Monday, August 20, 2007

New pro cyclist in training!

This past weekend was a nice break but held a lot of work. I traveled home Wednesday night from work, as my boss was allowing me to work from home Thursday and Friday. I needed to be home due to Julie’s extra-busy work schedule. The drive home was expected to be easier than the normal Friday drives, but that was not the case. Shortly after getting onto I-81 I found the traffic coming to a stand-still. Apparently there was a “disabled” vehicle in the right lane according to a road sign. I exited to US-11 and took it for about 15 miles north to the next town before re-entering a nearly empty I-81 north. It added almost a hour to my normal 4hr trip putting me home around 10PM.

I then was able to make breakfast for Thane and take him to/from school. He enjoyed Thursday as I took him in the “vroom-vroom” car since he was upset that mommy had to go to work. I think he figured since I was home she did not have to work either. We then got a call from my parents late Friday that they were heading down then instead of Saturday morning. They ended-up arriving at aboot 3AM!

Saturday I spent most of the day replacing the wheel bearing assemblies on the front of the GrandPrix. The GM dealer quoted me $470 for the left front hub bearing stating that the part was about $300 of it. What a load of $h!7!! I purchased the hub bearing for $110 at AutoZone and spent about 30mins to replace it. The only delay was getting the right size socket for the main axle nut and the nearly frozen bolts holding the bearing in place. I sprayed the bolts with PB-blaster and they came out with a little muscle. We then went to visit Uncle-Ed in Martinsburg at the annual Bike Night weekend. We had a few “Flint” Coney dogs from his hotdog stand “Sig’s”. Upon returning home I decided to get the other hub bearing as well and replaced it. Now all that remains are the lower control arms, as the bushings are pulling out of the arm requiring new ones. I’ll need to see what is involved with replacing them as I might do those as well to save another couple hundred bones!

I’m also currently looking for a new rental apartment, as my co-worker has had enough of me…I guess I’m too clean and organized to be in a bachelor’s pad! hahaha

To finish…Here’s a quick video of a new up-coming professional cyclist! He was a little distracted with the neighbors on their motorcycles, but he can peddle pretty good!

Thane1

Thane2

That’s about it for now.

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