Carving Pumpkins

We had a little fun tonight--everybody carved their pumpkins--dangerous but fun! Max with a knife?

What are they?

Max's clown.

Phoebe's funny bunny.

Bella's heart-nosed goblin.

You tell me. Yeah, that's right--it's a Jackrabbit-O-Lantern!

Did I mention the Bling?

A certain little hottie I know is all about the couture and had to have the Pucci saddle. There's something about looking at this thing and the name Pucci makes me want to ride it. Is that legal? It's the Prologo DEA Choice Woman. Cora says that it's fast and comfy.

Quick Building Update for Big Dave

Bud's building the addition faster than they built my Ottrott--go figure. The second floor is framed and walls should be up tomorrow. Rafters by the end of the week if there's no rain. Next come windows and the roof. All in all, there's about 1200 square feet of addition--it's starting to feel like we're finally going to have some space around here!

Not all of the windows have been cut out yet--helps to keep it a little bit drier until the roof's on.

South side--dining room first floor, master bath and closet above.

East side--the big hole will be French doors to a covered porch.

The center part is the kitchen on the first floor and master bedroom above. To the right is the entrance and mudroom.

Looks imposing without the windows cut out! There's the door to the bike shop.

Looking from the dining room to the kitchen and beyond to the entry.

Looking from the French doors to the dining room/kitchen. The dining room will connect to the present living room through the short wall with the single window.

Looking from the entry through the kitchen and dining room.

The verdict is in!

Well, I've had it now for about 10 days and I've logged close to 300 miles. At the risk of sounding unintelligent, all I can say is wow...and I mean WOW! This has got to be bicycle nirvana. From the second I got on it, it feels just as it should--it was made for me. It's got the performance of a Ferrari and the comfort of a big Mercedes sedan--perfect. What puts this bike over the top is the fitting--I can't say enough about the fit process at Fitwerx. As for riding a road bike, I'm loving that, too.

The only thing I wasn't sure of was the compact crankset--who knows if it was the right choice or not, but it's a whole lot more pleasant than trying to conquer these hills on a 34x25.

I've got the Garmin working with the Powertap--most convenient. You can never have too much data!

Live U2 on YouTube from Pasadena

Yeah, so I'm not turning into a music critic and you're certainly not going to accuse me of being unbiased, but I've watched the YouTube Pasadena show a couple of times now and I think it's the best show I've heard so far, in terms of Bono's voice. Not necessarily the best song selection--I miss Bad. The Rose Bowl, in all it's grandeur, must have been pretty cool, but I still think that the Rogers Centre in Toronto is going to be a tough venue to beat--pretty spectacular with the open roof and the CN tower looming above. The new album is really growing on me--I just downloaded the Pasadena from U2start.com.

Unusually Gratifying

More than any other race or ride that I do, I get the most gratification out of doing a personal best time on one of my "test" loops. I have three of them, and I thought I'd tell you all about them. Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

This was the first of the three loops. Believe it or not, I've been doing this loop for 10 years. It's my favorite and it's the only one I haven't ridden yet this year. Wish me luck--I need to better my 44:19 .

This is the infamous Key Road loop--which has about 50% paved roads and is a touch over 40 miles. Last month, I took a minute and a half off my old best. The new record stands at 2:38:19.

Last, but not least, the newest--the Lake loop. I've got to get this down to an hour. Last time around--it took me an hour and one minute.

First ride

The Ottrott is here--wow!

U2 live from the Rose Bowl--Oct.25 2009

No, I can never get enough U2--check this out--U2 live webcast-Oct. 25 at 8:30PM (PT)

Race Across The Sky

Cora and I saw Race Across the Sky in Albany--was not sure how I was going to feel given my stellar DNF at mile 90. I have to say I did leave the show feeling a bit jacked up for the 2010 race--hope to get a little lottery love!! I also hope Big Dave comes around and we can get at it together in true Jackrabbit style. I've always said it's about the process--getting there. I have to say even though the race was a huge disappointment, I had a blast this season--look forward to doing it again.

As for the film--see trailer--I basically thought that it was great to show people who haven't been to the race the scenery, the course and a taste of what it's like start to finish. I think that having been there and raced it, the movie was a little disappointing in that it focussed primarily on the top five, i.e., the Lance Armstrong story, which has its place, but Lance is not Leadville. Although it featured some "middle of the pack" riders, I don't think they did enough to portray the whole story--why Leadville is so epic for so many. Suffice it to say that the lottery will be crazy for next year's race with people who saw the movie, and I promise you that they will be in for a big surprise because the movie did not adequately portray how hard the race is and how much you suffer.

One of the things that I noticed was that the weather for the front riders was much nicer than it was for those of us lagging behind--I'm not sure that I even saw Lance get rained on. I know he mentioned how cold he was, but there is a huge difference between dry and cold and soaking wet and cold. I guess the question is when it comes out on DVD, will I buy it? The answer is...of course.

P.S. Props to our main man, the Biggest Dave, who logged about 20 seconds of screen time. I hope that it pisses him off enough that he gets back on the bike and we do it again.

T Lynn's working out.

You may have heard that the big boys are feeling lazy and have been taking a little hiatus from the bikes--at least this little jackrabbit still has a work ethic--getting in two-a-days.

after school...

before bed--I love it!!!!

Building update.

The framing is coming along nicely. They tell me the second floor should be up by the end of the week.

New dining room on the south side of the house.

Double doors out the back of the dining room to a small porch.

Plywood going up on the kitchen--new entrance just to the right. Just in front of Max is an extra wide set of stairs down to his new "bike shop". In the new entrance and to the right is a mudroom/bathroom/laundry room. Just as you walk in the new door, there is a new flight of stairs that joins the first landing opposite the existing stairs. More to come....

Stayed up really late with the girls drawing....

The Kid is Back

Qman gets his season results. Not too shabby, but he knows it was a building season. We will try two races next year if RF will let us.

Cora's baby is back

Cora's bike made it back today--packed to the nth degree. I un-packed it, nervous that each turn of bubble wrap would reveal another nasty ding. All went well--perfect! I got it put together for her so it was ready to go when she got home from picking up the girls at school. Sure enough, she came in all jacked up for a ride (not unlike that spider monkey on Mountain Dew--how's that for a visual?!) and after dialing in the seat, we headed off for the maiden voyage--I think she loves it--she certainly looks great on it. We only had time for an hour or so before the kids got home so we made it count and went up and over Murphy Hill, which I believe is a first for Cora--love that Triple.

Of course she blessed me with the obligatory "I can't," then did it. So proud of her--Strong work.

Half way up--looking strong.

Last steep pitch--no talk zone.

She was screaming at me to go faster!

Just about to go over the top--HR 184 bpm.

Yeah--that was easy. I never said I couldn't do it.

Maybe she was not working as hard as she says.

ahhhhhhh--the skittles.

Ok, you did not tell me that I had to unclip--no I did not just fall ;-)

Love riding with the hottie--lucky me--now if could just get her to do intervals with me.

Qman Jackrabbit Podium Spot

Well if you haven't already heard, Quinn entered a Mountain Bike race as a Junior racer. His age category was 10-12 that is the youngest category. What this means is that he was bored with the kids race and wanted something closer to our rigorous training rides. We do a mountain biking loop that is about 6 miles long at a park near our house. We walk and take our time over the hilly or technical sections, but for the most part he rides his rigid single speed the whole time. He has been quoted as saying "gears are for queers" or some such drivel. The little guy was very bummed during our hour and twenty minute race. He complained many times that he was in last place. He was apalled that the top riders...men in their prime...had passed him. It was made all better when they would go by on their second lap cheering for him to keep it up. He was very gratious and let them ride past without trying to cut them off. However,in the last mile he would not let a group who was preriding for the Pro race go past when he figured out they were not racing. I think he was peeved they were hogging the good line. We (about 7 of us) were forced to follow along as he weaved in and out of trees and up and over logs and mini-bumps that to us were minor, but to his 16 inch wheels they were like mountains. At 38 inches and 40 pounds he was far and away the toughest rider on the whole course.