Mixing Concrete

Over the last few months, I have been sharing a lot of my other hobbies and passions with all the interwebs to see both here and over on the book of faces.  Most of the sharing comes in the form of pictures of food I am either about to throw on a grill, something already on the grill or something just off the grill.  I very rarely share the recipes, only drool inducing photos.  Today, I thought I would share with you a recipe I have been perfecting for years.  A recipe so good, it could win a blue ribbon at any local 4H competition, how to properly mix concrete in your legs.

Anyone who has swung there leg over a bicycle either recreationally or competitively has at one time or another either experienced heavy or cramping legs.  Legs that just don't want to move.  Legs that have been set into concrete.  Follow these easy steps for your very own DIY concrete legs or do the exact opposite if you aren't the following type.

1. Prep work is key.  If the area in which you are mixing the concrete isn't cleaned out properly the concrete will not settle and harden as it should.  The day before you are scheduled to pour the concrete, go out for a long hard ride.  This will ensure your leg cavities no longer have any toxins in them.  It also helps tear the muscle fiber in the tiniest of bits which allows the concrete to properly adhere to your quadriceps.  Proper rehydration is not suggested.  Have you ever tried pouring concrete straight into a lake?
2. The morning of the pour, you may start to take in some fluids.  I recommend one glass of fluid in the early morning and that is it.  Be careful though, too much fluid and you will ruin the consistency of the mix which prevents the concrete from setting up perfectly.
3. Follow that up with a long day in the hot sun.  You do not have to be doing anything active, just be out there.  This is when the pouring actually takes place.
4. After a long day in the sun and the temperatures start to fall outside, you may have your first and only bite to eat for the day.  This bite needs to be in the form of pure junk.  Something with a good bit of sugar in it but with nothing of good nutritional value.  Gummy Bears, Mike & Ikes and vegan cupcakes all work well with two of the three tasting much better than the third. Certainly, nothing with protein.  Protein will start to speed up the body's attempt to repairing your torn muscles fibers which you worked so hard to rip in step one.  You might as well be breaking out a jackhammer!  
5. The sugar you just took in will give your body just enough energy to keep the concrete from freezing overnight.  Frozen uncured concrete will crack a lot easier than if it cures fully.  Now go to bed.
6. After waking up, go for another ride and reap the fruit of your labor.  If you followed the recipe exactly, you will be blessed with legs too heavy to move and your friends will think they are getting faster because they can actually keep up with you.

Swimming in Cyclist Style

When working in a shop you are often asked many of the same questions on a daily basis. Being surrounded by triathletes, one of the most common questions I hear is "Do you do triathlons?" My response is always a coy "No, I swim like a rock."  Which isn't necessarily true as I can swim well enough to not drown in the first 3 minutes of being in the water but that's about it.  Jenn has a standing offer to work with me on my swimming when I want it to truly learn but for now it doesn't fit into my long term plans which means it gets no short term love.

Yesterday, my body was more tired than I it was letting on.  I know this because the plan was to pick up the bike and gear from the shop, eat some lunch and then go for a ride.  The plan was derailed when I fell asleep on the couch after eating lunch and didn't wake up until 3 hours later.

At that point my normal routes from the house would have me playing in traffic during rush hour so I opted to head across town to Westcreek and head a bit west from there.  After being on the bike for a few miles, I had come up with a route in my head then it donned on me, I was about to go swimming in a pure cyclist fashion.  I would ride towards all the roads which are named after some form of water.  

I started in the creek and road towards the river (River Rd).  Like most rivers, the road tends to really flow especially after a lot of rain.  Well the rain on this day was rush hour and I decided to save the splashing around in the river for another day.  

Instead, I thought diving into a Shallow Well would be a bit safer.  After all I was wearing a helmet and there aren't any no diving warning signs posted or flashing in my head. With no fear of spinal injury or head trauma I jumped in just deep enough to get my leg hairs wet while keeping my chamois dry.   

The route was beautiful, the flow was steady and I think I am now a believer in this thing people call swimming.  But for now, my swimming and your swimming will continue to defer ever so slightly.

Naughty List

Today was the perfect day to get out on the bike and just enjoy the ride.  With just a couple of days left before Christmas I spent the majority of my ride taking in the decorations.  I was flying high with the spirit of Christmas.  Somewhere about 35 miles or so into the ride I came up behind another rider.  We were heading the same way so now I company for the next 10 miles or so.

People ask me all the time about run ins with cars but I cannot honestly remember the last time I was honked or yelled at.  Today that changed.  We stopped for a red light and once the light changed and we started back up, we were passed by two cars with no problem.  The driver of the third car came by with the horn blowing and window down.  He let up on the horn to yell to us "Get off the ******* road!"  I usually just let stuff like this go without response but I replied "Merry Christmas!"  He then gave me the early present of the finger.  I know one guy who's stocking is going to be full of coal.

Island therapy

This past week was supposed to be a relaxing getaway full of sun, sand and saddle time.  I keep telling myself, two out of three isn't bad.  Looking back to recent history, I cannot remember the last time I had been so relaxed.  Not a worry in the world once I stop worrying about my level of fitness and health.

The first day down here, I did some running on the beach.  This wasn't your typical "let's go for a run" type of run.  You all know I wouldn't say or do such a thing. Instead, it was just a few short pain free minutes (maybe 20) of throwing the frisbee with Todd.  The following morning was a different story.  My right hip flexor started to yell obscenities with my every attempt to move it.  I tried to reason with it, explaining this was a family beach and those kind of words would not be tolerated. I even tried smacking it around a bit.  That didn't work either.

With this slated to be a heavy mileage week in preparation of the upcoming ADK 540, I got on my bike and headed out for the better part of the morning.  I wish I could report the ride was a success but it was anything but.  I quickly became frustrated as I attempted to break the world record of completing the most missed turns in the first half of a ride.  At the same time, the hip pain had now stretched all the way down the outside of my leg.

At one point it was bad enough to bring me 79.9% of the way to mentally breaking.  Instead of crawling into a ditch to cry, I turned the wheel towards home and bagged the rest of the ride.  The ride ended up, being less than 5 miles shorter in that direction.  The original route would have been more scenic but without the mental fortitude it certainly wouldn't have been more enjoyable.

Fast forward through two days of extreme hip therapy consisting of hours upon hours of sitting on the beach perfecting all my amazing tan lines. What most people try to avoid, I usually excel.  My crisp, sharp lines of differing color on my skin would make any cyclist proud.

Yesterday, I awoke and my hip had stopped yelling at me so I decided to take a few laps around the island.  The plan was to ride for as long as I could go without feeling any pain in my hip.  That lasted close to 4 miles.  Frustrated, I finished up 2 laps of the island which are similar to extended loops of Westcreek but without any sort of change in elevation just flat, mind numbing miles.  And yes, I do realize Westcreek doesn't have any real elevation change but it does require me to use the rear shifter twice every 6 miles.  So I went back to the self-prescribed beach therapy.

Like my new do?

It looks as if I will be giving it one more crack this morning when the other 8 members of the house take to the road for a few laps of back and forth action.  If only the superpowers of the flat, straight roads could be used for good (hip numbing) instead of evil (mind numbing) my world would be perfect.

Getting Hitched

Last week while Jenn was out of town, I had ordered a hitch to be mounted on the back of the Highlander. It arrived but was too heavy and awkward for my little man arms to lift, hold and bolt into place all by my lonesome it had to wait.  Yesterday, the weather was extremely nice for a Saturday afternoon in August and it was decided today was the day to get hitched once again.

Now the reason I decided to have one delivered to the house and not "professionally" installed by a local dealer was the labor rates.  More than one company quoted me ~$150 to have it installed.  I stopped calling after that and watched a Youtube video.  How hard could it, I just watched it on youtube.  

The instructions provided with the hitch stated a professional install would take approximately 20 minutes while a novice install would take 40 minutes. After crawling up and under the rear of the car to make sure I knew which were the appropriate holes to be filling with my bolts, I decided 20 minutes was certainly achievable.  I laid out the toolbox to find I had misplaced one of my ratchets.  Of course it was the one I needed to install this hitch in 20 minutes or less.

A quick run to the local Home Depot store was now necessary.  I entered the store with a very short list of needs and a long list of "needs."  Some of you may call those "needs" "wants" and I could get go on to explain to you the differences between "needs" and "wants" but its a losing battle.  You just wouldn't understand if you don't already get it.  Somehow, I left the store with only those needs and nothing from the "needs" list.  This was a first for me.  One that must mark a new level of maturity or just an extreme amount of focus on the task at hand; install in less than 20 minutes.

Once back at home with all the appropriate tools in hand, Jenn was summoned to come out to help and the timer was started.  From there, the job went by in a flash.  We crawled under the car, lifted it into place, started the bolts in the holes and tightened those bad boys down.  12 minutes and we were done. 

  

We didn't even have to use a 2x4 like the "professional" in the youtube video.  Jenn's joking reply was that we obviously did something wrong if we didn't have to use one.  With the utmost confidence in my ability to do simple tasks, I offered to go out and hit the hitch with a 2x4 if it would make her feel better.  Having seen my mad pinata striking skills and not wanting her vehicle dented, Jenn asked that I not swing a 2x4 in the vicinity of the hitch or car.  I can't say that I blame her.

New SRAM drivetrain or lunch?

Shifty bits it is

Now its time to figure out what's for lunch

Ramping it up

With the ADK 540 quickly approaching, almost one month away, the miles and saddle time are really starting to add up.  Well they should be increasing if I were following anything that may resemble the slightest bit of a training plan.  But I'm not and neither are the miles.

With Jenn in Washington (the state not the district) until Tuesday with her mom, I have been on pup sitting duty.  Wednesday Sage, Petra and I were joined by our good friend Dusty aka Doodle aka Dustball aka ... I'll just stop there.  Just like all of our beloved pets he has a million nicknames and answers to only one of them.

Dusty and Raven staring at each other through the gate

Dusty has been having some issues with the strength in his hips and cannot walk up stairs very well.  This didn't bode well with me because I have been having some issues with the strength in my back.  I woke up Thursday morning with a very tight lower back from trying to pick up Dusty's massive 100+ pound Husky self and carrying him down the stairs so he could relieve himself in the lawn and not on the carpet.  Knowing my back would not hold up to 5 more days of that, I built a ramp leading off the front porch.

Yep, its our old front door.  Works like a charm

Thursday afternoon, I got in a short ride across town.  I had to ride over and provide a lift to the airport.  My lower back had tightened up to the point where everything in the back of my legs were also quite tight which is why I decided to not take a ride yesterday.  At this point in the game it's also probably best that I rest any injuries so they do not become long drawn out nagging ones.  They say with age comes wisdom, could this be the start of it?