Quick post to say I cooked some YUMMY fish tacos (OK, they turned into fish tostadas, I didn't have enough tortillas!) last night. They turned out stellar! Great, easy dish to cook, made with some frozen (yeah, not fresh I know) tilapia and home made batter. Light squeeze of lemon did the trick. Served with some Spanish (New Orleans style) rice, topped with a dollop of sour cream and cheese. Check it out, the ingredients: The pan fry, with extra virgin olive oil: The results, fish tostadas with Spanish rice!
So dinner turned out great last night. Tonight, got home late from training today (left at 6:45am, back in the drive 5pm), so we went to the Chancery. Had a King Louise wrap and fries, fairly good if not all that healthy.
And, yesterday, I grabbed the mail only to find, what? A large box addressed to me! And here is what I found inside: My new warranty replacement frames from Tifosi! Excellent, and only $10. They come with a lifetime warranty, and the first pair of frames (my silver ones in my profile pick up above) lasted about two full years. Now here's the deal; I wore those frames day in and day out, for running, riding, at work, and for mowing the grass. They held up great, just the finish had started to wear (showing black underneath). So I got in touch with Tifosi, mailed the old frames back and requested a black pair this time. They emailed me within a few days, let me pick the replacement frame and color for my lenses, and I got the new frame in under two weeks. I am very impressed with the Tifosi brand, both for the quality, warranty replacement and customer service. I will buy another pair one day, and I may not ever wear another brand of shades for workouts and racing.
And no, I'm no shill for Tifosi, and no, I'm not getting freebies from them or getting paid to say they are good glasses (oh, how I wish!). I just have found something made really well, IMO, and I like them, so I thought I'd pass along the review for all.
Here is the new "Ventoux" frame, with the lenses installed:
And on my mug, with the same "High Speed Red" lenses from my old pair: And here is the pair of Tifosi I was wearing while waiting (there were my wife's, she was going to have RX lenses installed, but later found she couldn't, due to the open frame style on the bottom). Note how small this pair is on my rather "large" head (I believe these are Gavia's, way too small but I made 'em work):
And, in closing, T-minus one work day (well, another training day, not real work being done) until we leave for New Orleans! I've got to pack tomorrow night. I'm hoping to bring my running gear, and get a few runs in along the river walk. I'll be sure to bring the camera and post a bunch of pics early next week.
Yep, it's that time again, already. This is the weekend, the 2010 Great Lakes Multi Sports Expo going on again. I feel like we were just at last year's expo! I managed to get out without buying anything this year-I really did not need anything so badly that I was inspired to make a purchase. So we walked around, checked out the goodies, they advertised about 150 vendors this year. They added a semi trailer set up with potable showers. The endless pool actually had a heater which worked this year (last year, the water was frigid, as the heater element went out). They had the individual and TTT on the Computrainers, which looked cool (but some of the riders said the calibration appeared to feel "off", as they were not getting the speed and times they should have). They had the VO2 testing and treadmill running races this year too.
There were some good deals to be had-one of the custom jersey and race clothing vendors had left over race tops and shorts starting at $3. Another local bike store was offering "buy one-get one free" on clothing, a great deal on Craft, Louis Garneau and other decent brands. The only thing I wanted was a new pair of arm warmers, but I couldn't find a second item I wanted bad enough to justify it today. In fact, the only purchase we made was for my wife-she bought a new bright color running shirt and got a free summer running top. And we got two free bottles of Myoplex, Chocolate Shake flavor, I think. I tried a freebie sample of this last year, and liked the stuff. I might buy some this summer for a recovery drink.
The obligatory pics from the Expo (sorry for the blur and low MP-used the iPhone this year!), good size crowd this year: One of the Expo speakers, talking about proper nutrition and hydration, the use of HR monitors to become more efficient, this guy knew his stuff! Sweet Guru, nice subtle graphics here A very sweet looking Argon TT/Tri bike, love the paint scheme! A nice stable of rides! Another hot looking set of wheels!
Speaking of wheels, I was talking with a local bike store rep about the tubeless wheelsets they had on a bike at the expo. These particular rims were Shimano Dura Ace, and he seemed to believe we're going to see a trend in the bike industry going more towards tubeless wheels very soon. He said they are very good quality, they roll and corner nicely, and are not too expensive (though only about three tire manufacturers make tubeless tires as of right now) Interesting, no tube to change in the event of a flat. He said you can squirt a liquid sealer type compound inside the tire, and in the event of a cut tire or serious puncture, the sealer takes over and gets you home. Or you can carry a tube, in the event of a major tire slash, you can tube it up and it will still roll well.
Very cool. And, to think I came out of there without spending anything there today! Good self-control if you ask me.
I was browsing around bikeforums.net, somewhat unmotivated and feeling, I don't know, "drained", that's a good description. This was pretty much how I felt after watching the NFC Championship game tonight with my buddy Dennis. I was torn during the game; I mean, it was a good, hard fought physical battle, with a tight score. But, Minnesota gave the game away on their five turnovers, which was a bit sickening. Clearly, Minnesota had a good game plan, had strong offensive numbers and possibly outplayed New Orleans in every aspect of this game, except for the special teams (even so, Reggie Bush fumbling a punt return did not do much for NO's argument). But in the end, Minnesota fumbled numerous times, even getting some of the fumbles back, which could have made the game even more of a mess for them. And Farve did throw two picks, which was almost surreal. And the biggest blunder? The 12 men in the huddle penalty, which cost them a long 51 (ish) yard field goal attempt just prior to the last Farve pick near the end of regulation. I've already seen grumbling and bitching online, on FaceBook and on websites about how the refs blew the game for Minnesota with poor or missed calls. People going back and forth, arguing and yelling at each other.Will Farve retire again? Oh, Farve blew the game in the NFC Championship again, what a hack, yadda yadda, bitching and moaning...
Well, here's a news flash to all those complaining-the refs are only human, and cannot call a perfect game, ever. Minnesota might have brought a superior effort tonight, but they did not execute, did not protect Farve well enough and did not minimize their mistakes. They should have beaten NO by at least two touchdowns, but they didn't. So Minnesota goes home, NO goes on to FLA and the Super Bowl. That's life, that's the reality of it. Enough said, move on, don't complain about something like a ref's call you felt might have changed the outcome of the game. Minnesota could have not fumbled even once during one of those long drives, and there would have been no OT, no coin toss, no questionable calls about pass interference or whether or not the receiver had possession on that catch, putting NO in chip shot range of a hat trick score for the win in OT. I did like one post I saw on FB, someone said something to the effect of, "Well, now there is absolutely NO reason to watch the Super Bowl". I concur, time to move on and look forward to the Spring Classics like Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix, San Remo and Leige Bastogne Leige. After all, the Tour Down Under has already wrapped up, so the bike racing season is really here! Time to toss football by the side of the road. Time to forget about it!
Well, on to getting motivated. I came across these two videos posted on the forums by "LesMcLuffAlot", not sure who that is but pretty cool videos, nonetheless. Especially the first, of Levi Leipheimer (Pro bike racer extraordinaire, TdFrance podium finisher and now racing for Team Radioshack) descending a mountain or, at least, some very hilly terrain called "Pine Flat Road". I'm assuming it's in CA, and it's not flat! Oh yeah, someone on the forums site pointed out, check out about 7:40 on the descent, Levi does this big bunny hop, both wheels way off the ground at some crazy speeds! Also watch as they go around fallen rocks and trees in the road, WOW! That's why he's the Pro racer-me, I'm not crazy about getting much over 35 mph on my skinny 23c tires. Yeah, call me chicken, call me old-I don't know how people can live in the mountains and ride 50+ mph down mountains all the time. I hit 45+ mph last Spring in North Carolina, and man, that was too FAST for me while on a bicycle. Sheesh, scary stuff!
I used to browse and chat on the forums a lot more, but, like the NFC game tonight, there was always a bunch of bitching and wisecracking going on, people insulting others about something that really did not make sense. You know, you've seen those message boards, where everyone has an opinion and likes to tell everyone else they're wrong? But, I also found many good posts on the forums, and some cool links, even some really good info or something cool to watch, like these here videos. I might make it a habit of stopping back and browsing more often, who knows? I said this just earlier today, some people like to talk their game up when on FB or online at a message board or other forums site; hell, it's easy to shoot your mouth off on the internet, right? I guess sometimes I forget about that.
So, I got out today for my 1st road ride of the new year. I braved some cold, it was about 32 degrees but the sun warmed me up. There was very little wind, so I went for a quick ride around Wind Point. Here are the ride stats:
This is a good start to the year; in 2009, the weather was so bad, I wasn't able to get my bikes out until February. Today, I took my gloves off near the end of the ride, as I was too hot. Here's the Giant propped up in the snow: I got a salty taste on my water bottle during the ride-that's one thing about living in Wisconsin, they salt the heck out of the roads. I can't wait for the Spring rains to wash the roads clean again.
I was also able to get my youngest out on her bike today-she had been bugging me for days to get her bike down and let her ride! Nice and bundled up! So the 1st ride on the road is in for 2010! My buddy and I, we have differing views on counting miles on the bike (or for running too). I don't count trainer miles-I simply log the time, but do not add the "distance" to my yearly totals. Never have. Never will. Am I right? Is he right? Who knows, and really, it doesn't matter all that much, IMO! To each their own, I say. But, when you read the miles totals in my blog, or on my stat keeping sites, they are ALL 100% road miles biked or run. So, with today's ride, I have a total of 8,919 miles since 3.16.06. Check out my bikejournal.com page, here: I will add another 2010 goal right now: I need approximately 181 road miles to hit 9,000 miles. I want 10,000 by the end of this year. 9k, I'd like by mid March, which I think I can do. That's all for now!
The entire family had off today (I'm off for four days straight, WOO HOO!), on a Monday, so we got up late, lounged around and went sledding finally towards noon. It was beautiful out today, highs of mid to upper 30s, no wind and sunny. It actually got too warm!! Here are a few pics, from Wind Point right near our place: The snow has actually melted quite a bit, so much so there are big spaces of grass showing through! And the hills really melted, leaving us only a few good spots to pick from to zip down. Here Beck and Maddie get going down. Coming back up over and over, it gets tiring! Abbey, hamming it up on the tube! Beck went down more than I did! And the result is some tired kids! Ab fell asleep on the couch while we were watching "Field of Dreams". Nice day for a nap! Beck and Madd went shopping for a new dress, as the Father/Daughter dance is this Friday.
Just a quick post, some of the events and races for 2010 I will be doing. (and I'm trying some new screen capture technology out as well!)
The 2009 Expo was a great event. Many good sales, lots of merchandise and we even ran to test our VO2 max. This year, I might sign up for the 20k Individual TT. Got to decide quickly, it's coming the end of the month! The 30th running of the Milwaukee Marathon will be my last big race of 2010 (more than likely, maybe...) The IM Racine 70.3 will probably be my toughest race of the year! Lake Michigan is COLD, even in mid July, so this one will be a real test of my training.
This one is a "possibly will do", the infamous Dairyland Dare! Here are the details on the 200k ride, brutal!! Pretty cool looking DD jerseys this year (2009 were an ugly, green color IMO) And of course, our group will run the Waterford Full Moon 4 Miler, just a blast to run at night! And, I might run the Racine classic, the Lighthouse Run, which starts in downtown Racine and heads due north to Wind Point and the Lighthouse (hence the race name!), within about three miles of home. This is a nice event, they have shorter runs (5k and 4 miles) up to the 10 mile run. Oh, and I upgraded cell phones. I went from the broken down POS to the Cadillac of phones: I've had it about a month now, and I'm LOVING it. I can do most anything from my iPhone that I can do on my mac. I'm looking to see if I can blog from the iPhone and load pics directly, this way, I can update this from New Orleans and while on various other road trips this year! And, a screen shot of the images saved to desk top to post here. I'm liking this!
That is way too cool to see you listed on the site, neat seeing this! Keep up that awesome blog, and I look forward to reading about your super accomplishments in 2010!
