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| Nigel Tufnel: In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, an ancient race of people... the Druids. No one knows who they were or what they were doing... |
I had to take a week or so off from
riding to take care of an important home repair. Jen says I traded
one obsession for another. As of yesterday, the job is officially
done, and today I got out on the bike for a couple of hours.
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| Before: The Contempo III in most of its
splendor |
Over the past sixteen years, the
broiler, the top oven, and then the bottom oven quit working.
Appliance repair techs said parts were no longer available, so we
closed the valves to each unit, leaving only the cooktop
operational. The day before my most recent race (the Dunnigan
Hills Road Race–I haven't done a post on this one, as I punctured thirteen miles in and proudly, chased solo, for 30 miles, unsuccessfully for a magnificent "DNP") our great, 1965 O”Keefe & Merritt
Contempo III started leaking natural gas.
This tiny 1954 stucco house is
our first. We've been hoping to update and remodel it
dramatically, but over the last decade and a half, haven't settled
on the design, finances and logistics.
But this “dead stove” did
present us with a simple, one-week, super-inexpensive opportunity
to improve our little kitchen. |
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| Tweety would have to wait |
| We had been hoping to go camping
for a short getaway before Jen starts school in September, but a
fully functional kitchen is more important. And when I start a
project, it becomes my number one priority, from sunup to sundown.
I had no freelance production jobs scheduled, so this was the time to
crank this job out. Training rides were off my calendar. |
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| Our trusty backup during repairs |
This is my family's Coleman camp stove. It's about 55
years old. We also used our gas grill, microwave, and our toaster
oven in the interim.
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| After |
Our
friend Ryan helped us shove the old stove out the door and up to its
current (temporary) resting place. Jen found a great deal on a used
stove, which our fantastic friends Shaun and Stacy brought in their
pickup, and helped us haul it up to our living room for storage until I finished up the framing, electrical, gas, sheetrock, and painting.
Over the
next days I opened up the wall, built a bar-counter, and installed
the “new” stove.
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| "These go to eleven"... well... to "HI" anyway |
I haven't totaled the receipts, but I'm pretty sure we did this whole modification for under $400, including the stove! Jen and I are “fighting”
over who gets to cook, while the “loser” actually wins by
getting to sit at the cool little bar/counter, chatting with the chef of the
moment.
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| Still hunting for some bar stools |
Today I finally had a chance to
get out on a ride. My very rested body was able to hammer pretty
well. I ascended Big Rock within one second of my best time, with a VAM of 1452. I managed a decent average speed of 18.9 mph for today's 44-mile ride, however I can tell I've traded some fitness for freshness. |
While we still haven't reshaped this 940 square foot mid-century house into the domicile of our dreams, this fix has at least opened up the long, skinny, galley kitchen a little.
Now while I drum up some more freelance work, I'll start disassembling the old stove so I can load it into the truck to haul to a salvage company. Then I'll check the racing calendar to see what road races are left before the season wraps up.
Today's ride:
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