Bathroom Renovation

Since I got back from Tucson one of the things that have been taking a lot of my time is a bathroom renovation at our place in Avon. The bathroom was original and had only had some small cosmetic updates since my mother-in-law bought the place in the 80s over 40 years ago. The bathroom had a one piece fiberglass tub and shower enclosure. 

Although I had painted the bathroom and added a new ceiling 15 years ago the bathroom was really showing it's age. 

The first thing we did was to hire one of those one day bathroom renovation companies to replace the bathtub with a shower as we don't really need a bathtub here. 

The actual installation took two long days so these TV commercials showing a completely new bathroom in a single day are false advertising as it takes a lot of work and time to do it right. They took the fiberglass bathtub out then ripped the walls around it down to the studs and built it back up from there. The team was careful and meticulous and did a good job. We now have a 30x60 inch shower instead of the tub. It has shelves and a seat and glass doors instead of a shower curtain so it's a nice upgrade to what was there. They also redid all the plumbing so it is like new. 

After the shower was finished it was my turn to do some work. The old sheet rock ceiling wasn't in good shape 20 years ago which is why 15 year ago I put in a beaded plank ceiling in instead of trying to patch and paint the old ceiling. The ceiling I had put up had reached the end of its life so I put up a new plank drop ceiling made of PVC which looks good and will have no trouble holding up to the moisture that's in a bathroom.

It was relatively easy to put up as I just had to put some metal tracks in the old ceiling and use clips to secure the PVC planks to the ceiling. The hardest part was just working in the small space of the bathroom. The bathroom is 53x59 inches plus the 30x60 shower so it's hard to maneuver a ladder, planks and tools around the shower and toilet to get everything installed properly. 

Our place in Avon is a studio so even outside the bathroom there wasn't a lot of room for the table and mitre saw I needed to do the work on the ceiling and floor. 

I also had most of the place covered in plastic to contain the dust. If people saw all the plastic drapes that came in and the bags of debris going out they may have thought I was disposing a body. 

After the ceiling was done I replaced the floor. I put a new vinyl floor over the existing crappy tile floor. 

Doing this require me to take the toilet out and reinstall it. So for a little over an hour I didn't have a working bathroom. Laminate floor has come a long way in the last 30 years. I installed a few of these in my last house and they ready stand up to abuse well and if installed right look really good. We had a cherry laminate floor in our old house that almost looked as good as real wood but was a lot more durable. The one installed in the bathroom was a solid vinyl laminate that snapped together really tight and felt real solid. It should last for a long time especially since this bathroom is really only used in the summer. 

After the ceiling and floor was in I took another day to put in the ceiling and floor molding. We then had a plumber put in a pedestal sink. We originally had a small vanity in the bathroom but changed it to a pedestal sink to gain a little more room in the small bathroom. 

It was a lot of work but it's the type of work I don't mind doing and I'm pretty good at this stuff. I still need to add a medicine cabinet to the wall but the rest is done.

Doing the majority of the work myself let's me take the time to get all the little details the way I want them. Something a contractor probably won't have done. The building was constructed in the 1930s and renovated a couple of time so some of the walls are not even close to square or plumb. So although the renovated bathroom my not be as nice as new construction its a big improvement to what was there and am very happy with the way it came out. 
   

Bike Fairies

You never know what you are going to find on a bike ride. I have seen a lot of weird NJ and strange stuff in other surrounding states but this past Saturday we encountered some bike fairies. Now we were in Lahaska so this is can be a strange and artsy place but these people definitely stood out. 

Unfortunately these fairies didn't have any magical powers to grant us a wish they were just having a final ride before one of their friends moved away. They never did explain why they chose to wear tutus for this celebration but it made for a fun encounter. The only problem was there were 15 of them and they got to the cupcake shop right before us so we had to wait in line with them for a while before we got our food. 

It didn't really matter as it was a nice sunny day and we were in no real hurry. We taken the easy way from Yardley to Lahaska and didn't mind the long break. The return ride was just as nice although I need to find a better road than Stoopville on the way back as it had more traffic than I like. 

Saturday's ride was a good end to the week as we had a few days of summer weather and I was able to get out a couple of time. I even managed to get a few people to join me on a ride from Manasquan to Belmar and back.

 

One of the good things about being retired is that I can get out whenever the weather is good and can usually get a few of the other retired folks to join me. It's still early in the season so the beach wasn't too crowded. At our usual rest stop the Dunkin Donuts is closed for renovation and only the pizza place was open so there wasn't a lot of choice for food but it was enough. 

The brief break of summer weather was great but it is still April so the weather is running hot and cold. We had a freeze warning this week with some rain in the forecast but the weather is warming so there should be some fun and weird rides ahead.

 

 

 

Back to NJ Roads

I have been back in NJ for almost two weeks and have gotten back to riding my normal roads. Since it is spring now the weather is getting warmer. Although I have one rides in tights and a jacket the others have been tights free as we had a few days in the 70s. 

One of the benefits of being retired is that I can do more riding during the week. This means this past Tuesday I could join the Pete Bagel ride out of Pennington which was an 30ish ride with a couple of easy hills followed by lunch at the Bagel place. Doing this ride officially made me part of the retired bikers. 

This past Saturday I went on Laura's ride to Flemington. This was my second ride from Pennington this week. The weather was in the 60s at the start so it was another warm spring day. Normally I would be reluctant to do a ride this hilly at the beginning of the season but I have a lot more miles and hills in so far this year so I didn't think it would be a problem. 

Laura had a full ride which meant most of the usual crowd was there and I was able to catch up with some people I hadn't seen since I got back. We made our way up and over the Sourlands on the way to Flemington. There was some traffic and congestion getting across 202 and 31 to get into Flemington which was a little annoying but part of what you have to deal with when you ride in NJ.

We stopped Bread and Culture Artisan Bakery which is was crowded. Some of pastries looked good but they didn't have anything to drink but coffee so I decided not to get anything as I had enough stuff with me.

After our stop we made our way out of Flemington and back to more quieter roads. The main climb of the day was up Lindbergh. It's not a hard climb but it is a bit long and gets a little steeper at the end. It's a climb I never feel comfortable on or enjoy. I'm not sure why climbing Lindbergh annoys me but I usually avoid it when I can.

After getting up and over the Sourlands I actually felt pretty good and went ahead of the group to the end of the ride. At 46 miles it was the longest ride I have done this year. The riding and climbing I did in Tucson definitely help me build a good base for riding this year so as the weather continues to get better I look forward to doing some more and long rides in NJ. 

Tucson Biking Part 4 Dove Mt and Oro Valley

 Click Here for all the Pics from the Tucson Trip

Click Here for all my astronomy Pics 

I had a lot of different routes mapped out before the trip to Tucson. I wasn't sure which one to do for our last ride but after talking to a local biker at a bike shop I decided to do a ride to Dove Mountain. This was a typical Tucson ride of around 35 miles and 1500 ft of climbing. The main difference between riding in Tucson and in NJ is the profile and types of roads you ride on. At the beginning of the ride we had a 2% climb for about 6 miles with a little bump of 4% to get through the pass to Dove Mountain. NJ is more undulating with a lot ups and downs and few climbs longer than a mile. Unlike NJ there are really no back roads in Tucson since almost all the roads here were made after cars were invented so the layout of the road system is more logical and meant for cars to get from here to there. So even if you pick the quieter sections to ride in Tucson you will be on secondary roads with some traffic. This isn't really a problem as all the roads have wide bike lanes but there aren't a lot of quiet back roads that like we have in NJ in the Sourlands or above Frenchtown. 

The view from the rides in Tucson are tremendous. 

 

The view of the mountains, desert and cactus has a certain stark beauty that I never got tired of. It's what made riding out here special and worth the trip. 

After we went to Dove Mountain we headed along the ridge to Oro Valley and Catilina close to where I stay the first couple days of the trip. It was the only part of the ride that was mostly flat. From there we jumped on the Loop and had an enjoyable 9 miles of gradual downhill to end to ride. This was probably the nicest part of the Loop we had been on. It was a good ride to end our trip to Tucson.

I want to add one note about the weather while we were here. Typical weather this time of year is in the 70s and 80s with nights in the low 50s. However a heat dome parked itself other the southwest and the daily temperatures were in the 90s to over 100 degrees. That is hot even for this dry heat. Basically we got June weather in March. This didn't really affect our riding as it was in the 60s in the early morning so we just went out earlier and got back before it got too hot. The only thing it affected was some of our post ride plans. If the weather wasn't as hot we might have checked out some of the other attractions in and around the city after our rides but we ended up doing them later at night or not at all. 

The accommodations we had in the Starr Pass Golf Resort were even nicer than I expected. We each rented the one bedroom suite which was better than any apartment I even had and one of the most comfortable places I have ever stayed. 

 

Its was a very picturesque place I got a few sunrise photos. 

 

And my patio overlooked the mountains to the west so I was able to continue to get some photos of the night sky before bed. 

We were also close to some other scenic landmarks like Gates Pass and on the one cloudy even managed to get some amazing shots of the sunset. 

 It was probably one of the top 5 sunsets I have ever seen. 

 

So as you can see from all the posts we did a lot and had a lot of fun on this trip. Besides the hot weather and confusion getting the bikes everything worked out better than planned. I'm glad I'm back and still prefer the riding in NJ to Tucson but it was a great experience on a number of different levels and was one of my better vacations that I will be talking about for years.  

 

Tucson Attractions

The main reason for going to Tucson was for the biking but Tucson also has a lot of interesting attractions. Since we were in Tucson for a week we did have time to check out some of the more interesting things Tucson has to offer. 

 When I was up in Catilina I took the morning to checkout Biosphere 2.

 

If you remember, Biosphere was started as an experiment to see if a closed system could be created that would be self contained and support 8 people for two years without any intervention. Although the goal wasn't fully achieved a lot was learned about creating a closed system. You can read the full story here. 

 

Today Biosphere 2 is managed the University of Arizona and is used to simulate and research different biospheres and how different environmental factors affect the environment. For example they have a ocean part where they have coral and can change the temperature of the ocean and see how it affects the coral. As part of their research they are learning how to mitigate some of the affects of global warming.  

Tucson has one of the largest air museums in the country. The Pima Air & Space Museum has 5 hangers of aircraft's indoors spanning airplanes from the Wright brothers to the moderate jets. They also have 80 acres and 360 different aircraft's outside. They not only have most US military and commercial planes but a lot of planes from other countries including Russia. They also have some very rare prototypes that I have never seem before. 

 

I could go on for paragraphs about all the different airplanes but if you are really interested in the museum I suggest you check out the exhibits page where you can take a virtual tour of the outside displays. 

 

Sunday we took a day off the bike so I decided to check out the Tucson Botanical Gardens. It was a small but well designed garden. Since this garden is in the desert it mainly featured desert plants like cactus and mesquite and other desert plants. There is actually quite a diverse set of plants that can grow in the desert. This is the bloom season for some of the cactus so I got a few pictures of those

 

They also had some other area featuring non desert plants and had a butterfly garden as well as some art galleries. 

 

 

It was definitely worth the trip.  

 

During the cold war just south of Tucson was one of the main areas where the US had nuclear missile silos. Today one of those silos is a museum and you can actually go down into the silo and see a simulated launch of a missile

 

 

 as well as the missile itself.

 

For me this was really cool for me because I use to work with a couple of ex air force people who actually manned the silos and told me a lot of interesting stories about their time in the the silo. Also the satellites I used to work on were launched using the titan missile so the scape suit and theodolite shown in the museum were more than relics as I actually had seen them in use. 

 

The best attraction we saw in Tucson was definitely the Sonora Desert Museum. This is a botanical garden, zoo, aquarium, hiking trail and playground all rolled up into one. I went there not only for the gardens but for the humming bird aviary. I got there early and had the place to my self for a little while. I did get a decent picture of a humming bird but the light wasn't great. 

 

I did however get an amazing picture of a dragonfly. Click on the picture below to see the detail I was able to get. 

 

We spent about 3 hours walking around and visiting all the exhibits. There was a lot to see. There are quite a few animals there include coyote's wolfs, Javalina (which looks like a pig but isn't), bear, mountain goats, sting rays and of course some iguanas just walking around. It was really a well run and interesting place that I would visit again if I was in the area. 

 

 

So Tucson is more than just biking there are a lot of interesting things to do if you ever visit. 

 

 

 

Tucson Biking Part 3 The Loop

You would think that after climbing Mt Lemmon that we would want a day off the bike but Jack said he felt okay and wanted to do a recovery ride. Tucson has probably the best bike trail system I have ever seen. They call it The Loop and it is a series of over 130 miles of connected paved bike trails around the city. The plan was to head to one of the many parks along the Loop and do an easy out and back ride.

 

 

Of course since this was a Tom ride the park we planned to start at was closed for construction. We found another one close by (I always have a backup plan no matter where I ride now). Right after we got on the path there was a trail closure which we ignore and walked through and around a few hundred feel of dirt and construction vehicles to get back on the path. 

 

Once we were on the path it was great and the perfect way to recover from the previous days climbing. 

 

The part of the Loop we were on followed the Rillito river. Now this is Tucson which is a desert and doesn't get a lot of rain so the river is a dry wash of sand and dirt that only sees water during the monsoon season in July and August. There is a path on both side of the river so we went down one side and up the other. On our way down there was one part of the trail that was not complete and just ended. Luckily we saw another biker at the end of the trail and he led us through a parking lot and on to the next segment. 

 

The Loop is more than a nice paved bike trail there is also a sand/dirt path next to it for mountain bikes and horses. There are parks and bathroom every 5 miles or so. There are also numerous hiking trail that start from the parks around the Loop so if you are doing any outdoor activity in Tucson chances are you going to be using one of the many facilities on the Loop.

 

Like any multi use trail some parts get crowded with people walking/riding and we did encounter a few spots where we had to slow down a little to get around a few people and bikes but considering it was a Saturday it really wasn't too bad. 

 

The view along the trail are tremendous as we could see Mt Lemmon and the other mountains surrounding Tucson. There were even a couple of sculptures along the way.

 

 

We ended up doing a slow 20 miles in our out and back loop and it was a good way to recover and see why the Loop is probably one of the best bike path systems there is in the country.  

Tucson Biking Part 2 Mt Lemmon

When I first thought about a trip to Tucson climbing Mt Lemmon wasn't in the plans especially since we would be coming in March before I had a lot miles in. Most of the rides I was considering were in the 1500 feet range in elevation and grades of 2-5% nothing too hard. As the trip grew closer I looked a little more at the Mt Lemmon and the actual climb. It started around 2500ft and got to 8000ft at a more or less constant 4-6% grade. I did not think I could get to the top but I could at least start up the climb and if it sucked just turn around. 

Mt Lemmon is an iconic climb that that lures serious biker into giving it a try. I had downloaded a route from the Cactus Cycling club that went up to a little over 5200 ft in 14 miles and then turned around. I didn't know how far I was going to make it but I had a goal of riding at higher elevation than I had ever done before. That shouldn't be hard because the highest I think I had even been on a bike was Mt Greylock which is around 3400ft. We were starting at 2500ft so if I could get to 4000ft I would be happy.

We started the ride at 7am because we didn't know how long we would be climbing and because it was going to be a hot day. We had about 4 miles at 2% to get to the base of the mountain before the real climb started. At the first hairpin I looked to the right and saw the wall I was about to climb and didn't think I had to gears or legs to make it around the first corner. Then I did. And I got around the next corner and the next and kept climbing. The bike I had was a compact and had some low gears so I was able to kept grinding away. 

At mile 7 I stopped at a scenic overlook for a break. (In case you didn't notice I just climb at 4% for 7 miles)

 

Dorothy was there as she was our sag in case we needed water or any other help. I took a few pictures and kept grinding away.The road had a wide bike lane so you really didn't have to worry about the cars going by. A lot of bikers climb this mountain ever day so the cars are use to them. The views are amazing which kept me distracted from the climb. 

I passed 4000ft without a problem and kept going. As the profile suggested the grade was pretty constant so as long as you find a gear you could grind in you could kept going. 

There were a couple of steeper parts in the 5 to 7% range but I kept climbing. I was maintaining a 5-5.5 mph rate but I could feel myself slowing down and getting tired. I stopped at mile 10 for a break and a stretch and then started again. I stopped about a mile later but pushed myself to kept going. About a mile later when I stopped again my legs were wobbly and I knew it was time to head downhill. I could have pushed myself and gone another mile or two but I didn't want to cramp or pull a muscle since we still had a few more days of biking left. 

As I turned to go downhill I thought about that fact that I'm on a bike that I'm not familiar with. Not sure how well it had been maintained. It had disc brakes but I hadn't really had a chance to really test them out. BUT and I repeat this with emphasis I just spent 2 solid hours climbing 12 miles and I deserve to enjoy the downhill. In other words I'm bombing down this motherfucker even if it kills me...

...Which it didn't. I spend a glorious 20mins speeding at around 30mph down hill. The bike held together and handled well and the brakes slowed me down when needed. I stopped a few times to enjoy the view and easily made it back to the parking lot. 

Jack on the other hand kept climbing. Jack likes long and hard climbs and has traveled to Europe just to do some of the iconic climbs there. His goal was to make it to the top. Some may say that Jack can be a little pig-headed or stubborn when he has a goal in mind but I would call it more determination than anything else. 

After I got back to my car I changed and cleaned up a little before driving back up the mountain. I stopped at some of the overlooks to enjoy the view and take some more pictures. Somewhere between 6000 and 7000 ft I caught up with Jack who was still grinding away. Like a fan at the tour de France I clapped and cheered him on as he went by. After that I caught up with Dorothy in their car and we waited for Jack to pass us before moving on to the next parking spot or overlook. In this way we kept leap frogging our way up monitor Jacks progress and giving him encouragement and supplies as needed.

Jack was definitely pushing himself to his limit. I know he had some leg pain and other issues but he pushed through it and kept going. The Mt Lemmon climb does have a couple short downhill sections towards the top and that helped Jack recover a little before the final push to the top. 

The view from 8000 ft were incredible. 

 

There was one more climb towards the top that was 9% for about a mile and Jack made it up that and kept going. As he passed us I kept letting him know how may miles was left. At 2 miles we were close to the town of Summerhaven and at this point the climb was mostly over and it was downhill to the town itself. 

Summerhaven is a the town close to the top of the mountain (There is a ski resort and observatory 1000ft higher on a crappy road but the unofficial top for biking is Sumerhaven). The town consists of a few hotels some shops and a restaurant. It was really crowded and we struggled to find a parking spot but eventually did. Jack was totally shot but I have to say I was really impressed by his effort and glad he made it to the top as that was important to him.

After he changed and recovered the three of us had a good and well deserved lunch at the Sawmill restaurant. It was a good way to end the ride. It was close to 77 degrees up top at 1pm. This was unusually warm for this time of year as it is 20-30 degrees cooler up here compared to Tucson. But Tucson was close over 100 degrees at this point. Before the trip I thought I would need a jacket and arm warmers with me to do the climb and decent but didn't need them because of the warmer than usual weather. After lunch we each made our way back down the mountain and back to the Starr Pass resort where we were staying. 

Now that I have been to Mt Lemmon and biked up and drove up it I can see the reason people like this climb. This climb is easily in the reach of a biker in reasonable shape. I think if I had tried this in September or October when I would be in better shape I could have gone further. There is nothing impossible about the climb. I was very happy I made it up as far as I did and unlike Jack have no real desire to make it to the top but I'm really glad I did it (especially the down hill part.)