There's a joke in my household. I don't do anything half-assed. Its either no ass or full ass.
For the past three years, I have managed to be sick on my birthday, which is pretty crappy. It wasn't so bad, I only felt a tiny bit awful, and my Saturday I was feeling much better. Even well enough for a day of skiing. Then I somehow rebounded - or caught whatever Will had. And this next round has taken a hold on me. Sinus pain so bad I had trouble seeing, a coughing fit (coupled with a ride to Palmer Lake in the snow) that should have probably sent me to the hospital. And the fatigue. Holy crap am I tired.
I finally went to an Urgent Care clinic on Tuesday. Diagnosis was a sinus infection. I got a lecture about not coming in earlier and a prescription for augmentin, 875 mg twice a day for 10 days. I've had 3 full days of antibiotics and feel slightly better. Only slightly.
Crapola.
I'm 6 weeks away from the hardest 70.3 I've attempted and I have barely done any workouts. Just 2:20 easy on the bike trainer. Mainly because of the fatigue.
Hopefully I will really start to feel better this weekend and by next week I'm ready to roll. It has been a long time since I've been this sick and I'm wondering what sort of bad karmic mojo I put out into the universe to deserve this.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 07, 2013
New Bike - progress
My new bike is hopefully in production. I thought it would be fun to share the process of getting a completely hand-made custom bike. This is probably the only time I get to do such a thing and I'm really enjoying the process.
Fit: As you can see from the before-after photo, I am much more forward (steeper down tube angle).
Geometry: This is the schematic of what my bike will look like. I have no idea what the numbers mean, but I feel confident that this bike will be a perfect fit.
I got to pick out my paint colors and design. I asked them what my limits were. They replied "its custom, you can do whatever you want!". Translation "we'll do whatever you want - it will just cost you!" I had some general colors and layouts in mind, so I made an appointment to meet with Pete (Alchemy's graphics and social media guru) to design my paint scheme.
The carbon work they do is all by hand and it is amazing. They hand-wrap all the joints. The result is this very funky, geometric pattern which looks like art but is actually functional:
The carbon work is really unique and really speaks to how special the frame is. The guys at the shop basically begged me to keep the carbon work exposed. I agree, it would be a shame to cover it up, especially since that's the thing I gravitate to when I look at one of their bikes.
I spent a week thinking on the colors. I liked how bright Buzz was and with his yellow paint and bar wrap I always knew, without question, which bike was mine in transition. I wanted something similar, but with colors that are more "me". I didn't want to pick anything too trendy, but I probably did. That pretty and intense dark fuscia / bright purple has been a color obsession of mine for the past year or so. I love that color. Its trendy right now. But it speaks to me. And I'm adding some bright green (more spring green than neon green) accents, to make the bike pop. I'm guessing that my cables and bar wrap will also be green. And I may get some purple metal accents.
Pete and I sat down for nearly 2 hours and went through the process of selecting the graphics, building color blocks, adding logos, and placing pinstripes.
The "free" graphic option consisted of base carbon and vinyl logo stickers. For a $4500 frame, the base option is freaking stickers? That made me a bit cranky. Looks like this build was going to increase in price. We settled on the design and I asked to get a cost estimate, just to make sure I didn't go too crazy. Turns out, my paint job is one step shy of full custom - its a Level 3 paint effort, mainly because of the work that the green color block/purple Alchemy logo will need. It turns out that if I did one color, it would only be $300 cheaper. I'm already way deep into this bike, in terms of money and budget, but I also know that I'd be crabby if I didn't go ahead and spend the extra $300 (not even 5% of this bike) to get a graphic that really pops.
So, this will be my bike: purple and green, with exposed carbon, and clear pearl top coat.
I can't wait to ride it.
Fit: As you can see from the before-after photo, I am much more forward (steeper down tube angle).
 |
| not to self: do not wear a fully zippered jersey or it will buckle and make you look like you have rolls.... ugh |
 |
| it would be nice if my name was spelled correctly.... |
The carbon work they do is all by hand and it is amazing. They hand-wrap all the joints. The result is this very funky, geometric pattern which looks like art but is actually functional:
 |
| close up of some carbon work |
 |
| Alchemy and Shama Cycle build which won Best in Carbon at NAHBS 2 weeks ago. this is all carbon - no paint |
I spent a week thinking on the colors. I liked how bright Buzz was and with his yellow paint and bar wrap I always knew, without question, which bike was mine in transition. I wanted something similar, but with colors that are more "me". I didn't want to pick anything too trendy, but I probably did. That pretty and intense dark fuscia / bright purple has been a color obsession of mine for the past year or so. I love that color. Its trendy right now. But it speaks to me. And I'm adding some bright green (more spring green than neon green) accents, to make the bike pop. I'm guessing that my cables and bar wrap will also be green. And I may get some purple metal accents.
Pete and I sat down for nearly 2 hours and went through the process of selecting the graphics, building color blocks, adding logos, and placing pinstripes.
The "free" graphic option consisted of base carbon and vinyl logo stickers. For a $4500 frame, the base option is freaking stickers? That made me a bit cranky. Looks like this build was going to increase in price. We settled on the design and I asked to get a cost estimate, just to make sure I didn't go too crazy. Turns out, my paint job is one step shy of full custom - its a Level 3 paint effort, mainly because of the work that the green color block/purple Alchemy logo will need. It turns out that if I did one color, it would only be $300 cheaper. I'm already way deep into this bike, in terms of money and budget, but I also know that I'd be crabby if I didn't go ahead and spend the extra $300 (not even 5% of this bike) to get a graphic that really pops.
So, this will be my bike: purple and green, with exposed carbon, and clear pearl top coat.
Friday, March 01, 2013
February 2013 - Training Totals
Holy crap, it's March already? Wow. February just flew right on by.
Weirdly, this month wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Granted, I was in Phoenix for a week, trapped in day-long meetings and after work dinners, which meant I could only work out in the morning before work. And I did ski two weekends. Funny how that made my monthly totals look low. The weeks where I was in town and not skiing were pretty solid, though. I'm doing 11-13 hrs or workouts a week right now. And things feel pretty good.
So, I nearly doubled my time on the bike, although I've been doing a bunch of slow-ish aerobic long rides so my pace was a bit slower this month. Running is down by 4 hrs, but that's essentially the 2 weekends I was skiing. THREE days of glorious skiing. It was worth it. And shoveling on Sunday. Three rounds, combined with a 2.5 hr ride and a 30 min run did not make me a happy camper. I was happy to have the next day off, as a recovery day. Swim was way down. I swam less this month, but I'm not really sure why. January was a bit of freakishly high swim volume though. I think Feb is a bit more representative.
So far, so good. I'm excited to see what March brings.
Weirdly, this month wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Granted, I was in Phoenix for a week, trapped in day-long meetings and after work dinners, which meant I could only work out in the morning before work. And I did ski two weekends. Funny how that made my monthly totals look low. The weeks where I was in town and not skiing were pretty solid, though. I'm doing 11-13 hrs or workouts a week right now. And things feel pretty good.
| February's totals: | ||
| Bike: | 16h 11m - 195.43 Mi (so more like 231.9 miles if you include spin class) | |
| Run: | 10h 44m 59s - 53.28 Mi | |
| Swim: | 9h 05m - 25419.07 Yd | |
| Skiing: | 13h 00m | |
| Snow Shoveling: | 1h 35m | |
| Spinning Class: | 2h 55m | |
| January's totals: | ||
| Bike: | 9h 44m - 127.58 Mi (should be more like 149.5 miles if you include my spin class) | |
| Run: | 15h 06m 59s - 71.75 Mi | |
| Swim: | 14h 15m - 40737.1 Yd | |
| Strength: | 1h 00m | |
| Skiing: | 6h 00m | |
| Spinning Class: | 1h 45m | |
So, I nearly doubled my time on the bike, although I've been doing a bunch of slow-ish aerobic long rides so my pace was a bit slower this month. Running is down by 4 hrs, but that's essentially the 2 weekends I was skiing. THREE days of glorious skiing. It was worth it. And shoveling on Sunday. Three rounds, combined with a 2.5 hr ride and a 30 min run did not make me a happy camper. I was happy to have the next day off, as a recovery day. Swim was way down. I swam less this month, but I'm not really sure why. January was a bit of freakishly high swim volume though. I think Feb is a bit more representative.
So far, so good. I'm excited to see what March brings.
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