Opening Day?

I'm in Austin, TX getting ready to do some racing this weekend. It seems like February, anytime in February really, is too early in the season to be "fit" enough to race. Walburg Saturday, Pace Bend on Sunday. Stay tuned.......

Disaster in the Making, an update

Feb 18: Phone KS Furniture Mart. The mattress is in Dallas being fixed! That's the easy part. Now let's see if I ever get it back.......

Disaster in the Making...... oh, crap.

The wonderful thing about "big purchases" is that they usually come with a warranty. Such was the case when I purchased my mattress and box springs back in October 2003. Upon setting up the new bed, I see the warranty card is for 25 years. 25 years! Awesome! NOTHING made in this country lasts 25 years anymore so I'm keeping this for the inevitable time where my mattress becomes a hammock. Fast forward to January 20th, 2009..... tic, tock, tic, tock...

Okay so now my mattress sags like a hammock. Actually, I should just hang the hammock in my room as it's more comfortable. I phone Payless Furniture in Lawrence, where I purchased the mattress. Problem: They don't carry that brand anymore. Argh. BUT they can make a phone call and get the company rep to help me out. They'll call me back.

Jan. 22: I call back to Payless Furniture. They took a message and said they would call me back.

Jan. 24: I call Payless Furniture AGAIN. Still no word from the rep (if they ever called). They assured me they would call me "soon" with information about how to service/ honor my warranty, which is supposed to last 25 years. Have never heard a peep from them since. Not one. So much for customer service....

Jan. 26: I call the Sleeptronic and talk to Aaron about the warranty/ service aspect of the mattress. He seems to think that there's a place in Lawrence that can warranty the mattress. I assure him there is not. He gives me the number of two places in Kansas City that can warranty the mattress as they carry the Sleeptronic brand.

Jan. 27: I call both places. The first phone number is deactiviated. The second number never gets answered and there is no answering machine. Both calls are made during normal business hours.

Jan. 28. I call back to Aaron at Sleeptronic and explain the phone number problem. He seems perplexed and gives me the phone number of Kansas Furniture Mart in Topeka, KS.
Kansas Furniture Mart
Ste B

4547 SW Topeka Blvd, Topeka, KS 66609

(785) 273-6278

This time I reach a real person! It's also where it gets interesting....

I need the ticket, and warranty card. Got it. Then I have to fax a copy of them to Aaron at Sleeptronic. At which point, get ready......

Aaron has to issue a pick up order to the next delivery truck running from Dallas, TX to Topeka, KS -whenever that happens- to pick up my mattress, which I need to drop off at Kansas Furniture Mart (and hope it doesn't get lost), and return it to the factory. Once it's there, the factory will fix it, and put it back on the next delivery truck heading to Topeka, KS where it will be dropped off at Kansas Furniture Mart. The problem is that KS Furniture Mart may not know it's my mattress and decide to sell it or send it back. Either way, it is going to require the work of: Aaron to issue the tag, Delivery guys to not forget to pick it up, KS Furniture Mart to not misplace/ sell my mattress, factory to fix it, Aaron to issue orders to send it back to KS, Delivery guys to take it there and drop it off, KS Furniture Mart to identify that it's mine and to notify me to come get it. Simple! Oh and there ain't exactly digital tracking like UPS. Actually, from what I can tell, it's mostly done by memory..... crap.

Feb. 4: Dropped the mattress off, sent fax, crossed fingers. KS Furniture Mart was in the middle of installing a new floor so their inventory was scattered throughout the building. Aw, oh.

Feb. 11: Phoned Kansas Furniture Mart to see the status of the mattress...... It's still there. Oh, and the owner hasn't been in the office since January.

This should be fun.

I'm thinking I won't have mattress again until sometime in May. Anyone else have a prediction?

Aging and Athletic Performance

Anyone who thinks you're only going downhill, read this:

Exercise and Aging-1

Mercy Team Camp: Day 3

Okay, so the camp is in the books. These guys can pedal! We rode out to Mt. Gaylor today. Up, down, and home. I didn't have a speedometer after my broken spoke in the front wheel so I'm having to get some numbers from others.

SRM Stats for Day 3.
Distance: 82 miles.
Max Speed: ?
Normalized power for the entire ride: 267 W.
Difficulty of this ride compared to days 1 and 2: Easiest
Reason: Was smart enough to not pull with those on the, "Short List"
Calories Burned: Over 2800, probably more like 3000
Ride Time: 4:15
Coasting time: at least 16% until my wheel broke.
Time spent at/ above Lactate Threshold: 80 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, amount that I appreciated going up Mt. Gaylor: 2
On a scale of 1-10, amount that I appreciated going DOWN Mt. Gaylor: 11

Now, I'm happy to be home and happy to be able to sleep later than 650am.

Mercy Team Camp Day 2.

Okay so day 2 is in the books. We did Talamina (sp?) road, which is pronounced, "67 miles uphill."

Well, that's how it felt. For the record when someone says, "the road rolls for the first hour" it means there should be some downhills too. Roll, goes both ways. Instead, we basically did different gradients of uphill for the first hour.

Everyone is so excited to ride down here. And everyone is excited to ride hard. I already have my short list of guys who I'm avoiding pulling with in the group. Ahem, Nolan.

Okay so without further ado, SRM stats:

Distance: 67miles.
Max Speed: 49.5 mph.
Work completed: 3054 kcal.
Ride time: 4:07
Avg. Temp: 64F
Normalized Power for the ride: 260 W.
Amount of coasting: 16% or 39 minutes
Ride time going uphill: 3:28
Ride time going downhill: 39 minutes
Coincidence?: No.
Time spent at or above Lactate Threshold: 95 minutes.
Amount of MexiCAN food eaten after the ride: LOTS!

Okay I'm going to bed now.

Mercy Team Camp Day 1.

It's "late" and we're up early. I'll be brief.
Our 3 hour ride turned to 5 hours and we didn't get finished until well after dark. We climbed some "hill" that was super hard and really high. Actually, I think it's 2 feet shy of a mountain.

Anyways, it was fun to ride new roads I've never seen before and team is looking good.

I just got an SRM so here are some stats:
Work: 3114 kj
Total ride time: 4:54
Dist: 87 miles
Normalized power for the ride: 240 W.
Time at which I was ready to be done riding: 4 hours.
Time spent coasting: 20% or roughly 1 hour.
Average Temperature: 67F
Average Heart Rate: 13 bpm, which is odd because I wasn't wearing a HRM.

Pictures...... No idea, but I'll see if anyone took any.