Chicago

It has been an eventful week of fun in Chicago. After a 220+ mile week, I got on a flight Sunday morning and headed to Chicago for a week of Kaizen. It was a fun but, as all Kaizen events are, stressful week. The excitement was getting rained out on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. We were at Captain Morgan's, waiting for a few more friends to show up when the lights went out on the field and the game was postponed till a future date not known as of yet. We could smell the hot dogs and nachos, caught a glimpse of the field, but couldn't convince the ticket taker to let us walk through to check it all out for just a moment. Since our car was land locked at the "park for a quarter" place, we headed to get a bite to eat. Since the "Cubbie Bear" was full, we headed around the corner to the "Salt & Pepper" diner. A nice place with loud music and an old fashion diner feel. By the way, the burger was awesome! People are everywhere, music is playing, we are talking to this 72 year old lifelong Cubbie fan, sitting right across the street from this sign. Absolutely priceless!

About the cycling, I spent almost 6 hours on the stationary bike in Chi-town. It was good to sit and spin after a long day. It was all high cadence work-real good for the spinning. It paid dividends on Saturday's ride as I kept the cadence high through out the ride and felt real strong. The legs were in good form Saturday but the body was tired - something about an 8 hour flight delay at O'Hare and getting home at 1:30 AM had something to do about that. It is good to be home and back together with the family and my bike.

Only a few more weeks till the STP. In fact, packet pickup is this Saturday. I am ready to ride!

A Horse is a horse, of course...

A funny thing happened the other day on the ride up Haugen road to work. The reason I ride this road is to get off of the busy highway 99. The only problem is that the animals come out and play. I have been chased by several dogs, seen deer, scared cats, avoided squirrels, and eaten insects on the way up this 2 mile climb.

Last week the wierdest thing happened. On the way up, Rob and I are talking and we look up and see this large white horse standing on the side of the road. Funny thing, it is standing in the same exact location that the dog was at a few weeks ago. We ride cautiously by, wondering what is this horse going to do. It had the crazy eye so I kind of clicked by tongue a few times as we passed by. Next thing we know is the horse is moving. It starts to follow us. It begins to trot after us. I am worried. I don't want to be ran over or bitten by a horse. I don't know what to do. I have never been chased by a horse before. So, I turn around and yell "Stop!" Lucky for us, it does and we continue up the climb. Wow! I think how interesting was that - a horse chased us. Just wanted to share that riding a bike has some exciting moments other than just riding.

Making Lemonade

It was an interesting week - I flew to Chicago on Monday and had a whirlwind trip, visiting the plant and a few areas around the plant. I did manage to get in a ride - 1.5 hours on the stationary bike. It was a good interval workout and I sweated pools of toxic waste. I left Chicago Wednesday afternoon and got back late. Thursday was an early ride up Haugen and into work. I had planned on a longer ride home on Thursday night but the weather was not cooperating. We had some high winds and heavy rains. The theme continued on Friday with adverse weather and no riding.

I was excited to get a note from a friend, asking if I wanted to ride with a group at 5:30 AM Saturday. I was in. At 5:30 AM on Saturday, the roads were still wet and it was misty out. Yet, the lemons were mounting and begging to be turned into lemonade. So, I headed out and met the group. We rode Haag Lake, Yamhill, Carlton, Lafayette, and back home for 72 miles in a bit over 4 hours. It was a solid ride. I rode on my Trek. After all the changes I have made to my Specialized, the Trek is noticeably heavier and the geometry distinctly different. The bike is not as responsive and the handling a bit sluggish. This is the difference between a race bike and a touring bike. Yet, it served me well on a bad weather day. The legs felt it and the muscle confusion was well worth it. In a little over a month, all this will pay off for me at the STP.

All told, a bit over 112 miles and almost 7 hours on the bike - a good week off. This coming week should be 5 days on the bike and near or exceed 200 miles.