Friday, May 31, 2013

New hardtail

I found a crack in my purple Unit (yeah I said it).
A local rider helped out and I got a crash replacement frame. I had the choice of getting another Unit or a newer style frame Kona makes called the Big Unit. What self-respecting guy wouldn't buy the Big Unit? (yeah I said it again).
The new frame is a 20" whereas the old one was a 19". I seem to always get bikes that I can get rather than trying to find the right fit for a bike. I am sure the 20" will be fine, but I will probably need a shorter stem. I'm moving most of the parts over from my old bike. I need a new headset and needed to order a dropout that will work with gears as the frame came only with the singlespeed dropout. I considered having my brother make a dropout for me, but I just decided I'm just going to go for a new one to ensure compatibility. I'm a bit miffed that Kona didn't include both or that I didn't get to specify which one I wanted. I don't want to run SS.

I'll start the build up as soon as those two parts get here and hopefully be riding the new steed by next weekend.



Thursday, May 30, 2013

Our trip to Figure Eight Island

We've built up some airline miles and decided that we would celebrate Aaron's college graduation, our 25 year wedding anniversary and Emily's 4.0 with a trip. 


Dawn and I discussed where to go ad nauseam, eventually deciding to rent a house on Figure Eight Island in North Carolina - it was close to a town Emily and Dawn went to (Wilmington, NC) when Emily was considering going to college down there, so we had some inkling of what the area was like. I like vacations with a lot of activity and honestly I wasn't really too excited about spending a week on the beach lounging around, but the last few months have been pretty stressful, so I figured we'd go with it.

Figure Eight Island is a private island with about 500 properties on it, only about 80 of those properties operate as private owner rentals. Access to the island is via a private bridge with a security guard, if you're not renting or a guest you can't cross the bridge.

The house we rented was definitely one of the smaller ones on the island - there are HUGE estates there - it really just blows your mind how much disposable income some people must have. Some of the houses face a marsh while others face the open ocean, we decided on an ocean front house, which proved to be an excellent choice!



We lucked out and happened to be there during a full moon - amazing moon rises off the ocean, which was impossible to capture on film, but really beautiful to see three nights in a row.
And of course the sunrises were amazing too (ok, only Dawn and Aaron actually got up to see this, but they happened while we were there). 



Moving stuff down to the beach...

We rented beach cruiser bikes for the week, we really didn't have any particular plans for rides, but we thought it would be cool to have them when we wanted them (it was!).  They weren't exactly our normal bikes, but you pedal, they move, good enough. Though I don't think I ever got used to the coaster brakes.
The roads were mostly empty, but there was also a nice bike path on half the island too. 


Pretty nice fauna along the island


The beaches were amazingly empty, this was the Tuesday after Memorial Day, but even on Memorial Day weekend it wasn't crowded at all - there were people, but plenty of space to hang out and swim. Literally the only ones on the beach on this day. We had perfect weather all week - a few minutes of rain one night, otherwise 70's and 80's with bright sun every day. 

Until we broke our disc, Frisbee was a popular pre-swim activity



Being that we were on the east coast the sunsets weren't great, but rode our bikes out to see one over the marsh and it was pretty cool.


Most of our bike rides looked something like this - I love the fact that there is ZERO elevation gain in the entire 10.5 miles (and the fact that there is a Strava segment on the island!), literally riding at sea level.  


While riding on the empty Figure Eight roads was nice, every day at low tide you could ride on the beach. It was so much fun and fast, the sand near the water was packed hard. I think we got to do that 2 or 3 times. the sun was so strong, we tried to stay inside during the middle of the day, so the timing of low tide didn't always work out.

For the longest time I've wanted to try surfing, it looks like so much fun. We took a surf lesson while on Figure Eight - it was great, but quite a reality check. Its really hard to stand up on the board, a LOT harder than it looks. Aaron and Emily were naturals - they both got up on the boards without too much problem. I just barely got my feet under me a few times, Dawn did about the same. It was hard to get a good wave and even when you got on a good one, you were up on it for such a short time you just don't get enough time to "figure things out". After spending an hour and a half in the water, we were all shivering and somewhat numb, so that made it even more difficult to get up. Anyway, it was a really good time and I'm glad we tried it, if I lived near the ocean, I would definitely surf. Unfortunately no pictures since we were all in the water.

I have to say this was one of the highlights of the trip - making dinner every night. It was really great to spend this time where everyone is working together to get dinner on the table, really special time working together (and a lot cheaper than eating out every night).

With the ocean so close we spent as much time as we could in the water, most of that time boogie boarding. The ocean was rough at times, but we had such a great time splashing around, getting abused and crashed upon. Not a lot of pictures, but that's only because we were all having such a good time.

It turns out Aaron is pretty persistent, he spent what seemed like hours learning how to skim board, he got pretty good towards the end.

Emily did pretty good too

We went into Wilmington for an afternoon - it was ok, but glad it was only an afternoon. We saw horses, so it can't be all bad (for Emily anyway).

Another thing we always wanted to try was to zip lining, we've tried to make it work a few times at home, but never could actually get it to work with our schedules. Dawn found a place about 2 hours from Figure Eight and we booked it for Memorial Day. I guess I never realized just how acrophobic the rest of my family is - there was a lot of talk in the car on the way to the place centering around the theme of "why are we doing this?". As we drove across North Carolina the scenery got decidedly  uh, un-rich and we just couldn't imagine what this place was going to be like, which did nothing to calm the growing phobia in the car. (yes we paid for the photos so get ready)

It all started off innocently enough with "ground school"":
 
Photobomb
Photobomb 2

You see how everyone is smiling and happy in ground school? That didn't last long.

Pretty soon we're up on these tiny platforms 50' up in the air and the smiles quickly disappeared.

You'll notice that the Isch clan are all pretty close to the tree.

...but we all had fun on the lines

They set up some funny shots along the way (the guides hanging upside down had no fear of heights).

There was a nice waterfall in the middle of the run


(and hanging off the platform like this was not easy).

They had these cool suspension bridges over some parts - these proved to be pretty intense as well - lots of bouncing!



Back at Figure Eight.
No honestly we spent hours rocking in the chairs like retired people.

...and staring out into the sea

All in all one we agreed it was one of the best vacations we've ever had, it was REALLY hard to leave and come back to the real world. Ok, we didn't do a lot, but man did we RELAX. Great vacation, great family, great times.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Aaron's Graduation

Big day in the Isch household - Aaron graduated from Salve Regina yesterday!

I remember telling my parents that I wasn't going to walk to get my diploma, to this day I'm not sure if they didn't think it was a big deal or if they just hid their disappointment. In any case the end of my college career was more of a relief than any kind of celebration and came immediately after I took that last final.

This weekend's events were quite a bit different than that. I'm not one for big celebrations, but I have to admit this was a lot of fun and I can clearly see how participating in the events really brings a definitive and positive closure to the whole thing.

Salve had a huge tent set up right on the Cliff Walk, impressive tent and views, though it was a bit weird seeing the people on the Walk right behind the tent, seemingly oblivious to what was going on inside.



Before Aaron decided to go Salve we talked to a few people who graduated from there (mostly people who graduated a long time ago) and after all those years, they still got teared up when they described their college experience.  I really enjoyed college, but it doesn't bring up those emotions in me.

Aaron clearly will have that same response about his four (+1) years at Salve. To watch him interact with his peers and walk confidently through the streets of Newport is really something, it shows not only how comfortable he is there, but also how much he has grown since high school. We walked to dinner on Saturday night, Newport was bustling with people, it seemed like every time we turned a corner there was someone who knew Aaron and was excited to see him.

On Saturday they held an honors ceremony, compared to Sunday's commencement it was a pretty intimate affair, there were 100 or so students who were recognized for some kind of honor. Aaron was awared Cum Laude, he missed Magna Cum Laude by only 0.03.

Emily and Aaron waiting for Aaron to get called up for the honors program:

Emily trying to keep the wait interesting:

Aaron with us and his white cords indicating Cum Laude:

As expected graduation day was pretty insane, the tent was full and they even had seats outside the tent for people who didn't have tickets. I'll admit to tearing up a few times, its such a "point in life" kind of thing. I'll also admit that 95% of the ceremony was pretty boring, calling people up one at a time, with nearly 700 names that took quite a while. The normally quiet Isch clan did Aaron proud with a very loud cheer when his name was called. We paid for a picture of his handshake, so more on that later, but I wish I could have gotten a picture of Aaron as he was on stage waiting to make the walk, the smile on his face was priceless.

I did catch this picture after he walked on stage and he was heading back to his seat, he looks pretty dang happy:

Like every one else there we took some pictures after the ceremony. One of his roommates family had a really nice camera and we'll get copies later - these are the scratch ones from my phone.

Aaron will miss these guys terribly (Jake, the fifth roommate is missing): 

Aaron and his girlfriend Heather - terrible picture, but a great couple:

Aaron with my parents:

The family:


No matter where you walk on the Salve campus you can't help feeling a little bit like Harry Potter is going to step out from behind a building at some point:

All in all a really great weekend, beautiful weather, easy logistics and smooth sailing throughout, you can't beat that. So its on to the next chapter in life for Aaron, which for the short term means another year at Salve to get his MBA. He's such a great kid, we can't wait to see how his life continues to unfold.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Nice cruise ride

I wasn't overly energized for a ride this morning, but really felt like I needed to get out, I had planned on getting out on Friday, and I probably could have squeezed a ride in, but I didn't want to rush (what a lame excuse).

I took it really easy and had an excellent ride. Tolland is such a great place to road ride, not much traffic, plenty of hills, though I guess the condition of some of the roads aren't all that great. I really only pushed on one downhill segment, which seemed to have disappeared from Strava. I recreated one, and I'm the KOM now, but I don't even see the person who was the KOM on the old segment, so I don't know if that's legal or not. Anyway, new top speed on the road bike at 49.4 mph. I'm still striving to break that 50mph barrier - I don't think Grant Hill is the place to do that, its just not long enough.

Probably heading out for a MTB ride in the AM, we'll see.


Thursday, May 9, 2013

Strong start, petered out

I had a hard ride on Tuesday night and didn't ride last night, I had limited time today so I did a shorter route for my lunch ride. I was pretty stiff in the beginning of the ride, but I loosened up pretty quickly. By the middle of the ride I was feeling pretty damn good and pedaling hard.

Then it hit.

About half way through the ride I could suddenly feel pain from the Tuesday night ride. I pretty much sat and spun the rest of the way home. It wasn't painful, it just felt like I needed to take it easy. Surprisingly that was my third fastest time on the Valley View climb, I was really relaxing on that climb. I think I'll see gains from road riding this summer, but its not like some miracle, its still work and you have to work hard to see the gains. I think the biggest thing I could do to improve things is to drop 5 or 10 pounds, another thing I need to work on more.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Crandalls with the Bikerag guys

Due to work travel and band commitments I haven't ridden with the Bikerag guys in a while. I took them on a tour of Crandalls last night. I started off thinking I needed to go fast and keep them entertained. That lasted for the first short loop, then the climbing started and I had to relent. Those guys just hammered for the 2 hours we were out there, I felt good when I could keep them in sight, but that wasn't often.

It was a good reminder that no matter how fast you think you are, there is always someone faster. I guess by the end of the ride I was hanging ok, but it was a tough night of riding, in a good way. I saw all my KOMs at Crandalls drop, something to aim for I guess.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Five days in a row

I rode my bike for five days in a row through Sunday. My legs are so tight right now, I might need to crank a few miles out just to loosen them up - sitting at a desk for 8 hours today wasn't great. I stood up a few minutes ago and almost keeled over.

Yesterday's ride was up in Union, CT. Great riding on nearly deserted, mountain bike specific trails. Some very nice trails with a lot of twists, turns and plenty of hills. Its hard to believe that's only 11 miles, it was a killer workout.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Nooner

I was coerced into a noon time ride today (ok it wasn't that hard to convince me). The Weather was spectacular, 60's, bright sun and blue skies. Truly a perfect day. We did about 8 miles cranking around Crandalls. That place is really a fun place to ride, there are no buts any more, its just a great place to ride. I hope we get some rain soon though, trails could use a little tamping down, they are pretty dusty.

I was feeling great, so far this mixture of road and mountain biking is treating me pretty well. I need to get out with some fast riders and see where I stand, I suspect they are all pushing hard too. I should be able to do an after work ride with the Bikerag crew this week - a week with no travel!