This can't be good, Part Two!

One nice thing about doing home improvement while no else is around is that your work isn't interrupted - following a brief mishap - by womenfolk insisting you get sutures or a tetnus booster.

While replacing the subfloor on our sunporch (thanks, Idiot Dog) I managed to lose my balance when poised on a couple joists while holding a 4x8 panel of 3/4 inch plywood. My left leg went right through the particle board battens catching the edge of a storm window stored under the house on the way down. Once the stars and tweety birds cleared from my vision (the panel having landed on my head) my first clue I hadn't gotten off scott-free were the bits of flesh on the corner of the storm window.

Oh, well. I didn't bleed very much, so I showered, washed out the two parallel scars and doused them in betadine. Then I wrapped up with antibiotic ointment, gauze and an ace wrap, the ace bandage was close at hand due to my sprained ankle. I'll spare you a picture this time. I did still manage to get the remaining two panels in, so the project is not too far behind schedule. But I think I'll cancel my plans to hoist a barrel of bricks to the roof until next week.

Longing for an epic ride

It's been a weird week. The family is gone: the boy is in Montana with my old man and the girls are in Florida with their mom. It would be the perfect week for a bike ride, anywhere. Alas, I'm grounded. Mostly because my wife is appropriately concerned about my durability since my 600km DNF and also because the ankle is still tender. I should be working around the house, but today I had Court and then went to the office to tie up some loose ends.

I should be riding. Yesterday, I found myself getting misty reading online accounts of others' glorious adventures in California, Colorado and France. And today I cornered a cross-country cyclist in Farmington, MO, whose bike I saw propped up against a laundromat. I raced in and said "You're the guy with the bike!" The poor kid, I was so busy peppering him with questions, I didn't even catch his name. He had come from Oregon and was headed to Virginia. Lucky guy. Tomorrow, I'm going for a ride, even if it's only ten miles.

My brother called tonight from California where it is very hot. Maybe this picture will keep him cool. Thanks for the call, buddy.

This can't be good

Yesterday's trail running went awry when I sprained my left ankle on the Greenrock Trail. It wasn't too bad at first, but when I crested the next hill a few minutes later it twisted again on an innocuous rock. Stephen sagely suggested heading back (our run ended up being 7.5 miles instead of 10 - not that that matters). I gamely tried to run it in because it wasn't particularly painful, just unstable.

But it's painful today. And what has me crabby is how much of my non-athletic pursuits are ankle-based: gardening, tidying the basement, and bike refurbishment. All I have left is beer drinking and NT Greek (which never occupied that much of my time if the the truth be told). I guess blogging wouldn't be too taxing on the ankle.

So maybe I'll find a model kit and watch the Tour as it heads into Italy today. I suppose I should have gone with Boz yesterday; then I would only have sprained lungs to contend with

The new machine

The I-don't-care-if it gets-stolen bike. This is what we'll all be on when, in the not so distant future, we fondly recall $4 gas. I fixed the wobbly headset, and put the old brake pads back on last night. It doesn't stop any more swiftly, but it's quieter. I teased my lovely wife that this is the sort of bike I'll ride when we retire to Florida where I'll ride it in just a speedo and some gold chains covering my tanned, leathery skin.

The new project is a Hercules frame I purchased at Bikeworks. It's a lugged, english lightweight, 3-speed from the late 60's I would guess. The frame weighs about a third what the Varsity's frame weighs. I'm already oogling a sprung Brooks saddle for it.

An update and a new ride

It's been a good couple of weeks since the last post. I've been riding some to work and last weekend I tackled the Firecracker 100 on my fixed-gear bike. It was hot out and a little windy, but not too bad. What was really great was seeing some biking friends like Tom and George. Too bad Tom had a mechanical (he claims) that caused him to DNF. Now he has to do the Natchez Trace 600km to redeem himself.

I threw together the old Schwinn Varsity (which I purchased a few weeks ago) and rode it to work. It's pretty cool, though not set-up exactly to my liking. I'll have to put it on Craigslist to get some seed money for the next beer-fetcher. I'll post a picture tonight.

Now for your gratuitous TDF shot, "The Man" from 2005:

Goal Set

Thanks to Stephen for helping me out of my funk by thrashing my down mood on the rocks and inclines of Greenrock Trail in west St. Louis County. Greenrock is quite tough; so tough that I remarked to Stephen it couldn't be good training because of all the walking (uphill and down). But he's right, it's toughness training. We ran a tough 10+ miles and it was very fun. I remember cruising along around mile 7 of our outing, leaping over limbs, arms pinwheeling, breath ragged; and I liked it! And even better, it was Training. Stephen talked me into running the Heartland 50-miler in October. Now I have no excuses, not to get out the door. Because this is a real 50, I'll have to adhere to the schedule or expect that my legs will explode at mile 45.

Viva Le Tour! One of things that has had me blue is the tought of the Tour starting and knowing I won't be there. I can still watch it from home, but it's fun to be there. I wish I could be on some sun-dappled french mountainside, willing my bike up a steep 20km Col, pacing the other cyclists, and craning my neck for a glimpse of the summit. And the feeling when you get to top is best summed up by this happy look:

Allez, Allez!