Alps Trip Rewind

The recap of my recent trip to the Alps is a bit tardy but it will have to do.  No, Alps does not always mean snow, but it does mean AWESOME!  Netzsch owns/rents a cabin in Zillertal, Austria that houses 12 people if you follow the rated capacity (dirtball climbers could fit way more).  We rallied up 10 people, some from Netzsch along with their respective ball and chain, for a weekend full of drinking and grilling.  While most had no plans of leaving the cabin, a few of us only figured on sleeping there.  Four of us brought our mountain bikes and set out to explore the surrounding mountains.

We hit the trails, in this case paved or gravel roads, at 8AM.  Our "veteran" leader had advised us all to eat well and not drink too much or stay up too late.  What do you know, he's the one with a wicked hangover while the rest of us are ready to tear it up.  I took point with the drunkard's girlfriend and began the climb.  Starting at about 900 meters above sea level, we climbed 1000 more up to about 2000 meters at the peak.  This was my first trip riding with clipless pedals and I absolutely loved it.  Cyclists praise them for the additional power and efficiency you gain, especially while riding uphill.  I concur.  I felt much more connected with my bike (nah, really?) and felt like I had more control.  Aside from struggling to click in when starting back up, I only had one fall because of the pedals.  That's because my dumb ass thought I was slick and clipped one foot in before trying to start up again after we had paused in the middle of hill.  Well I had some trouble getting started again and the foot I wanted to put on the ground to stabilize myself was clicked in.  So down I went.  I got back up and started off again, without clicking in until I was moving steadily.  

During water breaks we'd peer over the staggered switchbacks to see how our "leader" was doing.  Nearly to the top, his hangover began to fade and he caught up (we waited a bit).  At the top we took a break to have lunch and refill on water before tackling the downhill section.  I normally hesitate to build up too much speed on downhills for fear that a rock or root I didn't avoid in time would send me flying over the handle bars and down the mountain.  Feeling a bit more in tune with my bike that day, I decided to try ramping up the speed a bit.  Flying sounds fun anyway, so what the heck?  The only time this decision caught up with me was when two guys on ATV's came flying up the trail around a bend and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid being obliterated by one of them.  I managed to get off trail in time and stop my bike, but my body continued moving in an upward pivot around my front tire and then slammed down onto the frame once gravity took over.  I had a nice bruise from it that went away in a few days.  

After that we struggled to find this small trail that spurs off from the main one and would lead us back to the cabin.  We never found that trail and ended up going down a bit further than planned.  This meant riding back up 300 meters of steep elevation to get back to the cabin.  The way back was marked with trail signs and the group gave me the green light.  ;-}  After the long downhill section I was feeling well recovered and ready for some climbing.  What seemed like endless switchbacks finally lead me to the cabin.  When greeted by the cabin crew and asked where the others were, my only reply was "hinter" meaning "behind."  When the next member of our group came in, the cabin crew suggested that I was been back for a half hour already.  Since they were mostly drunk and I was the one wearing the watch, I say it was only 10 minutes.  I managed to snap some pictures during the ride a few pics of the outside of our cabin.  Have a look here.

Battle Gear

I came into work Monday morning intending to start some testing with the concept pump, right after sipping a cup of coffee while putzing around on the internet until 8 o'clock, per usual.  8 o'clock came and I was informed that a pump we had been running an endurance test on had erupted.  I quickly realized why I hadn't heard the normal buzzing of the pump on my way in to work.  It was not because the test was finally finished.  The pump was finished.  It hurled the ceramic slurry it was pumping all over the lab, which then began to flow outside.  I don't know the volume of the tank, but I'm sure a few pics will give you an idea of the sloppy mess that I would be tasked with cleaning up.

 The tank all covered in gooo!

The wall too

I can't show the pump, but you get the idea.  We haven't figured out what went wrong yet, but the splatter patterns tell us that a valve was likely closed and the pump started building pressure.  That pressure eventually has to go somewhere, so it found a way out.  All over the floor too.

This stuff is a ceramic compound that gets super thick and clumpy when it starts to dry.  It's almost like a clay.  This was sure to be a mess so I needed some battle gear.

 Duck boots

Coveralls

Now that I was all suited up, hazmat style, I went to work.  The first thing on the list was to get it out.  I had to get majority of the floor cleaned up before I could go to work on uncovering the pump.  Against my better judgement, I opened up the gate, grabbed the water hose and squeegee and started washing it out of the lab.  This stuff was pretty thick so I wasn't so sure it should go down the sewer drain, but that's what I was told to do.  So on with the show.

I knew this stuff was going to go all over as I continued adding water.  So I built a blockade!

My blockade, ahem! Containment barrier.

Eventually enough people got upset seeing me wash this crud down the storm drain and called the professional in.  I didn't argue one bit as most of the responsibility went from my hands to his.  A guy came with big truck capable of sucking all the crap out of the drain and cleaning off the lot.  Afterwards he blasted the pipeline with high pressure water to be sure that it wasn't clogged up.  The good news is no one was upset about the whole thing and no fingers were pointed.  Oh man if this shit happened in the US?  This would not fly.

Anyway, they had someone else come in and clean up the lab the next day.  I haven't been down to look at it yet, but I've been told it looks a lot better.  Perhaps I'll be able to do the testing I had planned sometime next week.

Full Throttle

For the past week I've been waking up scratching at bumps that weren't there the night before.  Don't get excited, I recognized them as spider bites.  I've had my fair share of them being as how I spend a good deal of time in mountainous activities and I've learned to distinguish them from other bites or forms of poison ivy.  But how am I getting all these spider bites at night?  In my apartment?  Then I saw him, the teeny tiny little critter responsible for my mysterious itching.  He managed to escape me on our first encounter, but I'll be looking for him.  I was hoping he may just decide to leave but this morning I walked through a tiny web he created across the archway into my living room.  Beware little buddy.  Authorities have been instructed to squish on site.

The bruise on my hamstring has nearly vanished but it's not quite ready for the rigors of climbing, mountain biking or running yet.  Soon enough though.  I'm heading to a cabin in the mountains of Austria in two weeks.  A few us are bringing our bikes up, so my ham better be ready by then.  The weekend after is the reschedule date of the climbing trip in Frankenjura that I had to bail on a few weeks ago.  Injuries don't really agree with my full-throttle personality but they come with the lifestyle I live.

None of my current injuries kept me off the go-kart track yesterday though.  The track was super slick from all the rain the night before, but my friends had already made the reservation and they don't let you reschedule.  So we gave it a go.  The corners were streaked with black rubber along the line that most drivers take around each bend.  On most days this a good indicator of the best line to take around the turn, but not today.  Rubber on rubber makes for horrible traction when water is involved.  So we took the turns high and wide.  Most of the time.  I quickly learned that if you tried to brake in the blackened areas of rubber while going into a turn, you were guaranteed to spin out.  And I did, dozens of times.  So high and wide, no exceptions.  By the time I got a feel for the track, the kart and the conditions, it was too late.  The race was practically over and I was getting owned by the other drivers.  It was still a ton of fun though.  The karts go pretty fast and you have to wear a full helmet.  Next time I'll know better and hopefully the conditions will be better.  I'll be out for redemption and it will be full throttle the whole way.

And the smoothies too

Before I had the chance to go climbing this past weekend, I pulled my hamstring the week before while warming up for a casual company soccer match.  Raining and somewhat cool out, I did not warm up enough before doing a few sprints before the match started.  The miscalculation cost me to sit out the game and continue to hobble for the next few days.  It wasn't until a week later that I finally noticed the gruesome bruise on the back of my leg.  It scared the absolute crap out of me.  I was familiar with the pain having injured both of my hamstrings on multiple occasions.  Such a bruise has never accompanied any of my past injuries.

Nearly two weeks after the event, the bruise has begun to fade and the pain minimized.  I can walk around and ride my bike with no pain, but I have yet to try anything much more physical.  Frequent stretching has told me that this little bastard intends to stick around for a while longer.  Being as I am not one to sit still for too long, I plan on signing up for gym within the week.  "Jim, you just said you pulled your hamstring."  Yeah yeah yeah, shut face.  I've rehabbed myself enough to know how to cross train and work other muscles when one isn't feeling up to snuff.  I've got a plan, no worries.  About this gym though.

I haven't paid a membership to many gyms other than the climbing gym, but I know that they generally hold a fairly hefty price tag.  So when I came across this gym in town offering a membership for 20 Euro per month, I had to see what was up.  Bottom line, the gym is nice.  Very good equipment.  So for 20/month (flat rate) you get basic gym usage whenever you want.  For 30 Euro per month however, you get unlimited gym usage, unlimited access to the "help yourself" smoothie bar, access to the vibraflex machines and access to the tanning beds.  You bet your ass I want the all-inclusive package.  The point that really sold me was the vibraflex machines.  I'll try to explain for those that aren't familiar.  The simplest version is a platform that vibrates about two axis.  To use the machine, you stand on the platform and do things like lunges and squats.  You can also do push ups and dips on it.  The basic principle is two-fold.  First, it forces you to balance and engages more muscles in the exercise.  Second, the thing vibrates at 30Hz.  That means your muscles contract 30 times per second.  I've used one before at a rehab facility after having surgery on a torn meniscus.  Well it worked.  So I'm pretty excited to have the same machines available at this gym at such a low membership fee.  OK, so I want the smoothies too.