Good Beaches and Bad Plumbing

Yesterday thanks to NoPoGirl Kona, Ky, and I headed out to Meldrum bar for a little bit of heat wave swimming.


Ky and Kona do a high five to celebrate the excellent conditions, limited crowds, only a little bit of white trash, and lots of cool clear water. We managed to find a secluded section of the beach away from the crowds of children that would have made my existence miserable trying to keep Kona in check.

Kona worked on his dogie paddle, while retrieving balls floating down the river and chasing ducks and geese. As usual, as the day wore on, Kona became the most popular kid at camp and began to ignore us as he played with his new best friends.

Once satisfied with the tiredness of Kona we departed the river and headed home. The evening brought book club (aka wine club) for Ky and a cyclocross training ride (aka beer ride) for me up into forest park. All went well except for a high speed lightless collision between Sanders and Cheevers. I am sure beer had nothing to do with it, Good times.

Today I awoke and prepared to take Kona for a morning walk to find a hissing noise coming from my basement. Further investigation (water on the floor) points to a burst valve on the only old plumbing in my house (the rest was replaced when the house was flipped). The plumber will be in route around 5pm this evening. Anyone want to make a wager, I am placing the over under at $200.

Good Times, Good Times.

UPDATE: Pacific Crest Plumbing rocks, I highly recommend them. With a quick adjustment and a recommendation for some future work my bill was zero dollars and no cents. That's right a plumber who is honest, I highly recommend Nick at Pacific Crest Plumbing. 503-252-8800

Hoist it High

News Flash: Joel Rosinbum won the Men's TR4 ParaTriathlon National Championship

Hoist that hardware to the sky (A Tiffany & Co. Silver Platter)! Keep your ears to the ground, there will be a BBQ scheduled to celebrate Joel's accomplishment.

In other news, my vacation is over, so sad. Back to "the grind", only 200ish emails, not too bad. On tap for today will be ignoring my boss so that I can finish a lengthy application to BPA as well as an application to PacifiCorp, thanks Jack for the heads-up.

As promised, an update on my efforts to go wireless. I had my "discovery" interview with the manager over at Verizon Wireless. I was told I would be contacted for a in-person interview, it will be a STAR (Situation or Task, Action, and Result) a.k.a. behavioral interview. If I make it through that interview (which I feel comfortable with, I have done a dozen of those at VZ) then it is on to an evaluation of my ability to make a presentation. Picture this; a room full of people that I don't know anything about, me standing up front presenting on a technical subject that I don't understand, me sweating inside my monkey suit, I can't wait!


In other, other news, I'm Fat! No I don't mean Phat. Now that vacation is over and most of my training for cycling is short distance, high intensity, I can't eat like I was this spring. So I am off to Fat Camp, or at least my mental fat camp. The fridge at work is loaded with healthy food, I have eaten most of my bad snacks, and I promise to myself no more cheeseburgers or doughnuts, the latter being tougher. On that note, anyone want a half dozen free something or another tokens for Burger King. I won a few free burgers and breakfast foods at BK through their Transformers II promotional game, I must resist, I must. Good thing my boss is trying to be a hard ass and not let people leave the office on the clock (even though we are salaried).

So here is the target; 10 lbs between now and Thanksgiving (can't lose my Clydesdale status for CX), 10 more lbs before next years Cherry Blossom SR.

Try and stay cool during the heat wave!

News Flash: Freshness

I have been validated by the hipster world, er or at least my cross bike has been. While running an errand downtown, carless, I was told by a passing gaggle of hipsters on fully loaded touring bikes that my Jake the Snake was "Fresh".


Keep in mind, the above photo is a stock photo, so it does not have all of the upgrades that make my bike oh so fresh.

In other news, vacation is such a wonderful thing, two days in I have already hiked 7.2 miles hilly, gone boating, attended a wedding anniversary party, drank 3ish lattes, worked with Kona on dock diving and visited a bike shop. Tomorrow brings Vancouver Courthouse Crit and the kick off to a week at Neskowin. I will do my best to let the people know how my interview went on Monday, but being a preliminary "discovery" interview I probably wont know much, other than VZW is just like VZ and likes to ask bullshit questions.

As I race on a Sunday, I ask you pray for "Rubber Side Down".

Tabor Done

Yes the fat lady has sung and the pain train is parked at the station, until next year. Mt Tabor and I had a tough start but I finally hit my stride on the last week and brought my A game. Unfortunately my A game is probably more like a C- compared to the skinny tall guys with tattoos that I race again. But then again, I like beers and burgers, so they can keep their girlish figure and enjoy that leafy green salad with tofu.

My fellow beef eater Mr Brian Barker formally known as Barker News (time for a new blog pseudonym) was also in attendance. He is a bit faster than me on longer climbs or anything that requires more fitness than raw power (no that is not a dig). After giving him a pre-race pep talk I thought he was going to whoop my ass, but it turns out his gas gauge was a little off, as I found him on two laps to go, so we initiated our grudge match. Brian struck first attacking me at the top of the climb of the last lap, after I had given him a nice wheel all the way to the top. He got 'off the front' so I chased him down catching him at the base off the final climb. He gave me the traditional Ironclad greeting, also known as the bird or the finger (we were inverted). I passed him and geared up leaving the bike in the big ring and dug real deep. Brian got dropped and in the process I picked up a PSU rider and pulled him to the line so that he could pip me.

Success, looks like I've got scoreboard, for now. Up next is Vancouver Courthouse Crit followed by the mid-summer crit series, one or two other crits and then the cross and kremese races will be on us!

Now for some beach time (and an interview on Monday, more to follow on that).

Chow.

Limits Found (Updated with Photo of Hood)

For your reading pleasure, this is version two of this entry with 75% fewer words.

Weekend done, limits have been found. What I had penciled for the weekend was reported to be "core" (as in hardcore) by one of my most hardcore active friends. I just thought it was a busy weekend that would be managed with strong coffee and lots of food. I was wrong.

Friday Night, Coldplay Concert, good show, no hearing damage.



3 hour drive starting at 1am, took some night time photos of Mt Hood via Trillium Lake (absolutely gorgeous full moon view of the mountain). Saw a deer, took a nap, had two servings of McDonald's, briefly fell asleep behind the wheel. Took another nap.

Mt Hood Via Trillium Lake at 3am.

High Desert Omnium, crit race began, I was did great until my calf muscles seized up and I got dropped / pulled from the race. Back to the house, another nap, another race. The time trail was intense, speeds were high, climbs were steep, someone crashed hardcore, I thought I would too.

After the TT it was off to downtown to visit a childhood memory and get a milkshake at Goodys. Still every drop as good as it used to be and for nostalgia sake I even ordered $2 worth of gummy coke bottles.


Food and sleep, one more race. I thought it would be over for me at the base of the first climb, I was wrong. I made it all the way down to and around Craine Prairie before I got dropped, probably one of my better attempts at a race. Next year I swear I am going to finish a road race and sprint for victory, well maybe just finish with the leaders.

I skipped the post race Burger & Beer and headed back to Portland in favor of not crashing the car for falling asleep at the wheel. Heavy traffic and some rain, back home. Ate some food, watched a little TV, back to sleep.

Now I "work". Never again will I attempt this madness again.

I hope.