Goals

I know it's a little late to be making New Year's Resolutions, so I'm thinking of these as Late Year Resolutions. People always say that you need to write down your goals, so I'm writing them down to share with everyone. Because it's been kind of nice the past few days cycling has been on my brain. So these are all cycling goals for the coming year. Here they are in no particular order:

• Ride over the North Ogden Pass
• Ride over Trappers Loop
• Race the Antelope Island Classic
• Race the East Canyon-Echo Road Race
• Race at least 5 crits
• Ride LOTOJA (if I get in)
• Ride at least 2 centuries
• Log over 2,000 miles this year

There they are for now. I'll probably add some more specifics as I figure out what kind of form I'm in this year.

SEO

I've agreed to help my brother-in-law and wife with SEO for their real estate website. So I'm reading SEO for Dummies. I think it's actually going to be do-able. So here goes nothing:

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Update

I figure it's been awhile so I'll post an update on my life. Unfortunately I tooted the horn a little premature (problem I have) about LOTOJA. It turns out that I did NOT get a spot. Which would have been fine if I could have found out a little sooner than the day AFTER registration had closed. I would have liked to at least try to get in through the lottery, but oh well. Maybe it was all meant to be because just last Friday I found out that my contract with the Davis County School District will not be renewed. So I'm looking for a job again. I'm glad at least that I have about three and a half months to look. I'm just not looking forward to looking. I love my job right now. Special Education is a hard job, but it's really satisfying too (the thought of having all summers off didn't hurt either). I totally dropped the ball on the 10 year reunion because of the stress of possibly losing my job (I've know that 1 year hires might not get their contract renewed for a couple of months now). Anywho. Life just barrels on regardless of the feeling that I've been left in the dust. I'm a positive person though. I believe that everything happens for a reason and I'm a firm believer in Karma (so if anyone needs their lawn mowed or something like that, I could stand to earn some brownie points). Things will get better. I just hate the thought of leaving a really good job for one that I'm might not like as much. So here's to hopping, and yes I spelled that right.

PS I finally found out what's wrong with my wrist. I have what's called gymnast wrist. Which explains a lot. I know I don't do gymnastics while I'm awake, so I must be doing it in my sleep which explains why I wake up so tired all the time. Two birds one stone.

Good day.

Here's today's route:

It was a great day. Legs felt great. Only had one small climb, but I didn't have to shift into my smallest gear like I normally do to get up it. Unfortunately my ride got cut short because of swim lessons. Every mile counts though...besides look at those calories!

Semi-Official

So I just got the word and it's only semi-official, but I'm announcing it now: I'm into LOTOJA. So where's my bike...I need to start riding.

Training? That's a good one!

Soooo, training isn't going quite as planned, but after today's ride I really need to ramp it up. Here's the route:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route//ut/syracuse/940127085602246078

I only went a little over 20 miles but it felt like a lot more. I had the wind at my back on the way home too. Most of all my butt really hurt. I've got to log more miles in the saddle. If nothing else to get my rump used to the saddle. If I'm going to do LOTOJA I've got to get used to sitting on that thing for about 10 hours. We'll see how it goes.

Garmin Edge 500

Just got my Garmin Edge 500 bicycle computer yesterday and I already love it. I haven't had a chance to give it a good long test but I rode around the block and it was pretty cool. The 500 doesn't have internal maps but when you hook it up to your computer it places your route on a map. I love the website www.mapmyride.com to keep track of my rides and such, and with the Garmin I can sync it directly to the site. Pretty freaking cool. I tried using the mapmyride app for a little while, but because that isn't based off of a real GPS when I rode out on Antelope Island it wouldn't track my ride. The app was a little inconsistent when riding around town even. Like I said I haven't had a chance to give the Garmin a full scale test, but I'm certain it will be more accurate than the mapmyride app on my iPhone. One thing that I was worried about when I bought it was the setup. Was it going to take me 3 days just to figure out how to use it? I didn't even have to look at the instruction manual. It took me about an hour and I was done (and that includes installing it on my bike). It has 3 cutomizable screens that you can put from 3 to 8 information readings. It has everything from speed to power output (if you have a power meter). I bought the version with the heart rate and cadence. It picked up them both instantly. I've had bike computers in the past that didn't want to communicate with the heart rate strap or cadence unit. So far this is the coolest bike computer I've ever owned. Hopefully the weather will improve and I'll be able to give it a proper test.

Not such a good start.

Well my alarm went off at 5 AM this morning and I turned it off and went back to bed. It's going to take me a while to get used to this whole waking up early to exercise thing. So far Training 1, Kris 0.

It has begun.

So I figured with it being Super Bowl Sunday and all I'd shave my legs...training starts tomorrow. The first of many days leading up to LOTOJA. I tried to put a countdown on the blog, but none of them worked very well. So if you know of one let me know. Anywho, not a huge post today, just wanted everyone to know that the training starts tomorrow and GO COLTS!

LOTOJA

I know I've been saying it for sometime now, but this year it's really going to happen. I'm doing LOTOJA. For those of you that have no idea what that is, it's a really long bike ride from LOgan TO JAckson. It's about 206 miles. Rumor has it that because the bike shop that I work at is one of the sponsors of the race we get a few entries into the race. So hopefully that works out. If it doesn't I'll have to do it like everyone else and put my name in the lottery and hope for the best. A few years ago they pretty much said this is the time that registration opens and the first however many people that register get in. They switched it to a lottery to make it a little more fair. Now registration opens for about a week then they hold the lottery. So for the next few months I'm going to try and keep everyone updated on my progress towards the 206 mile ride.

Here's the course map.

Here's the elevation map of LOTOJA.

Anonymous

So I'm tired of getting anonymous comments so I set it to only allow people to comment if they leave their name. Don't worry I won't attack you if you leave a comment with your name. This is the last comment that I recieved. See if you can make any sense of it:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "HCG":

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HCG

I started a diet on the 16th. It's called the HCG diet. If you haven't heard of it let me fill you in on the details. HCG is a fertility drug or something like that. The way you tell if you have good HCG is you drop it on a pregnancy test and it should come out positive. You take the HCG 3 times a day and it's supposed to make you not feel hungry. Then you only consume 500 healthy calories a day and the weight is supposed to melt off. The best part of the diet is the first two days. They're called loading days because you eat everything and anything you can eat. The higher the calorie content the better. This is so that your body gets tricked into thinking that it needs to burn more calories than it really does. Like I said my wife and I started it last Saturday and we've already lost a good amount of weight. It's only a 22 day program (although if you need to lose a large amount of weight you can do it for 44 days) so that isn't too bad. There's a blog called The HCG Way that a few of my friends are on. We post updates, tips, and recipes. Stacy and I bought the HCG from a company in Lehi called HCG Complete Diet. You can get it cheaper other places (like India), but we thought we'd stay local. Check it out, pretty good stuff. I started at 185 lbs. and now I'm at 181 lbs. Stacy's lost about 7 lbs. already. Although I'm still trying to get used to the hot flashes and the mood swings...I'm totally kidding...I'll never get used to them.

New Album

I decided today that I am going to write a new album by the end of the year. My piano has been at my wife's grandparent's house for about 4 years. It's been there because we've lived in apartments where the piano just wouldn't fit. Now that we have a place of our own I'm getting it back on Saturday. I actually have a little corner in the living room that is my music corner. After watching a few concert DVD's and a little movie on creativity I decided I'm ready to start making music again. I might even get a 4 track recorder or something and try and post them online. I'll let everyone (all 3 of you that read the blog) when I have a name for the album. So get ready the long awaited follow up to Invisible Dog is in the works.

Comments

Thanks to all of the "Anonymous" comments that I've been getting. Although there are a few that don't make a whole lot of sense to me, I guess I'm just glad someone is reading my blog. Well, thanks.

2010, it's really happening.

What an exciting year it's going to be. A few things off the top of my head that will be happening this year are: 10 year Clearfield High reunion, trip to Alaska, Lincoln going to kindergarten, first summer vacation as a teacher, graduating with my teaching license, Alivia going to preschool, doing LOTOJA, getting my leg amputated...just making sure you were still paying attention. Anywho, fun stuff to come. I always love the new year. Even though this year I didn't really make any resolutions I'm trying to get a few things done. Sure it's pretty generic things like being a better person, eating better, exercising more, etc. I feel like because I haven't made a firm resolution I'm going to do these things. I know that's totally contrary to what professional goal makers say to do, but I work better in a less restrictive environment. Well I hope that you all have a prosperous new year (or next year as I like to call it). Have a good one.

Well...

I'm sorry to say, but with the invent and my joining Facebook I haven't posted anything in some time. I doubt anyone is even looking at this any more. Either way, as I've said before, I'm going to try and be better at updating my blog. Lots have happened since I last posted anything. I graduated from college with a degree in Marketing. Worked for a few months in sales, made very little money, received no benefits, and really didn't like the work. I quit. Started substitute teaching. Decided to become a teacher because they started at more than I was making selling stuff plus they got benefits (I've always wanted to be a teacher too). Got a job at a bike shop over the summer, freaking awesome. Finally got hired by Davis County School District a few weeks before the school year started. I now teach special education at Syracuse High. I freaking love it. Oh, almost forgot, I bought a house too. We're moving in this weekend as a matter of fact. Well that's a quick, really quick catch up on life. Check back soon for more.

It's Here

Well 2009 is here. I'm sure that we've all made some great New Year's, or as I like to call them, Next Year Resolutions like stop kicking the dog, don't poison the neighbors, lose 100 lbs., etc. I thought I'd share some of my resolutions with you. First I wanted to lose about 10 lbs. and 7% of my body fat. That will enable me to compete in the triathlon that I plan on doing in July. I just realized that no one wants to hear...read about my Next Year resolutions. Why do you just enjoy 2009 and make it your best year yet. For those of you that are reading this that are under one year old, just make this an average year, you wouldn't want to start too good, then every other year would pale in comparison.

Really, I mean really?

Has it been that long since I posted anything. I guess I have been pretty busy. I ran for president and almost won (of the United State for you that think I was talking about something else). I won the Tour de France (even though it happens in July). Finished my new book, "This Will Never Make It On The Shelf". Also, I finished my album ,"Memories That You Thought You Had Repressed". So now that I have time on my hands (word of warning that stuff does not come off so wear gloves) I think I'll try and write a little more often. Well just wanted to make sure my die hard fans know that I'm still alive. Oh, just remembered I will be taking the whole next week off from doing anything. Sunday the 21st for the Winter Solstice (my pagan side), Monday the 22nd for Hanukkah (my Jewish side), obviously the 24th and 25th (my Christian side), and the 26th (my Canadian side. See you when I see you, keep on truckin', and all that.

Bike's Done

I can't believe I haven't posted it here. I did update the Pink Ski Mask main website (www.pinkskimask.com), but I finished my fixed gear bike. Here's some pictures and some links to more pictures. Enjoy:

Links: Here...and here...and here.

PS: It's for sale. $200. Let me know, email me at kris at pinkskimask dot com.

New Paint

Well I got the first part of my bike painted last night and wanted to share it with the rest of you that I know don't really care, but I want to show off. Here's the picture:

The whole bike is going to be in these colors. I'll get a higher resolution picture up soon. This one was taken with my iPhone. I'm getting close to having the frame completely stripped of old paint and then it will be the frame's turn. Ooooooo, my new bike is so close I can taste it, and if you've ever tasted spray paint that's what it tastes like. Maybe I should be using a mask so I don't get paint in my mouth.