First Flight

So there I was at 41,000 feet....

....versus playing around on my bike at Vance Creek (where I'd rather be any day).

This pic is actually shot while on landing - not my landing (and not of me in the winning break as shot by Amara) - and is a pretty cool closeup of the jet I now fly. Though I'd rather be riding my bike, flying jets for a living ain't too bad a gig if I must work; but it's still work.

This first trip was a 2-day starting with my first leg SEA - SNA (Orange County). and it was a blast. Orange County is a short runway with lots of light plane traffic (Indian country) and demands precision flying. I got 2 passes into there, once Saturday on a sunny afternoon and then again the next morning when it was overcast. The other airports on this trip (OAK & PDX) are fairly routine by nature (long runways with mostly only airliner traffic). I'm happy to report that the actual airplane flies much better than simulator. It was a fun trip. Next up will be a couple of trips through SE Alaska.

Torture Chamber

As of the end of this evening I'm all done with the flight simulator - finally; thus ending 2 months in the school house learning the 737. Tonight I cranked up the in the -700 sim. and received differences training. Which basically means there's lots more gee whiz crap to keep a pilot occupied. As you can imagine simulator training includes many abnormal & emergency situations that replicate real life scenarios that a pilot hopes to never actually see in a career, as well as normal maneuvers & procedures (i.e. very low visibility takeoffs & landings) that are best suited for practice (trail & error) until highly proficient. And while these machines are very close to actual conditions (realistic snow, turbulence, ramp personnel, etc.), there is obviously no danger involved except deflating one's fragile ego. And while initial costs are high for the airline to purchase a flight simulator, the costs pale in comparison to what it would take to go do this type of training in an actual airplane.

The end result being that I await the training scheduler to assign me a actual flying schedule, which'll probably happen tomorrow - screwing up my racing plans for Sunday (though hopefully not) and taking it to the unsuspecting WA Cup leaders (or at the very least getting a good pic from Amara - which is all that really matters).

Cold & Wet

Not two terms I usually associate with any fun - especially when it comes to bike racing. But after being sidelined for the last 2 months (for various reasons - mostly because of my flight training to keep employed, and my wife about to give birth to twins), I ventured out to Pacific Raceways for the weekly Tuesday Night racing series.

A showery evening with temps in the low 50's would normally deter me from even showing up and plunking down my hard earned $$, but tonight, well tonight I needed to get out there no matter what. I had no expectations and no worries. OK, that's not quite true; I did have one worry - am I going to get dropped on the first lap up the backside roller?

Turns out no on lap 1, no on lap 2, and no throughout the entire evening. In fact, I felt pretty darn spunky to tell the truth. Maybe that's proof to counter the typical high mileage/hourly weekly workouts that many try to emulate. Pro racers are full time on their bikes with 400-500 miles/week not considered abnormal. In my prime racing focus I'd be lucky to get half that. And these days, halve that again.

A 4-man break developed midway & with PruDog barking orders to chase - chase I did, as best I could muster. At the end of the race the 4 leaders stayed away and I faded in the final bunch sprint. But crossing the line with a certain personal satisfaction that at least, for the short 45 minutes that tonight provided, a glimpse of racing muscle memory is still there. Borderline hypothermia with teeth chattering I was quietly happy not too have embarrassed myself too badly.

Hopefully I'll be able to get away for Sunday's race at Vance Creek - a race I won as a CAT3 to test the system on a little longer and harder course. Again no expectations, except to help one of my teammates come away with the win.

Contractions

Don't, won't, can't etc. are not what I'm talking about here.

Last Sunday morning, my better half (more like three-quarters really) woke up with some premature contractions and we spent most of the day in the triage center at Swedish (ya, sure, you betcha!) sorting it all out. They gave her nifedipine which canceled the contractions she shouldn't have had in the first place, but then she had an allergic reaction to it. Once she's back on track & taken care of, we went to have a NST ultrasound on her. After all was said & done we finally got home a little past 6PM - and we're exhausted.

I was supposed to be in the flight simulator for my final 737 variant training about that time, but called in to let them know I wasn't able to make it. This delayed my flight schedule which was to go yesterday (if you recall my first leg was supposed to be into BUR), which they'll have to reschedule (probably into equally as challenging Orange County John Wayne - or SNA).

With everything with the wife back to normal (or as normal as it gets for the next few weeks), and my flight training schedule in shambles (because they book the simulator time so tightly that it'll take awhile to fit me in); it's going to be a few days which I might have a bit of free time to get some honey-do stuff done around the house.

Couldn't be better news then for tonight - if the rain subsides for this evening I'll be racing for the first time since I crashed out of the Ohop race in late FEB. Ain't that sweet!

Earth Day

Get off the computer, go to the bookstore & buy Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (amazon.com), go to the park and read it as you listen to the songbirds. Write me a book report.

Tyler Update

Per my post the other day wondering about why Tyler Hamilton is performing sub-par:

From velonews.com - "Tyler Hamilton received plenty of cheers going up Brasstown, but a tooth infection had him bogged down. 'I have to get a root canal,' he said after the finish, explaining that he intended to finish the race. 'My family is here, and it's my only chance to race back in the United States, so I'm trying to suffer through it. But it's hard. I feel [the tooth] more than my legs. My dad probably could have ridden up faster than me today. My team liked racing here. Hopefully we'll come back next year with a full team.'

By full team does that mean a complement of new "advisers"? Of course this is a warm up race for his participation in the Giro next month, so hopefully he'll be over his tooth troubles and prove the sceptics that he's worthy after all.

My athletic hero

This guy is my ultimate athletic hero. No, it's not Eddy Merckx. No, it's not an aging Greg Lemond. Nope, it's not 6-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion Mark Allen either. This guy is tops. He doesn't have any significant records for the mile, or the marathon, or wins up Alpe d'Huez. He can swim but he's not known as a swimmer. He owns a bike but now rides mostly on a trainer indoors. He is not a single sport athlete, nor can he be pigeonholed as multisport athlete. And although he has lifted more weights than can be fitted in all the Gold's Gym's worldwide, and has done more push ups, pull ups, sit ups, and star jumps (jumping jacks) than a peloton of Tour de France cyclists will ever do; he is best known for his 34 years on TV ('51 - '84) .

More than Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons, Tony Little or any other Johnny-come-lately fitness personality - Jack LaLanne is an original, America's first true pure fitness fanatic.

He championed tights when tight shorts weren't fashionable (cyclist take note). He championed women's fitness before Title IX was even a glimmer in Patsy Mink's eye. Jack championed overall fitness to anyone and everyone when fitness wasn't yet fashionable. Jack made it fashionable and fun (and in black & white).

Not one to be shy about self-promotion he continues to sell the Jack LaLanne philosophy to anyone within earshot stating, "I cannot afford to die, it will ruin my image."

Other great LaLanne quotes to ponder:

"Life is survival of the fittest... How many healthy people do you know? How many happy people do you know? Think about it. People work at dying, they don't work at living. My workout is my obligation to life. It's my tranquilizer. It's part of the way I tell the truth--and telling the truth is what's kept me going all these years."

"If man makes it, I don't eat it. I practice what I preach. I eat 10 raw vegetables, 5 pieces of fruit, egg whites and fish for protein, and whole grains. Finally, if you can't have a sense of humor, you're dead."

"Thoughts are things. Negativity is what kills you... It's tough to do, but you've got to work at living, you know? Most people work at dying, but anybody can die; the easiest thing on this earth is to die. But to live takes guts; it takes energy, vitality, it takes thought. . . . We have so many negative influences out there that are pulling us down. . . . You've got to be strong to overcome these adversities . . . that's why I never stop."

Jack is 2 days shy of being 44 years my senior - and he could probably kick my ass in any physical routine he chose focused on. Be like Jack!

I believe Tyler!

Tyler Hamilton finished forty-first in the ITT this afternoon at TdGeorgia (cyclingnews.com)

This from the 2004 Athens Olympics ITT Gold Medal winner? Tyler, Tyler, Tyler - 5:07 off the pace - let's hope he's saving the legs for the finish on top of Brasstown Bald on tomorrow's stage.

And the proof that drugs DO work department - stripped of his 2003 World ITT rainbow jersey for admitting to EPO doping violations - David Miller struggled today as well (albeit better than Tyler) finishing a respectable 6th, but still 1:47 back of Disco's Levi Leipheimer. Levi cruised in 41 seconds faster than 2006 US National ITT Champion & 2005 TdF stage 1 winner (and yellow jersey wearer) David Zabriskie.

...Hummmm?

Watch Out!

As the welcome home note posted on the front door says, "Yippee...congratulations to our newest 737 Captain..."

Ya but!?

For the last 2 months I've been in the Alaska Airlines training system for transition training from my comfortable position of the last 17 years on the MD80 - the last 10 as Captain - to the 737. As Alaska has a phase out plan to get rid of the Mad Dogs (as the MD80's are affectionately known) by the end of next year (2008), pilots are slowly transitioning over as their seniority allows. Some of the most senior pilots will retire before the phase out is complete and thus will not have to undergo what I've just endured. Unfortuantely I'm not that old or financially secure to retire just yet.

Firstly a two-week course of ground school teaching us systems and procedures required to fly the jet. Then several sessions in a fixed based (non-moving) simulator which teaches us how to apply the systems and procedures knowledge. Then several more sessions in the full motion simulator which practices various scenarios which we may face; mostly system malfunctions and low weather practice. Zillions of approaches to various airports and irregularities with multiple repeats to get the feel of how the jet flies and the physical & mental gymnastics required to put it all together - it's quite a humbling and hectic experience. This culminates with a gate event called a Maneuver Validation. Then a few more full-motion based simulator that replicate actual flights from various points throughout our route structure (i.e. Sitka-Juneau, Juneau-Ketchikan, etc.) where we fly real time, which compared to the maneuver training is much preferred pace. This is capped by a check ride (which is what we faced tonight) for the FAA standard evaluation.

Well, by basis of our performance tonight, both my First Officer & I did fairly well and passed - though we still had a few post briefing items that the examiner made comments on. And as perfectionist types that pilots generally are, we beat ourselves up more by what minor mistakes we made here and there, but overall everything went just fine.

So as we have one more full-motion simulator session to get in a different variation of our 737 (we fly the -400, -700, -800, & -900 models) and then it's off to fly the real jet with real paying customers.

So I warn you well in advance - if you're flying down to Burbank next Monday (April 23rd) on flight 432 departing SEA at about 1PM, this is your fair chance to make alternate plans.

Now I will have a Check Airmen instructor flying in the right seat with me, but this'll be my first opportunity to actually fly the real jet - and Burbank is a challenging enough airport than to make it my first landing. Now true enough I've flown into Burbank countless times and have much experience flying in & out of there - hey I learned how to fly out of there in small Piper's in the late 70's, so I know the challenge that lies ahead. Being a newly transitioned Captain flying a new airplane type into a short runway with several opportunities for distractions (lots of light airplane traffic, smog, terrain near the field, etc) will make for a demanding first 737 flight.

Personally if I had my choice I would've preferred to make my maiden voyage into LAX or Ontario or some other longer runway with a pad for a little margin for error. There will be no such margin into Burbank. Which means that everything must be just so, or we go around and try it again.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Marathon Man!

Monday was Patriots' Day in New England and my buddy, Doug "Speedy" Babbitt, participated in the 111th running of the Boston Marathon - completing the course in the blustery, rainy & chilly conditions in 3:19:55 for a 7:38 per mile average.

It looks as if his pace was excellent through the 15K point (or 9.3 miles) at 1 hour, and his halfway split of 1:26 is pretty decent (6:56/mile) considering that he had to dodge and weave through some of the slower of the other 20K runners on the narrow roads until he could hit his stride.

From my personal limited knowledge of the course when I ran in the 100th edition - when the second half of the race comes up and whatever your early effort was and how good you were feeling up to that point is thrown by the wayside like an old fig newton wrapper. The effort now required is harder for the same pace. The body is beginning to protest by the start of the Newton hills at mile 16 (of which the last of the four is called Heartbreak Hill at mile 21). By the time you get to the sight of Fenway Park and the tall buildings of downtown where the finish line awaits; you're just in survival mode. Then turning the final left onto Boylston Street to finally see the finish line banner stretched across the entire road with thousands of screaming people bringing you home and only another 1/2 mile or so is a rewarding feeling indeed.

Considering the conditions - which saw the slowest overall winning time since 1975 - Doug ran wonderfully, especially since spending last week in Phoenix did nothing to prepare him for what would've been similar typical weather conditions back home in Gig Harbor. Hey, if it was easy, anybody could've done it.

Great run Speedy! Now it's time to put the running shoes away and get your butt on the bike.

Launch Blog

I'm new to this medium so be kind.

This blog is intended to delve into the life of Erik Scheller with periodic snapshots of insights into my family, career, and the fun things I like to do; with a brief synopsis below.

FAMILY
Presently I enjoy a family life wife my wife and 17-month old daughter. That will change in about a month's time when the kids will outnumber the parents. Not quite the Brady Bunch, but with twins on the way life will be interesting very shortly. Much more on this to come.

CAREER
Currently employed by Alaska Airlines as a pilot. For the last two months I've been consumed with training for the 737. Since I was hired in October 1989 I've been flying the MD80 exclusively, almost 8 years as First Officer and the last 10 years as Captain. Now transitioning to the 737 has been quite the adventure in and of itself. Not always fun, but certainly a challenge - and I'm always up for a challenge. Some old MD80 habits are hard to break, but they have been able to teach this old dog some new tricks. SImulator checkride is next Tuesday so gotta be prepared for that one - a career moment!

FUN
I like to race bikes. I've always had a bike to ride. I rode to school as a kid, I rode for fun in exercise in college, and I went on an around-the-world journey by bike in 2000. I used to race triathlons and because of my rock-like swimming ability would have to chase down the faster swimmers on the bike and try to hold them off on the run. In 2002 I turned to racing bikes full time because it was a different avenue to chase my competitive pursuits, and running was becoming too hard on the body. I first raced with the local bike shop sponsored team - Old Town Bicycle, but after upgrading to CAT 2 in late 2005 I was offered a spot in the AxleyUSA team. As I approach 50 I'm probably not in the top competitive shape that I once was and wasted away during my triathlon years, but it is great fun. Several good characters and many great races to cover as the season develops.

Stay tuned