Motorcycle Diaries - Part I

Since we live in a cold weather climate racing season is over. Which means it's time to start working on my dad's motorcycle! To remind you what it looked like, here are two "before" pictures that I took when we were loading it up in Frank's truck to take it home:

Here it is today after we spent two hours delicately eviscerating it:

Which was a very very dirty job. Thirty years in a damp dirty barn makes for a filthy rusty motorcycle.

There was 30 year old gasoline in the tank, too! The gas tube was rusted shut, so we had to dump it out the top--a messy job. And very foul smelling. Unlike the usual fragrance of fresh gasoline!

Other guts: the battery (cracked and completely empty of battery acid), filthy air filters, the side panels, spark plugs, and carburetors:

Next on the agenda: do some reading of the manual and figure out how the drive chain comes out. It's all very interconnected and how to disassemble it is not intuitive.

*****

I wanted sweet potato fries (again). They are so easy to make! And so delicious.

This is the recipe I'm very roughly following.

And, I was going to take an after-cooking picture...but they were too hot and yummy and I ate them all up already... Yum!

Burglars Busted!

If you've been concerned about our neighborhood thief, put away your fears, the perpetrators have been caught!  The story even made the cover page of the Local & State section of the Peoria Newspaper (see above).  It was a much larger ring than we had suspected with 36+ break-ins and at least 6 people involved.  You can read the article here:  Peoria Journal Star.  There is also a more detailed story in the East Peoria newspaper, you can read that here: East Peoria Times Courier.  So, we're back to parking in the driveway, which is a good thing because we're picking up my dad's old motorcycle this weekend from my mom's house.  It hasn't been ridden in probably 30 years, so it'll be a big pain the ass or a fun project or maybe a little of both.  

Sig (my orange tabby cat) is having some medical problems.  Either a rodent ulcer or cancer, and the vet wants to do a biopsy...this could be a long story, but I'll just say I haven't completely decided on a course of action.  

I'm totally craving Ethiopian Diamond (the number 5 thing I miss about Chicago, I think it is).  Below Sara is modeling the food, from the last time I ate there, 2-3 months ago.  That's the longest it has ever been.  :(  Oh, Diamond, how I miss you so:

Frank and I are planning a reconnaissance trip to Dallas next week.  I'm really excited to be going on a roadtrip!  We found some really good deals on some really nice looking hotels with Priceline and Hotwire down in Dallas (like $42/night including fees and taxes!).  Probably because it's hotter than the gates of hell down there right now, and who would want to go there, right?  But, at least they have pools!  :)

French Cat Wine

In keeping with my theory that all French wine is good, no matter the price, I found another good one!  French Cat Chardonnay 2005, on sale at Trader Joe's for $4.99.  Yum!  (Yes, that's right, I'm drinking white wine.) 

A blog?

Oh, hey, woah! I have a blog! I forgot.

Yea, so we did the marathon in Rome. And it was awesome. I should write something about that. And post some pictures.

And we did sprints for the first time last weekend. (I'm such a slow poke--but not for long!) I should write something that too.

And I have CSA (Angelic Organics) produce boxes coming this summer and I want to get into jarring, I have to do some research on that! And write about that. And I want to read more about keeping bees.

And I want to read more in general.

And I have...crap...what was it. Oh, yes, I decided my writing goal for this summer is to write, edit, re-edit, and submit a short story or first chapter to a writing contest this summer. By, let's say, the end of September. That seems like a totally reasonable and reachable goal.

And Eric and I have both decided to do the Steelhead Half Ironman Triathlon in August, I think mostly because we can't let either of us get one up on the other. (Or he not anymore than me, he's 3 marathons ahead of me--I have to catch up!) So there'll be plenty to write about that.

Also on the athletic agenda: Batavia Sprint Triathlon in June, Proud to Run in June, 56 mile training ride in July, Chicago Marathon in October

And also I'm thinking about doing Aikido and/or Taiji and there'll be things to say about that.

And I want to make a Vegan Lemon Cheesecake, and that's definitely important enough to talk about.

:)

Sleep at night, rest on Rest Days

Marathon training week: 1 of 18
Marathon plan: Rest

Do you ever feel, at night, before you go to bed, I'm too tired to do "x" thing tomorrow? And then you remember that between now and then you get to sleep and so you think, oh, okay, I suppose I can do "x" thing tomorrow...

Well, this morning I woke up thinking, I don't think I can run 8 miles tomorrow. I'm too tired. But then I remembered that today was a Rest Day. And then I decided that I would sincerely respect it as such and made plans to NOT attend a favorite West African Dance class.

Ya'll should be proud of me. Restraint is not necessarily what I'm most known for.

But if I wasn't going to exercise, I was going to think about exercising. So I ordered a new bicycle seat for my Pista. This one. It is much like the one I have on my road bike, which is quite comfy as bicycle seats go. And I read quite a bit from The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga which was quite fantastic and made me really excited about massage AND yoga AND Thai Yoga Massage! I love being excited about learning new things and learning old thing again and more thoroughly.

I also made this Cranberry Sauce With Port and Cinnamon for our Traditional Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner tomorrow. Though it doesn't quite look like the picture. I did the prep work for stuffing (like chopping onion and celery) and as much prep work as a I could for this Apple-Cranberry Crisp with Polenta Streusel Topping.

Oh! And for breakfast I made Scrambled Tofu and Potatoes! Yum! I AM training after all--a girl's gotta eat! And while I was cooking breakfast, Helen Money or Alison Chelsey was being interviewed on eight forty-eight. I love her songs Birds and Song for My Sister, which you can listen to on her website. Enjoy!