Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Aarrghh, tandem!

Well, the tandem is still in the shop.  Tandems are notorious fuss budgets but this is getting ridiculous.  We spent all that money on a new rear wheel and it's been nothing but trouble.  We had way less trouble with the factory built wheel that came with the bike and would probably still have it if we hadn't "ahem" worn halfway though the rim.  They want to rebuild the new wheel with all new spokes but the guy who does that has been out of town since last Friday.  That means that the weather's beautiful and we're not riding our bike.  Sad Face!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

TDF is over, now what?

Oh, yeah, I need to clean the house!  When the Tour de France gets over every year, I always feel like I'm waking up from a dream.  And what I see when I wake up is a whole lot of stuff I have been putting off since the tour started.  I spend so much time trying to watch as much of the tour as I can, I don't do much of anything else in July.  Well, it's over now and boy does this house needs some scrubbing!
It was a wonderful tour with lots of great competition and good sportsmanship.  My two favorite guys, Andy and Frank Schleck, came in second and third behind Cadel Evans, a great competitor.  I'm looking forward to next year!

Friday, July 22, 2011

So much but right now Tour de France

So much has gone on this spring, new back wheel for the tandem giving us fits, MS ride good but not great, back troubles hopefully fixed by a new mattress and box spring, staff change at my favorite bike shop not boding well for my continued patronage and OMG the Tour de France.  What's not to like about two brothers who are great friends and totally devoted to each other being ranked 2 and 3 after a frenchman in the lead who never thought he'd still be in the yellow jersey at this point.  Today is the last mountain stage with a legendary climb.  Tomorrow is the time trial and then the ride into Paris Sunday which is mostly just a victory lap for the winner.  I'm here in my un-air condidtioned bedroom on the hottest day of the year trying to watch as much as I can of it before my room gets to hot to sit in anymore.  The rest of the house has AC but my DVR is in here.  I'll last as long as I can and then watch the rest tonight after the room cools down a bit.  Go Andy!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

It's Been a While

and a lot has changed.  The biggest change is that I have a child now.  I have permanent guardianship of my nephew.  He's a great kid and I'm so fortunate to have him in my life.  It was a tough and stressful winter but everything came out fine and I'm ready to get back to bike blogging!
Stef and I have been spending a lot of time on the tandem.  We are going to be riding the MS Cape Cod Getaway again this year and, though we're not as prepared as last year, we're still giving it a shot.  We just put a new wheel on the back of the bike and for what we paid for it, it had better make us iced cappuccinos while we're sitting at red lights.  The cost aside, we really did need a new wheel.  We'd worn about halfway through the rim of the old one (!!!) and desperately needed a disk brake of some kind.  There were just too many times where I'd have to unclip and drag my feet on the ground because the brakes weren't stopping us.  So, we are now able to stop as well as go which is important.
That's all I have time for for now.  I have to take said child to an appointment.  Hope to blog again real soon!