5.30.2006

Busy Bee

Howdy ho everyone. Sorry about the lack of blog posts, but we've been quite busy with work, training, and getting all our ducks in a row for the move. There have been many trips to goodwill and the dump. Things are getting packed up and put in boxes now. Friday the local moving company is coming by to give us an estimate to move our stuff. We'll finalize the movers after they come over since there is some company from San Jose that said they could do it quite cheaply.

Basso dominated the Giro. I think he'll win the Tour also. I'm pulling for Landis though.

A big congratulations to Brain and Heather on their wedding. There's nothing newlyweds want more then to have people crashing on there couch for an unknown amount of time. Thanks guys.

Have you seen the calf-off on Skerritt's blog. Calf #3 is scary looking.

Andy becomes a man in like 3 weeks. Thats crazy.

5.21.2006

All Work and No Play Makes Brooks a Dull Boy

Well I've pretty much been a working fool lately. We're short a couple paramedics, so there is overtime galore. I actually had today off, and we made the most of it by traveling to Medford, OR in search of normal-town stuff that Crescent City lacks. We ended up getting some summer clothes and a sweet-ass Yakima rack with a bike mount and giant cargo box. All Yakima stuff was 20% off, and the cargo box was a returned item, so it was 20% with the additional 20% off on top of that. i'm going to install it tomorrow at work. I'll post some pics when its done.

Tomorrow I go back to work for 2 days, so no blogging until Wednesday. Thats all for tonight. I have to be at work by 5:30 tomorrow morning. Ouch.

5.19.2006

Nice Try

You guys couldn't be more wrong with your guesses of our big announcement. No, we are not having a baby. We are moving! Long story short we are going to be homeless and unemployed, but we are getting the hell out of here. Mary and I both put in our notices at work today. The plan is to move all our stuff into storage in Madison, WI when we leave for Becca and Andy's wedding. We're going to hang out in Grand Forks for a few days after the wedding, then head out to Wisconsin to look for jobs and houses, and crash out on Brian and Heather's couch. Should be pretty interesting for a few months. I don't know how responsible it is, but we have the blessing of our familes, so we're going with it.

5.17.2006

Big Announcement Coming...

This is my new favorite treat. I like it over ice with equal parts milk and tea. Buy some.

Nothing new to report on out here. The weather has been perfect the last couple weeks. Today it's a little overcast, but the wind is cooperating. I've actually been riding without leg warmers! Training is going well. I am getting a little bored of the same routes though. Mileage is impressive so far this year. I'm just shy of 2700 miles.

I'm getting pretty excited to go back home. I haven't been in GF for like 3 years, so it'll be interesting to see all the changes. Just a little over a month to go.


Today's a rest day for the Giro. Tomorrow is a 50K TT. Basso should put even more time into guys like Cunego, DiLuca, and Simoni. I think Savoldelli and Danielson will ride good times and move up on GC.

Check back for some big news...

5.13.2006

TTT

Someone should tell Lance it's not nice to stare at the freaks.

5.12.2006

I Couldn't Think of a Witty Title

Hello everyone. Long time no blog. My life just isn't that exciting lately. It seems I'm at work every day, and the rare day I actually have off is spent lying around with a little bike riding thrown in. Today I'm working, but at home tied to an ambulance. If two calls go out during the same time, I have to cover the county. It's a pretty sweet gig, but it means riding the trainer inside, and no wine with dinner. Otherwise it's like PTO.

Mary's back from Indiana and Heather's bridal shower. She had much fun. She is really antsy to move. I've been looking at homes in the Madison area. It's amazing the difference between home prices there and here. I don't know how anyone could afford to own a home here.


The Giro is getting exciting. Yesterday was the team time trial with Basso's CSC team putting a decent amount of time on the other contenders. Today Robbie McEwen won his third stage of this years Giro in an amazing sprint finish. Tomorrow's stage should be pretty entertaining, but Sunday's stage features a mountain top finish that should shake out who the real players are. The cycling.tv video on demand thing is actually really nice. I can watch any stage whenever I want. It makes me not want cable tv. The only thing I really watch on tv is baseball and cycling, and both are available on the internet. Tennis too. I wonder if you can watch tennis on the internet?

The
Collegiate Cycling Championships are going on this weekend in Lane's neck of the woods. He saw some teams practicing for today's TTT and said they were flying. He said he might wander downtown and watch the crits on Sunday.

Here is a picture totally unrelated to this post.

If you ever find yourself in a hotel room with a bike, some delicious beers, and nothing to open them with, think outide the box and ask yourself: "what would MacGyver do?"

5.07.2006

I Should Be a Photojournalist

Hello my bloggies. Nothing too exciting going on over here, so thankfully, because of blogs, I can live vicariously through my friends. Andy graduated from med school yesterday, and Brian raced on the road yesterday, and in the dirt today. Good job boys. On Lane's blog he has some pictures himself and dad at a (KC) Royals game. Yesterday I went with Natalie and Lily Rainbow to Arcata to meet up with Natalie's husband and a couple buddies to play some disc golf. Due to the above average intake of beer, carting around Sampson, carrying a camera, and the seriousness of playing for money, this is the only picture I took to document the experience. Seriously. I threw pretty good, but inconsistent. I ended up losing $3.
Today I laid around and watched the Giro. I bought the OLN/cycling.tv on demand thing for $20. I feel slightly violated having to pay money to watch a bike race I used to get for free. And with better coverage. Thats how it goes, I guess. After the Giro I went on a little 30 mile ride.

I talked with Mary tonight. She's back home in Indiana for a couple more days. She had a good time with Heather. She's pretty frustrated we can't find a job. She saw some pictures Heather brought along, and made her want to move badly. Hopefully we can get out of here pretty soon. Cross season is right around the corner, and check out all these
midwest races.

5.02.2006

Mario's Quintana Roo Caliente

Here is our friend Mario's triathlon bike. Mario is one of the founders of Wild Rivers Multi Sports. Mario is currently training for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in late June. His weapon of choice is a Quintana Roo Caliente. The Caliente is QR's mid-level full carbon bike. An aero seatpost, and rear wheel cutout, and 60mm deep section wheels make this bike slippery through the air, while a shallow seat-to-aerobar drop make it comfy for the 112 mile bike course. Other cool features include a shaped head tube, aero fork and seat stays, and horizontal dropouts. The huge bottom bracket area undoubtedly makes the bike stiff horizontally, and the triathlon specific geometry ease the bike to run transition. The finish is beautiful with the unique wide carbon fibers.


Full Specification

Frame: Quintana Roo Caliente, size large
Fork: Real Design Aero HP
Wheels: Real Design SuperSonic 60
Tires: Vittoria Rubino Pro
Bar: VisonTech base bar with VisonTech TT extensions
Stem: VisonTech Sizemore
Headset: FSA Orbit IS
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
Seatpost: Real Design Carbon Aero
Saddle: Quintana Roo
Chain: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed
Cranks: FSA Carbon Pro
Bottom Bracket: FSA Platinum Pro
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace 10 speed
Brakes: Tektro Dual Pivot
Levers: Cane Creek TT200
Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace
Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed,
Others: Arundel Trident bottle cages, cork bar tape

Sampson is Ready to Go

Holy moly its been windy here. Just windy enough that you don't want to ride outside, but not too windy that its unsafe. I've been doing a lot of steady state threshold work on the bike the past few weeks. My lactate threshold is down around 186 beats per minute from 193 during cyclocross season. I blame that on all the base work I did the past 4 months. Another 2 months of threshold develpement, and then a couple months of superthreshold speed work, and I should be sitting pretty for cross season.

I finished a 96 hour shift this morning. I picked up an extra two days this week to defer some of the cost of our vacation this summer. Mary, Sampson, and I are going to spend a couple weeks back in Grand Forks. Becca and
Andy's wedding is a good excuse to go back home. I haven't been home since Mary and I moved out here in September 2003, and I haven't seen my dad since my wedding in June of 2004. I'll tentatively be home June 22nd through July 5th, so if anyone knows of a good bike race to do, I'm game.

The 89th Giro d'Italia starts this weekend. I predict Basso, Di Luca, Cunego top 3, with little, tiny Jose Rujano killing everyone in the mountains. Ullrich, Savoldelli, and Simoni will disappoint. I'm thinking about paying for the daily coverage OLN has through cycling.tv. $20 gets you every stage live, with a daily highlight show. Basically what you used to get on OLN for free. I'll probably write another post later tonight on our friend Mario's QR Caliente. Stay tuned...