stuck

Sometimes I start something, a good project and can't stop cleaning, today I cleaned the fridge. It almost nothing in it except for condiments and a bottle of juice for B. It was wonderful, citrus cleaner and a clean sponge, it looks so cool! I know a clean fridge isn't the sort of thing I blog about, or much less you like to read about, but my fridge looks great! Is yours as clean as mine?

long day

I managed over 5 hours yesterday, in the wind. At one point it took me 15 minutes to go up a little 2k rise. Really stiff wind, all day. Somehow the last hour wasn't too bad, aside from being out of water and food it was a great finish. I was lucky enough to meet up John for a while, good coffee ride there and then oddly saw Scott and Evan on the road right after leaving John, so nice to ride with people on really long days. The redneck factor was pretty low all day, one or two close calls, not bad for a Sunday afternoon. I didn't have a problem with the new cables or new tires, my mechanic skills haven't totally left me!

21005#2

Some days at work just aren't as bad as others, sort of like the Smith's song; some girls are bigger than others I had the new issue of bicycling to sit down with, not a very busy morning and it was a blue water day. Nothing like sitting down to a fresh bowl.

21005

OK, today I cave, I'm going to buy a balaclava, mine isn't going to turn up before I get frost bite on the commute. I'll get a lighter weight one so maybe I can breathe through it. The mitts are going back on the bike too, way too cold today to skip them.

Linger

I keep looking for the light at the end of tunnel, the cold lingers, we took B to the doctor yesterday for his cough. My cold/cough sounds the same so by the logic of Kramer the doc didn't prescribe him anything so I shouldn't worry right? The same thing as when Kramer went to the vet with the dog who had the same cough he did. I love Seinfeld logic. I want to ski and ride my bike outside, explore the hard pack hiking trails on the single and get out to the nordic center to skate but no, it just lingers, pretty shitty stuff. The good thing is instead of working out I get to think, lately I've been thinking a lot about work and how much I just need to suck it up and not complain, it's a good job, but, well, it is work. Maybe if it was more challenging I could get more into it but it just isn't. So instead I have decided to embrace my situation and look for ways around the boredom, maybe I will try harder but there isn't much motivation to do that because the promotions aren't any better than the current spot. Amazing how bad it is, but that's corporate America, tons of bullshit. I get to help out with insurance and a bit of money, the best thing is getting three days off a week, lots of time with Beckham!

coffee & groceries

A lot of talk the past few weeks about starbux (javasport, gwadzilla and kottke.org) and how many are in your area. I guess I'm lucky in that I have one within 15 miles and three if you count all of summit county. Not that I am against their coffee, I think their coffee is just fine, if you like that style of roast. My issue is with the predatory practices that they apply. I know the company is routinely rated as a good employer but what of the practice of running the little guys out of business? I feel torn, if I travel I seek out the little coffee shop, but what resource is there to find independent coffee shops? I avoid Walmart and try to avoid the other big box stores, but I shop at City Market and when I'm lucky spout of entirely too much how I love Whole Foods and all of their wonderful wares. I know I come off as a hypocrite, but I like to eat and sometimes get lazy and go to the easy spot for my food. On the upside I haven't frequented a fast food place in 8 years. I know this has been an odd post, the train of thought ran away a bit.

sun265

Whatever I had didn't want to leave my system, maybe four hours on thursday wasn't a great idea but I needed the work. I couldn't have felt better on the bike, weird how crappy i felt friday and saturday. Today my first real day off and I plan on getting better, lots of good food, fruit and juice. I'll cavE at somepoint and get out on the skis, thanks to Shaubie I don't have to poach after hours, I'm good at all the nordic centers in the county, she got me a pass through work. Pretty nice to know I'm legAl, and I don't need to bullsHit an excuse. I'll spend some of the day rebuilding the Orbea and get it set up with the new bars, photos to follow.

road

No doctor visit for B yesterday, his cough was too deep for anesthesia. So instead he went to school and I got to go to Denver and ride four hours. Not that the weather was great but it was warm enough to enjoy the time. The legs were great but not today. I feel it now, plenty of lactic acid lingering in there. We rode a pretty hilly route, lots of rollers and some pretty sharp at that. Almost no wind, which was strange. It felt so good to roll without all the clothes and mittens and biting chill, this morining I relished the cold coming in but yesterday it was nice to be out of it for a few hours. I was so warm last night and into this morning that I needed that cold air to lower my thermostat. Playing pseudo hookie made me feel like I'm training again. I know it's just the early steps but steps are being made.

Today winter temps were back for a bit, minus 10, I really need that balaclava for the early trip in to work. I keep forgetting to buy one or hoping my mine will appear. My chin was so cold after I got to work it took 20 minutes to get the feeling back. The ride home was as sweaty as the hour I did on the rollers after I got home. Lars gave me the 2004 Giro to watch, it couldn't have been more motivating, good scenery, great riders and the best grand tour of them all.

Post-ski snack

After getting off the snow yesterday I got in the car and found a little container with ginger snaps in it, from a week ago. Reading javasport (Jeff's blog) another if the skiers far better than I that help out with my ignorance in regards to nordic skiing. I remembered just how much skiing makes me hungry, especially in the falling snow when it's cold and dark. With Jeff's input and various other good skiers I get to benefit from their experience and knowledge. The cookies had been in the car about 10 days and they weren't even that stale, hmmmmm? When you're that hungry old food lingering in the car is just as good as a fresh basket of fries and a tofu burrito with extra chili oil. Check out javasport in the margin links.