Everything Old is New Again

Interbike is the annual bike expo held in Vegas which features what's up and coming for the new year in bike. the show wrappped up Sunday and it seems every manufacturer has introduced a new model to tune in on one of the more popular cycling trends, the single speed commuter. They may be made of more exotic materials and have higher-end components but when you get down to it they have recreated Molly. Nice job! For only $800-$1000 I can go out and pick up a bike that is fashioned after one that is 32 years old and lurking in the basement. As Brandyn would say, "I really miss Molly".

  

2008: 3665 miles

September: 428 miles
09-30, Cecelia:17 miles

09-29, Cecelia:6 miles

Blown Away

My brother Brian. In 50 years I've never heard so many words from him at one time. And this in front of a couple of hundred people at his daughter's wedding. He totally blew me away with his calm, humourous and touching delivery. Hats off, you really did a great job.

My time at the rink this weekend was spent timing the kids to aid in the evaluation and then trying to convince parents to allow their kids to move up or down as their skill level demands. Most are at least willing to give it a shot, one wasn't and that soured the day. Others say yes and then continue to bring the kids to the wrong session which confuses the process to no end. It will work out somehow.

I cracked 400 miles for the month with a short ride before heading in to the rink Sunday. The weather doesn't look too promising but its been a good summer, I only got caught in the rain a handfull of times and never when I wasn't ready for it. As long as there are no snow banks I'll keep going as I'm not looking forward to my butt and Ethel getting together any time soon. The push up program had me at 49 this morning. Brandyn got up with me at 6am and watched from the couch under a comforter and never said a word. Since the program calls for 3 days a week I'm going to start the same system on the off days with situps. I'm okay with my weight but I need to get rid of the spare tire so I can feel comfortable in cycling clothes even when not surrounded by other people posing as sausages.

September:405 miles

09-28, Jill:6 miles

09-27, Jill:7 miles

09-27, Ceceila:1 mile

09-26, Jill:12 miles

Sounds of the Ride

I have had this in my head for 3 months now and ran across my draft in the blog edits. I really noticed the sounds all around me while riding and during the events of the ride.

 
the sweet sound of 14 million
the scream of the starter, RIIIIIDE!!!
the high pitched ratcheting of campagnolo free wheels
on your left and whoosh as a team sped by
the whirring of Jill's wheels at 38 mph
the click, click, click of 30 riders clipping in
the pounding of my heart on Mt. Hamilton
the encouraging cheer of the crowds
the hihowareyous as you passed or were passed
the roar of the falls as we approached
the sound of my own voice saying, I'm at the falls

September:379 miles

09-25, Cecelia:16 miles

I'm In

It's been nagging at me for some time now. Do I want to? Do I need to? Today I finally got answers to both, I do and I do. I registered for Conquer Cancer 2009. I feel like a weight has been lifted now that the decision is made and paid. Procrastinating cost me an extra $25 but I'm committed to doing it again. Hey Dave, wanna go for a little ride in June?

Since finishing the '08 Ride I've been slacking off, eating pretty much what I want. I haven't gained more than 5 lbs. but I know I wasted the summer after June. So here it is September and I make the decision to start training all over again, go figure. This time it wasn't even biking that got me to want to sign up. I started the 100 push ups plan on Monday. At first I thought it would be pretty easy just building to 100 in a session but Tuesday I had aches all over my shoulders, chest and stomach after doing the first session. I did the second set of reps this morning and felt great all day. In 6 weeks I'm supposed to progress from being able to do only 8 push ups I managed to start, to 100. We'll see. 

AJ picked up the winning rbi in the final game of the Senior Men's Championship slapping a short fly over 2nd base. Tipper pitched an incredible 1 hitter with 1 walk and 11 k's. Let the champagne pour. AJ managed to outscore the A's on his own with 9 runs in the series to their 6. It was great to see them hoist the hardware.

September:363 miles

09-24, Cecelia:17 miles

09-23, Cecelia:18 miles

09-22, Cecelia:16 miles

Another Weekend

Another weekend flew by. Saturday was an early start as the NHL hit the ice at 8am. I'm about halfway through evaluating kids and moving them to their ability groups. A few parents are fighting the placements but it will all work out in the long run. The youngest group has a few non-skaters so coaches were looking for chairs. Best I could come up with was the buckets we keep jerseys in. They worked really well as the 'bubvket brigade' got moving and had some fun. 

Brandyn surprised us all Saturday morning as he was out with his friend from across the street and came up the sidewalk 'pedalling' his tricycle. He has resisted pedalling anything in the past despite everyone's best efforts and the fact that his buddy zooms all over the sidewalk. 

I rode out to the curling club to help out with the banquet for the Northern Lights Men's Club on Saturday. I had planned to put Jill in the truck for the ride home but there was so much stuff to bring back to town I ended up riding home. Big mistake as I had maded the ill-advised decision to ride in my jeans. My butt was in worse shape after the 25 miles than the 120 in the Ride. Never again. Someone said 'nice bike' as I was heading out. He asked if I got it at Petries. He mentioned having a pair of bikes stolen and I said I was at Petries when they recovered one, a cop's bike. Turns out he was the cop.

The Dodgers ran out of offence tonight so game 5 will be played on Tuesday. Long time player Brad Crocker got the final win of his career (barring a miracle) as he shut down the Dodgers, allowing only 1 run. The A's sqeaked out a 2-1 win.

September:312 miles

09-21, Jill:5 miles

09-20, Cecelia:5 miles

09-20, Jill:25 miles

09-19, Bridget:10 miles

09-18, Bridget :15 miles

10 Seconds of Wonder

It didn't last long but it was somehow unforgetable. I was riding down the bike path along the McIntyre and where the path comes close to some of the building there is a 6 ft. chainlink fence. A small flock of sparrows took off in front of me and all but one veered off over the river. The one flew alongside me on the other side of the fence for 10 seconds, maybe even less. I don't know why but that instant of time made the whole day. 

AJ's Dodgers are up 2-0 in the finals winning by a combined 18-1. It's a shame that the playoffs are so late and most of the kids that go back to school, some of the top players, have to miss. The series is lopsided because the A's are missing some key players and even the Dodgers are short the rookie of the year.  AJ has been on a tear with the bat and his legs as he has scored 7 times in the series. Defensively the Dodgers have been strong behind great starting pitching. AJ made two gems in the first game. Charging in from short to take a softly hit grounder, picking it up on the run just behind the mound and throwing on the run. The other was a double play on a chopper to the pitcher who wheeled and threw to him at second where he had to jump the runner sliding in from first and then make the throw.

 

September: 252 miles

09-17, Bridget:16 miles

09-16, Bridget:14 miles

Hockey Season Begins

After I don't know how many years another season has begun. I was thinking about how fast the weekend went by and some of the things I really enjoy about this part of the year. Coming out of the rink into the warmth of the sun, soon enough it will be colder outside those doors. The smiles of 5 year olds getting their first taste of the game and sometimes the tears of 5 year olds who aren't quite sure what to make of it all. Being in the dressing room as hockey friends that haven't seen each other since last season meet and share bragging rights or just some fun. The excitement of the rookie parents with their cameras and enthusiasm at a first practice. The smell of the dressing room, okay maybe I don't enjoy that one as much as find some comfort in knowing it only gets worse as the year goes by and I won't have to be in there much later on. Meeting new parents and catching up with those returning. Being able to look back on where kids started when they get to be 10 or 11 and remembering their Bambi imitations. Knowing that for some unknown reason I'm back to see it all again. All in all, with some of the preseason stresses already worked out, it is a fun time of the year.

September: 222 miles

09-15, Bridget:18 miles 

NHL Hits the Ice

Northwood hit the ice for the first time tonight as 10 kids were out giving the pads a try. We'll have 6 teams and some have decided to split the time in net so that more kids will get a chance. I've never had an abundance of goalies before, one less source of stress. I also landed the sixth head coach tonight so that concern has passed. The rest of the kids hit the ice tomorrow and hopefully it won't rain on me again.

I just came across a link to some desktop wallpaper from the National Geographic Photo Contest. This shot of Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River is my new wallpaper.

I've been using Google's new Browser 'Chrome' for about a week now and it is pretty fast as advertised. With my double monitor setup I love how I can simply pull a tab off and throw it on the second monitor when I need to. It is pretty lean but does everything I need in a browser and since I use lots of Google software it is a good fit on my system. 

The guys at Petries recovered a stolen bike on Friday. A couple of kids pulled up and parked 'their' bike outside. They browsed around the Marin mountain bikes and asked if Petries was the only shop in town that sold them. Nathan noticed the white Marin outside as being a customer's recently stolen so he brought it inside and the kids took off after a brief altercation. There is an 'eye in the sky' camera up the street so they will probably get nabbed, the fact that the bike was stolen from the garage of one of our city's finest probably won't help their case much either.

If you are a regular reader, click the new 'follower' gadget on the right menu. 

September:204 miles

09-13, Bridget:11 miles

09-13, Cecelia:2 wet miles

09-12, Bridget:18 miles

Eric, Remember Me?

It's sure nice to hear that Eric Staal signed a new contract today that by rough figuring works out to about $100,000 per game. So in a single period, maybe 8 minutes of actual playing time, he will just about surpass my annual salary.

Remember me Eric, the guy that introduced you to Little League baseball? Probably not. I knew I should have kept in touch.

September: 173 miles

09-11, Cecelia:10 miles

Hello Al, The Leafs Need YOU!

As my last duty with Lakehead Minor I assisted with the AA draft. The four hour ordeal confirmed my faith in AA coaches. I believe most of them are on ego trips and just waiting for Brian Burke or Bob Gainey to call them up to take the reins of an NHL team. They have about as much of a chance to fly on the next shuttle mission. From picking another coach's son when the team has no means of protecting him to displaying a total lack of class these guys did it all. I can't say that 100% of them were at fault, but the gentlemen in the room will never have a fair shot at a competitive team. At least they can sleep at night. I thought that coaching was what happened on the ice at a practice, behind the bench or in the dressing room. Apparently you need to work the parents and the system and not be afraid of what a room full of your peers think of you. And kids aged 9-12 are in their hands for the next 6 months.

Cecelia is back on the job today with her new brakes, bar tape, front fender and working lights. I managed 5 miles on the way in but skipped the ride home at lunch as it was a bit soggy.

September:163 miles

09-10, Bridget:16 miles

09-09, Ceceila:16 miles

Weekend Adventures

I got in 2 nice long rides on the weekend. Saturday I left at about 4pm and headed through the south core street fair. Got a look at Terry's (from Petries) 73? Duster. You could literally eat off the engine block, totally restored and immaculate, and orange. From there I headed for the Tournament Centre to see how the AA evaluation skates were going and checked in on Tom Petrie at the little store and daycare they run out there. You gotta turn the tv off, it's attracting a crowd. I left there and went west on 61 to 130 and then back in through Rosslyn Road and the Parkdale path and home.

Sunday we went to Ed and Maureen Feller's for a great supper, some Super Tock (2 wins for the guys) and a short sleep before coming in this morning for work. I've never had speckled trout before and they had caught a 20" prize at their secret spot, miles up a creek and over some beaver dams somewhere Dorion. Maureen served it with a stuffing and it was great, as were Ed's potatoes and Sal's dessert. I rode out and found some pretty narrow stretches along Dog Lake Road, especially when somebody passes coming in the opposite direction. I love the hills too, not too many flat stretches north of 102.

For the skunks I passed, that had passed.

(road poems from the lonely cyclist)

Oh mister skunk,

you surely must have been drunk,

when you tried to cross the road,

to chase the tiny toad,

no sign of evolution did you show,

as you crossed the line so slow,

all the stink you could conspire, 

could not save you from the tire,

as it laid you flat,

and that was that.

quote from an ss blog. "Who am I? Nobody famous. but my dog likes me."

September: 131 miles

09-08, Bridget:11 miles

09-07, Bridget:25 miles

09-06, Bridget:32 miles

NHL Fills Quickly

With our online registration running since the first week of August it took only 2 hours at the college to fill the six teams for Northwood's 2008-09 season. Parents were given an option to pay $100 extra and do no extra fundraising. 39% of people decided to pay the extra, makes everyone's life easier. This will also put the pressure on those that decided to pick the fundraising option to follow through.

So many times lately I have grabbed what looked like a promising book from the library, read 50 or so pages and decided I had better things to do. With sleep apnea in full effect I wasn't able to read for more than a page or two and I lost one of the things that I enjoy doing every day. Now I can get into a good book, if only I could find one. Last weekend I devoured Conn Iggulden's 'Lords of the Bow'. It is a historical fiction based on the life of Genghis Khan, the Mongolian leader that brought the tribes together to take on the most advanced empire in the world. It was a book that left me wanting more and fortunately there is another prequel and a new final sequal due out this month. I'm reading the first of 3 now (I always seem to grab bokk 2 of a series) and also have book 1 of his Julius Caeser series on the go, but JC will have to wait until I finish with GK. 

AJ's team went up 3 games to 2 in the Senior Men's semis tonight with an 8-1 win. The local sports said he had 4 hits, 3 runs and stole 2 bases. He probably followed that up with 3 or 4 wobbly pops. I guess as long as I stay away they'll keep doing well.

September:63 miles

09-05, Bridget:15 miles

09-04, Bridget:14 miles

09-04, Cecelia:2 miles

Never Say Never

I guess I should have learned my lesson with the rain. Never say 'I never get...'. Today it was a flat. 

At 5 I had to meet with an investigator for Hockey Canada about a 4 year old legal battle that just won't go away. Hopefully the info I brought will help get the greedy sob off the coaches back. Anyway I wanted to ride Molly today as I wasn't sure how secure she'd be during the meeting. Somewhere on the bike path she snagged a tack. No loss in pressure and I didn't yank it out so it held the rest of the way to work and back and forth at lunch. No problems getting to the meeting but you guessed it, I leave at 6:15 and she's totally flat. Of course I was able to bring her right inside so I could have switched up at lunch. I had my mini-pump so I filled up and headed for Staples to make copies for hockey registration Thursday. I had to stop about 8 times to make the 4 miles home. I have some Marathon+ tires on order with Farzam but won't see them til '09 so Molly will be grounded for now.

I made a major traffic no-no heading back at lunch. I usually cross May St. and use the back lanes to avoid traffic, get on Southern and go over the foot bridge and around through Vickers to the bike path. There was no traffic so I decided to go up May and turn left from the inside lane but got caught by the yellow. There I am in the middle of 4 lanes of traffic at lunch, fun stuff. So I decided to jump on it to get through my left before the traffic could move but forgot the opposing lanes get an advanced green. Step on it we're in no man's land against the red. I made it through with room to spare but nearly got backed into 3 times as I went up my normal route as trucks kept pulling out of driveways and not seeing me in my apparently invisible orange jacket. Lesson learned.

September:32 miles

09-03, Molly:16 miles

09-02, Bridget:16 miles