When I was 12 or 13 years old I used to stay up late in the summer watching Late Night with David Letterman (notice I said ‘Late Night’ and not ‘Late Show’. Yup, I’m old). I was quite the nightowl then, and rising before 11am on a non school day was a challenge, to say the least. One of the things I remember about those late summer nights was a particular commercial for Rolling Rock Beer. Something about the commercial – the scene in the bar, the lighting, the choice of music – made me really like the product, despite the fact that I had no interest in actually drinking said beer. I also remember another commercial featuring some guys in a bar, reading the Rolling Rock pledge of quality off the back of the bottle, which ends with the number ‘33′.
rolling rock back pledge
Well, I am now officially 33..so that is where the title of this post comes from. Uninspired, I realize.
So, where were we? Well, my super long extended summer vacation (which began the second week of May) is now officially over. My classes start today, and although I am looking forward to being back in class and the thrill of spending hours pouring over articles from Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and Journal of Applied Physiology, lugging my Giant Binder of Research everywhere, and hooking people up to oxygen masks while simultaneously pricking their finger to draw blood as they ride as hard as they can on their bikes on a Computrainer, I will certainly miss many aspects of my summer.
For example, I prefer to train in the morning. I was typically on my bike sometime between 6-8am most days of the week and done training by 11. That all ends now as I have a 9:40 am class and UNH is an hour’s drive from here. I had the best intentions of getting up early to do my sprint workout this morning at 6am, but I knew it would be pushing it for time to get everything done before leaving here at 8:20, and besides, it was 46ºF when I got up.
Yikes. I hate that. It’s bad enough that ‘Summer’ here is viewed as ending when school starts, and having spent my entire life as either a student or a teacher, I know not what it is like for September 1 to pass as anything other than just another day. But when the temps plummet just in time for the First Day of School, it’s a reminder that summer is ending here.
So, with summer ending, I am now planning my Fall wardrobe. I decided my Fall Wardrobe will be heavily influenced by many of the items in the current Terry Catalog. Usually I do not like their outsourced casual wear, but this time I saw several items that caught my eye. My plan is to rip off as many as I can before the snow falls and I am stuck wearing a snowsuit until sometime in April, which is generally the return of milder temperatures here. (I love living in New England and there is no place in the US that I would rather live, but man do we have suck ass long miserable winters).
My sewing is most likely going to slow down a bit because of the return to classes and my decision to return to cyclocross racing this fall. The bike is currently getting upgraded with new cranks, smaller chainrings (it came with a 36/46…who out there actually needs a 46?) and a Power Tap.
Yes. You read that correctly. I am getting a Power Tap. I am working with a new coach, and I am about to embark on my first ever season of Training with Power. More on this later.
In other updates, I am participating in a Sew Along with some other blogging sewers. We are attempting to make our first Trench Coat for this fall. Trench coats are everywhere, and I had been thinking about sewing one since spring. When Elizabeth mentioned starting a Trench Sew Along, I hopped on board. You can read about our exploits here:
September 1st, 2009 | 
