My Famous Wife (and dog)

The latest issue of Race Center magazine has the final 2005 TriNorthwest rankings. My wife is the 10th ranked olympic distance female in the Northwest (Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.)

She is also a calendar girl. Mary and Sampson both are in a calendar of local endurance athletes. Here are some pics from their photo shoot.


If anyone wants a calendar, they can check out the Wild Rivers Multi Sports website in the "Other Links" section, or let me know, and I'll try to getcha one. The calendars are $10, but since its damn near March, I'd imagine they're quite discounted.

Cross-Country Skiing

Hello blogholes. Today is President's Day. If you didn't get the day off, or get holiday pay, do you really care? On Friday Mary and I went to Eureka because I had a Pediatric Advanced Life Suport recertification class I needed to take. We ate some delicious food and spent a ton of money at Target. It's funny living in the sticks, and getting all excited about Target. Work this past weekend was uneventful. This week is my easy week. I only work Wednesday and Thursday.

Since seeing Peter Gabriel during the Opening Ceremonies I've been listening to his 1986 blockbuster "So." There is some pretty good songs in there. I recomend it. The album makes me think of the movie Say Anything, which makes me think of Cameron Crowe. Has he ever made a shitty movie?

Speaking of the Olympics, is anyone else pissed off with NBC's coverage? They show every single heat of boring snowboard cross, and like 50 hours of ice dancing, but hardly any of the game's premier event, the men's 4 x 10k relay. I don't get it. We decided we're going to the Vancouver Olympics is 2010. I also decided I'm going to xc ski race in the wintertime when we finally move. XC ski equipment is a bargain compared to cycling stuff.

I have a 50 mile ride planned for today in zone 2. Its sunny and warm again here. I saw the other day it was -45 F windchill back in Grand Forks. Ouch.

Return of the Jedi

Hello Blogland. The weather in Crescent City has been perfect lately. Sunny with mild temps and not much wind. I've been taking advantage of the weather by going on some pretty kick-ass bike rides. I'm trying to ride the cyclocross bike a couple times a week, to mix up the training a bit. Here's some pics from today's ride through some old growth redwoods. I felt like an imperial speeder cruising around dodging trees and ewoks.



90 minutes at zone 4 (179-191.) Its way easier to do really hard workouts on the cross bike, then to just pound the miles away on the road. Today was my first foray into zone 4 this year. I also practiced some mounts and dismounts. I need to work on my mounts.

The Olympics are great.

Peter Gabriel, Ferrari, and Pavarotti

Well the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics were awesome. Usually I think that stuff is lame, but i got into all the weird dancing stuff and fireworks. The part where a bunch of dancers formed a ski jumper was pretty cool. I also liked the dudes on rollerblades with fire shooting out of their heads. The cheesy disco music when all the athletes walked out was retarded though. Peter Gabriel singing John Lennon's "Imagine" was pretty good. At least Yoko didn't sing. The F1 car was delicious. I haven't watched F1 for a while, and I forgot how extremely loud they were. Pavarotti kicked ass. Here are some pics. Today is the men's 5000m in speed skating. American Chad Henrick is the favorite.

Olympics

Its Olympics time bitches! Here is a link to NBCOlympics.com. It has a schedule of when all the good stuff is on, so you don't get stuck watching ice dancing. Here is the Offical Torino 2006 site. All the cross country skiing events are cool (including biathlon) and so are all the speed skating events. I can do without any of the judged sports (snowboard halfpipe, figure skating.)

Anyone wonder why cyclocross isn't in the winter olympics?

Star Trek: The Next Generation

When I'm at work I can't get enough of this crap. There is 6 hours of it on each day. 3 hours in a row on Spike, and another 3 hours on G4. I haven't watched it on my days off yet, but for the last 6 months or so I've been watching it at work. Yesterday Picard was captured by the Borg. My wife makes fun of me.

Journalistic Integrity

We here at Leedahl's Life feel it's neccessary to view the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that has Muslims in a tizzy. Few news organizations are ballsy enough to show them. Here they are. The first picture is how they appeared originally in the Danish newspaper. Don't burn my house down.

Phone Tag

Hello Blogland. It seems I cannont get a hold of the Colorado Springs guy. He's never in his office. He leaves a message for me, and I return his call and leave a message for him. It's currently my turn again. I'm thinking I'll go there Feb. 19th and return Feb. 23rd. That will give me enough time to take the test and lock down a place to live when we move.

It's been gorgeous here the last few days. Sunny in the mid 60's with no wind. It's nicer now then it is in summer. Yesterday's ride was awesome. I actually had to take the leg warmers off because it was so warm.

Why is this guy the authority on technical bicycle matters? He looks like a pedophile.

I've been listening to the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street" lately. What a wonderful album. A bonus is its the perfect length for an hour long trainer session. Does anyone else's tragus feel like its being brutally tortured by the iPod earbuds? I can only wear the bud in my right ear for like a half hour, and then it needs a little break. My left ear is fine though. Maybe someone specializing in otorhinolaryngology can chime in.

My bicycle is calling me. 3 hours and about 50 miles planned today. I might post again later tonight.

Seizures and Other Neurological Side Effects

I hope nobody had a seizure from looking at the pictures of the Tiki Bus. I have to go back to work tomorrow. Someone shoot me in the face. When it's all said and done, I'll have worked 144 out of a total 168 hours this week. I didn't ride today, nor did I ride the previous 3 days at work. Tomorrow I'll get back into it. Here are some monthly totals from January:

• 675 miles (goal is 800/month, but January is a shitty rainy month)
• roughly 37 hours (only around 9 hours a week, I wish it were a few hours higher)
• weight stayed the same (156lbs)
• body fat stayed the same (8%)

Riding the trainer at work isn't ideal. There were a couple times where my workouts were inturrupted by calls. I haven't done any fitness testing yet, all the work was perfomed at zone 2 (82-88% LTHR.) I'll probably do a 20k time trial test here in the next couple weeks. The test will give me a baseline to guage my progress throughout the year. I wish I could afford real lab testing sessions.

A big congratulations to Brian and Heathrow. Have Brian explain the Medora-Grand Forks-Sault Ste. Marie-Indianapolis-Port Huron-Valparaiso-Scranton connection sometime.

Also, good luck to Dave Simmons on the Arrowhead 135. Pecker slap all those sissies Dave, and watch out for bears.

Tomorrow I'll know definitively if and when we'll be moving to Colorado Springs. It looks like I'll be traveling there to take a test sometime in the next couple weeks, and if I pass, I'll have a job. I'll lock in all the details tomorrow, and let everyone know on Monday.

The Tiki Bus

The Tiki Bus in all its glory

Full frontal

The scary cat head

Exquisite paint work

Shout out to the Robby Lunak

Gorgeous

Pineapple detail atop a beautiful faux sand top

Note the dried alligator head on the dash

Owner Nathan Billo appears proud of his Tiki Bus

Holy Shit

Soon...

Prepare for the Tiki Bus. Tomorrow there will be glorious pictures of the infamous Tiki Bus right here on Leedahl's Life. Words cannot describe the majestic splendor of the Tiki Bus, so tomorrow's post will be only pictures.