Summer In Deceleration

Morning weigh-in: 122.5#, 10.5% BF (NFLikely)

Well, the Labor Day Weekend has come and gone...

Friday: Did an "easy spin" on the towpath on the singlespeed. My intention was to practice high-cadence riding (hence the SS), but after a while I thought I was going to go insane, crawling along while my legs spun madly away beneath me... Met Brian afterward for a Which Brew dinner. He called while I was on the ride and said he had news that he wanted to deliver in person: due to scheduling conflicts with that "Science of Racing" thing he does, he's going to have to drop out of the VT50. Oh well, shit happens, but he was still pretty disappointed. Pork tostatas, Pyramid Apricot Ale, music by the Family Circus Trio (aka guys from Post Junction).

Saturday started with a yoga workout, followed by chores and breakfast at the coffee shop, and then a gym workout (with legs once again). The leg weights were light, but yoga was pretty intense -- I finally screwed up the courage to take one of Michael's classes, and to tell you the truth I'm pretty stoked on yoga again because of it -- and my body was quite tired by the end of the day. An early evening at my usual local watering hole -- Mexican pizza, more Pyramid, Dave Cahill & friends making the music.

Sunday I did a "local epic:" I had breakfast at the coffee shop, then I rode around Easton until Genesis Bicycles opened (I needed tubes), and finally rode down the towpath to Sals. Since I woke up already tired & sore, with muscles full of prostaglandins, I kept things pretty mellow until I got to Sals, but even there I didn't really try to hammer. On the way home I met a Maryland couple, who were visiting the area specifically to ride the towpath! Pretty amazing, when you think about it. We got to talking, and they told me that there's a new section of the C&O canal (their stomping ground), and you can now go from Georgetown to Pittsburgh offroad. Hmmmm...

Sunday evening was a party at Judy's place (she's the one with the composting toilet). Only a few people there that I knew well, but it was really nice. Dawn S had given me some corn on Saturday that her husband had grown, so I brought that. (She was worried that it would be "starchy," but it tasted great to me.) Plenty of other good stuff there to eat too, of the BBQ & summer salad variety. Turns out it was Judy's birthday, or near enough the actual date for us to sing.

Monday: A killer Jim Thorpe ride. Me, Doug, Brian, Joe C, Rich, James, and maybe a half dozen other people. We did the singletrack through the strip mines, then the core group climbed up to Flagstaff -- we were very disappointed to find the bar closed at the top -- and rode over Mauch Chunk Ridge and down Bob's Option. I was surprised at how well I was riding, especially considering the preceding days' experiences. Afterward, the good old core group treated Rich to dinner at the Hotel Switzerland, since it was his birthday. Guinness, pork tenderloin medallions and a few tall tales -- good times, good times...

Some News: The 24 Hour race was so bad on the trails, that All-A-Muchy has been canceled. Oh well.