Getting Back Into Cycling

     So last summer I got back into cycling. Ive always liked bike, and even had a small bike junkyard as a kid. I would peace one together and ride it till it fell apart and then do it again, just for the enjoyment of building the bike. But now that I am older I wanted to get into the physical benefits and adventure that can come with cycling. So I went out and bought an actual road bike. I couldn't do what I had planed on my heavy mountain bike. Then I set out goals for training, with the ultimate goal of completing a 4 multiple day bike tour into Canada. Long story short I trained hard and got to Canada. My buddy Chuck and I set out one morning and two and a half days later we arrived in Nelson BC. It was a beautiful trip, that was made fairly easy from all the riding I had done in the previous months.

My bike in blue, And chucks in orange. 

My gear all together weighed about 60 lbs. With this weight we where only able to travel on average 16 miles an hour. which really wasn't to bad 

First day, 98 miles to the north side of Sullivan lake 

   Nelson was a fun place to visit. Its a little waterfront tourist spot, with losts of good places to eat. We stayed in a little hostel called the white house, and enjoyed the view.
    Im already planing my next rip, which will most likely not be as long. Maybe just a trip around lake Pend oreille. Im going to also be participating in some local cycling events this year like the Coeur d'fondo,    http://cdagranfondo.com.  And Spokefest, which is a just a short ride in Spokane but has a great turn out.

Much Has Changed

Since I last updated my blog here quite a bit has changed. first of I finished full time classes at Moody Aviation. Im not 100% done yet. I have two more classes that I need to take care of. I would have had them finished this semester but God provide a great new job for me. About two month's ago I got a job woking at an aircraft paint facility called Associated Painters at the international airport. They needed people with mechanics licences to eventually help with line checks and other maintenance needs. So far Ive worked on Boing 737's, De Havilland Twin Otters's, and Bombardier CRJ700's. Working on these big jets is different than what I worked on at Moody. But I welcome the chance to expand my knowledge of aviation. Right now I mainly help prep for paint. This includes striping, sanding and masking. After my three month review they will teach me to paint.

Associated Painters has the contract to paint half of Southwest Airlines 737's. At Spokane's facility we paint six of these airplanes a month. Thats completely finishing a 737 in five days.

These last three weeks Ive been down in Dallas Texas. I attended Southwest Airlines 737 general familiarization class. Basically Associated sent me to Texas, all expenses payed, to learn how a 737 works. It was a very intence three weeks of eight hours of class a day, five days a week. Sending me to this class was to prepare me for working as a mechanic as well as a painter.

Here are just a few pictures of Southwests facilities in Dallas.

Attending this class was a great opportunity for me to learn, and I'm glad I had the chance to go.