revchuck 

New, preferably.

topflightpro

I'm pretty sure the Honda CR-V is the standard car for grandparents.

That said, if the F-150 is still running fine and you're on a fixed income, why not just stick with what you have and avoid having to make new car payments?

revchuck 

It's still running fine and I'll probably end up keeping it. It's got 224k miles on it and I'm thinking about replacing it before it goes tango uniform. I'm also thinking about how nice it would be to get twice the gas mileage I'm currently getting, though it'd take a long time to make up the difference.

Doge

As a helicopter parent I enjoy watching the workout. Every ride a few emails go out (coach, me) something to watch realtime... It also has some kind of crash warning feature too. I know it has been around a while, but fun stuff.
Live.jpg

topflightpro

I'm sort of surprised you haven't invested in a drone to be able to monitor little Doge 24-7.

Doge

Battery life issues. But they are working on 24-7 technology there. No surprise.

revchuck 

I decided to get the truck inspected and found that it would require a new windshield to pass. Current inspection's good for another month, so I took it to the Ford dealer for an oil change in preparation for the drive to Tucson for my solo training camp, they do it for $13.95. I was wandering around in the lot and a salesman came over to see if I needed any help, told him I was just passing time while I got the oil change. He's about my age - old - and we hung out for a few minutes. He mentioned that they're blowing out 2016 Focuses - about the size car I was thinking about. Long story short, I ended up with a Focus hatchback (almost a station wagon) and the lowest car note I've ever had. And yes, it gets twice the mileage of the old F-150. Sometimes things just work out.

himespau 

Since it stayed there, did you have to pay for the oil change?

revchuck 

Nope.

topflightpro

Nice. Enjoy the new car.

carpediemracing 

That's awesome.

An old teammate of mine had a big Silverado, crew cab. I should have bought it from him but whatever. Recently he got back into driving. He moved a bit away - he'd drive 5 hours to do a ride with me. We did two rides in real in 2016. Second ride I pulled into the parking area and I was like, hm, he's not here yet. Then suddenly he rolled up to me. I figured he was parked elsewhere and just rode over. I asked him about his truck. He pointed to the Focus next to me. "That's my new car." Ha. He'd just gotten out of the car, his bike was leaning against the car on the driver's side, and walked over to the passenger side of the car where I was busy getting ready. Apparently he bought the car the day before or something.

He loves the mileage. He has to figure out the space a bit - coming from the crew cab long bed Silverado with a cap - but it seemed he had it figured out pretty well when I saw him.

big john

One of my club members bought a Focus last year. He's very happy with it and the bike fits easily with the seats folded.

tetonrider

Well... where I live we had a pretty massive storm roll through.

First there was a few feet of snow that fell pretty warm; our airport and the mountain pass road near me were both closed for a few days. This is nothing terribly unusual.

A number of roofs have collapsed, including this building. (There were little kids at the gymnastics studio next door when it happened.)


The storm closed out with some big winds -- >90mph at valley levels, which is pretty huge for wind so close to the ground. 19 different steel poles carrying power lines snapped.



This cut off power to an entire section of our little valley.

Our big ski resort reported, at first, that it would close for the following morning; it now "may" open on Monday.

The county declared a state of emergency.

The biggest problem is that the storm is coming out of Hawaii with a warming trend--and it's now 40F and rain. All roads into the valley are closed...at least until Saturday... due to avalanches that have crossed the road.

Why am I posting in the racing forum? Because I was all set to race (ski race) on Saturday, and I'm bummed!

Surprisingly, our airport is still open, and there's a race in Michigan. I stuck around today because I had coach the kids; of course very few showed up. I'm debating whether I can fly out tomorrow and still race. It's the equivalent of arriving at 11p, racing a marathon in the morning, then flying home -- but with the added problems of multiple connecting flights and the need to check bags. If anything goes wrong, no race. Hm.

The combination of heavy snow + rain is the worst anyone has ever seen here. It is interesting times.

Next week looks nice, though!

revchuck 

Too much stress and money to do the trip and maybe get a chance to race. Make yourself a good, strong toddy and sleep extra. Repeat tomorrow.

tetonrider

the funny thing is i will probably spend LESS by flying to the race. award ticket. a friend is already out there and has a car (though the race is 5 miles from the airport, which is crazy).

if i don't fly to this one, i'm going to be stressing about whether or not i can drive to the race on saturday......and IF i will be able to make it back if the roads only open briefly before closing again.

the most stress would be waxing multiple skis tonight to fly tomorrow -- and guessing on what conditions will be on saturday.

Gramercy

I was in Tahoe last weekend - the amount of snow in town was insane. 8 foot walls on the sides of the road. I've never seen anything like that before.

I really need to get out to Jackson one of these winters.

aaronmcd

They have to remove snow from construction site using shovels, tarps and a crane.

Flatballer

I'm pretty sure that's just nature saying "go live somewhere else, what are you doing?"

Ygduf

I hope they tucked and rolled to safety.

Doge

Anyone know where the self filling out 2017 form is? Or even the 2017 you have to fill out form?
This is all I found.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/USACWeb/for...er_release.pdf

carpediemracing 

Threw my back out. Sick as a dog. Left work early Fri, am off Sat, Sun, and Mon. Yesterday I basically had to crawl because standing was impossible unless I supported myself on something (counter, handrail, I was about to get a cane out it was that bad). Today I can walk short distances, 50 feet or so, before I feel like I'm going to lose 100% strength in my legs. I'm hoping I'm able to walk normally by Tues. I'm on Tues-Fri, 12-13 hours days each, and literally on my feet for the entire time.

This is putting a damper on my 2017 season enthusiasm.

Doge

Big bummer. I had similar about 5 years ago. I got the MRI, small protrusion. I was messed up about a week and bought an inversion table and started hanging 5 min 3X / week. That or time helped. I am not 100% yet, but every year it gets better. I also went to forefoot running from heal strike first. I think cycling helps.

caloso

My folks have been evacuated. Looks like the lake level is going to hold and this will all be just precautionary. But it was a little stressful for a few hours.

dz_nuzz

Crazy past month. Basically went like this:

1. Get laid off at work, get big severance package.
2. Think "Hey I could train a whole bunch more..."
3. Train like a madman for 2 weeks.
4. Friend at work goes "Hey, we need someone for our team"
5. Get re-hired with basically a month of free PTO from the company
6. Question if taking the job back was really the right thing, I missed out on cashing in on all my severance.

Ultimately I know it was the right move. I like where I worked but the idea of being able to goof off till effectively June was quite tempting. Granted, it was also nice to go back to my regular schedule. I do regret that I never got the chance to go and travel a bit. I had debated trying to crash with a friend for a training week (or two) somewhere.

revchuck 

Having BTDT - we do that a lot in south Louisiana - my heart goes out to your folks. It's much better to get out and find it was unnecessary than the opposite.

I guess the drought has finally officially broken, at least in your part of the state?