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Merry Christmas

Peace and goodwill reign supreme at this joyous time. A quiet peace is the tone for this weekend. Done with any sales and a restful reflective weekend is long deserved. Many thanks again to my family that helped significantly with getting a new roof on our house. a great weight off our shoulders. Whenever everything above is in good order everything else falls in place.

Merry Merry Merry Christmas!

Shopping II

We have a lot of these boxes from a business associate who buys glass vases. A good way to ensure your packages are handled with care, or maybe not as a video of a FedEx delivery man throwing a computer monitor over a fence on his deliver has hit the Internet. Any way we finished our shopping for the nieces and nephews last night and will finish all the deliveries today.

I was a bit surprised how empty the mall was last night. Maybe we will visit the mall Saturday even if our shopping is complete, just to contribute to the mass hysteria. I still haven’t bought Misao’s gift[s]. We got down to Chicago for a True Family Values Banquet Saturday. I told Misao maybe we’ll come down to Chicago for Christmas shopping next year, …if we’re rich. They had a beautiful tree at the Hilton Chicago.

Missed the last monthly Metro Mountain Bikers meeting. Had to visit my parents before they left on a trip and Misao had the car busy all the daytime hours. Then my mom kept us in conversation until 8:00pm. I had completely forgotten it was the big meeting at Ray’s. I would have gone to the wrong place. With the snow, actually gone now, Ray’s should be getting busy. Some say they don’t miss the snow and don’t know why people are anxious for the snow to arrive. Well, the Christmas lights look brighter as do the nights and day, and when the days are so short I think it helps lift the spirit. But I guess some people are just lazy and don’t want to shovel. We took this picture in the morning and I  was surprised the snow hadn’t all melted off the walk by the time we got home that evening.

After watching the Tacx video linked on my previous post, Misao wants one of their trainers too. A bit out of our price range this year. Maybe I’ll get a new helmet for Christmas. Have been back to the gym and am easing my way back into a training routine. I really need to get in shape. Then maybe I could go on a ride like this guy for a worthy cause. Getting in shape and dropping fifty pounds are the number one and two fitness goals. I will decide how many WORS races I am going to shoot for next year after the snow melts.

I have been shopping around for an e-reader. The Nook and Kindle are the affordable varieties. the e-ink screens are their strongest selling point I believe. You can get a good model for $99, or $79 if you want something a bit more basic. Of course you can spend more. Tablets are the most expensive option but they are back lit. If I work on the computer with the traditional back lit screen too long my vision goes blurry, so I think the e-ink screens are a really important development in our tech oriented world. Don’t think I will get one for Christmas but if you, any of my readers get a Kindle my books are available for $0.99. The second edition of “Chuck Hammer and the Invisible Squadron” is available and appropriate for young adults and older. And if you are giving a kindle why not preload it with my books.

The shopping for a new roof is complete and installed. A beautiful roof and new gutters by a very exceptional company that did a great job. A couple of roofers with ties to the neighborhood wouldn’t even give us a quote. Of course there are other ways to say we don’t want your business ( like Ben’s Cycle and fitness has made clear). That is to give a quote that is three times higher than it should be like another contractor. New Years resolution; No more mister nice guy here!

Merry Christmas! and let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Shopping

Yes, it tis the season to be shopping and we have been shopping for a new garage door among other things. Hopefully the new roof will be in place by the end of the week. The weather sure has come to work out in favor of the roofers. And surprise, surprise, surprise, the county golf courses will be open today and tomorrow. Sunburst Ski Resort is also open from this weekend.

Our new garage door. Hopefully we will do a complete repair of the garage next summer. It was snowing but nothing stuck. December is always better with snow.

I went shopping the other day with my wife. It was more a recon operation than a mission of acquisition. We stopped by one of my favorite bicycle-fitness shops, “Emery’s”, and checked out some prices on trainers. The good news is the days of $4,000 computerized trainers are gone. The bad news is they are still expensive. From all my research I have a simple analysis of those computer trainers that let your ride virtual courses from all around the world. Only one is fairly free of software problems, the computrainer; the most expensive. Their software also is a bit more complete in the total information one can gather to assist in their training.

Tacx is an exciting brand from Belgium, and according to my market sources very popular in Europe. One of the exciting things about Tacx is they have a steering component to their virtual reality trainers.

Elite is the most affordable in the virtual racing trainers, but the comments about software issues seem to be the greatest, though some say they have excellent customer support. You can find the Elite brand online in the $700 range. Emery’s has the Computrainer in stock and can get you Tacx within a day or two. They have a trainer testing station where you can take the systems for a trial run.

Of course there are plenty of trainers that do not have the virtual reality element. They can be much cheaper and it may be the option I must take this year; going with CycleOps. Also in stock at Emery’s. Another review suggested that a trainer will last you three Winters of good training. Something to consider in your financial planning and/or budgeting.

So Computrainer has set the bar high, set the standard, as far as software. Tacx sits on the leading edge of creating a truly realistic virtual experience. You can find a cheaper virtual experience, but with accessories it may still run you $1,000. You want a pad and sheathing to protect your floor and bike from sweat. Or an old school high end trainer with accessories could run you $500. The highest end Computrainer and Tacx will run nearly $2,000 with accessories. If you buy from a bicycle shop you could get  bicycle maintenance included for under $2,000.

I just wonder why these trainer manufacturers have not gone in with Play Station or X-Box. With the Kinect and other motion reading systems one could have a real bicycle derby. Wielding broad swords and battle axes, slaying werewolves and other creatures, or ones competition, along a mountain bike route would truly expand the bicycling cause.

Black Friday

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. The whole world was talking about black Friday and the war like atmosphere in search of a deal. Not sure how much of the ruckus was even about Christmas shopping. But it certainly was a beautiful day. I was busy with tasks around the house and almost didn’t get out for a ride As clouds gathered and darkness approached. This path is under Doyne Park and took me to the parkway.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my brothers house. Which turkey was oven baked and which was deep fried? I made a double batch of rice pudding. I left one whole bowl for my brother to take to work the next day but I heard it never arrived. Misao went out shopping early in the morning, Black Friday not on Thanksgiving. She said the other shoppers were driving the roads with crazed looks on their faces rushing from store to store.

I had to replace this base plate on in our garage as it had rotted away, being exposed to standing water before I had the mud jacking done. Jacked up the corner of the garage as best I could and then took out the old and put in the new.

Here I made my own door closer from things hanging around the house. And if the bungee cord isn’t tight enough to keep drafts from pushing the door open, just add a knot to it.

And what could this be? When you create a tourniquet you need to place a stick under whatever you have tied around the extremity and twist it tight to really cut off the blood flow. When I ripped my arm open on a rock a couple years ago the cut was not too far from the artery. I don’t think a tube would make a good tourniquet and I have meant to add something useful to my saddle bag that would work as one but haven’t gotten to it. This works on the same principle. It is to keep the rocking chair rockers from spreading. The glue wouldn’t hold. My work never ends.

The good weather has been good for riding but I have not had the time. It looks like the weather will hold long enough for us to get a new roof before the snow starts flying. But some bicycle fanatics are eager for the bad weather to arrive. The Cyclo-cross National Championships will be held in Madison Wisconsin January 4-8.

My gym, Bally, was bought by LA Fitness. I heard on the news they would honor existing contracts which would keep my low monthly fees in place however I heard from others that the fees will go to $80 a month. Too steep for me. Not sure what the people I have worked out with will do. I find it hard to believe the prices gyms can charge and new gyms keep opening.

We have our tree up. It is a busy time of the year but I really need to set down a training schedule. Misao doesn’t like to see me write so much because she says then I don’t exercise. But if I could get paid for writing I’d be in the money. Over 550 post in just over five years; about two a week. Some posts have taken much more effort than others, especially on some of my more serious blogs. And then there are my books. Still editing and developing the second book though a rough version is available on Kindle.

The yard and garden could use a few more touches before the snow flies. I treated the peach tree on Thanksgiving as the temperatures were warm enough and all the leaves (all but one) had fallen. I intend now to invest much more time writing but wont let that keep me from training. As we advance financially I will pick larger more international races to train for.