Sluggish

(not actually Nogalas Hwy, but you get the idea)Happy hour last night. Very good strawberry margaritas. Todd and I had talked about the Wednesday ride this morning, but he neglected to wake me up. If he had tried, I probably would have resisted. I didn't make it out of the house till nearly noon. Once I did finally get out of the city I felt much better...until I ran out of gas. I guess I got behind in my eating. I had to drag myself home through a cross-head wind. My hamburger was well earned.

Ride with Waterford

I did a ride with some Waterford people today. They're having a fit seminar for some of their dealers. Since they're one of Micro's sponsors, we went out and did the ride. The Waterford website actually has a picture of Micro's team on the front of a race. You'll notice the yellow jersey and white helmet in the background. It's a Long John Silvers jersey from the '04 season. The ride would have been a bust, but they got us into Saguaro East for free. I was able to get in some good intensity on the second lap and on the way back east (thanks to the un-godly headwind).

New Incandescent Technology

Apparently GE has announced new incandescent technology. It's an interesting announcement after the recent news about CFL Bulbs. I find it curious. Ever hear of GE's electric car? Some new announced ahead of it's time, but then pulled from the market. Time will tell if this project goes anywhere.

Buffet & Micro

Micro's moving in today. He brought his first load over around noon, so we decided to hit the Sushi Garden Buffet for lunch. It's worth it for $8, but not a penny more. It's a Eastern version of an American buffet. Loads of greeeezy, fried stuff, with a few highlights. The bbq chicken, fish, & rolls were pretty good. Eh. Afterwards I went for a short ride followed by a couple hours of yard work. Only a handful of days left in Tucson...

First Race of 2007

The Sun Devil criterium was held in south Phoenix today. Micro and I decided racing is better than training. The race was not hard. I was actually kind of disappointed that I wasn't put into more difficulty. I was really active early on. A break of five went about 15 minutes into the race. I was gassed when it went, but tried to make it across as soon as I could. I hovered in no-man's-land for about a lap before giving up. I spent the next 15 minutes in the back, during which, my rear skewer came loose. I couldn't tell what was wrong, until I hopped on the rear wheel and it started to drop out. The pit official didn't give me a free lap, so my race was technically over. Screw that, so I jumped back in. I continued to be aggressive, and made a move with 1.5 laps to go, I got caught with .5 laps to go. If I had one other person with me, we could have done it. I know the move was futile, but I didn't want to place in the sprint and then get chewed out about being a lap down. In any case, I'm finally excited about racing again.

Last Shootout

My last shootout was ruined by an angry stomach. I'm not saying that I would have ridden any better, but I know that I wouldn't have felt such an urgency to get home. I'm sick and tired of feeling bad on the bike, I have been and will continue to spend the afternoon collecting all the requested data for my coach.

Zach's Gone (again)

Drove Zach up to Sky Harbor airport today. Most likely, next time I see him I'll be racing against him. Brian is still hanging in there in the ToC. Shootout tomorrow. Roughly a week left in Tucson.

Around Town

We didn't really have a ride destination yesterday so we just cruised around town. We hit A Mountain first and then spun through the 'downtown'. There's only a handfull of buildings over 10-stories, but the lack of large buildings allows for some nice, open spaces. We then headed south where there's a semi-historic district. We eventually ran into the rodeo parade, where (we found out later) a girl was trampled. Guadalajara Grill (at Zach's request) for dinner followed by Che's Lounge for Hoegaarden's Witbier.

CFL Bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) bulbs are all the rage with environmentalists. This seems all well and good; they burn less energy and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. California recently passed(?) legislation that aims to convert all light bulbs in the state to CFLs. I'm not going to comment on the "quality" of the light, but I recently learned that these bulbs contain mercury - the neuro-toxin. You can't recycle them along with the typical recyclables, as they contain a hazardous material. Because they are so small, people are tempted - may not even think not - to throw them in the trash. This is bad. When they break in the trash, which they will, waste management people can get poisoned or the area surrounding your trash could accumulate mercury. The dark side of this light bulb.

Brian Dziewa

Nothing but props for Brian as he races the Tour of California. The race may not be going well for him personally, but damn, he's there, the Amgen Tour, 2.HC. Respect.

Solar Power

I was intrigued this morning after listening to a podcast that included a plug for a personal solar powered charger. The Solio - Portable Hybrid Solar Power Charger was the device featured, but after looking at that website, I began to search for systems that might be able to charge my beast of a laptop. After finding a product that could do that, I wondered what might be involved in acquiring a system that would provide/supplement grid power. Something that would provide power and return excess power to the grid or pull additional power from the grid. WholesaleSolar.com had many systems for purchase. This page has an outline of the systems I just described. I also found stand alone systems that are designed for RV or marine use. That's a system that would charge a battery bank, for on-demand use -- off grid. None of it is cheap, but it's all really interesting.

And yes, I was going to do the Wednesday ride this morning...but didn't. I'll ride later.

Back to the grind

After breakfast, photo sharing, and a quick stop at the bank, we went to the Center for Creative Photography. We saw Human Interest: Photoessays from the Collection. It was actually really good (I'm not usually that moved by photography). I like the life-caught-in-motion aspect of photojournalism. After the exhibit, we parted ways; they went to Saguaro West and I went home.

Zach and I got some errands done in the early afternoon and then went for a ride. I did power intervals on A Mountain. I can't say that I've had a hard time turning over a gear in recent recollection. Todd and Zach went out for drinks tonight while I'm heading to bed early in order to get back on top of the early to bed/early to rise schedule. Oh, and I got the new version of the PowerTap software, and it's nice(er).

morning & evening with the parents

First of all, dinner last night was fabulous. I started with a margarita (not sure what it was called) that was three colors suspended in a tall glass. Red, White, Green. We had the salsa, guacamole, fajitas... it was great.

I met up with mom, dad, and the Winklers for breakfast at Viv's (Catalina Hwy. & Tanque Verde). We then went hiking for a few hours in Sabino Canyon. The hike was a sampler of the different terrains offered by the park. As you can see in the picture, some of the hiking was on rock and had some elevation change. Other parts were flat and on sand. I have some more pictures on Flickr.

I felt pretty bad (stomach) after the hike and chose to take the afternoon easy while mom and dad saw historic downtown and Mt. Lemmon. We had made reservations to go to the Kitt Peak Observatory for a night-time viewing, but the clouds nixed that plan. This photo was taken when they were up on Lemmon. We met up again for dinner at Blue Willow. It was a really good dinner; I had a Garlic Chicken special with penne, sun-dried tomatoes, and roasted asparagus in a very light cream sauce. Time to hit the hay, as I'm meeting them to exchange pictures over an early breakfast tomorrow.

Mom & Dad almost here

My parents decided to take off the end of last week to vacation in Arizona for the long weekend. They flew into Phoenix on Wednesday night and spent the following couple of days in Sedona, AZ. They'll be arriving in Tucson in just a couple hours (just in time for dinner at Guadalajara Grill).

The ride today was one of those 3 hour rides that feels like 5 hours. We first headed into the foothills, stopping many times to take many pictures. We rode to Sabino Canyon, where we got a guy in the parking lot to take our picture.Next, we went down around the airplane graveyard. Heading south on Kolb Rd., you have the real boneyard on the right and a gigantic airplane scrapyard on the left. It looks like a place that the Mythbusters would go for parts. I thought about the dinner I was going to have the whole ride.

I Made It!!!

I finally finished the shootout with the group. A strong headwind made it split up pretty fast. The weather was fantastic as well. Good day all-in-all.

Crazy Day

Yesterday was nuts. The computer job turned out to be a beast. I worked 4 hours and am not near done. I don't know how a computer gets into a state like that. I met Zach and Todd at Rosa's on the way home. The food was good, but not great overall. Maybe we just got the wrong things. I have to say that the tortillas were fantastic though. The chicken quesadilla appetizer was excellent.

We came home for about an hour before heading out to Fourth Ave. It's an equivalent to St. Louis's Delmar Loop (better in my opinion). The Arizona Wildcats were in the midst of a close lose to USC. Zach and I weren't sure if we were rooting for the red team or the white team. I'm not sure, but I think Todd might have picked up a guy. In any case, the nice gentlemen bought us all a drink. It was a good night, but not one I'm going to repeat any time soon.

I also got Erin's valentines day package yesterday. I'm treating it like time release happiness. So far I've gotten some confections, animal crackers, and Rainbow sandals. Happy me!!

Gord

I rode to Lemmon with Zach and Todd today. It was a debacle. We left late, had to stop at the post office, and then piddled our way over there. I had to turn back at mile 5 to make it home in time for a computer job I have this afternoon. Here's what saved the ride: Gord Fraiser and Buck (from Canada) caught me on the descent. We chatted it up the whole way home. It was really cool to just chat with somebody who I've looked up to for so long. He's a really nice guy. We talked about many things, one of which was restaurant recommendations. Rosa's was he main recommendation for Mexican. Maybe we'll check it out for Zach's birthday tonight.

Lizard

I haven't been feeling that good on the bike lately so I've been making up for my sinking self-worth by making a bit of money. While doing yard work today I saw a lizard on a palm tree. He didn't move. I think he thought he was being incognito. When I finally got a hold of his tail he clung to the tree like spiderman. At that point I decided to let him be.

Say What?!?

So I don't usually comment on military/political issues, but this one caught my eye.

CNN Story

Just in case the web page changes, here's the quote: "The Marines had said that the CH-46 helicopter went down because of mechanical failure, but they changed their minds after reviewing a "very convincing" video posted on the Web by insurgents, the Marine Corps officer said." The military is now apparently takes clues from insurgent video.

Riding, Playing Video Games, Work

Zach and I both felt bad during the shootout and thus did the short route. Zach felt worse than I did as evidenced by his throwing up during and after the bike ride. The rest of the day was spend with our feet up.

Sunday I woke up not feeling quite right, Zach woke up with a headache, and Todd didn't really have much motivation either. Todd got out on his bike for a real ride, but Zach and I turned it into a rest day. The day before and after our ride was spent playing video games. Command & Conquer Generals.

Today's focus was on making money. I cleaned Colleen's gas grill, went to Home Depot and Ace Hardware for parts, replaced the bathroom fan, fixed the guest house kitchen silverware drawer, and replaced an outdoor faucet on the house across the street. Zach floated between helping me with that and helping Todd with back-yard work across the street. We all went for a recovery ride in the afternoon. I hope I don't run out of things to do!

Much needed rest

I had a productive start to my day... and then slowed. Before noon, I had talked to Colleen about more house work, gone to the post office, completed a Computer Guy call, and gone to the bank. I then took my recovery ride. I had every intention to do some work after my ride, but I was tired, and haven't really moved from the couch since.

Part of my recovery ride was an easy climb up A Mountain (Sentinel Park). From the highest point of the climb there is a pretty good vista of downtown Tucson. More nice days ahead.

Zach is back

Zach returned to the Southwest today. He's glad to be back (especially when it's above 60). After we picked him up from the airport, we headed east to Apache Junction. Northwest of the city is Canyon Lake, a lake and national park. There are beautiful rock formations throughout the entire park. Thankfully I took my camera and snapped plenty of photos. Most of them were taken while I was still riding so they probably didn't come out that crisp. I posted a handful of the best ones on Flickr. On a side note, we parked at the Goldfield Ghost Town. It had a lot of character as you can see.

Another day in the saddle

The plan today was to ride with some of the Canadian guys again...but they were going to Lemmon, the one place I was certainly not going. I might do two rides on Lemmon a week, but certainly not back-to-back. Todd and I headed to Mammoth instead. My body was barely ready for that. The previous days ride was more rough today than it was yesterday (if that makes any sense).

This evening was another beautiful one.

Glorious Ride

It was an unbelievably beautiful day today here in Tucson. I decided to forgo a day in the valley for a day in the mountains, Mt. Lemmon that is. On the way over, I caught up with a few a few of the same guys I rode with Sunday. On the way up I was passed by none other than Tom Danielson of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. He went past me like I was going the other direction. Not long after, I caught up with him and (who I assume to be) his coach; They were stopped on the side of the road. Not two miles later I was passed again by Danielson. It gave me chills to see (for the first time) how fast Pro Tour riders can climb.

As for my climbing, I felt great. It was the first time on a climb that I really felt good. It showed too. I ascended to Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley roughly twenty-five minutes faster than I had the previous year. As I was nearing the top, Danielson passed me again (going down this time). After making it to Ski Valley, I descended to the Mt. Lemmon General Store in Summerhaven to get water. The ride back down the mountain was quick and uneventful.

At the bottom I caught up with Aidan Charles, a neo pro for Nerac. We had a nice chat before parting ways. Although I took 4 sandwiches, it turned out to only be a three sandwich day.

The bike got a wash this evening, and I got a rain jacket. It's hard to beat $10.55 for a rain jacket. Big ride tomorrow @ 10 from the university.

Niiiice

It was a high of 80 degrees today. It was a welcome relief from some of the unseasonably cold weather we've experienced. I took a rest day and only put in an hour and a half, but still got to enjoy the sunshine. Still haven't decided where I'm going to ride tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Epic...again.

I didn't really have a particular ride in mind for today. I ended up going to Kitt Peak with a group of Canadians. We came back via Gates. 7:06:08, 123.05 mi., 3892 Cal. Totals for weekend: 14:43:01, 253.94 mi., 8760 Cal.

Another Epic Ride

Shootout, McGee, Madera, Helmet Peak, Irvington, Gates. 7:36:53, 130.89 mi, 4868 Cal. I'm tired.

Work work

The weather here hasn't been the typical Tucson weather. It's been a bit dreary, and so I've taken it as an opportunity to do some work and make some money. I had two computer calls yesterday, and today switched gears into home-repair mode. I installed a second outlet in the bathroom and hung this ceiling fan. I haven't wired it up yet, but I will after dinner.