Peak the long story

4/28/2009

Peaks to Prairie was this past weekend and as they advertise it was an adventure race. I went up Saturday before the race to hang out with my cousin Lisa. She lives there with her husband Dennis. It’s nice to get up there a day early and visit and not have to get up so early the day of the race. The weather forecast was a little dicey calling for cold and snow. My thoughts on that is you dress warm prepare for the weather no big deal this is Montana late April what do you want sunshine and a warm wind at you back. (Well ya). My runner I guess didn’t car for the forecast. Paul calls Saturday around 19:30 and goes on about how there is going to be 2-3 inches of snow and just above 20 degrees and he thinks the roads will be icy and he doesn’t want to run on icy roads and sorry but he’s gonna bail out wuss .

This brings up the issue of how I will get my car. Paul was going to come up with Karen and one of them was going to drive my car from Red Lodge to Laurel. I mean yeah I will be in Laurel with my bike and my car will be in Red Lodge and I sure as hell do not want to ride back to get it. It turns out that Lisa was planning to do some shopping in Billings that afternoon. Okay now all I have to do is get to Billings and Lisa can give me a ride back to RL and my car. (Did I mention that this is an adventure race?)

I figure the race is more of a series of time trails and even if we don’t have a full team I can still ride and Drew can still kayak. We can do it for fun and see how our times stand with the other competitors. I give Drew a call and tell him what’s up and he says he is still in. (good for him) I tell him I should be at Riverside Park no earlier than 11:00, but since we will not have a timer chip he could hit the river any time he wanted to. He tells me he’ll see me at the river.

9:15 Sunday morning, 32 degrees and big fluffy flakes of snow furiously falling in front of me as I start the race. I have my shoes covered with gaiters newly purchased the previous day because I knew if I were to be biking in cold wet weather I wanted to keep my feet warm and dry. My leg and arm warmers protect my stems and an old Up With People windbreaker from 20 years ago helps keep my upper body and head dry. The first couple of miles with limited visibility and snow flying so fast it is hard to see I wonder again why? I guess it is because I set out to do it and the weather is just part of doing it. I was reminded of my cross country days from high school. We ran rain or shine and you just dressed for the weather and went out there knowing that when you are done you can warm up. The sooner you get done the sooner you can warm up.

Twenty minutes in the race I look down and snow is collecting on my water bottle, slush on my shoes and my windbreaker is a nice red with white snow settled in the creases. I’m not cold just in wonder of how crazy we all must be to think that this is fun? Did I mention that my bike computer was not working so I could not keep track of my time, miles or cadence? Not a big thing, but that was why I got the darn thing in the first place. No matter I’ve been to the gym enough to know what 100 RPM feels like on the bike so I’ll just go by feel. Dude the race went by pretty quick. I lie. It felt like forever. Well the first 20 miles went by pretty quick then my legs started fatigued my left ankle sore and I was coming down with an acute case of bikeasoreass. Only 23 more miles to go. To make a long story short I got to Riverside Park in Laurel about 2 hours 20minutes after leaving RL. Drew who was doing the boating part was no where to be found I assumed he had already left and why not we didn’t have a timing chip, he could leave anytime he wanted. Okay so now I have to get a ride to either Billings or Red Lodge. The Lord is good to me and as I get to the boat launch I see some people I have known since small kid time. Coby Theade who would been in the race but took this year off is helping some other people I know he is heading to Billing to the end of the race and can give me a ride to my house no problem.. (Did I mention that this is an adventure race?)

I get home and life is good I just have to wait for Lisa to give a call and I can go back to RL and get my car.
!

Kimball

100-year-old buildings get makeover
by JENNIFER MOLK - For The Outpost
Rocky Mountain College in Billings has seen its share of growth and progress over the years, as a century of development has sprung up around its campus.
Now it is this institution’s turn to undergo sweeping renovations that will shore up unstable buildings, offer better access to those with disabilities and modernize the college with state-of-the-art technology and facilities.
Brad Nason, vice president of Student Life, said Rocky is halfway through a substantial growth mode. “Last summer, we did just over $700,000 in maintenance and renovation projects to the Fortin Center,” he said, “and over $5 million of renovation projects have either been completed or are currently under way.”
With the combined efforts of CTA Architects and High Tech Construction, one of the oldest buildings on campus, the current Kimball Hall, has been gutted to the lathe and plaster. Mr. Nason expects renovations to that building to be completed by July 2009. Then another phase that is expected to begin in the fall will include renovations to Eaton and Alden Halls.
In the end, Nason estimated the total completed projects to cost upward of $6 million, all paid for from donations. “All the money is donated by friends and supporters of the college right here in the community,” Nason stated. “You’re not going to find better classrooms or instructional spaces on any campus in the state or perhaps even the region than you will at Rocky Mountain College in the fall of 2009.”
That was then …
The grandfather of higher education in Montana, the college was founded in 1878 and underwent several name changes and academic structures before becoming what we know today as Rocky Mountain College.
The campus occupies 60 acres of prime real estate in Billings between 13th and 17th Streets West and Poly Drive and Rimrock Road. Its surroundings are lush and expansive set against the city’s trademark Rimrocks. It was stones from those Rimrocks that were excavated by hand a hundred years ago to build the dorms and classrooms that have for the most part stood the test of time. But as any century-old structure will reveal, there is always room for improvement.
“These old buildings were designed by students and faculty and built by students and faculty literally by hand,” Nason revealed. “They cut the stone, they did the drawings. There are all kinds of quirks in the buildings that you just wouldn’t see if it had been put together in a different way. We’ve tried to highlight some of those areas and leave some of the quirkiness in place. The floors are not going to be perfectly level. There are some arches that will be left exposed so that students and faculty and staff can see how the building was put together when the students first designed it. So that was an important component.”
Tech Hall
The most current completed renovations have been to Rocky’s Tech Hall building. “We put on a new roof,” Nason began. “It actually had some water damage inside, and we did some repairs to walls and ceilings on the inside of the facility, and then put in an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible ramp to the front of the building.”
Those services had been made available elsewhere on the campus, but Nason said that adding more of those services that are in compliance is a huge step forward for the college.
“In 1918,” he said, “the building wasn’t designed with wheelchairs in mind. And so our architectural consultant, Wayne Gustafson, designed a ramp that was added to the facility as well. And it really looks very nice. This year we have two students in wheelchairs and a couple of other students with physical disabilities who just can’t go up stairs.”
Nason said that without that ramp, the college would have really been limited in its accommodations.
“This way we’re better able to accommodate students than we ever have before,” he said.
Fortin Center
The college’s gymnasium was also included in this phase of the renovations. “We put in new bleachers in our Fortin Center,” Nason said. “The bleachers we had felt like they dangerously moved and wobbled when people walked on them. The bleachers now will seat 1,900, and while that is a reduction from what it was before, it’s certainly far safer and more comfortable than the Fortin Center enjoyed before.”
The Fortin Center is the institution’s hub for sporting events, camps and conferences throughout the year.
Kimball Hall
Kimball Hall was built in 1909 and is undergoing the most extensive renovations, which in the end, will result in a new name.
“We’re renovating what was Kimball Hall,” Nason said. “It will then become Morledge Kimball Hall. The Morledge family generously provided resources for us to renovate that facility.
“It is a top to bottom renovation,” he continued. “We’ll have 10,000 square feet in the existing historic building, and then we’re going to add about 9,000 square feet of an addition on the back. That will be classroom space and faculty offices.”
The completed facility will serve around 30 faculty members and 250 students in seven large classrooms and four smaller seminar classrooms. “Our fall classes will be scheduled in that facility,” Nason projected.
While some may frown on adding on to a historic building, Nason said that the original building will retain its historic charm, while the addition will only serve to complement its predecessor.
“The new addition pays homage to the existing facility, but it wasn’t designed to look exactly like Kimball Hall,” Nason said. “It’s designed to pay homage to Kimball Hall but be a new type of structure and in doing that we created more efficiency, just a better product for our students, with more creature comforts.
“The real challenge with a project like this,” he went on, “is honoring the tradition and intent of the existing structure, of a building that was built in 1914 but still bringing it up to current standards and making certain the character of the original facility remains.”
Indeed, Todd Hauck of High Tech Construction and foreman for this project said the first challenge for his team was to find the defects and come up with a solution that was cost effective and didn’t compromise something else, structurally or historically.
“It made things very interesting,” he said. “We were pretty creative. We had to figure out how to get it structurally sound again without tearing it down and starting over.”
One of the ways the builders have done that is evident in the basement of Kimball Hall. They’ve purposely left a portion of the floor to characteristically and charmingly slope, while underground the necessary fixes were made to its footings.
Next on the drawing board
Eaton Hall is also among the oldest buildings on Rocky’s campus. “Eaton is one of the next priorities for us,” Nason said. “It is one of the older brick structures, and Alden is one of the older sandstone structures. And those two are on our radar for sort of the next phase of our construction.”
The plans for those buildings include renovating the floors and changing the layout so it would be more efficient for students and employees.
The college and its architects have also started the design process for a renovation to the Science Center.
“We’ll more than double the size of the existing structure,” Nason said, “adding some research labs for faculty and for our students, so each program within the natural sciences will have their own research lab as well as general classroom laboratory space. That would be probably a two-year renovation and construction project.”
In the meantime, Nason will advocate for adhering to tradition. “When you’re an institution that’s 130 years old,” he stated, “paying respect to tradition I think is critically important. Tradition is an important part of higher education and an important part of this institution. I don’t think it was as hard because of the unique nature of how these buildings came together originally. It wasn’t as hard to decide what needed to be preserved. It was more a matter of balancing what was there and creating comforts for everybody against 1900s design.”

To Laurel

The weather was nice an warm today. The high got up to 73. I took advantage to go on a nice long bike ride. I figured with 2 weeks to go before Peak to Prairie I should see if I can go the 43 miles I'll need to go for the race. I checked the weather channel to see which way the wind was blowing, figuring I would go into the wind for the first part of the ride. This would make the ride home with the wind. With the wind at 8-12 mph from the southwest I decided to bike to Laurel. The last time I rode a bike to Laurel was about 2o years ago. That was also when I was last in Peaks. I took the back roads to Laurel and average 15 mph. On the way back I took the interstate and cruised at a average speed of 25 mph. When I got home 2 1/2 hours later I had gone 43.1 miles. Felt pretty good I think I use the hot tub at the gym tomorrow.

Peaks To Praire

With a little over two weeks to go things look good for at least being able to finish the 43 mile bike ride which will be my part of the race. Yesterday I went on a 32 mile ride and today my legs feel fine. The main thing is the upper arm soreness. One puts a lot of stress on the neck and shoulders while biking. You don't get that work out from the stationary bikes in the gym. I am fortunate enough to be riding a Trek Pilot road bike. I am borrowing it from a friend. I got the bike on Sunday and road 22 mile that day, 20 miles Monday, gym work on Tuesday, and 32 mile yesterday. Today I plan on gym work mostly for the upper body; need that upper arm strength. Another good think about the training is that I've dropped 15 pounds from the beginning of the year. I can almost wear my "skinny jeans"

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/29-peaks_m.txt

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first impressions

We had a pretty busy week-end at Jakes. The all state wrestling tournament was in town so there were a lot of people. I was in the over flow section so after a busy first turn or so they closed down my section. I still had people I just wasn't to be sat any more tables. A couple was sitting at one of our smaller tables which was fine while they were eating their appetizers. He had order the full rack of ribs which comes out on a very big plate. I call that particular order the "Barney Rubble" special. She orders a filet and a small order of onion rings to have with dinner. All this will not fit well on the small table I thought. Thankfully a larger table open up and I suggested to them before the entrees arrive that we move to the larger table. All was good as we brought the food we now had plenty of room. A little bit latter the guy asked me if I was "Uncle Fester" The couple had met around Halloween of 2005 and I was there server. I looked different back then as I was dressed up as “Uncle Fester”. They said my voice sounded familiar but it was the good service that made them remember. I guess I must have made an impression.