You cannot live by bread alone

Heres the equation:
Homemade sourdough (warm) + Vegemite= The good life.
I can die now.

Refresco

That about sums up the tandem gravel jaunt. refreshingly brisk. took a break at the Cenex in Yutan.
Looked at some more houses only to find out that they were situated on 6 acres with a gusher of a oil well in the backyard or some other odd feature that justified a quarter of a million price tag on a 100k house. Finding a house that is not a slum (or surrounded by slums) that costs less than 150k is starting to look futile.


Gonna try to go mtn biking somewhere tomorrow since things are pretty well frozen solid.

Tandem time

Given the warmer temps (dripping sarcasm) her Al-ness suggested we bust out some tandem time on Saturday morning. We are registered for the almanzo 100 in May on the Tandem so she had better get used to gazing at my backside.

Probably a jaunt up to Arlington on the "east rim roads" of the Elkhorn and platte valley. Gonna try to make it to the finals of the Skutt Wrestling tournament at 2 pm though. Have to see how good the wrestling is in NE. I am going to try to get my dad to come out for the NCAA national tournament in March since it will be here in omaha.
Greatest Show on Earth on Sunday evening.

It has come to pass......

........the stars have aligned, I finally have pedals for all our bikes.
I preface this by stating that we own 5 "half" bikes and one "full" bike (the mtn tandem).
Thats 7 sets of pedals, and since we got rid of the road bikes we only use Time ATAC type pedals.
I really dig the big platform and wider cleat spacing than the ever ubiquitous Crank Brother models. I have never had a problem getting clipped in ever in the muddiest CX races. Maybe its the wider spacing, the ample platform, or perhaps its just my stunning good looks that keep me clipped when I am getting amongst it in the mud and the crud. I realized how much I rely on pedals after getting smoked at the KC Sprints race in Lincoln this weekend. The ability to "pull" your pedals makes a huge difference in how you ride.
Regardless, you begin to realize the extent of your addiction when you have about XXX dollars tied up in pedals, and I am not even talking about the $300+ ultra breakable, uber lite, christened with the tears of virgin kittens, weight weenie porn, kind of pedals. We turn over Aliums(n=3) and the low end XS(n=4), but still these cost between $60 and 120.
There are drug habits that are more affordable than this..........but they are probably not as fun.
I think nothing of throwing down 120 dollars on a set of new CX tires, while the steel belting is showing through my truck tire, and I am contemplating trying to find a set of used tires so I can get to the races. I will moan about the cost of a $80 truck tires every 4 years, but not bat an eye about $120 running shoes every 400 miles.
Just some thoughts.

Pho is me

If white bread and mashed taters are your thing you are probably not gonna be digging this, but its is a easy recipe that can even keep Victor Charlie appeased.
Pho.....You will need to secure the following provisions as seen below.
Bean (mung) sprouts
Fresh Basil (I once caved to my inner dirt bag and used the dried basil.... and its not as good)
Lime wedges (this dish needs some acidity).
Chopped green onions (use 1/4 finely chopped yellow onion in a pinch.
Raw Flank Steak thinly sliced (its easiest to thinly cut red meat if its half frozen)


Get you some bahn pho (rice) noodles at you favorite asian market and place in boiling water until al dente and then drain.


put your aforementioned bean sprouts, green onion and basil, then layer on your cooked rice noodles in a bowl. Top with your flank steak. then squeeze a lime wedge over the bowl.

Now, I am sure that you are all getting squeamish at the thought of raw beef, so the next step is to ladle simmering beef broth over top of the veggies, noodle, and beef. this serves to lightly cook the beef. Now you can add in some Sriracha sauce to taste.

The "real" Paul Mitchell gave me this recipe idea.
Troy, I was also thinking of you when I posted this.......a great vegetablarian version (or at least non red meat) is to sub either raw tuna or (gasp!) tofu and use vegetable broth. I used the tuna and vege broth combination when we had some friends over from Cali, and its the bomb!

A note on broth:
Bullion cubes produce a salty, broth like substance, but should never be considered a sub for real broth. If I do not have the time to make broth and freeze it, I prefer either the canned or tetrapack of broth. I make a lot of chicken broth cuz it is relatively easy and I can do it in combination with boiling chicken breasts to make chicken salad as described here. Just throw in some chopped celery, onion, carrots, few peppercorns, salt and a bay leaf or 2 with you chicken breasts. Most great soups are based off of great broths or stock.
You can do this!

40 miles of snow sketch and some answers

Holy nuts bloggophiles!
First,
No I am not doing the Dirty Kanza this year. I have a policy (that I usually stick to) of not doing things that I cannot fully commit to. The new job will keep me very busy traveling and planting plots (May is our busiest time of the year), and I do not think that I can commit the 250 miles/week that I put in back in 2008. There is a good possibility that I will travel down to provide support to the Bad Goats. On the up side the PCL schedule is looking mighty fine.

Second, Had the opportunity to mush with the omahans (what do you call someone from omaha, omahatians?) through about 40 miles of snow pack south of town. Showed up almost late, and got razed about wearing a backpack, but all my bottle cages are in some unknown box in my garage since CX season. Finally got to puts some names with faces, from folks I had been in touch with via the interwebs. good ride with a friendly crowd. My riding over the last 4 months has solely consisted of 45 minute CX races and the hour and a half torture sessions with Himmler. I was hurting after trying to push the SS up those hills into the wind after about a hour. I also got to ride with rafal, a fellow SSer, who is gonna be doing his first DK 200 this year. Temp was about right, a nice 24F.
MOD and Brady also weave tales of deep drift deviance.
Off to Work!

fixie snow ride

Got a wild hair and decided to work the country roads north of the the 'Loo.


Drifts were wild looking

Rolled the fixie, although it was definitely under geared.


Temp was about 4F, but compared to the past week it was tropical.
Once I got home I realized how cold my toes really were.
I think I tolerate pain and discomfort pretty well, but the only time I have thought I was going to throw up I was in soo much pain, was treating my own frost bite two winters ago.
When I pulled off my cycling shoes after the ride this morning and stepped into the shower, I was in some pretty serious discomfort. I had worn really thick socks with my Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX boots. This restricted the circulation to my toes, and after about 2 hours of riding the toes on my right foot were clinking together like the ice cubes in your gin and tonic. I need to wear thinner socks or just harden up........

hoar frost nipping at your.......

...Well when the temps have been ranging from -15 to 17 degrees F, the hoar frost nips at all your appendages.

You know that you are in NE when you can buy a UNL red festivus tree. If you know me you know how I feel about fake Christmas trees, much less red fake Christmas trees. I obviously have a lot of work to do here.


The whitetrash assault vehicles were not amused by the extremely cold temps and glut of snow that they encountered.


Big Al has been getting her organization on.


Best to let sleeping dogs lie.


The new abode has lots of character (read: its really old, drafty and inefficient)
Work has kept me busy sorting through the ugliest (most poorly managed) database that I have ever encountered. Normally I have "massage" a data set before I can get it to do what I want. This data set requires foreplay. I am looking forward to conducting my own research so I do not have to deal with other peoples data.
I was also introduced to the concept of "Lean" business culture. Its very much like "the Toyota Way". In short, it celebrates ideas and innovation.
Went for a trot around the 'loo this morning and Brutus was really struggling with this cold paws. Word on the street is more snow and continued bitter cold. Sweet!

Its official.....

We are Nebraskans!
I do want to say that getting moved by a professional mover is pretty awesome. The folks at Graebel were so easy to work with, and had us PACKED AND LOADED in under 5 hours! The truck got to us here in the 'Loo about 2pm and everything unloaded by 3:30......those fellers were getting after it! We did have to turn our king size mattress into a taco to get it up the stairs.....pretty sure you are not supposed to do that. Picture of the abode and the abundance of snow will be up soon. Its pretty frickin cold, last night was -8 F and tonite looks to be a balmy -12 F.
Stay warm honkies!