The End of the Beginning

It's been getting closer and closer to the right feelings to officially start training for the season. For the last month I have done approximately 1 ride per week and 1 run per week. The majority of my time has been spent getting the house fixed up with new attic insulation, attic venting, gutters, and a central dehumidifier. We also found some new home owners and car insurance along with refinancing. Right now the guys are blowing in the new insulation, tomorrow morning we close on the refi, and tomorrow afternoon the new gutters and gutter helmets should be working in fine fashion. It was exhausting and I'm glad its done.

Andrea and I are taking a quick weekend trip up to Eagle River for a little mtb skillz practice, and some major relaxation. Upon return everything should be in order to start the season with no distractions. I'm figurin' I better start with a fitness test at Iola! Nothing like racing into shape....

I'll leave you with a few good pics from the brick and mortar removal and time spent in the attic...

Father In Law Of The Year

My Father In Law is once again in the running for F.I.L. of the Year Award. Right now he is up in the attic pounding away at some brick and mortar attempting to open some access to the soffit's. For some odd reason the builders completely closed off the attic with tar paper and brick and mortar.

Yesterday I knocked out the brick and mortar between every other floor joist in the front. I basically crammed myself into the corner and with all my power held up a hammer drill and attempted to break things up. Then I switched to a crowbar and regular hammer to finish the job. Only if it was as easy at that sounds. I only hit my head in the corner of the attic on 15-16 nails. My ribs are bruised, my forearms are slivered and I'm in some serious pain everywhere else. This morning before work I went and did 1/3 of the back side of the house. It's not fun work......

I did manage one bike ride thursday morning. 2 hours with Bill Street Player. Hopefully I'll finish the attic this weekend and start riding on a regular basis. The insulation guys are scheduled for a Wednesday blow in, the gutters should be installed shortly after that, and then we are ready to sign the papers for the refi closing of the house. Then all projects come to a halt until 2011 and I'll drop the tools and pick up the bike.

FOR SALE: RACE FACE CARBON RISER BAR $50 taken off of the new Top Fuel

FOR SALE: 2010 Fox Float RP-23 w/boost valve, rebound, new "Race Cam" Pro Pedal; 6.5x1.5" $300 taken off of the new Top Fuel

Back 2 Work

Busy is the name of the game these days. I'm trying to get faster on my bike by watching Fabian Cancellera crush the competition week after week......plus Roger Hammond got 4th at Roubaix today and I beat him at the cross race in Baal in 2009....so that means I'm ready to race right?

The past 2 weeks has consisted of refinancing our house, getting an appraisal, switching car and home owners insurance, getting new gutters, central dehumidifier, venting for the attick and of course new insulation. After about a million phone calls I think everything is lined up to happen this week. Hopefully when its all over I can start riding my bike. Today was frickin' awesome outside but I spent the majority of the day bent in half removing the old insulation. The pink stuff was easy to get out....it was the vermiculite w/ asbestos that I was not having fun with. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get rid of that pile of crap on the side of the house?

I did manage to sneak in a 1:30 ride over to Evergreen Park for a little time on the MTB....and last weekend Tristan kicked my ass for 4 hours on the road......so that at least counts for 2 rides in the last 3 weeks!

On top of all that other crap mentioned above the bike shop has been killing it with the big Trek Fest Spring Sale. The boss man says the sale must go on...so if you want a screaming deal stop in before Wednesday.

My back is killing me....and now I have to lug the shop vac in here and suck out the rest...wish me luck.