Holidays

We are in Boissevain, having just spent a fine three days together with most of the Martens clan. I say most, on account of:

• K and M continue to struggle with some serious health related issues.
• Mr. Kincaid needed to stay in Seattle to work (and possibly avoid snow and sub-freezing temps).
• Mrs. Kincaid was only half there, due to her heavy schedule of visiting the restroom and sleeping off the latest virus.
• and last but not least (well, they are the least in terms of size) P & M. They're still illegal to bring to Canada. But we thought of them and missed them!

Kludge?

My eyes were opened to my long-lost brethren in creative repair and other solutions yesterday. Dad sent me a link to thereifixedit.com. What revelation! What kinship! I am not alone in my need to make and do things with ingenuity and thrift.

I need therefore, to share my latest workaround for cycling training. Why spend unnecessary time and money at a gym when you can make a leg press?

Sit Here.

Push on this 5/8 plywood.This structure transmits the force from your legs to the load.
Through this linkage.
And lifts it off the floor. If you plug it in you can have entertainment whilst you work out.What is a kludge anyway?

RD Funny?

Ramona always has our family's best interests in mind. Whenever I come home with a good joke or story, she groans and says "RD funny?" Meaning - could you submit that to Reader's Digest and get us some cash?

Here's a funny thing that happened at school. I just submitted it online to rd.ca. See what you think (if anyone besides me reads this).

Sixth grade students collect and recycle pop cans in our school. Partially full cans are emptied into a bucket. An eighth grade student said "Drink some. It's really sweet." When there was no response, he put the bucket to his lips and took a good swig. "Mmm. It tastes good!" As he walked away, they looked at him with a mixture of disgust and awe. In true junior high fashion, it was only a few minutes later that I glimpsed the can collectors gathering around and testing it for themselves.

I think it needs a snappier ending to be rd funny.

In other news, my weight training is on hold. I think I strained a muscle in my back when I was trying to get a 70 lb bag of cement into my backpack.

Did I mention I'm too cheap to go to the gym?

Our trip to Ethiopia is also on hold. The powers that be (Canadian High Council in Nairobi?) didn't like the birth certificates supplied for P and M. They want new ones, to be issued from their region of origin. Hmm. I'm thinking remote corner of the country, mud huts, jungle. Print me a nice official document on a piece of forest vegetation please.

That's an exaggeration. I know there are regional authorities and courts. I just hope it doesn't take too long.

New Season

Inspired by a guy called Ashwin Amana, I think I need to do some weight training to get to the next level of racing excellence. But, I don't want to go to the gym. Here's some quick research on no-weight weight training.

The Set Progression Strategy: By increasing the number of repetitions each set, increasing the number of sets performed and reducing the rest periods between exercises and sets... you can systematically improve total body function!
	The Alternating Set Progression Strategy: By alternating the exercises you do each set, your muscles will get a greater rest... furthering your progression by allowing you to add more exercises to each workout!
	The Superset Progression Strategy: By performing the exercises in supersets, you up the intensity of the workout by placing greater stress on both the muscles and cardiorespiratory system... leading to greater muscular, heart and lung strength AND burning more fat!
	The Giant Set Progression Strategy: By performing multiple exercises without rest in one giant set, you will again turn up the intensity placed on your entire body... blasting you to further body transformation!
	The Circuit Progression Strategy: By performing a succession of different exercises without rest, you intensify and vary the stress placed on the body without increasing workout duration... meaning more progress in the same amount of time!
	The Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) Progression Strategy: By alternating between upper extremity and lower extremity exercises you effectively and intensely train all the muscles in the body, the heart and lungs and burn large quantities of fat... this is the supreme muscle blasting, heart pounding, chest heaving and fat burning workout that will impact your fitness, health and physique the most!

As you go from one strategy to another, your muscles become stronger and harder, your heart and lungs will strengthen so you can do more, longer AND the fat falls away.

Calisthenics = body weight training.

Now I need to look for some cycling specific exercises.

End of an Era

Photo credits to Ramona

Sunday was the season-ending finale of cyclocross 2009. Kildonan Park was great. No mud, no snow. Lots of speed! I could have used a bit more of this. Also haikus, and poker derby!

Winning Haiku:

End of the season
Rest awhile, soon you'll find me
Back in the saddle

That was worth two loaves of Hal's bread, a bit of fancy cheese, and a bottle of wine (by draw).

I'm so thankful to have participated in 3 of the 8 races. It was fantastic!

I placed:
22/28 at the Belgian Club
16/22 in Altona
11/17 at Kildonan Park

I felt faster every time. I still couldn't catch Jonny G (my rabbit) or Ian Hall. Guess they were getting faster too.

I can't help thinking - would I be faster with the cyclocross style bike?
CX: lighter, no suspension bob, low roll resistance, aerodynamic position, quick spin-up
mtb: good in mud, cornering, and most of all - I have this bike!



And I love it.

Still, without going to the expense of buying a cx bike, I could do some modifications to make it faster for this format.

Fork - buy a carbon rigid - $200 ish
Tires - buy narrow knobbies (1" or less?) keep tubeless if possible - $maybe 100?

so - $300 for my cx conversion. That's a lot. But, it's less than a full cx ride - $1000 - 2000.

Other repairs that would help:
Rear Wheel- I should fix it anyway - needs a spring for the WTB hub. Then I could use the lighter wheel that I haven't been riding. - $?

Slicks and Rain AND CHILDREN!

Today we're racing at Whittier Park. Since the forecast was quite dry, I left my knobbies at home and came with my friends Crow and Raven (tubeless semislick tires). Lo and behold, it's raining this morning! The image that comes quickly to mind is racing at Falcon Lake this spring in rain, with my aforementioned slick friends. Particularly, riding down a grassy slope at top speed, but sideways (I recovered).

In other news I'M A DAD! Our two and a half year old adoption has come of age. The Ethiopian courts have ruled that P and M do indeed need a family and that family is us! Hallelujah to God for moving this forward. I hope he surprises us soon with a travel date (we're waiting for immigration and medical documentation).

Gardening

On Saturday I was working in my yard. Most of the time I only work in the yard if I have to, that is if the lawn looks like an unkempt 12 year-old's head, or we need to plant a garden to maintain marital unity. Saturday for some reason I was pulling grass and weeds because, well, I guess I wanted to make my wife happy. Funny, she was quite surprised when she came outside.

I was surprised too, when I worked under the deck. There is a profusion of quackgrass growing down there, especially at the edges of the deck where the mower doesn't like to go and the sun still reaches. I was pulling it out by handfuls and throwing it on a pile. Among the quackgrass I found some volunteer sedum, some Manitoba Maple, what looks like a raspberry plant, and a wild strawberry plant that I moved from one of our evergreens in the back. It came with the tree from a ditch north of brandon somewhere. I had also put a few shade-loving perennials in there some time ago, and they (I forget the name) were now blooming shyly in the shadows.

My thoughts on seeing the unexpected raspberry and sedum along with the other desirable plants hiding among the tall grass were of my life and its weeds and plants. I am a follower of Jesus, but I don't always show it very well by the things I do or think about. I give more time than necessary to the nurturing of guilty feelings. Lately, I've tried to trust in and lean on the love of Christ, and not worry so much. Then, I try to enjoy life and love God back.

I ride my bike as fast as I can. I play with my kids. I try to relax once in a while. I try not to be obsessive. I avoid guilt thoughts. I read the Bible. I wash the dishes. I listen to my wife (really, I do). Among all this living, sometimes I wonder where God fits.

Maybe the answer is under the deck. I planted some stuff there. A lot of grass and weeds have shown up. But amid all that, there are a few treasures coming, even without my knowledge or plan.

God, do that in my life. I love you and the way you do things!