It’s sort of been like Groundhog Day, the movie, here for me. Seems like I keep doing the same thing over and over again, with nothing much really changing.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the process of tiling, or even construction in general. It takes intellect and physical ability, plus nothing is even the same twice. At least in the construction I do.
This project is bigger than I had anticipated. I never get the time right when guessing how long it will take to do something related to construction. I’m not always guessing shorter, but usually.
I should be done with the shower today, not grouted, but all the tile set. I’ve never attached tile to a ceiling. At least big tile. This is big tile, 18 inch porcelain. Wish me luck.
This whole process makes me appreciate cycling more and more. I don’t mind the “Groundhog Day effect” when it comes to cycling. I think that is because cycling never is that repetitive, even though it seems like it is. I’ve written about this before. Cycling is attractive to me because it is always a little different, thus new.
It is super windy here in Colorado today. It started last night. Vincent lives up near the mountains, by Golden and for some reason, the wind get channeled down and just blows like crazy. It is so windy that the whole house nearly shakes. I like weather, but some much wind, at night, when I’m trying to sleep, is a little disconcerting. I remember riding Tour of Southland, on the South island of New Zealand, and the windy would be howling all night and I sort of dreaded the next day. And it really never stops there. Luckily, that isn’t the case here.
Looks like Jingle Cross was super successful again last weekend. John and the guys there do an amazing job. The race has been going on over a decade and only gets better. I’m not missing it again next year.
I went for a short hike, more like a walk with Vincent yesterday, up some singletrack, on the snow. There is no way I could be racing cyclocross, so at least I don’t have to worry about that decision.
Vincent was talking about riding fatbikes today. Not sure if that is going to happen, but I do need a little change of pace. My current pace seems to be slowing as the days go on.
I’ve never used 18 inch tile on walls. It looks pretty good. The shower is huge, with nearly 9 foot ceilings.
I didn’t have a saw to cut the hole for the shower head pipe, so I just tiled around it. Don’t worry, I measured pretty carefully to make sure it was the right size and square.
My hands are pretty wasted. I never can seem to keep gloves on very long.
Got this friend request on Facebook. Vincent said it is computer generated. Not sure why her name isn’t Jesus Chester or Chester Denis or something.
Hey, I know that chick! Be careful
I think that photo on the FB friend request is Linda Evangelista (80s-90s era supermodel).
I went to Jingle Cross for the first time this weekend. I came from the SF Bay Area and there was probably 15 of us or so who made the journey. Our group had a blast! Three days of racing in super cold temps has me pretty wasted today…well that and the long flight home last night. What did I/we like about Jingle Cross? 1. Three challenging courses with Mt Krumpit in the middle of each one. It was awesome to go up and down that sucker on every lap. We joked that we had to go to “the flat state of Iowa” to race on a big hill, despite the fact that San francisco and California are loaded with hills! Well Iowa is anything but flat from what I could see. 2. Great crowds and delicious food at the venue. I personally ate a lot of fruit pie, for $3 a slice. Now that is civilized. I cant get crap for $3 in SF. For the record…Jeremy Powers had a piece of Pecan Pie for his victory celebration. The crowds on Mt Krumpit on Friday nite absolutely rocked. Hundreds of folks cheered, danced, drank and generally had a hell of a good time…Iowa knows how to party! 3. Midwest hospitality and friendliness…was on display everywhere I went. The boys at World of Bikes totally hooked us up with whatever we needed both at the shop and at the venue. 4. And the local racers were fast, including some really large guys who went uphill pretty quickly. Those Midwest corn fed kids sure grow up big and strong.
As for construction…well bikes are considerably funner, and the only true analogy between the two is that I always feel like I wish I could have gone faster after I am done doing either activity. Good luck with the ceiling tile, post those suckers up with 2x kickers, or wear a hard hat.
Couldn’t have summed up Jingle Cross better myself. I usually stay at the Sheraton in downtown Iowa City, just a couple miles down the road from the race. It is so nice being pretty much at the venue, but also hanging out with the U of Iowa students etc. I love the pie at races. Iowa seems to have a lot of races where the locals make pie. They also do it at the Iowa City Road Race, right before Iowa City Criterium, and also in Burlington, at Snake Alley. If you race crits, and want a super experience, come to Snake Alley over Memorial Day Weekend next year. It is a blast and makes Mt. Krumpet seem easy.
These jingle cross comments sure makes this former Iowa proud. The Snake Alley crit is the best thing you can do on a road bike.
or the worst.