TFI Friday

Despite having a day at home sick - during which I did more or less a full days work anyway, it has felt like another long week. We have a list of things to do at home as long as my arm and the progress is generally slow. I am hoping that I can mow the lawn for the last time, put away the garden furniture and pull some weeds out around the hedge and our fruit bushes before cycling to our friends house for dinner on Saturday evening and the maybe we can hit the Zoo on Sunday if the weather is up to it. Last time we were there we bought year passes but are yet to use them again.

Onto my favourite subject - bikes. I am still waiting for some information from Germany about when they may be able to delivery the frame that I ordered and paid for in June. So far there is no news so I have given them a deadline of Wednesday next week before I order one of these instead and get it when we are in the UK next week.

I mean the bike of course, not the shed.

Have a good weekend.

Hearing test #6

MK had to spend yet another dismal morning at the hospital in Roskilde with DK today and it seems that the result is the same as last time. He can hear more or less normally with his left ear and there is probably something wrong with the right one. I may have that the wrong way around at the moment, but I'll check.

This is a bit more depressing than last time, because it now seems that there is a pretty good chance that DK doesn't hear properly with one ear and we'll have to be conscious of that as he is growing to make sure that he hears what he needs to and maybe not what he shouldn't!

We know that the other tests all came back to tell us that there is nothing else wrong with the little guy, but it is sad to know that he is going to have another challenge to deal with as he is growing up.

Sick

On Monday evening I went for a bike ride seeing as I was home in time from work and the sun was shining. It was very pleasant and I suspect will be the last evening ride of the year in the daylight. Unfortunately by the time I went to bed I was feeling pretty crappy and then yesterday morning I woke up feeling awful. I had been up several times during the night and my stomach was in turmoil.
However, I had a lot to do at work so I went to the office as usual. That turned out to be a mistake as I felt terrible and couldn't really concentrate so I came home and surfed the sofa for the afternoon.
Today I am feeling somewhat better but have decided to work from home anyway and take it easy a bit.
Excitingly enough I can see that I have secured my 25000th hit today. I suppose that my audience is unlikely to grow at all whilst I continue writing about my fairly mundane life that is only of a little interest to a few people. Now if I decided to write about nothing but bikes, then maybe more people would be interested...

Autumn

We made several tentative plans for this weekend.

Firstly I was supposed to take part in a mountain bike race on Sunday, but that idea was ditched last weekend when I realised that I was in no shape to complete it, let alone enjoy it at all. That turned out to have been an inspired idea as the weather was horrible all day yesterday - cold wet and windy.

Then we considered going to Sweden for a family outing to have a trip on the ferry and get out of the house. In the end this idea was also ditched to avoid sitting in the car for 5 or 6 hours with 2 bored kids and spending 1000kr (approx £100 or $200) on ferry tickets, bridges and petrol before considering any other costs. (See the earlier post for money saving tips)

Finally I wanted to ride my new bike, and I did. I rode to K&Ls house and took L for a very gentle 25km ride and then returned home. I managed to get in 75km in the sunshine only having to battle the strong wind. My conclusion is that the bike is fantastic, it is very light but at the same time stiff so that there is no flexing when you ride out of the saddle. The main selling point of this frame is the smoothness of the ride and that didn't disappoint either, a lot of the road vibration is absorbed making everything feel super smooth. It is a bit of a shame that they couldn't get the saddle I wanted, it will take a little more time before I decide for sure if I can make friends with the one that was put on...

Oh yes!

Fantastic.

No bikes

Despite the fact that I should get my new bike this afternoon, I will resist the temptation to witter on about it again as I can see that more or less all of the posts here for the last week are bike related.

Last night I put a few things for sale on eBay, including 3 old watches that I never wear and one that I have never worn at all. It's fun watching things sell on eBay, I think it's actually a lot more fun than buying stuff because at the end of it you know you'll be better off and rid of something you didn't need rather than the opposite being the case for most purchases.

Of course I needed to take some photographs of the items and empty out the camera memory so here are a few of the shots I found.

The morning after

No hangover, no feelings or regret or guilt - must have been a boring night then?

Well no, not really, I had a really nice day yesterday. A relaxed workshop lasting all day at work, tea when I got home and then I made lots of lovely pizzas for dinner with the Danish arm of the family. For those interested, the pizzas were topped with combinations of tomato, chorizo, salami, Gorgonzola, mozzarella, basil and ham. MK had made a great dough and we were quite happy with the results.

MK's family had clubbed together and very generously bought me a new bike light for my planned commuting. Thank you again. It is about the size of a marker pen but seeing as it uses a lithium battery and an LED, it is very bright and runs for a long time. In some ways I can't wait to use it, but really I don't want the darkness to arrive and necessitate it!

This morning DK had a check up at the hospital and all of the many people in the room seemed to think that he is doing just fine. Another good day is shaping up then.

A little older

But not much wiser.

So far my birthday has been very nice, MK and the boys gave me a new cycling jacket the same as this blue one on the left. It is from Rapha so about as high quality as you can get.

This evening the in-laws are coming for supper and we are planning on making pizzas and drinking some nice Italian wine.

Hopefully the evening will end up more relaxing than last night when MK had the mothers group over for tea. After a couple of hours of 4 kids screaming and running around the house I decided to hide in the basement and tidy up a bit. At least I am now ready for the winter indoor riding season, I just need to get rid of some of the cobwebs...

For better or worse, richer or poorer...

Thankfully I have that under sworn oath from MK so I had a little leverage when the bike shop called this evening.

The problem is that Cervélo Europe have sold out of 2008 R3 frames in my size, but they had everything else. My problem is that I really want (need could easily be used here instead) an R3 for the 2008 price given that the 2009 is 25% more expensive than the current model, but is exactly the same.

So here is the dilemma: I can have an R3 SL (SuperLight) for the price of next years normal model, but this is 25% more than what I had ordered already.

This is the price for the frame, not the whole bike.

Mine will have black saddle and bar tape and different wheels, but I am pretty happy to have bacl instead of white and I will take off the CSC sticker.

So what does a guy do?

Beg, grovel, apologise and order the SL! This is the bike that Carlos Sastre won the Tour de France on this year but he had to weigh it down but putting 2 chains down the seat tube to meet the UCI minimum weight requirement of 6.8kg but is just as strong as the regular R3.

To say that I am excited is a large understatement. I couldn't sleep last night, and whilst tomorrow is my birthday, the real present is arriving later in the week...

Details

Seeing as everyone is so interested...

The wheels are carbon wrapped aluminium, apparently the metal is only 0.1mm thick under the carbon in places, but the carbon strengthens the rim in the key areas around the spoke holes


The SRAM Red group set is the lightest on the market and apparently Lance Armstrong will be using it next year seeing as he has invested several million of his own dollars in the company.

One of the coolest parts is tha cassette (amazingly) seeing as it is machined from a block of stainless steel. Despite this being heavy material compared with the titanium that other manufacturers use, the minimal amount of it required means that the cassette is still very light.

Where did the weekend go?

DK's hearing is fine in the left ear and probably fine in the right ear although he was not sleeping soundly enough so there is a chance that it is not perfect. More damned tests to follow.

I suppose we have managed to achieve a fair bit since I left work on Friday, firstly I got a hair cut and I cut J's hair which isn't too bad.

I had a test ride on the road this afternoon to see if I am in any kind of shape for a 103km off road race next weekend. The answer was no so I guess I'll just have to...

Go for a ride on my new bike!

It's not exactly the same as this, it's better! Cervelo R3, SRAM Red components and Dura Ace wheels. Beautiful with black handlebar tape and saddle.

Hearing test, Chiropractor and a haircut

DK has another type of hearing test today during which he has to be sound asleep, apparently they attach electrodes to his head and then measure his brain waves to see if he is hearing anything. I think they'll wait until he is asleep and then bang together an enormous pair of cymbals.

Whilst all of this is going on I am at work, however in a few minutes I am off the the chiropractor for a quarterly clicking and cracking session (not a crack session I promise). Then later this afternoon I am having a haircut. With a bit of luck I will feel like a new man by this evening. (again not in a crack session sense)

Funny event of the day so far: The mixing up of repository and suppository
2nd funny event of the day was receiving this in a mail: "This information maybe could be helpful for a gay working on data export from Base2 for me."

New bikes galore

I spend more time that I should looking at bike porn on the Internet and this is about the best time of year for ogling bikes because it's Interbike time in Las Vegas.

Each year at about this time there is a huge bike show in Vegas where all of the bike manufacturers show off their goodies for the coming year. Today that has been the unveiling of the new Cervelo P4, but I guess there is nobody reading this who really cares.

In the meantime I am working on a new bike for my assault on the Marmott next year. After a fair bit of research I am pretty sure that I need a Cervelo R3 and I can also get a pretty good deal on one here in Denmark. Amazingly I can get one here for about the same price as the US!

If you're interested in the new bikes have a look here

Shouldn't this week be over by now?

The problem with having a Monday like the one we had is that the rest of the week feels like one Friday after another. I have failed to get myself out of bed and onto my bike for another week and I can't do it tomorrow or Friday either so the exercise regime has been on hold for 2 weeks. This is not a good situation, but I plan to get the train back on the tracks at the weekend. If I can get a decent +100km ride in, then I will do ahead and do the 103km mountain bike race that I entered the following weekend.

We'll see how that goes.

We have been planning our summer trip next year and I have convinced the rest of the family that we can go to the Alps so that I can ride the Marmotte again. This time I am aiming for the gold award so I will obviously need a new bike (and to loose 10-15kg!) more on that to follow...

DK has been on pretty good form considering his start to the week and it is amazing how his feet are looking in the casts. We just hope that they look as good when the casts come off.

All's well that ends well

That was the second worst thing that I have had to go through this year after DKs arrival just a couple of months ago.

After an early and rather stressful meeting this morning, MK, DK and I went to the hospital at 11:00. His casts were removed and some anaesthetic plasters were applied to his heels that took the edge off the local anaesthetic that was administered a little while later.

After lunch the doctors scrubbed up and got on with the operation which oddly we sat in as well, holding DKs hands.

They made small incisions on the back of each heel and apparently cut the sides of his Achilles tendons and then stretched his feet up to stretch them. After stitching him up, he was put back in casts and sent home. What I haven't mentioned is that he screamed blue murder throughout the process and it was more than a little emotionally draining. All of this parenting can be quite tiring at times, but the good part of the day is that DK's legs now look like a pretty normal shape under the plaster casts

Grand Day Out

We had a great day out at the Safari Park today.

What's that over there?

A big lazy tiger

Danish days out like this are really a long coffee and cake session, interrupted with occasional animal spottings!

DK is getting ready for his tenotomy tomorrow. So are we, hopefully he'll look a bit less washed out after that...

Catharsis

As we were without J this morning we got to do lots of exciting things
First on the list was clearing out some old clothes and shoes. There are few things in life I derive more satisfaction from than throwing out old stuff so out went shirts, shoes, jeans, pants, socks and cycling gear that has not seen the light of day for some time. MK even joined in the fun getting rid of some maternity gear, work clothes and a lot of underwear.

The next problem to present itself was the lack of pants left in the drawer so we went shopping.

Everyone was happy.

Tomorrow we are going to a safari park. I've never been to one before so I hope it will be fun. I think this is actually J's Christmas present from Auntie K and Uncle L. Updates to follow no doubt...

A night on and a night off

Tonight I am sitting on the sofa working again and I am pretty sick of spending my evenings working. I've been here for 2½ hours so far and I'm going to hit the sack before too long.

Tomorrow, however we have a sort of night off because J is spending the night with his grandparents. We have thought about going out and taking DK with us, but I think in the end we'll hit the sofa and catch up on some sleep. We also have the whole of Saturday to play so we are looking forward to something resembling a lye-in.

Hurray.

Vanity

Last week I had a couple of hours to kill in Birmingham Airport and there wasn't much to do. I browsed and shopped a little. I fell for the temptation of the Boots No7 Anti Fatigue Eye Stick. You simply wipe it under your eyes, a bit like under-arm deodorant, but smaller.

I didn't think it would do anything at all, but I think I was wrong. Amazingly it seems to make the ever present bags under my eyes a little smaller and a little lighter. I don't know how, or why but I think it's pretty good.

Pure vanity? Probably, but I don't care today.

Wind

DK is still like a little football so we are now giving him some drops to help get the trapped wind out. Hopefully he will deflate tomorrow, because he is not too happy at the moment and not eating much.

I had planned to cycle to work this morning, but early meetings, poor light at 6:30 and general laziness made the idea seem less inviting. The final deciding factor was that I will not be back in my own office until Friday so I didn't want to leave my bike at work for 3 days and knew that I wouldn't be able to face the ride home this evening. I was vindicated by the fact that it was raining as I left work this evening.

Tomorrow I have a meeting at head office at 07:30. There is something altogether unreasonable about arranging meetings at that time, but apparently that's the way "we" do it!

Good, Bad and Indifferent

This morning we had the now traditional Monday morning rush to get out of the door at about 7:15 and off to the hospital.

DK had his casts removed and the Dr was very happy with how flexible his feet were. That means that next week he will have a tenotomy and then his last set of casts that will be on for 3 weeks

That was the good bit.

DK has been a bit sick over the weekend and his stomach has been like a football. We mentioned this to the orthopaedic doctor who referred us to the children's ward. After a bit of waiting and re-telling of stories DK was given an enema. I think I've previously explained that anyone who spends enough time in a Danish hospital will be administered an enema and I consider myself lucky to have avoided it so far. This got the wheels in motion, but apparently not enough so a little colonic irrigation was called for.

Don't stand in the way of that!

After such a traumatic morning DK has slept for most of the day, but we are hoping that the blockage has been sorted out and he can deflate a little over the coming day or so...

When I was downloading the pictures from my phone I found this one of two people deep in contemplation over who will get the biggest piece of birthday cake.

The Winter Stew

Autumn must be just around the corner, it's getting cooler, some leaves are changing colour and we had stew for dinner. I started with a large hunk of meat with a bone in the middle (shank?) browned it, chucked in some carrots, leeks, garlic and chillies and fried that all up a bit. Then i poured a bottle of red wine in and added bay leaves and some thyme. After 2½ hours there was a wonderfully tender and rich pot roast thing ready to serve with some creamy mash.

The weekend ha been otherwise unremarkable. I put up a shelf above DKs changing table, ironed a bit, mowed the lawn and did some ironing. J and DK had some pictures taken on Saturday morning. J made a big effort not to smile so I suspect that the results may not be too stellar. I did have a go myself though on the sofa.


I managed to fail miserably at getting out on my bike despite the sunshine so I'll have to make an extra effort to ride to and from work this week.

The lucky day

I rode my bike to work this morning and despite it being foggy and having a cold, I really enjoyed it. I always enjoy riding to work, the fresh air is nice and it is one of the few opportunities I have to mentally unwind. The steaming hot shower and fresh bread available for breakfast are also nice when you know you've earned them

The extra bonus today was that the wind changed direction during the day so I had a tail wind in both directions. Lovely.

Amazingly Lance Armstrong has announced this week that he is planning on returning to professional cycling next year with an intention of winning the Tour de France for an 8th time. I don't know if he can do it, but I think it will make for some interesting headlines over the coming weeks. (Not in the Daily Mail, but other exciting places like cyclingnews.com and pezcyclingnews.com or velonews.com)

Back from Blighty

I have had a very brief trip back "home" this week, we arrived in Birmingham on Monday evening and headed straight for Ross on Wye for dinner and a reasonable nights sleep before hitting Mitcheldean on Tuesday for a full day of excitement here:

Then it was back home after 3 hours in the airport (we avoided the rush hour by leaving early and flying out late). It was nice to be home and the countryside was lovely but somehow I now feel more like a visitor than a native when I am in the UK. There are just as many people speeking a language I don't understand as in Denmark and I never have an adaptor to charge my laptop with me.
Today has been back to the grind-stone and the idea of the approaching weekend is very welcome indeed.

Calzone, mess and sleeping

We have had another great weekend with a little sunshine and plenty of "family stuff"

On Saturday I made pizza which was OK, a pretty good goats cheese calzone. I also had a lovely afternoon nap which was the first in a long time - it was well needed and well deserved in my opinion.

The pizza session was messy as ever.

I also got my new and totally unnecessary new glasses. They were really cheap and I really like them so who cares? DK doesn't seem to

Sunday morning I managed to get a lovely 55km bike ride in. I averaged 31 kmph so it seems that I am not in quite such bad shape as I feared.

S

Weekends

I am very busy at work which has the effect of making weekends seem to come around very quickly, be very welcome and go much too fast.

However, as I have done plenty of work this week, I can leave the office a little early and pick up the family en-route to the In-laws for dinner and to pick up some fraction of a pig to go in our freezer. It will be nice to have a freezer full of organic pork for the coming miserable winter.

The piggy lifecycle.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Good report

I have been flossing every other day or so since my last trip to the dentists. Last time there was too much scraping and pain and bleeding gums but this time things were much better. The only complaint this time was that I apparently brush too hard and my gums are receding a little in places.

We're loving the new car, I can't really believe it's ours!

The trip to the cleft palate centre was something of a disappointment yesterday. DK does have a cleft palate and it will be operated on when he is 14 months old to close the hole. We already knew that so that was it.

We're not looking forward to the operation, but we can't help thinking that we got away lightly with the cleft palate although there are lots of things that will develop over time because the operation can affect DKs learning to speak and there are potential problems with where how and when his teeth come through...

New Car and Double Cream

We got the new car yesterday and today I have had a chance to stretch it's legs a bit. It is great - Fast, smooth, quiet and loaded with gadgets!

But that is not the only exciting thing to happen this week. MK came home with something from our local dairy that the Danes call "double cream". I am not sure of the definition for English double cream or heavy cream as the Americans call it, but it is not like this. This has 50% fat content and is as yellow as birds custard. Last night we had it with ice cream and some marinaded pineapple left over from the weekend with a little grated chocolate on top. This afternoon we have tried it with some rhubarb cake. Delicious.

Heart Scan

On Friday DK had a heart scan as the next step in his full body testing regime (just hips and hearing to go) and everything was fine. It is amazing what can be shown with the ultrasound scanner, the doctor could show us the oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood pumping through the heart and we could see each valve and match the movements with the cycle of the pumping. It was all a little complex for me, but the doctor apparently understood it all!

Then on to the Monday morning leg casting session. We were worried all week that DK had pulled one of his feet up into his cast a little for the second week running and that had apparently meant that his foot would not move much last week. This is a problem at this stage as his feet were pointing more or less straight down (for the 4th week running it seemed) so it is easy to pull them up through the cast. Our fears were confirmed when the doctor said that she thought we would probably have to operate on that foot as it was not correcting as it should.
This of course set off all of our alarm bells as we had planned to go to Iowa just to avoid operations, so suddenly Iowa looked to be back on the cards. Anyway to shorten an already long story, she cast the "good" foot first and then was very happy to see that the "less good" foot was actually very flexible this week and she was able to move it outwards as much as the "good" one. She finally concluded that she was "very optimistic" that she could correct both feet without surgery. Suddenly MK and I could relax again and stop thinking about Iowa for a while. We just hope that he makes as much progress next week is he has done this week.

It is a little draining with all of this going on, I felt like going home to bed after that this morning and it was only 10:00!