Walking in the Rain

I thought it would a good idea to start walking a bit more as riding back and forth to work really doesn't provide enough of a workout. I certainly picked a fine day for a walk. Puddles and (sorry Mom) worms everywhere. I wore my rainsuit, so while dry from the outside I was wet from the inside. I got to work thinking I had a spare t-shirt here, nope just a fleece. I tried to dry the t-shirt but to no avail. Then I broke my reading glasses in half. I tried squinting at the monitor until about 9am then called Sal, sorry.

The Dodgers picked up their second city crown in 3 years last night on a drippy and cold night. Sal saw the lights on from Fort William Road so she went over and sat in the drizzle to catch the end of the 10-3 game. They played 2 best of 7 series and lost only once. Nice going.

Dodgers One Win Away

AJ's Dodgers recovered from a bad game to take a 3-1 lead in the Senior Men's final. He had another good night with 3 hits despite a sore throwing elbow and stiff left wrist. Even in the 13-4 loss on Sunday he scored 2 of their 4 runs but wasn't his best defensively. They had all of the backups in the game to start which at this point is a nice gesture from the coach but not a winning one.

Mike sent me a text on Sunday when I was at Delaney, "guess where I am". I was thinking, no hoping, he was riding his bike in Banff, even a vicarious ride in Banff would be cool. Wrong. He was in a rink doing player evaluations. He's going back behind the bench in hockey. Be brave Calgary.

I was dragged over to Moore's to get a suit for the wedding this morning. Arrrrgh. I would rather wear spandex bike shorts in public than a suit. Heck I could have gotten a nice fixie for the price of a suit I'll wear once, ok maybe twice.

I'm getting pressure at work to decide if I'm staying on after the move. I wish I had never even mentioned the HNO job possibility. I just can't see much of a future if things stay the same even in a smaller, cheaper location. I did offer another plan where Dave and I would hold the fort and see how things go without the family present day to day. It wasn't dismissed without discussion so maybe that's a way to gain some ground.

The Face of a Future Star?

He came a long way this weekend. Last week he was barely standing, spent more time on his butt than his blades. This week he was moving. Small strides, the hint of a glide and a lot more blade time. He even dangled the biscuit from one side of the rink to the other. None of the other bambis could keep up. Check out the highlights.

 

Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. AJ Kresack

I know he had a great couple of games but I never expected Harper to come and shake his hand...

Week in Review

The highlights of this week were few.

Tuesday I was at the AA draft where a few coaches made asses of themselves. With the first pick overall one coach proceeded to 'select' 9 coaches kids from other teams, none of which were first round picks. For every one we had to hand out papers for ranking by every team, collect them and then come up with a round where the player belonged. After 5 of these I noticed that there was no ranking of 1. So they were calling the name of a player that they knew was not a first round pick just to get the coach of another team to use a protection. I'm proposing a 3 game suspension.

AJ's Dodgers won a questionably scheduled game one of the finals on his double to the fence in center field on Tuesday. He's hitting with some unusual power as he got a double and a triple in Thursday's thumping and was on after every at bat. They have a 2-0 lead in the best of 7.

I got my resume into HNO and after a frustrating week at FCD I'm hoping it works out. I'm not really relishing the thoughts of moving the shop or stock. I had shop work all week but have to stop and wait for deliveries to go so I keep getting pulled up front. It's very hard to give a customer a time when a job will be done when I have to stop every 30 minutes.

The Ginko and I spent Wednesday night playing Wii sports. He kicked my butt at just about everything, I think he gets a bit more practice.

Today I'm home catching up on banking and paperwork for various leagues. I started the baseboard project Wednesday and I think we have a colour to go with. The mitre saw I picked up a few years back works like a charm. No more excuses.

1st Day Hurdles

Brandyn made it through the biggest hurdle in a rookie's career, his first day on skates. He was falling frequently when I checked on him early but after a re-tightening of the laces he was staying on his feet. As for the rest of the day I collected over 50% of the registration fess and we had just 5 kids MIA so it went pretty well. Threatening phone calls and emails have already been delivered, it's so nice to have the leverage of a waiting list 20 kids strong.

I just finished my 'curriculum vitae' for the HNO manager's job and also signed in online for part-time postal worker. I got a good tip from a dad who got in recently so I wasted no time. Now that I've told the boss I'm looking, I feel kind of liberated.

AJ and I went to Curtis' stag last night. I just had dinner at the Keg and skipped the other entertainment. Curtis was poured home around midnight so he missed some of the activities as well. He won't miss his hangover.

first days on ice

on his way to a daze

More Geekiness

As if bike helmets aren't geeky enough. After riding home from the college after registrations and meetings in the dark this week, I was told I needed a light. I stopped in at Petrie's and checked out the goods. I ended up with the Night Rider Mi-Newt USB. It mounts anywhere, has lithium ion rechargeables, and is very light and small. I have it mounted on my old/winter helmet so I can switch bikes easily and don't have to leave it out for thieves. I still need a more powerful tail-light.

Can't Please 'Em All, Won't Try

I'm sure glad I left for work a bit early this morning. As it was, it was cold, windy and raining but 10 minutes after I got out of the rainsuit it poured.

I was told tonight that "kids that don't have computers can't play in Northwood" because there are no spots left for the walk-in registration. Someone whose kids changed their minds and now want to play "will do as many bingos as you want", if I take a spot from someone else who never waivered on playing.

Single Speed Ride to Camp

I've done this ride quite a few times over the last three years but today I decided to give it a go single speed. This was the first time all year that I went all the way in as Jill's skinny tires and loose gravel are a bad combination. Eowyn's big fat Maxxis Holy Roller tires are perfect for the pavement/gravel conditions. She's geared to pretty much go anywhere but not very quickly. When you only get one gear to pick from it has to get you up the hills, gravity will get you down. On flat ground I can comfortably spin at about 20 kmph. When I reached Moose Hill I stopped at the Fire Hall for a drink and to eat a peach. I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd gone 28 km in 1 hour and 36 minutes. I was using my phone's gps to track the ride, no speedometer on the bars leaves me much more comfortable and allows me to just ride without worrying about how far or fast I'm going. The almost 18 kmph is very close to what I do with a fully geared skinny tired bike. And Eowyn is the most comfortable ride I have. The 1980's steel frame and big tires mean a smooth ride and no pain in the shorts or hands. If I could just find a place to stop to get rid of some of the gatorade, life would be just about perfect.

About 5 km up the road after passing the old MTO yard where I thought I might see a biffy but didn't, I saw a bright blue portable on the other side of the highway. Excellent. I finally took off my jacket and continued up 61 to the Sturgeon Bay Road. Now the fun begins. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to urge Eowyn up the hill just past Walker Road or the monster at the gravel pit. Hopping off and pushing was no real surprise. Cramps in my calves as I was walking were.  I reached the top of the steeper part and gingerly climbed back on, being careful not to put my leg in a position that would cause the tug of another cramp. I clipped in with my left foot and just as I began to push down I was grabbed by a huge cramp and my leg decided to stop doing anything my brain was asking. Balance went south and I fell north into the middle of the road in the middle of a hill. I quickly checked to make sure my phone hadn't jumped out of my pack, stretched my leg to alleviate the pain of the cramp and then decided I had better get my butt off the road before someone tried to crest the hill.

I got up checked things out and found no damage to the bike or myself. Pulled another long drink of gatorade and then got back on again, this time easing the pedals down and slowly building a bit of momentum. I made it up the rest of the hill and then stretched my legs in turn as I freewheeled down the hill on the newest and roughest part of the road. Another short climb follows and I rode up that one right on the edge of cramps. You can feel them just lurking, one big push and they grab that muscle and pull like a dog that stole a steak. I managed to creep up the rest of the hills and reach the highest part of the road and then glide down to the spot where you first see Lake Superior for a picture. On my first ride out here in 2007 on the CTC piece o'crap I stopped there to do the same. It felt pretty good to get here today too.

From this point it's a long run downhill back to the edge of the lake at Sturgeon Bay and then around the bay to the biggest climb. I rode to it and part way up but there was no way my legs or the gears were going to let me ride it all. I happily hopped off and pushed about 100 yards up the steepest section, climbed back on and slowly pushed the pedals the rest of the way. Down the other side back to the lake and we're done. 52km in 3 hours and 7 minutes, the new single speed record. Looking back to the post about my first trip out by bike I see that I made the top of the hill for pictures in just under 3 hours so the ss record beats that first ride on a geared bike, crap that it was.

To top off the day, the men won the Alleys rematch 3 games to 1. Three of the games went down to 1 move remaining, as close as it can get.

September 2010

August 2007

View SS Ride to Camp in a larger map

Ginkovechkin

We took Ginko to Petries to get suited up for hockey this morning. He decided he wanted to be a goalie for about 5 minutes. I gave him a pad and told him he could just stand behind it. He gave up on that and Tom got him set up with just about everything he needs. It's going to be different having someone in the fold again. I can feel some more energy behind me this year.

Inspired in September, What A Dumbass

It's not every week you hear humidex and wind chill in the news but this week has had it all. In a matter of just 3 days we've gone from 40c (104f) to 8c (46f), maybe lower tomorrow morning. Riding to work this morning was an adventure in dodging puddles and raindrops. Amazing how our newest chunk or roadway has 6 feet of puddles along the curb. I wore my rain suit and it was cold enough not to work up a sweat but my shoes kept getting splashed so I spent the day in damp socks. The ride home was actually fun as the 50km wind was at my back, just point the bars south, a few turns at the pedals, sit back and feel Mother Nature pushing me homeward.

No plans for Saturday yet but Sunday we head out to Mom and Dad's for the Alley Rematch. I'm hoping to ride out. Just for an extra challenge I'm thinking singlespeed. Eowyn is the candidate so far. Jill is pouting since she hasn't been out in more than a month. I've been inspired by Noodle and Precious. They are 2100+ miles into crossing the US for Livestrong. The setup they have actually sends twitter post from the bike, all pre-programmed to happen when certain events take place. Here's a link to a short video showing how it all works.

I got the ice schedule for Northwood for the upcoming season. I'm very happy with it. The lady who has done the scheduling for the city since before I began has retired and her replacement only trained for 2 weeks. At least she didn't try to reinvent the wheel. We're back in the Gardens once the end of September rolls around and have our usual time slots.

I just have to say that feeling inspired to do some big cycling adventure in September is just plain dumb. Better late than never I guess.

This and That

The cool air sure feels good but hidden under that friendly temp is lingering humidity. Just start moving around and the sweat is back. Sure beats hurricanes though. It looks like we're in for a loooong weekend of sitting indoors.

The manager's job at HNO is open again. The young guy that got the job three? years ago left at the worst time possible, just as everything is getting into gear. Haven't decided whether or not to send a resume again but I have major support from at least one board member. And as another LMHL exec said, 'nothing ventured nothing gained'. I'm pretty sure the writing is on the wall for my current employer so I'm leaning towards giving it another go.

I found a very cool website while reading over at Fat Cyclist yesterday. It's a blog submitted by the bike of a girl riding across the U.S. for Livestrong. She has it wired into the web somehow so that it constantly gives readouts of mph, distance traveled, direction etc. Check out I Am Precious.

Did anyone lose a van?