two and out

The last two days were really nice biking. I'm happy that my rubber shoe covers stopped rubbing against my pedal and making a kind of annoying squeaky noise. 

Yesterday, I saw another biking on the road. He was in a full racing kit, so I'm assuming that he was fairly fast. Anyway, I decided to modify my route and try to catch up to him. I got really close but then I hit a red light and he got ahead of me. Once I had the green it took me about 4 miles of pretty hard riding to catch up. I finally caught him and asked if I could draft off him for a bit. He said he was going to a hill to do some hill repeats. He said I was welcome to come. A mile later there was a really big hill. I did one and went on with my own ride. I'm am excited that the hill is fairly close to my usual route. I've been going 10 miles out to a hill, but I'll usually winded by the time I get to that hill so I can't do any repeats. This hill new hill is shorter but steeper with a hairpin turn in the middle. I'm excited to try it out later.

Today it got cold and snowy. I thought it would be fun to try the workout dvd my sister got me for Christmas. Fast forward a whole ten minutes, I'm laying on the floor completely winded. Who would have thought that four second sprints could be so painful.  Topping it off, I listened to liz narrate the whole scene to her mom on the phone as it happened. I think the dvd will be great. I'll give it another go tomorrow. It'll go better now that I know what to expect (at least that's what I'm telling myself). If I do it a lot, I bet it'll help my hill sprints. 

Happy 09!

Outside

I went for an OUTDOOR bike ride today. It was a balmy 49 degrees, so I'm not sure it really counted as "winter" biking, but I put all my new winter things on out of spite anyway. Thank you to everyone who got me winter appropriate gear for Christmas. The jersey, shoes, hat, and gloves were of particular use. I'm sure that the blinky light and hex wrenches will come in handy soon though. I wore my old running tights, and they seemed to work for the most part.

Things that Nathan forgot while using his trainer:

1) Hills stink
2) You have to steer
3) You get to coast once in a while
4) People look at you funny when biking (although Liz did a good job of this when I was indoors)
5) The wind can make you feel like Lance Armstrong (I sustained 30mph for about 4 minutes)
6) The wind can break you ( from 30mph to 11mph by turning the corner)
7) Cows don't pay much attention to bikers (they were lying down in the fields today)
8) It's possible that the trainer may actually help my overall fitness (especially with a fancy spinerval dvd)


Other Christmas gifts that I have found useful so far (in no particular order)....

1) a mug.. it has been well broken in already.
2) A fancy auto waterer for Penny (see liz's blog)
3) Liz and I spent some of the Christmas money on a shelving thing
4) Deliciously roasted Flying J coffee
5) Canned green beans

This list just made me realized how blessed I am to be surrounded by a loving family.

Christmas time

I received some very nice gifts for Christmas.  Penny thinks that water out of a Lockheed Mug tastes better than standard water, but she will probably never get to sniff it again. My students had very nice things to say about me as their instructor. The worst comment was that I talk to fast, but it is true so it doesn't upset me. Next semester I'll make an effort to slow down.

and now... pennypalooza

Penny enjoying a new red blanket

Penny pretending to be an engineer

All done

Hi everyone~

I coming out from underneath my rock. I had my last exam today which means my semester is basically finished. I have some work and TA things to wrap up later this week, but those are all small peas. It'll be nice being able to go to bed a reasonable times again.

Now that school is done, I'm hoping to log some massively wicked miles on my bike. You heard it form me first...massively wicked. 

It finally snowed here. I makes me miss the real snow that places like Michigan and Chicago get. West Lafayette snow just doesn't cut it.