So apparently I suck at posting, but hot damn things got busy real fast. Work has been nothing but intense with lots of "kurfuffles," (i.e. customers have their bikes in for a tune up, parts are on order, they keep calling to check on their bike but my accounts aren't setup to order parts but when I do get access to order them I get double shipped and all my past orders are suddenly put through so I now have all this mini fires to put out with the management team who wonders why I'm all of a sudden spending all this money when in actually this stuff should have been ordered over a month ago but there was poor attentiveness from the people at headquarters to get me setup by the time our store opened and now I have to rectify everything and this sentence is a ridiculous run-on, stream of consciousness to help you get the idea of what it's like to work 9 days straight and when all the parts DO come in you're off for two days and your new staff have to figure things out on their own). WHEW!
I knew things like this would happen; it's why I took the job as a master mechanic, but that doesn't reduce the amount of suck or make it any less stressful. I'm sure I've got a few more hairs turning gray trying to get the shop up and running like my old one. Oh, and I still am waiting on more tools to be ordered so I can take my own personal tools home and not have them used in a bike shop anymore. I now understand why my old boss was at times a little grumpy (if you're reading this I owe you a beer, maybe two...call me).
I knew things like this would happen; it's why I took the job as a master mechanic, but that doesn't reduce the amount of suck or make it any less stressful. I'm sure I've got a few more hairs turning gray trying to get the shop up and running like my old one. Oh, and I still am waiting on more tools to be ordered so I can take my own personal tools home and not have them used in a bike shop anymore. I now understand why my old boss was at times a little grumpy (if you're reading this I owe you a beer, maybe two...call me).
On the training front it's still been sporadic, traveling back and forth from work adds and extra 30-45min each way so instead of my shift ending at 6:00pm I don't get home until around 6:45. This makes riding tough in the morning and evenings but I'm getting used to it. As I've said before Lauren and I will be moving to Salem in the next 6 months or so. On my days off (which have been only recently) I've been putting in some miles. I went to Eugene, trained with my teammate Rob English (of English Cycles) and my coach, we got in some good miles. Galen and I went to an evening old man's hammerfest, put the hurt on the group, won all the sprints and went home. It was a nice confidence boost to ride hard in a group as an unknown entity to see how I stack up. Turns out Galen is crazy strong as usual, he would make his way to the front with me glued onto his wheel then I would try and out sprint him to the stop ahead sign, sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Either way, we kinda dominated the ride.
I also rode down to Salem from Tualatin, turned into a 90mile day and was boring as hell, flat and lame, I definitely belong in the hills. The only thing that got me home was my iPod and the hardcore techno trance beats of hammerawesomeness thumping away in my earbuds. Let's see, I'm getting ready for the Oregon Grand Fondo on Sunday right before I leave for Colorado Springs for 10 days, (Mr. English graciously let me borrow one of his Bike Fridays to take with me so I'll have a bike to get 10 days of altitude training on). While we're still somewhat on the topic of bikes, Lauren and I put our down payment in for our own set of custom English Cycles, we need help deciding what paint scheme to do, any thoughts? We have some ideas but are open to suggestions. These things are going to be gorgeous, fast and did I mention gorgeous?
This week I've put in 8.5 hrs of riding in 2 days, today I was going to go out for a 4 hr ride, everything going smoothly right up until I get to the top of Parret Mountain Road and as I put my sunglasses on top of my head I hit a bump and they fall out of my hands. I come to a stop, turn around and hear the dreaded sound of a car. I'm off my bike by this point (it's a lonely backroad by the way) I see the car, start waiving my arms for it to stop and BOOM! they run right over my sunglasses, then TWO MORE CARS come down and run right over my sunglasses a second AND third time...BOOM!!!...BOOM!!.... FUCK!!!!! (sorry mom, I know you read this, I love you.) SERIOUSLY?!? this road is a backcountry farm road, nobody is on it by accident, there's a guy standing in the middle of the road in spandex waiving his arms at you, his bike is laying in the bushes on the shoulder and you don't stop?!? THREE TIMES! I hate people. After 10 minutes of searching for the arms of my sunglasses in the bushes, oh and after that not a single whisper of any motorist anywhere for 100 square miles, literally. I stuff the remains of my lenses in my jersey pocket, and descend down Parret Mountain Road while involuntarily crying my eyes out at a 40mph descent while my contacts are screaming, "OH DEAR GOD WHY!!!!! OH THE HORROR!!!!" I cut my ride short, because I'm too pissed off that 3 people ran over my sunglasses while I'm trying to make them stop. Lauren just made dinner, I've showered and calmed down a bit, now we're off to watch the new X-Men movie with some gift cards leftover from Christmas. Tomorrow I'm going to go buy a new pair of sunglasses and I hope those 3 bastard drivers all get tickets and burn.
Until next time...after the Grand Fondo and when I have my humor back.
Cheers,
-Andrew-
This week I've put in 8.5 hrs of riding in 2 days, today I was going to go out for a 4 hr ride, everything going smoothly right up until I get to the top of Parret Mountain Road and as I put my sunglasses on top of my head I hit a bump and they fall out of my hands. I come to a stop, turn around and hear the dreaded sound of a car. I'm off my bike by this point (it's a lonely backroad by the way) I see the car, start waiving my arms for it to stop and BOOM! they run right over my sunglasses, then TWO MORE CARS come down and run right over my sunglasses a second AND third time...BOOM!!!...BOOM!!.... FUCK!!!!! (sorry mom, I know you read this, I love you.) SERIOUSLY?!? this road is a backcountry farm road, nobody is on it by accident, there's a guy standing in the middle of the road in spandex waiving his arms at you, his bike is laying in the bushes on the shoulder and you don't stop?!? THREE TIMES! I hate people. After 10 minutes of searching for the arms of my sunglasses in the bushes, oh and after that not a single whisper of any motorist anywhere for 100 square miles, literally. I stuff the remains of my lenses in my jersey pocket, and descend down Parret Mountain Road while involuntarily crying my eyes out at a 40mph descent while my contacts are screaming, "OH DEAR GOD WHY!!!!! OH THE HORROR!!!!" I cut my ride short, because I'm too pissed off that 3 people ran over my sunglasses while I'm trying to make them stop. Lauren just made dinner, I've showered and calmed down a bit, now we're off to watch the new X-Men movie with some gift cards leftover from Christmas. Tomorrow I'm going to go buy a new pair of sunglasses and I hope those 3 bastard drivers all get tickets and burn.
Until next time...after the Grand Fondo and when I have my humor back.
Cheers,
-Andrew-