Renovations

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

The renovations are on at Eric & Dez’s new home and I spent Saturday working with them. We’re having lots of fun and it’s great to be able to help out and do something creative and unrelated to the normal day to day activities.

The basement has been fully cleared to the outside walls and lots and lots of cool wallpaper has been peeled away already. Today’s focus was on this wall. or should I say “former” wall. One end of the wall has been removed and the other side has been opened up to create an interior window between the kitchen and living room. The electrical in the new wall has been installed and other older wiring removed. Eric had a little fun up in the attic as we strung new wiring to the kitchen lights. It’s quite dusty up there and he was wearing a dust mask that made him sound like Darth Vader.

Feed Store :: Web 2.OH, YEAAHH!!

Garry riding in Icebike X
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Sunday, after church, Shirley and I headed down to the Forks and picked up my race number and got ready for the start. This year was only 12km vs. the usual 20km, so it was a much faster race. My fingers froze for the first lap and a half and then warmed up and everything was good. The bike performed well with no mechanical problems, not even after pounding down the staircases at the Provencher Bridge. I never did ride down the stairs at the Norwood Bridge, they were just a little too steep for my liking. Unlike many years, I managed not to crash once on the ride, perhaps I was being too cautious, but the course was fairly easy with only one steep downhill, and a short river bank stretch in loose snow.

I pulled ahead of another rider just before the finish line and finished with a time of 54:02. That put me in 27th place of 45, if you count the 6 guys who didn’t finish. It was a good race, lots of fun.

Yikes! It’s tomorrow! Ice Bike 2008

Actually, I though I might have missed it already, but when I checked this morning, there it was, and I still had time to register. Well, motivation is a little low as it’s -25, but very sunny, so I went over to Woodcock and signed up. Apparently, I was too late to get the collector item T-Shirt, but hey, that’s the price of procrastination. After signing up, I figured I better be a little riding to get ready, after all the last time  was on a bike was November 2007.

After rounding up all the cold weather gear I headed out the The Forks to check out this years course. The Abominable is much shorter this year at 3 laps and 12km vs. the previous years distance of 20km. Most of the course was ready and marked so I took a test lap. It will be a very fast race this year as there are only two difficult sections. One is a steep downhill with a U-Turn at the bottom and a scramble up the hill again. The other stretch is along the river bank that parallels Tache Ave, where you’re riding across the sloping river bank in some loose snow. The rest of the course is hard packed and clear. Oh yeah, there are a could of stair cases to ride down, one is very steep and I’ve never ridden it down yet. After a lap, I took a slow cruise back to the house. Too late to do any training now, so it’s just gut it out on race day.

Should be a good ride tomorrow and a little warmer at -13.