379

That was my number in the flying wheels summer century when I completed my first 100+ mile bike ride. I say 100+ mile because I also cycled 7.5 miles to the start line. The route starts heading south past lake Sammamish, before cutting across the hills into, erm whatever the next valley is called. You can see the 2007 route, which is not much different at Bikely http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Flying-Wheels-Summer-Century.

Next month its the STP, which is 200 miles. The big question is should i try to do it in 1 day or 2 days???

 

Man Flu Strikes

First, I’d like to say thanks to the guy in New York who showed up to a meeting with a cold, and left with a pile of soft (but wet) tissues. Good job sharing…

So I’ve had man flu since Tuesday now. Monday I had pre-man flu symptoms. This has caused me to miss work, (but still make a meeting in SF) I also missed presenting at an internal conference – but I have caught up on email and other work.

So what is Man Flu. According to wikipedia (the source of all knowledge)

Man flu is a pejorative term that refers to the idea that when many men have a cold, they exaggerate and claim they have the flu — the implication being that women do not do so.

Of course, in this case they are wrong. Man Flu is in fact real. Its a mutated influenza virus that has been through an antigenic drift, but not with other flu strains, but monkeypox, Venezuelan equine encephalitis & most likely Ebola.

There are some that claim women can also contract Man Flu – but that is genetically impossible and a myth.

 

Last week: Airport Security, Sleep Depravation & Teenage Daughters

Slap, ouch ye mucky raster.

That is the sound of reality coming back after the holiday break.

Sunday: First, it snowed Sunday night – another 2 inches or so. Which meant I had to be up early to check if the busses and schools were on for the kids. Since our sleep patterns were upside down, that meant we went to bed around midnight, sleep around 3am, to get up around 5:20 to check the schools. Schools were starting 90 minutes late, which meant everyone could get a little more time in bed.

Sunday Summary: 2 hours 20 minutes sleep

Monday: My schedule was to wrap some items up, then fly to Detroit, staying overnight, then meeting customers, then off to CodeMash in Sandusky, Ohio.

Check-in at NWA in Seattle at lunchtime is a nightmare. 35 minute wait just to check my 1 bag in that contained my >3oz bottle of shampoo. $15 to check that bag in, then off to the 20 minute wait to get through security. I was in trouble there because I put my shoes on top of my laptop. Apparently American x-ray machines cannot see through shoes, or nylon laptop bags so you have to take your laptop out of your bag. Bad people could easily smuggle guns or something in Nylon bags, they should ban Nylon bags. (Before you start, at Heathrow Airport in London-England, you don’t have to take your laptop out of your bag. I asked them why and they said that x-ray machines can see through bags!)

Detroit: Minus 5 C or something, picked up the hire car and found an Ice scraper in it.

Hotel: Marriott – spent 20 minutes attaching my silver membership to my stay. Found myself in the noisiest room in any hotel anywhere. There was a room fan that was similar in sound to a 747 engine. Then above the room there was some maintenance man hitting something with his hammer, until 10pm. – Did I mention there is a 3 hours time difference. Which meant at midnight, it was only 9pm, and since my bedtime had migrated to 3am PST, that meant I’d be awake another 6 hours before sleeping. That would allow me a good 2 hours sleep , actually made it to sleep about 3am, awoke at 7am

Monday Summary – 3 hour time zone change and 4 hours sleep

Tuesday: Ready to meet customers – had to scrap 1/4 inch of ice from the car (that is why they give you an ice scraper). Customer meetings good – next a 2 hour drive to Sandusky. Network broke at home so talked Kate through plugging things back in. Network working.

Note: You will slide on Black Ice if you try to turn, keep going straight.

Prepped for my talks etc. went to sleep around 2am and clock watched from 2:01am

Tuesday Summary – 5 hours of on-off sleep

Wednesday: Talked to folks, Talked to more folks, talked to even more folks.

Wednesday Summary: Slept 6 hours.

Thursday: Hung out at the conference and then drove back to Detroit to catch flight.

Really sick of airport security checks now. Having removed my laptop/coat/shoes/jumper, I forgot about my belt and then watch. Since I had about an hour before my flight, I was quiet possibly the slowest person putting shoes etc back on. Eventually they moved my things to one of the 5 closed checkpoints (they were running 2 with a huge line) so I was not holding everyone up.

The 4 hour 40 minute flight did not include the hour it took to drive to the deicer then queue up to take off. Arrived at Seattle an hour late. I won’t talk about the flight, its soul destroying, nothing to eat, seats are way to small for someone >6ft.

Drove home to see Kate before trying to catch up on sleep.

Thursday Summary: slept 6 hours.

Friday: Day at work – nothing major to report.

Saturday: Dropped Kate and Jonathan at Basketball, then Picked Emma up (who had had a sleepover) and took E and R to a party. Picked K & J up and went for lunch at Quiznos. Dropped me & J at home not feeling well, and K went to pickup E & R. Then D,K & J went to guitar, and REI, AE & Victors for coffee, before returning home. E & R hung out at home. E got ready for her date with BF. Dropped E at pictures, K,D,J & R went to dinner then home. Picked E up at 9:45. Went to bed.

Saturday Summary: It was a blur, but got lots of sleep

Sunday: Up early, Went to Costco, then Victors then Staples then home.

Realized teenage daughter left a trail of destruction when getting ready for date. Also realized that teenage daughter had not been doing chores whilst away, and felt it was our fault she had not got her stuff for her project. Could not be bothered to lecture. (Lecturing to a teenager is simply the act of wasting time whilst getting oneself in a frazzle.) My new tactic requires only 8 mouse clicks and the words "you are grounded and your phone is disabled until next Sunday". Time investment is less than 1 minute, no raised blood-pressure – its great, and it’s likely to be just as ineffective as everything else when dealing with those supreme teenage life-forms.

Things not done:

• Ride bike
• Fiddle with trains
• Hang out and do not very much

Weight: 253lbs (that is all the weight I lost before PDC back on again!)

 

Which Bike?

I’m on the lookout for a new bike!

The one I really like is the Raleigh Sojourn.

It’s designed to handle larger loads (that is me and my laptop). And should be comfortable on longer riders. I’ve seen this bike, and it really does look good. Very good.

Doing a search on the Internet yields similar models from other manufacturers.

By far the most popular is the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

I’ve not seen this bike. It does look similar, has been around longer than the Raleigh, but would need a rack and fenders. It also has great views from most people. I think they have one of these in a local bike store, so I will be off to find it when the snow goes.

Another one is the Trek 520.

Again a nice looking bike, similar spec etc. Fenders look pants and would need replacing. No disc brakes.

Next up is the Jamis Aurora Elite.

No Rack, or Fenders. Cycling in the northwest requires a tolerance of rain, so fenders are a must, unless you like the skunk look.

Then there is the Fuji Touring.

Again nice, needs fenders – has some great reviews.

And finally the Novara Randonee Touring Bike.

This is my least favorite.

I do like the disc brakes the Raleigh has, and I’ve not seen many of the others. As I find and try them out over the next few weeks I’ll report back. In the mean time, if you have an opinion, leave a comment.

 

What’s this Wednesday?

In the continuing tradition of winding Kate up for Christmas, here is the 2nd “What’s this Wednesday?”.

 

Beef Casserole & Snow

Its the weekend, which means I get to play and cook.

We all went out in the snow, down to Jonathan’s school. There were a few good hills to try out, both Kate and I had a go – it was a blast. Rachel has no fear and dives down the hills, usually without a sledge under her. Jonathan slides down and it sounds like: Yeah, Umph. Argh, yeah, ow, eee, yeah, argh, thump, bump crash.

We also bumped into Steve Simon, who I used to help coach the football (soccer) team with last year. It was good catching up with Steve.

When we got home we were all freezing cold. We put the log fire on and had Beef Casserole, cooked in the slow cooker.

Here is the recipe:

• Beef, Cubed
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1 clove of garlic
• 3 tbs Olive Oil
• 2 tbs butter
• 3 tbs Worcester Sauce
• 1 Onion cut into chunks
• 2 tins tomatoes
• Mushrooms, halved
• Glass of Red Wine
• Carrots peeled and chopped
• 2 Large potatoes, cubed
• Bisto Gravy
• Sea Salt and Pepper

Here is what to do:

1. Toss the beef with the floor.
2. In a large frying pan, slowly brown the beef with olive oil and garlic, when halfway done, add the Worcester sauce.
3. Once browned, add to the slow cooker. Don’t clean the frying pan, use the same pan all the way to get all the lovely sticky stuff from the bottom!
4. In the same frying pan, add the butter and onion and fry until onion is soft. Add to slow cooker.
5. In the same frying pan, add the mushrooms and red wine, gently remove the “stuff” from the bottom of the pan. The mushrooms will soak up the red wine. Fry for 5 min, then add to slow cooker. (you pan should be clean now)
6. Add the carrots, potatoes, tins of tomato’s & gravy. (I make the gravy in the tomato tin!)
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Cook on high for 1 hour, then on low for 6-8 hours.
9. Serve with broccoli and mustard mash.

YUM!

 

What’s this Wednesday?

For 2 weeks only, I’m doing a what’s this Wednesday as pioneered by Kate. If you see what the picture is, well you’ll understand why I only need to do it for 2 weeks…

 

It’s cold outside

Was awake early today, so I got up and took Emma to the school bus-stop at 6:10am then drove to work. It was -8C (that’s 17F). Even Emma was wrapped up with dry hair!

D

 

2009 To Do List

My wonderful wife Kate, puts me to shame with her “almost” daily blog. So I thought I would give it a go myself. I already blog for work at davidaiken.com, but I wanted somewhere to put things that don’t make sense being linked to from the MSDN library!

First up is my 2009 to do list:

• Get to 200lbs – There is a history of diabetes in my side of the family. The only way to beat it is to get and stay fit, eat right, and exercise. I made a good start in 2008, but need to get to my goal in 2009.
• Get 2 full health checks, including establishing max heart rate.
• Go to the gym.
• Ride to work 3 times per week starting once the nights get lighter (mid-Feb by my calculations)
• Ride a century. (that is 100 miles)
• Ride the STP (Seattle to Portland)
• Ride the RSVP (Ride Seattle to Vancouver & Party)
• Have a vacation in another place with the family
• Camp in a tent (I’m not sure about this one, my wife has it on her list, so I will be doing it, may as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I wonder if tent is spelt H-O-T-E-L?)
• Write a personal blog post at least once a week with what I have been up too and include my weight
• Go to Drew’s Poker night (when it doesn’t clash with something)
• Build a model railway with the many track, trains & buildings we’ve collected over the last few years.
• Go somewhere new every month. Doesn’t matter if it is a restaurant, town, hill whatever.

Let’s see how I do.

D