Siding Completed

The last piece of siding went on the wall shortly after 1:00 this afternoon.  The 4x8 panels at the back of the house still need a little work as I didn't caulk any of the joints or trim boards, and a handful of locations need to be nailed off, but it's sweet relief to have the place buttoned up.

My secondary objective has been to preserve the plants and bushes along the way.  So far, so good.

I would love to get rid of the ugly utility meters.  Alas.  The Orange tree helps.

OK, so technically there is the water heater closet door , and a small transition gable on the roof which are "siding."  The door should be installed Monday and the transition gable has to integrate with the roof - so I'm still considering the siding "done."

I love how these corners turned out - they are a compromise that Bec and I came to.  They are certainly worth the immense effort that went into them.

Not much will get done next week with a backpacking trip at the end of the week.  I'm relying on the preparation of years past to make this trip possible.  Ella comes along this year, so all of the preparation that has taken place over the past weeks has been aimed her direction.

So in brief I've met my objectives for 2 months running.
Preparation for siding in June - Done.
Started installing siding on July 4th.
Siding completed by end of July - Done-ish. (I've got a few days to make that reality)

Moving forward...
August:
Strip roof, repair roof plywood, repair rafters, create gable soffits, and in a word - prepare for shingles.

September:
Gutters, shingles, soffits, paint.

October:
Details, details, details, and whatever didn't get done in September.

November:
Rain.

Death Ride - House Project Update

Tour of the California Alps Death Ride 2013 is in the bag.
I finished with a decent time and am pleased to have it behind me.  What's odd is that I've basically decided that it will be my last DR.  Of course my resolve and desire may change over time, but frankly I think 4 times over those particular mountain passes is enough.  My cycling for the season may also be nearly at an end.

I've been hanging in there with my training - but just barely.  I wanted to enjoy my DR experience so I've maintained a modicum of training.  But the consummation of the event means my cycling training for the year is officially over.  I will be running more, and working even more.

And yes, much of that work will be on my own house.

Following are updated pictures of my progress.

Some window trim goes on the new Hardi Panel siding - still need to figure out that threshold trim...

New rear windows trimmed out and gable siding installed.

Laundry room wall and gable 

Front trim nearly completed - ready to start hanging the lap and shake siding.

Sketched out the soffit lines in order to set the front corner trim - Can't wait to get rid of some of those rotting rafter tails.

Forgot 1 phone line - We'll run that one through the new soffit.

Mock up of the "ledge" going around the front of the house - will divide the lower lap siding from the upper shake siding.

Should get a lot of this siding up on Saturday - if God wills.

Summer Project Update

Getting down to bear bones

Some new color options...

A side project.  We were given the flagstones and I couldn't wait to create the path.  Even the girls helped with the layout and stones.

The house is feeling more snug already

Some old siding, some new siding, and some no siding yet.

New siding and flashing.  Still need trim, caulk, paint, putty...

Busy Summer - No Excuses

Yes, you can do everything - if you don't sleep.

I'll start filling some posts with pictures of my current diversion.  Now I remember why I didn't start cycling or running until my job transitioned away from working "in the field."  Construction is hard work.

I'm re-siding and re-roofing my house in the evenings and on weekends.  Cycling and running is happening around the edges.  Don't expect too much news there.

New awning over rear patio door

Home-made trusses

First hip roof in at least 10 years - all cuts and angles were perfect, first time.  Thank you Gary  Brenner (now deceased) for those lessons many years ago.

Removing stucco, and exposing the termite damage...  These walls will get insulation for the first time.

It Was Only a Matter of Time...

Well the cat's pretty much out of the bag.
Several months ago I posted my thoughts about how we categorize people, in spite of our limited exposure to them, based on externally visible elements, most of which are trite and represent very little of the human inside.

Well, I'm likely going to be re-categorized...  Life goes on...

Hers and His

Mt. Diablo 50K - 2013

1 hour, 3 minutes was our time around the Crockett Loop.  Not bad for Matt and I cycling into a headwind for the entire loop.  Wait, how is that possible?

I felt a lot better than I supposed I would, only 4 days into recovering from racing the Mt. Diablo Trails Challenge 50k.  We rolled back into Martinez just before dark with our headlights beginning to reflect off the street signs.  My cycling legs were managing fine in spite of the punishment I had delivered to my running legs last Saturday.  Dinner always looks and tastes spectacular when you're starved, and the grill had barely browned the turkey breasts before I was nibbling off corners.  But I guess I'm not as well recovered as I had supposed, for shortly after the table was cleared I was found propped against the wall asleep on the hallway floor waiting for the toothbrush brigade to clear the bathroom so I could take my shower.  I was in bed by 9:30 and asleep in 30 seconds.

Mt. Diablo out the window of the car on the way to start the race.
My race will finish on the far side of the mountain.

The Mt. Diablo Trails Challenge 50k was the highlight of my running season.  Though I considered not running it at all this year, I basically trained all year for this one event; the one punishing challenge that either awes my friends or convinces them that their suspicions about my sanity are confirmed.  Then, I was sent this link by Matt earlier in the week, and was awed myself by the caliber of one of my competitors who used this same race as a filler between his more important events.  Ian Sharman who took first place, was written up in Running times relatively recently.  I realized quickly that in spite of taking 40 minutes off my time from last year, finishing the race in 5 hours 50 minutes, I am far from being mistaken for elite.  I finished 19th out of 157 finishers.

But elite or not - I am inspired.  Ever since I started reviewing the results of the race and realized that simply cutting another 20 minutes off my time would have put me in the top 10, I've been inspired.  I read the bio on Ian and am doubly inspired.

I never saw Ian at the start, and frankly I don't think I saw him all day.  By the time I cleared the first hills, the guys out front were far and away.  I started about 1/4 of the way back and slowly worked my way up to the group of runners that I would eventually finish behind.  I never could fully bridge to their group, though I managed to run with Marty Reed of Save Mt. Diablo most of the day before he bridged up to them, and I owe him a huge "thank you" for the pacing and comradery.

I have a lot of things to work on before I run this again next year:
First - I have to learn to run down hill.  The gal, Justine, pictured below could run downhill.  I have no idea how she did it, but with seemingly no effort at all, she would pull away from me down every hill.  For an hour or so we ran "together" as she would float down hill ahead of me, and then I would catch up on the ascents.  Without much effort however, she slowly began to pull away.  Justine is simply a very strong runner, and by the end of the race, she had distanced me by a quarter of an hour.

Second, I need to beat the cramps.  The 2 - 3 mile downhill leg immediately following the 3rd aid station started my legs cramping.  I need to be putting in longer, faster miles more frequently to get my legs accustomed to that level of fatigue, or better yet, strong enough to not get fatigued in that amount of time.  I was hydrated and fueled, so I have some research to do, but I suspect that the majority of the solution will be found in more hours on the trails.  I'm truly looking forward to this solution.

Third, I need to run more.

Fourth, I need to run more...

I have realized a passion for trail running.  Ian said it well in his interview with Running Times  "But one of the biggest advantages of running on trails is the ability to visit places which are spectacular and really out of the way. So the longer the race, the more scenery you can fit in and the more remote a location can be reached."  So I'm looking forward to another year of training and chasing horizons.  See you on the trail.

Boston Marathon - DNF

A lonely tear slipped onto my cheek as I drove along Highway 4 and absorbed the press conference being held by Massachusetts General Hospital Chief of Emergency Services, Dr. Alasdair Conn and Chief of Trauma Surgery Dr. George Velmahos.  I continued to listen to the new updates for a few minutes then touched my radio to make it go away.

The tragic coincidence in the types of injuries and the nature of the event are maddening.  Many runners with legs fatigued and cramping found a new agony as they ran to the aid of so many that will never walk or run again.  The family who lost an 8-year-old son is particularly painful to think about.  Nearly 1 year ago exactly, I crossed the finish line of the hardest race of my life - into the arms of my waiting 8-year-old and 2-year-old daughters, wife, and parents.  The father of this young man now grieves the loss of his son while sitting by the bed of his badly injured wife and daughter.

What balm is there for this?  What salve for those wounds?

I think I'm writing this as a catharsis for myself, as I am impotent to make any impact whatever in the way of good there.  But I pray.  I beg and I pray and I hug my girls when I get home and try to push the evil away as far as I can.

I run the Mt. Diablo Trails Challenge again this weekend.  I hope they have a moment of silence at the beginning of that race.  If it's not official, then I will pray alone, to God who knows and sees and is just and good.  His ways are past finding out - but I will also ask why?  I don't anticipate an answer in that moment, but when He wipes all tears away some day, I will ask again, and His answer will show all things well done.

But for now - we pray.

Beating The Storm

29 miles used to be a great bike ride.  Now I'm consistently running those distances training for the Mt. Diablo challenge (50k) coming up in few weeks.

I ran my hills route on Saturday which included the Carquinez Highlands, Mt. Wanda, and the 2 highest peaks of Briones - some of those a couple times.  Nearly 5,000 feet of elevation gain...  

A storm was coming in off the Pacific and would make Sunday quite wet.  It made Saturday morning's skies glow and the wild flowers pop

Here are some of the reasons I love those hills. 

Next time - why not come with me?

Phone Pics

I would carry a better camera with me while I run and cycle, but the muted watercolor effect my phone's camera produces is enchanting.

Pittsburg, CA 

Briones Regional Park - Looking west as the sun begins to paint the hill tops.

More paint.

Looking west  from the Benicia Bridge.

You can't capture the brilliance of the icy dawn with any camera.  The joy of running along frozen trails and leaving footprints in the frosted grass is difficult to describe, as is the metamorphosis of a wilderness trail from dawn into daylight.  I soak in the colors as well as the crisp cold - and know that what I will able to share is a trifle.  Those are moments of innocent selfishness - there is no way to share those sights and sounds;  they are available in that moment only and visible from that ridge, valley or road  - where at that singular moment and from that perspective only I can absorb the beauty.  If I don't  - then it is lost.  Those moments are a gift from the Creator, and He knows they are gifts I cannot easily share.

The Exercise Bike

I got my wife an exercise bike.  It has since occurred to me that it is possibly the least altruistic thing I have ever done for her. (Also in proof reading this, it has also occurred to me that "got" is a useless and terminally unimaginative way of denoting procurement.  Yet I allow it to remain because that's what I did; I got it.)
First, I am a cyclist and she is not.  This bike will very conveniently double as a winter trainer for me.
Second, it was free.  While surfing Craig's List looking for a good deal on a new bike (Which I have recently begun the process of lusting after) I came across a free exercise bike.  The seller noted that the pedal needed some work.  I reasoned that with the bike being free and having a problem so insignificant as a pedal (who needs 2 right?), driving to San Francisco on a Sunday afternoon was a safe gamble.  Turns out the seller was right; the pedal needed help, and even on exercise bikes the second pedal comes in handy.  The good news is that my limited supply of bike repair tools happened to have just what I needed to facilitate the repair.  In total the bike cost me nearly nothing, and within only a few hours my wife was pumping away, toning and firming those muscles and burning calories.
So this brings me to the third reason that this purchase was less than altruistic...  Yeah.

Another great thing about the bike is that it has given me something to write about on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  It seems like every winter we athletes who blog, write about the same things: Getting in workouts around the rain, working out in the dark, complaining about the rain and the dark, etc.  I have avoided those types of posts this year by - not posting much at all.  And that's the other thing we write about - the fact that we have so little to write about.  It would be natural to think that if there is nothing to write about, then don't write.  And if you think that way, then you have obviously never kept a blog.  Our readers are hungry with anticipation - right readers?  I can hear your literary stomachs growling - yes?

But stating that we have nothing to write about is pitiful, as is resorting to coercion or begging to get people to read your blog.  So as my ever-cuter wife whirs away those extra Christmas goodies, I will be reminded to write wise and witty things to my faithful audience of - Mom.

Oh yeah, I guess this should be my Christmas blog post, so unless I'm moved by the elusive "muse of fire" in the next day or so- this is Merry Christmas.