors.  She always dressed in bright colors.  I say this as it just didn't seem right to wear black clothes and drive my gray car to her funeral services.  I found my brightest dress shirt (purple) to wear with my black pants.  Then, thanks to Chris at Don Wood, I drove a Sunbeam Yellow Toyota FJ Cruiser to the funeral.  I think she would have loved that.  She was a big influence on my family's life and she will be missed.

Spent the weekend trying to get caught up, if only a little.  Split and stacked the rest of my firewood Saturday.  We finished the day planning to get pizza at Fox's in Rutland.  When we arrived, there was a large party and we were told that it would be over an hour before they could start our pizza.  Instead we ended up at the Court Street Grill in Pomeroy for burgers.  Not the plan, but worked out anyway.

Sunday I managed to get in a 20 mile ride in 20mph+ winds between lunch at mom's and dinner at the OU-AIA Thanksmas gathering.  We made food for their event and were supposed to help serve.  Ended up just helping clean up as they had more servers than they needed.

Woke up Monday barley able to stand up.  Not sure exactly how I did it, but managed to injure my back.  Not fun.

One more commentary.  Ethan had saved money to buy an iPod Touch.  We ordered it from Amazon over the weekend and it shipped from Lexington, KY on Monday via "Super Saver" shipping.  To save shipping costs, the box went from Lexington, past Athens to Grove City (Columbus), before it came back to Athens today for expected delivery on Weds.  Logistics...

That bites

Yeh, so after all the other little annoyances of the last few weeks, I broke a molar.  Luckily, not much of any pain with it other than the sharp edge of the tooth.  The dentist got me right in for xrays and a cleaning before fixing the tooth today.  They placed a form around the tooth and filled it in.  Good as new.

I know  I have complained about all the little stuff going on.  Not to say they aren't a pain to deal with, but it all could be so much worse.  The car fire was minor and the alternator fix a pain, but I had a backup vehicle that did a fine job.  My truck needed two trips to Pomeroy requiring me to burn time off from work just to replace the LED cab lights, but it is under warranty and the washed it.  Brock is still exhausting but healthy after a round of antibiotics and steroids.  Have to deal with the pain of getting Shelly's car fixed but nobody was hurt when she was rear-ended.  I can still eat and have plenty of food.  Firewood still isn't split and stacked, but I have a heat pump.  Work is a lot of work right now, but I have a good job.  The list goes on...

There are real pains and real issues.  Please consider supporting the groups that are at work for the horn of Africa.  Over 30,000 children have died of hunger from the famine.

One.org: the real 'F' word, sign the petition.
World Vision: donate to the relief fund.

Cycling front: need a new rear tire on the Masi already, squared mine off.  Also need to replace the brakes on the SS.  Between the crash last year that ripped the hose off and the mud race at Lake Hope, they are shot.  Big shout to Athens Cycle Path.  They have been very patient with me and all my questions about what to do regarding the brake set.