Winter wonderland weekend fun!

So far this weekend ranks really high on the fun factor scale.
Friday came home to shovel, heart was pumping good so I headed on over to the fitness center afterwards fish tailing in 4 wheel drive the entire way. Got a really good Upper Body (chest, arms, core) workout in - after going there almost everyday and seeing the same people all the time the place is becoming something to look forward too. The people that work there and go there on a similar regular basis are friendly and fun. Crazy Carl informed me that I have a 21" vertical jump after we checked it. Stuff like that, just hangin chattin', makes the time spent there all the better. Not the mention the flashbacks and memories from high school. Good stuff.
Came home after getting some salt from Ace to do the second round of shoveling, which was basically just cleaning off an inch of fluffy stuff. Threw down the salt and called her done. Went in to some salad and pizza and some TV.
SMBride was really good. Only bad part was I slept in a little so I was running a little behind and when I went to put the bike in the Jeep I noticed that I had a flat front tire. So I ran to the mini mart, thank goodness I had a spare tube, and did the fastest tube change I've ever done. Had to have been under 3 min for sure. Was too late to meet at the normal meeting spot so I parked it right there and rode to catch them all ready in progress. Group of about 10 or so. 3 or 4 from Milwaukee area this time around and a new guy nick named Arctic man from Cedar somewhere or another. Beach was a bit icy in spots but at least I didn't sink into in like last time and I had way fresher legs than the week before. Beach was real good. We rode to just before Cedar Grove and then up and back into Oostburg. Couple of guys bailed on the ice but you'll have that when riding that many miles in December. Breakfast was good, I talked more than usual since there was a smaller group...kinda explained what I did for a living I guess...the normal get to know a person type of stuff. Good time.
Rode back and all was good. Pics and video on Dano's site. Link on top right of page. Check it out.
After the ride I came home changed and headed into town. Had to take garbage to the dump and get gas and stop by my haircut lady for some hair product...I know I said product...lame.
Got all that crap done and came back home. Tori and I then proceeded to get our gear on to go cross country skiing (XCSkin') for the first time. I then loaded up the Jeep again and off we went to the local state park to do our maiden voyage. Things went very well. A couple of falls getting the hang of it were to be had but all was good. So good that we went again on Sunday morn before the Pack kicked the Lady Lions rear end. So much fun that we're going in about 20 min from now. Have to enjoy this winter wonderland while we can. So that's what's been going on so far.
Maybe a movie in Meqoun tonight (Juno) and some Cheesecake Factory too boot. Not going to do the typical booze til the sun comes up as we have a New Years Day bike ride tomorrow...the Urban Assault I overheard them call it.
Nate in '08 - wow I'm really sportin the lame-ness today.
cya

Low Ballin' - High Groundin

Mustang & Triumph Saga
So the painter guy was able to make it last night, up from south Brew town. Nice guy...loves the car, wants the bike. He's low balling the shit out of me so I told him to reconsider taking all facts into account and to fax/email me an estimate for work to be preformed. I expect to see something in the next week or two. This guy is my number two. The really experienced organized guy that I would prefer to do it must be busy, not interested anymore or on vacation/holiday break w/ family. I haven't heard from him since the 10th and he was just getting over the flu back then. I'm sure once next week is over things will start to mellow out and go back to normal.
Today I ordered some seat brackets for the Stang. I also emailed a guy in Milwaukee who's selling a Grant steering wheel. The To Do list is
- order aluminum radiator setup
- get seats taken care of
- get steering column installed
- get radiator installed
- get steering wheel installed
- order clutch
May be time to call up Tom - he does real good work
I need to get the gas tank on the Triumph painted and the battery installed along w/ rectifier...this is a lot of crap...
Workout Progress
Yesterday on the way home I stopped by a sporting goods store and picked up some Nike Dri Fit Compression Shorts...basically athletic boxer briefs. Tried 'em out last night and they work really good.
Warm Up Bike 10 min
Core - mellow
Runners Stretch
Treadmill - Walk 5 Run 10 Walk 3 Run 10 Walk 2 done
Overall I was very pleased that I ran this long and could have gone longer
Breathing on the machine is getting better
Bad thing was my right shin got super sore immediately and is still buggin out but no pain no gain I say
Shorts helped
Bike 15 cool down
Tonight lay low
Saturday morning Bike Ride is on per Dano and Saturday afternoon will be Tori and I XC skiing for the first time...should be real fun
Sunday is either XC skiing in morning w/ Packers in the afternoon or Snowboarding all day w/ Danny and Co.
later

Back at it

Last nights workout sucked. Haven't had a bad one in what seems like awhile.
Didn't finish lifting, went to treadmill, was going ok but then I was getting annoyed w/shorts and stopped.
Not a happy camper. Hopefully tonight's goes better.
Painter guy is coming today - taking a couple of hours of vacation to meet.
Tomorrow is Friday already and we're supposed to get some snow, how much we'll see.
Hopefully enough to use the XC skis.

Consumption

I feel lucky and also a bit guilty to have possibly tasted all this is the past couple of days...
Ham, steak, shrimp, potato's, chips, salsa, ham roles, pickles, olives, lasagna, pumpkin bars, brownies, cookies, meatballs, beer, goldenshlaager, red bull, wine, roast beef, crackers, cheese, ham, summer sausage, little wieners, chocolate pretzels, Sprite, popcorn, water, dump cake, taco dip, beer, ham, veggies and spinach dip.
I'm not looking forward to a weigh in tonight.

Merry Christmas

Saturday Morn Bfast Ride I tried to bail on the guys and was unsuccessful, I ended up making it to bfast. Note to self...don't have the leg lifting routine the night before a ride...you only make yourself look foolish.

Saturday afternoon went to DaveUSA's - was a long day/night.

Here we are at peak foolishness

Colin, Steph,Mike, Santa, Ryan, Bob, Nate

Fired up the bike

So yesterday wasn't a complete waste at all. I left work early to meet a car painter from Milwaukee at our house. So I stopped at dad's to borrow his torpedo heater to heat the lower garage. Although the garage is insulated it was still at 30 degree's when I walked in. So hooked up the heater and began to warm up the garage. Took about an hour or so to get it up to 62. Plugged in the bike and gave her a couple of kicks and she popped. My suspicions were correct as it was just the cold air/parts. Took some video and sent it to the 2 interested parties. One wants me to do a video walk around of the car and he was unable to make it yesterday and has rescheduled for next Wed, but I'm glad I got the bike fired up and got the vid done.
Last night had me back on the treadmill. After all the messing around w/ the bike and putting the video online I really wasn't in the mood at all to go workout but forced myself to get out of the house. That's where most of my issue is although I have driven to the school before walked in, changed, started working out and said no way after a couple of minutes. But for the most part as long as I can get out of the house w/out to much hassle like packing my clothes in the morning so I don't have anything to think about and just get out and in the car, then I'm usually pretty good. So...
Bike 10/Core/Stretch/
Treadmill walk 5, run 10, walk 5, run 5 faster, walk 5 done
Bike 10
Running was a little easier than Tuesday.
Too many Christmas Cookies around...

Here's a link to the vid -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3602282083609194587
cya

Half Day Vay Cate

Doing a half day today...I'm caught up at work for the moment and the painter should be making his way to Shebagdad to check out the Triumph and Stang. I'll be getting the torpedo heater out to blast heat in the lower to bring up the temp. This better make the bike pop and turn over. If not, oh well.

Workout 1 last night went well. Tor got me a garage door opener for xmas and even had it installed. How cool.

Not much else going on these days...

I was looking at the list for the Barrett-Jackson Auction and there are a couple of cool cars but a lot of humdrum boring Mustangs.

Hump Day

I decided not to lift last night and focused on cardio. I did not feel like doing either after work yesterday. I was really busy all day and exhausted when I left. I thought about stopping at a mini mart and grabbing a Snickers or something but didn't want to add that many calories before working out. It was also 34 degree's out (warm) and I wanted to spray the crap off of my car. So on the way to the fitness center I stopped by 2 manual car wash places and neither of them were open for business and both were for sale. Strange. I guess the do it yourself car wash is not the most profitable biz.

So anyway, I don't get the car washed and I didn't get a candy bar. I walk into the school and say I'll just get a power drink from one of the 5 machines they have. While browsing the machine I notice that they have one w/ reg soda and crap, one w/ the reg crap snacks then they have a machine that serves ice cream bars. Of the last two machines, one is the Gatorade and other power drinks and one is a snack machine w/ better than norm for you snacks. Like more organic chips and granola bars and stuff. I couldn't help but think they should have these at way more places like work. The snacks are a little more money but not much more. They also had a chart that described the effects of the snack. So being the huge chocolate chip cookie fan I grabbed the small bag and munched them on down. 170 calories per bag. that's about 50 or more less than Famous Amos cookies and had no funky crap like high fructose corn syrup and what not. All real crap. I will say that there were not as many cookies as the normal pack but good all the same. This did help me get threw my workout.

Warm Up - Bike 10 big effort

Core

Runners Stretch

Treadmill - walk 5, run 10 @ 7.0, walk 5, run 5 @ 7.8, walk 5 done

Cool Down - Bike 10 easy effort

Doing the treadmill felt good. I made it to 8 minutes no problem - last 2 min were tough, then on the second round the first 3 minutes were no prob but struggled w/ the last 2 again but made it. I was pleased.

Workout 1 tonight - going to increase my benching weight

Painters should be coming tomorrow from Milwaukee area

Triumph won't fire - I think due to the temps. We'll have to see how it goes.

Maybe I'll borrow the torpedo heater from dad and warm up the garage before he comes and then it'll fire up?

I'll ask a guy at work if he thinks that'd help

til next time

Couple of days

Here's what's happened since last Friday...

Saturday Morning Bfast Ride - was good. Overdressed (warm) and was kinda crappy roads but still fun to get out.

Sat afternoon wrapped xmas gifts

Sat afternoon it snowed and lasted until the late night

Sat nite - Company Xmas party and coworkers band afterwards fun

Sunday - Shoveled a boatload of snow again, tried to fire up the Triumph almost went over but did not

Sunday - Packers won, Dallas and Seattle lost

Monday Works been the busiest it's been in weeks same for today

Monday workout 2 went really good - I'm increasing lifting wt reg now

Tonight is workout 1

TGIF

Randoms...
Wednesday night workout 2 was good
Thursday night cardio had me stepping back on the treadmill.
Things were good for while but after 10 minutes of running I had to stop due to uneasiness in side. But was a good feeling to run.
Tonight is workout 1
Tomorrow is Saturday Morning Bfast Ride.
Temp is gonna feel around 14 again at 8:30 AM with possible snow.
Hope the sun is out and the winds are calm
Company Xmas Party Sat night
Have to call one of the painters back to schedule a viewing of the stang.
That means I have to bring up the cycle and fire it up - easier said than done w/ the amount of snow in yard.

Trunk Monkey

Monday nights workout 1 went well - still can not lift close to 100% due to side pain but was able to try the the treadmill out for a couple of minutes. That felt good.

Tuesday night workout cardio went well too - I thought I was going to be able to run on the treadmill but was kinda sore from the short jog on Monday so I decided to do the Elliptical instead, which was still good. Got home and had to shovel a ton of snow. After I was done shoveling, my t shirt was almost if not more soaked than after my cardio workout. It felt like I got two cardio's in last night.

Tonight is workout 2 -

I think I may switch it up a little next week.
Weighed in at 219 - hopefully on our way back down after being up too long.
Random -

HogBlog

Radoms;

SoWisco Painter has emailed...the transfer may still happen

New Health Insurance group plan at work - more money

Been doing a little reading on XC skiing

Bit slow at work, very spotty projects

Going to start on my NewYr's Resolution list soon

Workout 1 tonight

Snagged this from someone elses blog...oh how times have changed...

6 Degrees 2 Bacon - Saturday Morning Bfast Ride

Pics on Dano's Report
Saturday morning breakfast ride was really cool...make that cold - at first. We skipped the trails and went right to the beach in Black River. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, especially on the way back seeing that the NW winds were behind us and then you add the stop where some of your gear can be wet and cold after you eat. I was nervous about that and asking people if they were going to stop. But the sun was out and the lakefront was quite scenic. So we're getting pushed by the wind, in the sun - Perfect. Beach started a bit bumpy but smoothed out. Deeper pockets of drifted snow made it a real workout as you'd be going along real easy then you'd hit the drift and have to put in some real effort to keep the momentum high. Lots of fun.
So we're heading south on the beach and I hear that the 9 of us are just going to Oostburg and not to Cedar Grove. Fine by me. I still have the trip back in the back of my mind. Heading down the beach I'm in front of the group just buzzing along when I see a big patch of ice. I motion w/ my hand slightly and then start to cross this skating rink....I'm about two bike lengths in and I again put up my right arm/hand to motion to the group that there is ice...I lift my arm right arm and then I lose my front tire to my left arm which takes me out. Slip Sliding I'm like Oh NO not again!?! Thinking that I'm out in front, sure enough, another goes down. I curl into a ball waiting to get run over but thankfully I did not. I didn't hurt myself either thankfully. The other slip slider hit the ice a little harder (plus has a good 15+ years on me in age) and felt every bit of it. I felt bad as I sort of felt responsible for the bail but was kinda reassured it wasn't me...just the ice. We all had a pretty good chuckle and off we went.
On the back same spot got someone else that was walking across it. Spiro's got some components to sell but I'm not sure if this is the best time to be spending cash that I don't have. I'll have to call him this week to back out. Sucks cause it's most likely a really good deal. Oh well. This is another one of those times that I this car project is making life difficult. W/out it I'd be clear to make the deal but w/ I have to watch every frickin penny. And it's been this way for a couple of years. I can not wait until this thing is done. And as I get more and more back into the swing of things w/ riding...I tend to ask myself is this really what I want? Sure everybody loves the restomod thing but there is a reason not everyone does it. Cause it costs a shit load in money, time, effort, etc. I know for sure it'll be super cool/fun when done but days/situations like this really put one to the test. Plus I haven't had an email reply yet from the painter in SoWisco that was up for the trade. I'm hoping that he's trying to see when it'll fit into his current jobs or something.
Anyways today was fun. I'm glad I went. I feel like I did something. It was a new experience.
Last nights weight lifting went well also. I hope all this effort pays back 10 fold - with the exercise and car.
Gotta do a couple misc chores around here -basically just gather up and take garbage to the dump. Then I think I may rest for while as we have couples bowling tonight. I hope my fingers hold up. I hope I hold up.
Packers/Raiders tomorrow in GB. Snow is forecasted - should be good. Go Pack!
Til Next time...
PS - There was a lot of finger pointing and head shaking on our ride. A couple of people took pictures of us. They kinda think we're nuts which is funny. I did too at first but again, once the blood is pumping it gets a lot better

Fisher Foto from '01

Good Cardio Session last night.

Warm Up - Bike 10 min/100 cals

Core - cruches, knee ups, side bridge, reg bridge, swimmer? for low back muscles

Elliptical - dam thing gave me a blister (can't wait to get back on treadmill)

Cool Down - Bike 10 min

Workout 2 tonight

Randoms -

• Going on 13th week no smoking, longest stretch ever? most likely
• Coughing attacks still in middle of night
• Snowed last night - have to shovel path to lower soon to be ready for any visitors
• Still no word from Painter in S Wisco
• Side still swollen and sore but I should be ok for a mellow SMBRide

Here's a photo from 05/11/01 of my MTB, which hopefully will someday be my winter ride only, assuming I get a 29er soon.

It was my only mode of transpo for a couple of years and I must have put tons of miles on her. She is basically the same minus the front shock, which is now an old rigid GT fork, and the seat (which was chewed up by Biggen's ma's dog when I visiting her once).

This has been one trusty ride for many miles...and I'm glad I dusted'er off and get her back out this year after a couple of years of hanging around. This frame has really good geometry and is very nice ride. The Fisher Folks really know what they're doing and I hope to get one of their 29" MTB's in the next year or two.

Santa Died

Work Out 1 was tough last night due to sore side. Reg & Incline Benching was the most difficult but I made it through.
Bike 10
Core
Workout 1
Bike
Helmet light arrived so now I can ride w/ the group on the Tuesday night rides...when I heal a bit more I think. I'm still unsure for SMBRide.
Other Random thoughts this morn...
- It's getting really cold out
- Winter driving burns more fuel
- New Holstein is further away than it appears
- Scales can be discouraging
- Chest colds that last for more than a week suck
- I really dig this song and the video is one of my all time favorites
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8645756801978804954&q=OK+go+do+what+you+want&total=1668&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
Tonight is Cardio - burn baby burn
Santa's Dead

Glad I went again

I was really tired after work yesterday and was wondering if I really wanted to go to South or if I should take a break. So I stopped at home after work to check the mail and grab a snack. Opened the fridge and saw the roast I took out a couple of days ago to defrost sitting on the shelf in a bowl and thought I better cook that before it goes bad or something. So I took it out along w/ some carrots. Chopped up the carrots along w/ an onion, put the tenderized beef round on some foil w/ the veggies in a casserole dish. A little freshly ground pepper, pinch of salt, some Italian seasoning, minced garlic (dry shaker), and a dash of soy sauce. Oven at 325* F and wrap it all up nice and tight. Throw the lid on dish and toss all into oven for 3 hours, this was at 3:15. Munch a little salad and off I go.

Get to locker room still feeling drained thinking to myself that if I can get my HR up I should be good. Go directly to bike and start. HR gets up after a little work.

Bike - 12

Core

Ellip - 30

Bike - 10

Real good

Picked up Shermann Got home and the house smelled fantabulous. Food was real good.

Work Out 1 tonight - Cya

Photo is from July 26th, 2000 - This is how I got my scar on my head. Ultimate Frisbee game.

Frankenstein looking

Neighbor Friend Ben

Growing up in my neighborhood meant that late afternoon fun was stopped around 5 or so for dinner. My neighbor Ben would come over to our house after he was done eating and press his hands and face against the screen door to look in and say "Can Naffen come back out and play?" (that was his version of Nathan) I recently put up a theft deterrent system in my area at work and that's what triggered that memory. Fun Stuff.

Here's a strange thing that happened in the middle of the night...due to my extremely annoying dry cough I'm experiencing and my banged up side I popped a couple Tylenol PM's and did two shots of Vick's F44 so I could sleep good. Well I went down at 9 and woke up at 1:45 or so and did my normal getting up routine. I walked to the bathroom, started the shower and stood there in this zombie type stage...waiting for the water to heat up...then went to the bedroom to grab some shorts and when I walked back in the bathroom and looked at the clock I was like it's waaay to early to go to work. So I shut everything off and go back to bed. Weird. I still woke up early and got to work by 5:30 this morning. I don't know why.

Last nights workout 2 went better than anticipated. The core stuff was probably the most difficult and I did kind of go a little easier on everything else but I do have to say that I'm glad I went because it felt like it stretched it out some and glad I didn't 'baby' it. I've been showing off my bruise to whoever I come in contact with like I'm in middle school or something. I think it's now as purple as it's going to get and it's kinda swollen. I'm still staying positive and hoping that the pain will be subside enough for SMBRide.

Tonight it's Cardio and I think I'll Bike longer then do core slowly, then see how the Elliptical feels. I know I can not run on treadmill cause it hurts if I do any bouncing at all. Even walking fast is painful. Just have to play it as smart as I can.

Waiting on word from painter in Burlington for Mustang. I'm going with Silver. Will have to order this soon and then the OE radiator support will have to be modified like so....modification.
And something random from the misc file. The car will look similar to this when completed.

Still Sore

I'm still recovering from a pretty good crash on the SMBRide. I'll try to describe the incident for ya...it was a pretty chilly morning Saturday so I get all my gear together, get half dressed and load up the Jeep to get to the meeting place trying to leave myself a couple of minutes cause I don't want to be the one that holds up the group. Make it there w/ a little time to spare, good size group for such a cold day. If I had to guess I'd say about 20 riders all bundled up.
We get moving and it's about a 10 minute ride to the entrance of the trails we hit. For some reason I'm super pumped this day and was feeling great...dressed properly and the exercise during the week is making me feel strong and healthy. As we are about to descend into the single track trail I take my position at 4th going in following the really fast and at the start of main pack. So we're flying through the woods and all is great. Come to the section of the trail that is all tree roots, big frozen slippery roots that act as speed bumps. My bike is pure rigid...no suspension. Make it past the first section of roots and come up to the seconds. I'm getting bucked up and down when finally I feel my back tire heading for the sky...we're going super fast and my ass end is shooting up. I knew instantly that this was NOT GOOD. Well faster than you can say "ahhh shit", I'm flying through the air like I hit the eject button on a fighter jet. Everything is a blur. Then smack -"UGH" . Woah. I get up, pick my bike up and get off the trail faster than you can say "Rider Down" cause I know that there is about 15 bikers coming down the trail really fast. As they're going by they ask "nate, you ok?" "ya thanks", I reply. The whole group pasts...I spin the bars to untangle the cables, jump back on and start the chase. Immediately I can fell something. "That'll leave a mark" I say to myself.
What happened was I landed right on top of a 6" high frozen tree root on my left side love handle which made my body bend an unusual way.
I have a stupid cough that won't go away and it hurts every time I cough or laugh. So the whole group makes it to the beach. I'm trying to stretch it out but it's not working. I can feel every little bump. As we were on our normal way to Cedar Grove a rider was having trouble shifting (the severe cold can make the bike do weird things) and a couple other guys weren't into doing the full route so cut off early straight to Oostburg for bfast. I pain was getting worse in my side. The four of us got to the restaurant about 30 minutes ahead of the group and I decided to call Larry for a ride home since I was really starting to fell the crash.
Then it snow like crazy later that night.
Sunday had me pulling the snowblower out. Fired right up. Made two complete passes, was throwing like a champ...then it literally blew up. The engine case blew apart. Snow blower is now junk or scrap. WHY MEEE!!! But as I walked away I knew that this type of shit always happens either the first blizzard or with really heavy wet shit like that crap we just got hit with. Reminds me of the time we had a blizzard a couple of years ago and I was driving down Lakeshore drive and saw a very angry guy toss his little snow blower like a shot put - he was not a happy camper -well neither was I seeing that I bought this used last year and only used it about a dozen times. Oh well. So I swallowed a bunch of Ibuprofen and got the shovels out. It actually turned into a good sweat - I had to find somthing positive about the whole thing.
Afterwards I made a big batch of chilly and called it a day. Trying my best to rest and recover.
Tonight it's workout 2 or just cardio depending on the side...it's so tender that it unpleasent to even walk today.

15 minutes & a Monkey Joke

So I know it probably doesn't sound like much, at least it does not to me, but running for 15 minutes at level 7 (mph?) on a treadmill is not an easy task for the novice. I'm happy to say that I did last night for the first time this season, run for a consistent 15 min. I may have been able to go longer but I did not want to pass out, smash my face on the machine while getting zipped off the back end of the quick moving belt, waking up to a group of people looking down at me asking me if I was alright, so I eased her back when the sweat was starting to go past my headband causing my vision to get a bit blurry.

Last night was a good workout session

• Warm Up - Bike 20
• Core - 50 crunches, 50 leg lifts, 30 second bridges (side & reg), 30 back extensions
• Stretch for running
• Treadmill - walk 5 run 15 walk 3 run 2 walk 5
• Cool Down - Bike 10

Randoms: Xmas tree was put up and decorated by Tor. Packers lost but it was a fun game to watch. Chest cold is still there and hope it goes away really quickly. Workout 1 tonight. Saturday morning ride tomorrow. Another inclusion from the Misc file...

Sensitivity Training 101

Last night's workout was the best one this week so far. I stopped by Walgreen's on the way to get some cough med's, I wasn't really hungry but thought I should munch on something to try and find the happy balance between full and empty. So I get the med and on the way to checkout I grab a Snickers w/ Almonds bar, (almonds are healthy right?) and eat it on the way. The reason I bring this up is the sugar, or almonds, must have given me a boost just when I needed it. My HR was up quickly like normal and I was able to maintain it fairly well for the 1 to 2 hours of work out. It wasn't busy at all which is always nice.

• Warm Up - Bike 12 min
• Core
• Work out 2 - legs, back, biceps, calves
• xtra's while waiting in between sets were sit ups on the roman chair & lunges
• Cool down on treadmill - Walk 3 run 5 walk 5 done
• The Xtra's helped the most in keeping my HR up while waiting, and I will do all the time now.

Cardio Tonight. Will try to run longer and stronger but it's not easy with the chest cold symptoms I have right now.

Big Big game tonight for the Pack. I think they'll win which will be nice for Farve as I don't think he's ever beat Dallas in Dallas. GO Pack Go! I think we are putting up the xmas tree during the game tonight.

Here's another vid from the Misc folder. Hope you Enjoy.

Step Bump Step Bump Bump

Cardio was ok last night - I again had a hard time getting my heart rate up, I think due to chest cold symptoms.
Bike 20 min - h.r. up at last couple of mins
Core - getting easier...50 crunches - 5o knee lifts - 40 second side bridges, etc - getting better
Treadmill - walk 3 Run 7 walk 4 Run 10 walk 4 done
I only felt 'in the zone' for about 2 minutes on the treadmill, the rest of the time it felt like my stomach was full of water and air and I was not light on my feet. This happens from time to time and causes lack of focus. So I was trying to breathe properly and get it together which worked but then the full feeling came back and I said to hell w/ it.
Overall I was glad I went.
The Triumph is for sale on Craigslist...testing the waters to see if anyone is interested. If no bites in the next couple of weeks I think I'm going to paint the tank and pretty it up some to make the Spring sale of it easier. This will go towards the car now that I have a date in mind for completion. Have to get radiator area modified and the unit installed before paint.
Why I don't know but I've had this tune in my head all morning..."I believe that is called Alfresco"
Here is something from my Misc file - have a good day.

June 2009

The goal now is to have the Mustang finished enough to participate in the 2009 Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour which takes off from Madison Wisconsin to a location that is TBD. http://http//www.hotrod.com/upcomingevents/hrpt_2008_tour_dates/index.html
Workout was ok last night - Cardio tonight
I slept like shit - I think I'm getting sick or something.

I like old pictures of Sheboygan....

Back at it

On the way into work I heard on the radio that today is now called "Cyber Monday" because they estimate some 7 percent of the 475 Billion dollars spent this holiday season will be with online shopping and today is the kick off day for that. I know I spent a nice chunk of change on Black Friday but it was at the local bike shop on gear for cold weather riding - and what a difference that stuff can make.

Tori and I put up the xmas lights on the house...I'll try to get a picture when it snows for you southerner's that may be checking this out.

Back to weights tonight - gotta keep at it.

I've included a short video that a coworker sent me and I think if you have or had a cat you can relate. Have a good day.

First Beach Ride Ever

Today's ride was lots of fun. We rode some single track trails then the beach from just north of TA to Cedar Grove then the Interurban back to Oostburg for bfast. Wind was super chilly at first but not horrible after ya warmed up some. From bfast back to beach for a ride back to same spot in woods we jumped out. I'm hanging on better to group then before. I dressed almost perfect although my toes did get cold at first, my blood was pumping a half an hour into it that I didn't notice. 8:30 - 12:30 w/ a 45-60 min stop for food and coffee. We are going to my aunts house tonight so all I had for bfast was toast w/ jam and about four cups of coffee. Again w/ no pics...errr. I'm told we do about 30 miles or so. Sure feels like a lot more. Now it's time to go and drink wine and have some good food w/ good company.

Quick

Today is a Sunny Friday, looks cold. Tomorrow's forecast is cold, cloudy and windy w/ winds coming out of the SW at 20-30 mph. That should make for an interesting ride. I'm going to go and buy some winter booties to go over my shoes and a face mask type of thing. I should also get a thicker jacket and winter tights if I plan to keep up and not freeze. We'll have to see what the local shops have in stock.
MDM's memorial later then heading to South for lifting.
Today is going to be workout one. I rode my road bike on trainer yesterday for 45 minutes while the Turkey was roasting away...and it turned out awesome. I combined a couple of different recipes and used an over bag that Larry gave me and it was yummy. Pack is 10-1.

Gobble Gobble

So I didn't go out last night on the usual Holiday get together evening. Missed a couple of calls from friends but having to cook 14 lb Turkey today has me wanting to feel normal and not ill at all. Will try to enjoy myself a bit today w/ Family, Friends and Packers.
Turkey day is a day to reflect on what you're Thankful for and there is much I am.
Work out yesterday went well again... my body feels good and not at all like I've been doing too much which is cool cause it makes continuing that much more easy, where as if I felt like crap and sore all over I wouldn't want to continue. I'm starting to feel like I'm losing a little too.
So with that said last night was...
Bike 12 mins warm up
Abs Routine
Legs/Back/Biceps/Calves
Bike 12 cool down
Today I plan on riding my roadie indoors on my trainer for about 30-60 mins to make sure I sweat some.
Tomorrow back to gym for serious cardio...before or after MDM's Memorial.
cya

Getting cold & windy out there

Took a day of vacation today to get some things done around the house/yard. Did a lot of raking and got most of the leaves out of the main yard and into the back corner of property...doesn't pay to burn em cause they make a big smoke fest. I did burn a bunch of branches from the tree that fell down in a wind storm and that I cut up a week or two ago. Pulled snow blower out and fired up which made me really happy...must of been the Stabil that I did in the spring, I'm for surely going to do that to the rider in a couple of days, once ALL the leaves are in the back corner lot. Triumph is in the lower garage by the Stang to free up room in the upper garage for snow blower.
Tori's cousin Mandy went into labor today, about 4-5 weeks early I'd guess. She's in the hospital right now and will most likely have the baby tonight or tomorrow. Due to Mandy being in hospital I am now in charge of cooking the Turkey for tomorrow. Her mom Laurie was going to and has everything needed but she's occupied and will not have the time now. No big deal as I'm happy to help out where needed.
Workout went really good again last night - didn't lift weights just did cardio.
Bike 20 min
Abs
Elliptical 20 min
Stretch
Treadmill walk 5 run 5 walk 5 run 5 walk 10
went easy on the running since I did it the day before pretty hard
Tonight is going to be workout 2 which is legs, back, biceps and calves
My arms are finally feeling back to norm pretty much so I'm going to go easy on the bi's tonight.
I had a thought when I was driving to South yesterday after work...I really was excited about going to the school and 13 years ago I couldn't wait to get out of there. But now that I think of it, no matter where you are, after 8 hours you'd most likely like to be out of there.
Have a splendid Thanksgiving and Go Pack Go!

Pop Lockin Lock Stomping

Yesterday was work for 1/2 day, meet w/ kitchen layout lady, insurance agent, workout at South and TLC's John and Kate plus 8 and Small People Big world.
Kitchen lady had a few plans, none that really 'wowed' me. I gave her my idea and she liked it. She will now go back to drawing board. No update on lower bathroom yet, still waiting. My life is now insured however (I was before, just for not so much).

Workout - I think I said yesterday that I wasn't going to lift weights for a week and just do cardio plus switch over to a whole body routine, but the more I thought about it, if I wait and go back at it I may have the same results. So I decided to see how I felt after a warm up. Let me say that it was another one of those days where I almost stayed home and not went at all due to the tightness in my arms, but again I was very pleased w/ myself when it was all over.
So I warm up on the Elliptical for 12-15 minutes, arms achin at first but felt good after a while. Ab routine and then I did the Chest/Shoulder/Tricep's (actual workout 1) and it felt really good. I did keep the weight to a minimum and focused more on technique and form while completing the set. After lifting I ended the day on the treadmill - walk 5 run 10 walk 5 run 5 walk 5 - this I have to say went really good. I focused mainly on my breathing trying to maintain a consistent in/out rather than light and really heavy breathing. Was very happy and am going to state the obvious that not smoking has helped - plus burned up like 400 cals in 30 mins - good sweat.
I am going to switch from work each muscle group once every 2 days to once every 4 days w/ cardio in between. This will be the less aggressive way I was speaking of yesterday.
This may not seem very organized right now but I think from not lifting in a while, I have to tweak things accordingly to make it work. I'm now fairly confident that this is it although it may get tweaked again after my 'Fitness Eval' on Monday of next.
M - 1
T - C
W - 2
Th - C
F - 1
S - C
S - R

Too Much Too Fast

So I thought the bike rides and doing cardio for a week would be enough prep before going back at the workout I left in April...wrong. Even w/ dropping 10-20% of the amount weight I was lifting from the exercises and w/ doing proper warm up and cool downs I still have seemed to screw up. What am I talking about? My arms.
Thursday of last was legs, back, calves & bi's. My legs are great, back is good, but my biceps are unbelievably tight (hurts) and finally starting to be able to stretch fully. Friday I did a little raking but I was mostly shot had to rest. Saturday did the chilly wet ride then made a big batch of chilly. Sunday I was on and off computer and watched the Pack win again. I was popping Ibuprofen all weekend. I'll be back at it again tonight but think cardio will have to do until my arms are at least 90%. I'd say they're at 80 right now.
Going to have to back down a bit and change it to an easier single whole body workout on MWF to give me more rest & recovery. Once that feels too easy I'll then bump back up to the more aggressive MT ThF. Live and Learn. Just can't let this kill my motivation completely.

Ride

I was running late this morning and rolled into the parking lot right at 8:30. Only a hand full of riders due to low temps and rainy conditions. I hurried w/ my crap, thanked the group for waiting and off we went. A couple of laps in the woods and then we rode all the way to Oostburg along the lake. Stopped and had breakfast and coffee. Rode back the same way. Fun time. Muddy. The upper body is not used as much as lower during the ride so I made it fine but now that I'm back at home doing laundry (I already cleaned and lubed my bike) my arms are just freaking out yet. I had some of the worst pain last night as I was trying to sleep. Since I tend to sleep on my stomach and rest my head on my arm, my muscles were so tight that it literally hurt to extend my are like that. Still does.
I'm just glad I went for the ride. I really feel like I did something today and w/the smaller group there was really only one or two conversations going on.
Didn't do the South high workout yesterday - took a nap instead. May do the same now as Tori's off to party w/ the girls or I should just go to the bar and boozer up.

The never ending list

It's time to finish up those things before the snow starts trickling down. Off today from work to work on yard/home. Was going to start the lower bathroom but that's on hold pending pro carpenter bids for shower, possibly covered by home insurance. That would be nice. Still waiting. But it's not like there isn't a ton of other stuff to do around here.
It's hard to get moving today...my body is feeling the lifting and running...everything is sore and cracking. I'm telling myself that this is like the first part of a hard bike ride and that after a few miles/weeks, it should go away and feel good. Once I see some downward movement on the scale and belly, I'll start to mentally get into the game, right now it's just messing w/ my head. I may have to not weigh in for a week or two and see what happens. It's just really hard today. Plus it's c old out which make getting the blood pumping even harder. I'll have to go and rake as that always seems to work. I really hope that this does not affect my Sat Bike ride negatively as that would really piss me off.
Last night was workout 2 which was primarily Legs and Biceps. Hard to get going but felt accomplished when complete. Day by Day
Warm up w/ Bike 12 min
Ab routine w/ a couple of stretches
Work out 2
Cool Down w/ Bike 12 min
On another note...In my dream last night I saw MDM walking through the production floor at North Ave saying Hi to the workers. Not his face but he was walking by the fire door by my area and only caught the side of him. He was dressed for summer. Kinda like a flashback if you will - as I've seen him do this time and time again.
This is becoming a common thing for me to see people that have recently passed on in my dreams. I rarely if ever see the face, only profiles and such. The one that was kind of scary movie like was of Jill...I'm not sure who's house it was but I was walking up some old narrow wooden stairs to the second floor and there was a bedroom door on the top of stairs to the left and a tight landing w/ rooms to the right. At the end of stairs was a window w/ a curtain or shade drawn, it was night time. I could hear people in the bedroom to left and see movement from the rooms light shedding out. As I came closer to the top of the flight I saw her outline/shadow on the window shade wall at the top of the stairs and I heard her voice. This was a couple of years ago and I'm not sure how it ended but was fairly vivid I recall.
Oh well...time to stretch and get active.

Call me Mike...

Yesterday we were told of the passing of our company's owner and the best boss I've had to date and maybe ever will. Truly a shock but sadly and honestly not a complete surprise with all the medical issues he's been through and the company drama over the last couple of years.
I met Mike for the first time in April or May of 1998 when I had my interview for employment as a CADD tech at the High Tech lane building. Mondo met me at the front, interviewed me and showed me around. The last stop before we were done was with Mike. I was surprised that the owner was going to meet w/ me and was quite nervous as one could imagine. I walked in, sat down and this is kinda how it went...
"Hello Mr. Muth"
"Call me Mike"
"OK"
"So you're fresh out of school looking for job?"
"Yes"
Finding it hard to gain experience when no one will hire you to get it?"
"Yes"
"Just need to get your foot in the door to prove yourself?"
He had this weird way of making you feel comfortable as if you were siting w/ someone you've gone to school w/ or hung out with. At least this was the case for me as I remember feeling not so nervous leaving and thinking I just might get this position. Maybe the fact that I left Madison to live back in my hometown of Sheboygan had something to do w/ this I'm not sure.
I started in June of 98 as a temp to direct hire. January of 99 it was official. Somewhere in between those dates I had one of those no one will ever forget or let you down moments. This is was the infamous Nate getting arrested at work incident. I was in my cube CADD'n away when I heard LMcCabe's voice, "Nate are you here?" "Yes" I replied "You have a visitor" she said. I popped up to see who the heck was here and sure enough it was a Sheboygan County Sheriff. I was like shit! and ducked back down. WTF! I was thinking...I'm gonna get shit canned for sure! Dam it.
He came around and asked me to come with him outside. It was a really nice day out and he told me that I had a warrant out for my arrest regarding unpaid fines I believe. So me and Sheriff are outside and he's parked right in front of Mike's office windows. I'm now hand cuffed and freaking out saying "can we just go please!" He was like "in a minute...I have to call something in." We were literally there for several minutes and was totally nervous. I'm handcuffed in the parking lot leaning against a squad car in the middle of the morning! Then all of a sudden MDM comes walking out towards us in his white pants,international flag belt and golden tan and asks me "What's going on? Is there anything I can do?" I said "no no...I'm so sorry for this...this is over unpaid fines that I have not taken care of yet" He chatted w/ the Sheriff and a couple of minutes later we were on our way to jail. I get out of jail several hours later after my dad bails me out and head right back to HT Lane to talk w/ the Pres and MDM. I tell the short version of the whole story and all Mike said "Get it straighten out and don't let it happen again, we'll see you on Monday"
Needless to say it never did happen again. I have other story's and many memories but the point is that I lost probably the best boss I'll ever had and in my eye's a good friend. RIP MDM...I'll see ya on the other side. I'll think of you often.
Last night's Cardio work out:
Warm Up - Biked for 13 min 100 Cals
Ab Routine and Runners Stretch
Treadmill
Walk 5 Run 5 Walk 5 Run 10 walk 5 400 Cals
Cool Down - Bike 13 min 100 cals
Big Ball Push ups
Really good work out again

Not too bad

First time lifting in a while went good. Did the chest, shoulders, tri & abs which I'm going to call work out 1 with the legs, back, biceps and calves weight work out 2 and cardio C.
M - 2
T- 1
W - c
Th - 2
F - 1
S - bike or c
S - rest

Wt today = 223
Cardio tonight - ab routine daily from now on, except rest day.
Food intake = attempting 1800-2200 cals
Wt loss goal should be 1 or 2 lb/week if I maintain
Almost 9 wks no smoking & min alcohol consumption
"All that's left to do is everything" Jesse James monster garage circa '06?

Shape up or...

Since the daylight savings change has gone into effect and the temp's keep dropping, I now find myself at the fitness center after work during the week. Sunday and Monday I could still feel Saturday mornings ride in my legs, a reminder to take 10 min and stretch which I did not do, and I could also feel Sat night bowling in my back and RH middle finger-which I must have pulled. Extreme Bowling.
So yesterday I checked in at 227 but the scale was off by 4 which would mean 223 - norm for now - but at least 20 over what I would like to be by Spring. Today I check in at 225. The plus/minus 2 lbs is norm but it's nicer when they are on the minus. So now the goal is to lose some baggage to make me faster and increase endurance. I will be going back to my lifting and cardio and this year I will ride Saturday's. I'm going to reread my motivational workout/what to eat books and try to incorporate as much as I can.
Yesterday after work was another one of those days where I must have not had enough food in the tank when I got there cause I did not fell like doing anything. I jumped on the bike and decided to see what the different settings had to offer. I tried a couple of things but ended up on 'Random' which is a pretty good workout. It increases and decreases the resistance to mock hills and flat. It really gets the heart pumpin. After about 15 min I was bored w/ that and still feeling like I should just go home and make something to eat I jumped on the Elliptical. This is another mindless workout so I just closed my eyes and went at it telling myself that it's just like bike riding: the first couple of miles/minutes suck but after you reach a certain point it all starts to feel better if not good. So sure enough, with my stomach growling and a bit sick feeling and my head a bit light - 13-15 minutes into it I feel some sweat starting and the sick feeling going away, not completely but tolerable. I lasted on the Elliptical for 30 minutes but had to stop cause my feet were feeling numb again. 400 cal's on that and around 100 or so (I forgot, but it was more of a warm up than anything) on the bike.
This is what I think will work for the next couple of weeks:
Monday - Legs , Back, Biceps, Calves
Tuesday - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs
Wed - Cardio
Thurs - Legs, Back, Biceps, Calves
Friday - Cardio
Sat - Legs, Back, Biceps, Calves - If bike ride then do Back and Biceps only? Will see how that works
May have to switch to a MWF routine if Sat gets to messed up seeing that the fitness center is only open until 1 pm.
TBD

Forgot the Camera Again

Good Sunday Morning. Yesterday was a pretty cool day starting out w/ a 4 hour mtb ride. I still don't have a computer on the mtb but I'd guess it was at least 40 miles, not that it matters but it's a cool way to log ride. I left the house at 8 am, rode to Shooting park where the group meets, then we were off to Black River, then thru the woods for the single track laps. Two female deer ran right across the trail in front of the pack super fast (it would really hurt if you were to get hit by a spooked deer that's running/jumping at least 25 mpg. I looked left to see if there were more coming and there was a big buck starting to walk the other way. I saw the rack. It wasn't very far from us either. That was cool. We did a lap and I had less of an issue this time around and kept up really good. I bet the 8 weeks w/ out smoking has helped tremendously plus hitting the gym and using the bikes and elliptical and improved my endurance. I was better but knew this was only the start of the day and didn't want to 'pop' (use all energy prematurely) to soon so I didn't do the additional single track lap. Instead I headed w/ a couple of others to the meeting place. After that we rode to Cedar Grove and then back to Oostburg for bfast. I had the scrambled eggs special. Not bad at all. The coffee was starting to get to my gut a bit but held off. After the 30-60 min break it was back at it. We then headed back to TA for another lap in the woods. Someone broke a chain as we got in so we stopped to fix. 5 mins later we start to take off and I'm finishing cleaning my lens so I'm last. I'm following this guy and there was a log that needed to be hopped over. Well he lifted up the front wheel to soon coming down right before it instead of on top or after it and flipped over his bars super quick. I was like holy shit are you alright? He said yeah that probably didn't look good huh? I said don't sweat it. I yelled at the group rider down but no one heard me. Next time I need to yell louder to stop the group. So we get him all straighten up and I take off in front of him about 3 bike lengths and I'm looking ahead and pedaling quickly to find the group. I lost track of them and didn't take the right turn so instead rode a trail that follows the lake shore from TA to Black River (BR). As I'm cruising down and know where I'm going to end up I look behind and don't see the neon green of the dude that crashed. My bad for not keeping tabs on him as he could of crashed again and would have been alone. I know now that if this happens again I will shout louder for the grp to hold up and if that does not work I'll ride slower w/ the crashie. So I get out in BR and meet up with group on the trail head and tell them about the guy and there like where is he? I said I don't know. Then he popped up down the road and once again we were all back together. We did some more BR trails and ended up at Sunnyside area. It was now noon and I still had a 4 mile ride home so I split off from the group. It was a really cool ride and the weather was really good as well.
Dano has pic and vid from ride...I'm in the red jacket on both. Click here to check out.
I was a bit shot from the ride but still did a couple of home fixes. Due to such an intense morning everything that was in my gut was not having it and wanted out. I spent a good bit of time in the 'library'. Took garbage to the dump, ran into Larry who asked me to help him move another huge piece of furniture.
Got home and was ready for a nap but we had bowling at 6:30. Totally glad we went. Ran into Fish and Charles and company. Plus I bowled the best game ever! 185 and I could/should have busted 200 easily but screwed up on the 10th frame. I was nailing all spares until the tenth and then I had the split and muffed it. Oh well. Still was pretty pumped. We are on some couple league. Once a month until Spring. Cool people we bowled with and it was fun to hang with Danny and Jamie. I wish I would have taken my camera for some cool shots but maybe next time. I need to get batteries.
OK time to get outside for some more chores until game time.

What's up?

Couple of mental notes. I haven't googled this yet but I'm sure it's out there.
Bloggercize = Exercise for the mind thru typing your thoughts online? Wow, that almost rhymes too. Pure Genius I tell ya.
Same wt this morn - did bike for 20 and ellip for 30, another good sweat - easier than the day b4
Hopefully good things come to good people...more another time.
I'll do the gym again tonight...go home and prep clothes for Sat Morn Group Ride. Looks to be about 37 degrees at 8 AM per Weather.com.
After ride tomorrow I'll have to look into a mounting plate on the Triumph, remove gas tank and prep for paint. Handlebars and petcocks should be arriving late next week. Also need to modify exhaust pipes to make clearance for the kick start lever/pedal.
Winterize Rider/Mower - Pull out Blower fire up. Put away outside furniture & canopy. Turn off outside water valve, change furnace filter, check heating oil level, open lower level heat ducts, clean yard debris, cut up tree...I'll stop there for today.
Bowling Sat Night.

Thursday

Just a quick post while I'm thinking about it.
Today I weighed in at 223...kinda the same as b4 but feels up a bit most likely due to LV trip.
Last night went to South to use fitness room.
Biked for 20 then did Elliptical for 30. Good Sweat.
Will go back tonight. It gets dark to quick at night. Makes 6 pm feel like 9 pm.
I've been having those thoughts again that I need to sell everything I have to switch things up.
Sell the Jeep & Stang to get little wagon...sell Triumph to get Buell - save a ton more stop spending every penny.
I even know what kind of wheels and suspension I want for my little wagon.
I get these thoughts often. Sell house to get different/newer one w/ better layout/less yardwork.
These come and go. Just wanted to write it down.
Game on

Back in Vegas...SheVegas that is

Pics from Sema
http://picasaweb.google.com/biglakecity/Sema2007

I'm a leeeeeaviiing on a Jet Plane...

I'm off to Las Vegas for the SEMA show, leaving on a 4 o'clock Midwest Express flight. Will be there until late late Friday night arriving home at about 1 or 2 AM depending on everything. Should be a good show...lots of cars...different Hotel...change of scenery.
LBS fixed my bb on my mtb and trued up the rear wheel of my roadie. Rode the mtb w/ the group on Saturday morning...I do not have a computer on my mtb so I'm not sure how many miles, doesn't really matter but it's cool to keep track of. Will have to buy and install one later. Kinda depressing as I was just starting to find my place/pace and keeping up for the majority of the ride on the Saturday morning Road Rides but now that we've switched to MTB 's and Trail riding, which I have never really done in this group high speed all out type of manner, I am once again getting smoked hard. Yesterday I thought my chest was going to explode again. Was not impressed w/ myself for that but was impressed that I did the second long lap in the woods even thought I was the last guy, but about a third of the group didn't do it at all, so that was cool. But doing that I burned out super quick once we got back to the road ride. It was getting really windy and I had to help out Larry w/ some TV/Furniture moving so I broke off the pack once they started heading south and I rode home north than west than north again against some really strong winds. It took forever just to go about 5 miles.
Once I got home and showered up I noticed that I missed a call from the motorcycle guy. I called him up and once again the amount that he's gonna charge me has gone up. I told him that was it and to stop right where he is. Plus he wanted to add a battery, battery box, more wiring and so on for more money. I said that I have gone way over what I wanted to and he understood. He fired it up and had it running. So now I'll be able to jump back into it and finish it up. I'll have to do the battery thing myself, but that's ok since the heart of the cycle is done, rebuilt and will make it all better in the long run. So I'm kinda pumped. I'll pick it up Monday of next week when I get back. It needs a couple of things but is for the most part done. Can not wait to get that project behind me! And ride it! Maybe even save some money on gas next spring and if I don't love it or really need the cash for the Stang's paint, then I'll let 'er go, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Triumph.
Pictures of really cool cars, cycles, chicks, famous people (hopefully, last year the big one's were Carol Shelby, Chip Foose and Boyd C.) next weekend when I get back. I wonder if I'll have enough sleep or energy to do the Saturday morn bfast ride next week Saturday. We'll have to see but I doubt it.
Don't forget to vote on the paint color poll (b re-vote cause I added a color) just click here.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Friday

Well it's Friday which is good. I haven't ridden my bike since I broke it on Saturday. Did the elliptical machine on Tuesday at South but I don't think this was enough and I've been kinda drained otherwise. I think the lack of riding/exercise makes my mood swing a bit cause right now I'm not feeling it at all...plus I woke up super early today as well cause I have a 2:30 haircut appt, which may not help the overall mood.
Stopped by the motorcycle shop after work yesterday and the motor has been reassembled. New Head, new valves, push rods, exhaust lobes?, springs, ignition system, gas lines, oil lines, seat mount, key ignition mount. It's really coming together pretty nice. He's ordering the cables and I'll put those on as all this motor work and parts has once again put me over the amount of money I was told it was going to cost but this is the heart of the bike and having a motor running at tip top is what it's all about as the remainder of the stuff like cables and paint can be done later. He said he should have it done tomorrow - wired and fired. More on that as it becomes available.
I'll stop by the bike shop tonight and see if my mtb is ready or hopefully at least my rear road bike wheel will be trued up so I can ride that.
That's going to dictate if I can ride w/the group tomorrow morning, which would be nice and normally makes me feel better. I really could use that now.

Take the poll

Take part in the paint color poll on the Mustang blog...

http://www.mustangrestomod.blogspot.com/

Shermann & I at Sunrise

"You do not own the dog, the dog owns you" Anonymous

Photos by Tori

Weekend Recap & Specific Blog Pages

Bulleted Wkend Recap List (how lame) during lunch on Monday...

• Mower's all fixed up
• Tire/bottle cage/seat bag swap Fri nite complete
• up early went to see sunrise w/ Tori and Shermann Sat morn at Terry Andre...very nice
• geared up and out the door at 8 am for Sat morn bfast ride (woo hoo!)
• wrecked Presta valve at sunnyside; said screw it and left rear tire semi soft
• 10 minutes into ride my bottom bracket snaps and my weekend riding is over (Sucked!)
• take both bikes to bike shop later on Sat morn (more $$)
• go home and start raking/cleaning up yard
• 1 pm baby shower for Ali...fun
• back home and continue yard work
• Dad stopped by w/ food from shower and gave Tori a hand w/ flowers and planters Exterior decorating
• shot and posted first vid w/ camera - Dad's Stang
• Sunday up early, made bfast (eggs bacon toast ham hi cholesterol bfast)
• Cut grass, Sears, home depot, fixed back garage door and primed
• That's it in a nutshell

I've grabbed two more blog spots for the major projects to better document them...check my profile and go to bottom to see "other blogs" - I won't have time for a while to get started on either, so check back once in while to see if any progress has been made and feel free to remind me if I forget. Also feel free to leave comments for me to read. It'd be nice to read some once in a while to see who's around and what's going on. have a good week.

Shoe's Stang

30MB took a while

Today's useless info & humor

Stop by the Triumph last night...not much further than last week due to parts needing to be ordered for the motor. I believe exhaust lobes? Could be blinker fluid for all I know cause I've never ripped a motor apart...he did show me the part that had flat spots. The license plate/back light mount has been attached to the bike which is cool and he is going w/ a different ignition system so I guess progress is being made. He said he'd jump back on it today and if no more surprises pop up he should make real good progress. He's also doing some hardcore shop cleaning/organizing before the real cold sets in.

Saturday morning MTB ride at Shooting Park tomorrow...washed my riding gear last night. I have to buy/swap my tires around and lube up the ride. Forecast is windy, but hopefully not too bad in the AM. Maybe I'll have a photo of the group later on.

And for something I found in a bike mag that makes me smile is this picture....have a great weekend.

MISHEARD LYRICS - Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter

PJ is one of my fav's...came accross this and thought I'd post it.

Quick & meaningless

No miles on the bike last night - rest and recovery - looked at the tires on the mtb and I'm thinking of getting some new ones that are inbetween my smothies and knobbies.
So my mower deck lifting unit broke last week causing another two brackets to snap, or vise versa. I go on Sears.com and look up and order parts. The parts were delivered by UPS and Cory Martin was the driver! Holy crap. We chatted real quick and he was off in his hot rod.

"Can't let 'em down when you're wearing the brown" as JVDP used to say. Pretty cool. And they had a baby girl. WTF is in the water around here? Baby's falling from the sky or what?
I had to call and reorder since one of the parts sent to me was incorrect and I noticed that I needed another bracket. Hopefully here by Friday since this weekend looks like it's going to be semi nice.
Today at 3 I go back to the dentist to work on my #2 moeller that I snapped. Strong Jaw I guess. Not looking forward to that. Getting Capped. If that fails...possible root canal they say.

Unimportant

Quick post to log my 18 miles last night...to B & T's and back...I'm giving my legs a break tonight (otta shape) and I'll just walk the dog.

Here's a comic I've had for some time. Enjoy and have a good day.

Ups and Downs of Life - Luv 2 Mia

Life can be and quite often is a roller coaster. Sometimes you'll go through these spells of time where day in and day out are almost the same and nothing worth speaking of happens, then there are times when lots of good and bad things happen. This weekend was the latter.

Friday night did 20 miles and Tori and I went to dinner.

Saturday morning did the last breakfast ride, 55 miles total.

Saturday afternoon we were hit w/a tragic accident, more in a sec, and that did it for that day.

Sunday morning did an 18 miler, Packers won, Chezcke Factory and Blue Man Group .

I don't want to go back into my mind and rerun everything so I'll try to make it short.

Saturday around noon, a great dog's intelligent/warm hearted soul left this earth to wait in heaven for my mother and father in law, and hopefully the rest of us that loved her so. Her name is Mia. She is the mother of our dog Shermann and the big sister to Vinny, Bentley and others. She was more than a pet to her owners and a best friend in every sense of the term. She was the main star and we wanted others to have just a portion of her skills. I could go on but don't want to now. It's extremely sad but this is life. We will miss her greatly. I'll miss her flirty eyes. In the photo it's Mia (top left) Shermann (top right) and Vinny bottom.

Christmas 2006

Friday morning post

Thursday after work I stopped by Greg to see how the Triumph was coming along, more on that after this...I did exactly 22 miles (unusual) last night in a brisk 48 degree temp w/ a steady NW wind. Headed north against the wind 10 miles, went west a bit, then headed back. Was wearing 3 layers on top and two below. Was a bit chilly at first but was really nice after blood was pumpin. Good ride averaging 16.75 mph. Had to stop by B & Tskinny's to use tire pump since I felt like I was draggin a 50 lb weight for the first 20-30 minutes. Nice pump B! I want one now, a lot easier than filling up the compressor for a couple of tires that's for sure.

After that the little lady and I were going to go out to eat for our anniversary but neither of us were really that hungry so we decided to go and get some pumpkins instead. We have a couple good ones and may spend tonight carving them up. Here's little T and the big baby...Motorcycle Project

I could do a whole lotta writing on this but will try to hammer it out in a real quick manner-
This is what it looked liked when I bought it on March 31st of this year from some guy in Clintonville.
1967 Triumph T100C

I've wanted one of these for some time so when I got it home and rode it around the block a few times I started disassembling and ordering parts to make it into the bobber I wanted.

So I get the bolt on hard tail, the solo seat, new tires, seat shocks, bars, grips, light, license plate mount, chain, air cleaner, ignition switch. Then asked JZelle if he could help me w/the fab/welding needed to mount rear fender. After some looking of the OE fender he strongly advised that I get something else. I order up an Exile Choppers 6" blank and we measured and cut it up. Also got some cool rigid fender struts off ebay and we did the same to those. JZ really knows how to work w/ metal and has the equip to boot. So after being at his place for like 4 weeks I take it home and paint everything black. Assembled it back to a roller and started working on the wiring, which has to be all redone. After making a little progress off of what info I could find I took a hard look at what I had and made the decision to have an experience hand finish it up for me. I want it to be cool, but more importantly safe. So I took it to Greg. He was super crazy busy when I dropped it off on July 31st, and didn't get a chance to do a hard look at it until Sept 10th. I paid him and he started work on it the next day. And even though I know I'm missing some info that brings up to today.

So I stopped by his place after work yesterday to see how the bike was coming along. He has fabbed up the top motor mount, found a new head for the motor and was assembling it back together. He thinks he should be wrapping it up in the next week or two stating that most the past few weeks has been waiting on parts which I know is the case since I've done a lot of that myself. So here's what it looked like...