Finishing touches...

Our next update for the theater should be the finished job, less the flooring, curtains, projector, and the finishing touches. I've put in the stained wood shelf that will hold the surround equipment and the projector and all of the drywall is hung waiting to be mudded. The ceiling will be painted this weekend. I've also mounted the speakers on the walls. I just need to make a shelf for the front center speaker as it will be suspended centered above the drop-down movie screen. All of the electrical is installed and functional. We have 2 sconces on the back wall controlled with an electronic dimmer. I have a standard light mounted in the shelf box so it will be easy to see when working on the wiring or other items. There will also be a fan mounted inside to circulate the air to keep it from getting hot. I'll post more pictures of the progress soon.

The car is on-hold until I get a new job. However, the parking brakes are still making a slight rubbing noise. I've pulled it apart again already, but found no signs of any issues. I may tear it down again this weekend or next week again, time permitting. Julie's Prix has new front and rear hub bearings and 2 new engine mounts as of last weekend, and prior to that I had a shop replace the right drive shaft as it was out of true. It has over 100K on it now. This is the first major repair I've had to do on the car as it has been great. It should now be good for another 100K!

Theater construction

I've talked to most of you via email or phone, but if I haven't here's a little update.

The last job didn't quite work out as they found they need to find someone with extensive experience with Pro-E CAD. They sent me to training, but I was still not able to do advanced modeling. Being that it was a small group with a fast paced evironment it was not a good fit. The group and the entire company was a great place to work, but I guess something else is in store for me. So, I'm now comfortably back home with the family in Winchester and back to job hunting. I've already had a few calls from recruiters with possible interviews being planned, but more on that search later.

Since I have free time, and we hade in-store credit at Lowe's from returned items I decided to start costruction of our theater room! YES, we are going to have an actual theater room. It won't be too large as it will be approx 17'x14'. Below are a couple of photos. The one photo is looking through the back wall where there will be a recessed cavity to hold the surround system and the projector. On the far wall we will have a drop-down screen. The room will be lit with rope lighting and will resemble an actual movie theater. This will be awesome! I'll post updates as I go.

We also received a coupon from Home Depot for new purchases. So we are planning to get the materials for me to build our deck. Julie is tired of walking the dogs down stairs all the time to let them out. So once it is done she will be able to let them out on the deck. Next spring I look to place a paver patio at the walk-out connecting it to the deck. The deck will be about 16'x16' just big enough for our patio furniture.

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.

Leader blows the race!

Got bit by the race bug!

Yup, I stayed in NC for the weekend to attend a race in Greensboro. I entered the SS class with the 2nd biggest gear, 2.13:1 (32/15). The guy with the biggest was Manny, a new acquaintance who is stationed at Fort Bragg as Army - Special Forces, he ran a 2.29:1 (32/14) and ended up 3rd.

Headline of the race was, Leader blows the race! The starter announced everything he could think to say on the start line…where to find the johns, where to find the medic, that you can eat or drink anywhere, blah, blah, blah, …finish is at yellow tent. Well I caught the last thing and upon gapping the guy on my wheel by about 50 yards approaching the start/finish area I saw the yellow tent and an opening in the fencing. I yelled and pointed, “Finish!?” To which I got no response so I took the exit….WRONG! DOH! There goes the guy around the bend to the correct finish! Oh well, 2nd for me, it was fun though, and the guy who won, Jason who was riding a 2.125:1 (34/16), was very cool about it being that I controlled the race and gapped him at the end only to miss the VERY POORLY marked finish!!! DOH!!! Karma I think, as I’ve never done that but have been guilty of heckling a few buddies about the same thing in the past! hahaha I over heard him telling others that it was a hollow victory and pointed to me while saying I was the best rider of the day. I ended up chatting with him for about an hour along with the others in the group while we waited for almost 2hrs for the results! Brought back a lot of memories of a particular Michigan race promoter in that situation! hahaha

Basically my strategy worked perfect, well obviously almost, in that I made sure to get myself in front to be the 1st in the woods to set the pace. I kept it easy as I had no idea what gear anyone was riding or how good they were or what my fitness comparison was. The 1st pic below was mid-way through lap1, with the 2nd being on the last big climb of lap2. At the transition area of lap 1 I allowed the rider to pass me and followed him around the open grass fields. Then just before entering the woods I easilly jumped back in front to do the pace setting. About 1/2 way through the 2nd lap I slowed a touch with hopes he'd jump in front so I could size him up. He did, but it didn't last as he took a wide detour around a log pile not wanting to go over it. It was just about 2 miles to go and he was back on my wheel. I'm thinking he was testing me at this point as he picked it up a lot and I hung like a monkey on his back. The course then shoots out onto a paved path for about 500yds then into a steep climb back into the woods before getting back on the path again. I gapped him good there then cruised on the path. As I looked back he was spinning like mad to catch me, and just as he did is when I attacked again to exit the path to the "wrong" finish spot...DOH!

So, now I have a $50 gift cert to the promoting bike shop in Greensboro…Anyone want it for $45? Let me know! The next possible race is Sept. 23 at Hobby Park in Winston-Salem. I will ride with these new comrades to check out the course, and maybe bump up my gearing a little to a 14 tooth cog. From what I hear it should be similar to PLRA and should be fun!

Resto update

While at home this past weekend I was able to spend a couple of hours working on the vette. I finally took the time to finish drilling out the rivets holding the front rotors onto the wheel assembly. Back in the day GM rivited the rotors in place to help with the ease of assembly and to control run-out. Some re-rivet them, but I do not plan to unless I discover issues with the brake calipers. So far they seem to work great, for non-power disc brakes. The only part of the brake system left is the parking brake assembly. Being that everything is new the pads and the rotor have interference not allowing the install. I need to sand down the pads a touch to make some clearance. Hopefully we will sell our house soon so we can finally get settled. Then the next step will be to rebuild the suspension.

NC Zoo visit

With the new job I have a benefit of using the company pass for the NC Zoo. So, what better to do the weekend after the 4th but visit the zoo. It only cost us a stroller rental, as Julie brought her bike and Thane's trailer instead, and a toy truck suvenier which was being broken within hours of the visit! haha
Thane kept asking to find some snakes, and of course he wanted to pet/hold everything and take them to show-and-tell at school.

Independance Day fun

Here are some pictures from our week spent at Bart's parent's place on the lake in SC over the 4th holiday. Thane will soon be slalom skiing and wakeboarding!
He also had fun trying to make a huge sand castle! :)

The Cowbell 12hr

As much as I love racing it seems I will need to limit it. As most know, I’ve not raced in over a year, and not seriously since 2005. There was also an issue with my kidneys a couple years ago. That issue was never root-caused or cured. Instead, it just sort-of went away. After a 6hr race in central NY, I returned home that night and noticed I had blood in my urine. It freaked me out! Not only that, but it seemed that my body was reacting to my deodorant and excessive intake of sports drinks resulting in soreness in the nodes of my underarms. I didn’t know what to think. Well, I got in to a so-called specialist who ordered an ultra-sound. They read it and claimed I had stones. They wanted to “explore” and I told them “No-way, I want better than that. I want a Cats-can!” The following day I had the Cat-scan, and following the review of that they said there were no stones. My blood work came back normal, but the urine sample still showed traces of blood 3 days after the event. Well, it seems that the issue is still here!

The race started at 10AM, for me it was some light spinning in the parking lot at 9:30AM to stretch. It was 75 degrees. The start went as planned and I was the first SS into the woods with little effort. My 1st gear was 32/15. I came to the 1st of 2 hills that I had told myself I would walk, Carpet Loop climb, and 2 SS riders behind me passed by. I let them go as I knew I wasn’t in shape and haven’t been “training”, but instead just riding for only 2-1/2 months since I came to NC for my new job. I stayed with my pace and had a blast. It was getting increasingly hot now and upon exiting onto a dirt 2-track climb I decided I would add it to the walk list to save energy and power. I then came to the next walking climb which was the start of the Goat Loop. Just 1 mile prior to returning to the transition area I started to hear a rattle coming from the rear of the bike. I swung into the pit, at 53mins, and hoisted the bike into the stand. I discovered that the rear brake caliper had come loose as I probably didn’t torque it down enough after I changed out the pads and adjusted it. It remained tight for the remainder of the race. I refilled my bottle and grabbed a handful of grapes and hit the trail after just 3mins in the pit. The 2nd lap went pretty much the same, but I added 1 more climb to the walk. This helped me relax and gave me time to take in fluids as it was another 2-track climb. Most of the lap, about 85%, was good single track allowing little to no bottle grabbing opportunities. After the 2nd lap, another 53mins, I switched my wheel to lower my gearing slightly. I had a 2nd wheel with a 16 ready to go. I again grabbed some grapes, refilled my bottle, and ate ½ a PB&J. By the midway point of the 3rd lap the heat was getting unreal! It had jumped to 97 degrees! I felt myself getting overheated and twice felt a little uneasy on a couple of harder efforts. Upon returning to the pit, 1hr lap, I told my parents I was taking a break to cool my temp down. My dad wrapped ice in a towel and I chilled-out for a bit drinking some cold fluids and eating grapes and pasta. I also changed my gear again once more skipping over the planned 17 to the 18 as there really wasn’t much of an advantage using a larger gear. In my mind it would actually be a disadvantage due to the heat and my advantage was clearly still there in the speed that I took to the technical down hills and single-track, as I was still the rider doing the passing, even passing team riders. Hind-sight I should’ve refueled and went back out on the trail as the gravel lot hit 111 degrees!!! Holy $#!@! The trail actually ran up along a river at 1 point, and this is where I should’ve taken a pit and removed my shoes and jersey to submerge myself. That would’ve cooled the body very well and I would’ve been back on the saddle pretty quick. However, all things aside, nothing prepared me for my final lap when I stopped for a nature break on the trail and discovered what appeared to be the recurrence of the “issue”. Upon returning, 1hr3min lap, I rode past the pit to the restroom where I verified it in the white urinal. As I came out my dad was walking over to see what I was doing and I told him it was time that I stop.

I did have fun, but I was bummed about not getting to ride/race in the dark, but as stubborn as most think I am I chose not to push the issue as it is not worth it if it is something serious. I feel I could’ve easily hit my planned 10 laps as the 1hr lap on a 18 gear was more than a slow comfortable pace, along with the walking of some climbs. I felt strong and the bike was running awesome! I can’t wait to get this issue/mystery solved, but until then I probably will not be racing… just riding. Also, I really didn’t expect the heat to be such a factor, as I have been riding 2-3x’s a week after work in weather that has been in the mid-upper 90’s at the start and low 90’s upper 80’s at the finish. However, part is probably due to the increased effort of mountain rather than road, and again, I have only been riding not training. Another lesson for the book…

I'll be looking over my riding data in Polar and posting my year-to-date info as well as the course profiles of the rides down here. There's some good stuff here similar to Michigan's trails, but most are a bit tamer. I'll squeeze it in between races on the PS2 while playing GranTurismo! :)

Excitement...

I can't stop thinking about this weekend's 12hr race! Man am I excited! It's been over a year since my last race, and more than 2 since I was seriously training! This will be all about having fun, but at the same time I hope to compete and of course I'm shooting for a top place if to only get my entry fee back! :)

I will be riding tonight in Greensboro at a pretty easy trail to check out the bike. I re-built my CandySL pedals and made sure everything on the bike was tight. I also placed a lower gear on my 2nd rear wheel for change-over during the race when I start to lose strength.

It looks like my parents will be on-site to lend a hand. That will be nice as it will take a lot off of my mind in-terms of preparations allowing me to focus on riding and having fun.

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