An Active Weekend

Man I can't wait to go back to work tomorrow...

NOT.....

We were quite busy organizing, cleaning, shopping and bike riding though.

Lotus got her compost bins first thing Saturday morning. When she got back she made breakfast, then was out in the back yard building her new "machines" and tending to her children (all 30 or so of them, (don't tell the others, but I think her favorite is the zucchini)). While she was doing that I was doing bike maintenance. The mountain bikes where just crazy dirty. So I had to wash them, clean the chains and then re-lube the chains (it sounds easy, but it takes quite a while). While going over the bikes I noticed that Lotus's rear wheel was a bit wobbly (more on that later).

Oh ya, before that I put together our new patio table/fire pit (it rocks). I think I mentioned on someone else's blog that we got new patio furniture. It's a set from Target (love seat, 2 chairs, 2 ottomans and a table/fire pit). So after I put together the stuff, of course you have to clean it up. Target packed it very well and this thing is huge, so clean up took a while too (lots of cardboard to cut up, etc).

THEN we went for a bike ride (normal course, "Chilis, Rancho Paseo, Telegraph, Fwy, Olympic, Home") on the way home we stopped by Ralphs to get a few things for dinner (Lotus made sushi, which we ate on our new Patio.... I know....)

Dishes, then the Lost season finale on Tivo, then bed.

Day 2 (Sunday)

Woke up at 9:30am which I have not done in maybe a year. 9:30 is crazy late for me. I got up and my Hamstrings were just killing me. I think it was from bending a lot from working on the bikes. But I got dressed and we were on our way. First stop was Performance bikes on Bonita Road. They had a few things on sale that I wanted to look at (and bought all of), Gu 24pks, chain lube, and a bike stand (so my freaking hammys won't hurt as much). Then we went to Trek in Kearny Mesa to get Lotus bike worked on. One of the reasons I bought Trek bikes is that they will take care of anyting minor for free for the life of the bike. Their policy is adjustments, but they have done much more than that for me. The frames are also guaranteed for life, so the only thing I would ever pay for is worn out parts, etc.

So we took the bike in and I told them the rear wheel had a wobble and he said he would take a look at it right then and took it into the back. 5 minutes later we were walking out the front door with a bike that was as good as new!!! I of course still spent 40 bucks on other stuff though (degreaser, tire levers for the mtnt bikes, patch kit, tubes for the mntn bikes and a new bag for Lotus's bike) I had a coupon which Trek sends from time to time, plus their prices are good, so what's not to love. Now if they had shorter top tubes... But that's another story.

Then we went to Carls Jr for lunch, then to 1.5 Targets (the one next to Trek doesn't have a garden shop, so we did not go in) we still need an umbrella for our set. Then I went for a bike ride on Thunder (yes I named my road bike today, my mntn bike is now named lightning)(you would think my road bike would be lightning since it is actually faster, but no, for some reason it is Thunder, just feels right to me and that's all that really matters since it's my bike (and if you don't like it you can just get your goonie-goo-goo ass out of my house)).

So todays ride was pretty good, I did 31 miles and cranked my 2,500th mile on Thunder. I also got to try 2 new flavors of Gu, since I bought a variety pack of them at Performance Bike earlier today. The Strawberry Banana was ok, I just wish it actually had caffeine, but I did not care for the Tri berry. Something about it just did not taste appealing to me.

I also came back down Telegraph from the Target shopping center for the first time in about a year. Since they have been working on the fwy they closed the bike lanes under the fwy, so it was not safe to go that way. Well I have not been missing much. The road is vary bumpy (like the rest of telegraph until you get to Hunte Pkwy). I'm glad they are going to be resurfacing it this month, that should make it smoother in the future (although with Chula Vista you never know) my street was awesome when they first built it, then the resurfaced it and it is worse than before (less smooth and lots of grooves and rough spots).

Took a shower, then mowed the front lawn, aerated it and worked in the garage organizing a bit. Thank goodness Lotus mowed the back yard while I was riding, I don't know that I had the energy left to do that too.

Typed up this massively long and rambling post and now it's off to bed...

Fuel???

Here are a few pics from our trip to Chicago/Milwaukee.

This is a picture from Lou Malnati's, which is supposed to be one of the best places in Chicago to get a real Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.


We had quite the trip getting to Lou's. They are only open until 11pm and we got there at about 10:15pm. Normally, that is no problem, but the pizza takes 30 minutes to cook, so we were up against the clock. When we arrived in Chicago it was kind of tense, becuase we forgot our TomTom, so I was not sure how to get there. Luckily Hertz gaveaway my car to someone else (initally tense), but they upgraded me to another car and that car had a GPS device in it (and much nicer), otherwise we may not have made it.

The Pizza was just ok. I did not think it was much better (or worse) than a pizza you would get at Uno's. I know Uno's is a derivative of the first real Chicago deep dish, but I guess I thought once you went national, you would lose some of that origial quality and character. So we wanted an authentic Chicago Deep dish, from Chi town. Oh well.

These are pictures from Moody's Pub in Chicago. Lotus looked on a few Chicago blogs and a few of them said this place made a mean burger. The indoor part was very dark, the outside patio was pretty cool.


The weather was very nice that day. About 72 degrees and a nice breeze. It was just a beautiful day for a burger. And this was a good burger. It was called a Moody Blue burger (of course). Lotus had a regular cheese burger and the rings were pretty good too. But if you go, stick with the Moody Bleu, it's a keeper.


We barely made our flight home that day though. There was a lot of traffic in Chicago that day becuase it was so nice out. We flew Southwest and walked straight on the plane since it was already boarding. Luckily we checked in on line the night before, so we were still in group A. Oh that would have sucked if we would have got there 5 minutes later, we would have ended up in the last group and probably would have each been sitting in between 2 other people.

Shiny New Bikes

Here are pics of our shiny new bikes. It kind of freaked me out how shiny the rear cogs actually WERE.

They are still pretty clean looking, but not so shiny anymore.

I have a problem

I wasn't sure if I wanted to call this, "I have a problem", or "Traffic Jam". We currently have 6 bikes in our garage for 2 people...

One I was borrowing from my brother, so only 5 are actually ours.

Lotus and I have discovered Mountain Biking. I did not think I was going to really like it, but I do. I always thought I was a die hard "roadie", but there is something to this off road stuff.

We recently got new Mountain Bikes, since the ones we were using are about 10 years old and really rusty. The front brakes on the one I was using lock up from time to time, and that can be a bit harrowing when you are going down hill really fast. I either need to fix them up a bit in case Sailor Moon and Junglicious want to use them, or just give them to Goodwill (I guess I should still fix the brakes before I give them to them too).

Our new bikes are pretty cool. I'll post about them later. We both got the same model, with the same paint scheme, so we will be the cutest.... gag....

I Hate Bees

Sorry to be hating on you bees, but ya'll are just ticking me off.

Here is a recap of my last ride.

Rode 10 miles, minding my own business, passing the old jogger guy with the big Gilligan hat, then BAM!!! a bee flys INTO my helmet. I pull over quickly, take off my helmet and as I am shaking it, the bee falls out to the ground. I should go back and look at my heart rate on my Garmin, I bet it was real high.

I take a deep breath, put my helmet back on, click in and I'm off to enjoy the rest of my ride.

About 5 miles later, almost exactly where I got stung the week before, ANOTHER F...ing bee flys into my F...ing helmet. Now I'm pissed. Give me a F...ing break, what did I ever do to you.

I'm pissed..., so I just turn around and decide to head home, then another F...ing bee flys into my chest and bounces off of me as soon as I started to head back.

Did I mention I now really hate bees.

At least I'm not allergic

I was riding on Saturday and I was stung by a bee out near the lake. This is the second time I've been stung while cycling. The first wasn't bad at all, the bee stung me on the top of my left quad. I pulled over real quick, pulled it out, felt like everything was ok and continued on.

This most recent attack was much worse. I was out on Otay Lakes road about about a mile east of where the road splits to go to the dam. There is not a curb or real shoulder there, so I can't just stop right away, it takes a gradual slowing, or you will crash.

The bee was still attached to the stinger when I stopped and he did not seem to want to give it up. I think I flicked at him three times before he fell off. I then pulled out the stinger and everything seemed like it would be fine. But this one seemed to hurt more. I did not know why at the time, I just knew it hurt more.

When I got home I looked at the area and it was already a bit red and puffy. Since the bee was in longer, I'm guessig he was pumping the venom a bit longer than the first time. Then I read that you are supposed to scrape away at the stinger from the side (not pull it out, like I did). If you pull at it, you are likely to actually push more of the venom in the wound.

Well the puffyness is gone now, but there is still a big red mark (it looks like a bruise now). Hopefully it will clear it by the weekend.

Did I mention the bee looked real mean too???

They are finally gone Part 1

This month has really sucked since we got back from NYC. I have not put in so many hours in quite a long time. I have only really had Sundays off this month, and when I say off, that just means I got to work at home instead of in the stores.

This week was really tough, in that about 5 people who are above me in my company were out here doing stuff, so that adds a lot of stress to my daily grind and a lot of extra hours.

They are all gone now, but most of them are coming back in two weeks, so hopefully after that, it will all be good. I'm going to try to get in at least 2 rides a week to get my weight back down to where it was before they got here.

When they are here, there are always larger lunches and dinners eaten by all, thus a need to get my weight back to where it was, before they got here.