Alrighty, Kev was hassling me to post pictures and blog on this new addition to my workshop, so here it is! What’s that? You don’t see the picture? Oh yeah, that’s cuz I haven’t put it up yet 🙂 But while I have a couple minutes, I at least thought I’d write about it. Picture in your mind a big table saw! Yup, I went to the BORG (Big Orange Retail Giant), and picked up a Ryobi BT3100 Table Saw to help out with projects at home. What a blast! Even though table saws have the distinction of being the absolute most dangerous workshop tool around, I got one! So if you see me with only 9 fingers in the future, you’ll know why!
Why did I pick this saw you ask? Well, several reasons. It’s belt driven for one. It’s modular for another. It has a very accurate rip fence. Also, I’m a research freak, so I looked into all the details on this one, and read many reviews. Seems this little beauty has won over the hearts of even ‘traditionalist’ woodworkers. Read: grumpy older guys set in their tool ways! Anyway, I even came across a website dedicated to this saw, run by its’ fans. Click here to check that out.
Without further ado, I finally bring you my story about racing in Leadville, Colorado at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. This is a [now] storied event that has seen the likes of Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Floyd Landis try their luck in the high altitude around Leadville on mountain bikes. As it turns out, it was also a race that was on my bucket list that I wasn’t even aware should be on it! It seems the more I get involved in the racing community and travel to different events, the more I learn about amazing races in far-flung places that I wish I could do. I’ll have to settle with a handful of them, and this race now gets added to my memory banks as one of the biggies! There is of course a video review, and also lots of pictures, thanks to Deanna being there (this doubled as our vacation!). Now read on for the whole story.
Well, after a slow start, things are truly humming along now on the Fijian Islands. Unfortunately for me, this leg of the journey is almost over, and it’s back to the mainland tomorrow night. However, that still leaves me almost 24 hours on one more island. Oh geez, I just realized that I haven’t written in a couple days though 🙂 So of course, I do have some additional strories to share with you all about my last couple days in the South Pacific. The weather has definitely done a complete about-face, now that Daman has left Fiji for good, with limited damage having been inflicted. I’ve realized that if I try to write about everfy last thing that happens to me while I’m away, you’ll probably all get very tired of reading my stories, so I may have to try to shorten up some of the adventure-log stories. However, much as I write for all my readers, I’m also writing for me, and this serves as my travel journal as much as anything else. That being said, read on if you’d like to catch up with ActiveSteve!
Well, the Winterlude Duathlon (ne Triathlon) has come and gone, and I guess I might as well tell you all a little about my race. As the title suggests I had a great run, but my skiing (as predicted) was somewhat slower. I’ll say this however, I’m plenty pleased with how it ended for me, I did better than I expected. Also, off the top, I’d like to say thanks to Jody for yet again being my number one supporter / paparazzi for this event. Have a look at all the pretty pictures she took. It’s nice to have someone there for you, and take photographic evidence (good and bad – stupid balding spot!!). As mentioned previously, they had to make significant changes to the course, as a result of recent warm temperatures. In the end, we ran 8km, all along the Queen Elizabeth Parkway (which was nice), then skied 5km windng through the arboretum. The run was flat and fast, with only water, no ice to contend with. When the smoke cleared from my shoes, I had ran the 8k in just over 35 min. Great! At that pace, I’d theoretically finish the marathon in 3hr. 8min. 30sec. Hmmm, that would qualify me for the Boston Marathon! Yeah, right, I won’t hold my breath. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep that up for another 34km! Regardless, it was my fastest 8k ever.
